I think you would need a really big drawback or another proc condition because that set would 100% be used by pvp tanks to become actually immortal, I think this is the last playstile that needs a buff right now

You're a nightblade. You have the best escape tools for IC, bar none. If you want to escape a melee player, you drop a shadow image and run. If they stay near your shadow image, you keep running. If they follow you, you port back. Either way, you then cloak. There isn't much a typical melee player, such as a DK, can do about that. Maybe they can leap you once, but that's about it.

I get that you have connection issues. It's just, players like that DK are quite common. You will get stuck, engaged with other players in IC, unless, well, you're a cloaking nightblade.

The cheapest way to frustrate such players is arguably porting out to Cyrodiil and back into IC, possibly using an addon to initiate that quickly. You have to do it to save your Tel Var from time to time anyway. I don't think you'll teach them to leave you alone. Especially not if they can whittle down your health. Not all PvPers can do that, because they run burst builds. If someone has a pressure build with high sustained damage, they may well love a target like you, because that's essentially what they're made for.

That said, I'm sure you can do better than your current build. For one thing: Don't build for health regen. Health regen is cut in half by Battle Spirit. It's not a good stat to chase for PvP. Consider a set like Cyrodiil's Crest, which heals you while blocking, although I don't know whether that's optimal. I had a friend who elevated PvP tanking to a high art, but I don't know what he ran. Here are some of my own, less informed, ideas:

• The Esoteric Environment Greaves are what I personally wear for gank protection. However I'm much squishier than you and that's why I need them. They are generally good against other nightblades and sorcs, but not against pressure builds that DOT you up.
• Zoal + Slippery CP will automatically break you free and stun attackers 1 in 3 times.
• Stormweaver's Cavort would allow you to shift block cost to magicka, which leaves you free to invest into stamina regen and to cast the heavy armor skill to become permanently un-CCable, like you asked. However that is a big shift in how to build. Most utility skills use magicka. I think the class that can possibly make this work is arcanist, because you can have a stamina-costing burst heal. EDIT: I forgot: You can also just use an ice staff for magicka-costing block.
• A potion duration extension or cooldown reduction build could increase CC immunity uptime, but those builds are not perfect and tend to involve a lot sacrifices. They are also expensive to run and, if at all, then best done on an Argonian.
• There is a crafted set increasing poison duration by 4 seconds. Escapist poisons make you CC immune for up to 4.4 seconds with a 10 second cooldown. Using that armor set gets you to 8.4 seconds. However poisons have a random proc chance and aren't hugely reliable.
• If you have 80+% block mitigation, you seem to have that sorted. Just to say there is a set called Steadfast's Mettle which reduces your core combat costs, including blocking.

That said, if you have high health, you can probably afford Siphoning Attacks and block indefinitely. What you're really missing is sources of healing. Off the top of my head, if I were to make a blocking tankblade, and not use Dark Cloak, I'd probably wear Cyrodiil's Crest + Soulcleaver with some block cost reduction and plenty of mag sustain (Atro mundus, Witchmother's Potent Brew). You can use Swallow Soul + Sap Essence to PvE. You can sustain blocking with Siphoning Attacks, but you need heals over time running in addition to Healthy Offering. Swallow Soul is one, especially if you hit an NPC with it. Path is another. You might want 1H+S on one bar, resto staff on the other for more heals.

KaironBlackbard wrote: »

Cloak is useless in PvP. Every time I try I get slapped WHILE invisible. What do they always say? Detect pot. Those things are OP.

Again, cloak is useless in PvP.

Perhaps it's useless to you due to connections issues but assure you that on the whole it's not useless. Anyway, Fred specifically suggested the other morph which gives you insane healing while standing still.

Overall your build just isn't well optimized for what you are trying to do. Properly made, a true troll tank can withstand a dozen non-coordinated players wailing on them all day long. A solo that is going all in with a single big attack like d-swing shouldn't even be able to scratch you.

Yes, buff Snow Treaders, on the condition that they no longer function inside PvP zones.

Is that 2900 before or after Battle Spirit? Either way that is nothing compared to most heals. I can easily get double that with regular HoTs on my brawler DK build while actively killing people.

Yes, that one paragraph at the end basically spelled it out: You need more healing. Dark Cloak is one of the strongest if you're planning on playing a non-mobile block tank. Combine that with something like the heavy armor Immovable buff and the Psijic Meditation and you're going to be laughing all day long while recovering health, stam, and mag all at once.

But if you want to stay perma block that's fine too. Fred mentioned Cyrodiil's Crest and there is also Battalion Defender - both of which give you some pretty crazy heals while blocking. I'd also consider dropping thews entirely, that set really doesn't do much for you. A much better alternative would be leeching plate since it deals damage and heals you based on that damage.

