Wanna Try a Tank

Tomg999

OK, I've searched and read up a bit. I want to try tanking PVE, learn the role. I haven't done much group stuff, but I have played a long time and have 550cp.
I am looking at DK, probably Imperial, and I lean towards Stam. I know about avoiding Stam Recovery because I'll be blocking, and to get that from the DK skills.
My question is - If I go Stam, which I know I need to keep Block up, what about all of the Mag I need for my skills? I understand many folks get their Health form Attribute points and Stam from Gear enchant (or vice versa), and should use tri-food for all 3. But where do I get Mag from in this kind of setup & how much do I need?

Also - Since I will need to level AP & Undaunted (neither of which I have on any char), which gear sets are good for someone who doesn't have access to the super rare end-game sets? All my chars are cp160 and I have a good crafter, just no gear that you only get in end game or Vet dungeons - yet.

Autolycus

With a relatively high CP, your max magicka pool, even as a stam DK tank, will be sufficient to do everything you need to. With tri-stat food and 550 CP your max magicka will probably sit somewhere between 10-12k. This is enough, as long as you have a respectable magicka recovery too. Your two primary methods of maintaining your resources are through casting Igneous Shield (see Helping Hands passive) and by casting ultimates (Battle Roar passive). Having a high magicka recovery allows you to continually cast Igneous Shield as often as necessary to recover your stamina without letting down block, and then when you cast an ult, you get a big chunk back.

@paulsimonps can probably give you some more insight too. He has been recommending replacing 2pc monster sets with 1pc of each Shadowrend and Chokethorn for additional magicka recovery, as Blood Spawn isn't totally necessary, Lord Warden is situational, and all other monster sets are just so-so for tanking. Sentinel is also pretty good, but it depends on what you and your group need imho.

As for your sets, it makes sense that you don't have access to the meta sets if you're just starting out. I'd probably start with Ebon, as it is easy to obtain from CoH and is definitely one of the best tank sets out there. You could pair that with a number of things, really. If you want to craft a set to pair with it, like Tava's Favor, make sure you get Ebon jewelry.

paulsimonps

That's my set up. I rely on high mag regen and the DK passives to keep my stamina up. As well the low block cost with constitution creates great sustain and you can literally never run out of stamina.

To start of with grind CoH like @Autolycus said to get Ebon, I would combine that with Hist Bark with Ebon Jewelry you got a solid set up before you get Alkosh. However make sure that when you make it to go with 7 heavy armor and grind Ebon enough so you have 5 armor pieces too, cause when you get alkosh you want it to be your jewelry and weapons/shield to avoid using medium armor pieces. The stronger Constitution gives better sustain than 5-1-1 and the extra resources from 5-1-1 doesn't really give all that much.

btw those stats that I am showing is with Hardened armor activated and purple tri stat food.

Oh and last thing Imperial is a really good race for Tanking so is Argonian, I am a Dunmer not out of Min Max reasons but instead just cause I like them but if you want to min max I would chose either of the earlier mentioned races.

EDIT: The reason I don't have gold weapons is cause they are not the trait I want to have, not wanting to waste tempers. You want Infused weapons to strengthen the Crusher enchantment and increase its up time.