Sorc tank

Magdalina

Most tanks seem to be DKs(who make awesome immortal tanks if played correctly and can also deal some decent damage while doing so) and Templars(who also make awesome immortal tanks and can throw some off heals in a tight spot), I've see a few pretty good NB ones, but I only know one sorc and he's still pretty little, so...talk to me, people. Do any of you play sorc tanks/know any good ones? How viable is it?

I'm primarily and mainly a bathrobe+stick adept, healer/off dps. However, getting mildly bored at vet 12, I picked up heavy armor(which looks SO badass!) and s&b(which did murder to my skillpoints but that's not the point). Now, I'm a very baby tank now because I literally never tanked anything - ESO is my first MMO and I've dps'd/healed it since lvl 1 and til vet 12, so I'm still trying to figure it out. My main problem as a sorc though seems to be lack of viable self heals. DKs pop Dragonblood and pretty much achieve immortality, Templar have whole skilltree of heals, NBs have that Siphoning thingie(or whatever it's called). I have Crit Surge, which only works with crit attacks and my crit is like...0 in heavy, and Dark Deal, which eats stam. I don't want anything to eat my stam while I'm supposed to block stuff. I do have some great shields like Hardened Ward and Lightning Form, but basically, once my health goes down, it stays there unless boss kindly lets me regenerate or I pop a potion.

My other problem is lack of damage - I need taunt(or both of them) and some shields on my bar so it's hard to fit in any meaningful damage there, and then I'm constantly out of resources for it, but that's probably mostly my own fault - I haven't yet learnt how to manage resources as a tank. Should I be doing damage tho? I know my Templar tank hardly does, and I know my DK tank puts in quite a bit, I'd like to think as a sorc I *can* add something, too, preferably without dying:)

Oh, and I'm constantly at a loss with trash. I can't taunt them all and if I try to aoe them I run out of magicka FAST, so I'm feeling pretty useless there, lol.

Thoughts, ideas and advices?

Tigeracer

I am a NB, but I was in a very similar position to you. I was DPS all the way to VR8 and wanted to try tanking. Now I am an excellent tank and most people are shocked when they hear that I'm a NB.
When tanking, the healer should be the one keeping your health up to be honest, so all you should have to worry about is damage mitigation. Unless of course you want to be able to solo the crag dungeons (which I have done for most). So let's split this up a bit.
Group tanking:
7 pieces of heavy armour and 1h+s. You want 5 pieces of unassailable (3 jewellery and 2 armour) and whatever the hell you want for the rest (I use song of lamae and alessias bulwark for extra health and armour).
As much as you hear people say that heavy armour sucks or that armour is a useless stat, it's a lie. You want to get as close to hard capping armour and spell resist as you can. You want to use all the wards and shields that you have, provided you can keep your magician up. You should use defending on your sword and use the 1h+s ability "absorb magic". That will lower your block cost significantly and increase block mitigation. It is also a heal against all caster enemies (even bosses!).
Damage dealing:
Remember that you have two skill bars. Your first should be your tanking bar and your second dps.
Solo tanking:
For solo tanking you should be abusing crit surge. I know you have next to no crit, but it's easy to change that. Always stick with unassailable, but you can go with hundings or night mothers as your second set (or both). Run with 5 heavy and 2 medium (extra 6% crit). Also try the thief stone if you feel you need more crit.

I run 49 points in health, but you could do whatever you want there, just glyph for the rest. You want to sit at soft cap for health (with food) and well over soft cap for armour and spell resist. While blocking (with unassailable) you get a huge buff to armour and spell resist.

Try everything I've told you here and let me know if you have any dramas (even better to let me know if it's working out well).

DuelWieldingCheesyPoofs

its good for agro and with aoe and good for armor buff, but crap stam or no regen at all so problems blocking, once your out of magika and stam to block its all down hill from there.

But if managed properly totally fine

DuelWieldingCheesyPoofs

its just a stam issue

chipputer

My vet2 Sorcerer tank has two weapon sets, both one hand and shield (it's the only weapon type besides dual wield or bow that I can stand using). The first set is Degeneration (morph of Entropy from Mages Guild) for a small DoT/HoT, Ransack (for the taunt), the extended time morph of Lightning Form, Explosive Curse (morph of Daedric Curse), and Absorb Magic (the 1h/s skill that buffs blocking while slotted).

