Dragon Knight Tanking in ESO

jasdistefanob14_ESO

The following is a detailed description of my experience playing a Dragon Knight tank in ESO. First, tanking is my true love. I have been tanking for years in MMO's and mainly do so because I hate to die. Second, this guide is meant to help players become a better tank while progressing to level 50 and giving insight to Veteran level tanking. Finally, let me state that the following are my thoughts of tanking at this moment in the game. I have not reached Veteran Rank 10 yet and things will most likely have to evolve down a different path as I progress through the VR’s. I suspect that Veteran Rank tanking will be more situational and not as cookie cutter as non-VR tanking. In the meantime, this guide should help suffice for those wishing to become the immortal warriors that refuse to die.

The Build: Orc Dragon Knight Tank
The following build is what I believe all dedicated tanks should have specialized into in order to tackle any encounter found throughout Tamriel. Remember, that you only have 10 available ability slots to use throughout any fight and only 5 abilities at any one time. Different fights will call for different abilities and I encourage you to learn which ones are best for any particular instance.

http://esohead.com/calculator/skills#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

The above link is the basic spec that I believe will give any player all the necessary abilities needed to become an awesome tank. It gives you the opportunity to pull from both the Draconic Power and Earthen Heart skill lines, as well as, the One Hand & Shield weapon skill line.

As a tank, there are a handful of things that you should embrace to become an effective tank. Also, tanking in ESO is not the tradition tanking that many have become accustomed to through other MMO such as WoW and SWTOR.

Tips for Effective Tanking:

1. You are the tank. You job is to mitigate as much damage as possible for yourself and your allies. You are there to control the fight. You are there to be the group’s meat shield. You are there to support your fellow adventurers. You are not there to dish out large amounts of damage.
2. Taunt the big guy(s). You must hold aggro on the main damage dealing enemies. Refrain from attacking healers and enemies that do not dish out a lot of damage while in a group. The DPS in the group should be focusing the healers first, then the adds, and then the main enemies. If they are not effectively doing this then it is your job as tank to instruct them otherwise. Remember, you are the one controlling the fight – tanking it is a leadership role.
3. BLOCK & INTERRUPT. You must block every heavy attack and interrupt every special cast that occurs. The bash is actually one of the hardest hitting abilities a tank has once properly specced into the passives. Plus, blocking and bashing allows the DPS to use their stamina on killing the target.
4. Crowd control wins fights. You cannot hold aggro on all enemies in a mob. You can taunt one or two effectively, but large groups of adds cannot be taunted. Therefore, going back to rule one, you must control the pace of the fight using the crowd control abilities you have available. Make sure you are rooting, snaring, and stun your heart out.

The Abilities: What skills should be used?

The abilities that are placed on your skill bar(s) depend on two factors – 1) what type of armor you are wearing and 2) what type of enemy you are fighting.

Regardless, the abilities that you use should following some generic guidelines.
1. Personal buff. Have an ability that will buff yourself to mitigate damage. This could be an armor duff or spell/weapon resistance.
2. Taunt. You must have a taunt, period.
3. Crowd control. Have some form of mob controlling ability. This could be a root, snare, or stun. Preferably, a multi-target area CC would be best.
4. Ally support. Have an ability that helps your allies in battle. This can range from and area buff, to a debuff that reduces target armor and/or damage. Basically, have something that will help the team survive longer or preform their job better.
5. Selfheal. Have an ability that regenerates health.

Below is a list of the abilities I have specced into along with their pros and cons. I have also scored the abilities in their effectiveness in the five categories listed above (scale is out of 10 with 10 being the best).
1. Draconic Power: Main defense skill line
a.Razor Armor – Buff (10), Taunt (2), CC (0), Support (3), Heal (0). Excellent armor buff. Good for early character leveling. This ability is best used for characters tanking in medium & light gear. Should not be used much if character is wearing predominately heavy armor and at the border line of the soft cap.

b.Choking Talons – Buff (0), Taunt (3), CC (10), Support (10), Heal (0). This is your American Express card ability. You shouldn’t leave home without. Superior group root. Also has a superior synergy that will destroy large groups of enemies if activated by allies. Best for non-melee groups because enemies can still damage players while rooted.

