Damage shield sets for PvE tanking?

ThatNeonZebraAgain

While Alkosh and Torugs will help DPS more, seems like sets such as Brands of Imperium or Hatchling's Shell could be strong for some encounters or builds. Has anyone tried these yet since the damage shield changes? Any thoughts from theorycrafting or actual experience would be much appreciated!

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO

Imperium has a low proc chance, only hits in a short range, capped at six people and has a long cooldown and shell is only for you, has a 15 second replacement time, meaning if your Ward is wiped, you have to wait till it refreshes, when health can just be healed. I have used imperium when the other tank has ebon and one of the healers is already using sanctuary, it was all right but you would probably get more mileage out of other sets.

idk

You cannot control when the sets proc. If they proc when they are really not needed and the proc is on CD when the shield can be beneficial then it is a waste.

I am aware of Imperium being tested in vMoL HM early on. I think even with Lunar Bastion which actually gives some control. It was to help the melee. The team did not like the results and stuck with the tried and true at the time.

Some fights benefit from having higher dps.

vMoL you see fewer pads with higher dps, some groups would end up with a lunar phase without it.

vHoF HM the group gains stacks of a debuf causing everyone to take extra damage. It does not take long until the group cannot be healed through the damage. I think it also happens in non HM.

TankHealz2015

Yes, they work(ed) great. My experience tanking with these sets is Pre-Summerset.

For PUG groups, my shield tank worked fantastic and got lots of praise, literally everyday. This was PUG dungeon groups including DLC and some vet DLC dungeons. Trials are very different.

News flash: many people who make comments-- they only play a specific type of content and they base their opinions on that, without ever considering other people. There is a big difference of what works well in: basic questing/overland content, dungeons, dlc dungeons, trials, vet trials, battlegrounds, open world PvP. Imperial City PvP. dueling.

As well, there is a HUGE difference between playing with a dedicated core group of guldies and friends versus joining dungeon finder for PUGs.

From my PUG dungeon (shield tank) experience, I found: Iceheart + Brands of Imperium + Akavari Dragonguard worked best.

Iceheart proc was frequent and strong (i think 6k-7k roughly)
Brands of Imperium proc was very strong and also healed everyone. the proc rate is just as good as every other set in the game and it lasts a good amount of time.
Dragonguard brings down the cost of ultimate, so in good groups more warhorns and in struggling groups more barrier (shield).
note: i also occasionally used bloodspawn monster helm set/ but the shields were already up almost constantly so it was not necessary.

As a DK I slotted: Igneous shield (DK class skill), [edit-added] Hardened Armor (DK class skill), and bone shield (undaunted skill)

Between all the shields: Imperium, Barrier, Igneous, and Bone Shield.. my groups were always well shielded. and they LOVED it. Remember, there are tons of new players in the game, and not everyone has perfected avoiding the red circles,.. etc.

If you decide to try it out, I recommend to farm normal, white gold tower for Imperium body pieces, then buy dragonguard weapons and jewelry on guild vendors.

Hope this helps!

VaxtinTheWolf

I can only really speak for Non DLC Veteran Dungeons. My stamina Templar tank spams bubbles(shields). That's the build theme. It uses Barrier as a main ultimate, Uses Plague Doctor alongside Brands of Imperium, And has Bone Shield for the group shield synergy assuming an ally ever bothers to use it, And Blazing Shield for myself.

When Brands of Imperium is activated it grands shields with a value of around 14,000. Damage shields are still better on Tanks due to being more sturdy with higher resistances, but all those shields are useful for brushing off stray hits here and there for the group.

vyrzeden

I'm running hatchlings shell right now on my stamNB. Combined with bone shield and concentrated barrier from the psijic line, I'm anywhere from 60-80% damaged absorbed in a fight. I've got my eye on brands of imperium as an upgrade to hatchlings shell eventually (I run ebon as my other 5 piece and gettings weapons/shields is a pain for dungeon sets, least for me).

VaxtinTheWolf

vyrzeden wrote: »

I'm running hatchlings shell right now on my stamNB. Combined with bone shield and concentrated barrier from the psijic line, I'm anywhere from 60-80% damaged absorbed in a fight. I've got my eye on brands of imperium as an upgrade to hatchlings shell eventually (I run ebon as my other 5 piece and gettings weapons/shields is a pain for dungeon sets, least for me).

