Need help with an PvP-Tank-Mag-NB-Build

Torbschka · July 2016

Hey guys,

I have an argonian NB and my problem is the following:

I really anjoy tanking in PvE with it, it is by far the most enjoyable for me in PvE (Sap Tank). Well, Im kinda oldschool, I basically play only 1 character in MMO's, so one for PvE and PvP.

Well, my problem is that I have real problems with it since thieves guild, because of the siphoning attacks nerf (not proccing on caltrops anymore). That really hurts my PvP experience and since then I wasnt able to create a good sap tank build in PvP. I have tried numerous builds but I basically die very fast if I'm outnumbered. I could build a tanky setup, but then I wont kill anyone with the 2k funnel health and 1k sap essence spam lol.

I have tried even 5 shroud of the lich + 5 Julianos, killing potential was a lot higher, but I still died quickly and stam run out pretty fast. Do u think I should just gof or a dual wield / resto setup and ignore sap tank in pvp? If I do so, I think I would probably change the race next update, otherwise I would feel gimped compared to altmer/dunmer lol ^^

Are there any good sap tank out there in pvp who found a good balance between damage and survive?

KenaPKK · July 2016

O m g ok I'm reading this now and will reply. Mageblade is mah shiz and sap tanking is fun as hell. I gotchu boo.

KenaPKK · July 2016

Argonian master race! No race change allowed. :< Heck I've been set on changing my Breton to a lizard for months. The heals are gonna be cray.

kylewwefan · July 2016

So, with Malubeth the Scourger monster set, PvP tanking is like a real thing now. If you want to tank Cyrodil that's your go to. Or you could swap in some hundings/agility/blood spawn/kena and gankblade.

K4RMA · July 2016

KenaPKK wrote: »

Argonian master race! No race change allowed. :< Heck I've been set on changing my Breton to a lizard for months. The heals are gonna be cray.

Kena + Pkk = AP
@KenaPKK
rip
scrub
come back to eso pls

KenaPKK · July 2016

I'll cut right to the chase -- the most well rounded and effective sap tank build is going to be 5 Tavas + 5 transmutation + 2 lord wardens. Heavy armor 5-1-1. This is the result of a LOT of play testing. Lord Wardens could be substituted out for Bloodspawn, but don't use Malubeth. Malu is bugged and op as hell right now. It'll eventually be fixed, and with Fasalla's about, the heal buff proc is meh when not bugging.

I choose Lord Warden because it's more consistent. You get 100% uptime on the little blue bubble, which makes you tanky as sin. Nightblade house!

If you have a maelstrom resto, use it with Trans snb. If you have no maelstrom resto, use Tava's sword, Trans shield (or vice versa), and Tavas resto with one Trans armor piece.

Snb bar swallow soul, sap essence, structured entropy, fear, cleanse, barrier. Resto bar siphoning attacks, rapid regen, mirage, healing ward, refreshing path, bolstering darkness.

Entropy is for the mad health bonus, but also for its heal. Entropy procs a respectable heal every 6s or so and can be put on multiple people. It's a HUGE source of heals when you get it on a half dozen or more dudes hitting you. If you're not refreshing a hot or buff or sapping for a big heal, then you should be putting entropy on a new person. It's nuts when you get those stacking.

Cleanse is your burst heal and purge. Use it as such, but be careful. It's super expensive but well worth the cost to cleanse heal debuffs and Dawnbreaker dots.

Transmutation gives you oodles of regen and tankiness. Op on a solo sap tank.

12 cp quick recovery, 1 expert defender, everything else in Hardy and ele defender. Balance blue points between blessed and ele expert. Crit damage is also important for heals.

With Trans, you can allocate armor traits to sturdy instead of impen. If you do this, slip some cp into resistant.

You can still deal decent damage, but this build focuses on being unkillable and leading the charge. You can substitute out sets and stuff for damage, but you will run out of resources or get bursted etc etc.

If you want more kill potential, a good start is slotting meteor instead of barrier. I never actually pop barrier. It's there for the support regen passive. Bolstering darkness is the only ult I ever really use unless I am using meteor to murder someone.

KenaPKK · July 2016

K4RMA wrote: »

KenaPKK wrote: »

Argonian master race! No race change allowed. :< Heck I've been set on changing my Breton to a lizard for months. The heals are gonna be cray.

Kena + Pkk = AP
@KenaPKK
rip
scrub
come back to eso pls

SotP misses u

(Rekt)

AllPlayAndNoWork · July 2016

@KenaPKK
what weapon glyphs would you use matey ?

KenaPKK · July 2016

AllPlayAndNoWork wrote: »

@KenaPKK
what weapon glyphs would you use matey ?

Spell damage or magicka return. These aren't highly relevant though. You want to spend as little time on the resto bar as possible anyway, so you won't be proccing that glyph often. A maelstrom resto is ideal for the extra sustain.

Oh and jewelry glyphs. I don't like block cost myself, but they're good. I use all damage. Damage is manly, and your heals scale well with it. Mixing in some magicka regen is the safest though.