c.Green Dragon Blood – Buff (8 ), Taunt (0), CC (0), Support (4), Heal (10). Another ability to have for just about every situation. Excellent selfheal. Also, very helpful for regenerating health and stamina during fights. I use this ability regularly throughout fights even if my health is not low.

d.Reflective Plate – Buff (5), Taunt (0), CC (0), Support (2), Heal (0). Useful against casters. Not something I carry around on my ability bar. Useful against bosses that cast mostly spell damage.

e.Deep Breath – Buff (0), Taunt (3), CC (7), Support (6), Heal (4). Decent group CC. The health gain is really only a bonus compared to the CC capabilities. Only should be used when there are numerous targets around. The magicka cost is too steep for using against 1-3 targets. The morph allows for an additional stun ability that helps with crowd control.

2.Earthen Heart: Mostly support skill line
a.Stone Giant – Buff (5), Taunt (4), CC (4), Support (4), Heal (0). Good single target CC that also buffs the player’s armor. Useful against flying enemies where Choking Talons is not effective.

b.Molten Armaments – Buff (3), Taunt (0), CC (0), Support (8 ), Heal (0). Excellent support ability that buffs allies’ damage and critical percentage. Should only be used in groups with allies that rely on weapon damage as their main type of damage.

c.Igneous Shield – Buff (6), Taunt (0), CC (0), Support (8 ), Heal (0). Excellent group damage shield. Has a large magicka cost so most helpful to healers that need a few seconds to regenerate magicka.

d.Fossilize – Buff (0), Taunt (0), CC (6), Support (5), Heal (0). Excellent crowd control but has a flaw. Should only be used in groups that are well coordinated and can single target focus enemies. Not useful in groups where DPS are AOE heavy.

e.Eruption – Buff (0), Taunt (0), CC (8 ), Support (8 ), Heal (0). Excellent snare and dodge buff. Compared to Choking Talons, this ability might be preferred in melee heavy groups. The downside is that this one does not have the awesome Impale synergy.

3.One Hand & Shield: Excellent tanking skill line
a.Ransack – Buff (7), Taunt (10), CC (0), Support (7), Heal (0). Superior taunt. If you are tanking then you should have this ability available. Offers an armor buff to max the player out if soft cap hasn’t been reached, and reduces target armor to support DPS.

b.Deep Slash – Buff (6), Taunt (0), CC (2), Support (5), Heal (0). Very good tanking ability for single target fights. Defuff target’s damage and snares standard enemies. Very useful when used in conjunction with Ransack.

c.Absorb Magic – Buff (7), Taunt (0), CC (0), Support (0), Heal (6). This ability has better passive boosts than active ones in my opinion. Mostly useful against casters where the spell can be absorbed and transferred to health. Has a long duration so does not use up a lot of resources.

d.Shielded Assault – Buff (4), Taunt (3), CC (3), Support (3), Heal (0). This ability is more useful as a distance closer than anything else. Only use this ability in fights where the target teleports around the room and you need to close the distance to regain aggro. Otherwise, useful in leveling to quickly engage group after group in dungeons.

e.Reverberating Bash – Buff (0), Taunt (2), CC (4), Support (5), Heal (0). Good single target CC that also defuffs the target’s power. Useful against flying enemies where Choking Talons is not effective.

4.Miscellaneous:
a.Fighter’s Guild: Ring of Preservation – Buff (9), Taunt (0), CC (0), Support (10), Heal (3). Superior support ability. Healers will love you for using this ability. Great for boosting the armor and spell resistance of the entire group. Also, increases the health regeneration rate of all group members. So basically – less damage and faster heal to full for everyone in the group – a healer’s savior you’ll be. Downside – you must be standing in the effect’s area to receive buff.

b.Undaunted: Inner Beast – Buff (0), Taunt (10), CC (0), Support (8 ), Heal (0). Excellent taunt with support ability. Takes a while to unlock because you have to run the private dungeons. If your group’s DPS is on spot and you do not need the armor defuff than this should be your standard taunt instead of Ransack. Can be used from range and offers allies an excellent synergy (15% chance) for massive single & AOE damage. Using this along with Chocking Talon and large mobs of enemy should be dead in no time.

c.Undaunted: Bone Surge – Buff (7), Taunt (0), CC (8 ), Support (8 ), Heal (0). An all-around great support ability with a personal armor buff. This ability should replace Razor Armor when it becomes available. Great for players tanking in light and/or medium armor and offers great damage reduction opportunity for allies through the synergy.

