Is it important for a tank to do damage?

SirFilip · December 2017

I have a tank and I think it's a good build but I deal very little damage. Should a tank be worried about his/her dps?

ccfeeling · December 2017

No death , keep buff and debuff then you are good tank

Let the dpsers do their jobs .

Asardes · December 2017

No, the tank does much better if he facilitates damage done by:
- debuffing: heroic slash, pierce armor, crushing enchant w Torug's and/or Alkosh
- buffing: Ebon, warhorn
- stacking adds and keeping them in one place since the most damaging skills are ground based DoTs like endless hail, caltrops, elemental blockade, liquid lightning etc.

Maura_Neysa · December 2017

Agree with the above two. Damage isn't really a concern for a tank. The amount of damage you can do with your stats is so small in comparison to the extra damage the DDs can do when you are debuffing the enemies.

Personally I do between 3-5k DPS on my tank, depending on which skills I have slotted.

Nephimana · December 2017

The amount of damage you can do while being tanky is very little and that's without holding block, some fights get intensive and you will be holding block a lot more and doing even less damage.
Optimizing your group to do more damage, even 15% more damage? 15% of two players doing a combined 60k dps is an extra 10k, essentially you're doing/adding 10k all while holding block, add more players like in trials and dps is through the roof because of you. Thats why sets like alkosh and torugs infused crusher is popular, or warhorn is near essential for tanks, because it's not for you, its to help everyone out.
Optimizing your group will do so much more damage than you can do by yourself.

Asardes · December 2017

To be fair, despite what I wrote earlier, it all depends on context. Most 4 man dungeons don't require a dedicated tank, especially on normal where nothing hits hard and mobs are feeble enough that debuffs don't count much. You can run a DD setup and hold aggro by slotting the undaunted taunt instead of your non-essential abilities. But that's not doable in harder content where you need much more mitigation, and need to block a lot.

boombazookajd · December 2017

just don't freaking run around. This is a bigger problem than anything for normal dungeons imo. Even if you are a fake tank, just stay in one spot! If you've got the aggro, hold it so we can lay down ultimates and aoe heals. Nothing worse than starting my rotation and the tank takes the boss and the adds across the dang room while my arrows fall on empty space. Oh wait, yes there is, a wasted SoM.

kaithuzar · December 2017

Dps tank was a niche thing that I doubt exists any longer. But if you can heal tank like the old typical strategy for vet dsa then you know you're good.

raj72616a · December 2017

in trial, no. in a good dungen group, no.

in a dungeon pug? good luck.

Asmael · December 2017

(X) => Do you know the mechanics or how to handle the fight ahead?

IF YES, Start with a pure DD build and go to (A)
IF NO, stick to a tank setup and stop right there. No point risking to get one shotted from full HP because you didn't know something would happen.

(A) => Can you hold aggro with your damage alone? (doesn't happen unless you have drastically more damage than the other DDs)

IF YES: go to (B)
IF NO: slot a taunt

(B) => Can you stay alive during the coming fight while not moving the boss out of ground DoTs?

IF YES, keep go to (C)
IF NO: Tweak something, you change a set, use SnB, use a tanky ability... Then ask (A) again.

(C) => Do you still have enough damage to make up for the lack of buffs / debuffs a tank would bring?

IF NO or UNSURE, stick to a tank build and stop right there.
IF YES, you just made a build capable of dealing enough damage while being tanky enough to deal with the content you're about to do.

(D) => Do you think you can perfectly execute mechanics with the build you just made? (No lag, FPS issues or whatnot)

IF YES, you're done. JUST DO IT!
IF NO, better safe than sorry, stick to a more classic tank.

Integral1900 · December 2017

Your focus is buffing, boss control and survival... but... in normal dungeons the first two are easy for an end game build so you may as well be a tough dps and get the fight over sooner. Normal dungeons are not made with us in mind and nor should they be. I used to be a vet dungeon only type but with my twin girls now into their teens I find my competative side seems to have gone to sleep, now I build rugged all rounders that can tank, dps and heal then que for normal dungeons to help out new/ low level players. Most fun I’ve had in game in ages besides the quests.

O_LYKOS · December 2017

Damage dealers do damage, tanks do not.

tommalmm · December 2017

You do only as much damage as needed to apply your debuffs/buffs, manage your resources or heal yourself (eg. on a nightblade). It doesn't mean you have to permablock, it's boring and really unnecessary in veteran dungeons, where you can block only heavies and attacks that have a knocback associated with them. But you have to know the mechanis. A typical tank adds like 3-5k DPS, which is meaningless, an NB tank can add like ~10k, but it's just a byproduct of a playstyle (still, you can do a permablock build on an NB if you want, but that's no fun at all).

Hecker777 · December 2017

In general, NO! Unless running with a group that you have pre-discussed that someone is damage tanking. Otherwise your ONLY concerns are tunt, buff/debuff/ad management (chaining) and self sustaining as much as you can. Do this and you squishy Stam DK DPS will thank you