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Official Description: "The Tanker can take it and dish it out all at once. The Tanker primarily can absorb vast amounts of damage, and hold his own in a fist fight. But the Tanker lacks any long range punch. The Tanker would prefer to just charge straight ahead anyway."
Primary: Defense
Secondary: Melee
Hit Points: High
Damage: Medium
Icon: Armor - The Tanker's best weapon is his armor, his best offense is his defense.
Inherent:
Gauntlet - Although many can try, few can withstand the irresistable force of the Tanker. Each time a Tanker attacks, he enrages the target, and those around them, enticing them to attack the Tanker. Each punch continues to provoke your enemies, and allows the Tanker to do what he does best. Taunt
The Tanker has the following Power Sets to choose from:
More than any other archetype in the game, Tankers are fairly similar in their abilities. A lot of this has to do with their concept, they are really not all that different from Scrappers except for their strategy. Even so, there can be vast differences between the Power Sets that must be understood in order to be a successful Tanker. If a Fire Tanker tries to use an Invulnerability Tanker's strategies, he'll be killed. There are a number of "subarchetypes" defined by the different combinations of Power Sets, and I have listed many of them on this page.
Tips for playing the Tanker:
While solo:
Strategy for a Tanker is fairly simple. Wade into a group of thugs and start wailing on them. Unlike nearly every other archetype in the game, the Tanker has little to fear from multiple foes. While he may take time to finish them off, he's rarely in any real danger. Of course, if the group is too large, the Tanker can be overwhelmed. Knowing how many bad guys you can take on at one time is important to correctly playing a Tanker.
The Tanker's one weakness is a tendency to run low on Endurance. Since you don't take a lot of damage, there is a temptation to rush headlong into the next combat. The Tanker can't keep up this kind of pace, and if you attack without thinking, while at low Endurance, you can drop your toggle defenses, leaving yourself helpless. You should be patient, and bide your time between battles. Endurance recovers much faster than health.
Because of the Tanker's very specialized defenses, as well, he is the archetype that is most effected by the different TYPES of enemy attacks and defenses. A particular Tanker might wade through physical opponents, like Skulls, with ease, only to find Clockworks and Circle Mages tearing through his hit points. You should always choose your missions carefully, keeping in mind your strengths and weaknesses, particularly in the beginning stages. A Technology Tanker can find it tough going against the Clockworks, to give one example.
If push comes to shove, take a page from the Scrapper's strategy and use hit and run tactics. Take on a single opponent or a couple out of a group of three or more, and then retreat to recover afterwards. And don't neglect your attacks, while you many not need them for the longer battles against which you are well defended, more damage means that you will level faster. Unless you plan never to solo, aim for balance, especially at first.
The Tanker's inherent ability to draw aggro can get you in trouble if you're not prepared for it. Although in the past the Tanker could draw aggro with impunity and survive huge groups of foes, that has changed with Enhancement Diversification and the reduction of defenses. This is particularly true for Fire Tankers, but all Tankers need to be careful not to aggro foes from far away, and get overwhelmed by sheer numbers. You should try and lead groups away from other groups that might notice you while you are fighting. The Tanker is big and loud, remember that, and plan your strategy accordingly.
You should also avoid the temptation to take on a Boss or Lieutenant right away. Remember that each opponent in a group is an attack that can be directed at you. If you can take out an opponent quickly, that's one less attacker that you have to withstand while fighting the Boss. The exception to this rule is if you have a defense that scales to the number of attackers you face, like Invulnerability's Invincibility power. In this case, you might want to draw a group of minions around you as a shield, while you clobber their leader.
While on a team:
On a team, the Tanker's primary role is to draw fire. Tanking was best summed up by Superman himself, in an episode of the Justice League: "Each hit I take means one that the rest of you don't have to." The Tanker is better defended than any other Archetype, and thus if he can keep foes off his buddies, they can do their job of delivering damage all the better.
The Tanker's ability to draw aggro on a team is helped immensely by his Inherent. Gauntlet (also sometimes called "punchvoke") allows you to keep the attention of enemies with every punch you throw. If you use your Taunt power, even more will become "locked down". Some "aura" defenses, like the Invincibility power, or Ice's Energy Absorption, or even an attack aura like Fire's Blazing Aura generate aggro. Managing aggro means learning how to "layer" these taunt effects, and ensure you are the foe that most villains want to attack.
Even with all these tools, you have to build up to a good taunt, so make sure the Blasters on your team understand that. They should let you fight the group alone long enough to get a good melee going, and then start dropping the area of effect attacks on them. You should always be the first one into the fight, so typically you will be picking the targets and setting the pace for the battle.
You should also be careful not to let yourself be overwhelmed. As mentioned above, since Enhancement Diversification Tankers have lost the ability to tank huge packs of bad guys without fear. Now you need a Defender backing you up, or maybe even two, to reach that level of protection. If there are no Defenders on your team, keep the groups small, let the Blasters pull them to you, or Taunt groups away yourself so you can deal with them without drawing the attention of other villains in the room.
If there are two Tankers on a team, they can usually divide any groups between them simply by running to opposite ends of the group and attacking different foes. They will each draw the villains closest to them, ending up with two "clumps" around the two Tankers. Scrappers can also draw aggro off of you with their Confront power, and just because they do greater damage. They can split groups as well, although they have to take a smaller share. Controllers can also be a great benefit, although of course if you have a Controller on your team, he can probably provide defense almost as good as a Defender.
If you start to get low on hit points, don't be too proud to back away and let others draw aggro off of you. If you fall, they will ALL be drawn off of you, in an uncontrolled fashion, and that's usually fatal to a group. Of course, understanding your powers is essential to knowing what you are capable of, and how much danger you are in. Tankers with scaling defenses, like Invulnerability and Ice, often take huge amounts of damage in the initial stages of the fight, before they can draw enough enemies into melee to provide them with protection. If you feel that you can survive with low hit points, once you have established a melee, go ahead and stand your ground. This is something you can only get a feel for with experience.
Finally, don't assume that just because you're a Tanker, you can't do damage. You should participate in the battle yourself, just because your punches draw aggro, and if you Enhance them, you can actually help take out the foes you are fighting. This can reduce the amount of defense you need, as the foes that are attacking you are being defeated before they can really hurt you. Even if more foes are charging in to take their place, you have cut down the amount of damage you are taking at a particular time. This is essentially how Fire Tankers survive in large groups.
If it bothers you that Tankers don't do that much damage, consider your character as pulling his punches. He knows that he doesn't have anything to fear, and so he's more likely to hold back and give his foe a chance to surrender. Or perhaps, he's just so bulky that the faster, more agile villains just avoid him - most of the time. You can Enhance your attacks to fit either description, to attack constantly, drawing more aggro over time, or to deliver all of your damage in one massive blow, "spiking" your aggro to its maximum all at once.
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