Loadouts: A Case Study Approach to Tanking

A good player in ESO focuses on resource management and opportunity cost. I frequently hear players asking other players for rotations and what they have on their ability bar. Most players are use to MMO’s that focus on rotations to maximize their DPS, HPS, build aggro, ect. I hear many people wishing they had more ability slots so they could use every ability they have specced into. I say – STOP. Take a deep breath and approach the situation from a different perspective – resource management and maximizing opportunities. There are no DPS checks, healer checks, tank checks like your traditional 60 ability slot MMO’s. ESO is more about working together as a group and utilizing combos and synergies.
With that being said, I like to equip abilities that will pull from both stamina and magicka resources. You must learn to adapt to the fight you are approaching and load your ability bars with abilities that are best suited to the upcoming fight. Below are some different scenarios and the loadout that I would suggest. Remember to stick to the basics – buff, CC, taunt, support, and selfheal.

1. Scenario 1: Early game tanking
You won’t have much to choose from, so equip what you have available. I would shoot for the following:
• Razor Armor
• Chocking Talons
• Ransack
• Deep Slash/Molten Armaments
• Green Dragon Blood.
Don’t worry about armor too much. Just go with what gives you the best resource boosts, and Razor Armor will take care of the rest. Use Deep Slash for single target fights and Molten Armaments for mobs.

2. Scenario 2: Mid game tanking
Now you have options and should start thinking about the best approach for the upcoming fight. Personally, I would rather let my armor speak for itself and not take up a slot for an armor buff. Therefore, I would focus on equipping mostly heavy armor and replacing Razor Armor another ability. Plus, I want to start helping my allies more so I would replace Molten Armaments for Ring of Preservation.
• Igneous Shield
• Chocking Talons/Stone Giant
• Ransack
• Ring of Preservation/Absorb Magic
• Green Dragon Blood
Use Chocking Talons for fights that have multiple adds and Stone Giant for single target fights. You can also substitute Ring of Preservation with Absorb Magic for fights that have large amounts of spell damage.

3. Scenario 3: End game tanking
Now you have all abilities available and can pick and choose the best set of skills for each fight. Again, I would rather tank in heavy armor and forego Razor Armor.
• Buffs – Ring of Preservation, Bone Surge, or Absorb Magic
• CC – Chocking Talons, Eruption or Deep Breath for AOE, and Stone Giant or Reverberating Bash for single target
• Taunt – Inner Beast or Ransack
• Support – Ring of Preservation, Bone Surge, Igneous Shield
• Selfheal – Green Dragon Blood

Edit: Updated the link for ESOHead class builder. (5-13-204)

Xenedor

great guide thx a lot

chad.walton73ub17_ESO

I like the guide as well, was wondering though how you spread your points out among health stamina and magika?

Grackula

nice guide.
I'm a big fan of Stone Giant and Igneous Shield and Choking Talons.
only level 40 so will start experimenting with some of your other suggestions like Ring of Preservation and Green Dragon Blood. Haven't used those much.

For just soloing and leveling (other than just bash) how do you roll?

jasdistefanob14_ESO

Chad,

Thank you for your comment. I have a 3:2:1 Health:Stamina:Magicka ratio. I will probably respec that once I hit VR10. I'm contemplating going to max Health and then use gear to bring up the other two or just do a 1:1:1 ratio and use gear to reach soft caps.

Grackula,

Green Dragon Blood is my best survivability skill. I have bash (interupt) hotkeyed to 'V'. I don't like the feel of clicking both mouse buttons for interupt so I have a single key for it. I still use double tap to roll.

Thechemicals

Honestly, tanking in this game does not need that big of a wall of text to be succesful at it.

jasdistefanob14_ESO

Thank you for your inspiring comments Thechemicals. Very insightful. I'll make sure to be less thorough in the future so you will not have to read so much.

WingZer0

jasdistefanob14_ESO wrote: »

Thank you for your inspiring comments Thechemicals. Very insightful. I'll make sure to be less thorough in the future so you will not have to read so much.

