Calling all Tanks - how to tank?

agegarton

I play mostly as a DD and occasionally as a Healer, but I have never built a Tank alt. I have taken a look at a number of interesting Tank builds online, but I have been surprised at how much the "recommended" builds differ - I was expecting mostly health-orientated builds, but I have noted some are totally Stamina based, other are even Mag based..... so I'm confused!

So, I'm asking for a bit of help from players who actually play as a tank - what build do you recommend? I'm interested in race, class, where to stick my attribute points, what sets are good right now, and maybe what skills are best.

Thanks Tanks. I appreciate your help

Feanor

1. Hold a shield.
2. Don't have a taunt skill slotted.
3. Don't wear group support sets.
3. Blame the healer when you die.
4. Blame the DDs with the phrase "sry DPS is really low".
5. Enjoy the shortest group finder queue time ever.

That's how most tanks in the game do it. If you really want to become a great Tank you can check www.woeler.eu for some tips and probably ask @paulsimonps for further references.

agegarton

LOL

I suspect points 1 to 5 might - maybe - be sarcasm.......? I promise, I'll try to avoid being a Twank - hence my post. To be honest, part of the reason I'm interested in giving it a go is because there seem to be soooo many crappy tanks out there who can't hold taunt and who seem to get dead quite regularly. Maybe that's just my luck?

Thanks for the link - will check it out now.

newtinmpls

if you have played ESO for any amount of time, you will know that sets (and to some extent certain skills) come and go, but learning how to work with others and communicate and work with a group are things you will always find useful.

Taunt:
Work with both the S&B and the Undaunted taunts - sometimes it's not about getting the boss (or whoever) to come to you (some just don't) but you do want them to target you over your more squishy companions.

Prioritize:
Mostly it's "the boss" who needs to be taunted; but keep alert for things like archers, and other nasty sorts who can one-shot your DPSs.

Position:
For some bosses (and I'm thinking the final bosses in Blackheart Haven and Arx Corinium) where you drag/bring/position them can make or break the party's success.

Buff/Debuff/Benefit the party:
Ebon Armor gives HP bennies to the party and automatically makes your DPSs less squishy. Taunting helps the DPSs do more damage. Depending on your class or equipment there will be other buffs/debuffs you can use such as the DK "glowy weapons" (more properly known as Molten weapons and it's morphs) which helps everyone's damage.

menedhyn

As mentioned, definitely worth looking at Woeler's site - loads of excellent advice and guidance.

onemoredragon

Well, for a starter I'd recommend picking argonian DK over anything else. You can tank with every class and race and that's really cool. But DK has the most utility for tanks and it's still number one choice for endgame pve content.
As an argonian DK, you'll have chains to pull mobs, talons to cc mobs, self and group shield, restoration of all your resourses when you drink a potion (argonian passive), resourse regen upon ultimate usage (dk passive).

I'm running my main DK tank with 38-43k health, 19-20k stamina and 16-17k magicka. Depending on the encounter, switching between group utility gear (Ebon, Torug's Pact, Alcosh), tanky gear (Plague Doctor, Hist Bark) and ultimate generation (Akaviri Dragonguard, Tava's Favor, Werewolf Hide). Regarding monster sets, my personal favourite this patch is Lord Warden, but there are options as well (Bloodspawn, 1 piece Shadowrend + 1 piece Chokethorn, Mighty Chudan, probably something else might come in handy).

As for the build itself, check out Woeler's or Alcast's websites, they both have solid and viable builds. Later, with more experience, it's cool to experiment and try out whatever you want.

In general, a basic set of skills for a tank would be: melee taunt Pierce Armor, ranged taunt Inner Fire, debuff and minor heroism provider Heroic slash. Hardened or Volatile armor for your major buffs, Igneous Shield for shielding, obviously, Fiery Grip for chaining for cc and Minor Maim. On a front bar it's nice to have Absorb Magic for block cost reduction and mitigation and the skill itself can be used in certain fights. I prefer Green Dragon Blood for the heal because it heals a ton and really great when you need a burst heal. Normally though you don't have to use it much. Echoing Vigor is nice to have when your teammates need a bit more support. Again, depending on encounter or gear you using, these skills can be useful for a tank as well: Mystic/Stalwart Guard double-barred, Circle of Protection, Purge, Deep Breath, Shield Bash, Eruption, Rapid Maneuver for speedbuff... mmm maybe Orbs from Undaunted for even more group support. Aggressive warhorn would be your main ultimate, on a backbar you can use Barrier from Alliance war skills for magicka recovery bonus and you group's oh **** moments, Magma Shell for your personal oh **** moments, Shield Discipline might be nice sometimes as well.

