Dragonknight Tank Build

Jeabajuice

Just wanted to show you guys my dragonknight tank build. I feel like so far, this build is really effective for dungeons and PVE as well. Tanking is a role that I've always liked to play in the elder scrolls and MMO's in general. Lets begin!
http://esohead.com/calculator/skills#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

Race: Imperial- Imperials have great perks that contribute to one hand and shield, health, stamina, and healing.

Gear: 7 Heavy- A lot of people say go two medium or two light but I don't really see it giving a huge contribution to Magicka or Stamina and I prefer more armor for more protection.
One hand and shield- An obvious choice for tanking because of the blocking bonuses it gives and the taunt ability you get from it.
My gear has a mixture of stamina and health enchantments. I feel these two attributes are vital for tanks; health obviously keeping a tank alive and stamina allowing him or her to use stamina based skills and effectively block attacks. For my tank, magicka isn't as important but can still be gained through leveling.

Attributes: I have all 49 of my attribute points put into health. I can't stress how important health is for tanks. I don't have any points spent on stamina because I get stamina from my gear, perks, and leveling and I don't usually find myself draining it in combat. As I said before, magicka isn't very important for my tank because most of my magicka based skills are buffs, snares, or heals that only need to be activated once in a while but I can still gain magicka through leveling.

Boon : The Lord- Increases my max health making my character even more survivable. The Tower is good if you find yourself running out of stamina in combat. The Lady also works well at low levels because it increases your armor making you take less damage. Recommended that you replace it with the lord or the tower at higher levels when your armor is higher.

Skills: My first skill line is the "tankier" out of the two and I usually use it in dungeons or large group scenarios. My second skill line is a little more DPS friendly because I have more physical attacks in it. I usually use it for PVE or PVP.

Skill Line 1:
Buff: Volatile Armor- This is my opener. It increases my armor and does area damage to all enemies around me.
CC/Snare: Cinder Storm- This is my CC or snare skill. Not only does it snare enemies but it also decreases their hit chance which makes me and my allies take less damage. It also deals fire dame to all enemies in the area. This could also be replaced with dark talons at low levels.
Taunt- Ransack- This is probably going to be the most important skill as a tank and is a must for dungeons. I use this skill to keep big enemies(or small ones) off my allies. It also deals physical damage and increases my armor. This could be replaced with inner fire which is the other taunt in the game. It's a ranged spell and good if you don't care much about the armor increase. As a tank, you need to know how to maintain aggro effectively or else you'll get your allies killed. Keeping aggro in this game is very difficult because there's only 2 taunt skills and there's no area of effect taunting so moving around making sure enemies aren't damaging your allies, especially your healers, is very important.
Support: Fragmented Shield- This is great for those sticky situation when the health of your allies is dropping. It will create a damage shield for you and them and will then shatter dealing area damage to all enemies.
Self Heal: Green Dragon Blood- When your health gets low, pop this up. You'll heal, receive increased health regeneration, and increased stamina regeneration which will help with blocking.

Skill Line 2
Opener: Shielded Assault- I charge single enemies or groups of enemies with this. It will knock down the enemy and also create a damage shield for me so I can keep my health up.
Buff: Volatile Armor- See description above.
Knock Down: Stone Giant: Knocks down enemy and increases my armor. Great for battles against single targets.
CC/Snare: Deep Slash- Not only does this snare the enemy, it also reduces their damage and deals physical damage. I find this very useful against melee enemies in PVE and DPS guys and those who run away in PVP.
Heal: Green Dragon Blood- See description above.

Ultimates: As far as my ultimate abilities go, I like to switch them around a lot. I use Standard of Might for big groups of enemies, Corrosive Armor for boss fights, and Ferocious Leap for PVP.

Well that's it! Please tell me what you all think about this build and if you think there's anything I should improve on.

ArnoTerranova

I, I agree with you on all points, you described a lot all the skills and situation in which they can be of use.
... Except maybe on the 49 points spent in vitality which seems enormous. Well, if you adjust well your stuff you may get enough vigor and magicka. Another tank of my guild also spent everything in health. Even mages ... xD

Please, tell me what are you actual stats (health, vigor, magika, armor, and the 3 types of regen) with your actual build. that would be must insightful!

Jeabajuice

Thank you for commenting friend. The reason I put the 49 points into health is because for this build, I already have enough stamina and magicka and almost never run out of it. So, onto my stats:
Health- 2709
Stamina- 2242
Magicka- 1612
Health Recovery- 86
Stamina Recovery- 70
Magicka Recovery- 33
Armor- 2438
Spell Resistance- 1641
I am sitting at Veteran Rank 10

ArnoTerranova

in the 2 actions bars, I would add dark talons when doing packs it temporize enough so the group can manage to kill most of the enemy group. maybe dark talons can replace shielded assault, or stone giant. I don't really like shielded assault because it focus only one target, and as you know, most of the bigger targets can't be stunned.

Head.hunter

Solid build, very similar to mine. Random question, what's that shield ability so many tanks use in pvp, looks like a golden shield emblem when they block? I looked it up and all I could find was the templar's sun shield, but that reflects damage, and this ability just blocks it really effectively.

I'd have to agree with arno that talons is very awesome for mob/dungeon scenarios, really makes those chaotic ads easier to manage.

Jeabajuice

Thank you for taking the the time to read this. I actually used to use talons before I used Cinder Storm for CC. The reason I switched was because Cinder Storm does fire damage just like Flame Talons and also allows us to take less damage. I just liked it better and it always worked out better for me. I find Shielded Assault to be very useful in PVP when you want to close the distance between you and your enemy and believe it or not, I find it great for charging a group of enemies. I feel like it always somehow scares PVP players and it gives me a chance to damage the one enemy I knocked down and allow my allies to attack the others. Also, the skill you are talking about is the one hand and shield ability called defensive posture. When activated, it reflects one spell projectile and when it's slotted, it increases block mitigation and reduces block cost. I used to use this skill early in my build but found it annoying activating it when I wanted to reflect spells.

Theron75

Interesting build. My DK tank is:

1. 1H+Shield/1H+Shield
2. Redguard
3. DoT damage/Buff/Debuff tank

Looking at your skills, I would think that would be a terribly boring way to play. I'm only L29, so things may change at higher levels. But for now at least, this is working out very well for me.

My skills and attacks revolve around increasing my armor, decreasing the target's armor and mobility, and DoT damage. AoE and direct damage is a bit weak with this build, but the fire DoTs combined with shield bash takes enemies down quickly.

Jeabajuice

I understand why you're saying it would be a boring way to play. From levels 1 to about 20, it kind of was. I was pretty overpowered and was sometimes taking out enemies without taking much damage. But after level 20, I feel like the build began to open up and everything became more challenging and more about skill.

damian.dreyfussub17_ESO

Does cinder storm affect all mobs, or is it limited like talons is? For example, no flying, large, or boss monsters being affected?