As demonstrated in our previous article on the melee dps build,
creating a build to fulfill one of the time-honored roles in MMOGs
(healer, tank, melee dps, and ranged dps) can be a little hard to do.
There are a seemingly endless amount of choices that are available to
the player, with the ability to choose from multiple power sets and the
ability to choose powers from a multitude of said sets. However, it is
possible to create a standard role type of build. The main problem is
that there tends to be quite a few ways to do so! Curse your freedom,
Champions Online! The purpose of this article is to provide a build for
da tank, stalwart defender of any group. Built to withstand tremendous
amounts of punishment and to keep foes attacking him (and not his
squishier party members), the tank stands as the human shield of his
group.


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As I always state with any build article, there is a disclaimer. I am
not suggesting that this build is the best one available, nor is this a
level by level guide. The purpose of this article is to suggest certain
powers and abilities to you, the player. It is up to you to decide
whether you like the suggestions that are made here. If you do, then
that is great. If you don’t, then feel free to choose a
different power or advantage. Always remember that it is your
character, not anybody else’s. Besides, no matter what you
pick, some egghead that spent two hundred hours mapping out the
benefit-to-cost ratios for every power and ability will gladly tell you
how wrong you are. Just relax and have fun. One last caveat; please
remember that upcoming patches could drastically change the powers that
are listed below.



The build for this tank is based on a few power sets, mainly the
gadgeteering, force, and might power sets. There is some dabbling in
sorcery and telekinesis as well. Unlike other tank builds, this build
relies upon Constitution and Dexterity. Most tank builds usually build
upon Strength and Constitution. To begin, we’ll look at some
of the various powers and what advantages to take for them.





POWERS



Kinetic
Darts


Advantage: Accelerated Metabolism

This power serves as your basic energy builder. The amount of damage
you do with it is not important. The only real importance is the amount
of energy you build with this power. Kinetic Darts (according to
various forums) has one of the better energy building rates in the
game. The accelerated metabolism advantage means that you spend less
energy using this power.



Experimental
Blaster


Advantage: Crippling Challenge, Rank 3

Whilst a ranged attack, this power is helpful in the fact that
it’ll give your enemies notice that you’re there
and draw them to you. The crippling challenge advantage adds threat to
your attack and taunts an enemy npc. Plus, it adds a 20% damage debuff
to the enemy.



Bionic
Shielding


Advantage: Overloaded Circuits

This power places a healing shield around you and grants you a healing
every time you get damaged (up to 5 times). The overloaded circuits
advantage causes electrical damage to anybody that hits you. The damage
scales with the amount of damage they cause.



Defensive
Combo


Advantage: None

This melee attack generates a good deal of threat with the addition of
Defiance (a damage resistance buff) applied on the third successive
attack.



Nanobot
Swarm


Advantage: Rejuvenating Injectors

This handy-dandy little power refreshes all of your active cooldowns by
30 seconds. The rejuvenating injectors advantage grants you a healing
boost when you activate the power.



Force
Shield


Advantage: Force Sheath, Rank 2

Your shield block power that reduces incoming damage and grants you
energy. Force sheath is a vital advantage (if you have a build that has
Force Shield, then you need Force Sheath) in that it continues the
effects of Force Shield for a few seconds after you stop using the
power.



Circle
of Primal Domination


Advantage: Rank 3

This power creates a circle of defensive power that increases your
damage resistance, knockback resistance, regeneration, and knocks up
resistance. In addition, the circle increases your threat (but lowers
your resistance to roots/holds). Having a great deal of resistance is
an integral part of any tank build.



Lightning
Reflexes


Advantage: Rank 3

A slotted passive power, this ability increases your dodge and
avoidance while also decreasing Bleed and DoT (damage over time)
effects upon you. This power scales with your dexterity. Not getting
hit means that you’ll take less damage, which means that you
stay up longer. It’s nice when a plan comes together.



Haymaker

Advantage: Rank 3

This melee attack damages a single target and causes knockback. If an
enemy is immune to knockback, such as a boss, then the damage inflicted
is increased. This is your boss beat down power. Wash, rinse, and
repeat.



Shockwave

Advantage: Rank 3, Challenging Strikes.

This attack damages all foes in a cone area of effect in front of you
and reduces their movement. If the power is maintained, you knock the
opponents up. The Challenging Strikes advantage increases your threat
to all enemies you damage with this power.



Masterful
Dodge


Advantage: Rank 2

This defense power grants you a great dodge and avoidance bonus when
you click it. The power, when clicked, counts as an active defense and
imposes a 30 second cooldown on other active defenses (hence, your
Nanobot Swarm power).



Resurgence

Advantage: None

This power grants you a healing boost when clicked. Like Masterful
Dodge, this power is an active defense that imposes a 30 second
cooldown on other active defenses when you activate it. Hint,
hint…..Nanobot Swarm.



Rebirth

Advantage: None

This power returns you from defeat with full hit points. In addition,
your damage and resistance are increased. On the negative side, you
take a great deal of dimensional damage over time. This is your
get-out-of-death-free card.



Psionic
Healing


Advantage: Rank 3

This power is another self heal. However, this power is not an active
defense like Masterful Dodge or Resurgence. Heals keep you alive, which
is what you want.



Please remember that the powers and advantages listed above are not
written in stone. If you want a different power or advantage, then go
ahead and take it. One person’s play style is different from
another’s.



TRAVEL
POWERS


Travel powers are up to you. I would probably recommend Flight as that
flying is always cool (plus, it’s easier to travel from the
end of one zone to another). Another good travel power is Super Jump.
By using your jump power, you can get the heck out of Dodge quickly if
you need to. Sometimes, you have to run away to fight again another day.
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STATS

For stats, you want Dexterity and Constitution as your two superstats.
Dexterity helps out your dodge and avoidance chances, which is one of
the hallmarks of this build. You want to minimize the hits on you so
you’ll take less damage. As for Constitution, this stat is a
no-brainer. Constitution increases your hit points, which is what you
covet. You’ll want as many hit points that you can get your
hands on. It isn’t rocket science (even though
you’re a gadgeteer!) that the more hit points you have, the
longer you stay up, which is your job as a tank.







Well, that’s a look at a tank build based upon Dexterity and
Constitution. Some other builds are based upon Strength and
Constitution or Constitution and Presence. Feel free to experiment when
you’re in the Powerhouse. Now get out there and bring justice
to an unjust world!




To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Champions Online Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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