Is tanking easy?

VampireAlpa89

I have a Nord Dragonknight, I want to tank, but I’m embarrassingly concerned with the other players kicking me out of the dungeon for messing up. I may just be worried about it. I haven’t tanked in ESO before, or much at all in any video game. Is tanking easy, or is it harder than DPS?

idk

Tanking itself is not difficult. Some content is more challenging than others and takes time to learn just like with any other role. However, I would not suggest using the GF for several reasons.

First, the forum is riddled with threads that describe poor experiences in the GF due to toxic behavior of others and just plain low DPS in the group. These are the main reasons people who use the GF are often waiting for a tank as tanks tend to avoid the GF like the plague.

Second, you will be much more likely to find a patient group when running with guildmates on top of a better chance they will be decent players. It is a win/win situation. You will get more out of the game running with people you are familiar with.

VampireAlpa89

Sorry, What is GF? I’m still new to the game.

Jerkling

he means the Group Finder

Zenzuki

Group Finder.

And until you've learned the role of Tank in ESO, I'd avoid using it.

People can be very persnickety when it comes to what they'll refer to as "faketanks".

You being new wouldn't necessarily be a fake tank, but your lack of experience could make it look like that, leading to getting booted or hate-tells, etc.

maddiniiLuna

First of all it is very rare, that people kick a tank, because it takes half an hour to find a new one. So no worries here 😊

I wouldn't say it is harder then dps, because mistakes are often "forgiven". A lot of the times if you miss a block you stay alive. As a dd if you make a mistake like that you're usually dead.

If tanking is generally easy or not depends on content, practice and reaction time. For example I believe a new tank could run normal Dragonstar arena without much problems, but would run against a brick wall facing the twins in maw of lorkhaj for the first time. After doing it a few times it's easy business. That goes for pretty much any content.

So don't be afraid of people calling you out. It will happen. It happens to everybody, because there is some *** out there. But it's rare.

VampireAlpa89

Ok thank you both.

BalticBlues

Tanking is the most difficult role, because the Tank has to understand and follow the mechanics of a dungeon. On more difficult dungeons, the tank usually is the one who has to explain the mechanics to the DDs However, on easy dungeons you hardly can do anything wrong as long as you keep the bosses taunted. So if you are interested in tanking, just try it - and be prepared to read a lot about dungeon mechanics later.

dhboy123

maddiniiLuna wrote: »

First of all it is very rare, that people kick a tank, because it takes half an hour to find a new one. So no worries here 😊

I wouldn't say it is harder then dps, because mistakes are often "forgiven". A lot of the times if you miss a block you stay alive. As a dd if you make a mistake like that you're usually dead.

If tanking is generally easy or not depends on content, practice and reaction time. For example I believe a new tank could run normal Dragonstar arena without much problems, but would run against a brick wall facing the twins in maw of lorkhaj for the first time. After doing it a few times it's easy business. That goes for pretty much any content.

So don't be afraid of people calling you out. It will happen. It happens to everybody, because there is some *** out there. But it's rare.

Tanking at end game is toxic, first person to blame if anything goes wrong.

VampireAlpa89

Thank you, I use to play World of Warcraft, and it was bad. If you screw up one time, they will either start trouble with you or kick you most of the time, in the higher levels. I would try my best, and they would kick me, just for not having high enough DPS. I DPS a lot then. I was afraid ESO was the same way. I like to play heavy armor and sword and shield or two handed. I actually play all of the classes though.

dhboy123

VampireAlpa89 wrote: »

Thank you, I use to play World of Warcraft, and it was bad. If you screw up one time, they will either start trouble with you or kick you most of the time, in the higher levels. I would try my best, and they would kick me, just for not having high enough DPS. I DPS a lot then. I was afraid ESO was the same way. I like to play heavy armor and sword and shield or two handed. I actually play all of the classes though.

You don't need dps as a tank in ESO lol.

