38 ATM , this has been problematic since about level 18.

My current approach is 2h + sword and board, 5 heavy 1 medium 1 light, all heavy armor passives and all sword/shield passives as they unlock.

AOE DPs focuses on cleave (the other morph that egenrates shield) and using puncture for threat, the vampire drain life skill for self healing and veil of blades as an emergency button. Things are somewhat better at 38 then they were 20 levels ago but still weak.

Sometimes use lotus fan (the teleport strike aoe morph) to lead fights and get hits on all mobs or move quickly.

Faugaun wrote: »

38 ATM , this has been problematic since about level 18.

My current approach is 2h + sword and board, 5 heavy 1 medium 1 light, all heavy armor passives and all sword/shield passives as they unlock.

AOE DPs focuses on cleave (the other morph that egenrates shield) and using puncture for threat, the vampire drain life skill for self healing and veil of blades as an emergency button. Things are somewhat better at 38 then they were 20 levels ago but still weak.

Sometimes use lotus fan (the teleport strike aoe morph) to lead fights and get hits on all mobs or move quickly.

Yea NBs can be pretty weak until they get into the 30s or 40s when we unlock the most useful abilities. And unfortunately, since the removal of softcaps in 1.6, it is difficult to switch between DPS and tank roles, especially once you get higher and have to specialize in Champion constellations.

I would try resto staff on your off-bar, either for group tanking or soloing. Your DPS will never be as high as those who are dedicated to it, so having more suvivability options (that are also magicka sinks) is playing to your strong suit. Mirage (morph of Blur in Assassination line) is an amazing tanking ability, it's simply a must have for any/all solo and group play. Also, be sure you are activating an ability form the Shadow line every few seconds so you gain the Major armor and spell resist buffs from the Shadow Barrier passive -- this is the key dynamic to NB tanking since they buffed this passive in update 1.6. I recommend using Refreshing Path for this as it is cheap, increases your max hp while slotted (thanks to Dark Vigor passive), and provides a small heal (mass hysteria can also be useful for controlling mobs). Siphoning Attacks (Siphoning Strikes morph) is your key to managing your magicka and stamina. Always have this on both bars when tanking so you don't have to keep toggling it on, and make sure you are sneaking in light attacks between blocks; note that this ability has a hidden one-second cooldown, so spamming abilities will drain resources quicker than the proc will replenish them. Sap Essence will be your next ability to slot once you get high enough; this is great for big pulls as it heals group members, draws lots of aggro, and triggers the Siphoning Attacks proc like crazy since each hit has its own % to restore stamina/magicka. Soul Tether is also a good ultimate for self-healing, and Bolstering Darkness (Consuming Darkness morph) shouldn't be overlooked either because of the great mitigation it provides at the expense of DPS (you could respec into it once you hit VR because again, focus on survivability as your DPS will never be high unless you build for it).

Absorb Magic from 1h/shield line is also extremely useful as it increases mitigation, reduces block cost, and gives nice big heals. Swallow Soul and Degeneration are also good choices for low level tanking/general play for the slotted passives they give (and swallow soul's stacks with Argonian racial to further increase healing received). I would also drop Vampire as the fire weakness is not group friendly for tanking. Instead, pick up Werewolf, which grants 15% stamina regen and no penalties while in human form. Make sure all your attribute points are in health as well. Try all those things, and if you're still having trouble look into your gear (though you shouldn't' really worry about that until you hit VR1).

My main is a V14 healer, and I've been playing with him since launch. After doing VCoA until my eyes bled, I pledged never to run with a vampire tank ever again. Yes, it is possible to complete content as a vampire tank, but you will put great stress on the healer, and you will ultimately be less successful.

As a tank, you should get rid of vampire.

The weakness to fire is a no brainer - fire is the most common magical damage you will encounter in this game - in both pve & pvp. On top of that, your health regen will be so pitiful that your healer will never have a chance to heal your other groupmates. Devouring swarm does restore health, and could save you in a pinch, but your other abilities are useless to a tank. Mistform is meant for escape. A tank's job is to keep the boss oriented away from your group members so that the boss' attacks do not accidentally splash onto them. Mistforming and running away will not only probably not save you, it will put your groupmates in danger. The feeding skill is a channel, which will leave you open to lots of heavy attacks and other fun deaths that a boss can inflict on you.

If being a sub-par tank is fine with you and your groupmates, then don't take my advice. There are many successful NB tanks out there, and they are usually lots of fun to play with. A vampire tank is a joke.

Thanks for the advice everyone I dropped vampire (10% before level 10, small tear) and am happy to look normal again! I didn't get a chance to do much besides biting my wife (so we can keep access to vampire on EP handy), getting rid of vamp and taking on ww....then I got stuck in rp for a long bit lol...

@Dixa Are you saying use 2h for tanking and aggro generation? Or are you saying only use sword & board on bosses with heavy hits and/or tough mechanics that require direction orientation etc.....

I have loads of tanking exp in many games and consider myself an experienced mmo tank player (hundreds of raids and countless dungeons tanked in half a dozen games: wow (vanilla-lich king), warhammer online, the secret world, lotrp, rift, but ESO is throwing me for a loop (this is my first time tanking in ESO). Thanks for the advice everyone and keep it coming!


P.S. a secondary question: Are tanks useful in PvP or is this going to be a character limited to pve?

Again thanks everyone so much!

Faugaun wrote: »

Thanks for the advice everyone I dropped vampire (10% before level 10, small tear) and am happy to look normal again! I didn't get a chance to do much besides biting my wife (so we can keep access to vampire on EP handy), getting rid of vamp and taking on ww....then I got stuck in rp for a long bit lol...

@Dixa Are you saying use 2h for tanking and aggro generation? Or are you saying only use sword & board on bosses with heavy hits and/or tough mechanics that require direction orientation etc.....

I have loads of tanking exp in many games and consider myself an experienced mmo tank player (hundreds of raids and countless dungeons tanked in half a dozen games: wow (vanilla-lich king), warhammer online, the secret world, lotrp, rift, but ESO is throwing me for a loop (this is my first time tanking in ESO). Thanks for the advice everyone and keep it coming!


P.S. a secondary question: Are tanks useful in PvP or is this going to be a character limited to pve?

Again thanks everyone so much!

use 2h to level with. unless you are leveling entirely in dungeons (this is NOT recommended for your first character in this game), sword and board kills very slowly.

the game gets harder 40+, and harder again vr1+. You will get frustrated quickly with slow kill times while questing if over-invest in tanking before vr14