Advice on Tank Build

jazsper77

Cool, so would Ebon/Torugs be a good combo for trials/dungeons ?

EvilAutoTech

Whitestrake's Retribution is a good set for a tank in training. Use the shield as a kind of training wheels. When the shield doesn't proc as often, it is time for an upgrade. Pair it with plague doc, torug's, dragonguard or even green pact and any of the tanking oriented monster sets while you farm for your end game gear.

You should probably level your tank by tanking but if you have to run dolmens, Deshaan is a better place than the Alik'r because you can get plague doc for yourself and mother's sorrow to sell. And it will have fewer people so your fps should not take as much as a hit.

Atreidus

-Imperial
-templar
-Res(phy and magic)
-Some weap boosts and armour/magic shield ignore..
-basic 1 weap 1 shield build.
You gonna rule cyrodill pve. Immortal!
Pvp-Whise this build is tough. Dont give up. You will! succeed.

Royaji

jazsper77 wrote: »

Cool, so would Ebon/Torugs be a good combo for trials/dungeons ?

Yes, it is a very solid setup. It should work fine for you since both sets are pretty "tanky" by themselves but as a beginner you might feel a bit on the "squishy" side. Those sets will not cover your mistakes as well as some others.

ccfeeling

Class is much more important .

Pick DK .

D0PAMINE

EvilAutoTech wrote: »

Whitestrake's Retribution is a good set for a tank in training. Use the shield as a kind of training wheels. When the shield doesn't proc as often, it is time for an upgrade. Pair it with plague doc, torug's, dragonguard or even green pact and any of the tanking oriented monster sets while you farm for your end game gear.

You should probably level your tank by tanking but if you have to run dolmens, Deshaan is a better place than the Alik'r because you can get plague doc for yourself and mother's sorrow to sell. And it will have fewer people so your fps should not take as much as a hit.

When I leveled my tanks, I ran S&B with Shacklebreaker and Mech Accuity and a 2 piece I cant remember.

ayu_fever

make a DK tank to “learn” the role, but then after you get comfortable in the job make a better decision with your class to tank with because dk is the worst choice. it is for meta chasing sheep. blaze your own trail.

dont get too carried away with silly meta nonsense.
hold aggro and dont die.
debuff the critters as much as possible.
buff the group when you can.
HAVE FUN!!!
(people worry wayyy too much about what everyone is using/wearing/skills slotted! dont get wrapped up in the toxicity!)

DKs are for beginners and the most boring to play. (choose argonian to make it BABY’S FIRST TANK)
wardens are the strongest and best. period.
sorc is fun but is not for beginners.
NB is strong but the heardest to use but satisfying when you get the swing of it.
i prefer the templar out of all classes because of the mitigation templars have and the extra healing.

jazsper77

Awesome, thanks for the continued info

FrancisCrawford

ayu_fever wrote: »

i prefer the templar out of all classes because of the mitigation templars have and the extra healing.

What does one need/use for AoE roots/snares on the various classes?

Is Talons actually important on a DK, or do mobs melt fast enough near the tank without it?

Ditto the analogous skill on sorcerers?

How about on wardens? Does the answer depend on which you're using the trap-chain skill that immobilizes mobs on arrival?

And how about on templars and/or nightblades?

DoobZ69

ayu_fever wrote: »

make a DK tank to “learn” the role, but then after you get comfortable in the job make a better decision with your class to tank with because dk is the worst choice. it is for meta chasing sheep. blaze your own trail.

dont get too carried away with silly meta nonsense.
hold aggro and dont die.
debuff the critters as much as possible.
buff the group when you can.
HAVE FUN!!!
(people worry wayyy too much about what everyone is using/wearing/skills slotted! dont get wrapped up in the toxicity!)

DKs are for beginners and the most boring to play. (choose argonian to make it BABY’S FIRST TANK)
wardens are the strongest and best. period.
sorc is fun but is not for beginners.
NB is strong but the heardest to use but satisfying when you get the swing of it.
i prefer the templar out of all classes because of the mitigation templars have and the extra healing.

All of that is like your opinion man. My main was a Sorc tank until Nerfmire. Now its a DK. Just levelled a Warden tank and couldn't wait to shelve him as soon as I hit 50 just for completion purposes. Jumped on my DK and it was like breathing again. Sorc is too sad to even log onto, just a crafter class now. Wouldn't recommend Templar or NB due to a lack of proper CC like Talons. DK>Warden>Sorc>NB/Templar imho.

