TL;DR
For main tanking all trials, plus Ditch strategy for Avatar: +1 level shift, Taunt, achieve 90% S/L/E Resistance and 2,000+ HP along with one or more of: Barrier, substantial Psi Resist, or 500+ additional HP (real and absorb). Lower resists can be compensated for with more HP (to an extent). Nice to have: +3 level shift, Defense (some combination of M/R/S/L/E), Melee Hybrid and AoE KD effects.
For main tanking all trials, plus Facetanking the Avatar: +3 level shift, Taunt, achieve 110%+ S/T Resistance, 90% L/E Resistance, Barrier, and 3000+ HP (real and absorb). Recommended: even more S/T Resist, 500+ additional HP (real and absorb), Melee Hybrid. As with the other Avatar strategy, extra HP can make up for a resistance deficiency (to an extent). Nice to have: Defense (some combination of M/R/S/L/E), substantial Psi Resist and AoE KD effects.
Both Brutes and Tankers can carry out either strategy, but Brutes will have to work harder to meet some of those numbers. The Tanker ATO procs are awesome; the Brute ATO procs are filler.
Though I did indulge in a significant research on Reddit, the Canadian back-up of the live servers (for some reason those are in the Wayback Machine), and poaching Issue24/unchanged data from Homecoming, the bulk of my conclusions are by way of induction. I tested, in game, different armor types and slotting configurations to discover what worked best (or at least that I had the most fun with) in the various trials.
Any questions are welcome, but please only post strategies/tactics that you've personally game tested.
Purpose:
Our Rebirth version of City of Heroes is diverging from the Issue24 common source of the other servers. A repository of basic knowledge for main tanking incarnate trials would have encouraged me to try my hand at it far sooner. Sharing some of what I've learned since the game's return in 2019, as well as inviting others to add their trial-proven strategies/tactics/tricks, is my attempt to give something back to the game that has given me so much joy.
This article is meant to be a resource containing realistic descriptions of main tanking responsibilities, strategies for executing those duties, and builds that can see it all done.
Though there are plenty of numbers in this article (we need metrics), my conclusions are based solely off in-game effect. Meaning, that while I love to play in Mids and I do appreciate the math behind what we're doing, the effects of practical gameplay are all that matter to me.
What is incarnate trial main tanking? (What am I doing and why?)
Primarily, a main tank for I-trials takes the big hits/crowd control/damaging raid mechanics for the league.
Secondarily (but often just as importantly), a main tank acts as an air traffic controller, guiding an AV to a particular location or simply facing it away from the rest of the group, so that the League can beat down the AV from an advantageous/safe position.
Tertiarily, with all the resistances, HP, and Taunt, a main tank can create herd situations in UG and Magi so that the league can cut loose with massive area of effect abilities; who doesn't like that?
How do I know if my character is ready for main tanking?
In the TL;DR above, a short form of the statistics that have proven themselves as conservative minimums for main tanking is listed. These numbers are meant as guidelines, not as any hard and fast measure. What works (and is hopefully fun) is all that matters for purposes of this practical resource. Those summarized numbers are expanded a bit below.
Level Shifts: While +1 level shift is required to simply hold aggro on an incarnate AV, more shifts are certainly recommended. Level difference affects almost every defensive measure, so unless the tanking options are limited or you're very experienced and have blown a ton of resources on enhancement sets, a tank with only one level shift is unlikely to succeed at main tanking. I couldn't imagine Facetanking the Avatar with less than 3 level shifts, primarily because that AV's main danger (Outside of Will of the Earth) is Infection's massive def/res debuff.
Resistance: Though Smashing and Lethal damage remain prevalent (the baddies never get tired of shooting or punching us), Energy damage can be the third rail of incarnate trial main tanking. Incarnate content, speaking generally, is loaded with Energy damage. Praetorians, the BAF Towers, Antimatter, War Walkers, etc. all inflict large amounts of spike and DoT Energy damage. Achieving 90% in these three categories is doable for the Resistance based sets (Electric, Radiation, Fire, etc.) largely due to generous set bonuses from the Halloween enhancements. Count the least Barrier will do for you, the superlative Tanker ATOs (if you happen to be a Tanker), and a Melee Hybrid enhancement (should you use it) to get an easily self-sustainable total. Please note, if Facetanking the Avatar, shooting for 110%+ Smashing and Toxic resistance is also called for, but since this is a one-off encounter (as opposed to the multiple War Walkers in UG) it is practical to carry around a few extra orange inspirations to go with the blues required for that strategy.