You may need to fix the ESOHEAD Skill Calculator.

drgneb

By far one of the best guides we have had in regards to tanking in this game, Very insightful and heaps of help. I myself have respec'd so many times I think I broke the bank, but with what you have here I have found a build that actually makes sense of this new and exciting way of tanking! Am actually having fun with now instead of the frustration of trying to many different ways. The whole offensive approach just didn't cut it for me. While a great guide just not my playstyle. What you have here is more in line with my thinking in terms of tanking as well. And you are more than welcome to make as many "walls of text" you want in respect to tanking in TESO!! There is always going to be some less styled people like the post above just as there is going to be people like that in the game...ignore is a wonderful thing and you handled it with style my friend! Look forward to more input as it seems that Yoga's post has kinda died out. Again, great job!! Thanks for your guide!

ZoM_Head

"1. You are the tank. You job is to mitigate as much damage as possible for yourself and your allies. You are there to control the fight. You are there to be the group’s meat shield. You are there to support your fellow adventurers. You are not there to dish out large amounts of damage."

Yes and no, you can not and should not CC. You are relying on your magicka and stamina to keep yourself and the team alive. If you CC, then you will have nothing left to sustain you when tauning and taking damage.

There should be two DPS in the group and at least one of them should have CC, you can back up CC for him, but that is it.

When you face mobs of 8+ enemies (which we often do in dungeons), you can not keep rooting and taunting everything, you will die so fast that way by running out of resources or everything attacking you.

But good guide.

yake82

There are so many Dragon Knight tanking threads that i'll just post mine here... My build is this

Stats: 10/29/10
Boon: The Lord or The Ritual
Jewelry: Balanced on magicka and stamina regen
Food: Most of times i used purple drink, occasionally blue Hp+Stam food

http://esohead.com/calculator/skills#mzczyt9k8uvZC8LxkS8fXGb8uEI18fXhs8Gsda8uvZC8w2Ct8y1aL8uEI18GsdL8Gsda8y7rLR3r6LR3a8t7rrsg18l7GLzkA6rzky8B7GLzRf6mzsw8P7mLdYf8Z7zznrJs837cAw338zf7zzNbo8zu7zzHfYE6zHfZd8zG7zzHQ3F8zI7zzJIoX6zJIkL8zN7zzJZcY8zA7zzKpUN8zL7zzK4EX

Early game tanking, without the lvl42 class abilities:

1st ability bar: Single target/boss tanking:
Many bosses spawn adds so Talons are helpful even if boss is immune to it.

1. Chocking Talons = I chose Choking instead of burning talons. Some may disagree with this selection but this is personal preference of mine.
2. Ring of Presevation = Superior to any self buff because it can affect you team as well.
3. Pierce Armor = With the Ring of Presevation, you dont need the Ransack buff
4. Green dragon blood = Self heal
5. Absorb magic = Helpful even as passive.
U. Magma Armor

As for potions, im using self crafted potions that restore all stats. Columbine, Bugloss and Mountain Flowers combined makes such potion. You need to spend few skill points though, but its totally worth it.


2nd ability bar, trash tanking:

1. Choking talons = After using Inner beast as opener, i simply run in the middle of the trash pack and keep them rooted.
2. Brawler/Whirling Blades/Grand Healing = Id recommend using Twohanders here, because of the Brawler morph gives damage shield. Whirling Blades from Dual wield is good too.
3. Inner beast = I use this as opener, taunt maybe 2 mobs max. I dont worry about taunting trash that much. If group keeps wiping on trash, there is something else wrong than tanking.
4. Green dragon blood = Same as first ability bar
5. Obsidian shield = Actually this last ability i didnt use much. Ability that you wish to level is also acceptable.
U. Dragon Knight Standard

Magicka potions = If trash mobs are scattered, then fight easily gets prolonged and you will find youself low on resources. Then Magicka potions are the way to go, no arguments there. Your CC, taunt and self heal are magicka based so do not hesitate to drink magicka potions early when pulling trash packs. Fully utilize the lingering effect.
Its important to not to spam you abilities. After dropping Talons, look for interrupts or just swing one heavy attack before dropping new Talons.

In some rare cases i swapped the second bar to be ranged, Selenes Web Kahjiit boss for example. From the second ability bar you only need to change the Whirling Blade/Brawler to Grand Healing and you are good to go.

drgneb

I do agree with Elmo, tried using talons several times to "help out" only to have the whole room on my face. Now we all know this game is not designed for tanks to tank everything at once, this aint WOW, so yea, insta death was my reward. Only wish DPS would step up to the plate and actually CC. But the game is still young....;) And Yake..."If group keeps wiping on trash, there is something else wrong than tanking", you couldn't have said it any better! Amen to that.

jasdistefanob14_ESO

WingZer0 wrote: »

jasdistefanob14_ESO wrote: »

Thank you for your inspiring comments Thechemicals. Very insightful. I'll make sure to be less thorough in the future so you will not have to read so much.

