Warden Tank Build

Norivar1

Hey all,

i have create a warden tank build and wondered if there are any more experienced tanks that would like to take a look and see what you think

Race - Argonian
Boon - The atronach

Magicka - 32
Health - 0
Stamina - 32

Front Bar - One hand and shield

• Bull Netch
• Polar Wind
• Pierce Armor
• Absorb Magic
• Bone Surge
• Healing Thicket

Back Bar - Frost Staff

• Ice Fortress
• Unstable wall of frost
• Lotus blossom
• Frozen device
• Gripping shards
• Permafrost

Gear (all heavy)
Helm - Mighty chundan's visage - Infused - Health
Shoulders - Lord warden dusk's pauldron - Sturdy - Health
Chest - Green Pact - Infused - Prismatic Def
Gloves - Green Pact - Sturdy - Health
Belt - Green Pact - Sturdy - Health
Legs - Green Pact - Infused - Prismatic Def
Boots - Green Pact - Sturdy - Health
Neck - Plague Doctor - Healthy - Mag Recovery
Ring - Plague Doctor - Healthy - Mag Recovery
Ring - Plague Doctor - Healthy - Mag Recovery
Weapon - Plague Doctor - Infused - Crusher
Shield - Plague Doctor - Infused - Prismatic Def
Staff - Plague Doctor - Infused - Weapon Dmg

CP
Red

• Heavy armor focus - 4
• Quick recovery - 23
• Thick skinned - 49
• Hardy - 49
• Elemental Defender - 49
• Ironclad - 61
• Spell shield - 4
• Resistant - 1

Blue

• Thaumaturge - 75
• Master-at-arms - 28
• Elemental expert - 56
• Spell erosion - 2
• Elfborn - 23
• Blessed - 56

Green

• Shadow ward - 81
• Arcanist - 100
• Healthy - 56
• Bashing focus - 3

Overview of stats
Health - 45102
Magicka - 20123
Stamina - 19548
Magic Rec - 1447
Health Rec - 963
Stam Rec - 514
Spell Resistance - 32574 (this is with Major ward)
Physical resistance - 32574 (this is with Major resolve)

Lynx7386

Looks ok but I prefer a slightly different setup. I'm running 5x black rose and 5x shackle breaker, with 1 domihaus right now (Don't want to lose the stat boost on back bar, will add another monster piece with summerset), all infused tristat enchants and shield play on the rings. I also use atronach mundus and orzorgas red frothgar for mag recovery.

Bar setup is:

Shield (Front)
Pierce
Frozen device
Heroic slash
Leeching vines
Shimmering shield
Healing thicket

Frost staff (back)
Arctic blast
Blockade
Gripping shards
Ice fortress
Bull netch
Permafrost

As far as your skill setup goes:

Polar wind: morph this to arctic blast. A 10% heal on one ally within 5 meters is pretty pitiful, but arctic blast can help you keep maim and chill on enemies more easily.

Absorb magic: while the heal from this can be nice, and I assume youre using it for the block passive, I prefer shimmering shield for the maor heroism buff stacked with minor heroism from slash. With those two going I can almost spam healing thicket with 100% uptime, or get warhorns out more frequently.

Bone surge: I always found this one too pricey, especially when stamina consumption is always a concern. I prefer to use leeching vines here for the extra sustain via natures gift, and the extra passive healing on myself and the group.

Unstable wall: go with blockade. You want to be recasting abilities as rarely as possible, and you'll be using wall for the secondary effects moreso than the damage.

Lotus blossom: works ok in easy content, but you'll find you have less (if any) time to use light and heavy attacks in more challenging content.

jypcy

OP: your stats look good for the build. I’d agree with Lynx on some of the skill choices, though in your defense:

Polar wind: if you tend to run content without a healer, this can be a lifesaver for a dps. But it is pretty situational so Arctic blast will probably be more useful for you overall.

Absorb magic: agreeing fully with Lynx here. You want to find some spot for shimmering shield on your bar because that major heroism is op so get as much use out of this skill before they nerf it and replacing this seems most logical since the two skills more or less share a similar function.

Bone surge: great shield to have for a health build, especially since wardens lack a class one. It is expensive and wardens typically run enough heals that they don’t need to shield like a dk would (at least in my experience), but I use this occasionally as well. Just need to be careful with stam management.

