Dragonknight Tank Advice (Atypical, kinda)

Sintao

Fellow fine sentients and denizens of Tamriel,

So far I have managed to get my first character working as an adequate healer, able to do a few veteran dungeons without the others grousing at me.

Now I am committed to playing a nord dragonknight tank. I understand that tanking in ESO is about interrupts, timing, selective taunting, and such.

I am looking for advice along these lines:
- mainly PvE, Dungeons, group events
- shield and sword
- two handed sword
- a low-ish complexity of operation (in the sense of not having to be constantly rotating weapons and having to bring certain abilities/buffs up at exact intervals)

Now the reason I ask for this latter isn't because I don't expect this will be the greatest tank out there! I am fine with 'competent'. The issue is more me and a bloody lousy twitch reflex due to a degree of arthritis and other grumpy-old-man things (... oh, to be immortal. but i aint no aedra (yet)). I am kind of okay at these things, but not as good as many.

So: any advice or pointers to builds would be appreciated! I've been looking over quite a few, that have comments like 'Not easy to play with many buffs'. Comments like those scare me!

In advance, thanks.

Autolycus

The main things you want to focus on when you're tanking is holding aggro, positioning enemies properly, grouping enemies together when appropriate, and staying alive. But the current state of ESO (even if this is just for dungeons or open-world content, like dolmens or delves) encourages tanks and healers to be "buff totems." I know this sounds meta, but rest assured I'm not trying to point you in that direction. Instead look at this way: If you pay close enough attention and prioritize the right adds, all that's really left to do is stay alive, and the rest of your "discretionary" time is spent doing 1 of 2 things: dealing damage, or buffing the group.

Now, you could approach it a couple of different ways if your aim is to be competent enough to run in more casual group content. It's entirely possible (and realistic) to pair sets together that give some utility for your group and allow you to dish out a little damage. It's a easier, though, to pick either damage or utility as a focus. Also keep in mind that your group will like having you a lot more if you are buffing, rather than trying to dps. In the majority of cases, even a tank built for damage will deal less damage than a dps. Additionally, if done properly, a tank can boost another dps's output by more than he/she can crank out him/herself, so I encourage you to go the utility route (and I think you'll find it to be enjoyable as well).

You want to have 5 pieces of heavy armor to utilize the passives, both the 1h&s and undaunted taunts, access to Major Ward/Resolve (Spike Armor), chains, and talons (not in every case but it's good to have). There's a good chance you will appreciate using 1 medium and 1 light for the increase to your max resources via Undaunted Mettle (passive). It's good to use Major Evasion as well but you can get away without it for dungeons if you're not using Tava's Favor set. I would encourage Tava's Favor as one of your sets though, because it is not only great utility for your group (should you choose to use something like War Horn), but it can also benefit you in terms of sustain (since you return resources for casting an ult) and damage (if you choose to use a different ult). You can pair it with a dps jewelry and monsters sets, or another dps-oriented 5set.

When you start out as a tank, you should really not focus on contributing damage until you're comfortable controlling the fight. It's up to you to keep aggro of course, but just as important is facing adds/bosses the right way, moving out of harmful effects or positioning them so they don't threaten your group, and to group up and CC adds. Interrupting typically falls to the tank as well.

As for gear selection, honestly, you can do just about whatever you want for the more casual content. If you really want to, you can craft a dps set in heavy armor. As long as you block at the appropriate times, keep your buffs active when they need to be (and what I mean here is not necessarily being perfect on the buff timers, but at least they're active during the important mechanics), pay attention to your group, and put your role as a tank first (over dealing damage - far too often I see tanks let their taunt drop so they can execute or something) then you should be just fine.

There is a great deal more to this than I'm touching on here, but I am deliberately trying to keep meta talk out of this. You aren't looking for a perfect setup, or to start tanking vet trials, so none of that matters right now. It's more important that you focus on the fundamentals, such as keeping aggro and grouping adds together, than adding it other factors. Once you get comfortable with that stuff, then you can start adding in more buffs and ways to deal damage.

engramz

@Alanar has a dk tank build here: http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/alanarres-invincible-dk-shieldtank/

Think this would suit. Easy to play; great survivability; and good group utility (by way of igneous shields). Great for 4-man dungeons.

EDIT: Ruins of Mazzatun turtle boss will be difficult (mentioned in posted thread).

Sintao

@Autolycus, thank you for your thoughtful post.

I am fairly lucky in that I've seen how some good tanks run good content since beginning ESO (as well as the very opposite!); that and tips like these are gold.

@engramz, thanks for the link, I've looked it over and will try a lot of that build most likely.

gard

The next time a DK tank chains a mob out from under my blades, I'm gonna assume he did it because he wants to take over dpsing that particular mob.

That is all.

Sintao

Hey @gard !

If my DK tank ever does that, you have my permission to slit his throat (or take him out for a drink , my tank will buy). I am thinking I'll mainly 'leap to' when needed, and save the chain for them difficult annoying adds that wreak havoc - basically hogtie em for you dps.

gard

Sintao wrote: »

Hey @gard !

If my DK tank ever does that, you have my permission to slit his throat (or take him out for a drink , my tank will buy). I am thinking I'll mainly 'leap to' when needed, and save the chain for them difficult annoying adds that wreak havoc - basically hogtie em for you dps.

A beer sounds good!
Actually if beer is involved you can chain 'em all you want! The more the better!

Surragard

Sintao wrote: »

@Autolycus, thank you for your thoughtful post.

I am fairly lucky in that I've seen how some good tanks run good content since beginning ESO (as well as the very opposite!); that and tips like these are gold.

@engramz, thanks for the link, I've looked it over and will try a lot of that build most likely.

Ditto on this. Thank you for the feedback.