You may need to fix the ESOHEAD Skill Calculator.

Yes, ESO Head has a new version of the Skill Calculator which I believe has broken my link. I'm also getting an error at the moment when I go to their website. I'm not sure if it's on my side or if this is happening for everyone. As soon as I can access the site I'll update the link for everyone.

jasdistefanob14_ESO

Drgneb,

Thank you for your comments. If it helped at least one person then it was worth the time writing.

Elmo,

I agree that you cannot spam your CC (Dragon Talon). However, if you are in a group that is communicating well then you should be able to thoroughly keep groups of 8 rooted for a significant amount of time and still be able to survive. Running with guildies in TeamSpeak allows us to focus target and use Impale effectively. Only one person can use the Impale synergy each time Dragon Talons is used. You should coordinate with your teams for the order of activating Impale to maximize damage.

I can easily use Dragon Talons 3 times at the beginning of a mob pull and still have enough magicka to keep myself alive. Also, this is 3 Impale synergy activations. The synergy and focus targeting by dps should be enough to kill 3-4 enemies on a mob of 8. The remaining enemies shouldn't be so taxing that you experience death frequently. If you are dying to often on trash pulls then you may need to look at other underlying problems. Watch you group during pulls. Are allies activating the synergy properly? Are they focus targeting? What is the kill order? Kill order should be prioritized - healers, range, then melee in my opinion. If you can separate the melee from the range then the range should be the only ones doing the majority of the damage while the group is rooted. Are you running out of magicka? If so then you may need to spec into it more. Using food buffs that boost magicka is a great way to overcome this problem. Are you dps putting out enough dps? Just to give you an idea - based on the Blood Spawn fight in veteran Spindleclutch - dps should be able to average at least 260 dps for 2 minutes straight (this assumes that healer and tank both hold dps rates of 100 and 200 respectively). If you can't do this then your group will have issues in dungeons.

This game is open to so many different interpretations (which makes to so great) and I'm just passing along the things that have made me successful so far.

Yakes,

Very nice post. It's nice to see how and what other people use as their abilities.

drgneb

So how many of you actually don't have an attack on your tank bar? I mean Inner beast isn't really an "attack" per say, like Ransack or Deep Slash. Other tanks I have spoken to tell me they don't worry about another attack, just use Inner for taunt and then rely on auto attacks. Do your "white" hits really do that much damage? I do know that bashing does quite a lot of damage but sucks the stamina like crazy. But if your auto attack really is enough then that frees up another slot for more defensive abilities, which I would welcome.

KleanZlate

Bookmarking this for future tanking. Thanks!

jasdistefanob14_ESO

Drgneb,

I at VR6 right now and these are my standard loadouts. I general like to have 2 magicka and 2 stamina based abilities so I do not overload either of my resources.

Tank Loadout:
1. Unstable Flame
2. Chocking Talons
3. Ransack
4. Ring of Preservation or Deep Slash for melee bosses and Absorb Magic for casters
5. Green Dragon Blood

DPS Loadout:
1. Unstable Flame
2. Flame Lash
3. Blood Craze
4. Whirling Blades or Shrouded Daggers for groups and Rapid Strikes for single target
5. Green Dragon Blood

I use my light and heavy attacks as fillers to not stress my resources. I can typically pull 200- 250 dps using the Tanking loadout. I range 250-350 dps for the DPS loadout depending on number of adds.

The amount of dps you have to contribute is going to mainly depend on the dps in your group. I like to measure everything to the 2 minute enrage timer for Blood Spawn (VR Spindleclutch). If you as tank, 2 dps, and a healer can deal 100,000 damage and stay alive for 2 minutes they you are doing good. The key to ESO is being adaptive to the fight at fight and not so much having a cookie cutter rotation.