And yes, double sword and board setup for a starting tank is the best.

Now what should you do as a tank. Keep aggro on bosses, collect mobs and position them so that your dd's would place aoe comfortably on top of the pack (chain archers and mages or run towards them with melees taunted and following you, make sure to keep aggro on big hard-hitting mobs which pose a threat to your group). Make sure to debuff bosses as well, don't forget to heavy attack to restore your resources. If you are unsure of the fight, switch to more tanky setup and hold block as much as possible while learning when you can drop it and do stuff.

There's really a lot to talk about when it comes to tanking. But I'd also recommend if you have a friend or guildie with tanking experience, run some vet dungeons with them for practice with you as a tank and ask them to give you advice

Vietfox

Wear no armor and yell "for narnia!" everytime u engage

raj72616a

there was a similar thread a while ago:
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/372199/new-to-tanking

newtinmpls

Vietfox wrote: »

Wear no armor and yell "for narnia!" everytime u engage

Only works if you are a Talking Mouse

Kneighbors

Feanor wrote: »

1. Hold a shield.
2. Don't have a taunt skill slotted.
3. Don't wear group support sets.
3. Blame the healer when you die.
4. Blame the DDs with the phrase "sry DPS is really low".
5. Enjoy the shortest group finder queue time ever.

That's how most tanks in the game do it. If you really want to become a great Tank you can check www.woeler.eu for some tips and probably ask @paulsimonps for further references.

You forgot. When heal dies he must die within 3 seconds like a samurai bound to his master heal.

Khenarthi

I'm only a mediocre tank - I do my best to tant and keep aggro on boss and bigger threats, keep myself alive, position group of adds so the DD can burn them down with AOE, etc - but I would not presume to tank vet trials or vDSA.

Bear in mind that some classes have better tanky tools than others. Dragonknight is considered a great tanking class, besides their mitigation they also have awesome crowd control (chains, talons). Other classes may make up for shortcomings using a few gear sets (example: I use Swarm Mother and Bahrara's Curse on a magicka nightblade tank) while their other class skills have their own advantages.

Whether you want to go full meatshield, or lean more towards having a larger magicka or stamina pool, is a matter or play style and goals.

As I said above, for the content I like tanking (up to vet dungeons and normal trials occasionally) 30/35k health is enough because I know how to avoid one-shots by blocking, dodging, and hitting mitigaton cap at the right time. It leaves me with enough attribute points to get more stamina for blocking, dodging, and piercing armour and magicka for the class skills which support the play style (roots, snares, healing, mobility, undaunted taunt, mitigation...)

saxgooner

Please don't be a boring double sword and board tank for vet dungeons perma blocking.
Stick some dots and aoe down. I use a bow on back bar.
It makes it less tedious than double s+b and still manage taunts

paulsimonps

Taunt the large SoBs. Crowd Control the rest. Hold block when you need to, if you are uncertain of when that is, hold block. Get some debuffs going and help keep your team a live if you can. Learn to position the mobs in a way that makes it easy to AoE them down. And don't move a boss unless you really really have to, or if its the start and you want to put them in a good spot at the start.

The rest of what everyone is saying is basically all the same, most people that know stuff about tanking will say mostly the same things.

For more info, ask more specific questions. Also thanks for the tag @Feanor

saxgooner wrote: »

Please don't be a boring double sword and board tank for vet dungeons perma blocking.
Stick some dots and aoe down. I use a bow on back bar.
It makes it less tedious than double s+b and still manage taunts

If you want to use anything on the back bar that isnt a Sword and Shield then I would never recommend Bow, gives nothing, a Dual Wield Set up or a Destruction staff set up can do a lot more for the team and your self. A Dual Wield set up can use quick cloak for AoE damage reduction and speed buff, and a Destro staff set up can use Elemental Blockade to better help with off balance and Debuff up times. Bow is just a few DoTs not much else.

Inarre

Personally i think tanking has the most room for creating your own build and using different races to compliment different parts of it (bar leader board vet trials) That is why there are health, mag, and stam viable builds and everything in between. Personally i would pick something to focus on and build around it. Like shielding your team? Go full health dk. Like doing damage while mitigating a lot? Go health templar or shield sorc. Want big debuffs? Go for an infused torugs build. Want to spam war horn? Go for a reduced ulti cost/high ulti charge build. Want to offer sustain buffs? Go ice warden. Want to be a healer AND a tank? Go mag templar or warden. Want to give your group tons of buffs and cost reduction? Look at an ebon hircine etc. setup.

