End-Game PvE Warden Main Tank Build by Liofa

Liofa

Hello everyone . I am so glad to share my Warden tank build at last . I've been doing so many tests and runs with this character and finally reached the point where I want to be . This build completed every trial in this game and proven to be capable of tanking every boss . This thread will be just a summary of what I use and short explanation of skills . If you want to go deeper into how to play this build and why I chose this setup , you'll have to watch my build video . It is a long one so I really cannot write down everything in this thread ^^

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpQOViRHnr8

STATS

Buffed with Tri-Stat food and using Atronach Stone . You can see how I spread my attributes , race choice and all the stats etc. in the screenshot . Tri-stat potion is not active .

GEAR

5 Ebon Armory : The classic 5 piece set that every tank in this game should have in their inventory . Grants a lot of Health to your allies .

Chest , Legs , Hands , Waist , Feet ( Sturdy / Heavy ) : Tri-Stat Enchants

5 Roar of Alkosh : Hands down the best armor reduction set . Very noticable difference in DPS while fighting trash packs .

x3 Jewelry ( Robust ) : Shield-Play Enchants , Sword ( Infused / Front Bar ) : Crusher , Shield ( Sturdy / Front Bar ) : Health , Lightning Staff ( Infused / Back Bar ) : Weakening

2 Lord Warden : Now that it's radius is buffed , it became very useful . Grants about 3.8k resistances to all allies in range .

Head , Shoulder ( Sturdy / Heavy ) : Tri-Stat Enchants

SKILLS

Front Bar :

1- Pierce Armor : Main taunt skill .
2- Heroic Slash : Grants Minor Heroism and applies Minor Maim .
3- Leeching Vines : Applies Minor Lifesteal and our main source of sustain . Procs Nature's Gift passive but only if you heal your allies , doesn't work with self-healing .
4- Bull Netch : One of our ways to sustain Stamina and regain Ultimate with the Savage Beast passive .
5- Flex Spot :
Shimmering Shield : Insane shielding against projectiles and grants Major Heroism .
Gripping Shards : If you need an AOE root .
Absorb Magic : Only for Rakkhat .
Shielded Assault : Only for Assembly General .
Elusive Mist : Only for 4th boss in vHoF .
Structured Entropy : If you feel like you need more Max HP .
Resolving Vigor : If you need some self-healing while away from group .
Efficent Purge : Whenever there is something to purge .

Ultimate : Aggressive Horn : Hands down the best ultimate to use as a tank .

Back Bar :

1- Deceptive Predator : 14 seconds of Major Expedition and procs Flourish passive .
2- Inner Rage : Ranged taunt .
3- Ice Fortress : Use this until Expansive Frost Cloak is fixed .
4- Elemental Blockade : Gets higher uptime our enchants and contributes to Off-Balance uptime .
5- Flex Spot :
Shimmering Shield : Can be used on off-bar .
Efficent Purge : Can be used on off-bar .
Frozen Device : Best gathering skill in the game . Faster than chains , applies Major Maim . Can be used as a 34 second duration trap and can still be cast on enemies even if there is an another enemy between you and your target . Has higher range .
Crushing Shock : 28 meters ranged interrupt . Also applies Off-Balance .
Ring of Preservation : Applies Minor Protection , Minor Endurance and 20% Roll Dodge cost reduction to all allies inside .
Energy Orb : Best skill to use if your group isn't comfortable with Warhorns and having downtime on it . Procs Muturation passive to keep Max Health buff up .
Retreating Maneuver : Speed buff for everyone .

Ultimate : Permafrost : AOE Major Protection for your group . Very useful in dangerous trash pulls or any kind of tricky situation .

CHAMPION POINTS

Red : 66 Ironclad , 56 Hardy , 56 Elemental Defender , 37 Thick Skinned , 15 Quick Recovery

Blue : 100 Blessed , 100 Elfborn , 30 Elemental Expert

Green : 28 Warlord , 9 Sprinter , 3 Bashing Focus , 59 Arcanist , 56 Tumbling , 75 Shadow Ward

---

That's pretty much all . As I said , if you want to know more or have any questions , check out my video or just drop a comment here . You can reach me in-game , @LiofaTR , I am playing on PC EU server . After playing a DK tank for long time , I must say , Warden tank is so refreshing and fun to play . I am mastering this class by the day and I am being more and more comfortable with it . I'll probably make another theorycrafting discussion video about Warden and Dragonknight tanking , advantages and disadvantages for both etc. Should be fun Anyways , hope you like my build , enjoy !

