[PC - AD] Returning Player needing tanking advice.

NitemareSB · December 2015

I'm a returning player.[(PC - AD)] I last played when max vet was only v12. I am currently a v14 DK trying to specialize in Tanking.
I dont have my crafts maxed out yet, nor do i have the money to spend for gear.
Currently im wearing a 5/5 v12 Histbark set. the 2 remaining pieces are v12 pieces bought with alliance points.
I have 1 Sword/shield set that is v11 that mainly just give +health or +stam with increase mundus.
And i have another v14 sword/shield that offer +health and increase mundus.
Eveything else i have is mainly blues i found while grinding.
(i can add screenshots later, currently at work)

My main concern is that I never tanked an instance before. I really just grinded my way to where i am.
I have tried looking up guides and streamers to see if i can pick up anything but most of the guides/videos
i find are outdated or dont focus on a player that isnt max level/geared etc

So my questions..
When would be a good time for me to pug dungeons ?
Is the Histbark set still a viable option ?
Any tips on what i should be aiming for ?

Last time i played, craglorn was the place to grind but as of late, its empty.
Ive just been clearing old content that i never finished in the mean time.

Whats the new area for leveing as a veteran ?

Im also not in any guilds besides one that has no vets yet so im really left with pugs or soloing content.

Thanks so much in advance!

Nestor · December 2015

Tanking is an art, I have run some groups with people who say they are tanks, and run some groups with players who are tanks and there is a difference.

Hist Bark is still a good set, there are some other sets that drop in Wrothgar you might like and some sets to flesh out the other 4 pieces, as you should really be sporting One Handed Shield for Tanking.

You need a Taunt Skill, 1 H/S gives that. The Undaunted Skill line gives a ranged Taunt if you want or if you want to use another weapon. Not sure if other weapon lines give a Taunt or not. Then again, there is the old do the most DPS and you draw Aggro method, but that is not really tanking in the classic sense. It can be effective on some bosses, but it's probably not the best way.

The new leveling area for Veterans is either Wrothgar or Cyrodiil.

I am in a guild that is actually going to run an event tonight in Craglorn if you have a DC character. Your welcome to guest with us, and I can even get you in the guild. On Monday evenings we do an AD Dungeon night and one of our better tanks is usually involved. She can teach you a lot.

NitemareSB · December 2015

Nestor wrote: »

Tanking is an art, I have run some groups with people who say they are tanks, and run some groups with players who are tanks and there is a difference.

I am in a guild that is actually going to run an event tonight in Craglorn if you have a DC character. Your welcome to guest with us, and I can even get you in the guild. On Monday evenings we do an AD Dungeon night and one of our better tanks is usually involved. She can teach you a lot.

Sadly My only Character in vet levels is this DK. But I wouldnt mind an invite and learning from someone with a ton of tanking experience. Would definitely help me learn a lot fast if i can get my hands dirty.

I havent been into Wrothgar yet, ill have to figure out where that is and give it a try!
Thanks so much for the response!

Nestor · December 2015

NitemareSB wrote: »

Sadly My only Character in vet levels is this DK. But I wouldnt mind an invite and learning from someone with a ton of tanking experience. Would definitely help me learn a lot fast if i can get my hands dirty.

I havent been into Wrothgar yet, ill have to figure out where that is and give it a try!
Thanks so much for the response!

Since your PC-NA, send me an email in game to @Nestor and I will get you hooked up with Lone Wolf Help. We are a casual guild that helps each other out, laughs at ourselves and does not take anything too seriously. In fact, we may not get a full group for Craglorn tonight considering the holidays, if that is the case, will hop on an AD and we can go make some noise in Wrothgar.

NBrookus · December 2015

NitemareSB wrote: »

I'm a returning player.[(PC - AD)]

So my questions..
When would be a good time for me to pug dungeons ?
Is the Histbark set still a viable option ?
Any tips on what i should be aiming for ?

When:
Now. Watch online videos and learn the basic mechanics of the bosses. Then PUG regular dungeons. There isn't anything in the regular dungeons that requires you to be an amazing tank or have amazing gear, so they are good places to learn.

You need to:
Aggro the most dangerous NPCs (including bosses) and absorb the damage
Debuff bosses and mobs
Root and slow down mobs and adds so the DPS' can kill them faster and the healer isn't running away instead of healing
Buff/shield yourself and other players
Contribute damage if possible

You need BOTH taunts for different circumstances. Inner Fire/Inner Beast is ranged (in the Undaunted line), the other Pierce Armor is in the 1H&S line and taunts and debuffs. Those are the only taunts available.