After that make sure you include basic skills to cover the tanks job (eg puncture and glyph debuffs, crowd control , taunt)

Vet dungeons are very forgiving, so there is a lot of room to get creative while still providing the major buffs/debuffs/utility that is a tanks job. There are tons of meta builds and some are strong but if you want to get creative you can do that also.

At the moment i run an ice staff shield spam dk. Imperial for high health (bigger shields) and stam (bigger stam recovery) and ive never had more fun in dungeons. There is always something to do.

agegarton

Cheers everyone

PlagueSD

https://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/2zcd1f/guide_some_advice_for_people_in_dungeons/ has some good information on all 3 roles.

For tanking in particular...

• Make sure you have a taunt on your bar. There are 2 taunts in this game, both are single-target:
• Puncture in one hand/shield skill line. Melee, uses stamina.
• Inner Fire in undaunted skill line. Ranged, uses magicka but can be morphed to use stamina.
• Especially in vet you must have one of these two skills
• You only need to aggro the big guys, don't try to aggro every trash mob. Tanks in this game do not need to aggro everyone, dps needs to look after themselves a bit.
• DK chains is not a taunt.
• Do not taunt more than 3 times in 10 seconds or you lose aggro. Gone as of IC update, August 2015
• A skill like defensive posture can be great for the passive that increases block mitigation and reduces block cost and similar skills/passives that help with mitigation are very helpful.
• Don't just block and stand there. I've seen several tanks do this and it is very frustrating. A tank needs to help the group. Using low slash to reduce enemy weapon damage, for example (15% off of a boss' damage is huge), or an AoE ability like sap essence is a great help and can aggro more mobs to you without need for a taunt.
• Block those heavies! gold lines from an enemy means block it, red lines means bash him to interrupt. Seriously. INTERRUPT. Give your healer a break and block the heavies and bash what can be interrupted.
• If a boss has a frontal cone attack, tank it facing away from your group so they don't have to worry about it.
• Make sure you have enough HP and resistances. Even at low CP ranks you should be having 30k-40k health for vet dungeons. This goes for dps too, over 15k health at low CP is necessary; glass cannon builds have no place in vet dungeons, save those builds for PvP.
• Using an AoE ability like caltrops or sap essence can help you pull enemies when you start the fight. Aggro in this game is skewed towards whoever attacks that enemy first, so if you get a bunch of enemies you won't have to look around for as many to taunt.

Xelrick

I used an Ice staff on my back bar, as it allows you to pull from your Magicka(with first deso staff passive) when low on Stamina. It also has an Heavy attack Taunt so if you run out of Magicka and/or can't cast Inner Fire.

I normally engulf my potions the moment I switch too.

Guild I'm in starting to recommend the Ice staff as for the backbar. As you can't always relay on shards and other resources.

PlagueSD

Xelrick wrote: »

I used an Ice staff on my back bar, as it allows you to pull from your Magicka(with first deso staff passive) when low on Stamina. It also has an Heavy attack Taunt so if you run out of Magicka and/or can't cast Inner Fire.

I normally engulf my potions the moment I switch too.

Guild I'm in starting to recommend the Ice staff as for the backbar. As you can't always relay on shards and other resources.

Yes. I have SnB on front bar, and Frost Staff (defending trait - to make up for lack of a shield) on back bar. This allows me to use magicka for blocking in those fights where I need to use stamina for mobility. A fully charged heavy attack with a frost staff also grants a small damage shield for 6 seconds. I also use crushing shock (ranged interrupts), pulsar (max hp debuff) and ele drain (magicka regen).

ifDoubtNerfIt

For dungeons, just wear Powerful Assault with Alkosh, backbar Resto staff and spam Resolving Vigor and Combat Prayer (you restore magicka with Balance/Spell Symmetry). Any destro staff on backbar doesn't make a huge difference in dungeons. And ofc, Blood Spawn, that set is georgeous.

On the other hand, nTrials, you have to wear Ebon and Alkosh if there is not another tank, if there is, you can then ask him to wear Ebon because you don't get any good stat from Ebon as a tank. You still can wear backbar resto staff and spam Vigor when you can.

Now, vTrials: Ebon, Alkosh, PA is a must, you have to have those 3 sets for that, Infused weapons, mainBar Infused Crusher, backbar Infused Weakening, doubleSlot S&B. Install Untaunted addon as you will have aggro on many adds at once and it's impossible to track all of the taunts, use S'rrendar to track your debuffs (crusher, Heroism...). Still Blood Spawn is kinda BiS to wear as a monster set.

Also, IMO the best traits for armor are infused on big pieces, sturdy on small, with full Stamina glyphs. But infused crusher is a must have.

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask