Are there any 2-hander Tank builds out there?

Magnys

I recently came back to the game (last played almost 18 months ago) and was curious if there are any viable 2-hander Tank builds out there? If so, would someone please point me in the right direction. I currently have a level 8 DK Nord that I would love to be a 2-hander tank or off-tank. I'm sort of tired of the same old sword n board thing. Thank you in advance and happy hunting.

Forestd16b14_ESO

Oh were to start........

Well my build is what you want but that's the thing it's my build and took me awhile to figure it out with alot of trial and error but that is one of the many joys of ESO or TES or any RPG is to figure out your own thing but be happy to share and help get your build starts.

Well to make up for the resistance that SnS gives you you'll want the defending trait on your 2H weapon and at gold cause it gives a +12% resistance boost.

I am a DK and iron skin with being able to block 10% more damage makes up even more for SnS nd want to use volitile armor as the armor skill of choice for resistance boost DOT on activation and reflecting melee damage back to attackers and to take advantage of elder dragon blood and burning heat.

You'll also want heavy armor to decreased cost of blocking.

Since you are going for 2H and all you'll want rally+vigor the only stamina healing in the game that's any good.

2nd bar is a bow which too has the defending trait at gold level to keep that resistance up there and instead of DPS with the bow I got talons and cinder storm and poison injection and lethal arrow for de-buffs and CC.

As for ultmates well you'll want ferocious leap to gain a damage shield that scales off 100% of your health and magma armor to cap your incoming damage at 3% of your max health and to give near by allies a damage shield scaling off 100% of their health.

Now that's not entirely everything cause as I said joys of a RPG is finding your own way but I do hope this helps.

Oh something else invest 48 points into hardy and elemental defender. 48 points =15% so that be a 15% decreases to incoming physical and magical damage and everything that involves the two.

Oh also as for sets well me 4 pieces of armor master and 3 song of the lamae to boost health and resistance.

imapogostick

Yes but sword and board works better in tanking but if you want a dps bar 2 hand works with it, of course you'll want to go stamina I have an argonian dk tanky dps for pvp.although I think dual sword and board is best because you won't lose your health bonus from shield every time you switch bars.

Currently I run 2 hand with bow tanky build use the bow for poison dot and buffs, igneous shield gdb evasion, vigor. And use my 2 hand bar with. Unstable flame for dot wb rally charge , executioner

I can be tanky cuz dk in general is more tanky the magic use and healing really synergies well with a stamina dk build

Using 2 magic skills helps to use that useless magic stamina dks have and use it for buffs igneous shield and gdb and hardened armor which I like for more tanky builds, and none of those do dmg or really matter how many points you have in magic so buff on your off resource and dps on your main is great and you can cycle igneous shield gdb to always be on during a fight.

Using hardened armor makes this more difficult but you can switch that out for evasion if you wanted

I have all points in stamina btw.

Magnys

Thank you for the reply......have you or anyone you've heard of tanked 4-mans running just 2-hander (maybe bow or dual 2nd spec)? That is something I would LOVE to figure out.

AddictionX

The thing with the 2 handed tank is that you're more of an evasion tank, a very different style of tanking thats typically more advanced because you will at the same time have to keep the aggro as its not enough to be able to self sustain yourself. Not saying its not possible.

phaneub17_ESO

It would be hard as you be relying on Inner Fire to taunt, it's not always reliable with Line of Sight and if your target is behind another mob. It's also quite an expensive magicka ability before the morph and still costs almost 3 times as much as Puncture/Pierce Armor after the stamina morph. For trash mobs you'll do okay if you rely heavily on Brawler damage shield, you'll take no damage at all; however, when it comes to solo bosses with little or no trash to hit on the side that bonus shield goes away.

I would suggest getting Circle of Protection from Fighter's guild line for a little extra damage reduction and recovery with preservation morph. I like Bahraha's Curse for tanking, the proc is fairly common and heals quite a bit when tanking a lot of trash at once. At least keep Sword and Board on your swap in case things do get dicy and have Pierce Armor on hand when you want to mass taunt.

Autolycus

Block mitigation is the most important tanking stat in ESO, followed by armor & spell resist, followed by buffs/debuffs for mitigation.

By using a 2H instead of a shield, you give up 8% block mitigation and 8% reduced cost of blocking. You also give up the ability to melee taunt, you cannot apply Major Fracture and Major Breech (arguably two of the most important debuffs in the game) for your dps in any efficient manner, and you cannot apply Minor Maim (15% mitigation, only usable through sword&shield or as a NB).

A legendary weapon with defending on it grants you 12% additional armor and spell resist, which comes into play after block mitigation. The way I look at armor and spell resist is that it's your "2nd defense" for when you cannot block. I would never consider this mitigation as a viable substitute for blocking, and there is no argument as to whether or not you can block more damage with a sword&shield than you can with a 2H.

Just to give an example:
Let's assume you have 20k armor and spell resist. Add another 12%, which is 2400, and that effectively increases that amount of damage you can mitigate by just over 2%. The armor value of a shield alone at vr16 legendary (including CP passives) is almost 2% mitigation (not 2% resistances). Factor in passive abilities, such as Defensive Stance, which is 8% mitigation, and Low Slash, which is 15%, and there really is no case for using a 2H to tank. The only way you can justify using a 2H is if you intend to be a hybrid tank/dps, and even then your 2H should be a secondary weapon. Wearing several heavy pieces renders your 2H damage and healing almost useless.

I hope this doesn't come off the wrong way. I'm not trying to burst your bubble, I'm just trying to save you the time and headache of what others have already taken the time to test. Best-case scenario with 2H tanking, you can do most of the 4-man dungeons, but not all of them. Trials is out of the question for a 2H tank. While you're leveling though, you can do virtually anything you want!

Lynx7386

I can see using 2h as an aoe weapon for a tank, allowing you to spread a dot and get the shield from brawler. That's kinda what I go for with my nightblade, using brawler, power extraction, refreshing path, etc and then a shield for tougher single targets.

Acsvf

Of course it's viable, so long as you have decent gear among other things, but there really is no point or benefit other than being able to say that you're different.

shugg

I used to run vet prison and WGt as a 2 h nb tank but i needed siphoning attacks to keep my stam up - however now it dosnt proc off caltrops or path so stam return is nurfed. Now you can still do it but s&b is better for your group and if your pugging it. I now tank on my dk but thats for yhe vet raids, i wish tanking could use any weapon as i miss my dk from wow

NBrookus

Magnys wrote: »

Thank you for the reply......have you or anyone you've heard of tanked 4-mans running just 2-hander (maybe bow or dual 2nd spec)? That is something I would LOVE to figure out.

I'm not saying it couldn't be done, but the only times I've seen a "tank" show up in a dungeon without S&B on at least one bar, they were nearly or completely ineffective and the rest of the group had to make up for their weaknesses. Tanking is not just about holding aggro -- you give up DPS to support the group with buffs, debuffs and controlling the fight.

Right now, level up everything. You don't want to run quest content in a full tank spec anyway. Then as you start to develop a playstyle you can decide if you want to be a full tank or a tanky DPS.