Tanking without staff

Vürdhuun · October 5

Hi,
I would like to play ESO again and roll a tank role character. Last time I played was years ago, I played 1h+shield/Ice staff. This combo was almost mandatory to be efficient.
Right now, I woudn't play tank with a staff, is the Ice staff build still "mandatory" to tank in all game mode or could I get the possibility to be a good/efficient tank without staff and with melee weapons ?
Thanks for your help

tomofhyrule · October 6

I held on to dual SnB for the longest time. If you know what you're doing, it's fine for a lot of fights. Usually I only throw the stick on for bosses anyway since I love using Vateshran.

SnB/Ice is obviously better, but there are still some fights that I prefer to be SnB both bars, especially now that Scribing has given me an interrupt using a SnB skill. Usually those are things that are add-heavy, so I can Vateshran everything in during the boss.

Monte_Cristo · October 6

Arcanist has a class skill that taunts, so that could work with any weapon. Same with the undaunted taunt skill.

EnerG · October 6

I'll give the answer your probably looking for,

Can you tank just about any content without a staff backbar. Yes, if your skill as a tank is good enough you can do just about anything with whatever you have at your disposal.

The big BUT here Is that tanks and healers in eso are both categorized as support, they both wear sets that buff the dps, so you won't be as useful to your group without an ice staff, but you are still a tank.

You can and will be able to pug even veteran trials without an ice staff if you have the skill. But do not expect to be chosen as a tank for groups running with more coordination.

Ishtarknows · October 6

The reason for having a staff on your back bar is because, after changes to how enchantments work you now need a 2h weapon to have proper uptime on the infused crusher glyph you should be using. So a 1h and shield with crusher enchant will have half the uptime as a 2h (usually ice staff since the passives make it an ideal choice, but a bow or 2h melee would work the same)

ssewallb14_ESO · October 6

As mentioned it's a big hit to group dps to lose the infused crusher, like worse than losing a support 5-pc. The gap is a bit smaller now that the scribed s+b skill can proc the backbar enchant, but the value is still halved.

sarahthes · October 6

Ice/Ice is meta for endgame (don't see sword & shield very often anymore although there are some specific fights where it's used).

But if you aren't aimed at endgame, do whatever you want.

Varana · October 6

Taunting is not a problem, you want the Undaunted range taunt somewhere anyway.

If you're playing in a fixed group, the crusher may also be supplied by the healer. If that's the case, then there's technically not as much benefit in using no staff.

Vürdhuun · October 6

Thanks all for your answers.

So do you think S&B is working as intended since meta is ICE/ICE ?
As I know, S&B is bind with tank role or am I wrong ?

ssewallb14_ESO · October 6

I don't see Ice/Ice very often outside of optimized trial groups or Warden tanks.

S+B is very good in 4-man due to built-in minor breach and Vate/Master's S+B being very strong in that context.