I am not sure if you are implying you use Ebon on weapons or not but it is not recommended to use Ebon Armory on Weapon/Shield slots. When swapping weapons the buff is removed and applied during that short moment of time. At least, that is how it seemed to function the last time I actually looked into it. However, I do not know if that behavior has been adjusted by now.

vyrzeden

Ahh, I'm using all body pieces for ebon right now, wasn't aware of that bug. Was more implying that no matter what, I'd have to acquire dungeon weapons if I wanted to try ebon + brands (or forgo the monster set).

TankHealz2015

Another more niche option:

Iceheart + Permafrost + Imperium/Hatchlings Shell/Dragonguard

Adding Permafrost (farmed from Maelstrom Arena) can literally make you feel immortal. At the cost of providing less group shield support.

So, if you want to experiment even more...

For this set up I added a shield glyph on one of my weapons, plus the frost staff heavy attack provides a little shield, and there is a CP point that occasionally provides a small shield. All added up, you get so many shields proccing, that your health is in a constant state of super regen.

Joosef_Kivikilpi

TankHealz2015 wrote: »

Another more niche option:

Iceheart + Permafrost + Imperium/Hatchlings Shell/Dragonguard

Adding Permafrost (farmed from Maelstrom Arena) can literally make you feel immortal. At the cost of providing less group shield support.

So, if you want to experiment even more...

For this set up I added a shield glyph on one of my weapons, plus the frost staff heavy attack provides a little shield, and there is a CP point that occasionally provides a small shield. All added up, you get so many shields proccing, that your health is in a constant state of super regen.

I love your theory-crafting.

I just recently made a Templar Health Tank:
-Hatchling's Shell back bar (to proc every 15 seconds)
-VMA Sword and Shield
-Plague Doctor/Ebon Armour
-Skoria + Neirienth

but would love to try some of your ideas - love hearing unique builds and giving them a go. Thought about that Iceheart shield myself and I definitely should switch it out with how many crits I hit with the Templar Shield, or Bloodspawn for more ultimates. With resistances capped, Bone Shield, Blazing Shield, and Hatchling (about 96% total health shield) makes my effective health go from just 50k base health to about 125k haha!

I've been pondering how to effectively make use of Permafrost set. I'll have to try it out with Iceheart (getting high crit chance as a tank... *pondering face*) and Hatchling Shell. Infused Shield glyph - brilliant thought up above, mate. Love theory craft discussions.

Narvuntien

I am definitely considering trying out Ebon + Bands (atm I have dragongaurd). With more hp stats I can get more stam and mag but since I am running tri-stat glyphs on everything its expensive to switch gear, and argh! farming ICP for imperium gear.

MartiniDaniels

Problem is that block mitigation is still not applied to shields and so with approximate 60% block damage reduction shields have only 2/5 effective in comparison to health, and health is cheaper to restore.
So shields can’t replace your block and health and are useful only for:
1. team protection like with igneous shards. bonewall is not so great because it’s rare that anybody uses synergy
2. to soften hard hits like from behemoth ww
3. way to dump stamina/magicka if you have excessive one.. here bonewall excels

I really like shields and spam them, but in my opinion it’s more about resource recovery and max health then shields which proc by themselves in random moments.

Proc shields are for squishes since they are low hp. For high hp health based shields are more effective (imo)

ThatNeonZebraAgain

Great discussion!

So something I'm not clear about: Do sets like Jorvulds or Naga Shaman affect damage shields proc'd from sets (eg Brands of Imperium)?

Also seems like Prayer Shawl would be cool for a healer or heal-tank build since it doesn't have a cooldown (and could also proc from heal sets)

Grianasteri

Obviously quite an old thread... but my tuppence worth...

Outside of running content with my guild(s), I am generally running content with one friend. He made a shield tank and it was virtually invincible in any PVE environment. We have not actually run with that char for ages now, I cant even remember the last time, but from memory...

Ice Heart, Brands of Imperium, Hatchlings shell. Psijic skill for block shield. Boneshield and ingeous shield skills.

Max 120 into CPs for damage shield on block and potion use.

Thief mundas. Barrier ulti.

It was a joy to be a part of the group when he ran this char and I have always wanted to create something similar. My idea was to go two handed and use brawler for yet another damage shield, and spec a bit more towards damage if possible. Now with Necro, my theory crafting juices are thinking brawler with Sythe combo could make for ridiculous survivability, when combined with everything else mentioned (no igneous shield obvs).

I really like threads like this, with folk actually theory crafting rather than just telling people what the meta says is right and anything else outside this is plain wrong. There are loads of enjoyable ways to play ESO, including right up to end game.