I'm hoping someone can recommend a build that meets my needs...

I find myself hopelessly overwhelmed by choices, and it seems like I keep getting to level 35ish and rerolling.

Here’s what I’m looking for:

  • Face-tank. I want something melee and tanky as hell.

  • Reasonably fast clear speeds. I know it won’t be super fast if it’s super tanky, but I’d like a decent amount of AoE.

  • NOT reliant on skills that will force me to guzzle energy potions. I was having a blast with my BWC Commando until I hit level 60 and now I’m constantly out of energy.

  • I like the idea of a retribution build, but I don’t want it to be too boring.

Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?

Bleed Warder with shield. It’s a DoT/melee hybrid. Drizzto has very good build: http://www.grimdawn.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52646
In main game I doubt you will have a problem with energy sustain.

You could try Witchblade or Commando.

I just finished building out version 1.0 of my assault tank Tactician, maybe something like this would work for you:

http://www.grimtools.com/calc/q2MA9j02

Want to make a post about it, but I’ve been having the same problem since I came back to the game at expac launch. Decided to go back to what I know and build a facetanker, level him, then use him to farm his own gear then farm gear for other builds. Queue a 10 hour session of playing numbers tetris on a build I’d already spent a fair few hours on in the past week as I thought of ideas. I still haven’t level him. =<

Pros: Tank, but not retaliate. Lot of damage is in on block (Targo’s Hammer, Trample) but also maul and bull rush. 100% block/block recharge reduction. Not using Inquisitor’s Seal currently (may change that up) so not tied to a spot or prone to standing in stupid. Decent 700 regen. Markovian set 5 piece bonus 100% uptime overguard, high uptime fighting spirit which should be enough to pust 2300 OA up to territory regularly critting bosses proccing Deadly Aim pushing OA up into lotsa crits. 15% ADCH to back up the regen. Stone Form for some damage absorb to go with my damage absorb, also high uptime thanks to Mr. Markov’s Miracle Armor Set. 1 point blitz/blindside turns into 5 from bonuses, not terrible and good mobility.

Basically blitz in, start smackin’ em with cadence, proc WPS and devos and stuff blows up around you. Cleansing Water on 1 point war cry in case of reflect damage internal trauma self-gibbing or enrages. Not the most exciting rotation, I admit. Cadence is 1 point except for deadly momentum because it’s not the main portion of the damage. Mostly it should be coming from the devos and some gear procs (couple of reckonings that came with the rings that got me to 100% block chance, markov’s revengening or whatever from the…chest?, etc. Keep Word of Power up at all times, not hard with 30 sec duration and 15 sec cooldown. Keep Overguard up at all times. Should be possible with Markov 5 piece, but a second or two here or there shouldn’t be enough to be a problem unless you were already well into the daaaangeh zone. Dagger devo for -physical resist on seal of blades aura.

Decent freeze, trap, slow resist, not so much petrify. Capped resists with word up. Menhir’s Bastion if you happen to remember you have it and someone hits you with a heavy elemental reduction. (always forgot when I was playing my old commando tank in the before time)

…just realized I’d put a bunch into Military Conditioning back when he was a squishy assault tank at 9k health but high defenses. I may sell that down to a 1 pointer. I can generally accept anywhere from 10-15k even on a tank, just changes the playstyle a bit.

Only circuit breaker is menhir’s will, currently maxed. Depending on results I may sell that down and use the points on…I’m not sure. Seal maybe.

Gear: Boots could be anything, I think those fit well, give good bonuses that I wanted, some good defenses it’s hard to get elsewhere, and a nice ‘when hit’ proc.

Weapon could be literally any mace, however noting: None of the legendary options come close on single hit damage, and since the main damage output is procs I’m more interested in high weapon damage overall than having an impressive Cadence dps number. Warborn Gavel is a good next option, or maybe that inquisitor mace that is utterly forgetable.

Pants as well could be literally anything. I put those in because I really wanted to buff up OA a lot. There are 2 legendary pants options with decently useful stats and +2 overguard that would let you put those 2 points somewhere else.

The rest is pretty much core to the build or absolutely needed to reach 100/100 block. Obviously it’s going to be generations of farming before my great-great-grandchildren actually get the full set, but that’s the plan.

As for energy equilibrium…not terrible, most of the stuff is either cheap, or longer cooldown. It also has -10% skill cost from…somewhere. Possibly that mutant arm I plan to rip off a hulk and then beat other hulks with. It’s not energy neutral, but it shouldn’t drain fast at all.

I’ve got a few other ‘tanky’ options if you want something different. Couple of attempts at necro ADCH exclusive skill facetankers in shaman or soldier flavour. Nothing that’s worked out to look on paper as successful, though.

Solid recommend is solid.

I’d go back to your BWC Commando, and change out an item for one that has high energy regen, or look for devotions to fix it. There are runes, and faction augments as well. Most my characters at some point, always hit a wall and start to guzzle potions. I hate that, but I can always shuffle some gear around, or switch out runes, devotions and augmentations to fix it. They aren’t always the ideal items, but they get the job done.

It often doesn’t take a lot to fix the issue.