Tank in crowds

Sophocles1

I’m starting a tank, only level 35, and while I pretty much have the easy part down of taunting bosses I feel relatively useless in trash crowds. I feel like it’s a bad idea to taunt individual baddies, It’s not clear where everybody wants them to be and how to get them there, etc. And advice on this?

swippy

i think the idea there is to throw out a crappy AoE (no offense intended to your offensive capabilities) to draw their attention and make them swarm you, and then let the gunners melt the accumulated group.

but i'm not much of a tank and there are more knowledgeable people than me who will show up soon.

runagate

You don't have to taunt per se in order to, at least initially, get most baddies' attention.

Caltrops works well but you need to pvp a bit to get it. If you're playing a DK any AoE helps. You'll also eventually get Chains for pulling in distant baddies to your DPS teammates but that won't matter so much until endgame content. When you're first starting out just watch, experiment and learn.

Mostly teach your recalcitrant DPS to let you catch mobs' attention first so that stuff tends to cluster to you, where they can then hack down the bundled-up baddies.

What_In_Tarnation

I'll always taunt big adds like 2h, SnB and atronachs..e.t.c. About gathering adds, I'm usually talon all of melee adds and chain as many ranged adds as I could.

But there's other way around, like splash one big aoe ability like razor caltrops and run toward to ranged adds, once melee adds all getting aggro'ed by caltrops, they'll just follow you to ranged adds. Then you can just talon them all. This is way easier ofc, but sometimes adds will get dragged back cause of dps attack them

The duty of tank to me is gather adds, make sure aoe from dps can melting them all together. And buffyour whole group + debuff enemies ofc.

Sophocles1

Hmmmm....what are the dk aoes?

CaiWenji

Sophocles1 wrote: »

Hmmmm....what are the dk aoes?

Talons, Ashcloud, Inhale are the big ones.

Nestor

If the DDs will let you, wade in hitting some of the ads with a ranged attack, this should start them all towards you. Once close, Drop your Standard and then DDs can do what they do

If this not the case, then as a tank here is what you do:
1. Stand near the center of the bulk of the trash mobs, use chains to bring the outlier mobs that are on the perimeter into the center. Helps to take the morph that refunds cost for when you miss.
2. Once you have most or all the mobs gathered, then use Punture to make them die quicker and apply your other group buffs and debuffs as usual.

There are always mobs now that do not move into to engage, so mostly focus on bringing them into DDS range.

Prof_Bawbag

All the info above whilst great, is kinda assuming you're competent at tanking. Can't just go around taunting and chaining every large group of trash mobs. That kills your resources. The chaining, taunting and them beating down on you. Drains things fast or can if you're not used to tanking.

What I've learned is get the priority npcs and as long as they're busy beating on you, the others will be taken care of. The more experienced you get, then you'll be able to handle more npcs, but just concentrate on the hard hitters. I usually draw the healers in to.

LMar

Try to CC a bunch of them and draw the attention of the rest

Prof_Bawbag

Here's a very, very good guide from one of the best tanks in the game. No bravado like chain 'em all and stand there like a boss tanking 101 npcs during the first few weeks of tanking.

https://woeler.eu/tanking-eso-beginners-guide/

BejaProphet

@Sophocles1
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/416797/royal-poets-guide-to-traditional-tanking-in-veteran-dungeons#latest

PlagueSD

I don't worry about taunting EVERYTHING for trash pulls, I only concentrate on the 1 or 2 in the group that could potentially one-shot clothies. On my DK tank (S&B front, frost staff back), my normal opening rotation for trash is frost blockade (slows mobs), run in, pulsar (to get their attention), then Talons to lock them in place. If you have a good group, the trash will be dead by the time talons expires.

For my Magblade tank (S&B, lightning staff), I'll lightning blockade, run in, Sap essence (essentially a taunt as you get agro from damage AND healing) then just spam lightning ring. With all that lightning going on and 5pc Livewire, everything around me is constantly off-balance. I also use Swarm Mother monster set to pull ranged adds into melee range.

Imagawa

Don't worry about getting taunt on all of the enemies, just the majority of them, and the big ones.
Your group mates should be able to fight off a single mob or two if you can't taunt them.
Trust your team, they are fighters!

Sophocles1

You all rock!

swippy

Prof_Bawbag wrote: »

Here's a very, very good guide from one of the best tanks in the game. No bravado like chain 'em all and stand there like a boss tanking 101 npcs during the first few weeks of tanking.

https://woeler.eu/tanking-eso-beginners-guide/

oh i'm so excited about Woeler's guide now! last time i tried to look at it (and bookmarked it) the body text was the same color as the background, which makes reading difficult. i meant to hunt down the option for changing the color of my highlight on this tablet, but now i can just read it. very good.

Icy_Waffles

In crowds, i use talons to hold enemies in place. I use chains to pull in range adds. I use inhale for a slight aoe, healing, and a stun to casting targets. Keep up heroic slash as ot lends you ultimate. I do taunt some mainly larger health targets. Helps dps.

Of course, this is for a dk tank.