STAMINA DK AOE TANK

Seabhacgra

I've been trying to put together a DK tank that optimizes on AOE tanking. I idea is to hold and control and DPS AOE well enough in PVE and be able to switch to a second bar for single target.. A FULL stamina build so all points into Stamina, your heavy armor makes up the difference with 5 piece heavy and 2 piece light...So for the first bar ..
Sword n Board..
1 - Burning Breath
2 - Choking talons
3 - Ash Cloud with morph into either
4 - Shielded Assault (to charge in, stun and get the damage shield)
5 - Vigor to heal ( or if you are not high enough in PVP, Green Dragon's Blood)
U - Ferocious Leap (for the damage shield) - Possible Corrosive Shield instead

2H bar

1 - Executioner
2 - Wrecking blow
3 - Unstable Flame
4 - Stampede
5 - Rally
U - Flawless Dawnbreaker OR Werewolf for the stam regen and to finish off single targets fast

Idea here is to charge into Combat (or leap if it's up) with Shielded Assault,.. hit choking talons to hold mobs/players in place,.. then Ash cloud, burning breath to start dots and CC .. Vigor or Green Dragons blood to heal .. then on bosses or single targets you use Stampede for CC and gap closer, unstable flame to get a dot going, then beat them down with wrecking blows, rally to heal and executioner when they are low health,.. with DAwnbreaker to or WW for the ultimate...

Appreciate any thoughts anyone has on this.. thanks!!

paulsimonps

But you don't have a single taunt, how will you keep agro on bosses if you don't have a taunt? I get what you are trying and for trash groups yea it might workout pretty well, but you need to be able to taunt bosses and large target off from your dps and healers. Can't really call yourself a tank if you don't, just a dps with a lot of survivability and CC.

Seabhacgra

So suggest some improvements instead of just saying it won't work. There are only 2 taunts I know of .. Ransack/pierce armor and Inner Beast... in which case the only thing I would think would change is trading 1 of these in ... if you have better suggestions,.. I'm all ears..

Petros

http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Tormentor+Set

There you go

But it seems like it's more of a solo build.

Tanking requires one to hold threat/aggro, and AoE (Area of Effect) Tanking(Treat grabber) Is non existent in the game

paulsimonps

Seabhacgra wrote: »

So suggest some improvements instead of just saying it won't work. There are only 2 taunts I know of .. Ransack/pierce armor and Inner Beast... in which case the only thing I would think would change is trading 1 of these in ... if you have better suggestions,.. I'm all ears..

I would change out ash cloud, if you are going full stamina as you said you will not be able to use both ash cloud and choking talons very often. If you are not spec'ed into magicka then the DK's Earthen Heart and Draconic Power abilites costs a lot of Magicka. So Flip that out for a taunt and you would still have 2 good AoE's one that's stamina and one that's magicka. I would also use Pierce Armor as your taunt but you need the Inner Beast level'ed cause if you are only gonna use the one taunt then you need to be able to switch it out in certain fights cause some are easier to do with Ranged taunt, though its not really required it just makes it easier. I have done AA without ranged taunt for the Axes so its doable.

Seabhacgra

Appreciate the responses,.. After all the research I've done I can see why so few attempt to tank.. there's so little in the way of threat generating taunt abilities... best you can do is DPS best you can and toss in the 1 or two single target taunts available now and then.. but then there are NO aoe taunts either.. Was reading about how another person said they don't do tanks anymore because it's a DPS loss.. they just take a healer and 3 DPS and have a sorc use inner beast and port around tossing DPS along the way.. Reason I was looking at AOE tanking is because that seemed the best alternative to having an AOE taunt...

Petros

Ha, no no. Some ppl don't understand. If you are a Tank Tank( Hard capped resistances, self heals, alot of health and stam) You're healer can dps, and a heal set is just as good as if they were a dps

But with my injury I suffered 3 months ago, I'm forced to play with one hand. Naga Razer.

Seabhacgra

Petros wrote: »

Ha, no no. Some ppl don't understand. If you are a Tank Tank( Hard capped resistances, self heals, alot of health and stam) You're healer can dps, and a heal set is just as good as if they were a dps

Thanks Petros,.. since we're all sitting here waiting to play (especially me on my day off,.. grrr....) why today of all days, my day off.. they decide to extend maintance so much ....Anyhow.. back to the subject.. I'm currently at V3 on my DK and trying to work on a solid tanking setup ... gear and levels will come but it's the skills and patterns I wanna pin down. I TRIED to do this on my Templar but without proper high end gear,.. I just couldn't make it work on my V16 Templar...

paulsimonps

Seabhacgra wrote: »

Appreciate the responses,.. After all the research I've done I can see why so few attempt to tank.. there's so little in the way of threat generating taunt abilities... best you can do is DPS best you can and toss in the 1 or two single target taunts available now and then.. but then there are NO aoe taunts either.. Was reading about how another person said they don't do tanks anymore because it's a DPS loss.. they just take a healer and 3 DPS and have a sorc use inner beast and port around tossing DPS along the way.. Reason I was looking at AOE tanking is because that seemed the best alternative to having an AOE taunt...

That can work on some fights but if you have a melee dps with you they will not be able to do anything if the boss is running around constantly, and if you have a sorc using bolt escape all the time then their Magicka will suffer tremendously. Better to have it like Petros said, let the healer help with dps and keep the boss still and debuffed while having good self heals.