Hit Points: If one can achieve 90% S/L/E resistance, has Barrier, and a firm grip on the tactics of tanking the various incarnate AVs, then one can get by with as few as 2000 hp (Maybe less). More HP are certainly recommended for general tanking, and they are required for surviving the massive debuffs from the Avatar of Hamidon. Whether it's by way of Absorb shields, Dull Pain/Hoarfrost, or stacking up set bonuses, it all counts as hit points. For purposes of tanking the Avatar of Hamidon, 3000+ HP is recommended. More hit points can be substituted for resistances, but I've not experimented enough to guess the ratio for replacing resistances with HP.
Defense: None of the sets that I've tested for incarnate trial main tanking have significant amounts of Defense. This is not to say that Defense is wholly useless when main tanking incarnate content. Though many of the AVs have tremendous to-hit chances (Maelstrom) and/or debuffs (Antimatter and the Avatar), the Olympian Guards, Banished Pantheon, and the Praetorian army can hit hard, so having some defense is useful against the trash mobs in UG, Magi, DD, and TPN.
AoE KD Effects: Though of no use against AVs, these kings/queens of soft control (and their single target cousins) make surviving the notorious shout of the Olympian Guard much easier. Beyond some large robot models, Devoured, and AV's (along with their scaled down EB equivalents) very little in CoH has knockdown protection. Ragnarok and Avalanche both have excellent KD procs; most any character can use at least one of them.
What are the basic main tank tactics?
Pulling/Gaining Initial Aggro: In every case except for Siege (in BAF), incarnate trial AVs require a single Taunt/attack (ranged or melee)/aura brush/Darkest Night anchor to get their attention.
Breaking Line of Sight: After pulling an AV, putting distance between yourself and the enemy might not be enough. Hiding your character and playing peekaboo with AVs is the easiest way to move them around. In MoM's second phase, for instance, a single taunt of the AV and an aura brush of a Storm Void, followed by a duck behind the pillar closest to the door will bring the AV and Void together on top of you.
Holding Aggro: Distinct from pulling AVs, there are situations, primarily in UG, where other players' powers work against facing the AV away from the rest of the league. Where warnings from the raid leader are ignored, inexperience prevents a player from understanding the consequences of their actions, or people simply make mistakes, the remedies that I've discovered to situations where the AV won't sit still and face you include: inflicting damage on the AV, particularly before the rest of the league is called in; repeated Taunt, every time it's off cool down; hanging Darkest Night on the AV, they seem to hold a grudge against toggle debuffs. None of that is guaranteed to work, unfortunately.
Herding: Bringing large groups of enemies together for DPS slaughter. Any AoE thrown on one spawn before dashing off to another spawn will generally pull groups together. Breaking line of sight or taking advantage of Taunt's -range effect can move things along faster. Darkest Night is a wonderful herding tool. DN also allows a Brute/Tanker to significantly debuff a trash spawn (maybe an ambush) that exceeds their aggro cap, thus giving them the ability to protect their team from afar.
When and where is main tanking called for?
Since each incarnate trial is its own multi-stage mini task force, the opportunities (and demands) for main tanking vary depending on the trial. Frankly, there's little to no need for a main tank in some trials, while others become very difficult without one. So, each trial is listed below, along with notes on where and when main tanking can be helpful/necessary. This is not meant to be a guide to I-Trials in general, rather these are notes indicating where, when, and how a main tank might effectively play their part.
BAF: A main tank is helpful for pulling Nightstar and Siege to the building north of the tennis courts. Fighting there, the league can stay out of the field of fire of the Energy damage turrets. Nightstar requires exactly one 'hit' (Taunt or attack), then the main tank can simply travel past the league and hide around the corner. Using SJ or Flying can coax Nightstar into doing the same, thus shortening the pull. Siege requires two taunts to keep his interest. The second Taunt needs to be fired at about halfway between his spawn point and the waiting league. Though Siege spawns farther away than Nightstar, it is easy to approach and guide him without getting hit by any of the turrets. Careful snipes or tough squishies can do both these jobs if a tank isn't available.
DD: Babysitting the two captive heroes in the final stage is the only real use for a main tank in this trial. If the two AVs spawn adjacent, then it's easy enough to stand next to them, taunt the pair, and then lead them away from the scrum. If the two heroes flank Diabolique, then pick one to stand next to and taunt the other the moment it becomes targetable. Then, the pair can be guided away from the battle with Diabolique. Between taunts of the two off-AVs, feel free to shoot essences or Diabolique.