VampireAlpa89

I know the role of a tank, I just thought there were just as much jerks in ESO then there were in WoW

Zenzuki

Yes?

And as dhboy says... You don't need dps as a tank in ESO. There's other roles for that.

VampireAlpa89

I want to tank, my problem is with getting kicked out of a dungeon for no reason, like I constantly did in WoW

Zenzuki

Then take your time to learn the role as it pertains to this game.

Crowd Controlling mobs, Directing/Facing the bosses away from squishies, buffing allies, etc.

Like mentioned above, GF is probably the more problematic route to take to learn the role, as people in there will more times than not, expect that you know the role and mechanics of the Dungeons already.

If you can find (and you can be in up to five) a guild that focuses on Dungeon running, join it and run them with the guild.
At least until you've learned the mechs and role better.

Than you'll be much better situated to branch out on your own, use GF, etc.

Just some advise is all. This game allows for people to play as they want to for the most part.

In the end... You do you!

You'll find your way... and welcome to ESO!

Rake

it is easy

Jerkling

Zenzuki wrote: »

[...] This game allows for people to play as they want to for the most part. [...]

No, not really. Unless you're playing the current meta and have at least a decent rotation you're going to struggle even in standard overland content.

Nova_J

It's better if you have some friends walk you through it.

redgreensunset

Jerkling wrote: »

Zenzuki wrote: »

[...] This game allows for people to play as they want to for the most part. [...]

No, not really. Unless you're playing the current meta and have at least a decent rotation you're going to struggle even in standard overland content.

Thanks for the laugh mate, I needed it.

Elwendryll

To be honest. In general, the easiest role would be pure healer (that means no group utility), then tank, then DD.

You need to know the mechanics obviously, but DDs as well as tanks and healers need to do them. The difficulty from a role to an other will depend from a dungeon to an other. But what makes DD harder is that you need to master a rotation, and execute it on top of the mechanics. Tank is more forgiving in early game, that's not as true in endgame.

Healers and Tank in this game are expected to be supports, they need to buff/debuff with the final goal of optimizing group dps.

So basically, in endgame, your healer can turn in a DD who needs to keep group buffs up, debuffs on the target, and react if someone messes up in the group, potentially making it the hardest role. And the Tank will have to drop some survivability for group support (Alkosh for example).

And then the difficulty will depend on how skilled the rest of your group is. High DPS makes everything easier for everyone.

RedTalon

When first starting to use any type of random finder remember to turn off pages, other then that tanking is easy people who do other roles will always blame you for any mistakes, tank gets blamed first, healer second. Its never a dps fault

Cauthorn

VampireAlpa89 wrote: »

I have a Nord Dragonknight, I want to tank, but I’m embarrassingly concerned with the other players kicking me out of the dungeon for messing up. I may just be worried about it. I haven’t tanked in ESO before, or much at all in any video game. Is tanking easy, or is it harder than DPS?

The first thing you'll notice is that you'll get picked up in the Dungeon Finder fairly quickly. The downside is that there's a reason for there being a lack of tanks in the que; it's a fairly thankless task.

You'll get consistently blamed for wipes. Either you're not tanky enough, not taunting enough or not dodging surge damage enough (never anything to do with the pure glass cannon builds other people are running).

Your tanking set-up is going to be different and usually not great for soloing because you want to concentrate on stacking damage mitigation traits, health and damage debuffs.

VelimOrthic

Reading this thread decreases my tank anxiety.

A little.

Magdalina

Make sure you don't start off with vet dlc dungeons Normal dungeons are super easy (to tank, to dps and to heal alike), vet non-dlc are also easy enough, barely any mechanics there, but first-time tanking a vet dlc would definitely hurt.

Tanks are always needed, if you're anxious about people in groupfinder being mean, try finding guildmates/guild to run with and let them know what you're after, plenty of nice people out there, you just might end up with another kind in groupfinder. Good luck!

