New Player Question - Racial choices for tanking

kichwas

Hello;

I am completely new here, as in - got the game yesterday afternoon, got it installed by evening, and have played for about 2 hours.

I'm old to MMOs, but new to ESO and in fact new to Elder Scrolls in general. Been reading what guides I can find, but have some questions.

Tank wise... I have read a lot of advice on what is the best choice. The meta seems to favor Imperial Dragonknight, correct?
(I do not have access to Imperial... are they so much vastly better that my game 'suffers' if I don't play one?)

But after this, then what?

Roughly in order - how good to bad is each racial choice, and maybe a tiny bit of why? How much does it matter?

Likewise for classes. I gather Templar is 'almost as good' as Dragonknight - is that a fine difference or significant enough to get me passed over in groups if I went with Templar?
How is the new Warden class for tanking? And with what races?

To focus this a little...

My initial character is an Orc Templar. Conceptually that's a space I like a lot. But I also like the Khajiit and Argonians. And "maybe" the Redguards...

Is the Khajiit a bad choice for a tank?

How would people rate those races, if in order?

Imperial, Argonian, Orc, Redguard, Khajiit?


Is there a good guide to comparing the races and ranking them, rather than just proclaiming a best? Perhaps that also takes how Warden impacts choices into account?

Ghettokid

Orc good
Others bad

Taleof2Cities

You're on the right track, @kichwas ...

If your heart is set on a Khajiit tank then by all means play that ... ESO is play any way you want to. You can always respec with a racial change token later if you don't like it.

Depending on whether you want a magicka, stamina, or health tank ... that will change the order around between Imperial, Argonian, Orc, Redguard, and Khajiit. Khajiit synergizes best with stamina skills and abilities. Nords can also be effective tanks.

If you don't want to play a Dragonknight, Templar and Warden do have some good off-tank abilities and passives. So they're a worthy consideration.

By the way, my tank is a stamina Bosmer Dragonknight (picture below) ... so you certainly can make Khajiit work.

Jitterbug

If you want khajiit, go khajiit.
That being said, Argonian. Noone comes even close.

paulsimonps

Any race will do, most of the top end game tanks don't even play the BiS races, cause you really don't need too. That being said, if you do want to Min Max then Argonian is what most would say is #1 now, Imperials #2 and Redguards #3. Personally i have tanked since Beta on a Dunmer Dragonknight and now also a Dunmer Warden. It works wonders for me and I love them. So if you love Khajiits then go for it.

kichwas

Thank you for the responses this far.

I presently have managed a level 4 orc templar and level 8 khajiit warden.

Both 1h + shield + heavy armor. Is it correct that this is THE tank line?

Halfway through on the khajiit I jumped off of Morrowind to the Khajiit starting island as the summer event going on this week said I needed to talk to a priest in my alliance capital. I might not do that event but I instantly noticed my quests now more often had gear rewards rather than just gold. So this might be a good idea for the orc as well.

I have no major preference for the khajiit they just looked interesting. But I might start mine over anyway after I spend an hour in character creation perfecting a look - like I had done with the orc.

Next time in I will likely experiment with the dragonknight. I avoided it thus far because the description makes it sound too caster-fire based. Templar and warden seem even more magical so that might seem weird to some of you, but dragonknight just had me worried I'd be more dependent on the magic and end up feeling like a world of warcraft death knight crossed with a final fantasy dark knight; when what I want is a pure weapons, armor, and training tank.

But best to try to find out and not let the name get in my way.

I also noticed the lore on the khajiit island felt more overview focused and less specific single story. I am totally new to this series of games so the alliance starter zones might ne best for me.

Now to debate beyween a redguard and an argonian for character attempt #3.

Edit: 2 years with an iphone and I still can't type on it...

Sunah

This depends on what you want to do end game wise. For just veteran dungeons or random group play, any race is fine. But if you plan on doing trials and all end game content going Nord or Orc are amazing choices. I prefer Nords for many reasons main being Orcs are ugly as crap haha.

kichwas

Sunah wrote: »

But if you plan on doing trials and all end game content going Nord or Orc are amazing choices. I prefer Nords for many reasons main being Orcs are ugly as crap haha.

Heh. That's what I thought about Nord.

WuffyCerulei

Fortunately choosing a race for a tank is way more lenient than most other roles. I would personally go Argonian for the healing done/receieved, extra health, and potion rebate passives. Those, and they just look cool!

Dubhliam

I would suggest an argonian DK for tanking.
Imperial and Nord are good choices too.

If you are set on tanking, note that DKs are best tanks.
Any other class can tank, notably Wardens are good tanks and Templars also.
But if you ever try competitive PvE tanking, DK is the way to go.

On a side note, in a non competitive environment, Templars can make a great healer/tank hybrid, leaving room for one more damage dealer in dungeon groups, making for fast and smooth dungeon runs.
Provided you have fairly good players, of course

OC_Justice

Will never tell and I always keep my face covered.

Too many racists out there. ;p

Dubhliam

OC_Justice wrote: »

Will never tell and I always keep my face covered.

Too many racists out there. ;p

I am a dunmer tank, and I am not having any troubles with it.

@Woeler is a khajiit tank and is doing competitive veteran trials with his tank.

Race matters little, but which class you choose for tanking significant.

Woeler

I use a Khajiit, it works fine. Though from a theoretical standpoint Argonian would be the best choice, but you will most likely face no problems with any other race.

DHale

The best racials for tanks are argonians and imperials. Then the rest. You can make any work but the innate passives of the for-mentioned races make tanking easier. Obviously the DK is the easiest class to tank with even with the nerfs to battle roar, helping hands, igneous shield, and spell symmetry.

SpearDusk

Ive seen a Nord NightBlade tank which was doing well in a vet trial

CurvedSwords123

I don't understand why ppl don't herald orcs as tanks. Healing, Stam, health, sprint & cost reduction. Great tanking race. My Orc is an NB tank and he is great for all 4 man content. I hate trials and avoid them as much a possible, but he would do very well in there too.