Hero A Day - Draco Polaris

Polaris was the third of the Draco tanks and was a particularly interesting combination. I had seen some discussion that Fire Aura / Ice Melee was a strong tanking choice, but one of my first characters in COH was a Fire/Ice tank and I was not happy with it and eventually deleted it. Now though, knowing much more about the game, I could see the synergies and decided to give it another try - thus was born...

DRACO POLARIS

Fiery Aura is my favorite tanker primary mainly due to the mix of powers and the early availability of many good ones, and also due to the look.

Ice Melee is not a high-powered offense compared to some but it has some interesting properties. Most attacks in it have a slow effect (keeping the badguys close to you in your damage auras and off of your teammates) and also have a -recharge effect, slowing their attack rate and mitigating damage. It also has a cone, a PBAOE, and Ice Patch which is an area foe knockdown which again keeps foes in your damaging aoe's like Burn.

Synergies are that Ice Melee makes for a very sticky tank and Fire Aura ensures that the enemy is taking damage while they are stuck to you. It's not as offensive as a raging fiery embracing superstrength fire tank, but it is very good at the traditional tanker role of keeping the enemy busy and focused on you and it is fun to play.

Pool powers will be the now-essential for tankers Fighting, the thematically required Flight, and I'm not sure after that. Ancillary might be Arctic but I'm not there yet.

For the costume I started with the reptilian Monstrous look, veteran reward Demonic Wings, Valkyrie breastplate & belt, and the spiked pauldron shoulders. I went wit ha white primary scheme with light blue highlights for a solid icy look. I added the Omega combat aura to add an element of flaming ice to the look and I like it so far.

Draco Polaris is busy leveling up on Freedom server - team up if you get a chance.

Hero A Day - Captain Saskatchewan

The second of my shield tankers was born when I heard good things about Shield/Ice Melee. I decided to give one a try and so was born...

CAPTAIN SASKATCHEWAN

Hero of the Great White North come to aid paragon City in its fight to survive.

Shield Defense is considered pretty strong for a tanker primary with a fairly good offensive power or two mixed in with a lot of defense.

Ice Melee is not especially strong for damage but a lot of it is cold which is pretty lightly resisted in the game. It is one of the most effective when it comes to control and damage mitigation as the attacks almost all have a slow effect which reduces move and attack rates meaning you take less damage because they aren't hitting you as often.. This is a set where I'm wondering if spreading attacks around will help more than concentrated fire on one target, as each target will be slowed as it is hit.

Captain S plays almost exclusively on teams because that's where I think his strengths lie. He works very well with a damage-focussed melee combatant on his team vyt he can hold the line even if it's all blasters  besides him.

Travel power is Spuperleap for now with Fighting and Leadership as likely pools in the near future.

His costume is fairly simple with white tights and the orange-red maple leaf added to show his affiliation. The flared boots add a bit of...flair...to his look and the ski-goggle facewear completes the "northerner" ensemble. I added the slashes to liven up the tights a bit and because I wanted to represent him as being from more of a wilderness province rather than a big city. I have run the shield both with and without the slashes and while I think they are almost too much right now, without them the maple leaf alone looks a little plain.

Captain S runs on Freedom where there's always a team forming for something - join in if you get a chance.