Draxys

ayu_fever wrote: »

make a DK tank to “learn” the role, but then after you get comfortable in the job make a better decision with your class to tank with because dk is the worst choice. it is for meta chasing sheep. blaze your own trail.

dont get too carried away with silly meta nonsense.
hold aggro and dont die.
debuff the critters as much as possible.
buff the group when you can.
HAVE FUN!!!
(people worry wayyy too much about what everyone is using/wearing/skills slotted! dont get wrapped up in the toxicity!)

DKs are for beginners and the most boring to play. (choose argonian to make it BABY’S FIRST TANK)
wardens are the strongest and best. period.
sorc is fun but is not for beginners.
NB is strong but the heardest to use but satisfying when you get the swing of it.
i prefer the templar out of all classes because of the mitigation templars have and the extra healing.

My advice- take this guys advice with a grain of salt. It’s highly opinion-fueled.

jazsper77

I never realized there was this much diversity in Tanks. I always assumed it was 2-3 main build types

Icy_Waffles

I love tanking. So. In my opinion there’s two routes to go:

Argonian dk for sure.

So. I use bloodspawn, alkosh sword shield, belt and two rings. (Undaunted passives) I love the crest of Cyrodiil set. Absolutely amazing for tanking. Big pieces are infused, including swords, and sturdy in small pieces. Tristat on all pieces.

Ebon is overated- in trials one tank running it helps( maybe have it as an extra set)

The other option that is really good is to use one piece chokethorn, one piece Shadowrend- both five Magicka recovery which is well needed. I used to run Cyrodiils ward and fortified brass. Crazy resistances and good resources. Alkosh really does help the group but not the end of the world if u don’t have it- just less desirable tank.

Mundus is magic recovery always.

Running my first setup I get my ultra quickly, very self sustaining with good recovery- I think I have 40k health and over 20k Stam and Magicka.

Make sure to have stamina slightly higher than Magicka for when you use a synergy.

Oh and jewelry enchants can be messed with- I use two block reduction and one magic recovery. Trash magic pots are usually fine with argonian passives unless harder content then definitely use tri pots.

Tri stat food.

Best of luck.

MartiniDaniels

ccfeeling wrote: »

Class is much more important .

Pick DK .

++
Though any class is viable as tank and have their own advantages over DK, just a couple of runs on DK after other classes and you see how natural and smooth is tanking by DK. Literally 35-40k HP DK feels more durable and useful to team then 50-60k HP sorc/nb/warden

ZeroXFF

jazsper77 wrote: »

I never realized there was this much diversity in Tanks. I always assumed it was 2-3 main build types

The reason tanks can have some diversity is because "teh mehtah" is something not everyone can play without dying, especially in somewhat harder content (vCR would be pretty hardcore with Ebon/Torugs+Alkosh if you have to go to shadow realm or your healers are distracted). And once you step back from being a buff bot, and try to make an actual tank, there are a lot of options.

And since non-DK tanks were being discussed, I never played Warden or Sorcerer tanks, but...
- NBs are good for vCR, especially if you have high mag regen and HP, because you can basically heal through the healing debuff by yourself all the way to 100%, unlike a DK. Also, if you want more sustain on NB, Hunt Leader set is perfect for it.

- Now that pets are supposed to be immortal in trials, the things I said about NBs should also apply to sorcs, but like I said, I have never actually tried it, this is based purely on my understanding of the sorc skills. An advantage that sorcs have over NBs is that they actually do have an AoE CC, making them better for dungeons. Sorc shields are however very ineffective on tanks unless you stack max. mag, which imo isn't the best way to go to make a good sorc tank, stacking HP and mag regen for the self heal is much better.

- Templar heals scale with max. mag, so if you go that route, you will have to find a balance between heal effectiveness and HP/shield strength, since the shield scales with HP. Because of that, you can't just go one way and be good like with other classes, your build will always have something missing. You can however run with sets that don't give resistances (that includes monster set), because it's pretty easy to cap a templar. I prefer to go with thurvokun and remove low slash from my rotation to save stam.

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

ayu_fever wrote: »

i prefer the templar out of all classes because of the mitigation templars have and the extra healing.

What does one need/use for AoE roots/snares on the various classes?

Read on.

Is Talons actually important on a DK, or do mobs melt fast enough near the tank without it?

