(PvE) Dragonknight Main Tank Build by Liofa

Liofa

Hello everyone! Made my DK Tank ready at last. Had to do go through some stress testing with the build before the release. I won't bother with explaining the skills and sets I use. If you have any questions about the build, leave a comment here. You can look at the build here in detail if you don't want to read or watch the build video here:

http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData?id=85062

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQI245JR9XI

RACE
Imperial

ATTRIBUTES
All Health

GEAR
5 Ebon (Dragon as alternative)
5 Alkosh
2 Monster Set of choice (Thurvokun, Lord Warden, Earthgore)

All Armour pieces are Sturdy and enchanted with Tri-Stat. Both weapons are Infused with Crusher enchants. Jewelry are all Triune with Shield-Play enchants.

Options for jewelry: Full Swift with Shield-Play, full Infused with Potion Cooldown Reduction

POTION, FOOD, MUNDUS
Lingering Health + Vitality
Lingering Health + Speed
Health Restore + Magicka Restore + Stamina Restore

Max Health + Max Magicka + Max Stamina

Lord

SKILLS

One Handed and Shield
1- Pierce Armour
2- Heroic Slash
3- Fragmented Shield
4- Balance
5- Engulfing Flames
Ultimate- Aggressive Horn

Destruction Staff
1- Green Dragon Blood
2- Flex Spot
3- Inner Rage
4- Flex Spot
5- Elemental Blockade or Crushing Shock
Ultimate- Magma Shell

CHAMPION POINTS
Physical Mitigation: 81 Ironclad, 37 Elemental Defender, 64 Hardy, 23 Quick Recovery, 55 Heavy Armour Focus
Spell Mitigation: 81 Ironclad, 63 Elemental Defender, 37 Hardy, 20 Thick Skinned, 15 Quick Recovery, 43 Spell Shield

If you want to ask questions, you can leave a comment here, mail me in-game @ LiofaTR or whisper me on Discord Liofa#9437. Hope you enjoy!

Liofa

ZeroXFF

Why do you use Thurvokun and Low Slash? Or is the latter only there for when Thurvokun isn't procced in the right spot?

Liofa

ZeroXFF wrote: »

Why do you use Thurvokun and Low Slash? Or is the latter only there for when Thurvokun isn't procced in the right spot?

I use Thurvokun for trash fights because Heroic Slash applies Minor Maim to only one enemy. If there is only one enemy in the fight, I swap to something else instead of Thurvokun.

thomasfitzjohnub17_ESO

@Liofa
Great guide as always. In which fights is alkosh + torugs worth using? I personally use both in vAS for max crusher up time. In general should both only be used in fights where off tank doesn’t touch boss?

Is dragon just used for cloudrest? What is your opinion on the new jailers set for cloudrest (may help with healing debuff)?

Is the new tank monster set worth using to bash warrior during thousand cuts to apply major maim? I am still farming it and I have a mixed opinion on it. It might also be useful for vCR boss heavy attack maybe or debuffing flame damage on boss in vAS.

Liofa

thomasfitzjohnub17_ESO wrote: »

Great guide as always. In which fights is alkosh + torugs worth using? I personally use both in vAS for max crusher up time. In general should both only be used in fights where off tank doesn’t touch boss?

Is dragon just used for cloudrest? What is your opinion on the new jailers set for cloudrest (may help with healing debuff)?

Is the new tank monster set worth using to bash warrior during thousand cuts to apply major maim? I am still farming it and I have a mixed opinion on it. It might also be useful for vCR boss heavy attack maybe or debuffing flame damage on boss in vAS.

Hello @thomasfitzjohnub17_ESO

First of all, I don't use Torug's anymore due to two reasons, even though I still have it in my inventory. When you apply a Torug Infused Crusher and before it runs out, someone with non Torug Infused Crusher applies it, your Crusher will stay on target. This other person will refresh your enchant with their enchant. This sounds good but it also applies other way. That means if you drop Crusher during the fight (which will happen because of mechanics etc.) and someone else applies it, your whole 5 piece will become garbage for the rest of the fight. So it only makes sense to use if you are the only person with Crusher enchant. If not, don't use it. Second reason is, we get 10 more Blue points every patch. That means every point DDs spend in damage bonuses benefit them less and less. I think we reached the point where it makes sense to simply spend 6-7 points more into the Penetration CP and let the tanks use something else. But again, if you are the only person running Crusher, go for it. That's your only requirement for running this set.

Another thing about Crusher uptime is, Torug's doesn't help with that. Well, it does but you can still get 100% uptime without it. In order to learn how to do it, watch this video or read this guide.

Dragon is used if off tank cannot run Powerful Assault (because need to be tanky in a lot of fights) or anytime you want to be tanky but still provide some support. Dragon is something in between. It gives you tankiness and a bit of support.