Liofa

getemshauna

One of the best and most expirenced tanks in this game. He knows his job.

amasuriel

I have been thinking that Bull Netch and Natures Gift via Vines actually make for better sustain thank helping hands, even the 250/second from Gift is probably more than you will get from shield spam, since most will not be able to spam it every 4 seconds.

I feel like the only think Warden is missing is a really good self emergency heal; spamming vigor is expensive! I know you are in a top flight raid guild, but in fights where you are on your own for a long time do you find vines and vigor enough? Alternately, how about in something like vDSA last boss?

Anyway, thanks for posting, would be great no to be met with skepticism if I suggest main tanking on my warden

Personofsecrets

Hey @Liofa , thank you for sharing.

I have some questions and a couple of thoughts.

1. When do you choose the charged lightning staff with shock over an infused lightning staff with weakening?

2. How do you decide your Ironclad vs Hardy vs Ele Defender vs Thick Skinned ratio?

3. Have you ever tested not using 3 shield play enchantments? I personally enjoy the reduction of magic and stamina cost enchantments.

4. Do you think that you would enjoy using a piece of medium armor for the purpose of further reducing your roll dodge cost?

As usual, you are great.

Liofa

amasuriel wrote: »

I have been thinking that Bull Netch and Natures Gift via Vines actually make for better sustain thank helping hands, even the 250/second from Gift is probably more than you will get from shield spam, since most will not be able to spam it every 4 seconds.

I feel like the only think Warden is missing is a really good self emergency heal; spamming vigor is expensive! I know you are in a top flight raid guild, but in fights where you are on your own for a long time do you find vines and vigor enough? Alternately, how about in something like vDSA last boss?

Anyway, thanks for posting, would be great no to be met with skepticism if I suggest main tanking on my warden

@amasuriel

Yeah true . Warden is more like a sustained resource restore gameplay . Dragonknight is more dependant on burst resource restores . Warden can go on for long time after activating few buffs but Dragonknight has to use skills constantly to keep it's Stamina up . This leads to 2 different results .

1- Dragonknight can get out of hard situations where you get to low stamina easier by spamming Igneous Shield and using an ultimate . Warden has to play flawlessly during the whole combat and has to keep it's resources up the whole time . There is no burst resource restore in Warden other than potions . In this case , Dragonknight wins .

2- The same gameplay difference makes Warden be able to use other skills more often without having to constantly use certain skills over and over .

About the self-healing . Vigor is not supposed to be spammed . Think of it like a 5 second buff . If you spam it , you just refresh the duration . If you are in a really tight situation or you know you gonna be in one , you can slot Healing Thicket on back bar and that will be more than enough for anything . I healed myself on a vAA PUG run with trees while holding axes , went really well , no problems at all . Same with vDSA , I pop the Warhorn while with group and heal myself with Thicket+Vigor+Vines while I am away .

Personofsecrets wrote: »

Hey @Liofa , thank you for sharing.

I have some questions and a couple of thoughts.

1. When do you choose the charged lightning staff with shock over an infused lightning staff with weakening?

2. How do you decide your Ironclad vs Hardy vs Ele Defender vs Thick Skinned ratio?

3. Have you ever tested not using 3 shield play enchantments? I personally enjoy the reduction of magic and stamina cost enchantments.

4. Do you think that you would enjoy using a piece of medium armor for the purpose of further reducing your roll dodge cost?

As usual, you are great.

@Personofsecrets

1- Charged is only good when there is no damage incoming for the group . Just because Weakening is not useful there . Even when I use Charged with Shock enchant , when I look at my Combat Metrics , I contribute only 3-5% to the Minor Vulnerability uptime with that staff . Most of it comes from Magicka Sorcerers already and the Concussion you applied will be overwritten by a Sorcerer in less than a second . But again , if you want to push DPS as much as possible , Charged is the way to go .