PS.
I have updated the link for my current build in the original post.

drgneb

Thanks for that info, good to know what peeps are using at the "endgame" levels. I'm 45 atm so am looking to what I will use when I hit 50. You have a good mix on your tank bar, very much to what I am running but like you stated, the game calls for you to adapt and I often find myself swapping out abilities based on the fight. So yea, no "cookie-cutter" specs for this game. I highly suggest getting as many skills as you an as you never know what one you may need based on the fight. And I have to laugh at the dps numbers!! So nice to see "real" numbers, as compared to what is expected in WOW currently, toons are doing like over 100k dps easy, and that's just silly I reckon. But then trash mobs have health pools of 3million so yea, guess its needed. Its nice to play a game with more realistic numbers!

Also, many are claiming to put all points into health but I noticed you have them shared around a bit. I for one reckon more points in stam is better but folks claim you can reach the caps without any points in them. Have you tested this and whats your take on our stats in general, i.e health/stam/magicka?

drgneb

Also wanted to ask how much of a bonus are you seeing having 5h/2m armour wise? I have noticed only like a 1-2 point increase which isn't that much compared to the armour you lose. Would really like to have a bigger bonus especially with light armour, I could use the extra magicka regen for sure as that seems to be my "weakest" resource atm. Wish the game had an armoury feature like WOW wherein you could look at others and see exactly what the have going on. Always handy to have to compare and get tips from for sure!

Skirmish840

I'd like to know about attribute distribution too, at 20 I've begun spreading them evenly because I run out of either Stam or Magika too quickly, I have slightly more in Health, but there ain't no point in staying alive longer if you can only spam your basic attack. What are you guys doing at lvl 40-50 and beyond ?

Sandmanninja

Thechemicals wrote: »

Honestly, tanking in this game does not need that big of a wall of text to be succesful at it.

I disagree.
I've tanked for 8 years in WoW and was NOT expecting to have (what I thought was) Aggro Issues.
In WoW, I'd run in, bash the crap out of the bad guy(s), DPS gives me a 3-count then they let loose.
Not so here. No AoE Threat at all (unless you're healing).
I use my Entangling Root to CC and do a DoT.
Good article, mate

drgneb

I have bounced around with both ways and currently have a spread of 8/21/15 but think I may try the all health again and see if I can hit the caps with gear, like most say you can do. But yea, I too often find myself low on stam, so I have tried to have a mix on my Boss bar. Always an ever changing thing it is.

Skirmish840

Cool thx for the reply drgneb

drgneb

Sandmanninja wrote: »

Thechemicals wrote: »

Honestly, tanking in this game does not need that big of a wall of text to be succesful at it.

I disagree.
I've tanked for 8 years in WoW and was NOT expecting to have (what I thought was) Aggro Issues.
In WoW, I'd run in, bash the crap out of the bad guy(s), DPS gives me a 3-count then they let loose.
Not so here. No AoE Threat at all (unless you're healing).
I use my Entangling Root to CC and do a DoT.
Good article, mate

Yup, I agree with you as well. I love running with a group that hollers out to me to grab em all, "That's my job"! Im like really?? If you think that go back to WOW cuz this game don't roll like that. For trash I try and single out and focus on the healers or casters, and pop talons to lock down as much as I can. At that point its the DPS's "job" (lol) to burn down the mobs and even cc what they can if they can, every little bit helps! On Boss pulls I stay on the big, pop what debuffs I can and also maybe Ring of Preservation to give the healers a jump start. Problem I am finding is people don't know to stand in my big glowing ring of help! Groups like that I tend to swap to Unstoppable and keep myself alive. If the Boss is one to spawn adds then I will use talons as well, but am going to give CinderStorm a go soon, mainly for the miss it applies. If anyone has had any experience with it please share your thoughts as to what you reckon to be the better cc for when a boss spawns adds. Also, how can I upload my toon in the skill thing, or do I have to go in and do it bit by bit? Somewhat a noob when it comes to those things.
But yea, lets keep the discussion going as we all are reaching the big 50 and V-ranks!!

jasdistefanob14_ESO

@drgneb & @Skirmish840,

I'm currently using a 3:2:1 approach because that's what I felt was best for leveling. Like some have said, you quickly run out of resources at the low levels. Therefore, you need to spec into all of the attributes while leveling. I do plan on respeccing my attributes when I hit VR10 (I just don't want to waste the money now, haha). I rely on gear that drops from mobs only at this time. I do not craft gear for myself because I'm saving my endgame mats for endgame.