Sap tanks don't rely too much on block -- especially my Lord Warden's + Trans variant -- so they don't necessarily die when they run out of stam. Sap tanks die when they run out of magicka. They have a ton of magicka buff spells to keep up and heal from sap essence spam. Magicka sustain is super important.

Scamandros · July 2016

AllPlayAndNoWork wrote: »

@KenaPKK
what weapon glyphs would you use matey ?

If you want to guarantee outsustaining someone else, cost increase poisons are always nasty. But without weaving attacks due to blocking etc they may not activate too often.

I'd guess usual go to enchant is disease main bar to debuff enemy healing and make what little damage you do stack up.

If not using maelstrom resto staff, then you could put on spell power enchant. Tap something with a light attack after refreshing buffs and swap back to main bar to enjoy an extra 350 spell dmg. ~400 if you go infused trait with very little downtime.

Other options could be stat restoring enchants if you found yourself struggling with stam for example.
Or possibly even shock enchant, for chance at applying concussed effect which I think still gives enemy minor/major maim (whichever was 15% dmg done reduction). Saves slotting shade or low slash at the cost of higher downtime and less reliable procs.

Torbschka · July 2016

Thanks guys for the great answers, I will check this defnitely out! The Lord Warden thing sounds good, thanks for that input!

The only thing what scares me is the damage, I guess this build is basically really for "staying alive" rather then killing stuff or?

Would u mind to post your stats with that setup @KenaPKK ?

WillhelmBlack · July 2016

From my experience, fasalla whether you're doing 5 light or 5 heavy is the most effective on a sap tank in PvP. My favourite was 5 fasalla. Can't wait to try 5 Duroks Bane, 5 Fasalla.

The left over slots are up to you, pick a monster set.

KenaPKK · July 2016

@Scamandros poisons and elemental damage or debuff glyphs are single target. They're good in duels and small group fights, but a sap tank's intention to stay alive tanking groups isn't augmented by that. Also disease has a really low proc chance for a healing debuff. Magicka return and spell damage glyphs are stronger for a sap tank, and elemental procs like fire are better for offensive damage because they scale with CP.

Also fear applies minor maim.

@Torbschka sadly I am unable to log on to spec into this and look at stats.

You'll easily hit 35k health, 38k magicka, and 17k stam with strong regen but low spell damage, though.

Yes, this build is primarily geared for tanking. You said you had attempted to build a sap tank but were having trouble staying alive when jumped on, so I shared my tank build.

Substitute out transmutation and warden's for willpower + 2 torug's or 2 vicious death and another undaunted set for moar damages. 2 Bloodspawn or 1 Kena 1 Bloodspawn are solid. Next patch I'm going to test 1 Kena + 1 of that new resistances undaunted set.

You could also do willpower + 1 Kena + 3 vicious death to keep from having a 1pc resto staff back bar.

You could also swap the Tava's out for Fasalla's, heavy Kag's, twilight's embrace, or other sets. Tavas is the best for raw survival -- it's essentially dynamic ult gen for perma-veils -- but if you're looking to kill people instead of tank, then you'll use super cheap soul harvest. The sets I listed all give great kill potential.

WillhelmBlack wrote: »

From my experience, fasalla whether you're doing 5 light or 5 heavy is the most effective on a sap tank in PvP. My favourite was 5 fasalla. Can't wait to try 5 Duroks Bane, 5 Fasalla.

The left over slots are up to you, pick a monster set.

That depends on what you're doing. Fasalla's is pretty tanky, but Tavas is tankier. I don't exaggerate when I say perma-veil.

Fasalla's is also worn to increase kill potential. A sap tank aims to survive, not kill in its on right, and OP mentioned no group.

I tried Fasalla's + durok's. Felt more like a stam build, so I stopped using durok's. Durok's also crowds out undaunted.

AllPlayAndNoWork · July 2016

@KenaPKK have you tried soul syphon instead of soul tether ?

Draxys · July 2016

WillhelmBlack wrote: »

From my experience, fasalla whether you're doing 5 light or 5 heavy is the most effective on a sap tank in PvP. My favourite was 5 fasalla. Can't wait to try 5 Duroks Bane, 5 Fasalla.

The left over slots are up to you, pick a monster set.

I believe they are making it (if they haven't already) so that these 2 heal debuff sets do not stack.

KenaPKK · July 2016

Draxys wrote: »

WillhelmBlack wrote: »

From my experience, fasalla whether you're doing 5 light or 5 heavy is the most effective on a sap tank in PvP. My favourite was 5 fasalla. Can't wait to try 5 Duroks Bane, 5 Fasalla.

The left over slots are up to you, pick a monster set.

I believe they are making it (if they haven't already) so that these 2 heal debuff sets do not stack.

Source please? That would be a horrible idea.

KenaPKK · July 2016

D

AllPlayAndNoWork wrote: »

@KenaPKK have you tried soul syphon instead of soul tether ?

Doesn't deal damage or cc, you get heals elsewhere, and the vitality buff is unnecessary. Completely outshadowed by other ults, namely Bolstering Darkness, which is upwards of 18 seconds of 60% damage mitigation. Soul tether puts enemies on the ground and still heals you.

Soul Siphon would be really good if it could be aimed and cast at a distance like nova or atro.