The Tanking Troll??

Discussion in 'War Room (Powers, Artifacts, & Builds)' started by The OmniScrooge, Nov 28, 2021.

  1. The OmniScrooge Level 30

    I'm looking for some insight on an idea I've been tinkering with. This past free CR skip, I pushed and made a pretty strong Fire Tank alt. Very happy with the results and love playing fire! I'm so pleased that now I'm starting to wonder if I could pass on some of that tank flavor over to my main, a Quantum Troll. Confidence in a Tank Troll build really shot up when I used a "test tank" build (no arts) to solo & beat Raven in the stat clamped Gotham Wastelands going after the Take Pride feat. A strat I could not accomplish using DPS nor Battle Troll builds.

    Comparing the stats, my Fire Tank's defense is currently at 114760 & 30999 dom with 160 arts (manacles, everyman & mystic). While I am aware that Fire relies on Resto & Heals, this is just what I'm currently working with atm. My idea is to test 160 arts (everyman, mystic or manacles, & lasso) on the Quantum. Using a "test tank" build, my current "tank" stats are 78017 defense (-37743 vs Tank) & 36681 dom (+5682 vs Tank). Note: this is BEFORE art stats are applied since I have not leveled up any yet to which I expect to be just below 41K dom after leveling.

    My expectation is not for the Quantum to be as strong as the Fire of course but at least be able to soak in some damage while pulling enemies/bosses when I'm in an instance where a tank is not available. The loadout would be shield-based to take advantage of the higher Dom along with Mesmerizing Lasso & Einstein pulls. Possibly adding Singularity just to give a Defense debuff. My biggest concern is lack of aggro.

    I have plenty of time to contemplate this idea because I'm not pulling the trigger until next Double XP week which would be months from now. So let's talk about! Any holes in my idea I'm not considering? Or is the idea of a troll running tank arts not worth the investment? Or is it an awesome idea to try out? Or maybe it's a good idea but have better suggestions? Any feedback is greatly appreciated and pls keep it civil & constructive.
  2. Jaden Law Well-Known Player

    Tank arts won't help you. If you want farm bosses solo with Troll power than create Gadget or Mental and buy Improved Stealth hands mod.
  3. catplaysxoxo Loyal Player

    In B4 someone tells you you're not your role.












    Anyways......








    Since you want to pull enemies but need the defense to survive because there won't be a tank at times then you're going to need the lasso for the gathering of enemies, it also heals you at a certain rank. You can combine that with Mystic arts so that every enemy that you pull in and damages you increases your defense. You can also try circe mask just for the function of stunning enemies when your shield breaks.
    • Like x 2
  4. The OmniScrooge Level 30

    Dont need nor desire to switch powers especially to solo bosses. As I mentioned in the original post, I was able to beat Raven solo with my test tank build and also did another test this morning against Hopeful Power Girl in Metro BZ and was able to beat her solo. Why would I need to switch powers if I can already accomplish what you mentioned? Soloing bosses is only for testing durability. Also, the build wouldn't be just for soloing bosses nor is it intended for such. The build would primarily be for instances where a tank is needed. Frankly, tired of seeing 3 DPS & 1 troll in an instance where a tank is needed.




    Now, I have thought about Circe's Mask! Along with what you stated, to which I agree, I also like the other benefit in the increase in Healing Received which may be beneficial to the Regenerative Shielding white mod (and if I have a healer in the instance). The only downside which is keeping me on the fence is the stun would work great against adds but not bosses. But I don't see nothing wrong with having it as a hot swap since, in essence, it's great for a shield-based LO.
    • Like x 1
  5. tioalbert Well-Known Player

    hello, don't forget about the target's damage decrease decrement. luck.
  6. DeitySupreme Steadfast Player

    You can’t really replace a tank as a troll. You can troll and hold things down in instances. The reason why tanks hold things so easily is because their aggro increases their hate towards enemies. This is something that no other role can do at all. Now, there are things you can do to “mimic” a tanks role.

    First thing is gathering adds. You can do this with singularity followed by an AoE stun to give your dps time to kill them. This is as a troll and adding tanking artifacts won’t change things. Yes you can use lasso with its artifact but you will be doing the same thing without having to waste a slot. This won’t let you hold aggro since aggro is based on a threat formula. Dealing damage, healing, and giving power all generate threat which determines who the adds/boss targets. No artifact will change your aggro either. The only item that can generate threat as quantum is the queen Diana ally. He combat ability taunts enemies with a taunt greater then even a tanks ST taunt (I tested in flashpoint open world). However the cooldown means you can’t do it all the time.

    As for artifacts. If your reasoning is becoming a tank as a troll, you wouldn’t be able to generate enough aggro to be able to get the enemies to target you over other dps. If you add tanking artifacts than you lower the amount of damage/power out that you generate which also lowers your aggro. A battle troll loadout would generate more aggro than tanking troll setup.

    So you’re better off just being a troll and focusing on key stuns. Bosses aren’t even affected by stuns and you would y generate enough aggro to have him to attack you.


    Now. As for soloing open world bosses. This may the the only place having tanking arts could potentially help you do what you want to so. Symbols will give you a little healing and a little added defense. This alone won’t increase your survivability enough by itself. Everyman can help add more defense as your health gets lower. You’d also want fortifies assault to increase your defense even more. You would also want robot sidekick or a pet artifact plus quantum teleport. This would make it so that when you teleport you drop aggro and send it to your pet. You may even want both robot and a pet artifact to make it so that if one pet does there is a second up.