Keyes: This is one place where all that Energy resistance is put to the test. Late in the first stage, Antimatter will materialize on top of a building with a curved roof between the 1st stage tower and the 2nd stage tower. If playing a Brute (and not Electric Armor), saving Barrier for this moment is recommended. A Tanker will need to be careful in utilizing their ATOs to buff their Resistance/Absorb because if Antimatter is slain before the final stage, the trial fails. While there's no way the main tank is going to beat down AM before the stage ends, inexperienced/inattentive players will start attacking AM if they see anyone else doing it.
In stages 2 and 3, AM materializes on the 1st terminal floor above the ground, but he rarely needs attention because of most leagues' speed. If in Stage 3 AM appears and 6 terminals have not been primed, then the main tank will need to draw AM to a cleared terminal; this is an uncommon occurrence and requires a simple taunt/break line of sight combo.
The final phase calls for a main tank to pull AM to each terminal bank in the sequence that AM will employ them to stop time and regenerate at increments of 80/50/20 percent of his health. The purpose in pulling AM to each terminal bank is to shorten the period of his 'Time Stop' power. The shorter the freeze period, the greater the odds of avoiding the green stuff. Also, a short freeze reduces the odds of someone being disintegrated while frozen.
Lambda: I see no particular use for a main tank in Lambda. An unshifted/undeveloped league might need two tanks, one for each elevator bank, but a league that weak seems unlikely to defeat Marauder in time. In a badge run, someone will need to pull the AV away from some consumables that, if broken, will fail the badge
Magi: There's very little for a main tank to do in a regular Magi run. Since Blasters can pull 17 Praets at a time to the crossroads by blasting and jumping, only the Tanker's 25 target aggro cap or a Brute's relative toughness aid in pulling during the first phase.
In the second phase, if the league is on the weaker side, Nega-Pendragon can be pulled away so that Shadow Hunter can be focused down. Frankly, the leagues on Rebirth (at least as of this writing) are so strong that dragging Nega-Pendragon away appears to slow things down.
In attempting the Triple Threat badge, two main tanks are required for positioning and surviving the pair of Shadow Hunter and Nega-Pendragon and for keeping Manticore's attention for the pursuit team.
MoM: A main tank is helpful, but not required. The damage to melee characters from the purple pools dropped in the first and fourth phase can be minimized by a main tank taunting the AVs and creating distance/breaking line of sight to pull them out of the damaging pools.
In the second phase, the AV and a Storm Void need to be pulled together, but given the convenient pillars in the room, anyone with a ranged attack can shoot both, hide, and pull them together.
TPN: One tanking character is required to hold Maelstrom's attention outside during the second telepathist phase. Fortunately, Mael's damage appears to be all Smashing/Lethal. This means many Brutes/Tankers pack the Resistance and HP to survive him. A character who might not otherwise be considered a 'main tank' could carry out this job, perhaps with a little support, should they lack level shifts or enhancement sets.
The inside tank(s) have a little more to do. A lone inside tank (usually a Tanker or, if the league is small, a Brute) can pull the mobs from Terminals A, B, and C so that the DPS team can kill the techs and click the panels. If only a single Brute is available for the inside team, a competent (and they almost always are) DPS team can take care of the Praets pestering HD.
Beyond the large amount of incoming Energy damage, a single inside tank needs to manage their aggro cap. Even the Tanker 25 target cap can be exceeded by the combination of adds dragged in from the halls, respawns, and the orbs that the Praets spawn. Part of main tanking inside is watching for those respawns and managing mobs beyond your aggro cap. Taunting mobs when at aggro cap doesn't help, but a ranged attack will do the trick. Also, killing the orbs when pulling the guards from the terminals is another way to keep under the aggro cap. Finally, a terminal's guards vanish once the terminal is clicked, thus reducing the enemy count.
Two inside tanks of any kind render the aggro cap issue moot because the pair can simply divide tanking duties. While Taunt is useful for an inside tank, taunt auras and AoEs work fine for pulling terminal guards, so a character who couldn't tank UG might be fine in TPN.
UG: This is the main tanking Main Event.
Olympian Guards appear throughout the trial, making for a main tank worthy trash mob bonanza. Here is where Defense, AoE KD powers, and piles of HP illustrate a main tank's rodeo clown qualifications. Enough OGs in one place will kill anyone; enjoy the excitement they bring.
