New Tank Advice

Altair

So I'm a bit of an RP player, and my character is "themed." I'll avoid discussion of the why's on the theme here, but suffice it to say, I'd like to fill the tank role in dungeons. I've done 2 runs through Fungal Grotto, and with a good healer they went ok... but I'm sure I could be doing better. I'm basically posting here to see if I can get some advice on how to set my guy up for tanking a bit better.

Some of the things I write might be horribly wrong. If so, please feel free to correct my understanding.

Nord Sorceror (Storm Caller), Lvl 16
2H weapon
Heavy armor
Magicka: +1
Health: +10
Stamina: +4

I use Thundering Presence (Lightning Form Morph) to add armor and spell resist while fighting, which helps to mitigate a lot of incoming damage. I keep it refreshed while in battle. It also helps with group aggro a little since it damages everything in range.
I also have Immovable (heavy armor tree) available, but I don't have it slotted because it wound up being a bit redundant.

Weaponwise, I use Cleave, Dizzying Swing (Uppercut Morph)


I realize that I probably have very little idea of what I'm doing while tanking. Specifically the mobs run everywhere and chase the healer around, and I have to chase them, so I'm not holding threat.

I'm just looking for some general advice here, so thanks in advance for your input!

Rosveen

You need sword&shield as your primary weapon. 2h is fine as secondary, but you need to maximize your damage mitigation when tanking bosses. Also, you don't have a taunt - which is the one absolutely crucial tanking skill. You're not a tank without it. So grab a shield and Puncture asap (you'll get a ranged taunt from the Undaunted line later). Defensive Stance is very useful too, Crippling Slash will be used later on but I never really needed it in low level dungeons. You could look into Structured Entropy from the Mages line for a passive health buff.

I have no experience with sorcerer tanks, so I can't give you specific advice. Still, low level dungeons are fairly straightforward and don't require fancy skills. Your job is to taunt the hardest-hitting mob in the room, maybe grab another one or two if you can, and keep them on you. Refresh taunt every 15 second (applicable in boss fights, trash usually goes down faster), but don't overdo it or mobs will become temporarily immune to it.

Keep an eye on your healer and well, try to stay alive.

Nestor

The general idea of a Tank is to draw aggro on the Boss.

In other words, keeping the Boss occupied so the rest of the party can DPS the Boss and the Adds and or Heal the Party. This means you rush in and be the first one hitting the boss while your other party members move around and fire off damage skills/heals.

There are a few skills that Taunt but I am not sure if they work like they are supposed to. So, to keep the boss occupied, stay in front of the boss/between the boss and party members dealing out damage. If the boss moves towards your DPS/Healer, then stun them somehow if possible, or close the gap and encourage them with your sword to turn attention to you. Shame they took Taunt away from the Storm Atronach, that would have made your job much easier.

Can't remember if Thundering Presence is the longer term one or the one that lets you move faster, but I would think a longer duration would help more in a Tank Role. But the added speed of the other morph can help you chase the mobs that are chasing the Healers/DPS. Any other DoT skills you have will help with a Boss, just add them into the rotation as they fade.

As for your equipment, are you running Impenetrable or Reinforced traits on your armor? The former is for Critical Strike Mitigation the latter for better armor. If you chose better armor, then Immovable becomes a skill to use instead of Lightening Form.

Since your using Two Handed, that means Stamina, so your magic pool can be left alone. Build up your Stamina Attribute with Points or Glyphs, and then use Mana Regen rings to keep your limited Mana pool topped off for the Lightening Form skill and any others. (the Syrabane set starts dropping at L30, so keep an eye out for the Bands of Syrabance). You might find some Warlock stuff at the Levels your at, but the Signet of the Warlock is a rare thing, and you need two of them, and possibly the Focus too. Yes, your giving up Stamina Regen this way, but your not in a role that should use up the Stamina as your goal is not DPS, but to keep the boss busy. So, you may end up wanting or needing Stamina Regen boosts instead. It all depends on what you do.

Also, don't ignore the need for an execute. Mobs in this game have a maddening habit of cranking up their armor values when their health drops so that last 10/20% of their health pool can take as many hits as first 80/90% did to drop them to 0. Sorcerer has a nice one, Mages Fury, and there is one with 2H to use too.