Jailer's is a decent set for progression runs but I never use tanky sets while learning a trial because I always end up swapping to my usual support setup in the end and I have to learn the fight again with a less tankier setup. I don't recommend this to newer players obviously but it's a matter of preferance. It's definitely a good set for learning a fight though. Also about the Healing Debuff, you don't have to worry about it at all. You can simply get away from Z'Maja before the Debuff comes and you won't be affected because she applies the debuff to 6 closest allies. It happens about every 20-25 seconds, you can use your buff/debuff trackers to time your escape. For example, I use Green Dragon Blood right after debuff happens. It has a 23 second duration so when there are 5-6 seconds left, I move away and wait for the debuff. Repeat until boss is dead.

Don't use the new monster set for your self protection unless your healers are really bad or you are not comfortable with the fight yet. In every fight, you will not need this Major Maim to survive under normal conditions. However, you can use it to prevent your group mates' deaths. For example, an off tank running this set in Asylum Sanctoruim can bash Llothis just before the Poison Cone starts and possibly prevent a death of an ally. It is and should be used for support, not for self survival reasons.

thomasfitzjohnub17_ESO

@Liofa
Thanks for all the feedback and thanks for the tip on Z’maja. I did not know that about the healing debuff. :0

Acro808

When can we expect the warden tank build?

Liofa

Acro808 wrote: »

When can we expect the warden tank build?

I am having a lot of requests incoming for a Warden Tank Build ^^ I think I'll do one this week if not in few days!

SquareSausage

Would you advise against higher mag recov with either jewel enchants or witchmothers potent or the attronach mundus? I dont like being that low.

I guess just a matter of how we each play?

Liofa

SquareSausage wrote: »

Would you advise against higher mag recov with either jewel enchants or witchmothers potent or the attronach mundus? I dont like being that low.

I guess just a matter of how we each play?

If you are going to invest into Magicka Recovery, better just run a Magicka Recovery build. If you have Balance on your bar, you will already have a ton of Magicka sustain so it's counterproductive and you'll only lose whatever you sacrificed without any real gain.

SquareSausage

Liofa wrote: »

SquareSausage wrote: »

Would you advise against higher mag recov with either jewel enchants or witchmothers potent or the attronach mundus? I dont like being that low.

I guess just a matter of how we each play?

If you are going to invest into Magicka Recovery, better just run a Magicka Recovery build. If you have Balance on your bar, you will already have a ton of Magicka sustain so it's counterproductive and you'll only lose whatever you sacrificed without any real gain.

Missed the skill choices, I see what you are doing now, cheers.

ccfeeling

Hi Liofa ,

Why you put dragon blood on off bar ? How you self protect yourself or you bet everything on healers ?

Liofa

ccfeeling wrote: »

Hi Liofa ,

Why you put dragon blood on off bar ? How you self protect yourself or you bet everything on healers ?

Dragon Blood is a buff for me that I always keep up. It is there to make my healers' job easier. When it's up, Burning Heart passive activates and I get 12% Healing Taken and 8% from Minor Vitality. It's makes an insane difference on the pressure you put on the healers. So yeah, it's mostly a 23 second duration buff for me that helps my healers.

I rarely use it as a self heal. If I am going into a fight where I'll need self healing, I just swap to Infused Potion Cooldown Reduction and use Lingering+Vitality potions.

I don't see Green Dragon Blood as protection. More of a emergency button if I mess up. I don't feel like it's worth using on front bar for situations that happen maybe once in a raid day. I just use it every 23 seconds or so to help healers, that's all.

Lord_Eomer

Liofa wrote: »

Hello everyone! Made my DK Tank ready at last. Had to do go through some stress testing with the build before the release. I won't bother with explaining the skills and sets I use. If you have any questions about the build, leave a comment here. You can look at the build here in detail if you don't want to read or watch the build video here:

http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData?id=81517

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQI245JR9XI

RACE
Imperial

ATTRIBUTES
All Health

GEAR
5 Ebon (Dragon as alternative)
5 Alkosh
2 Monster Set of choice (Thurvokun, Lord Warden, Earthgore)

All Armour pieces are Sturdy and enchanted with Tri-Stat. Both weapons are Infused with Crusher enchants. Jewelry are all Triune with Shield-Play enchants.