    Doing as set up similar to this wouldn’t be you playing as a tank. It would be you playing keep away the point is to not let yourself get hit. If you do get hit your defense hopefully keeps up. And you’ll want pheromone bloom sc to sustain your health. But by playing keep away you lose out on the efficiency of since you are wanting to not get hit enough to make them worth it.
    • Like x 2
  7. Wallachia Devoted Player

    You can't have a troll tank and be efficient on it.

    But you can have a heal-troll by using an elec healer and getting Word of Power supercharge.
    • Like x 2
  8. Bipolar Diva Well-Known Player

    Damnit you didn't make that sound fun though.
    • Like x 1
  9. Jaden Law Well-Known Player

    Ok. You can use Provocation Agent \ Mass Provocation Agent consumable for aggro, but Troll is not Tank and you only hurt yourself and your group.
    • Like x 1
  10. The OmniScrooge Level 30


    Awesome feedback! Not what I wanted to hear but instead NEEDED to hear. I stated my biggest concern was lack of aggro and this just put it to bed. I can make a troll of stone but won't mean anything if the enemies won't pay attention to me.

    Thanks for that!


    While Deity's feedback is certainly eye-opening, the consumable presents an interesting scenario. I'm going to test it out and see what I can make of it.

    And I see a few responses speaking on the inefficiency of a troll tank. I'll be the first to say I 100% agree with you all. What I'm tinkering with isn't a main build (I do very well in the battery/buff/battle/dps realms), just a test strat to see if it can be accommodating when particular situations arises. Admittedly, Deity's feedback may just cause me to abandon the whole idea but I still have time to just try some things out.
    • Like x 2
  11. Yaiba Committed Player

    I run alerts with the normal setup " 3 dps 1 troll" and I have to say it's actually quite fast. As a tanking troll like you say, I have aggro consumable, shield and damage/defense debuff. It's really hard for the bosses to kill me due to high health (full health then vit), high defense (roleless buff) and heal over time (roleless buff again).
  12. 1 ncmike Dedicated Player

    The uthing you want is a situation that if the tank gets knocked out you can get him up or you can pull everything towards you so they can get the tank up and survive it
  13. Mentaldope40 Dedicated Player

    This is why I think every Powerset should have atleast one ability that substitute for each role. That would help players become more flexible.
    • Like x 3
  14. Illumin411 Loyal Player

    For solo (instanced and open world), duo and alert content there's obviously a lot of different things you can play around with and be quite "tanky" and that can be a lot of fun. I'm not sure the fun is worth the investment (time, money or both) in artifacts but that's up for the individual to decide.

    As far as group/raid content, particularly elite content, it's definitely not a good idea in 98% of scenarios. That being said, I've thrown together a tanky troll loadout in scenarios where a 2nd tank was needed and we forgot to get one (GOMe, etc) and we were able to beat the content. Also, there's a troll in my league who "tanked" the Phoenix and other individual sub bosses in False Idols elite first boss once or twice and we were at Metal II or BoP CR so that was no easy feat. So it's possible and not a completely useless build. Just extremely situational.
    • Like x 2
  15. The OmniScrooge Level 30

    Looks like it is possible to develop a tank troll role. Again, I'll reiterate, I don't believe a tank troll role could perform nearly as well as the traditional tank role but the possibility is there to create something durable.



    The biggest concern was lack of aggro. Mass Provocation Agent does help with that concern. Tested the consumable and it does as intended and the cooldown is just a few seconds so it can be spammed.



    I completely forgot about roleless buffs. I did the RW alert and noticed my defense shot up from 78K to 120K. That's more than my Fire Tank! Couple that with Tank Arts and defense can go even higher.

    In many cases 3 dps/1 troll is a great mix for alerts but in some cases like CoP when others don't know the mechs, CRs too low, and they don't know how to handle the adds during the last boss fight, I always say to myself, if I was a tank, i'd just pull and give them the easy job of killing them off. I've ran into that situation and continue to run into it. If you can't tell, I do a lot of pugging hehe.



    I wouldn't dream of attempting to use the build in elite content, raids nor alerts lol. But I would be curious to see how it stands up to regular raid content. And yes, I agree, it would be very situational but could also serve as a good way to showboat a bit lol.
    • Like x 1
  16. Magg Redd Well-Known Player

    Us smart trolls don't tank....we don't like getting punched in the face so we stay in the rear of the action. :p
    • Like x 2
  17. Godtr0n Active Player

    Any tips on where to get this? I tried to farm it but could never get recipie to drop. For either this or Shadow Concoctions. Any tips at all would be greatly appreciated
  18. Kimone Luthor Genetech Clone

    You're gonna want a Lern's Amulet, so you can heal yourself. That's #1 with a bullet.

    I don't personally develop survivability in a Controller with the idea of replacing the Tank so much as I do for the purpose of Bounty Hunting - that said? The major thing a Controller durability build lacks is a self-healing mechanism, and that makes a critical difference in your raw survivability.
  19. Max Maximus Well-Known Player

    I think that you comparing the defense of a tank fire with the troll doesn't work. Tank fire's main defense is health. Not counting all the tank fire bonuses.