DK Tanks: What is your favorite set for pure survivability?

Gomumon

Hello everyone!

[EDITED FOR CLARITY]

I am looking for the best 5 piece set to swap out Torug's Pact when I'm pulling away from the group and don't need to provide a debuff. I typically use that along with Blood Spawn and Ebon. I can replace those with Lord Warden or Chokethorn/Shadowrend, and Akaviri Dragonguard, respectively. However, I do not have anything to swap out Torug's Pact with.

I am looking for a set with high survivability, but that doesn't rely on dropping below certain health thresholds, dying, etc. to start working. I also prefer proactive sets (i.e. mitigation) than reactive sets (i.e. healing). You know, that one tanky set you never feel like you will die in. These options are the most commonly recommended I see in guides, forums, or in-game chat. This poll will help me narrow it down.

Thank you.

P.S. What I am not looking for are complete build suggestions. Like I said, in most scenarios my main setup works fine for me. However, I would like to have one more set to add to my arsenal.

Nestor

I run Plague Doctor and Hist Bark along with Blood Spawn on my DK Tank. 52K Health with no Group Buffs, 17K Stamina and Magic courtesy of Tri Glyphs.

He never dies unless I do something really stupid.

DPS is less than 4K though.

Gomumon

Nestor wrote: »

I run Plague Doctor and Hist Bark along with Blood Spawn on my DK Tank. 52K Health with no Group Buffs, 17K Stamina and Magic courtesy of Tri Glyphs.

He never dies unless I do something really stupid.

DPS is less than 4K though.

Could you cast a vote for either Plague Doctor or Hist Bark, please? I am simply looking for the top 5 piece set to swap out with Torug's Pact, and not a full build.

Thank you.

pizzaow

Plague Doctor

My favorite survivability set is actually dragonguard

...it sounds a bit weird, but when I need to survive (e.g. tanking adds during Ozara) I count on popping an ult for survivability, and with dragonguard it comes up pretty quick. I prefer the S+B ult; when I pop it I get most of my resources back from the DK passives and have time to either heavy attack 2-3 times to go back to full resources and/or retaunt for free... when at full resources it's pretty easy to survive.

Edit: Also do you have a specific boss in mind?.. Sets like leeching/baharas/resilient yokeda are amazing if you have a lot of enemies and don't have to move around (e.g. axes in AA).

Gomumon

@pizzaow I agree. I forgot to include in the disclaimer that I already plan on running Dragonguard and Blood Spawn, and am looking for an accompanying "tanky" set not focused on ulti-gen, debuff, or group mitigation. I have edited the OP for clarity.

Thank you.

pizzaow

Plague Doctor

Gomumon wrote: »

@pizzaow I agree. I forgot to include in the disclaimer that I already plan on running Dragonguard and Blood Spawn, and am looking for an accompanying "tanky" set not focused on ulti-gen, debuff, or group mitigation. I have edited the OP for clarity.

Thank you.

I think your 'best' tanky set (to accompany dragon/bloodspawn) will likely change for each fight. For the Axes, I highly recommend leeching or bahara's curse (you'll barely need a healer).

For a general set, I usually run plague dr as the accompanying set. But I feel I could to better, so I'll be curious to see how this poll turns out.

mildlylucid

Hist Bark

I don't think Footman's bonus does much and Armour Master is limited by the resistance cap. I personally use Hist Bark when I need survivability and it's work pretty well for me so far. Don't know about the other sets as I haven't used them yet.

Gomumon

@mildlylucid It's nice to see people commenting on what they know and not speculation. Thank you for your honesty.

Liofa

Eternal Yokeda .

You will not die unless something really stupid happens anyway . The chance of that is really low . Eternal Yokeda will save you , unlike those sets . Any tank set that gives resistance bonus are simply bad because of diminishing returns . Hist Bark is complete RNG and you don't want to rely on RNG to survive . Plague Doctor has only one job . Saving you from one-shots . Well guess what , Eternal Yokeda does it better . Also Eternal Yokeda partly supports group when it procs with the 200 Ultimate restore .

Gomumon

@Liofa Do you lose aggro, though, if you do die? I've never seen the set in action so I don't know. That would be my main concern; having everyone else get killed. I'd rather use something proactive than reactive in that case, like Plague Doctor.

Liofa

Gomumon wrote: »

@Liofa Do you lose aggro, though, if you do die? I've never seen the set in action so I don't know. That would be my main concern; having everyone else get killed. I'd rather use something proactive than reactive in that case, like Plague Doctor.

Let me explain like this . There are only few places you could use this set . Best example is 4th boss in vHoF . There is absolutely nothing that can one-shot you outside of mechanics . That's why Plague Doctor is not a good set . Only way you get one-shot is through mechanics and mechanics do not care about your Max Health . I am not sure if you are aware of the 4th boss mechanic so I'll just explain . There are 3 bosses , 2 of them are melee . Melee bosses start shooting small fire/shock balls to tanks who hold them seperately . When this starts , you have 9-10 seconds to swap bosses . Sometimes , other tank won't be able to taunt your boss in time . If that happens , you die . Even Magma Shell doesn't save you . Eternal Yokeda does .

