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Noobie has tanking related questions about roles/abilities

DudeTheMan
I'm brand new to the game and I've got some questions. Shocking! I know.. They will entirely be related to tank classes. As that has always been my favorite role. It's really all I play.

1) This is the biggest one I have. Could someone break down HOW each class tanks? I've been surfing around and I think I have a decent idea. But, a lot of the information for this game seems to be outdated or conflicting. DK seems to be the traditional tank absorbing lots of punishment with defensive abilities and tankiness. Templar seems to play like a tank/healer hybrid. Nightblade seems to be an offensive tank keeping themselves alive with abilities that steal life from enemies. Sorc seems to use a damage absorbing spell and it's own crits to give them health. And warden seems to be more like DK. Relying on defensive buffs and tankiness. Does that all sound right?

2) Do any of the classes have to go a certain stat distribution to tank? It seems like all the builds i"m seeing are all HP, all Mag, HP/Stam split or HP/Mag split. How do those setups play out differently? I saw something about tanking with a frost staff?

3) Can anyone breakdown the key/most important class abilities/passives for each class that make them special when it comes to tanking.

Thanx much for any information! If anyone wants a noob tank main in their guild shoot me a tell. Have to use some kind of voice chat like Discord though.
  • DudeTheMan
    4) How important is running Sword and Board on both bars? It seems some builds run Destro Staff or Resto Staff or 2 Hander. But, then you get other builds that say that is a terrible idea..
  • DudeTheMan
    5) Would Crystal Fragments combined with Blood Magic be good? It seems like Dark Deal, Hardened Ward, Harness Magicka and Liquid Lightning could all proc it for free damage and healing.

    EDIT: Sorry for the multiple posts. I didn't see the edit button earlier. They kinda have it hidden..
    Edited by DudeTheMan on October 17, 2017 4:35PM
  • AverageJo3Gam3r
    AverageJo3Gam3r
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    What do you want to tank? End game trials? Then you need to roll an argonian stamina dragon knight. Otherwise, any class *can* tank though dragon knights and wardens are better built for it.

    Honestly, however, you want to level as a dps. It takes too long to kill stuff with a full tank build. Once you hit CP160, you can reset your skills to be a tank.

    I'll answer your specific questions when I get on my laptop--on phone right now.
  • AverageJo3Gam3r
    AverageJo3Gam3r
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    1. All classes tank the same way. Use taunting skills (pierce armor from the 1 hand-shield skill line or inner fire from the undaunted skill line) to grab aggro on the large adds. Use pull skills to chain the smaller adds (chains on a DK, frozen device on a warden, swarm mother monster set for the rest). Use a cc root skill like talons to lock down the smaller adds in the AoE. For larger encounters, it's grabby the boss and facing them away from the group. Stamina recovery is disabled when blocking, so the differences between the classes is how they recoup stamina while blocking. DKs and wardens have the best toolset to do this which is why they're considered "the" tank classes. Other tank builds you read about online are gimmick builds that are not used in end-game content.

    2. Frost staff tanking is a gimmick. It doesn't provide the tools to tank end game content. Stat distribution depends on your race, but most trials tanks dump either all their points into health or do something like a 54 health/10 stamina split

    3. I'm going to focus on the two viable end game trials tanks. What makes DKs strong at tanking are chains, talons, the helping hands passive, and battle roar. These tools give make DKs the best tanks for the hardest content in the game. Wardens have good tools too. The betty and the green balance passive provide good stamina return. They grant major buffs to their team when using icy fortress. The real distinction that warndens bring, however, are trees. Secluded grove is a huge source of healing. In this way, wardens are more PUG-proof than DKs--trees make up for a bad (or dead) healer. Pick a DK if you're planning on running in a regular trials group. Warden if you plan to PUG

    4. For trials, always double sword and board. Even with a huge amount of health there are attacks you need to block, and sword and board give you the passives you need.

    5. Those are magsorc DPS skills. Sorc tanks are a gimmick. Dark deal takes a second and a half cast time. Dropping block for that long in a vet trial will kill you.

    Now, all of this advice is for vet trials and vet DLC hard mode dungeons, the hardest group content in the game. If you aren't interested in tanking this end game content, do whatever you want. I've "tanked" vet dungeons with dual wield and bow in medium armor with inner fire on my bar. 95% of the content in the game doesn't require a best-in-slot try hard tank. If you just want to mess around with friends, do whatever class you want and whatever setup you want. Just throw a 1HS or inner fire on your bar and have fun.
  • DudeTheMan
    1. All classes tank the same way. Use taunting skills (pierce armor from the 1 hand-shield skill line or inner fire from the undaunted skill line) to grab aggro on the large adds. Use pull skills to chain the smaller adds (chains on a DK, frozen device on a warden, swarm mother monster set for the rest). Use a cc root skill like talons to lock down the smaller adds in the AoE. For larger encounters, it's grabby the boss and facing them away from the group. Stamina recovery is disabled when blocking, so the differences between the classes is how they recoup stamina while blocking. DKs and wardens have the best toolset to do this which is why they're considered "the" tank classes. Other tank builds you read about online are gimmick builds that are not used in end-game content.

    2. Frost staff tanking is a gimmick. It doesn't provide the tools to tank end game content. Stat distribution depends on your race, but most trials tanks dump either all their points into health or do something like a 54 health/10 stamina split

    3. I'm going to focus on the two viable end game trials tanks. What makes DKs strong at tanking are chains, talons, the helping hands passive, and battle roar. These tools give make DKs the best tanks for the hardest content in the game. Wardens have good tools too. The betty and the green balance passive provide good stamina return. They grant major buffs to their team when using icy fortress. The real distinction that warndens bring, however, are trees. Secluded grove is a huge source of healing. In this way, wardens are more PUG-proof than DKs--trees make up for a bad (or dead) healer. Pick a DK if you're planning on running in a regular trials group. Warden if you plan to PUG

    4. For trials, always double sword and board. Even with a huge amount of health there are attacks you need to block, and sword and board give you the passives you need.

    5. Those are magsorc DPS skills. Sorc tanks are a gimmick. Dark deal takes a second and a half cast time. Dropping block for that long in a vet trial will kill you.

    Now, all of this advice is for vet trials and vet DLC hard mode dungeons, the hardest group content in the game. If you aren't interested in tanking this end game content, do whatever you want. I've "tanked" vet dungeons with dual wield and bow in medium armor with inner fire on my bar. 95% of the content in the game doesn't require a best-in-slot try hard tank. If you just want to mess around with friends, do whatever class you want and whatever setup you want. Just throw a 1HS or inner fire on your bar and have fun.

    Thanx for the detailed reply! I want at least one of my tanks to be endgame focused. But, I'm not "just" interested in the min/max endgame approach. I've got an Argonian DK and a Nord Warden at the moment. So either of those can fill that role. I also have an Altmer Sorc, a Dunmer NB and a Breton Templar. I will be building them all as tanks. Any advice for any of them would be appreciated. Gimmicky or not.
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