Options for jewelry: Full Swift with Shield-Play, full Infused with Potion Cooldown Reduction

POTION, FOOD, MUNDUS
Lingering Health + Vitality
Lingering Health + Speed
Health Restore + Magicka Restore + Stamina Restore

Max Health + Max Magicka + Max Stamina

Lord

SKILLS

One Handed and Shield
1- Pierce Armour
2- Heroic Slash
3- Fragmented Shield
4- Balance
5- Engulfing Flames
Ultimate- Aggressive Horn

Destruction Staff
1- Green Dragon Blood
2- Flex Spot
3- Inner Rage
4- Flex Spot
5- Elemental Blockade or Crushing Shock
Ultimate- Magma Shell

CHAMPION POINTS
Physical Mitigation: 81 Ironclad, 37 Elemental Defender, 64 Hardy, 23 Quick Recovery, 55 Heavy Armour Focus
Spell Mitigation: 81 Ironclad, 63 Elemental Defender, 37 Hardy, 20 Thick Skinned, 15 Quick Recovery, 43 Spell Shield

If you want to ask questions, you can leave a comment here, mail me in-game @ LiofaTR or whisper me on Discord Liofa#9437. Hope you enjoy!

Liofa

Every update its same old builds.

lost interest in ESO! updates are now just story content with boring new sets etc.

Liofa

Here are some gameplay videos of this build:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lg5uii3jA8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMeCn-0kIvk

Cybercore_Death

Question regarding race.

I have a MagDK that has all skill lines, skills and morphs unlocked (been doing them as i went a long as a "just in case") so i've been thinking about giving tanking a go but just using my existing DK and changing Skills / CPs around to match whats needed.

Naturally my DK is a Dunmer, so i;m wondering if there are any changes that you would recommend making to your setup that would make being a Dunmer tank a viable option without causing any headache for DDs / Healers?

Many thanks in advance for your response.

getemshauna

Great tank, great guide!

Liofa

Cybercore_Death wrote: »

Question regarding race.

I have a MagDK that has all skill lines, skills and morphs unlocked (been doing them as i went a long as a "just in case") so i've been thinking about giving tanking a go but just using my existing DK and changing Skills / CPs around to match whats needed.

Naturally my DK is a Dunmer, so i;m wondering if there are any changes that you would recommend making to your setup that would make being a Dunmer tank a viable option without causing any headache for DDs / Healers?

Many thanks in advance for your response.

Hey @Cybercore_Death

I've been running a Dunmer DK for about 2 years before I decided to build that character for PvP and continue with an Imperial for PvE Tanking. You can find so many videos of me tanking as a Dunmer DK.

So only thing I recommend is making some small changes to your attributes. Make sure you have more Max Stamina than Max Magicka and you are good to go. Your Health will be significantly (several thousand) lower but that's mostly not an issue. Experience plays the highest role in tanking. There is nothing in this game you can't do because of your race. Try it out, you'll see there is almost no difference ^^

Cybercore_Death

Liofa wrote: »

Cybercore_Death wrote: »

Question regarding race.

I have a MagDK that has all skill lines, skills and morphs unlocked (been doing them as i went a long as a "just in case") so i've been thinking about giving tanking a go but just using my existing DK and changing Skills / CPs around to match whats needed.

Naturally my DK is a Dunmer, so i;m wondering if there are any changes that you would recommend making to your setup that would make being a Dunmer tank a viable option without causing any headache for DDs / Healers?

Many thanks in advance for your response.

Hey @Cybercore_Death

I've been running a Dunmer DK for about 2 years before I decided to build that character for PvP and continue with an Imperial for PvE Tanking. You can find so many videos of me tanking as a Dunmer DK.

So only thing I recommend is making some small changes to your attributes. Make sure you have more Max Stamina than Max Magicka and you are good to go. Your Health will be significantly (several thousand) lower but that's mostly not an issue. Experience plays the highest role in tanking. There is nothing in this game you can't do because of your race. Try it out, you'll see there is almost no difference ^^

Hey @Liofa , thankyou for your reply :-)

In hindsight i should have looked through for any previous builds from you to see how you were setup. I've seen your posts pop up from time to time but never looked as i hadn't really given proper thought to Tanking.

That's really good to know about Dunmer. I honestly believe they're the true master race in game (contrary to popular opinion lol). I used to run a Dunmer Stam DPS build and it held its own nicely with the rest of the crew (also made running Red Mountain and Sunderflame together an absolute dream till they killed Sunder).

I'll need plenty of practice as i've only tried tanking once before and found myself quite often over taunting the enemies / bosses... which never ended well haha

Gear wise i don't have a full set of any atm. Just odd drabs i've picked up. Would you recommend any sets in the interim till i can get round to farming or farm for the above first before making the change?

Liofa

Cybercore_Death wrote: »

Gear wise i don't have a full set of any atm. Just odd drabs i've picked up. Would you recommend any sets in the interim till i can get round to farming or farm for the above first before making the change?

