Due to no demand what-so-ever, but sheer boredom as the servers have been down the past 2 days, I'm posting up my general build. I've never been into posting this stuff, mostly because it invites trolls, and I get suckered in too easy. My build can hardly be called my build as many, many, many others have used it. I've been using it in different forms since 1.5 and modify as needed. One of the better write ups that had almost an identical gear set up was by @zomnomnombie way back in the day: http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/zomnomnombies-tankplar-build/ Even though he's a templar, he made a very similar argument then for a this general build. For the sake of defending it though, I'm going to call it the Blump build and post away.

The whole purpose of posting is to give everyone the evidence and backup for one of the best tank builds in the game so that they don't run off spending their money and time on builds that just don't work as well.

Hist Bark at V16 and Footman at v14 are arguably the best tank set up in game for a DK stam tank. Boring yes, outdated...not even close.

The question isn't even if footmans is so great or not, its that there is literally nothing else to replace it. Match up any other set that gives a viable 5 piece tanking bonus on jewelry....hear the crickets? That's because there are none. And after you come to agree with me, then the logical match for footmans is hist bark.

Yes armor master is better than footmans, but doesn't come with jewelry. Nor do any other v14+ gear sets.

I've tanked everything in game with relative ease. I've taken pug groups through vWGT and vICP and I've compiled every achievement in the end game. When IC came out I had roughly 200 CP, now I'm at 400. Yes things are easier, but I'd like to believe that they're easier mostly because of skill and experience, not just because of CP.

Here is what you get with the set up that I'm using. All have legendary HP enchants while all 64 attribute points are in stam. I use the tower mundas for more stam, but occasionally change this to atronoch for mag recovery. This is buffed w/ rzr armor btw.

[img][/img]

What matters here:
Resists - I recommend getting both physical and spell to >25k so that they get close to the hard cap with razor armor.

Base pools:
33k hp - as long as you're over 26k you'll probably be fine. I like to stay above 30k.
26k stam - This really matters. You want to push this as much as possible without sacrificing the world. Do everything you can to get to >24k
13.8 k mag - as long as you're over 10k you'll be fine. I like a little more so that I can chain and talons like a mofo.

I could drone on about small stuff, but its small stuff....and I've gotten tired of typing. A few other pointers though:

• Potions: I use magic pots on trash pulls and tripots on bosses. Ocassionaly I'll swap to a stam pot but only usually when I've been lazy and haven't watched my resources. Typically if I need stam, then I need the other 2 stats as well and bust the tri pot nut.
• Also, level alchemy for the pot passive...30% longer helps...a lot.
• Use earthen heart abilities to get stam back.
• Synergize everything - it gives you back stats
• If you have a templar in the group, ask for shards and repentance. That truly puts everything on easy mode when it comes to resource management.
• Learn to drop your shield and swing your sword occasionally. If you're watching the mobs then you know when you can drop and when you shouldn't.
• Time your shield swaps, don't just swap when you feel like it...that's a recipe for disappointment.
• Cinderstorm, talons, and chains are freakin phenominal for tanking group mobs. Use them. A lot. The better you can group stuff up, the faster it dies. The faster it dies, the easier it is to keep all your resources up.
• Use whatever mundas you want to round things out for you. I typically go between the tower (max stam) or the atronoch (magicka regen).

Here are two posts that I wrote up earlier that describe general bar set ups and the damage numbers that support using good ol footmans.
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/2391013/#Comment_2391013 - very basic build w/ general bar set ups
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/2390630/#Comment_2390630 - support for using footman

Again, I don't take much credit for this. While I've been using this set up as long or longer than anyone, PLENTY of people have posted similar if not exact builds. My point in putting it back out there is to say "Hey, look at this...you may have thought it was outdated, but its not and in fact its rather OP as $hi7!"

Forgot to link this build page by @Anlaemar : http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/166731/pve-build-dragonknight-tank-outdated

He does a fantastic job of distilling down a lot of the basics and I think most if not all of his build is still applicable even though he has it listed as outdated.

Cheers & keep tanking,
Blump