[HELP] Sorcerer Tank PVE Build

Athmeus

Hi guys,

I'm starting a tank build for my sorc, and after reading some posts here and saw some builds i know what i a going to do but i have still a few question.

Actually, my plan is :
- 5 Ebon Armor
- 5 Plague Doctor
- 2 Iceheart

And here is my skills (frontbar 1h+S - Backbar : Ice staff) :

Frontbar (1h + shield) :
- Pierce Armor
- Heroic Slash
- Silver Leach
- Boundless Storm
- Bound Aegis
- Ulti : Barrier

Backbar (Ice staff)
- Liquid Lightning
- Elemental block
- Critical Surge
- Retraining Prison
- Dark Deal
- Ulti : Agressive Horn

I don't really want to tank vTrials and things like this, it's more a cool set-up that i like, combine aoe damage with Crit Surge for Healing and Iceheart.

So i was wondering about few things :

1. I don't know if i have to use 5-1-1 or 7 heavy, i don't have undaunted passives yet but 7 heavy seems better : what are you using or what is your opinion about this ? Can't decide myself

2. I'm using Silver Leach (from Warriors Guild) to pull mobs and then aggro them with "Pierce Armor", so i free the slot from Inner Rage but i don't know if it is correct ? Do I need Inner rage as range aggro, or is Silver Leach okay ?

3. I'm actually using Retraining Prison, because Major Vitality is interesting but there is also Bone Surge from Undaunted who can give you this, i don't know which one is better / or in which situation i will prefer one or the other ?

VaranisArano

Silver Leash will chain the enemy in to you, but it is not a taunt. So if you want guaranteed aggro, you need a ranged taunt like Inner Rage or your ice staff heavy attack, or your intended combo of Silver Leash then Pierce Armor taunt whatever you pulled in to you.

Now, I've had issues with trying to DK chain minibosses, so I usually keep a ranged taunt available for them. Regular adds that aren't priority targets I can handle with chains + crowd control and usually don't need to specifically taunt them since my focus is on taunting priority adds that can one shot my DDs or healer. I haven't played much with Silver Leash since my main tank is a MagDK, so I don't know if Silver Leash has the same issue as I sometimes have with chains.

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO

I'm actually using Retraining Prison, because Major Vitality is interesting but there is also Bone Surge from Undaunted who can give you this, i don't know which one is better / or in which situation i will prefer one or the other ?

prison gives *you* Major Vitality and bone shield doesn't, bones shield gives it to the person and the people around them, which would not be you, see here-

An ally near you can activate the Spinal Surge synergy, granting the ally and up to 3 other friendly targets near them a damage shield that absorbs 50% of their Max Health for 6 seconds and Major Vitality, increasing their healing received by 30%.

if bone shield gave the caster the buff, it would be so op. so stick with prison.

I don't know if i have to use 5-1-1 or 7 heavy, i don't have undaunted passives yet but 7 heavy seems better : what are you using or what is your opinion about this ? Can't decide myself

totally preference, i have heard convincing arguments for both. my dk tank uses 6/1 and my warden uses 5/1/1.

Liofa

I would change the monster set to Thurvokun. It can be extremely useful while fighting trash packs since Minor Maim is a strong defensive debuff. Also not sure how your Magicka sustain will be as you have a ton of Magicka skills that cost a lot and has to be used frequently. For that, you might want to change your Plague Doctor to something sustain oriented. Seducer and Desert Rose are good choices.

usmcjdking

Without Clannfear, you're a healing sponge and are liable to die if the healer is unable to heal you or you get defiled. Dark deal and crit surge are not reliable heals. Drop Iceheart for Chudan (if not Nord) or LW (if Nord) for Clannfear. Clanny will give you 8% HP which makes Plague Doctor serious overkill. Drop Plague for Torugs or something useful like Alkosh/Sunderflame/Powerful Assault.

Drop Lightning Form & Crit Surge for double barred clanny and you should be good.

RavenSworn

I'll have to say though, ive had my fair share of use with both clannfear, matriarch and no pets and it's really just preference. The 8%hp can be achieved with plague but as the above poster had said, you can always swap it with a better group utility set.

My sets for my non pet tank were lord warden, dragon guard and ebon. Sometimes I swap dragon with Imperium, if there are two or more melee dps in the group. I use lightning / frost offbar, depending on the group makeup as well. (I have a healer toon that uses lightning offbar AND crusher so I usually just recommend the tank and dps to "go for it" but not all healers think like me)

For *** and giggles, I slot matriarch for group heals while I take 3 dps for a quickie. I take Orbs, lightning flood and bone shield for optimum synergy opportunities but at the end of the day, if the dps are potatoes and don't activate it, not gonna my problem. I might slot in vigor too but honestly not my cup of tea when I use stamina to heal.

You've stated that you won't be tanking vtrials so my suggestion is to just go with it. While some really good tanks out there will suggest awesome stuff, it's up to you to test it out and have a feel for the build. For eg: I can't for the life of me, make my dk a tank, even if they are the best class, hands down, for tanking. It's just how I feel for the class or the builds. It's my game and I'll play however I want and I'll make it work. /shrug.

zvavi

Just do whatever really. Get the feeling of what is better for you. I don't like telling people what they "need" on their tank. Then again, I did create a wall of text once.
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/459955/sorc-tank-tips#latest
Go there and scroll a bit up.