Yes, especially in four man stuff, the old chain and bang makes dungeons so much faster and easier, the difference between a tank that uses, well, chains and talons is huge

Ditto the analogous skill on sorcerers?

The skill for sorcs is "restraining prison", it is an 18x6 meter aoe rectangle in front of the sorc, so it is a little more tricky to use but comes with up to 8 seconds of major vitality, 30% more healing taken, which is huge. Also immobilizes for the longest out of all the skills, 6 seconds.

How about on wardens? Does the answer depend on which you're using the trap-chain skill that immobilizes mobs on arrival?

The in class skill for rooting mobs on a warden is called gripping shards. Holds for 3 seconds and can proc chilled at a higher rate then what it ought to, around 15% per tick, so combined with ice wall, you can hold mobs still for a long time and get minor maim on them for essentially free.

And how about on templars and/or nightblades?

Temps and nbs are the only 2 classes without an in class way to root mobs. They have 2 options. Bombard and time freeze. Bombard is tied to a bow and costs Stam but is and immediate root that lasts for 3 seconds and then has a slow. Time freeze slows for 4 seconds then stuns all the mobs in the area. Also costs magic, which is seen as better by the majority as you need Stam to block.

Sorcs, nbs and temps need to use silver leash since they have no in class way to pull mobs.

MattT1988

Honestly I’d hold off making any new characters until we find out what kind of racial passive changes we’re getting.

Hotdog_23

macsmooth wrote: »

jazsper77 wrote: »

So I have finally decided to role a Tank after playing since launch. Just wondering on gear choices ,race and Stam/mag.

1. Leaning Nord or Argonian
2. Leaning Stam Build
3. I have Full sets of Ebon and dragonguard plus I can craft anything.
4. I will not for the life of me farm vMOL for Alkosh. Lol
5. PVE
Any advice and tips greatly welcomed and a big thanks as always.

What help I can give you is

Ebon is a great set for any tank class and for your pugs as they like the shiny balls but to be fair it’s not really needed for most vet dungeons

Dragonguard is good on any class that’s not named DK or sorcerer and this is why when you activate you ultimate on a DK you get resources returned per ultimate point cost. So by reducing your ultimate you will be reducing your resource return, sorcerers have built in ultimate reduction so the 15% of dragonguard is actually about 10% on sorcerers (guess with the percentage)

Argonians are the master tank race because of their drug habit popping pots every now and then to get resources return

Nords are great at tanking you shouldn’t underestimate that damage reduction passive it helps to reduce your damage taken so you can go a little less resistance than the other races which means you can focus on other stats

Monster sets it depends on your overall dungeon time and what you have access to

The best set is lord warden you just can’t fault it when standing your ground and helping you team

Bloodspawn is also great and helps the DK get ultimate faster for resources return

Chunda is good when you want an extra space on you bar and DKs are always wanting bar space as they have more skills than the bar has

If you have shoulders with resistance then you can use a separate helm that gives regen mag or stam which ever you need more of

Are you planning on using just s&b or s&b and staff?

Nightblades can pull off frost staffs just fine as they have skills for minor maim and fracture and ultimate gen

Wardens are great for their team utility resistance and heals

Templar’s have good damage mitigation and resources restoring

Sorcerers have the ability to take hits shield and heal and a reduction in ultimate cost

All classes have great things going for them just need to build around them

My advice is play the race and class you want they all have a unique way of tanking

Stam and mag both can work but in general you would be splitting between stam and mag skills

Edit
Also should be noted that after the next update it will be questionable if Argonians will be the best tanking race, will they be forced in to rehab and give up their pot addiction? We just don’t know

Very nice write up, an awesome from me.

for reference in 4 man dungeons I wear ebon/torug's pact with bloodspawn, Imperial DK all points into stam, switch to alkosh for 12 man content.

max_only

ayu_fever wrote: »

make a DK tank to “learn” the role, but then after you get comfortable in the job make a better decision with your class to tank with because dk is the worst choice. it is for meta chasing sheep. blaze your own trail.

dont get too carried away with silly meta nonsense.
hold aggro and dont die.
debuff the critters as much as possible.
buff the group when you can.
HAVE FUN!!!
(people worry wayyy too much about what everyone is using/wearing/skills slotted! dont get wrapped up in the toxicity!)

DKs are for beginners and the most boring to play. (choose argonian to make it BABY’S FIRST TANK)
wardens are the strongest and best. period.
sorc is fun but is not for beginners.
NB is strong but the heardest to use but satisfying when you get the swing of it.
i prefer the templar out of all classes because of the mitigation templars have and the extra healing.