2- While playing a Warden , I am obviously not as tanky as a DK . I don't have Healing Taken or defensive bonuses like that . I came to a conclusion that most dangerous DoTs can be purged like HoF first and fourth boss . That made me lower the amount of points I usually spend in Thick Skinned . And again , as Warden is less tanky and gets less Healing from outside , I put my spare points into Hardy , Elemental Defender and Quick Recovery .

How I decide is , I always open my Combat Metrics after a learning run and look at the damage taken from different attacks . If there is a really big direct hit , I put more points into Ironclad . Things like that . This setup is overall works for everywhere and gives enough mitigation against every attack .

3- I tested that on a DK . Results were not really impressive . I had to care about my own sustain more than ever so I had to drop some support . I tried to run a 4k Magicka Recovery build once , all I did was spamming Igneous Shield for self-sustain . Didn't really go well but I might have overdone it a little bit ^^

4- Yes , definitely . I think 5/1/1 is best setup due to passives benefitting tanks a lot and especially this build since I have a lot of max resources . But in the end , difference is really minimal .

amasuriel

Liofa wrote: »

2- The same gameplay difference makes Warden be able to use other skills more often without having to constantly use certain skills over and over .

About the self-healing . Vigor is not supposed to be spammed . Think of it like a 5 second buff . If you spam it , you just refresh the duration . If you are in a really tight situation or you know you gonna be in one , you can slot Healing Thicket on back bar and that will be more than enough for anything . I healed myself on a vAA PUG run with trees while holding axes , went really well , no problems at all . Same with vDSA , I pop the Warhorn while with group and heal myself with Thicket+Vigor+Vines while I am away .

#2 Is part of what interests me about Warden potential. After the morrowind sustain nerfs and the block timer going to .25 seconds, I find myself basically only using 3 buttons on my DK 90% of the time in vTrials, Taunt, Low Slash and Igneous. Every once and a while I'll vigor or GDB, but that is about it unless I have adds to chain. Very dull. Gone are the fun times of off tanking in 5 Alkosh 5 PA for example. Some more variety in what you need / can do would be a welcome tanking change.

I'm playing with a variant of Alannares shield tank with 65k health and 2k magicka regen for shield spam for 4 man stuff too, but it gets boring fast and doesn't work in trials.

Good point about thicket!

For burst stamina recovery I made my Warden an Argonian (like half the planet) for partially this reason, but it is only every 45 seconds, so I see your point about needing to be more consistent and less spiky about consumption. Great tips.

pizzaow

Awesome build! You've convinced me to level up a warden and give it a shot. Thanks for sharing.

AverageJo3Gam3r

Thanks liofa. Question for you. I took my warden for a spin in vHRC the other night. Never had any survival issues on my DK. I couldn't survive through 1000 cuts on my warden for some reason. On my DK I usually just block casted igneous shields and dragon blood and survived just fine. Not on the warden though. Both builds I use the standard ebon+alkosh.

I consider myself a fairly average tank, so am I missing something fundamental or was it a healer issue?

Liofa

AverageJo3Gam3r wrote: »

Thanks liofa. Question for you. I took my warden for a spin in vHRC the other night. Never had any survival issues on my DK. I couldn't survive through 1000 cuts on my warden for some reason. On my DK I usually just block casted igneous shields and dragon blood and survived just fine. Not on the warden though. Both builds I use the standard ebon+alkosh.

I consider myself a fairly average tank, so am I missing something fundamental or was it a healer issue?

@AverageJo3Gam3r

Hello ! As you said , Warden is less tanky . DK has Igneous Shield to reduce damage by quite a lot and 20% Healing Taken bonus with Green Dragon Blood but Warden has none of those things . While playing a Warden , it is more of a Healer test . You will be taking more damage than a standart DK tank so healers need to focus on you during thousand cuts . I , for example , hardly went below 30% Health on my vHRC HM runs thanks to my amazing healers . You can try to help your healers though . Try popping a Vigor just before the attack and make sure you have the Minor Protection from Ice Fortress . Make sure you keep Leeching Vines on yourself .

Sometimes healers can get stoned and there might be times you simply won't get heals at all . There is only one thing left to do in such a case . Roll . Make sure you roll away from the boss each time or you will get hit . You need to roll out of his range or it will be a one-shot . This is obviously a solution for the worst case scenario .