Petros

paulsimonps wrote: »

Seabhacgra wrote: »

Appreciate the responses,.. After all the research I've done I can see why so few attempt to tank.. there's so little in the way of threat generating taunt abilities... best you can do is DPS best you can and toss in the 1 or two single target taunts available now and then.. but then there are NO aoe taunts either.. Was reading about how another person said they don't do tanks anymore because it's a DPS loss.. they just take a healer and 3 DPS and have a sorc use inner beast and port around tossing DPS along the way.. Reason I was looking at AOE tanking is because that seemed the best alternative to having an AOE taunt...

That can work on some fights but if you have a melee dps with you they will not be able to do anything if the boss is running around constantly, and if you have a sorc using bolt escape all the time then their Magicka will suffer tremendously. Better to have it like Petros said, let the healer help with dps and keep the boss still and debuffed while having good self heals.

Yep, with the boss running around and players having to chase after it, it lowers dps

Seabhacgra

So what improvements would you suggest Petros? I'm looking to make my DK viable as a tank yet able to handle myself well in PvP.. Can you or others suggest a build or idea? I've been toying with Left Lucy's Deadly Fortress build but that seems more suited to PvP, not tanking PvE

NBrookus

Your setup looks a lot more like DPS than Tanking, but your actual DPS number might be fairly low. This setup probably works great in solo adventuring, tho.

(EDIT: Pardon the following wall of text. tldr; - Bring at least one taunt and ways to control the battlefield. Or else go full on damage dealer.)

I've been looking a lot at the same PvE/PvP flexibility problem, but I'm not sure it's really possible unless maybe you have tons of CP and have access to the monster sets and dropped sets you need. You never see these supposedly elite builds using crafted gear, despite Zen's original promises that crafted gear would be better or have parity; and the disparity seems to be getting worse. Meanwhile players grind dungeon after dungeon and don't get the helms and shoulders they are looking for. These high power builds online are the end result of a LOT of playing and grinding. You're going to have to run something else in the meantime.

ATM, I am focused on being a stamina PvE tank. I do not claim to be any kind of expert or elite tank, but groups have been happy with my tanking so far. Hopefully this gives you some things to think about.

I'm currently running 7/7 heavy V14 purple Hist Bark 5 piece with 3/4 piece Hundings Rage. Whitestrakes is also a good crafted tanking set. I'm not sure if I want to go back to 5+1+1; maybe 5+2. Leaving 2 slots open to change gives me some flexibility in case I do get a monster set, but get medium instead of heavy or vice-versa.

My points are something like 28 Health / 35 Stam / 0 Magicka, with purple max stamina enchants on all armor. Jewelry is a mix of health and stamina based on what I've been able to pick up and improve. Weapons are legendary with gold Absorb Health enchants. With food buffs and a competent healer, my health has not a limiting factor so far. (I have yet to run with a healer who isn't competent.)

This is my default dungeon setup:

1H&S bar:
Pierce Armor (Taunt)
Deep Slash (Damage that hits more than one target, at least a little)*
Shield Charge (Gap closer)
Eruption (AoE damage)
Obsidian Shard/Stone Giant (remote knockdown; helpful when your healer is running from an enemy or you need to interrupt an enemy healer/sorc/etc.)
DK Standard of Might (AoE)

*still playing with this one in lieu of Inner Fire as a second distance/magicka taunt

2H
Wrecking Blow (damage)
Molten Whip (magicka damage)
Stampede (Gap closer)
Executioner (damage)
Rally (self heal)
Corrosive Armor (Oh crap)

With no AoE taunt, having both taunts can be helpful; one stam & close up, one magicka and works at a distance. And every skill is useful for something, so play with them all and level them all. I do not use Choking Talons because a lot of the times it drains what magicka I have and just doesn't work. I haven't played with Igneous Shield or Petrify yet, but I need to even though Petrify probably doesn't work on most if not all bosses. There's just no single set up of bars that will work for every vet dungeon.

In some dungeons, the bosses can't really be tanked, so being able to get some decent DPS numbers via 2H or Bow is also a needed skill. I'm a WW but I don't bring it into dungeons unless I know I will need to act more as a 3rd DPS; the stam regen is awesome but usually not worth the trade-off in a group, IMO.

I use FTC to track my taunts, buffs and debuffs; it's super helpful even though you can't over-taunt anymore.

When tanking, unless there's some specific mechanic or boss actions involved, my main thoughts are:

• My #1 job is to make an environment where the DPS can kill stuff in the least amount of time in the greatest safety for them. Everything else comes from that priority.
• Hold big boss aggro.
• Aggro any mini bosses or dangerous mobs. Aggro'ing mobs is hard and not always possible.
• Either turn them away from the rest of the group or at least keep them turned in one direction. This often obscures my view of the battlefield, so...
• I assume the other members of the group can handle themselves as long as I am successfully making the main damage rain on my head, but I keep an eye on their health bars, *especially* the healer. (Or anyone yelping on TeamSpeak.) This is where Stonefist or Inner Fire is helpful because you can cast them a distance instead of running to them and dragging the boss(es) with you.
• Don't stand in the red; your healer can't fix stupid.
• If everyone's' player health is getting low, self-heal, potion, Ultimate -- anything to help take the pressure off the healer. Obviously, don't let yourself die either.
• Everything gone to heck? Rez the healer first; they can rez the DPS or heal you while you rez the DPS.
• Everything going good? Wail away on the boss and contribute as much DPS as possible.

---

Over in PvP-land outside of Blackwater Blade, most players that are not decked out in the best V16 builds are scrubs or run in zergs for a reason. I run bow instead of 2H when in Cyrodil, but I still usually perish quickly. My preferred weapon in PvP is a ballista.