Tanking as an archer?

Chieve

So my friend is playing as a dragon knight, which i assume is best for tanking.

but my friend wants to play with a bow and arrow and wants to do pure archery.

I'm new to eso and I am not sure how tanking works in the game.

Is it possible for my friend to be a pure archer and tank in ESO?

Can he get pure archer skills and tanking skills?

What do you suggest?

BurtFreeman

theorically is like a walking fish!
thank need to distract enemies from healer and long range spell caster, so normally this role match the best in a short combat range build.
but you have 2 abilities bar, so you almost be able to do whatever you like in eso. this is a nice thing to enjoy the game.

Dar_Zeena

If you're just starting out I wouldn't recommend it, just for the fact that you don't have the undaunted taunt unlocked, and even at high level I wouldn't since stuff hits hard when you're not geared properly and don't block.

Obviously you (or your friend) can do whatever you want, but stuff even hurts me when I don't block, and I am in full legendary hist and almost full legendary footman.

Do whatever you enjoy most and make it work

Shunravi

I wont say its impossible, in fact, i think i know a guy who did it for a while. but it wont be easy, especially if you have melee dps on your team. If you are trying to control a boss at range, he will move around alot. This willl be hard for melee to deal with. He should seriously consider roll-dodging alot.

PBpsy

No it is not possible to be a tank and just use a bow even if you taunt. I wouldn't call that a tank neither form the point of view of a DPS or a Healer or a tank. However the game does not look classes into roles. Any class can be a very good DPS or tank or a decent healer. Your friend can be a very effective dps using bows as a stamina DK. He will be at best an extremely lousy tank if he assumes that role and uses only bows.

In the end he will not enjoy it and you will not enjoy it either.

MisterBigglesworth

It's certainly possible. One time I became the de facto tank while leveling up my archer DK in a group dungeon. I had all the aggro anyway due to high dps, (use Inner Fire taunt if you don't have aggro) and I just hit magnum shot every time the boss got too close. Your friend needs to get real good at kiting. Someone in your group using Rapid Maneuvers will help too.

Chieve

alright thanks I plan to be a healer, sorcery with rasto staff, so i thought it would be cool if my friend would tank. anyways thanks my other question then is...is kiting still a thing? my friend played other mmos and was an archer usually and his usual role was to kite things....if he does dps (or tank i guess) is kiting still a possibility?

MisterBigglesworth

Chieve wrote: »

alright thanks I plan to be a healer, sorcery with rasto staff, so i thought it would be cool if my friend would tank. anyways thanks my other question then is...is kiting still a thing? my friend played other mmos and was an archer usually and his usual role was to kite things....if he does dps (or tank i guess) is kiting still a possibility?

Kiting is definitely viable in ESO. It's not like in WoW where the boss is super glued to the tank most of the time. It's actually quite easy to create some distance between you and the boss. Also, DKs are uniquely equipped with Reflective Scale to deal with any projectiles the boss might throw at them.

PBpsy

Chieve wrote: »

alright thanks I plan to be a healer, sorcery with rasto staff, so i thought it would be cool if my friend would tank. anyways thanks my other question then is...is kiting still a thing? my friend played other mmos and was an archer usually and his usual role was to kite things....if he does dps (or tank i guess) is kiting still a possibility?

Somewhat but the mobs do have a leash. If you drag them to far they will go to full health and go back to their starting location. If you have good control you can stay out of the hit range of the mobs as an archer and keep them in their leash range. What usually happens is that the tanks will keep a boss somewhat stationary. This is very important especially if you have melee dps which will have a terrible time with bosses that move all over the place. The bow type dps usually can stay at the outskirts of the battle and almost never get in trouble if they play right.

As mentioned you could potentially have a bow user taunt and kite in a circle but this would make it very difficult to get good dps on a boss as a melee ( which is hard enough already)and as some medium ranged magicka dks and Templars.

Chieve

alright thanks ill let my friend know.

So if my friend plans to kite...i guess we gotta be kinda creative without strategy if we decide to tank?

Sorry for asking so many questions...I am new but the last thing I want to know is for those who melee dps close range, is there a way they can work around any kiting method?

To be honest, I haven't been in MMOs when kiting was a thing, the only one I played was WoW and I joined way after they got rid of kiting. My friend was a kiter in Final Fantasy XI and loved it. I love to heal, so I am trying to figure out how we can mix our talents in roles in ESO.

Thanks

Dar_Zeena

Some of the bosses you don't really want to kite around since they throw aoe hazards on the tank, otherwise it would be just all over ther floor. Other bosses.. probably.

Pman85

tanks need shields or they will die die die. you might be able to do a level 12 dungeon as a archer tank, but as soon as you need to stay alive you are going to *** off your healer real fast.

Most healers get angry when the tank isnt a proper tank. PC is pretty decent since most players have un-f***ed their builds but on console its still bad. Many get caught up trying to tank like its a quest. there is much more to tanking than just face pulling mobs.

PBpsy

Chieve wrote: »

alright thanks ill let my friend know.

So if my friend plans to kite...i guess we gotta be kinda creative without strategy if we decide to tank?

Sorry for asking so many questions...I am new but the last thing I want to know is for those who melee dps close range, is there a way they can work around any kiting method?