I've tried the health recovery thing. My DK was getting almost 6k after battle spirit but it's just not enough to survive if you get feared and bursted down in a single global cooldown. Healing that scales off of max health and lots of health to avoid the initial shock of an attack is currently the best way to survive.

So you like Thews for dealing with mobs? Fair enough, I suppose. And your connection is so bad that you can't do literally anything other than block? Okay, I can get that too. Mine's the opposite, lag can be spotty so I rarely ever bother with pressing block. Anyway, I hate to break it to you but your options for success are extremely limited. At some point you need to expect to have to use a skill. And I don't think asking ZoS to redesign an already contentious item into an even stronger one that flies in the face of the Unstoppable skill's trade-offs is something that will ever happen.

So instead I'm trying to come up with solutions that can work with your limits. It seems that you're fixated on this one DK that was obviously poorly equipped to deal with this exact situation - but what about the next person you meet that isn't? I can tell you right now that my DK would eat your tank for breakfast since it mostly ignores your block and can easily outpace that 3k heal every two seconds. However, if you had one more significant source of healing (like, say the aforementioned Dark Cloak) it might be enough to tip the scales in your favor. But some others run builds with defiles and unblockable stuns which will bring that all crashing to the ground. The best way to deal with as many of these situations is to try to find something that can a) far outpace any damage you take while blocking and b) allow you a chance to survive and recover when the inevitable stun, DoTs, and defiles do happen.

So here's my hot take: Drop the refreshing path. It's heal is very weak for a non-damge build and you clearly don't need the mobility it grants. Instead, slot Dark Cloak. Even on a naked character with no CP and all points into Health this heals around 3600 every second (when standing still). That's more than twice as much healing as you were looking for. Put on some armor and get your health up to 40k+ which is still low for this kind of build) and you now have a heal that ticks for over 6.1k every second. Now swap the Leeching Strike for Siphoning Attacks to help with sustain. Grab the Heavy Armor buff Immovable to give yourself an good uptime on your major armor buff plus grant you immunity to knockbacks and stuns on demand. Again, the snare shouldn't matter if you are just holding block anyway. Throw on a good monster set that provides some sustain like stone keeper (Engine Guardian and Sentinel are good too but players can target and kill them) and now you have a 5 piece that you can dedicate to whatever you want.

Here's a quick build I threw together in the PTS. I didn't even remember to assign a mundus!





I took it into vet HRC and tanked everything from the bridge to the door until I was satisfied that the block sustain worked. Then I tried it out in Imperial City Sewers against a bunch of mobs plus Obb the Carver (the guy that hits really hard with his 2-hand whirlwind). He didn't even scratch me. Will this make you immortal? Absolutely not. I just threw it together and it's not really optimized in any way. A good four-person team with a sorc will make quick work of you if they coordinate their attacks. But it will absolutely withstand a random solo d-swinging dragon knight any day. Obviously there's quite a few extra skills on the bar and they all serve a purpose but really as long as you can hold block and cast cloak and maybe vigor and your armor buff now and then it should be okay.

They have over 3000 damage, over 54k resistance (33k+21k to ignore my pen+breach), and over 35k pen to ignore all my resistance. Their average damage with uppercut/snipe is 13k, which would be 26k PvE.
I cannot fathom it.

Sometimes I wish I could have both versions of an ability, like both dark cloak and shadowy disguise, and both shadow image and dark shade.
Speaking of, anyone know why they are always bretons, and don't look like a shadow version of your character?

Just for the sake of it I tried it out in Cyrodiil. A team of five couldn't kill me without using siege combined with a coordinated damage dump. And that's using blue gear, the wrong morph of Siphoning, and a Onehand and Shield rank of 5...

For reference, here's the stats when buffed up with a potion and both armor buffs going.




And here's the setup.



After a couple days of testing in live fights in Cyrodiil I optimized it a good bit based on various issues I had. I went with leching cause I don't have thews. It definitely helps keep me a live a bit longer but that really only matters when completely surrounded by foes. Battalion Defender put in some great work and that extra 1.5k healing really helps in a tight spot. As an alternative you could aslo go with Mara's and get a free purge with a burst heal every fifteen seconds. Sentinel for the monster set cause I didn't know what else to try. The health, mag, and stam don't hurt. No mythic. I tried Sea Serpent on the PTS and quickly found that getting glued to the floor wasn't worth it. You still need to be able to move to avoid siege and negates and if it procs at the wrong time and you can't move you are dead. For that same reason I dropped the Immovable skill. Id end up using it at the very worst time and get myself glued to the floor when I needed to move. Maybe someone more experienced could get great use out of it but I'm not that dedicated lol.