I will often times switch out the last two with different skills based on the enemy. If the enemy is able to be crowd controlled, I will put reverberating bash into the rotation to keep the enemy down during threatening attacks. I will also put in the Daedric Summoning damage shield ability if it feels necessary. I rarely remove the blocking buff due to stamina being difficult to maintain as a Sorcerer tank, but when I do remove it I have a good reason for it.

The ultimate on my first bar is Werewolf just for the ultimate gain buff (I think they just changed it to having to be slotted to get it, which is... eh...).

My second bar is pretty much my, "I'm solo and need to deal some damage rather than just survive and rely on DoT." I use Crystal Fragments for the odd-insta cast (and opening the fight), Lightning Splash (for the AoE), Lightning Form (for the defense and DoT to everything around me), Ransack (for quick damage, though this could easily be substituted for some other STA skill), and then I often times will just put a fifth skill on the bar to level up since those four have been all I've needed.

This bar has Absorb Magic as the ultimate, which you can literally almost never go wrong with. Amazing skill.

I have 49 into health, put stamina on 4 armor pieces, my shield, and my accessories, and I also use magicka on my other pieces and magic cost reduction on my accessories. I wear 5 heavy/2 light. I am also an Imperial. All of my equipment is green or lower, usually, and I only use npc vendor-bought enchantments, at the moment (and have only ever used them). I don't use any special sets at all. My armor is just plain, regular stuff.

I've had very little problems soloing most non-group dungeon content with this build, using these skills. This includes level appropriate dark anchors. Don't be afraid to pop a potion once in a while. No shame in it.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, all of my armor and shields have the crit resist trait on them. My two light pieces don't, but that's because I don't have the trait learned. Instead, they have the one that increases the enchantment effect. My weapons generally have the piercing ability, but I have been known to use a weapon with Defending on my first bar.

Aeratus

At the moment, sorc is probably more challenging to tank with than the other three classes when it comes to high end tanking, especially the tough v14 stuff. Although Sorc is good at stacking armor and shields, they don't have a good way of self-managing resources and/or health.

We'll need some more time before there's a good consensus regarding viability/optimality in the new patch 1.4 content. Some of the new stuff seems pretty hard and demanding.

sarttsarttsarttub17_ESO

Magdalina wrote: »

Most tanks seem to be DKs(who make awesome immortal tanks if played correctly and can also deal some decent damage while doing so) and Templars(who also make awesome immortal tanks and can throw some off heals in a tight spot), I've see a few pretty good NB ones, but I only know one sorc and he's still pretty little, so...talk to me, people. Do any of you play sorc tanks/know any good ones? How viable is it?

I'm primarily and mainly a bathrobe+stick adept, healer/off dps. However, getting mildly bored at vet 12, I picked up heavy armor(which looks SO badass!) and s&b(which did murder to my skillpoints but that's not the point). Now, I'm a very baby tank now because I literally never tanked anything - ESO is my first MMO and I've dps'd/healed it since lvl 1 and til vet 12, so I'm still trying to figure it out. My main problem as a sorc though seems to be lack of viable self heals. DKs pop Dragonblood and pretty much achieve immortality, Templar have whole skilltree of heals, NBs have that Siphoning thingie(or whatever it's called). I have Crit Surge, which only works with crit attacks and my crit is like...0 in heavy, and Dark Deal, which eats stam. I don't want anything to eat my stam while I'm supposed to block stuff. I do have some great shields like Hardened Ward and Lightning Form, but basically, once my health goes down, it stays there unless boss kindly lets me regenerate or I pop a potion.

My other problem is lack of damage - I need taunt(or both of them) and some shields on my bar so it's hard to fit in any meaningful damage there, and then I'm constantly out of resources for it, but that's probably mostly my own fault - I haven't yet learnt how to manage resources as a tank. Should I be doing damage tho? I know my Templar tank hardly does, and I know my DK tank puts in quite a bit, I'd like to think as a sorc I *can* add something, too, preferably without dying:)

Oh, and I'm constantly at a loss with trash. I can't taunt them all and if I try to aoe them I run out of magicka FAST, so I'm feeling pretty useless there, lol.

Thoughts, ideas and advices?

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