Agree with most of this. Dk are the most boring class to tank with I agree. I have 5 tanks and the most fun I ever had tanking was on Nightblade, I did most of my first ever vet clears on that character. Currently I take my Warden tank to trials night. Frozen Device is better than Dk chains and better than Silver Leash once you get used to it. Wardens are better tanks imo, it’s just too many people are scared of learning something new so they cling to Dk.


The only part I disagree with is Templar tank. I’m having a hard time with it, he doesn’t have a crowd control outside of caltrops. Warden has the lovely and beautiful Gripping Shards, DK has the old Talons, NB has the ultimate that stuns (ultimate regen on my nb tank was amazing back then) but what do I get to lock down mobs on Templar? Templars definitely need work and some buffs to turn them back into golden paladin again.

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO

but what do I get to lock down mobs on Templar?

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Time_Stop

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Arrow_Spray, bombard morph

ccfeeling

Can someone link us , templar MT in VMOL , VHOF or VCR +2 ?

Haquor

jazsper77 wrote: »

So I have finally decided to role a Tank after playing since launch. Just wondering on gear choices ,race and Stam/mag.

1. Leaning Nord or Argonian
2. Leaning Stam Build
3. I have Full sets of Ebon and dragonguard plus I can craft anything.
4. I will not for the life of me farm vMOL for Alkosh. Lol
5. PVE
Any advice and tips greatly welcomed and a big thanks as always.

Argonian for race.
2 bloodspawn (1 light 1 medium)
5x ebon body
5x torugs pact or plague doctor jewellery amd SnB (can possibly replace with alkosh at a later date )

Hotdog_23

max_only wrote: »

ayu_fever wrote: »

make a DK tank to “learn” the role, but then after you get comfortable in the job make a better decision with your class to tank with because dk is the worst choice. it is for meta chasing sheep. blaze your own trail.

dont get too carried away with silly meta nonsense.
hold aggro and dont die.
debuff the critters as much as possible.
buff the group when you can.
HAVE FUN!!!
(people worry wayyy too much about what everyone is using/wearing/skills slotted! dont get wrapped up in the toxicity!)

DKs are for beginners and the most boring to play. (choose argonian to make it BABY’S FIRST TANK)
wardens are the strongest and best. period.
sorc is fun but is not for beginners.
NB is strong but the heardest to use but satisfying when you get the swing of it.
i prefer the templar out of all classes because of the mitigation templars have and the extra healing.

Agree with most of this. Dk are the most boring class to tank with I agree. I have 5 tanks and the most fun I ever had tanking was on Nightblade, I did most of my first ever vet clears on that character. Currently I take my Warden tank to trials night. Frozen Device is better than Dk chains and better than Silver Leash once you get used to it. Wardens are better tanks imo, it’s just too many people are scared of learning something new so they cling to Dk.


The only part I disagree with is Templar tank. I’m having a hard time with it, he doesn’t have a crowd control outside of caltrops. Warden has the lovely and beautiful Gripping Shards, DK has the old Talons, NB has the ultimate that stuns (ultimate regen on my nb tank was amazing back then) but what do I get to lock down mobs on Templar? Templars definitely need work and some buffs to turn them back into golden paladin again.

Wardens are fun to play and DK's are easier to play but they are still the best overall plus they have Fiery Breath which just puts them that much more above Wardens.

In difficult content at certain times one mess up and a warden will die whereas a DK more than likely will live long enough to heal or be healed. This is what puts DK's on top but makes wardens more fun to play.

If it was just solo content who cares but I don't want to wipe and waste other player time so I roll a DK tank and only use it now for group play.

Just my opinion.

Vildebill

If you're new to tanking, this guide is a great start: https://woeler.eu/tanking-eso-beginners-guide/

I've tanked since the beginning of the game on both DK and later Warden, here's some general advices:
The classes are a little bit different, but for a new tank I would go with DK or Warden since those two classes are the only ones with a complete tanking toolkit in terms of group support/buffs/skills etc. DK is a little bit tankier and easier I would say, but I've found Warden more fun lately. But as a new tank, DK is probably better to start out with.