Let me rephrase my statement. The spec I have included above is the endgame goal of my character. I do not have all of those skills listed, but I do have most. I'm lacking the Destruction Staff line and misc. points in crafting and passives.

I do plan to respect to an all Health attribute character when I hit VR10. From what I have seen in crafting so far is that you should be able to supplement the other two attributes nicely. I'm finishing up my Enchanting as we speak which is the last piece of the puzzle. This way I can cherry pick what I need specifically for my character. I'll keep everyone posted on what I find out.

I use the SoftCap addon which will help me min/max all my attributes and armor/weapon boosts. I highly suggest that you give it a shot.

Yes, it's amazing how often you have to switch out skills to suit the fight. But I like that. The past couple of days I have found myself using Absorb Magic on my skill bar. I've been finishing my Dual Wield skill line but when I come to a caster I just switch bars and let the caster heal me. Haha sucker! Very good discussion - keep it coming.

Thechemicals

jasdistefanob14_ESO wrote: »

Thank you for your inspiring comments Thechemicals. Very insightful. I'll make sure to be less thorough in the future so you will not have to read so much.

I do apologize if i came off as unhelpful, i like to be no Bullshaft about a topic or issue. The mechanics i have experienced in dungeon groups(including veteran dungeons) as a tank have been to just ransack 1-2 of the toughest enemies and kite or tank them while they other mobs are dps'd. If someone is getting hurt by a mob then you ransack some more. As far as defensive skills are concerned, all of them are in plain sight and dont require much science or method.

As a templar tank, i ransack and circle of protection and immovable while blocking. Beyond thats it. Not much science or method behind tanking in this game.

Caroloces

Hey, thanks for the great guide! I'm a noobie at MMOs and still trying to figure out the nomenclature for this type of gameplay. The guide is particularly pertinent because I just created an Orc Dragonknight in the Aldmeri Dominion. As I started to learn more about what "tanking" was from some other posts, I've been thinking that maybe I should fashion this character in this way (He certainly looks the part). I think that many people on the forums forget that ESO brings a convergence of players together (in a good way, I think) - Many players from the WOW world who are familiar with group dynamics in an MMO world, and others, like me, who come from primarily TES single-player games.
- There's certainly a lot to learn, and I appreciate your clear guidance into building this type of character.
- Caroloces

drgneb

jasdistefanob14_ESO wrote: »

@drgneb & @Skirmish840,

I use the SoftCap addon which will help me min/max all my attributes and armor/weapon boosts. I highly suggest that you give it a shot.

Which Add-on is this? Sounds very handy and would like to give it a go. I'll check the ESO site.
And btw, Draw Essence is very handy and I' levelling Ash Cloud to give it a go as well...that %miss is just tasty!

Head.hunter

Agree with almost everything posted, solid tanks indeed are combos of magicka/stamina based skills and high on health. I haven't used Igneous shield in endgame pve as much since some mobs/bosses just one shot it, and it's moderately expensive, but in pvp I could see it really enhancing group survivability. Already seen it work great for dungeons.

jasdistefanob14_ESO

@drgneb,

The addon is called SoftcapInfo. It can be found on the ESOUI addon site through ESOhead.com

@Head.hunter,

Yes, Igneous Shield is expensive and has to be timed right for boss fights. I don't do much PvP at this time but can see it's usefulness in that arena.

drgneb

Jas,
Got it!! Thanks for that! Now, does hitting your soft-caps serve the same purpose as they did in like say, WoW? I know for a Blood DK tanking I needed to hit my hit and expertise soft caps if I wanted to be remotely successful at it. Does "overcharging" mean basically the same thing in ESO? Still learning on the abilities and such and what to go after. I mean, we don't have hit and expertise nor do we have dodge and parry. Just curious as to what trait affects what. I am so thankful that we don't have the above abilities to worry about, it got so old trying to reach your soft-caps and such. But I do want to go after traits and such that directly affect my tanking and am always looking for ways to improve on it. As I have stated before, I'm a tweaker (or a min/max'er) and have respec'd so many times...its cost me a fortune!! But I love trying out new ways and different ways of tanking and such, and this game really allows for you to make it your own so to speak. I just wish it didn't cost so damn much!! (hear that Zenimax/Bethesda??) Anyways, thanks again to all of you who have posted and shared your game styles and such. Lets keep a good solid thread going for us tanks!!!