Soon enough, though, the league encounters the 1st War Walker.
Because the War Walkers all have special AoE effects that they can trigger on anyone they label as 'Targeted', it is important that the main tank immediately turn any War Walker away from the league. Because OGs fill in to the left of the 1st War Walker (as you exit the elevator), I jump to the right side and behind the War Walker. If I have one, I throw an AoE KD power (Dark Obliteration w/Ragnarok is great for this) on the OGs and Taunt the WW. Because there are enough powers in the game that can break Taunt (Riptide, Water Golem, Phantom Decoys, Tanker/Brute taunt auras, accidental Taunts from other players... etc.), repeatedly taunting the WWs is generally a fine idea.
The 2nd and 3rd War Walker fights feature no OGs, but the AV should be moved in each instance to make the fight more manageable.
A single taunt/attack and breaking line of sight is required to pull the 2nd WW to the other side of the hall from the league and back along the far wall, bringing the WW closer to the league. Then, the WW can be turned around and the league summoned. The WW is moved to this location to prevent the 3rd WW from spawning on top of the league.
The 3rd WW needs to be pulled into the far corner, opposite the elevator out of the level. Generally, I find it easier to pull the 3rd WW across the tracks before guiding it to the end of the hall because it tends to either get hung-up on one of the central walls or its foot gets stuck in the tracks. In any case, once pulled to the end of the hall the tank can call for the rest of the league to beat down the WW. The 3rd WW is moved to that corner location because the lichen in the hall causes it to regenerate at an incredible rate.
The Avatar of Hamidon is a stark dividing line between strategies/tactics for completing the Underground Trial. In fact, misconceptions about this lone foe inspired me to start building this resource.
What does the Avatar of Hamidon do? (Why is it different than the rest of the AVs?)
Will of the Earth is the real enemy here, believe it or not. This yellow/purple hurricane that announces itself as 'Consumed' in red text on your screen will do damage after six seconds to everyone within its area of effect. The damage increases per character in the AoE, so WotE can easily cause partial or nearly full team wipes. On top of all the damage, the Avatar gets healed per character hit.
Crush is the other significantly damaging power of the Avatar. It's a mix of Smashing (no problem) and Toxic (uh-oh, some sets have little to no Toxic resist).
Devour Foe does a bit of Negative Energy Damage. Honestly, it doesn't seem like much. However, Devour Foe operates like how Soul Drain does for Dark Melee (it provides a damage and to-hit buff per target in a PBAoE). This means that if the Avatar is surrounded, it now has a substantial to-hit and damage buff.
Infection is a stacking 33% Defense and Resistance debuff. Briefly, the Avatar can achieve three stacks of Infection. This means that when employing the Facetank strategy a tank must be ready to contend with a momentary -99% Defense and Resistance debuff. The silver lining is that once the third stack expires, all the stacks appear to expire (meaning the full debuff vanishes, only to begin stacking up again...).
Cripple is an extra insult on top of the potentially massive injury inflicted by the combination of the previous three abilities. With Cripple, the Avatar fires a long, but narrow cone. It does no damage, instead Cripple applies a massive -Recovery debuff on everyone it hits. As best I can tell, it is auto-hit. However, Cripple does fire a red text warning. If one is standing in melee with the Avatar, it is very easy to dodge by shifting to one side (Doing this simple evasive action can have dire consequences if employing the Ditch strategy described below because you may have just let the Avatar get to the main tank).
On top of those four abilities, the Avatar fires off Seeds of Confusion (Tactics/Clarion/etc. are welcome here), and it respawns more Greater Devoured. This trash can become hazardous from the combination of the Avatar's Infection debuff and the scarcity of Toxic resistance.
Because of this nasty combination of abilities and the very specific resistances/countermeasures required to directly face the Avatar of Hamidon, a strategy evolved unlike any other to deal with this unique enemy.
Why are we standing in this ditch? (The Ditch Strategy)
To deal with the combination of massive debuffs and Toxic damage, a strategy evolved that placed the bulk of the league as a barrier between a taunting tank and the Avatar of Hamidon. By creating enough range or breaking line of sight with the AV, the Avatar would be unable to activate any of its nasty abilities. With the entire league blocking its way, the Avatar would continue to try and get at the tank who it could not effectively attack.