Unstable wall: agree with Lynx, I doubt the explosion proc is doing enough damage on this build to justify the hit to sustain it entails.

Lotus blossom: a good heal to have but leeching vines might be a better fit here, as it’ll tend to net more healing for the group than lotus.

Also: you don’t have to run the aggressive war horn ultimate, but you will likely encounter groups that expect the tank to have it. I use it instead of trees for my warden tank, just because the more often I’m casting trees, the less I’m casting warhorn. But totally up to you on this one. And all your other skills look good/would be what I recommend. I slot deceptive predator whenever I can, but that’s probably more personal preference on my part.

I’d also recommend against green pact, especially because I’m assuming this is for pve. Health recovery isn’t a super useful stat imo, and you could run a different set that might net you lower health but offers another good bonus. Akaviri dragonguard comes with some good bonuses for a tank. If you miss the health bonuses too much, look for a set that gives you some bonus stam and/or mag and reassign your attribute points. You could also run 2pc lord warden instead of 1pc chudan, since the lord warden proc is up pretty much all the time and actually gives you (and nearby group members) higher resistances than 1pc chudan. You might also like a weakening (itade-okori-kuta) enchant on your staff, but totally up to you. If you do find your stam sustain is a little low due to bone surge, absorb stam enchant (I think it’s itade-deni-kuta) could work well on your back bar too.
Glad to see more wardens out and about

BejaProphet

@Norivar1 The real question is how much you really want us to press you on your build. The stricter we pick at it the more we are going to move towards a more meta build. I'm going to try to avoid that though. Also I'll avoid warden specific stuff since I'm way way more familiar with DK. But here are two things that I think will seriously improve your set up...

1. Use Ebon Armory in place of green pact. It's going to give you at least in the same ball park in terms of health, and its going to be something that helps your entire team rather than just you. You will have plenty of health running Ebon/Plague Doctor.

2. I strongly recommend try-stat food. Having an extra 4k max stamina is going to be more significant than the mag region when you hit difficult content. When you tank incredibly hard stuff, what you are going to find is that your block game is going to be lacking. Try-stat food will help with that. You have a lot of mag regen already and you can spare it.

p.s. I really hate auto correct when you are trying to use short hand of game terms.

Norivar1

Thanks guys for the feed back,

I'll change out Absorb Magic for Shimmer shield,

The reason for Unstable wall was for more AOE dmg on Trash do you not find this an issue?

I'll change to Artic Blast

I'll try running leaching vines, does Lotus blossom spell crit bonus not apply to Artic blast?

Do you guys also find the leaching vines has a habit of not going on you?

Would Ebon Armory be a better set then Green pact? Still get a good amount of health to make gripping shards worth running but also buff the group up.

@Lynx7386 Do you not find the cost of blocking quite high with full infused gear?

BejaProphet

He's using shield play ring enchants. His block cost is probably lower than yours.

Norivar1

@BejaProphet sorry posted my reply before refreshing the page :-)

Yea i see what you mean it is better if i change from sturdy and just have the 2 shield play rings

jypcy

@Norivar1 if you want your tank to be contributing decent damage as well, you’ll have to give up some of your tankiness. Otherwise, you can stick with something pretty similar to your current setup and just let dps take care of the damage. Up to you of course, but if you regularly pug, I’d maybe go for the former. If you have guildies or friends you can count on to run with, I’d go with the latter. Edit: bottom line, I haven’t tried it, but I don’t expect even with 90k max health that the damage from unstable wall, Arctic blast, and gripping shards would be contributing too much group dps.

Lotus does apply to arctic blast and would be a reason to keep it if that’s the idea behind your build. Like said, it’s not a bad skill by any means, but leeching vines will likely net more healing overall. If you like the burst healing of crits, then I’d say keep blossom. Iirc vines smart targets the player with the lowest health percentage in your field of view, so it’ll often be you since you’re likely taking the most damage, but just turn your camera away from your team before casting if you want it to proc on you more reliably.

Yes, I’d recommend ebon over green pact. But I’d also recommend most heavy sets over green pact.

Also I forgot to check the cp. red and blue look fine (put 1 more point into thaumaturge, else I think it rounds down to a flat 13% bc zenimaths lol). For green I’d take everything out of healthy and either 24 or 36 points out of arcanist, and put them instead in warlord, sprinter, and/or bashing focus.