Same thing on the second boss . When your teammates go to upstairs to execute the mechanic , people who are downstairs will get AOEs on themselves , including you . This AOE damage is scaled with your Max Health , around 1/3 actually . Your block or mitigation doesn't reduce this damage . Then , there is an add you have to hold that does about 50k damage with a heavy attack if you are not blocking . Thing is , boss itself stuns you and makes you drop block . I've been one-shotted so many times to that combo . Now imagine , AOE + boss stun + heavy attack from add . Even if you go with full Health setup (Plague Doctor + Green Pact) , you will not survive this . Eternal Yokeda will make you survive this .

My point is , in the end , it doesn't matter if you have high Health or not . No non-mechanic attack will kill you because you don't have 50k+ Health .

For your question about losing aggro . I am not completely sure because I use this set only while fighting 4th boss vHoF . It rarely had to proc but when it did , animation was already over before boss could start doing anything else . I'll say again , all the deaths I had in that fight was due to mechanical errors and nothing other than Eternal Yokeda would save me . Another note , Eternal Yokeda proc doesn't count to Vitality bonus

Gomumon

@Liofa Thanks for that explanation!

mocap

Plague Doctor

Plague Doctor + Warrior Poet + Pirate Skeleton. My lazy build for any dungeons.

tommalmm

Neither of the specified. For pure survivability I'd choose Bahraha's Curse. Especially if there are adds in the fight. The healing is so OP that you can take any dragon blood/vigor/deep breath out of your bar. It grows in power as enemy numbers grow. I usually use weapons/shields and jewelry (blue, as AFAIK only blue come with healthy trait).

paulsimonps

Plague Doctor

Here is a setup I would highly recommend for tanking the Axes in vAA since that is what you asked for, it makes it really really easy. Leeching Plate 5p+Resilient Yokeda(Defending Warrior) 5p+2p Malubeth(Scourge Harvester). Its a ton of self heal and AoE damage and with good block cost reduction you can just sit there and block and not have to worry about anything. I mean you really have to try to die in this set up.

kylewwefan

paulsimonps wrote: »

Here is a setup I would highly recommend for tanking the Axes in vAA since that is what you asked for, it makes it really really easy. Leeching Plate 5p+Resilient Yokeda(Defending Warrior) 5p+2p Malubeth(Scourge Harvester). Its a ton of self heal and AoE damage and with good block cost reduction you can just sit there and block and not have to worry about anything. I mean you really have to try to die in this set up.

This is the exact setup I use for axes and he is right. You don’t need any healer and can easily permablock forever. No idea how it is on any other class, but on DK is OP AF.

kojou

Leeching Plate

raaphor

Plague Doctor

I use Plague Doctor + Bahraha's curse om my DK and Plague Doctor + Defending Warrior on warden tank when I need to survive multiple enemies with minimal support.
Especially Bahraha's curse is great for tanking e.g. axes, just keep cinder storm up, hardly need heals, don't have to spend all resources on taunts and can still provide warhorns for the group.
All my armor has 3 stat glyps and I'm using health + magicka + magicka regen food instead of 3 stat boost food more often lately.

Bowser

Hist Bark

Gomumon wrote: »

I am looking for the best 5 piece set to survive hard hitting content such as the Conjured Axes in Aetherian Archive

Hist Bark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Itv-n5PJ6eg

Xvorg

Gomumon wrote: »

Hello everyone!

I am looking for the best 5 piece set to survive hard hitting content such as the Conjured Axes in Aetherian Archive, or the boss adds in Veteran Dragonstar Arena. I am not looking for BiS builds regarding group support such as Lunar Bastion, Roar of Alkosh, Torug's Pact, and Ebon Armory, as I will not be near other players in the previously mentioned scenarios. My main interest is pure survivability. Edit: I am also not including Akaviri Dragonguard because that is the 2nd 5 piece set I already plan on wearing, along with Blood Spawn.

Unfortunately, I am having trouble finding much of a consensus for this with popular guides or theorycrafters. I see people citing sets from Armor Master, to Hist Bark, to Plague Doctor. Input from the community would help. I am listing the sets that I feel provide the most safety, and omitting ones that rely on something foolish like dying or being extremely low on health to start working.

Thanks for your input!

I missed the Pariah and Warrior Poet options

Mojmir

Bahraras/plague

deepseamk20b14_ESO

Plague Doctor

I run 5 plague doctor, 5 torugs with infused weapons on front bar and back bar one enchant being crusher and the other reduce enemy weapon and spell damage, and 2 blood spawn. Feels very powerful and thus far I like it a lot, also cheap and easy to get. 4 sturdy 3 infused on armor, shields are sturdy.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

Plague Doctor

On my tank, I always run Torgus Pact and Bloodspwan. What I pair it with depends on what I am doing. If my group is really good (high DPS), I pair it with dragon for the ulti gen so i can spit out warhorns. For most groups, I pair it with Ebon to help their health. Lots of people that shouldnt run glass cannon builds because they copy and paste from the interenet. 17k health or less gets pretty dicey if you arent very experienced, so ebon is wonderful. If I really want to go extra tanky, I pair it with plague Doctor, but I find that is the one I use the least. Yes, your health is high, and your igneous shields for your group are bigger, but it seems to be the most selfish set of the bunch. I also havent found a situation where the first two are ineffective. That said, 99% of my tanking is with 4 man content. I mostly DPS in trials.