I tried ice staff backbar with mag costs and it just hurt sustain too much. It never worked well in PvE and it's even worse in PvP. Drop the passive for sure. Up to you if you want Staff or SnB for backbar but you absolutely do not want to be spending mag on blocking. Stack as much mag regen as you can and use your Siphoning Attacks to regen both stam and mag whenever you need. Against a solo target you will never have to leave your frontbar at all. Just keep your Dark Cloak heal going at all times and use Siphoning and Offering when you need them and you'll never die. I went with Orzorga's Red Frothgar for my drink. A classic for PvE tanks and it works great here. Atro seems the best bet for mundus but if you feel comfortable with your mag sustain you could always try Thief or Ritual for stronger heals. For potions I had tri-pots at the ready but whipped up a batch of Immovables that give Health and Mag. Great for when you need to rezz or burn siege.

The frontbar




I played with this a lot and this is what I landed on for now. Healthy Offering is great in a pinch where you need to double up your healing. It can make surviving a group possible. Also nice that you can slightly help others nearby. Flare was just for the passive damage reduc but it can also annoy Nightblades. Cloak is obviously your main source of healing. Siphoning was my choice since it passively gives stam and mag when dealing damage but the other morph might be good too since in theory if you are really getting wailed on by a large group then it will cost you nothing to cast it. Siphoning if you want easier sustain against a few enemies. Leeching if you want better sustain and survivability against many. I finally unlocked Defensive Stance and it makes a huge difference. Absolute must-have. Also fun to throw frags back at sorcs if you can afford it. I didn't have the shield ultimate unlocked you but Spell Wall would be my choice for a few seconds of free block and reflect. This is great if you want to go for a rezz uninterrupted. I use meteor here because why not - more mag regen and a potential stun against people.


The backbar



Caltrops is a total flex slot. If you run ice staff you could consider Elemental Drain to give a little more mag sustain and maybe help others out with yourself. I went with caltrops to help make my leeching plate deal a little more damage and thus heal me a little more. Btw - I noticed I was getting minor breech too somehow so I think leeching must proc sundered or something. Useful if others are nearby since you can apply AoE dual breech for them. Mage Light is totally a flex spot. Whatever you want there. I just wanted more crit chance since if I'm on my backbar it means I absolutely need more healing and I want a better chance for them to be big. Phantasmal Escape is excellent when things go terrible. It gives 20% reduced damage and can potentially make an emergency roll (like out of siege or negates) completely free. Snare removal too. Refreshing path is just one more heal cause why not. In an emergency you want everything you can get. It also lets you move a bit faster when stuck in combat and running on foot plus you can help out others nearby. And finally Precognition. It didn't seem to work at all when I was stunned to hell and back but whatever. If nothing else it gives me a 10k damage shield when i flip to my backbar and that little extra bit might make the difference when you want to get all of your heals going before swapping back to your mainbar.

I can safely say this: There are no NPCs in Imperial City that can kill you. And I'm as certain as anyone can be that a single person has absolutely no chance of killing you (barring any unknown exploits or a massive lag spike). There just isn't enough damage in the game. You don't even need to leave your main bar since everything you need to heal and sustain is right there. That being said I did manage to tank a few small groups of sweat lords and with some optimizations over time and some practice I managed to go from handling three to handling five or six. The only way they could kill me was with siege. That being said, I think a group well equipped with unblockable stuns and coordinating in chat could eventually do it if you slip up even once. It's not free though and it does take work to survive that many if they are good. As for random pugs... I dunno, ten, maybe fifteen? It was hard to count and keep myself alive but eventually they did get me with a combination of dots, unblockables, negates, siege, and a heck of a lot of damage while I was pinned to the ground for three seconds. Siege, negates, the templar stun (which lasts like three seconds) are all things to watch out for. Outside of that they can't do much except stack more numbers. Of course with spotty internet service your mileage may vary but I assure you no solo will ever kill you as long as you manage your heal and your regen.

(1 item) While you are in combat, you are immune to snares and immobilizations that can be cleansed, but you cannot Sprint. Increase your movement speed by 7%

olsborg wrote: »

(1 item) While you are in combat, you are immune to snares and immobilizations that can be cleansed, but you cannot Sprint. Increase your movement speed by 7%

Should probably be a little more than 7%, like 12%. Or grant an Expedition buff relative to what you do not have or cannot cast, excluding sprint based sources (Cowards Gear).
Like grant Major Expedition, if already have Major then instead grant Minor Expedition, that sort of thing.
You could also say it turns sources of Major Expedition into sources of Minor Expedition since it already grants Major Expedition.
Something like that anyways.