I think....I think I know Skull Kracker lol Also interesting build, but I'm not so sure I'd practice it in the newer scaled dungeons, but I'm willing to try, for I admit you have piqued my interest.

Just crazy to see yet again another tank toon wearing LA. Great build for the current system and way to make use of it.

I just hope this changes because it just doesn't seem right that "Tanks" are wearing LA. Just sad to see LA dominate the scene as a tank in higher end game content. I hope this is being addressed for the next patch in a serious way!

keto3000 wrote: »

Also, @Spacemonkey‌, in fairness to OP, his headline "leave the healers at home" doesn't state that healing isn't necessary, but simply that his toon can double both tank & as a support healer, so (according to him) the group wouldn't require a 'dedicated healer' so the other 3 group members can be pure DPS, and therefore, do much more overall damage.

And what I'm saying is that he doesnt need to bring a dedicated healer because he is one himself. I've yet to see a healer with a resto staff NOT having some way of doing damage with the secondary skill bar. Just because he put the resto on the second bar does not make this secondary. And any good healer will be able to support 3 other DPS in a 4 character team.

It's just a rather shallow title and all.

If you want real tanking without any dedicated healers, it works very well with two characters rocking AoE Armor and Res boosting abilities (like the fighters guild one for example), when you rampage through a group dungeon with no healers but often have your Armor and Resistance go over twice the soft cap limit you'll understand

OP Defense!

Alright here goes, please don't bash me too hard back (this is my first MMO and my first post in any forum)... Be gentle?

@spacemonkey
I meant this to be a healing tank build, not "leave the healer at home" (ZOS editors put that in, I swear!). You're right though, a good healer can get through dungeons, vet or otherwise, with 3 DPS. This toon is simply another way to play, and there are times when a tank is good to have... Your poster-child tank should be rocking heavy armor and stacking health, stamina, and damage shields for sustainability. This build sustains itself through heals (and in turn heals everyone else) via Breath of Life.

@keto3000‌
Yeah, I haven't done DSA with this yet. That would be THE best test for this. To be honest, I haven't done any trials and that understandably reduces the validity a lot. I have been able to complete Shada's Tear and Exarch's Stronghold quests with 3 DPS and this toon (while only wiping a few times at the end boss for each). Would love to try it out if you get a chance. Hit me up in-game! @Armisael9‌ I'll eat my words and give you some legendary mats if my toon can't hack it. (uh, is like 3 Kutas ok or something equivalent?) The Vampire Undeath and Unnatural Recovery passives actually help with tanking imo!

@Pmarsico9‌
Yeah, haven't done a Vet dungeon either... Give me a chance! Same invite to you as with @keto3000. I know it's crazy to not be using Blazing Shield, but I did mention slotting Rune Focus (Channeled Focus morph) on the secondary bar for heal checks. Tbh, I don't normally use that during tanking, probably should...



Right, so I'm backing up the build with only Shada's Tear and Exarch's Stronghold. I did have some really awesome DPS as well (@Defobas being one of them, my theory consultant!). Although I have since made a few changes:

Original

• 4-piece Alessia's Bulwark and 5-piece Magnus
• Jewelry Enchants: 630 Armor Enchant, 1550 Flame Resist, 14 Spell Power
• Shield Enchanted with Health
• Home Campaign of Haderus as an EP (no buffs)

Slightly Improved

• 5-piece Seducer and 4-piece Magnus
• Jewelry Enchants: 630 Armor Enchant, 1550 Flame Resist, 31 Shield Play (Block and Bash reduced cost)
• Home Campaign of Azuras Star as an EP (lots of buffs!)

This is a nice build but I'm with Sord on this, I thought the last patch or so was suppose to make it more normal with Armors, where Tanks felt that NEED to be in Heavy Armor and how mages were the ones needing the Light. I do hope more is going to be done so that we don't see these Light Armor tanks dominating it as they have so far throughout the whole game. The number of armor buffs out there makes just reducing the damage reduction next to nothing as they can over-shoot the soft cap easily with a shield and buffs.