If you want I can talk the build I use, but it’s more of an ulti gen build than a health stack one so would likely play differently.

Norivar1

@jypcy Thanks for the feedback, i have 2 DPS guys that normal run wiht me.

Ill look into getting Ebon then a my next stop :-)

when i get Home (at work atm) then ill look into the change in CP that you offered,

Thanks for the help of this guys was nice to know that im not a complete loon when it comes to tanking as only ever tanked in world of warcraft

jypcy

Awesome, and yeah, the stat sheet you provided at the end is almost exactly what I like to see on my tank builds, so even if you take your build in as is I imagine you’ll do fine in most if not all content. The suggestions in this thread have all been of ways to tweak what you have a little bit either to help your own survivability or help you provide better buffs/debuffs while in combat. At its core, your build is solid.

Lynx7386

Norivar1 wrote: »

Thanks guys for the feed back,

I'll change out Absorb Magic for Shimmer shield,

The reason for Unstable wall was for more AOE dmg on Trash do you not find this an issue?

I'll change to Artic Blast

I'll try running leaching vines, does Lotus blossom spell crit bonus not apply to Artic blast?

Do you guys also find the leaching vines has a habit of not going on you?

Would Ebon Armory be a better set then Green pact? Still get a good amount of health to make gripping shards worth running but also buff the group up.

@Lynx7386 Do you not find the cost of blocking quite high with full infused gear?

I run 3 shield play (reduced block and bash cost) enchants on rings, and 75 points in shadow ward champion passive.

After that, it comes down to resource recovery via bull netch, nature's gift, and alternating between my staff and shield for blocking. It's easy enough to permablock with that setup.

BejaProphet

@Norivar1 An important note. Do not use ebon armory weapon or shields. Last I heard its bugged such that the buff messes up when swapping. Unless that has changed.

Norivar1

@BejaProphet Ok thanks for the heads up.

@Lynx7386 I'll try your way and see if it fits how i play :-)

jypcy

BejaProphet wrote: »

@Norivar1 An important note. Do not use ebon armory weapon or shields. Last I heard its bugged such that the buff messes up when swapping. Unless that has changed.

This is still the case from what I’ve heard recently, that the 5 pc temporarily goes away when swapping so you and your teammates will not be at full health whenever you swap if you have it full on both bars. But if you use snb + destro, either ebon or plague won’t be active on your back bar (until next patch), so the barswap effect won’t matter.

Edit: also Lynx’s build uses two sets that increase magicka sustain, so keep that in mind. Switching to all block cost enchants while keeping sets like plague, green pact, and ebon will cause your magicka sustain to take a big hit. Not saying it won’t work, just that Lynx can run all block cost bc the build gets its magicka sustain from sets. You might need the magicka jewelry enchants to sustain for a health stack build more than you need block cost reduction, or a mix of the two.

Lynx7386

I still sit at 40k+ health with two sets that buff resources, I honestly don't think you need any more than that for 99% of the game's content. My dk tank only runs 32k

BejaProphet

Well, its plain OP's build is going to work fabulously well for the vast majority of the content. But if I'm not mistaken, as tougher content begins to stress his build, the high block cost (around 690 by my math) is going to be where his build starts to break down.

So I personally would err towards the shield play, but perhaps have jewelry ready to swap out, one with regen and one with shield play. But then again, I only run 565 mag regen, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

Lynx7386

BejaProphet wrote: »

Well, its plain OP's build is going to work fabulously well for the vast majority of the content. But if I'm not mistaken, as tougher content begins to stress his build, the high block cost (around 690 by my math) is going to be where his build starts to break down.

So I personally would err towards the shield play, but perhaps have jewelry ready to swap out, one with regen and one with shield play. But then again, I only run 565 mag regen, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

That's one reason I run black rose and shackle breaker, gives more regen and more resources from constitution.

jypcy

Yeah definitely things to play around with. Using the sword and board ultimate is another option for content where sustain is harder, since you get a 7 second window to get resources back.