Kesstryl

You will want to keep extra sets in your bag for different situations. Vet dungeons will want a tank to have good group support so you would want to run Lord Warden monster, and have bone shield on your bar instead of the selfish one. And yes you will need that ranged taunt, it's better than chaining because some npcs and bosses are immune to it. I find silver leash drains my resources too fast anyway. I use just the ice staff back bar with Crusher and blockade which works good for CC if your group lets you fire it first (which they should as you will get first aggro and things will just come to you) and then stab things that come to you with your S&B taunt. Also you are not meant to taunt every single mob, your job is focusing on any 2 hander mobs that can give high damage to your dps and healer, mini-bosses, and the main boss. My tank sorc has been my main tank for a couple years now. Check out Alcast's sorc tank build:

https://alcasthq.com/eso-sorcerer-tank-build-pve/

Athmeus

Thanks you for all your answers guys !

So, with your advices, i will use Inner Rage and free the slot of Silver Leach, i found it more useful.

About the monster set i hear you but i don't have any Warden or Thurvokun So i'm doing it with Iceheart for the moment (or at least, i will try and maybe use bloodspawn instead if it is not successful)

I checked Alcast build before, but i'm not a huge fan of pet builds for sorc, that's why i didn't put Clannfear . But i have to reconsider the 2nd set, about my mag sustain as said before, or something like Dragonguard.

So thanks again for your comments it is really helpfull
(and i will check your wall zvavi, thanks xD)

Schattenfluegel

usmcjdking wrote: »

Without Clannfear, you're a healing sponge and are liable to die if the healer is unable to heal you or you get defiled. Dark deal and crit surge are not reliable heals. Drop Iceheart for Chudan (if not Nord) or LW (if Nord) for Clannfear. Clanny will give you 8% HP which makes Plague Doctor serious overkill. Drop Plague for Torugs or something useful like Alkosh/Sunderflame/Powerful Assault.

Drop Lightning Form & Crit Surge for double barred clanny and you should be good.

You can tank Vettrials without a Clanny ^^ Critsurge, Hurricane and Yokedaset are great for a Sorctank. You'll passivly heal yourself very fast. You can also even play with Vigor and stack Critdmg, which increases the heal from Surge.

@TO: If you go on Magicka....take a look on the Sorcshields, you can passivly increase your Magickareg, too, which comes in Line with Critsurge and Dark Deal. If you have Magicka, you'll get infinite Ressources back.

sajahu

Hey hey I'm glad you are raising a sorc tank! I'm sorc tank main too
I cleared every trial content[except vSS HM] with sorc tank. including hardmodes on vAS+2 and vCR+3

Here is my build. Sorc tanks are selfish but very tanky and can eat a lot of damage, doesnt rely on healer too much
I dont use Alkosh in advance. These days DPS is enough even without Alkosh and best tanks are tanks who dont die

I only use mighty chudan for monster set for extra selfishness and less relying on healers. you will like it after using it

#1 : ebon + olorime --> I use all 4man content with this. and also when doing vBRP.

#2 : seducer + alteration mastery --> I use this on MTing vCR+3. You will love the endless sustain. You spam your hardened ward every one second and you will be godmode

#3 : ebon + yolnahkriin --> bis for MTing on trials.

Skill sets

Front bar
- Hardned ward
- Piercing armor
- Bolt escape / heroic slash / flex spot
- Unstable clannfer [Make sure slot this skill. you cant miss the massive self heals and 8% extra hp]
- Bound aegis

Barrier as a ulti we use this for mag recovery passive. its a flex spot

Back bar
- Elemental blockade
- Inner rage
- Silver leash [poor version of chains but we tanks need this] ,
- Unstable clannfer
- Restraining prison

Warhorn as a ulti

jypcy

From my own sorc tanking I recommend what Sajahu added above, as mine’s set up pretty similarly. One thing to add is I have aegis on my back bar to bump my resistances there (especially helpful if using a less tanky weapon like lightning staff or asylum 2h) and silver leash on front for very easy pull>poke combos.

Also, I wouldn’t say it’s necessary, but sorcs have the cool combo potential of equilibrium and dark deal for essentially on demand sustain of either resource. If you choose the balance morph of equilibrium, you wouldn’t need either chudan or boundless storm. And as was mentioned before, you have lots of magicka abilities so a way to get magicka back when needed should be quite useful.

Re: sets, ebon is certainly a staple. If you go with a crit heal build, you could consider pairing it with mechanical acuity instead of plague. It’s gimmicky because it procs on rng and has a cooldown, but you’ll get guaranteed crit surge heals for the duration whenever it does. Also, because it’s crafted, it allows you to optimize a 5/1/1 build as you’d be able to run a light waist and medium hands, thereby gaining all the benefits of a 5/1/1 build while sacrificing less resistance than you otherwise would.