Medium Armor Tanking Gear Advice - Current Meta

Velazanth

Hi all,

First time posting here on the forums and I'm in need of a bit of advice. I've got an Imperial DK Stam-tank that I'm trying to gear out for end-game. Most everything I'm reading on the current meta seems like Medium Armor is the go-to for resource management and DPS utility, but I haven't seen many detailed breakdowns of the gear involved.

My main questions is this, what's the ideal set-up for V16 tanking in the current meta? I was thinking 5/1/1 Armor Master + Blood Spawn, Endurance, and Alessia's Sword/Board. I'm guessing these would be mostly impenetrable, but I might be way off the mark.

Thanks in advance for the help, I appreciate it.

Velazanth

Also, I'm hoping I'm asking this in the correct forum..

PhatGrimReaper

It would probably help if people knew what content you intend to tank. Some content requires nothing more than a Sword & Board and can be done in Light armor, but there are still a few places where you need an actual tank.

Velazanth

I thought end-game and V16 implied this, but more specifically: all vet dungeons (including IC and WGT) and trials.

Smolt

Powerful assault, 2 PC blood spawn and 3 PC agility with master sword. Vigor to survive and proc 5pc bonus. Dual wield back bar for steel tornado to help with trash. This is good for all dungeons, but not good for trials. I don't really know anyone that runs trials anymore since zos refuses to scale them up to make them relevant again.

lolo_01b16_ESO

Smolt wrote: »

Powerful assault, 2 PC blood spawn and 3 PC agility with master sword. Vigor to survive and proc 5pc bonus. Dual wield back bar for steel tornado to help with trash. This is good for all dungeons, but not good for trials. I don't really know anyone that runs trials anymore since zos refuses to scale them up to make them relevant again.

It works for all current trials aswell if you know what you're doing. But it will be much more relaxed if you equip heavy armour, especially for aa hardmode and so and in trials your little bit of dps doesn't matter much anyway.
For the new trial however, you'll need heavy armour.

PhatGrimReaper

lolo_01b16_ESO wrote: »

Smolt wrote: »

Powerful assault, 2 PC blood spawn and 3 PC agility with master sword. Vigor to survive and proc 5pc bonus. Dual wield back bar for steel tornado to help with trash. This is good for all dungeons, but not good for trials. I don't really know anyone that runs trials anymore since zos refuses to scale them up to make them relevant again.

It works for all current trials aswell if you know what you're doing. But it will be much more relaxed if you equip heavy armour, especially for aa hardmode and so and in trials your little bit of dps doesn't matter much anyway.
For the new trial however, you'll need heavy armour.

Has anybody actually tanked the Manti in Medium? - not including sorcs kiting!

Velazanth

Smolt wrote: »

Powerful assault, 2 PC blood spawn and 3 PC agility with master sword. Vigor to survive and proc 5pc bonus. Dual wield back bar for steel tornado to help with trash. This is good for all dungeons, but not good for trials. I don't really know anyone that runs trials anymore since zos refuses to scale them up to make them relevant again.

So Powerful Assault > Armor Master/Morkuldin for mitigation? This is my first time running up a tank build in this game so I'm trying to get a feel for the most viable setup. From everything I can tell, HA passives desperately need to be reworked. Given that a majority of the Vet dungeons can be completed without a tank (I run 3DPS + 1 Healer for most dailies on my V16 Magicka DK) wouldn't medium armor be the best bet for flex dps in encounters where tanking isn't as necessary?

lolo_01b16_ESO

PhatGrimReaper wrote: »

lolo_01b16_ESO wrote: »

Smolt wrote: »

Powerful assault, 2 PC blood spawn and 3 PC agility with master sword. Vigor to survive and proc 5pc bonus. Dual wield back bar for steel tornado to help with trash. This is good for all dungeons, but not good for trials. I don't really know anyone that runs trials anymore since zos refuses to scale them up to make them relevant again.

It works for all current trials aswell if you know what you're doing. But it will be much more relaxed if you equip heavy armour, especially for aa hardmode and so and in trials your little bit of dps doesn't matter much anyway.
For the new trial however, you'll need heavy armour.

Has anybody actually tanked the Manti in Medium? - not including sorcs kiting!

I did. Was much more stressful for me and the healers than using heavy, but I wanted to try it. I used 2 magma shells in the fight, dodged all heavy attacks and did nothing to support my group apart from taunting the boss and using vigor every few seconds. The dps was high enough to kill manti without anyone going downstairs.

Velazanth wrote: »

Smolt wrote: »

Powerful assault, 2 PC blood spawn and 3 PC agility with master sword. Vigor to survive and proc 5pc bonus. Dual wield back bar for steel tornado to help with trash. This is good for all dungeons, but not good for trials. I don't really know anyone that runs trials anymore since zos refuses to scale them up to make them relevant again.

So Powerful Assault > Armor Master/Morkuldin for mitigation? This is my first time running up a tank build in this game so I'm trying to get a feel for the most viable setup. From everything I can tell, HA passives desperately need to be reworked. Given that a majority of the Vet dungeons can be completed without a tank (I run 3DPS + 1 Healer for most dailies on my V16 Magicka DK) wouldn't medium armor be the best bet for flex dps in encounters where tanking isn't as necessary?

Well, Armor master has better mitigation, but powerful assault buffs weapon and spell damage of your group members, so if you can handle it without the mitigation from armour master, it's better.

PhatGrimReaper

lolo_01b16_ESO wrote: »

PhatGrimReaper wrote: »

lolo_01b16_ESO wrote: »

Smolt wrote: »

Powerful assault, 2 PC blood spawn and 3 PC agility with master sword. Vigor to survive and proc 5pc bonus. Dual wield back bar for steel tornado to help with trash. This is good for all dungeons, but not good for trials. I don't really know anyone that runs trials anymore since zos refuses to scale them up to make them relevant again.

It works for all current trials aswell if you know what you're doing. But it will be much more relaxed if you equip heavy armour, especially for aa hardmode and so and in trials your little bit of dps doesn't matter much anyway.
For the new trial however, you'll need heavy armour.

Has anybody actually tanked the Manti in Medium? - not including sorcs kiting!

I did. Was much more stressful for me and the healers than using heavy, but I wanted to try it. I used 2 magma shells in the fight, dodged all heavy attacks and did nothing to support my group apart from taunting the boss and using vigor every few seconds. The dps was high enough to kill manti without anyone going downstairs.

Nice!!!