My warden tank doesn’t regularly use any green balance skills, has no block cost glyphs, isn’t an argonian, and doesn’t use the snb ult, though. Sturdy only on the small pieces and sustains stam fine. The added sustain alone from using a green balance ability is enough for any content I expect I’ll need to keep block up more for. Play around with setups and see what you like, but with your current traits, enchants, and race, I don’t think your stam sustain will be too stressed. As we’ve mentioned above, though, this will hinge largely on whether you choose to keep bone surge and how often you use it.

White wabbit

I run 5 x Ebon
5 x seducer
1 x Lord warden
1 x chokethorn

Joxer61

Norivar1 wrote: »

Thanks for the help of this guys was nice to know that im not a complete loon when it comes to tanking as only ever tanked in world of warcraft

Ditto here! Which is why I have been playing as a dps class. How do you find the transition from WOW to ESO as a tank? Felt so different to me (was a Blood DK tank) so I never went back and tried but might be keen.
Would you say the learning curve is a huge one or are you enjoying it? Cheers!

Lynx7386

Joxer61 wrote: »

Norivar1 wrote: »

Thanks for the help of this guys was nice to know that im not a complete loon when it comes to tanking as only ever tanked in world of warcraft

Ditto here! Which is why I have been playing as a dps class. How do you find the transition from WOW to ESO as a tank? Felt so different to me (was a Blood DK tank) so I never went back and tried but might be keen.
Would you say the learning curve is a huge one or are you enjoying it? Cheers!

I tanked for nearly 4 years in Warcraft, split between a feral druid, paladin, and unholy death knight.

I would say the biggest differences here are that your defenses are largely active rather than passive, and that there is no form of aoe taunt.
Also that in wow tanks (and healers) were far more necessary and dps didn't mean as much. In eso you can 4 dps many dungeons and a lot of times healers and tanks are relegated to buffbots more than actual healers or tanks. The guys who designed eso obviously only care about big damage numbers over all else.

exiars10

My main tank is Bosmer stamina Warden and I really like tanking with her . I have DK tank, too, and it's boring.

I am heavily into RP, mostly don't care about meta, play overland content and group dungeons (I don't play trials and DLC dungeons).

Gear setup
2x Tremorscale + 5x Thunderbug‘s Carapace + 5x Warrior-Poet

OHaS on both bars. I do 5-7k DPS. I refuse to grind for gear in group dungeons because of principles. I use this gear combo as it's nature and process based, and are cheap and easy to get.

Skills
1) Pierce Armor – Heroic Slash – Ice Fortress – Gripping Shards – Absorb Magic // Permafrost*
2) Inner Rage – Deceptive Predator** – Green Lotus – Polar Wind – Bull Netch // Permafrost*

*I use Wild Guardian in easier dungeons and overland content always. In harder dungeons bear is useless as it dies very quickly.
**Sometimes use Leeching Vines.

Stats
Health: 31k; Stamina: 25k; Magicka: 15k (with Capon Tomato-Beet Casserole food)
I am at resistance cap when Ice Fortress is active.

CP distribution is for DD actually (good news is a lot of CPs are actually shared), and attributes are health +7 and stamina +57.

Super fun playing and that's the most important thing as playing ESO is not my job .

Aurielle

Ebon stacks with Maturation, right? If so, would it be worth your while to throw Soothing Spores on your bar (assuming there's no Warden healer in the group)? I don't play a Warden tank, so I could be horribly off-base with this, but it seems like it would be a good way to bring some extra group buffs to the table if you don't want to use Warhorn.

jypcy

@exiars10 just a word of advice, take it or leave it, but Warrior-poet’s 5 piece bonus is the same buff wardens get from their maturation passive. There are some other sets in game with the same/similar 2-4 piece set bonuses, but a 5 pc bonus you could make better use of. And I guess I didn’t take Vivec for much of a naturalist, so hopefully if you did swap out that set it wouldn’t hurt the immersion
Bought off of traders: http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Footman's+Fortune+Set
Bought off of traders and drops in Shadowfen: http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Hatchling's+Shell+Set (and nature themed)
Crafted: http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Hist+Bark+Set (and nature themed)
Crafted: http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Torug's+Pact+Set
Crafted: http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Song+of+Lamae+Set
I can recommend others that drop in trials and dungeons, but I know you said you’re not interested in farming those.

@Aurielle yes that should work fine. Imo using leeching vines would be better than soothing spores since iirc the heals everyone gets from minor lifesteal counts as you healing them, so would proc maturation. Either way, the passive and ebon do synergize.

