How am I meant to tank?

peteed1985 · March 2015

Sorry i'm used to other games where auto attacks and abilities work and the shield is passive defense and I can't work out how i'm meant to tank in this game.

If I hold down right click to block I can't left click to attack. I run out of stamina so fast its not funny, like all gone in 1 second with so many attacking. My MP is too low to cast AoE spells for threat. I'm lost for how to tank as this DK of mine lol.

Am I meant to put all my points in stamina so I can block and nothing in HP? or half and half?

Option 1 seems like i'd have no HP and my stamina would still disappear fast and I may not have the stamina to keep taunting stuff back.

Option 2 seems like i'd have HP but not enough stamina to block and not enough stamina to taunt which means the points in HP would be uselesss cause notings hitting me.

Kuettbullen · March 2015

You're not supposed to actively block every attack, block the major attacks that are displayed and use survival skills, dodge and positioning etc to avoid other damage as much as possible.

Check these guides and that forum in general for some pointers
http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/2-0-tank-the-blockade/

pierrenuiz · March 2015

hello

this will help ... I hope

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA5mtcTxg-Q

pierrenuiz · March 2015

sorry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA5mtcTxg-Q

pierrenuiz · March 2015

watch Deltia's Gaming videos on youtube ^^

Sharee · March 2015

Use heavy armor. If possible, a set that boosts health and health regeneration. Put everything into hitpoints. Do not try to tank everything, instead choose the most dangerous/damaging enemy from the pack. Hit him with puncture, that will force the enemy to attack you for 15 seconds. Do not block unless there is a good reason for it (the enemy winds up a powerful attack).

Under ideal circumstances, you will be able to pretty much solo the whole dungeon by yourself:

- orgnum's scales set 5 pieces
- oblivion's foe set 4 pieces (3 pieces with a 2h weapon)
- health regen enchants on jewelry
- blood altar or green dragon blood up
- being a race with health regen bonus helps(orc, nord, khajiit)

The sets are crafted, you could ask someone to make them for you. If you are missig some points from the list, it gets progressively harder to solo, but since you have a team with you, having the whole list is an overkill anyway, just get as much of it as you can.

If you absolutely have to aggro the whole mob pack, use 2H weapon and the brawler skill. It dots them all, and gives you a decent damage shield with each swing. Since you have low stamina, alternate one heavy attack with one skill. The heavy attack will give you the stamina back that the skill consumed. Switch to 1H/shield everytime you need to taunt the big baddy to keep him on yourself.

WolfingHour · March 2015

Caltrops (or any other large radius aoe) to get the trash mob's attention, circle around so they are all packed together then volcanic rune to disable them for the duration of the knockdown. If your fellow DPS are doing enough aoe most trash will die before getting up.

If the mobs are still alive you can cast talons on them. This won't keep them from attacking but it keeps them from moving towards your lighter gear wearing team mates.

Also as a Dk you can use chains to grab archers or casters that either don't move or move away. Volcanic rune has a tiny delay that should allow for this.

HOWEVER

Tanks are not meant to aggro everything, just the bigger threats. Your team mates ARE expected to to block or dodge out of the way.

Baconlad · March 2015

Also, as tank. Drink are more useful than food. Regen is everything to tank, with big bosses in a group, you'll want to hold his agro and hunker down and block, especially if you have low health like my tank. I have a stupid amount of magic regen, like 2000. I can spam magic defense skills like a mofo though. So good luck and have fun with your tank. There are a million builds out there.

Kronosphere · March 2015

as for health i like to have around 25-29k, then the rest on stam=) i use low slash (morphed to the 3 hit one which reduces there dmg by 15%), Green dragon blood, talons (either morph but i started using choking for the 15% dmg debuff lately), absorb magic (morph of defensive stance. increase block effectiveness when slotted and its a nice stamina heal) and last of all puncturing strike for the taunt. for the ult standard of might.

will breeze over my 2nd bar real fast, its a resto staff and on my bar i have Hardened armor (the dk armor one), sanguine altar, chains, mutagen(resto) and inner fire (range taunt) with my ult as magma armor

my sets are scourger, hist and footmans. my enchants for jewelry are 2 blocking ones and a stam cost reduction one.

when fighting a boss i swap out talons for either searing strike or more commonly dragon breath to help the fire dps.

my wep enchant is shielding and i am a werewolf.

hope this helps or gives u some idea, my setup is VERY defensive and supportive. i know alot of tanks like to be doing a bit more dps but i prefer the sturdy, CCing helpful style=)

bellanca6561n · March 2015

The helpful advice - EXTREMELY helpful - has already been proffered.

Thus I'm left with just this: in my experience the best tanks I've seen are also excellent dancers

Dagoth_Rac · March 2015

peteed1985 wrote: »

My MP is too low to cast AoE spells for threat.

There is no such thing as "threat" in this game. If an enemy is not actively taunted by Puncture or Inner Fire, they can and will attack other group members. Taunt the toughest enemies, usually bosses and melee mobs. Don't worry about the others. Taunt those high-priority targets again every 12 seconds or so. You don't want to wait for the taunt to expire after 15 seconds but you also don't want to over-taunt and have the enemy become immune to taunt. You are absolutely not supposed to tank everything in ESO.

Don't block everything. Use bash/interrupt if the enemy has red lines coming out of them, use block if they have white lines coming out of them. Don't stand in the red, especially the red rectangles that many melee mobs lay down and indicate a charge attack is on the way. You can block those, but they are best to just step out of and save yourself the stamina that a block would chew up. From practice and experience you will start to get to know the enemies and their attacks. What you can eat without blocking, what you need to block, what you need to dodge or just get the heck away from, etc.

Also don't forget the passives in the 1H+S and Heavy Armor line that will make your life a lot easier as a tank. And the Champion Point stars that reduce block cost, increase armor and spell resist, and other defensive improvements.