For Vet AA, do what @paulsimonps says.

pelle412

Fortified Brass

When I tank vAA axes I use Fortified Brass, Plague Doctor and Blood Spawn. This gives me good ultimate generation and I can drop hardened armor in favor of GDB on front bar. I use magma shell ultimate. I tried shield discipline which promises free taunts while active but when I use that ultimate I can’t target a thing until the ultimate expires so it seemed not useful to me. I can self sustain up to 5 axes but need some Spears here and there.

Tasear

Plague Doctor

http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/alanarres-invincible-dk-shieldtank/page/12/

Gomumon

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

On my tank, I always run Torgus Pact and Bloodspwan. What I pair it with depends on what I am doing. If my group is really good (high DPS), I pair it with dragon for the ulti gen so i can spit out warhorns. For most groups, I pair it with Ebon to help their health. Lots of people that shouldnt run glass cannon builds because they copy and paste from the interenet. 17k health or less gets pretty dicey if you arent very experienced, so ebon is wonderful. If I really want to go extra tanky, I pair it with plague Doctor, but I find that is the one I use the least. Yes, your health is high, and your igneous shields for your group are bigger, but it seems to be the most selfish set of the bunch. I also havent found a situation where the first two are ineffective. That said, 99% of my tanking is with 4 man content. I mostly DPS in trials.

For Vet AA, do what @paulsimonps says.

That's what I was thinking. I am currently running Torug's Pact on swords, shields, chest, hands and waist, with either Ebon, or Dragonguard on legs, feet, and jewelry. However, for times where Torug's Pact is useless (like pulling sub-bosses in vDSA), I want a set that would swap well. And while I appreciate diversity, I personally would like to have no more than five 5-pc sets I need to carry around. That's why I was asking for a particular SET and not a full BUILD like a lot of people are offering.

As it stands, it seems most of the respondents agree that Plague Doctor is the way to go.

commdt

None. You dont need those sets, except maybe Plague doctor for vet Asylum last boss.
On the other hand, Lord Warden is a good defencive monster set which benefits both you and your party and I like to use Seducer when Im on my own (like offtanking in vSO)

Gomumon

Xvorg wrote: »

I missed the Pariah and Warrior Poet options

That's because Mark of the Pariah is overkill when I'm that close to resistance cap, and Warrior Poet totally useless when I have Warhorns that give me back great resources to boot.

Swen_von_Walhallion

@Liofa yokeda have on big problem and its CD on this 5set bonus, 10min CD is rly not much good bc it ca save you 1per fight only

But if i want some extra survivability for my DK i wiil go for sets as Ironblod, or pirate sekeleton which give ou 30%dmg reduction its look as big RNG dependant but its up around 2/3 of figts and save lots of your resorces which can you use to pass critical time when its not up ar is rly dangerous.
Earthgore is good give 30k heal over 3s its have little long CD but it can be rly hude lifesaver
And what is rly crazy is Inventor's Guard on tank templar bc it give you at minimum 34% dmg reduction in combination with Empowering Sweep.

Gomumon

Swen_von_Walhallion wrote: »

@Liofa yokeda have on big problem and its CD on this 5set bonus, 10min CD is rly not much good bc it ca save you 1per fight only

But if i want some extra survivability for my DK i wiil go for sets as Ironblod, or pirate sekeleton which give ou 30%dmg reduction its look as big RNG dependant but its up around 2/3 of figts and save lots of your resorces which can you use to pass critical time when its not up ar is rly dangerous.
Earthgore is good give 30k heal over 3s its have little long CD but it can be rly hude lifesaver
And what is rly crazy is Inventor's Guard on tank templar bc it give you at minimum 34% dmg reduction in combination with Empowering Sweep.

You know, Ironblood would actually work well if I was far enough away from a Warden, or if I didn't have a Warden with me in vDSA. Thanks for bringing that set to my attention. Earthgore, on the other hand, is too risky. That's why I said:

Gomumon wrote: »

I am looking for a set with high survivability, but that doesn't rely on dropping below certain health thresholds, dying, etc. to start working.

I want something to work for me at full health so I don't get that low in the first place.

TankHealz2015

Brands of the Imperium

Here is one for you:

Livewire + Dragonguard + Bloodspawn

I think Livewire is very under rated. Great utility (concussion) and the frequent heals + lots of ultimates (warhorn)

I run sword/shield on front bar and staff on back bar

I like the lightening staff and DPS loves the constant concussions and wall of elements, but if already somebody is using it, than I will use instead a frost staff (the immobilizes/ freeze ) is pretty cool too.