To be honest, I haven't been in MMOs when kiting was a thing, the only one I played was WoW and I joined way after they got rid of kiting. My friend was a kiter in Final Fantasy XI and loved it. I love to heal, so I am trying to figure out how we can mix our talents in roles in ESO.

Thanks

Most melee dps will have some ranged or medium ranged attacks in their arsenal in order to keep doing dps in situation where they can't just sit there next to the boss.This is because of: random heavy hits, a lot of AOE, dealing with adds ,etc. Those situation happen a lot in vet dungeons and even some normal ones. It can be difficult to deal with as a melee dps even when the tank is doing all right at keeping the boss in check. A kiting taunting bowman will not be that good at keeping the boss in check though, so the melee dps will have to deal with that kind of crap a lot more therefore they will deal damage a lot less efficiently. This is important since in my experience what ultimately kills groups most in ESO is lack of DPS. I have doone vet dungeons with 4 dps with lousy self heals but dungeons with a bad dps usually end up in wipes.

Mivryna

The game generally isn't designed for it, but there are a few instances where it can work well. One boss comes to mind, as she's an entirely ranged enemy that kills anyone that gets too close, even the tank.

I would definitely like to see more fights where ranged tanking is a possibility, either through kiting or because the enemy is ranged themselves. It was quite a neat dynamic in SWTOR.

I'd like to play a full caster tank, who specializes in mitigating magical damage.

Dagoth_Rac

MisterBigglesworth wrote: »

It's certainly possible. One time I became the de facto tank while leveling up my archer DK in a group dungeon. I had all the aggro anyway due to high dps, (use Inner Fire taunt if you don't have aggro) and I just hit magnum shot every time the boss got too close. Your friend needs to get real good at kiting. Someone in your group using Rapid Maneuvers will help too.

No you did not. There is no such thing as "aggro" in this game. If an enemy is not actively taunted by Puncture or Inner Fire they can, and will, attack anyone they want at any time. There are all kinds of weird urban legends about how this can generate aggro or that can generate aggro. And sometimes you will do X and you do get attacked! But it was just random luck, nothing special about X. Sometimes dropping a big AoE in a group of enemies at the very start will get them to all attack you, but it is very temporary. The enemies will start peeling off and attacking other group members once everyone is involved in the fight.

There is no such thing as Aggro - Tanks need to Taunt.
There is no such thing as Aggro - Tanks need to Taunt.
There is no such thing as Aggro - Tanks need to Taunt.
There is no such thing as Aggro - Tanks need to Taunt.

Take it to heart. It will make your life so much easier.

Now, can you equip a bow and use the ranged taunt (Inner Fire)? Sure. It may even work in some dungeons. But the passives from the Sword and Shield line that mitigate damage and reduce the cost of tanking will become necessary as the content gets harder.

Also, almost all bosses are immune to CC, so Magnum Shot will not work on them. Even if it did, knocking the boss backwards so the DPS have to chase him down or re-target him is not a good idea. Taunt boss and be sturdy enough to stand there and get pummeled. There are a very few bosses where kiting is part of the boss mechanics. But someone who kites as their go-to tanking style is going to be very unpopular. You will kite your way out of range of heals, or make the healer run all over the place to heal you, or reset the boss so you have to start all over again.

Classes are not really what defines role in ESO. Any class can be good in any role. I have run Sanctum Ophidia with an Argonian Dragonknight Healer - a really odd choice, but with a resto staff and the right gear, he can heal just fine. If he tried to heal with a bow equipped, though? Big trouble. You can work around unusual class and race choices, but an unusual weapon choice is almost impossible to work around. And unless you want to be a mediocre tank that people quickly decide they don't want to group with, go Sword & Shield for your tank.

MisterBigglesworth

Dagoth_Rac wrote: »

No you did not. There is no such thing as "aggro" in this game.

Also, almost all bosses are immune to CC, so Magnum Shot will not work on them.

You're right. What I should have said was the boss conveniently followed me around the entire fight. Hence why I was the "de facto tank" (not the actual tank; the actual tank dc'd like 10 seconds into the fight) and it was very fortunate for our group as I had the means to properly deal with the boss in a non-conventional role. Also, I didn't use Magnum Shot to CC the boss. I used Magnum Shot because it makes me leap backwards, so it's a useful kiting tool.

VincentBlanquin

this thread remind me)))

my only vet char is dragonknight currently using only bow

point is nightblade has better buffs for your arrows damage (grim) or debuff (mark). dragonknight has only molten which boost only heavy attacks. so much for aggrroing through damage. stamina management is better on nightblade too, green dragon blood is heavy nerfed. and as dragonknight you have no escape and mobility (unless vampire, but you need to be werewolf to stamina regen). if you go to cyrodiil, you are free bag of AP with comparison with nightblade

VincentBlanquin

VincentBlanquin wrote: »

this thread remind me)))

my only vet char is dragonknight currently using only bow

point is nightblade has better buffs for your arrows damage (grim) or debuff (mark). dragonknight has only molten which boost only heavy attacks. stamina management is better on nightblade too, green dragon blood is heavy nerfed. and as dragonknight you have no escape and mobility (unless vampire, but you need to be werewolf to stamina regen). if you go to cyrodiil, you are free bag of AP with comparison with nightblade

as for tanking, try for yourself. i think that in time with many CP, everything is possible)))

sorry for dp