Good ways to self-heal for a Tank?

Firestorm612 · July 2015

I'm a DK and I've been building my character for PvE and general use. I have one bar for 2-handed and one for Sword and Shield. I've found the Bloody Butcher build is great for 2-handed, especially for keeping yourself alive through Momentum. I'd like so have some self healing on my Sword and Shield bar, but I can't really find any decent One hand and Shield builds that do this, and I'd rather not waste the gold for a respec just experimenting. Anybody know some good self healing skills for a Sword and Shield DK?

Warraxx · July 2015

Firestorm612 wrote: »

I'm a DK and I've been building my character for PvE and general use. I have one bar for 2-handed and one for Sword and Shield. I've found the Bloody Butcher build is great for 2-handed, especially for keeping yourself alive through Momentum. I'd like so have some self healing on my Sword and Shield bar, but I can't really find any decent One hand and Shield builds that do this, and I'd rather not waste the gold for a respec just experimenting. Anybody know some good self healing skills for a Sword and Shield DK?

get a master's one-handed sword and vigor skill

Pompeyfluff · July 2015

I am a Sword/Shield DK Tank and use Green Dragon blood as my self heal.

Cast Time Instant
Target Self
Duration 20 seconds
Cost 420 Magicka
Draw on your draconic blood to heal 33% of missing Health.
Also grants Major Fortitude and Major Endurance, increasing Health and Stamina Regeneration by X% for 20 seconds.

mcurley · July 2015

Warraxx wrote: »

Firestorm612 wrote: »

I'm a DK and I've been building my character for PvE and general use. I have one bar for 2-handed and one for Sword and Shield. I've found the Bloody Butcher build is great for 2-handed, especially for keeping yourself alive through Momentum. I'd like so have some self healing on my Sword and Shield bar, but I can't really find any decent One hand and Shield builds that do this, and I'd rather not waste the gold for a respec just experimenting. Anybody know some good self healing skills for a Sword and Shield DK?

get a master's one-handed sword and vigor skill

Dude you clearly didn't read this post if you think your advice is doable for the OP.

OP there isn't much you can do with a S/B for heals except morph defensive posture into Absorb Magic. It will absorb a spell and heal you for the damage taken. A pretty solid way to stay alive in my opinion.

Firestorm612 · August 2015

I already use Dragon Blood AND Absorb Magic, but I still feel like I take too much damage compared to my Two Handed bar. Maybe it's just that Momentum is really powerful, but still. I'd love to use Vigor if I didn't have to get Assault 10 to get it. And the only other thing I could think of would be Entropy, maybe. My issue isn't that I'm taking too much damage, it's just that I'm not really healing as much as I'm taking, whereas with Momentum morphed to Rally using a Two Hander I feel invincible.

Sandshark95 · August 2015

Rally has spoiled you, it seems. XD

Sword+Board doesn't offer much in the way of self-heals, just damage mitigation. It's kind of funny to hear that a 2hander is better for survivability than, I don't know, a shield. You know, the little board thing that's supposed to absorb damage and, naturally, reduce the amount of damage you take. It seems counterintuitive. The best defense is a better offense, I suppose.

I'm afraid there's not much more you can do besides periodically casting Rally on your 2H bar and then swapping back to 1H/Shield. I'm not exactly sold on Entropy as a possible solution. The only thing that might noticeably help will your healing is an Igneous Shield + Coagulating Blood combo; however, I highly doubt you're willing to give up Green Dragon Blood as a stamina build (and I wouldn't blame you). Igneous + GDB, while less effective, could possibly be just enough to keep you going. Nothing compares to the godliness of Rally though. I've heard that Vigor will be knocked down from Assault 10 to 5 and thus be made easier to acquire in the near future, so there's that to look forward to if nothing changes.

Firestorm612 · August 2015

Sandshark95 wrote: »

Rally has spoiled you, it seems. XD

Sword+Board doesn't offer much in the way of self-heals, just damage mitigation. It's kind of funny to hear that a 2hander is better for survivability than, I don't know, a shield. You know, the little board thing that's supposed to absorb damage and, naturally, reduce the amount of damage you take. It seems counterintuitive. The best defense is a better offense, I suppose.

I'm afraid there's not much more you can do besides periodically casting Rally on your 2H bar and then swapping back to 1H/Shield. I'm not exactly sold on Entropy as a possible solution. The only thing that might noticeably help will your healing is an Igneous Shield + Coagulating Blood combo; however, I highly doubt you're willing to give up Green Dragon Blood as a stamina build (and I wouldn't blame you). Igneous + GDB, while less effective, could possibly be just enough to keep you going. Nothing compares to the godliness of Rally though. I've heard that Vigor will be knocked down from Assault 10 to 5 and thus be made easier to acquire in the near future, so there's that to look forward to if nothing changes.

I figured as much. I do hope Vigor gets bumped down, because I just can't force myself to PvP until I get it. I used to use Igneous Shield but it just seemed to get knocked off immediately, so I've been using Absorb Magic, GDB, and Volatile Armor in an attempt to heal myself and kill enemies at the same time. I just figured that, if there was going to be a God mode for healing like Rally, that it'd be for a defensive Shield build instead of an Offensive 2 Hander. I wanted to have an Offensive and Defensive mode thing going on with my ability bars, but it's more like Offense and Defense combined on one with the other not being used. Sad because I'm usually all for a Shield.