You also can use the Lingering Health potions , those will make you very tanky as well . Most of all , letting your healers know that you will be taking more damage compared to a standart DK tank should be enough . Rest is on healers' shoulders . If none works , just ask for Guard from off-tank . Guard is mostly overkill though and it is a 2 skill slot wasted from off-tank's skill bar . Try to do without it

AverageJo3Gam3r

Thanks. Good to know I wasn't missing something. I kept trying to use polar wind or whatever the morph is called as a burst heal like dragon blood, but it has a suuuper long animation when you can't block cancel it. I keep leeching and vigor on my front bar. I'm using echoing vigor though, might need to change it to resolving vigor. The only other difference between my two tanks is my DK is an argonian and my warden is a redguard--not ideal but he should still be able to do it.

Liofa

AverageJo3Gam3r wrote: »

Thanks. Good to know I wasn't missing something. I kept trying to use polar wind or whatever the morph is called as a burst heal like dragon blood, but it has a suuuper long animation when you can't block cancel it. I keep leeching and vigor on my front bar. I'm using echoing vigor though, might need to change it to resolving vigor. The only other difference between my two tanks is my DK is an argonian and my warden is a redguard--not ideal but he should still be able to do it.

@AverageJo3Gam3r

Did you try changing your CPs to more physical defense ? Maybe a lot more Hardy , Heavy Armor Focus and Ironclad ? Not that it will make a huge difference but still ^^ And as I said , worst case scenario , ask for Guard . Doesn't have to be from off-tank , a healer can use it as well .

ARIES SERPICO

@Liofa what’s sets have you used or do you recommend for tanking DSA with healer or with 3dps on either Warden or DK. Thanks

Liofa

ARIES SERPICO wrote: »

@Liofa what’s sets have you used or do you recommend for tanking DSA with healer or with 3dps on either Warden or DK. Thanks

@ARIES SERPICO

Depends if you are running for score or just for completion .

I know some really good tanks run SPC+PA (more DPS) or Ebon+SPC (safer) on score runs . If you are looking for completion only , you don't have to change anything . Actually , I just completed DSA with the exact same setup you read in this thread . Not a score run obviously but successfully done

ARIES SERPICO

Ty @Liofa what are your thoughts on using Alkosh and Torugs or is that overkill for DSA

Liofa

ARIES SERPICO wrote: »

Ty @Liofa what are your thoughts on using Alkosh and Torugs or is that overkill for DSA

@ARIES SERPICO

1- Armor reduction bonuses gives a % damage boost . That means , more damage you have in total , more benefit you will get from those sets . As DSA generally done by 2 or 3 DDs , there isn't really a big damage going on . This is first reason why you shouldn't use those in DSA . On the other hand , sets like SPC and PA , that gives flat damage boost will increase group DPS more .

2- These sets require a condition that is hard to get , especially in DSA . If you are using Torug's , you can't apply Crusher to more than one enemy , considering all adds die really quickly in DSA , most of your Crusher will be wasted . Same thing with Alkosh , it requires synergies to work which are really buggy in this game . 3 people means less synergies and since Stamina DDs are commonly used in DSA , they don't use any skills that has synergies on them , making Alkosh even harder to proc in DSA . Alkosh and Torug's are mostly wasted or hard to proc while you can just Vigor once in a while to proc both SPC and PA easily which will increase DPS a lot .

I am not really a DSA master , never tried to go for score . These are just basic theorycrafting . These are my thoughts but also my tank friends who used to run DSA score runs used SPC+PA on their tanks and were really high in leaderboards . If you want more info about DSA tanking , I rather ask someone who actually does DSA score runs I am mostly sure they will say the same stuff but better learn from people who have more experience than I do ^^

ARIES SERPICO

Liofa wrote: »

ARIES SERPICO wrote: »

Ty @Liofa what are your thoughts on using Alkosh and Torugs or is that overkill for DSA

@ARIES SERPICO

1- Armor reduction bonuses gives a % damage boost . That means , more damage you have in total , more benefit you will get from those sets . As DSA generally done by 2 or 3 DDs , there isn't really a big damage going on . This is first reason why you shouldn't use those in DSA . On the other hand , sets like SPC and PA , that gives flat damage boost will increase group DPS more .