Also I just want to say, yet ANOTHER Templar build.....how about some love for the Nightblades? I know I sent a nice one in, been tweaking it as well but still the original was great. Just kinda seeing a massive trend still of the all Magicka skill based builds being shown here. Not to mention EVERYONE has to state in that they have ALL attribute points in Health. I think ZOS just needs to do away with Attribute points all together at this rate.....even though I don't do the all in health myself. Could just use some more evening out between Magicka and Stamina builds, loving the changes so far but could just be a bit more to make it easier to not get instantly laughed at and kicked for trying to be a Bow DPS or a melee DW DPS. I know they upped a lot of stuff but hey it's still happening a lot.

Valiantknightjg wrote: »

This is a nice build but I'm with Sord on this, I thought the last patch or so was suppose to make it more normal with Armors, where Tanks felt that NEED to be in Heavy Armor and how mages were the ones needing the Light. I do hope more is going to be done so that we don't see these Light Armor tanks dominating it as they have so far throughout the whole game. The number of armor buffs out there makes just reducing the damage reduction next to nothing as they can over-shoot the soft cap easily with a shield and buffs.

Also I just want to say, yet ANOTHER Templar build.....how about some love for the Nightblades? I know I sent a nice one in, been tweaking it as well but still the original was great. Just kinda seeing a massive trend still of the all Magicka skill based builds being shown here. Not to mention EVERYONE has to state in that they have ALL attribute points in Health. I think ZOS just needs to do away with Attribute points all together at this rate.....even though I don't do the all in health myself. Could just use some more evening out between Magicka and Stamina builds, loving the changes so far but could just be a bit more to make it easier to not get instantly laughed at and kicked for trying to be a Bow DPS or a melee DW DPS. I know they upped a lot of stuff but hey it's still happening a lot.

I totally agree with you here man. Personally, I would like to see Class Skills that are in "melee" range utilize Stamina instead of Magicka. At least some, not sure if it's realistic for all "melee range" Class Skills to be Stamina based. Class Skills that have a range of, say, 10m or greater, should be Magicka based.

I was using all Heavy Armor until I got to Gold content because I thought that's what a Tank needed and it looked great. Then switched to 2-piece Light and 5-piece Heavy and was like, nice, I can use my Class Skills more and still Tank. Then I sold out completely and am tanking in full Light... (and yes, he does need a healer for places like DSA and Vet City of Ash =\ see above)

I'm not sure how the pieces go together, but wearing Warlock (5/5), Footman (5/5) and one of the dungeon sets (2/2) could actually make this build viable.

I don't think that inner light is really necessary for tanking, so removing it entirely would allow 1 more slot on each bar, which could be used for healing springs on the resto staff bar and structured entropy on the shield bar to boost health a bit.

The traits should also be the usual divines on small pieces / infused on large pieces rather than a mix of divines and impenetrable. If you want PVP, build another set with all pieces impenetrable. The sword would be better with defending instead of precise: a tank doesn't need crits.

@Armisael If you want to tank, try talenting immovable in heavy armor. Use Radiant Aura to keep feeding yourself stamina. Even in 7/7 light armor, Immovable and Channeled Focus will keep your armor and spell resistance hard capped.

You can't really heal and tank simultaneously, but you can help heal while you tank. Meaning, don't leave the healer at home.

I am taking the approach of being as much a support and fully defensive tank as you can

Loadout 1:

Inner Rage
Blazing Shield
Radiant Aura
Immovable
Channeled Focus

Ult: Empowering Sweep (flat 15% Damage reduction at a very low cost)

Loadout 2:

Ravage Armor (other taunt, it's helpful to have two taunts when magicka starved or stamina starved) and the armor Debuff is nice
Blazing Shield
Breath of Life
Immovable
Channeled Focus

Ult: Empowering Sweep

The idea is to keep Immovable, Channeled Focus, and Blazing Shield up as much as possible.

You don't have to spam block. In fact, you should only swap Breath of Life with Absorb Magic when you do in fact find yourself having to block. Because this allows you to bypass the hard cap on damage reduction and Blazing Shield will ignore your armor. It will be a flat 30% of your health as a shield before armor and spell resistance which will both be hard capped.

5 Piece Hist Skin is godly for blocking.

Sord wrote: »

Just crazy to see yet again another tank toon wearing LA. Great build for the current system and way to make use of it.

I just hope this changes because it just doesn't seem right that "Tanks" are wearing LA. Just sad to see LA dominate the scene as a tank in higher end game content. I hope this is being addressed for the next patch in a serious way!

Completely ridiculous that a tank wears LA. I agree completely. This game is not making much sense.