Casual tank questions

Petoften · August 23

I have a casual tank, 1h/shield. there are a ton of tanking sets, hard to pick. For just one example, one improves damage shields but I'd need to find skills etc. to use with that.

Playing is mostly solo, some dungeons, no vet yet but probably might try that. But nothing higher end like trials.

1. Should I spend 1500 crowns on a second armory set, to have one for solo and one for dungeon groups? Or is there one build good enough for both?

2. Any sets stick out as especially good, both 5 piece and monster, perhaps even mythic, for either?

Sluggy · August 24

1. Nah. You have two by default and you only ever need them if you are changing CP distributions, attributes, and curses. Addons can handle gear, skills, and slotted CP just fine.

2. This is at least three questions rolled into one. What do you mean by solo? Are you soling dungeons? if so, you are going to require a special build with special skills to bypass certain mechanics and maybe even dungeon gates that are there to force multiple players. As for casual tanking in groups for dungeons , presumably with pugs: Just run whatever you like. If you want to be safe, stick with stuff that provides lots of sustain and survival and be sure to slot some group heals. You never know what kind of group you are going to get so it's quite possible you'll have to carry the whole thing. On the other hand if they are good, they won't even need a tank so why bother with anything special anyway?

Soarora · August 24

Doing damage as a true tank in overland is extremely painful. I wouldn’t recommend it. If you want sword and board, build more like a DPS with a sword and board power fantasy.

Normal dungeons you’ll want to make sure you have a taunt and speed. Ideally you’ll bring buffs and debuffs for groups that aren’t very good, but expectations are low for normals.

Vet dungeons without any trial sets would be like nazaray or spaulder or nunatek or tremorscale + turning tide + powerful assault (backbar and jewelry).

JaxontheUnfortunate · August 25

The set can vary greatly depending on content and tanking play style. I have always liked pearlescent ward, lucent echoes, turning tide and drakes rush.

Sluggy · August 25

So I re-read the original post and now that I'm properly awake I realized the OP is looking for something much much more beginner obtainable. Since you are just starting out I'd say just go for something like Torug's Pact and Wretched Vitality. They are both crafted so it's easy to obtain. I'd suggest something like an Ice Staff on your backbar for Torug's. Make it infused trait with a Crusher Enchantment. Then on your frontbar you can use Wretched Vitality. Just be sure to have some skill or skills that can trigger it's effect. Your sword and shield taunt should work just fine. Once you start doing vet dungeons I'd aim for a monster set like Bloodspawn or Engine Guardian. Both are fairly easy to get these days.

As for damage, if you are mostly doing solo overworld stuff then gear won't really matter. Just wear what I suggested up top. It's more about your skill choice and use. It should be very easy to kill any normal mobs in one or two hits and you can wear down most world bosses in a couple minutes if you slot a two-hand weapon on your frontbar and whack away with some hard-hitting spamables and an execute.

Lumenn · August 26

Tanking in ESO is a bit different than games with the "holy Trinity" that I was used to, much more personal/situational. Hyperioxes has quite a few builds explaining sets, scribed spells, when to use this or that. Might help you to fuse your own style as to what sets to use.