Yeas, willpower was teh shiznit!
When I first made a tank it was an invul, people said it was the easiest way to tank, it is nice to stand in a mob of smashing lethal and go afk. but... it's had it's faults, low endurence, and even with all the res poor def can kill.
shield was good, I've even seen scrappers who can tank on shield, most had to take advantage of Aoe though. it's one of those 'have to fight builds' can't AFK like with invul, and you fall down hard sometimes.
Willpower, it was a monster. my WP can tank anything, depends how you build it and what sets you use, you can cap psionic, toxic, smashing, lethal defense and decent res and a choice of either energy and negative (build 1) and fire and ice (build 2), with incarnate powers it was crazy. a good WP build never falls hard and /WILL/ take 20 minutes+ for PVE to ko it, so for those instances you just use resurgence and the enemies are like "Seriously, WTF man...?"
I can see why the freakshow use it, it's addictive, drove my tank insane lol, Me; "Must bash more hoards!" teammates: "dreadnaught we're trying to speed run this mission!" me: "aww come on I wanna clear! only 1 group left anyways!" teammates: "what? that was a full map of +4x8 and we're exemplared to 30 we were only in there 5 minutes how could you be on the last group?" me: "exiting, I'm satisfied, the bodies don't move any more.."
First Disclaimer.. I use IO's and Hami-O's. I also used Incarnate abilities in the end as well. To me its a part of the game so I cannot use the.. Well this is better on SO's argument as part of my platform..
I have played every secondary on a tank except Granite and I built a Granite for my wife. I was going to build a TW/STONE tank.. but the game ended..
This is what I stand by.. You can make ANY set good..
INVInvulnerable had its faults.. thats a moot point.. every set had a fault. every set had a weakness...
However in the end game my INV tank could withstand pretty much anything.. even non S/L foes.. I tanked Mother Mayhem. Psi Clock King.. Malaise.. all PSI enemies with an INV tank..
My Inv tank had defense softcapped to S/L/E/N.. 88% resistance to S/L and 27% to everything else 17% to Psi. Of course there was always unstoppable but I rarely if ever used it..
End was never an issue. I have some IO's to help with that.. but in reality attacks drain more end that toggles.. If you dont slot attacks for end reduction.. your asking for trouble..
Now the real gem of the build was Perma Dull Pain.. Thats the Trick.. the ability to keep your HP maxed out and heal 80% of damage taken every 104 seconds is huge.. basically.. most enemies couldnt get through the HP fast enough before it healed to max again..
ShieldShield was actually an easy build Easy to Soft Cap to every position. so Melee, Range and AoE easily softcapped and you could get about 65% DefDebuff resistance.. Pretty Much you could stand around and watch foes swing and miss all day.. I had 4 shield toons..3 tanks.. 1 Brute and I certainly did not HAVE to fight to survive..
WillpowerYes WP was a monster.. my final WP build was softcapped to S/L/E/N Decent Psi Defense and Resists.. Its real gem was the ability to Regen about 95 HP per second with one foe in range 115 with 4, 141HP per second with 8 Foes.. Very hard to kill.. very hard to take down..
I fought Marauder on a Lambda to an absolute stand still.. We couldnt take each other down..
And yet it still wasnt my most survivable Tank.. That goes to..
ICEWHAT ICE
? Are you kidding me..
Yes.. Soft capped also to S/L/N/E.. Chilling Embrace reduces Damage and Recharge speed which also reduces incoming damage.. AND Perma Hoarfrost.. Remember Perma Dull Pain earlier?? Same thing.. 50% Defense Debuff Resistance.. 100% slow resistance..
But wait that doesnt seem better.. aaaah but then there is also HIBERNATE.. nice little power.. just in case you get in over your head.. click.. get your health and end back.. Full Bar.. Pop back out.. tank some more.. and you dont have to be dead to use it... and it doesnt kill you when it shuts down either..
Dark Armor and Electric Armor also get honorable mentions.. Energy Aura for Brute and Super Reflexes also very good..
Now depending on your primary.. you could turn good survival into GREAT survival..
Dark/Stone tank had Fault.. and Oppressive Gloom.. Which means a mag 4 Stun at all times. Stunned Bosses.. win win..