2- These sets require a condition that is hard to get , especially in DSA . If you are using Torug's , you can't apply Crusher to more than one enemy , considering all adds die really quickly in DSA , most of your Crusher will be wasted . Same thing with Alkosh , it requires synergies to work which are really buggy in this game . 3 people means less synergies and since Stamina DDs are commonly used in DSA , they don't use any skills that has synergies on them , making Alkosh even harder to proc in DSA . Alkosh and Torug's are mostly wasted or hard to proc while you can just Vigor once in a while to proc both SPC and PA easily which will increase DPS a lot .

I am not really a DSA master , never tried to go for score . These are just basic theorycrafting . These are my thoughts but also my tank friends who used to run DSA score runs used SPC+PA on their tanks and were really high in leaderboards . If you want more info about DSA tanking , I rather ask someone who actually does DSA score runs I am mostly sure they will say the same stuff but better learn from people who have more experience than I do ^^

Thanks for your insights

Liofa

Here is a 36/36 vMoL HM run with all bosses , thought it might give you an idea on how I tank vMoL Hope you enjoy !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6xFPJkFgzc

Liofa

Was getting so many questions about Warrior fight as Warden Tank ^^ Here it is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHwTx774Ysk

Stonyfoot

I have an argonian warden I'm interested in remaking into something more interesting... Any reason why this build wouldn't work with an argonian? As far as I know they're one of the 'meta' tank races right now.

Edit: Nevermind, I watched the video and got all the answers I needed!

AverageJo3Gam3r

Good stuff @Liofa Any tips on tanking the adds on ozara? I have tanked them successfully twice now on a DK (our group has the off tank pull the troll and overcharger away from the group and solo tank them). Was wondering how a warden would do, especially one specced for ult gen with trees.

Liofa

AverageJo3Gam3r wrote: »

Good stuff @Liofa Any tips on tanking the adds on ozara? I have tanked them successfully twice now on a DK (our group has the off tank pull the troll and overcharger away from the group and solo tank them). Was wondering how a warden would do, especially one specced for ult gen with trees.

@AverageJo3Gam3r

Dragon + Werewolf + Blood Spawn = Healing Thicket Spam

Healing Thicket vs Enchanted Forest : Enchanted Forest is bugged and will always grant you the 20 Ultimate . It is better if you are using War Machine/Master Architect . Healing Thicket has more healing overall .

Make sure to keep Leeching Vines on yourself at all times and drop Gripping Shards on ground to get extra healing from Minor Lifesteal . This will also make sure that you don't have to taunt them over and over again , they will just stay on you at all times .

Make sure to have Vigor slotted , just in case .

AverageJo3Gam3r

@Liofa awesome. I'm using that exact same setup on the DK.

Liofa

Here is a vAA HM video and some information you should know while watching the video :

Just a video to show how I tank axes . I've seen quite a lot of threads in forums , people asking advice on how to tank this place . As you see here , I am using Ebon , Alkosh and Lord Warden .

Group has 2 tanks , 1 healer , 5 stamina DDs , 4 Magicka DDs .

I think this video is perfect because I did some mistakes . I'll be able to explain how to prevent them from happening . First of all , I completely forgot to use Heroic Slash , had a downtime on Warhorn because of that . Don't do that , always keep it up .

At 00:57 , I lose aggro on axes because I forgot to use Grippling Shards . You see , you don't have to taunt them over and over . Just have to keep damaging them with an AOE skill , Grippling Shards in my case . During that time , you'll see that I forgot using it and axes are loose . If this happens , what you should do is immediately calling it out . I am not sure if you can see it but the loose axe goes to off-tank because I call it out . He immediately taunted it so it doesn't kill anyone . After a short time , I take it back and make sure I keep my Grippling Shards on the ground . Even though I made a mistake , I made sure it does no harm to group by calling it out .

I stay close to group btw . Because I have Ebon and I need everyone to get the buff . Another and more important reason is , getting some Alkosh uptime . I highly recommend using AuraMastery addon while tanking with Alkosh . As you see just below the group frames , I track cooldowns of synergies . As soon as I see the orb synergy is going to be over soon , I ask for an Orb and use the synergy while looking at boss . I need to be close enough to make sure Alkosh applies on boss and whatever is close to boss to make sure they die faster as well .

