Tanking and Taunts

Dustile · March 2015

Do you need both taunts as a Tank? Will one suffice? Is there an advantage to having two?

likewow777 · March 2015

You don't technically need to use both taunts, but you certainly can. I've found use for both, personally.

Puncture is the go-to taunt. The main plus is it debuffs enemy armor, and spell resistance with Pierce Armor morph, but you need to be in close to use it. Of course, you can usually get close enough at the start of a fight to grab an enemy or two before all hell breaks loose. And during the fight, since whatever you've taunted is probably in your face, you'll likely be in range to keep Puncture up.

Inner Fire, to me, kind of feels like a poor man's Fiery Chains for the masses, which is nice. I've found the range to be awesome for relieving pressure on the group, like if a healer is getting beat on or a DPSer is about to die, not to mention grabbing adds that are too far away. It also costs magicka, and being a magicka tank, I usually have plenty of that, while I try and reserve stamina only for blocking. Usually, Inner Fire is on my back bar because I'd rather have it than not.

One last thing, in 1.6, Inner Beast costs stamina rather than magicka and scales off of weapon damage. For me, I had to swap to Inner Rage, since I'm magicka based, but now you get more options if you're a stamina build

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Rosveen · March 2015

likewow777 wrote: »

One last thing, in 1.6, Inner Beast costs stamina rather than magicka and scales off of weapon damage. For me, I had to swap to Inner Rage, since I'm magicka based, but now you get more options if you're a stamina build .

I don't think Inner Beast costing stamina benefits stamina builds. Since its primary purpose is taunting, not damage, it doesn't matter what it scales off. However, now we don't have the flexibility of using the resource of our choice depending on the situation. I already have enough drains on stamina and I'd prefer to keep Inner Beast as a magicka emergency taunt. It's pretty costly either way...

DeLindsay · March 2015

1 Ranged, 1 Melee and in 1.6 you can either have both Stamina or one Magicka so you have both pools to pull from just in case.

likewow777 · March 2015

Rosveen wrote: »

likewow777 wrote: »

One last thing, in 1.6, Inner Beast costs stamina rather than magicka and scales off of weapon damage. For me, I had to swap to Inner Rage, since I'm magicka based, but now you get more options if you're a stamina build .

I don't think Inner Beast costing stamina benefits stamina builds. Since its primary purpose is taunting, not damage, it doesn't matter what it scales off. However, now we don't have the flexibility of using the resource of our choice depending on the situation. I already have enough drains on stamina and I'd prefer to keep Inner Beast as a magicka emergency taunt. It's pretty costly either way...

Agree, damage is secondary for a taunt. The point was mainly to detail the change in 1.6, but it's true, stamina builds might not want to waste a precious resource on a taunt. I'm in the process of converting my mainly magicka DK to stamina on live (mostly cause it's been more fun), so I haven't tested it as thoroughly on PTS. But thinking about it, I'm probably going to be more likely to put CPs into various stamina reduction slots versus my magicka tank, where blocking is my primary concern on the stamina front. That should help overall costs, but yeah, it's still expensive.

PhatGrimReaper · March 2015

There are definitely uses for both taunts.
As @likewow777 said, Keep it on your back bar. Pierce Armor is clearly the superior ability, but there are times when it just wont' work.... out of range, out of stam etc.
I believe the Magicka option in 1.6 still has a 28m range, so it should still have the same utility as before.
I find that knowing the fight before you start helps you decide which of the two taunts best suit your needs.
Tanking in this game is all about having the right tool for the right job, so there is no blanket 'best option', it all comes down to the situation.

Rosveen · March 2015

likewow777 wrote: »

Rosveen wrote: »

likewow777 wrote: »

One last thing, in 1.6, Inner Beast costs stamina rather than magicka and scales off of weapon damage. For me, I had to swap to Inner Rage, since I'm magicka based, but now you get more options if you're a stamina build .

I don't think Inner Beast costing stamina benefits stamina builds. Since its primary purpose is taunting, not damage, it doesn't matter what it scales off. However, now we don't have the flexibility of using the resource of our choice depending on the situation. I already have enough drains on stamina and I'd prefer to keep Inner Beast as a magicka emergency taunt. It's pretty costly either way...

Agree, damage is secondary for a taunt. The point was mainly to detail the change in 1.6, but it's true, stamina builds might not want to waste a precious resource on a taunt. I'm in the process of converting my mainly magicka DK to stamina on live (mostly cause it's been more fun), so I haven't tested it as thoroughly on PTS. But thinking about it, I'm probably going to be more likely to put CPs into various stamina reduction slots versus my magicka tank, where blocking is my primary concern on the stamina front. That should help overall costs, but yeah, it's still expensive.

Yeah, it might be manageable with the right passives. I haven't tested this. But we won't have too many CP at first, so it'll take a while.