Also just a little something I'll leave here because I see what I assume to inexperienced tanks do this a lot in groupfinder, I assume it isn't really obvious - as a tank you can (and should) be fairly sturdy so in the majority (there are of course some exceptions) of the fights there's no need to move away from boss/move the boss around if you can avoid it. A lot of the damage in this game comes from ground DoTs and if you constantly move, your dps won't really be able to use those.

kinguardian

I don't know if I am allowed to say this but otherwise let me know

I had problems in the dungeons via group finder and never done a trial. Then I came across this guild Wings of Wind and for the first time in 6 years I am doing everything and its lots of fun.

So come join us

ZoeInDreams

Run with guildies when learning to tank.

Run with guildies full stop.

If you're drunk enough, you can use the Group Finder, but you'll have to be pretty hammered to think it's a good idea.

As you can have up to five guilds at a time, it shouldn't be a problem finding people to run with, especially around pledge reset time.

VelimOrthic

ZoeInDreams wrote: »

If you're drunk enough, you can use the Group Finder, but you'll have to be pretty hammered to think it's a good idea.

It's no joke, it's the only way to brace yourself for the criticism, and then keep going back.

Stuff it down with some brown

Alidel

I see people blame a lot on gf and toxic pve players. In my transition from doing damage to tanking I never actually encountered any insults, toxicity or kicks from randoms. And I went straight for the vets, bc normal dungeons won't teach you how to tank and even in vet dlc were I did struggle some, my teammates were mostly supportive, giving tips and etc. Things happen, sure, it's always random, but really you shouldn't be so afraid.

VoluptaBox

It's weird, in some ways it is simpler than other roles because you have the HP and resistances, which can give you room for error. On the other hand, you'll be on the receiving end of everything a dungeon/trial has to offer and you are expected to know all of the mechanics and lead the group.

But it's rewarding and fun, don't be daunted. Start with normal difficulty dungeons and, if possible, with guildmates. You'll get the hang of it. Also, tanks don't get votekicked nearly as much as some people would have you believe. And if it does happen, it is not the end of the world

Grandchamp1989

Tank main here.


Here's the brutal truth I've experienced...

For easier content you're better off running pure DPS, or close to it.
The very same thing can be said for healers. Support in general. For most of the content they're not really needed, in their pure form, if your group DPS is decent, and they run a self heal button.


However, for the Dungeon's that need healers and tank they REALLY need a tank and healer.

Try running Vet Bloodroot Forge on hardmode without a tank, it will be a miserable experience.

The skill gap is insane however. As a Tank you're either not really needed, and never really learn your role, or everything rely on you performing your role to near perfection - or the entire team wipe instantly in the harder vet DLCs and HMs.


I've learned to adapt, for the easier dungeon's (most of them) I put on debuff gear, buff abilities and more DPS focused gear on my tank, for an even faster clear time.

For DLC vet I got tryhard tank sets.

Adapting seems to work the best, for me atleast.

You can usually spot how good a tank is based content difficulty, and how many buffs/debuffs he/she/other can keep consistent good uptimes up on, while tanking.

Sarannah

Tanking is quite easy, just make sure to taunt the toughest mobs(and be able to take their hits). And try to taunt everything else. Players do not usually kick real tanks, even when they mess up. So don't be afraid to try it.

If you want to practice, find a world boss with adds, and try to tank the boss AND adds. Noone expects a real tank there, so if you fail to taunt they won't notice/mind. And if you feel ready for a dungeon, try an easy one which you know first. Queue for it specifically and you will get in practically instantly.
This is how I started tanking, and it seemed alot easier than I thought.

Tanking isn't for everyone though, some just do not like it. But just give it a try, and don't worry about failing.

PS: Inner fire and the leash(silver bolt morph) really help in some places. Switch to these where you need to.
PPS: I'm a terrible terrible DPS. Compared to DPS, tanking is easier. But you do need to focus on mobs alot. Making it quite intensive.