About my positioning , I always try to keep myself between boss and axes so that my Blockade hits boss without doing damage to axes . This way , I can apply some Off-Balance and help with Crusher uptime . If there are axes in front of me , I slowly move back towards the entrance rock , make axes follow me then go through them so I can be between boss and axes .

One last thing , the reason I use trees at the end is that I know I am not getting a Warhorn soon so I thought some help with healing would be useful .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV2vsNIMwP0

NiclasFridholm

Nerf Liofa please!

TankHealz2015

Liofa wrote: »

Here is a vAA HM video and some information you should know while watching the video :

Just a video to show how I tank axes . I've seen quite a lot of threads in forums , people asking advice on how to tank this place . As you see here , I am using Ebon , Alkosh and Lord Warden .

Group has 2 tanks , 1 healer , 5 stamina DDs , 4 Magicka DDs .

I think this video is perfect because I did some mistakes . I'll be able to explain how to prevent them from happening . First of all , I completely forgot to use Heroic Slash , had a downtime on Warhorn because of that . Don't do that , always keep it up .

At 00:57 , I lose aggro on axes because I forgot to use Grippling Shards . You see , you don't have to taunt them over and over . Just have to keep damaging them with an AOE skill , Grippling Shards in my case . During that time , you'll see that I forgot using it and axes are loose . If this happens , what you should do is immediately calling it out . I am not sure if you can see it but the loose axe goes to off-tank because I call it out . He immediately taunted it so it doesn't kill anyone . After a short time , I take it back and make sure I keep my Grippling Shards on the ground . Even though I made a mistake , I made sure it does no harm to group by calling it out .

I stay close to group btw . Because I have Ebon and I need everyone to get the buff . Another and more important reason is , getting some Alkosh uptime . I highly recommend using AuraMastery addon while tanking with Alkosh . As you see just below the group frames , I track cooldowns of synergies . As soon as I see the orb synergy is going to be over soon , I ask for an Orb and use the synergy while looking at boss . I need to be close enough to make sure Alkosh applies on boss and whatever is close to boss to make sure they die faster as well .

About my positioning , I always try to keep myself between boss and axes so that my Blockade hits boss without doing damage to axes . This way , I can apply some Off-Balance and help with Crusher uptime . If there are axes in front of me , I slowly move back towards the entrance rock , make axes follow me then go through them so I can be between boss and axes .

One last thing , the reason I use trees at the end is that I know I am not getting a Warhorn soon so I thought some help with healing would be useful .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV2vsNIMwP0

This post was extremely helpful to me.

Thank you!

Liofa

Here is a Rakkhat HM 5th Platform Nuke with this build Hope you enjoy !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Kx0GYrwBCo

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO

okay, you are a great tank but there is a big problem in your videos and with the way you say to use leaching vines as a self heal and that it will give you resources back on you healing yourself, this is wrong. you do not get any resources back for this, only when healing other players. here, https://youtu.be/xpQOViRHnr8?t=1569, in the first video you linked.

Liofa

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO wrote: »

okay, you are a great tank but there is a big problem in your videos and with the way you say to use leaching vines as a self heal and that it will give you resources back on you healing yourself, this is wrong. you do not get any resources back for this, only when healing other players. here, https://youtu.be/xpQOViRHnr8?t=1569, in the first video you linked.

Yep , that is true . I'll make sure to include this info in this thread and in the video

EDIT : @Lightspeedflashb14_ESO Thanks for reminder . Included this info in the video description and in this thread . My mistake to say otherwise in the video ^^

JLieu

This may be a newb Question; but is there a difference in using Ebon jewelry pieces instead of Alkosh?

SirCritical

Color counts a bit, but in the end, almost nothing.

Liofa

JLieu wrote: »

This may be a newb Question; but is there a difference in using Ebon jewelry pieces instead of Alkosh?

@JLieu

It does make a difference . You will have to use 3 Medium on armor . Alkosh doesn't come in Heavy . Best you can do is , 1 jewelry Alkosh + 1h/s + 2 armor .