No-Dodge Tank?

thelogicalghost

I really love playing tanks who laugh in the face of .... everything. Sure my damage is awful, but that's what the DPS are for. However, being new to ESO, everyone keeps telling me that I should be dancing and dodging like a DPS, which seems to undermine the point of being a tank. For me, at least.

So, I would really appreciate suggestions as to how to build the tankiest of tanks. Obviously this would be a PvE focused build. (I like PvE better than PvP anyhow.)

Savos_Saren

thelogicalghost wrote: »

I really love playing tanks who laugh in the face of .... everything. Sure my damage is awful, but that's what the DPS are for. However, being new to ESO, everyone keeps telling me that I should be dancing and dodging like a DPS, which seems to undermine the point of being a tank. For me, at least.

So, I would really appreciate suggestions as to how to build the tankiest of tanks. Obviously this would be a PvE focused build. (I like PvE better than PvP anyhow.)

I honestly feel the same way as you. I don't like playing a tank who dodges. However, the current "meta" is a tank that build ultimate quickly to improve DPS of the damage dealers.

That being said: If you want to avoid using "shuffle" (the dodge ability that procs Tava)- you'll probably want to at least buff the group in two other ways:

Set #1: Ebon Armor. It'll increase your healing received and the whole group's health.
Set #2: Alkosh. It'll debuff enemies when you synergize.
Set #3: Bloodspawn: Increased stamina recovery, resistances, and ultimate gain.

This set up benefits the whole group and raises DPS. There's other setups that you could use- but I don't know how far from the "tanky" path you want to go. Here's other suggestions:

Set #1: Akaviri Dragonguard. Decreases Ultimate costs for faster Aggressive Warhorns
Set #2: Hide of the Werewolf: You don't like to dodge... so this set gives you ultimate every time you're hit.
Set #3: Bloodspawn: See above.

Set #1: Lunar Bastion: Gives a damage shield to allies when you use a synergy.
Set #2: Sanctuary: Increases healing received for you and all allies.
Set #3: Lord Warden: Provides higher resistances for allies within a sphere.

If you want uber tanky... you can always use Ebon, Plague Doctor, and Sentinel. But say goodbye to any damage you might inflict. (Unless you're a Blazeplar build)

Granted- none of these sets will let you pop off Aggressive Warhorn as fast as a Tava and Bloodspawn setup... but they do benefit the whole group- which is your secondary job. (Primary being to maintain agro and survive.) I'm not sure how the nerf of crits will effect the need for Aggressive Warhorn- but I don't see any DDs wanting any other ultimates from the tank.

The main thing to remember is this: If you're not tanking vet trials... who gives a flying toad what you're wearing? Most normal/vet dungeons don't require specific builds to beat them. Just make sure you're staying alive and maintaining aggro and have fun!

Liofa

Well . I read/watch almost every tank build and never saw anyone saying ''you should dodge'' . Anyways , you want to stand your ground . Don't dodge unless it is necessary . When you dodge , there is a chance that boss will follow you so ground AOE skills will stop hitting boss which results in DPS loss . In ESO , you want to buff group and debuff enemies . You don't need to be extremely tanky . So yeah , now that discussion is out of the way ; I know you are new to the game so gonna recommend something cheap and easy to get .

5 piece Ebon . 3 jewelry and 2 armor . (You can get this in a dungeon called Crypt Of Hearts)

5 piece Tava's Favor . 3 Armor and 1h/s . (You can craft this or make someone craft for you)

2 piece monster set . Blood Spawn is good if you want to boost group DPS even for a little bit . Lord Warden is ok for protecting people that happens to stand in a small area near you . Engine Guardian can be useful if you literally suck at resource management . Rest of the monster sets are just not for tanking or simply really bad/useless . If you don't have a monster set , you can craft 2 piece Seducer for more Magicka Recovery .

I don't know what class you are playing so not gonna recommend a skill setup . DK is simply the best for group support . There might be some forum trolls who will jump and say ''no NB is better , DKs suck'' . I will just ask you to go look at the top of leaderboards and see what class their tanks are . That should be more than enough to answer the question of ''which class is best for tanking'' .

Hope this will answer your questions . If you have more , just ask , I will try to answer as soon as I can .

Cheers .

Wolfchild07

Not all bosses are the same. There are some that you just cannot tank 100%, and some that are ranged fights only. There are bosses in some dungeons that will 1-shot you if you do not dodge certain attacks. Not every fight is face-tanking.

Having said that, you do not need "BiS" set-ups for most dungeons. If you have 25k+ resists, 25k+ health, you should be fine for most of them. Use different sets, see what you like, what you can make work, and have fun with it. It can be useful to carry around an alternate set for different situations.