Sandshark95 · August 2015

Hmm. You might want to try Igneous again and make sure to pop GDB right after for the extra healing. That, especially in combination with the Draconic Power healing passives, should definitely make a noticeable difference. I believe Igneous scales off of max health, so as a stamina build it's probably not going be the longest-lasting shield in the world. Still, I think the healing bonus it provides will activate on casting and remain for the tooltip duration even if the shield goes away. As for Volatile/Hardened Armor...meh. I used that skill for like 5 minutes; Hardened Armor morph as an early level Tank works okay. Unsure about what the Volatile morph is capable of in the DPS department. Admittedly didn't give it much of a chance, but I still don't think there's anything remarkable enough about the skill to warrant slotting it. I prefer Igneous + GDB.

The Shield could certainly use some love in the future when it comes to a survivability buff. I wouldn't mind that at all, especially on my Tank.

Firestorm612 · August 2015

Sandshark95 wrote: »

Hmm. You might want to try Igneous again and make sure to pop GDB right after for the extra healing. That, especially in combination with the Draconic Power healing passives, should definitely make a noticeable difference. I believe Igneous scales off of max health, so as a stamina build it's probably not going be the longest-lasting shield in the world. Still, I think the healing bonus it provides will activate on casting and remain for the tooltip duration even if the shield goes away. As for Volatile/Hardened Armor...meh. I used that skill for like 5 minutes; Hardened Armor morph as an early level Tank works okay. Unsure about what the Volatile morph is capable of in the DPS department. Admittedly didn't give it much of a chance, but I still don't think there's anything remarkable enough about the skill to warrant slotting it. I prefer Igneous + GDB.

The Shield could certainly use some love in the future when it comes to a survivability buff. I wouldn't mind that at all, especially on my Tank.

Yeah, the more I think of it, Igneous did do it's job decently. I think I just got my skills messed up when I was looking things up. Tried too many different things. So think I'm going to drop Volatile, go back to Igneous, and keep GDB and Absorb Magic. Also, I've been trying out Puncture to actually have a "Tank" function. Do you consider Puncture a must? Opinions on its morphs?

Sandshark95 · August 2015

@Firestorm612 I have a Sword+Board Magicka DK Tank and I love it; I run Puncture as my main stamina taunt. Definitely a must for tanking, IMO. It serves two purposes: taunt and debuff. Not to mention that since I'm actually a magicka build, I find it even more important to slot Puncture so that I have access to a stamina taunt in case I run out of magicka.

As for morphs, both are great. I originally went with Ransack for the self-armor buff, and this helped up my survivability early on in the lower levels. However, when I hit lvl 20 and felt I was durable enough without Ransack, I switched to Pierce Armor and haven't looked back. I feel that the armor buff from Ransack just becomes irrelevant and unnecessary once you've leveled up and have become a stronger Tank. Pierce Armor is the better morph for group scenarios, as it not only debuffs enemies' armor so that everyone can hit them harder but it also lowers enemies' spell resistance for your magicka DPSs. As a magicka Tank, Pierce Armor is better for me and my spells as well. From what I've seen, Pierce appears to be the more popular morph.

DK Tanking is really fun, whether you're a stamina or magicka build. I think you'll find more success without Volatile and sticking with Igneous + GDB. I'm fairly certain the Vigor thing will happen at some point, maybe even with IC dropping. Still, it's a good idea to work towards it when you can so that you could at least pick up Caltrops along the way; that skill should complement both your DPS and Tanking very nicely.

Please feel free to ask anything else that comes to mind, happy to help in any way I can

Firestorm612 · August 2015

Sandshark95 wrote: »

@Firestorm612 I have a Sword+Board Magicka DK Tank and I love it; I run Puncture as my main stamina taunt. Definitely a must for tanking, IMO. It serves two purposes: taunt and debuff. Not to mention that since I'm actually a magicka build, I find it even more important to slot Puncture so that I have access to a stamina taunt in case I run out of magicka.

As for morphs, both are great. I originally went with Ransack for the self-armor buff, and this helped up my survivability early on in the lower levels. However, when I hit lvl 20 and felt I was durable enough without Ransack, I switched to Pierce Armor and haven't looked back. I feel that the armor buff from Ransack just becomes irrelevant and unnecessary once you've leveled up and have become a stronger Tank. Pierce Armor is the better morph for group scenarios, as it not only debuffs enemies' armor so that everyone can hit them harder but it also lowers enemies' spell resistance for your magicka DPSs. As a magicka Tank, Pierce Armor is better for me and my spells as well. From what I've seen, Pierce appears to be the more popular morph.

DK Tanking is really fun, whether you're a stamina or magicka build. I think you'll find more success without Volatile and sticking with Igneous + GDB. I'm fairly certain the Vigor thing will happen at some point, maybe even with IC dropping. Still, it's a good idea to work towards it when you can so that you could at least pick up Caltrops along the way; that skill should complement both your DPS and Tanking very nicely.

Please feel free to ask anything else that comes to mind, happy to help in any way I can

Thanks, that's nice of you

Just one last thing really, with Igneous and GDB I feel I don't really need Absorb Magic besides just for the blocking damage while slotted. Any other good moves to replace it for a Stamina build?