In the initial phases of this strategy, the Avatar would be drawn into a tiny room off the large chamber that the Avatar spawns in, but too often the Avatar would body-surf and escape. Later, the small hall connecting the Avatar chamber with the approaching tunnel became the preferred bottleneck.
More so than with any other pull, keeping it simple is encouraged because by dawdling (rather than simply taunting/damaging/DN anchoring and running) the main tank is giving the Avatar the opportunity to inflict multiple debuffs that its adds can exploit. There is no reason for a tanker not to run past the league and hide around the corner after establishing aggro. Furthermore, by lingering near the entrance to the tunnel a main tank is setting up the league to be hit with a Cripple. Rarely have I stood in the Ditch and not been Crippled at least once or twice. More than once, have I blown more blue inspirations as a DPS in the Ditch than Facetanking the Avatar.
To carry out the Ditch Strat and protect the league from debuffs, the tanker must remain out of line of sight as much as humanly possible. Yes, ostensibly the toughest character in the league must hide behind the most vulnerable characters. Any time spent within sight of the Avatar is an opportunity for the AV to hit the group with another Cripple.
Combat Jumping is the strongest power I've found to maintain Taunt while simultaneously hiding myself from the Avatar. By popping out just into view, jumping back toward cover, then firing Taunt as I sail through the air, I can expose myself to the Avatar for only a fraction of a second. Several times (I don't have an exact count) with my Tanker, Kewpie Gusto, I was able to stack Darkest Night, damage from Gloom, and Taunt, while keeping myself almost entirely out of the Avatar's line of sight. In each of those instances where I managed to continuously jump out of line of sight while activating Taunt (and everything else went fine... more on that below) the Avatar fired off zero debuffs. To repeat, it is possible to employ the Ditch strategy and avoid all significant debuff/damage from the Avatar just by taunting and being unseen.
Simply walking/sprinting can also be used to pop out the tiny fraction of an inch required, before moving back to cover while simultaneously triggering Taunt. The uneven floor and the possibility of stopping short and causing a Cripple make Combat Jumping (or simply leaping) more reliable, IMO.
However, numerous things can go wrong with the Ditch strategy. The most obvious is the main tanker not staying out of line of sight. Some players just don't seem to know that they can pop into view, jump, and activate a power while the momentum carries them out of line of sight.
Beyond positioning/line of sight issues, there is a laundry list of abilities that can interrupt the Avatar's aggro. Water Golem, Riptide, Phantom Army, and any Brute/Tanker Taunt aura can break aggro. However, even when a player wisely skips Phantom Army, they might not realize that the decoy summoned by another power, Phantasm, behaves exactly like the Phantom Army, in terms of aggro theft!
To further complicate things, there are other powers that I'd be reluctant to ask someone to turn off. Integration (a /Regen Brute's taunt aura) is also their mez protection. I wouldn't expect a /Regen Brute to turn that off (it also might not matter, since I'm not convinced that all taunt auras are created equal). Super-Reflexes has its taunt aura in Evasion, does that character need to skip their AoE defense to accomplish the Ditch strategy?
Also, pets frequently keep the Avatar from breaking on the ditch line. This prevents characters in the ditch from using any melee powers, as well as making the main tank's job much more difficult. It is quite challenging to hop within range of the Avatar, taunt, and hop far enough away to break line of sight when a mass of pets has the AV penned in at the entrance to the Avatar's chamber. Usually, there are multiple Cripples in this situation.
Ultimately, to accomplish the Ditch Strategy, everyone in the league must surrender all player agency/autonomy. The main tank hides behind everyone else, while the rest of the league DPSs the Avatar, keeps it hemmed in, and avoids aggro. Any single player who ignores the instructions, does not understand them, or feels like trolling, can turn the very mechanical Ditch Strat into outright drudgery for all involved. If everyone is on the same page, the Resistances and HP of the main tank are irrelevant because they won't ever be attacked. Level shifts to hold aggro and skill at Taunt/Hiding are all that matter.
Of course, none of that coordination matters if someone gets hit with Will of the Earth (the real enemy here) and doesn't move. The entire league is packed together like veal calves in the bottleneck. Deaths are almost a certainty, as well as healing the Avatar.
Why don't we just Facetank the Avatar?
The obvious alternative to the (literally) backward Ditch Strategy is to have the main tank place the Avatar somewhere that allows the entire league room to both avoid Will of the Earth and array themselves around the Avatar to provide maximum buff/healing/end gain to the main tank and one another. The large chamber that the Avatar spawns in is the perfect place. In fact, the Avatar often loiters near the center of the room.