I suggest farming the sets you need in normal modes, except Monster Sets obviously. You can get Ebon and Alkosh in normal modes easily. Purple jewelry and weapons drop from chests and last bosses. Especially with the Transmutation System, it's really easy to get all the gear you want in no time ^^ I suggest just getting the required items before actually starting to tank. If you go with your guild/friends, it won't take longer than one or two days. If you are lucky, an hour or two is more than enough ^^ Still, if you don't have the patience etc, just grab Akaviri Dragonguard from Guild Stores and done! Good luck ^^

Cybercore_Death

Liofa wrote: »

Cybercore_Death wrote: »

Gear wise i don't have a full set of any atm. Just odd drabs i've picked up. Would you recommend any sets in the interim till i can get round to farming or farm for the above first before making the change?

I suggest farming the sets you need in normal modes, except Monster Sets obviously. You can get Ebon and Alkosh in normal modes easily. Purple jewelry and weapons drop from chests and last bosses. Especially with the Transmutation System, it's really easy to get all the gear you want in no time ^^ I suggest just getting the required items before actually starting to tank. If you go with your guild/friends, it won't take longer than one or two days. If you are lucky, an hour or two is more than enough ^^ Still, if you don't have the patience etc, just grab Akaviri Dragonguard from Guild Stores and done! Good luck ^^

Awesome, really appreciate the advice on this one. Thankyou. Looking forward to giving it a proper try :-)

Also, curiously. Do you play DPS much? And if so whats your build(s) of choice / preference?

Liofa

Cybercore_Death wrote: »

Also, curiously. Do you play DPS much? And if so whats your build(s) of choice / preference?

I don't play DPS much due to lack of time but I have experience in pretty much all specs and know which class works best with what build. I do a ton of testing on all classes in PTS cycle, it's kinda my responsibility because building a tank is all about supporting your group the best way possible and knowing what DDs run and how they play is a big part of that.

My main is a MagDK so that's my favourite class to play followed by Stamina Sorcerer and Stamina DK.

Cybercore_Death

Liofa wrote: »

Cybercore_Death wrote: »

Also, curiously. Do you play DPS much? And if so whats your build(s) of choice / preference?

I don't play DPS much due to lack of time but I have experience in pretty much all specs and know which class works best with what build. I do a ton of testing on all classes in PTS cycle, it's kinda my responsibility because building a tank is all about supporting your group the best way possible and knowing what DDs run and how they play is a big part of that.

My main is a MagDK so that's my favourite class to play followed by Stamina Sorcerer and Stamina DK.

I'd never actually thought about that side things, shows your dedication to the cause and also backs up your builds which is really good to know :-)

MagDK is also my favourite and is the build i've played most since i first learned what a build and rotation is lol that being said i do play it a little differently. I use a variation of Masel92's Elemental Fury HA DK as i found using a whip to be quite clunky since the changes to off balance and flame lash procs as a result of the change. I know it's a little off topic from your tank build but would you mind sending me your MagDK and StamDK setups please? (gear, skill bars, blue CP and rotation). I've played StamDK before but never got past 30k so looking to improve that one more so.

Liofa

Cybercore_Death wrote: »

MagDK is also my favourite and is the build i've played most since i first learned what a build and rotation is lol that being said i do play it a little differently. I use a variation of Masel92's Elemental Fury HA DK as i found using a whip to be quite clunky since the changes to off balance and flame lash procs as a result of the change. I know it's a little off topic from your tank build but would you mind sending me your MagDK and StamDK setups please? (gear, skill bars, blue CP and rotation). I've played StamDK before but never got past 30k so looking to improve that one more so.

My only Wolfhunter ready character is my mDK but Asylum Staff is not working at the moment so I can't play it even if I want to. 5 Siroria, 3 Willpower and 2 Zaan with Asylum front, MSA back bar.

LiquidSchwartz

How do you get so much health?? With lord warden and ebon, triatar, lord, all in health, &tristat and triune I have 44.8k
Where do you get that extra bit to get to 47k?????? @Liofa

Liofa

LiquidSchwartz wrote: »

How do you get so much health?? With lord warden and ebon, triatar, lord, all in health, &tristat and triune I have 44.8k
Where do you get that extra bit to get to 47k?????? @Liofa

47k Health is with Thurvokun which has 1k Max Health bonus on one piece. Also, I am Imperial. Maybe your race is different?

Redhawk05

What about passive skills?

mocap

@Liofa
Why both Crusher and not classic Crusher + Weakening?

Sparr0w

mocap wrote: »

@Liofa
Why both Crusher and not classic Crusher + Weakening?

Guessing the healer in his team runs weakening enchants, or the off tanks?

Liofa

@mocap

Because I prefer being able to apply Crusher with both 1H/S (while melee on boss) and Destro (while ranged or before getting stunned).

Liofa

Got Tick Tock Tormentor yesterday ^^ Running Ebon/Alkosh/Lord Warden with 3 Swift.

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