Race doesn't matter that much but of course helps out, above named guide is written by a guy who cleared vMoL HM world first, on a DK Khajiit, so don't loose sleep over your choice. But I would say best races are Imperial or Argonian, Imperial got huge resource pool and Argonian great sustain due to the potion passive. Personal choice is probably Imperial since I like the constant big resource pool. Argonians might get the nerf hammer as well next patch but who knows Some people seem to think that Nord is a good tanking race, but the passives hardly helps out tanking at all, health recovery is crap, the resistances is not a big thing and that rugged passive suffers from diminishing returns. But I guess a lot of people like Nords since Skyrim.

Ebon and Alkosh are the best all around tanking sets period, don't listen to people saying Ebon health bonus is too small, I've seen people getting saved from under 1k health so many times. Alkosh is pretty tricky and absolutely nothing I would start using when being a new tank. Since you have Ebon, go with something like plague doctor to get started and getting to know tanking, and when you feel that you are comfortable with the play style, get your hands on sets like Alkosh. For monster set there are a lot of choices depending on situation, but the ones I think is best is Lord Warden and Thurvokun. Not a big fan on Blood Spawn as tank nowadays, there are other sets helping out the group more.

Could write all day about skills as well, but in the beginning, get both ranged and melee taunt, a skill for Major Resolve and Major Ward (like spiked armor), heroic slash for minor maim, some crowd control skills like chains and talons on DK, and some self healing like dragons blood or vigor (combine it with igneous shield for major mending for extra heals). For ultimates, get war horn to support the group with major force, and a defensive one like magma shell for the OH CR*P situations.

Wall of text, but this should absolutely get you started

thanoscopter

Sets:

Just go with Ebon + Torug's or Akaviri. All of these are easy to get and can tank anything with these combos. Sounds like you already have Ebon and Akaviri so that's good. A plague doctor set may be worth getting and keeping around if you specifically need maximum tankiness. You can combine it with Ebon or even Akaviri for those moments. Otherwise, plague doctor really should stay in the bag most of the time.

For monster sets:

Sellistrix is easy to get and very strong on a tank for dungeons. Procs often, does damage and stuns enemies for the group.

Grothdarr is handy for when your dungeon group has bad AOE damage.

Bloodspawn is an all around great set with offense and defense built into the proc (more ults, lots of extra defense when it procs).

Thurvokun is a bit harder to get but is a great balance between offense and defense, definitely my personal favorite.

Lord Warden is worth farming for since it is one of the best defense sets for the group and yourself.

Earthgore is also highly effective for maximum tank and group survival.

Race:

I don't believe race matters much, been tanking on Nords, Imperials, Wood Elves, Dark Elves and even High Elves and the difference has not been extremely noticeable.

Basically, play the race you like, but keep in mind races like Argonian, Nord, Orc, Imperial and Redguard do have some significant tanking advantages over the other choices. Even if Argonian sustain gets nerfed, they will still likely be a stronger tank race than most of the other choices due to healing and extra HP. I do not have any lizards personally, but if I liked them and wanted to be a tank, I would not let an incoming nerf deter me.

p_tsakirisb16_ESO

jazsper77 wrote: »

So I have finally decided to role a Tank after playing since launch. Just wondering on gear choices ,race and Stam/mag.

1. Leaning Nord or Argonian
2. Leaning Stam Build
3. I have Full sets of Ebon and dragonguard plus I can craft anything.
4. I will not for the life of me farm vMOL for Alkosh. Lol
5. PVE
Any advice and tips greatly welcomed and a big thanks as always.

Having recently roll 2 tanks here is my advice.

a) Alkosh is overrated and is a set for vet Trials, nothing else. It has no usage outside that part of the game.
Also can be used by a DD in the vet Trial, and is better for the tank to use something with more utility. Like Imperium or Galenwe which DDs cannot wear. However Imperium is a bigger grind than Alkosh.
That from someone who needed 40 runs in nWGT to obtain the 2 shields. While only needed 7 runs in nCR (2 hours) to obtain Galenwe weapons and shields. Both sets work fantastically with Ebon. Especially Imperium + Lord Warden gives great buff to the squishy DDs around you.

b) Ebon is easy to farm. If the tank is your only character have faith. Don't touch Crypt of Hearts 1 & 2 until you hit CP160.
vCOH2 the second boss drops a named ring almost 50% rate. And in both vCOH you will get 1 necklace at 50% of the runs.
Armour drop is easier (open the chests and ask your group mates) and you migh end up with full set after 1 run.

c) Until you get Imperium or Galenwe, Livewire is great "selfish" set. It procs almost all the time, healing you for quite a lot of damage. Especially on big fights with ads, you can pull half the dungeon and laugh at the mobs healing you. Assuming you are not one of the lazy tanks that put block up waiting for the fight to end.

d) From my 2 tanks, Imperial DK and Khajiit Templar, the latter (both Alcast templates) is the most fun to play.
It provides great utility to the team with Ritual + Lord Warden + Imperium + Repetance, 40K hp and 40K resists are easy at CP500, tons of resources especially Stamina with focus down and is very very hard to kill to the point I block only heavy attacks form big bosses.
And in normal dungeons & solo you can switch the Radiant Ward for Bitting Jabs and carry on doing some damage also as you have the resources to do so.