To enact the Facetank Strategy (as I understand it as of this writing), the main tank Taunts/damages/Darkest Night anchors the Avatar and guides it to the middle of the room. If the Avatar happens to spawn in a corner, Taunt's -Range component combined with tank positioning can easily draw the Avatar right where you want it.
After positioning the Avatar, it is then faced away from the hall where the rest of the league waits. Make sure to both do damage to the Avatar and Taunt it. If Darkest Night is available, make sure it's active. When aggro is fully set with that trifecta (Taunt/Damage/DN) it is possible for the main tank to hold aggro over a subsequently summoned Phantom Army.
*Please Note: The ability to hold aggro over a Phantom Army summoned after applying the trifecta of Taunt/Damage/toggle debuff was observed with my Tanker, Kewpie Gusto (build below), and isn't meant to be a guarantee of a main tank keeping aggro through any of the aggro-disrupting powers that will make the Ditch Strategy a slog with constant Cripples. While Facetanking, those aggro resets are merely inconvenient (the worst outcome is a few members of the league get hit with the long, narrow Cripple cone, not everyone.)*
Once the main tank is confident that they're done everything they can to hold the Avatar's attention (we're talking three to four button clicks to attack, Taunt, toggle, etc.), then the rest of the league is called in. They stick to the Avatar's back, beating it down and providing buffs/heals/end gain to the main tank while the main tank spams taunt, attacks, and survives... just like most of the rest of the AVs in the game.
There are a few catches, however, to the survival portion for a main tank in the Facetanking strategy, along with one huge advantage.
Cripple: As a main tank, trying to dodge the Cripple cone is likely to cause more trouble than it's worth. Be prepared to eat blue inspirations. Back in the Fight are best, but also harder to come by. Second Wind is easier to come up with. Make sure to wait for the end drain to run its course, but before toggles drop, to maximize the effectiveness of the inspiration. A dedicated character with Transference or any other direct end gain power alleviates the Cripple debuff. More than once have I Facetanked the Avatar and not used a single blue inspiration. Just the same, more than once have I used 6 blue inspirations. Come prepared.
Infection: Because you've got the Avatar's full attention (hopefully) you're also the target of the stacking 33% Defense and Resistance debuff. Because the Avatar can attain three stacks (if briefly), the main tank needs to be prepared for Crush (Smash/Toxic). Many times, the main tank can survive that massive, but brief, period of vulnerability with the worst effects coming from adds that spawn in and immediately alpha strike the main tank. Playing main tank, though, demands preparation for the worst case of a Devour Foe-buffed Crush at maximum debuff. This is where a large health pool (Force Barrier from Gadgetry is the panacea for tanks here), a Melee Hybrid, Barrier, and all that Toxic Resistance, worthless in every other Trial, shines. Orange inspirations can easily make up a low-double digit deficit in one or both resistances. Be sure to meter the inspiration use so that Resistance and HP remain high enough throughout the fight, since they only last 60 seconds apiece. Rarely does Facetanking go more than four minutes.
Will of the Earth: At the risk of sounding like a broken record, WotE is the real enemy here. No matter how well a main tank might prepare, in terms of build, positioning, and power rotation, nor how well played any support might be, everyone can be snuffed out by one person who didn't take the purple/yellow hurricane of Will of the Earth seriously.
Proximity to the League: Just being within easy reach of targeted and PBAoE buffs/heals from your mighty league is often enough to ease the burden of Facetanking the Avatar so that the thing folds like a wet paper bag (that could be a literal simile, since I've no idea what that thing is made from... it's in the sewers... toilet paper, maybe?). The point is that you're not alone in this. Several times, a Facetanking has gone so fast that I've not had the opportunity to reapply Barrier.
What might an incarnate trial main tanker build look like?
In succeeding posts, I will upload Tanker/Brute builds that I've used to main tank all of the incarnate trials multiple times. Note that I am not suggesting that these are in any way optimal builds, nor do I subscribe to the notion that there is a single optimal build to begin with (a large part of what keeps CoH interesting, IMO).
I do tend to tinker with builds, so there is a good chance that at some point I'll no longer be using any of the builds posted. As much as I enjoy making builds in Mids, that tool has no metric for what I find 'fun' to play, hence the practical nature of this guide. These builds are only meant to be battle-proven baselines from which one can find their own idea of tanking 'fun'.