RavenSworn

I'm a night blade tank using dragon guard and hide of Werewolf and I gain ultimate stupid fast because of 1) catalyst passive 2) light attacks needed due to siphoning strikes. A bolstering darkness every 1min is crazy.

Alanar

I use a DK shield tank build that can stand in just about all the red with no healer while giving out massive shields to the group. This build gives amazing group survivability (great for no death runs and HM trials), but doesn't give the absolute maximum group dps that you'd get with alkosh.

DocFrost72

The most fun I ever had on a meatwall tank was a sorc magic based tank. When you use a ward, resistances don't matter. 5 Heavy and two light, sword and shield, seducer and worm cult sets with the health, magicka, magicka regen witch mother drink.

With the above I was not only helping out my healer and magicka DPS, but I cold damn near spam shielding and get myself so impossible to damage that I didn't have to block anything but heavy attacks.

agrr70

I use plague doc, leeching plate and malucheese. practically immortal.
switch out to grothdarr if I'm farmin set pieces with buddies

LinearParadox

I'm not sure what you/they meant by "dodging", if that means simple sidestepping, dodging with a buff like Major Evasion, or actual active dodgerolling, but.... staying in one place is preferable; it makes dps and healers jobs easier and keeps the boss from moving out of ground-targeted AoE DoTs like elemental blockade, liquid lightening, and endless hail.
HOWEVER. There ARE boss mechanics that WILL kill you in one shot, no matter your health value, armor values, buffs, etc. They are deliberate instakill mechanics, such as the spectral Bear attack at the end of Selene's Web.
There are also very strong attacks that you should block. Certain heavy attacks from bosses like the Dreugh King can deal a huge portion of your health bar -if not outright kill weaker tanks- and can leave you open to dying on the next hit and make the healers job harder.
Moving is also important sometimes. Certain bosses have stacking ground AoE DoTs that can kill you if allowed to stack. Examples are the Daedroth in Banished Cells 2 and the I'll Illambris Twins in Crypt of Hearts.

In short, ZoS has made many attempts to make tanking more interactive. Certain mechanics will require you to move, block, and even dodgeroll in some cases.
Stay alert, pay you attention, react when necessary, and stay alive.

Savos_Saren

Forgot to toss this in: If you're wanting to tank with high survivability and do some decent damage- you could also try:

5 Leeching
5 Bahraha's Curse
2 Malubeth (or 2 Valkyn or 2 Grothdarr if you're a DK)

That's just a fun, survivable build meant to run dungeons and PVP. Not exactly Vet Trials material, though.

You should also answer if you're a DK, NB, Sorc, or Templar. It'll help us make better suggestions.

IlCanis_LupuslI

I Run Armor master, fasallas guise and malubeth on mine die PvP and have Lots of Fun when People hit me get a 50% healing debuff and get rooted Inside a destro ult ^^

IlCanis_LupuslI

Wolfchild07 wrote: »

Not all bosses are the same. There are some that you just cannot tank 100%, and some that are ranged fights only. There are bosses in some dungeons that will 1-shot you if you do not dodge certain attacks. Not every fight is face-tanking.

Having said that, you do not need "BiS" set-ups for most dungeons. If you have 25k+ resists, 25k+ health, you should be fine for most of them. Use different sets, see what you like, what you can make work, and have fun with it. It can be useful to carry around an alternate set for different situations.

I guess with 38k Spell and 35 physicsl in a Bit above that lol. One the other side even with sharpened im still at cap

Cronopoly

After 2 years I'm now Tanking and using the Plague Doctor, Green Pact 65K health build with 2K Mag recovery, minimal blocking build (yes on Heavy attacks of course). I don't have to Dodge much and mostly if I do its by accident while repositioning. Been avoiding going off cliffs lol...barely.

I basically put 13-17K shields on the 4 man group every couple seconds (Igneous) and rarely have to use a Mag pot unless the boss has a Mag drain thing like in Fungal II. My own shields from Igneous are 30K+ IFAIK. My runs are pretty uneventful due to the ability to keep the group out of spiky damage trouble. My last healer told me she had very little to do and could goof off DPSing most of the time. We had a blast.

I digress, I do have a full set of Tavas and at one point slotted Shuffle, I just don't need it currently (For 4man dungeons.) I'm not to the Trials stage, even though I know I could do alot of it, except those bosses with HP damage mechanics, and Axes as I hear a traditional block tank is preferred.

P.S. My Ferocious Leap shields are a funny situational experimental use, mostly in PVP are 115K for those 6 seconds. Still better to use Magma shield I'm not immortal like others in PVP, but in a group I give the group legs spamming shields on anyone close to me negating their incoming damage. Negate is not my friend obviously. Luckily most use Destro Ult which I have lived through more times I can count. Prior to this I'd die horribly to that Destro/Vicious Death/Proxy combo from a certain NB. /damn you "Isolde"