Vildebill

p_tsakirisb16_ESO wrote: »

jazsper77 wrote: »

So I have finally decided to role a Tank after playing since launch. Just wondering on gear choices ,race and Stam/mag.

1. Leaning Nord or Argonian
2. Leaning Stam Build
3. I have Full sets of Ebon and dragonguard plus I can craft anything.
4. I will not for the life of me farm vMOL for Alkosh. Lol
5. PVE
Any advice and tips greatly welcomed and a big thanks as always.

a) Alkosh is overrated and is a set for vet Trials, nothing else. It has no usage outside that part of the game.

What? 3k physical and spell reduction is a big DPS boost, not many sets that would be worth trading that off. Especially not sets like imperium, a random shield that you can not control.

The only reason not to run Alkosh as a tank (if you want to maximize group damage that is of course) is if you are new and having a hard time to use it, or if the group consists of you and 3 NB DDs without synergies. Or if you want to purposely gimp your group

humpalicous

jazsper77 wrote: »

So I have finally decided to role a Tank after playing since launch. Just wondering on gear choices ,race and Stam/mag.

1. Leaning Nord or Argonian
2. Leaning Stam Build
3. I have Full sets of Ebon and dragonguard plus I can craft anything.
4. I will not for the life of me farm vMOL for Alkosh. Lol
5. PVE
Any advice and tips greatly welcomed and a big thanks as always.

Will take your points 1 by 1 and give some tips from my own experiences:

1. Go Argonian, but they are hinting as racial changes so I'm not going to guarantee anything here.
2. Stamina is important for blocking/bashing/breaking free etc. Assuming that you are going with sword and board.
3. This is a meta setup so good. But if you are primarily going to run dungeons than you can make a more versatile build. Leeching's is great for survival, Imperium is good support for group, hell you can even mix it with a light armor set like Olorime. But if you're running vet trials and hardmode dlc dungeons then stick with ebon/dragon/alkosh.
4. Then stick with ebon/dragon lol
5. This is a broad topic and I covered the most important parts above and will cover more down below.

Tips:
- If you go DK, then invest a lot in magicka recovery because you will use a lot of class skills and earthern heart skills are used to get back stamina.
- You don't need to taunt everything, just the big bads that hit hard.
- It's very important that you debuff the big bads and bosses, while at the same time buffing your team.
- You can tank with an ice staff in dungeons but when you come into the harder dlc ones and trials, go sword and board.

I could go into way more detail but I'll leave that to the experts, like Woeler for example.

You probably knew most of this already, but it's better to be meticulous than vague

p_tsakirisb16_ESO

Vildebill wrote: »

What? 3k physical and spell reduction is a big DPS boost, not many sets that would be worth trading that off. Especially not sets like imperium, a random shield that you can not control.

The only reason not to run Alkosh as a tank (if you want to maximize group damage that is of course) is if you are new and having a hard time to use it, or if the group consists of you and 3 NB DDs without synergies. Or if you want to purposely gimp your group

Why not use Alkosh on a melee DD then? Is the class that would benefit most using it all the time.
Tanks have more utility sets than Alkosh.

thanoscopter

Why is everyone going on about Alkosh? There are plenty of alternatives to Alkosh. Powerful Assault is not fun to farm but it is there. Torug's is better than Alkosh for PUGs. Akaviri is an excellent set, especially for DK, that he already has. How do you know the PUG is going to throw you reliable synergies to feed your Alkosh? Those other sets ALWAYS work no matter what, Alkosh is dependent on the RNG of getting a solid group.

Plus OP doesn't even want Alkosh or to farm it, he states this in his initial post. We get Alkosh is good and heavily recommended by streamer(s), but if they removed it from the game tanks would just put on another set and life would go on. The OP can basically wear Ebon+Akaviri and do all the content he wants with ease.