Armor Master and why you're using it wrong.

AverageJo3Gam3r

Oldmanlawlor wrote: »

My Templar is a tank. And I must say, it's completly and utterly boring as hell. Now don't get me wrong, I stand in the middle of the mobs saying "you can't kill me" but it's the same when I try to solo kill things, they get to say it.

Usually dungeons consist of me taunting a boss and shielding up, or, taunting a boss and running in a circle. Yes it's effective and the other three get to melt the boss.

But for the tank? Boring. There needs to be something in game to reward effective blocking. Perhaps, a successful block costs no stamina and grants massive hp recovery for three seconds.

I actually have a ton of fun on my tank because I get to control the tempo of the fight. I agree though, it's boring playing it solo and in PvP. I can't even bring myself to grind for vigor because it's so boring.

NBrookus

I don't find tanking boring in a group.

Solo, however, can be painfully slow.

Ixtyr

. . .

Run Heavy Armor Master and use Shuffle on your bar.

I guarantee you that's a better setup than Medium running Immovable Brute.

Septimus_Magna

Ixtyr wrote: »

. . .

Run Heavy Armor Master and use Shuffle on your bar.

I guarantee you that's a better setup than Medium running Immovable Brute.

From a stamina NB perspective I dont think Shuffle is worth it tbh.
Mirage also gives the 20% dodge chance + minor ward/resolve and doesnt cost any stamina to cast.

That leaves Annulment and Immovable to proc the Armor Master 5pc bonus.
Annulment gives a very small shield on stam builds so also not really worth it.

That leaves Immovable, this gives the major ward/resolve buff which is useful for tanks as long as you're under the armor cap.

The point is that the armor cap is easily reached with heavy armor, its even possible to reach it with medium armor and CPs.

So why not wear medium armor if you can reach the armor cap with buffs and can compensate the block cost reduction with CPs? Medium armor gives stronger Vigor heals, more dmg, better stamina sustain and cheaper dodge rolls so there are a lot of benefits for pulling it off.

Note, this is from a theorycrafting standpoint because I havent tested this yet.

Septimus_Magna

Yesterday I was bored so I decided to make medium Armor Master to see how much armor + spell resist I would get.
Total setup is 5x Armor Master/3x Willows Path/1x Molag Kena/3x Endurance (5x MA/2x HA).

Gold tempers are pretty expensive so I made everything purple quality.

The results are really positive, buffed with Immovable (proccing Armor Master buff), only 38 CPs into Medium Armor Focus and 14 CPs into Spell Shield I was able to reach over 32k armor and spell resist. Currently I dont have the minor ward/resolve buff because I have Double Take for the speed buff, if I remorph this into Mirage I will be over the 33.2k armor cap.

With the Bosmer+NB passives, WW ultimate and 67 CPs into Mooncalf Im getting 1.9k stam regen unbuffed (2.2k with stamina potion).

Without Vigor the build isnt reaching its full potential (complete self-sustain so the healer can focus on dps) but stamina sustain is very easy, even without shards every couple seconds. This build works especially well on a stam NB because you can get the 20% dodge chance from Mirage/Double Take.

This comes pretty close to the calculations @hrothbern I switched 1x Blood Spawn for Molag Kena because its heavy reinforced, Blood Spawn would probably be better but the extra weapon dmg isnt bad either.

Here are some screenshots of the stats, gear and CPs.

Rune_Relic

@Septimus_Magna ...interesting stuff. Thanks.

hrothbern

@Septimus_Magna ,

looks fine to me

enjoy your ride to Vigor in PVP

TERMINAT0R_XVII

.......off class tanks??? Nightblades aren't meant to be tanks...... tanking should be left to the Dragonknights. They have the skills to do it and won't have to use slots that should be used as Nightblade skills not tanking skills. NOW I'm not saying your build is crap and inferior, its good but here are my un/buffed numbers using only unstoppable, the 75 point steed bonus passive and 7 piece heavy armor. I can't post pics yet so you are going to have to take my word for it

Breton Dragonknight

Tank bar armor set: Alessias Bulwark including 5 piece bonus
Dps bar armor set: Vampires kiss including 5 piece bonus < I usually only use the Dps bar when I'm soloing content so I can regen health like crazy when I fight mobs.

Unbuffed resistances/ Buffed only using unstoppable
PHYSICAL: 30554/ 35934
SPELL: 31964/ 37244

Septimus_Magna

hrothbern wrote: »

@Septimus_Magna ,

looks fine to me

enjoy your ride to Vigor in PVP

Thanks, Im only 110k AP away from unlocking Vigor so that should be soon.

TERMINAT0R_XVII wrote: »

.......off class tanks??? Nightblades aren't meant to be tanks...... tanking should be left to the Dragonknights. They have the skills to do it and won't have to use slots that should be used as Nightblade skills not tanking skills. NOW I'm not saying your build is crap and inferior, its good but here are my un/buffed numbers using only unstoppable, the 75 point steed bonus passive and 7 piece heavy armor. I can't post pics yet so you are going to have to take my word for it

Breton Dragonknight

Tank bar armor set: Alessias Bulwark including 5 piece bonus
Dps bar armor set: Vampires kiss including 5 piece bonus < I usually only use the Dps bar when I'm soloing content so I can regen health like crazy when I fight mobs.

Unbuffed resistances/ Buffed only using unstoppable
PHYSICAL: 30554/ 35934
SPELL: 31964/ 37244

You're missing the point, thats in heavy armor, besides anything beyond 33.2k resist is wasted.

Whats your weapon dmg and stamina regen?
It probably a lot lower compared to the medium armor setup.

For heavy armor I would run with Shuffle to get the 20% dodge chance instead of Immovable.

Usara

TERMINAT0R_XVII wrote: »

.......off class tanks??? Nightblades aren't meant to be tanks...... tanking should be left to the Dragonknights.

And why is that ? ^^
My main tank is a sorc (even though I have a tank of each class now) and I can assure you each class can be awesome tanks with the appropriate skills and gear.
And for further trivia about myself you don't care about, my main tank used to be my DK (because it used to be so great for speed vDSA in the past with the chain, or as I call it the CLAAAAAAW)
But in IC dungeons and with the stamina mechanic change, I got a bit bored by the DK... sorc tanking is really more fun imho

Sorc tanks can rely on the very much controversial spam shields (Hardened Ward and Harness Magicka). With a very high magicka pool (I personally have 32k), the Ward grants me a 17.5k damage shield. That I can spam. And no, I don't have any magicka issues (pots and dwemer pet are more than enough) Especially if there are magic damages, then Harness Magicka is basically free. And can be spammed too
And I have a better average dps too, but that just may be because I'm more at ease with magicka setups.

From my experience, the "less" good at tanking now is the Templar. It does the job of course, but you don't have as many tools as the others when it come to tanking. So the "feel" of your class tends to fade, as they aren't so many class skills useful when tanking. And stamina can sometime be an issue if there are no ennemies to repent and if your healer doesn't use/have Spear shards.

NB tanks are awesome. They are the best when it comes to survival/resource management with Siphoning Strikes/Funnel Health spam, even if they take harder hits against hard hitting bosses (Mantikora, Flesh Abomination...)

DKs are very good of course, as they have so many tanky skills in their class trees, and the usefull "EMERGENCYYYY !!" Magma Shell. And the Claaaaaaaaw.
But depending on the boss, I can assure you other class can do an even better job