White wabbit

Aurielle wrote: »

Ebon stacks with Maturation, right? If so, would it be worth your while to throw Soothing Spores on your bar (assuming there's no Warden healer in the group)? I don't play a Warden tank, so I could be horribly off-base with this, but it seems like it would be a good way to bring some extra group buffs to the table if you don't want to use Warhorn.

Wonder if polar wind activates that

Lynx7386

White wabbit wrote: »

Aurielle wrote: »

Ebon stacks with Maturation, right? If so, would it be worth your while to throw Soothing Spores on your bar (assuming there's no Warden healer in the group)? I don't play a Warden tank, so I could be horribly off-base with this, but it seems like it would be a good way to bring some extra group buffs to the table if you don't want to use Warhorn.

Wonder if polar wind activates that

All heals activate maturation. Only green balance heals activate nature's gift.

Norivar1

@joxer61 I use to play a Bear in wow. from tanking my first ever vet last night i would say that tanking is quite easy in this game, lack of AOE taunt make its more fun lol but if you are a good tank that doesn't matter as you will be aware the whole time of where the mobs are and with a range taunt its not to bad.

usmguy1234

Another good setup that I recommended to a friend is dragon guard and werewolfhide with blood spawn. You talk ulti generation like mad. You can almost spam trees like it's a skill not an ultimate. Argonian and bull netch for insane regeneration.

Lynx7386

Norivar1 wrote: »

@joxer61 I use to play a Bear in wow. from tanking my first ever vet last night i would say that tanking is quite easy in this game, lack of AOE taunt make its more fun lol but if you are a good tank that doesn't matter as you will be aware the whole time of where the mobs are and with a range taunt its not to bad.

Yea I tanked for 4 years in WoW as a feral druid (also paladin and unholy Deathknight). The lack of an AoE taunt here takes some getting used to, but you can still easily aoe tank with the right ability setup. As long as you're the first person to aggro enemies, you get a decent lead on threat; after that it's just a matter of laying down aoe damage effects and immobilizing/hindering enemies so your group can kill them.

exiars10

jypcy wrote: »

@exiars10 just a word of advice, take it or leave it, but Warrior-poet’s 5 piece bonus is the same buff wardens get from their maturation passive. There are some other sets in game with the same/similar 2-4 piece set bonuses, but a 5 pc bonus you could make better use of. And I guess I didn’t take Vivec for much of a naturalist, so hopefully if you did swap out that set it wouldn’t hurt the immersion
Bought off of traders: http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Footman's+Fortune+Set
Bought off of traders are drops in Shadowfen: http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Hatchling's+Shell+Set (and nature themed)
Crafted: http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Hist+Bark+Set (and nature themed)
Crafted: http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Torug's+Pact+Set
Crafted: http://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Song+of+Lamae+Set
I can recommend others that drop in trials and dungeons, but I know you said you’re not interested in farming those.

I know about Minor Toughness but I rarely use heal and honestly I don't care as I wanted constant buff anyway. I already had parts of set so just bought dirt cheap what I lacked . And of course is not nature based, but it just fits its purpose.

Joxer61

Lynx7386 wrote: »

Joxer61 wrote: »

Norivar1 wrote: »

Thanks for the help of this guys was nice to know that im not a complete loon when it comes to tanking as only ever tanked in world of warcraft

Ditto here! Which is why I have been playing as a dps class. How do you find the transition from WOW to ESO as a tank? Felt so different to me (was a Blood DK tank) so I never went back and tried but might be keen.
Would you say the learning curve is a huge one or are you enjoying it? Cheers!

I tanked for nearly 4 years in Warcraft, split between a feral druid, paladin, and unholy death knight.

I would say the biggest differences here are that your defenses are largely active rather than passive, and that there is no form of aoe taunt.
Also that in wow tanks (and healers) were far more necessary and dps didn't mean as much. In eso you can 4 dps many dungeons and a lot of times healers and tanks are relegated to buffbots more than actual healers or tanks. The guys who designed eso obviously only care about big damage numbers over all else.

Unholy was dps, Blood was tank, unless it changed, very possible knowing Blizz...lol! But yea, the taunting in this game did my head in but I may be keen to see whats changed and give it another go? And bearface tanking was always so much fun!!! Grrrr..........swipe to win!