In the first of these articles I'm going to investigate the Tanker Class and the power sets available to that class.
As a Tanker your role is to be first into the fight, to draw the attention of all the bad guys to you so the rest of your group can hit them without worrying about being hurt. The Tanker has the highest hit points of the standard classes in City of Heroes ( I say standard because I have not played either of the prestige classes yet). You also do a medium amount of damage. However a high amount of Hit Points is only part of the battle, there are numerous different types of damage that can, and will, be thrown your way. Luckily the Tanker's primary power set has a number of choices available to you to allow you deal with this damage.
Primary Power Sets
Dark Armour
Death Shroud
Toggle power. Damage over time attack, all enemies in short range while active Damage: Low Recharge: Fast
)
Dark Embrace
Toggle power. Grants resistance to lethal, smashing, energy, negative energy and toxic damage while active Damage: N/A Recharge: Fast
Murky Cloud
Toggle power. Grants resistance to fire, cold, energy, negative energy and endurance drain while active Damage: N/A Recharge: Fast
Obsidian Shield
Toggle power. Grants resistance to Psionic, sleep, fear, hold and disorient effects while active Damage: N/A Recharge: Fast
Dark Regeneration
Drains health from nearby foes to heal you. More foes nearby more health restored. Damage: Minor Recharge: Slow
Cloud of Darkness
Toggle power, Difficult to see and when attacked you get a bonus to defense Can not be stacked with other stealth powers. Damage: N/A Recharge: Slow
Cloak of Fear
Area of effect. Causes fear to all enemies within range. Damage: N/A Recharge: Fast
Oppressive Gloom
Area of effect disorient, uses little endurance BUT also uses Hit points to use Damage: N/A Recharge: Moderate
Soul Transfer
Self resurrect - needs nearby enemies, damages foes. Make you invulnerable and no XP debt for 90 seconds Damage: Minor Recharge: Very long
Advantages: Self heal, Self rez and stealth. Disadvantages: heal and rez require nearby foes to drain from to work
)
Fiery Aura
Blazing aura
Short range, all enemies in range, damage over time Damage: Minor Recharge: Fast
Fire shield
Grants resistance to lethal, smashing, fire damage and minimal cold and disorient resistance Damage: N/A Recharge: Very fast
Healing Flames
Self heal and resistance to toxic for a short time Damage: N/A Recharge: Long
Temperature Protection
Grants resistance to fire and cold. Always on. Requires no endurance. Damage: N/A Recharge: N/A
Consume
Area of Effect damage and increases endurance Damage: Minor Recharge: Very longM
Plasma Shield
Grants resistance to energy, negative energy and fire damage. Also sleep and hold effects. Damage: N/A Recharge: Very fast
Burn
Frees you from immobilization effects and causes damage over time to nearby enemies. However can only be used on or near the ground. Damage: N/A Recharge: Slow
Fiery Embrace
Boost attack damage of fire attacks for a long time and non fire based attacks for a short time. Damage: N/A Recharge: Very long
Rise of the Phoenix
Area of effect Blast and disorient, Self Rez, invulnerable and no XP debt for 90 seconds Damage: Recharge: Very long
Advantages: Temperature Protection is always on and does not use Endurance. Heal and Rez don't need targets to work Disadvantages: little/no resistance to Psionic. No knock back resists. Some powers limited by location
Ice Armour
Frozen Armour
Toggle. Grants resistance to Smashing, Lethal, and cold Damage and to a lesser degree fire damage Damage: N/A Recharge: Very fast
Hoarfrost
Increases max Hit Points while active Damage: N/A Recharge: Very long
Chilling Embrace
Slows the move and attack rate of enemies Damage: N/A Recharge: Very fast
Wet Ice
Grants resistance to disorient, immobilise, Hold sleep, knock back, cold and defence debuffs. Slight increase of all defensive except against Psionic Damage: N/A Recharge: Very fast
Permafrost
Grants strong resistance to cold and minor resistance to fire and a resist to slow. Always on, no endurance cost Damage: N/A Recharge: N/A
Icicles
Damage over Time to foes in Melee range Damage: Minor Recharge: Fast
Glacial Armour
Grants resistance to energy, negative energy and bonus to perception. Reduces cold damage and resist defence debuff. Damage: N/A Recharge: Very fast
Energy absorption
Drains endurance from your foes and increases your defence also increases your defence against all by Psionic Damage: N/A Recharge: Long
Hibernate
Encases you in an invulnerable ice block for max 30 seconds during which time accelerated healing and endurance regeneration are in effect Damage: N/A Recharge: Long
Advantages: Increase Max HP (Always good), Defence that also attacks. Disadvantages: little/no Psionic defence. No Self Rez or heal
Invulnerability
Resist Physical Damage
Grants resistance to smashing and lethal damage. No endurance cost, always on. Damage: N/A Recharge: N/A
Temp Invulnerability
Toggle, strong resistance to smashing and lethal damage Damage: N/A Recharge: Fast
Dull Pain
Toggle - increase Maximum HP while active Damage: N/A Recharge: Long
Resist Elements
Grants resistance to Fire, cold and Toxic damage and to Slow effects. No endurance cost, always on Damage: N/A Recharge: N/A
Unyielding
Toggle. Grants resistance to all damage but Psionic, knock back, sleep, hold and Immobilise Damage: N/A Recharge: Slow
Resist Energies
Grants resistance to energy, negative energy and endurance debuffs. No endurance cost always on. Damage: N/A Recharge: N/A
Invincibility
Toggle. Bonus to defence and chance to hit for each foe in Melee Damage: N/A Recharge: Slow
Tough Hide
Grants resistance to defence debuffs and makes you harder to hit. No endurance cost, always on. Damage: N/A Recharge: N/A
Unstoppable
Big resistance to all damage, disorient, immobilise, hold, knock back and sleep. Increased endurance rate recovery. Uses little endurance but when over left drained of health and endurance for a time afterwards. Damage: N/A Recharge: Very long.
Advantages: Many of the powers require no endurance. Disadvantages: No Psionic protections, and no self heal or Rez