Hist Bark is still very viable. Once you've got the rhythm and basic skills down, then worry about optimizing your gear and bars so you can head into vet dungeons.

Running with a regular group that provides good feedback and great communication has helped me go from a somewhat adequate tank to a pretty decent one. Absolutely join the AD dungeon night Nestor was talking about. (Someday I'll teach my AD templar to heal on a few Monday nights.) It's a great guild; very positive and supportive.

NitemareSB · December 2015

Nestor wrote: »

Since your PC-NA, send me an email in game to @Nestor and I will get you hooked up with Lone Wolf Help. We are a casual guild that helps each other out, laughs at ourselves and does not take anything too seriously. In fact, we may not get a full group for Craglorn tonight considering the holidays, if that is the case, will hop on an AD and we can go make some noise in Wrothgar.

Thanks again! i will definitely send you a message the next time I'm in game!

NitemareSB · December 2015

NBrookus wrote: »

NitemareSB wrote: »

I'm a returning player.[(PC - AD)]

So my questions..
When would be a good time for me to pug dungeons ?
Is the Histbark set still a viable option ?
Any tips on what i should be aiming for ?

When:
Now. Watch online videos and learn the basic mechanics of the bosses. Then PUG regular dungeons. There isn't anything in the regular dungeons that requires you to be an amazing tank or have amazing gear, so they are good places to learn.

You need to:
Aggro the most dangerous NPCs (including bosses) and absorb the damage
Debuff bosses and mobs
Root and slow down mobs and adds so the DPS' can kill them faster and the healer isn't running away instead of healing
Buff/shield yourself and other players
Contribute damage if possible

You need BOTH taunts for different circumstances. Inner Fire/Inner Beast is ranged (in the Undaunted line), the other Pierce Armor is in the 1H&S line and taunts and debuffs. Those are the only taunts available.

Running with a regular group that provides good feedback and great communication has helped me go from a somewhat adequate tank to a pretty decent one. Absolutely join the AD dungeon night Nestor was talking about. (Someday I'll teach my AD templar to heal on a few Monday nights.) It's a great guild; very positive and supportive.

Thanks so much for the advice! I will have to dedicate sometime to watch more videos on boss mechanics for sure< and yes i agree, being in a group that offers feedback will definitely help me get better.
I looked up a guide yesterday when i was on and kindve used their set up as a template to tweak in my own style, so im pretty sure i am using both taunts, i believe inner fire is just on 1 weapon and pierce armor is on main and swap.

As far as damage goes, what would be a good dps ability to use as a DK tank ? mainly i have just been using piecing armor with most of my other abilities being more focused on support.

Nestor · December 2015

NitemareSB wrote: »

As far as damage goes, what would be a good dps ability to use as a DK tank ? mainly i have just been using piecing armor with most of my other abilities being more focused on support.

I use Searing Strike with the Morph that heals you on Mob Death and Flame Whip for my DPS Spam.

One thing to note, if you have not played since before the Justice System (1.6) then you may need to look at your attributes, mundus and gear/glyphs. The model today is to use one resource pool or the other, not both. Although as a Tank, you need Health, so there is that. But, either go Magic or Stamina, and I would go Magic so you can save what Stamina you have for Dodging and Blocking. Speaking of Blocking, you no longer regen Stamina while Blocking so don't hold Block, just put it up as you need it.

And, your Mundus stone was more than likely reset in 2.0 so you may not have that going for you, so check and re-acquire one if you don't have it.

NitemareSB · December 2015

Nestor wrote: »

NitemareSB wrote: »

As far as damage goes, what would be a good dps ability to use as a DK tank ? mainly i have just been using piecing armor with most of my other abilities being more focused on support.

I use Searing Strike with the Morph that heals you on Mob Death and Flame Whip for my DPS Spam.

One thing to note, if you have not played since before the Justice System (1.6) then you may need to look at your attributes, mundus and gear/glyphs. The model today is to use one resource pool or the other, not both. Although as a Tank, you need Health, so there is that. But, either go Magic or Stamina, and I would go Magic so you can save what Stamina you have for Dodging and Blocking. Speaking of Blocking, you no longer regen Stamina while Blocking so don't hold Block, just put it up as you need it.

And, your Mundus stone was more than likely reset in 2.0 so you may not have that going for you, so check and re-acquire one if you don't have it.

When i first returned i looked up a tanking guide from here:

http://deltiasgaming.com/2015/08/02/eso-dragonknight-tank-for-update-7/

Not sure if that was a good idea or not but it was the most recent guide i was easily able to find and get a slight idea on what i should be doing.

As you can see, in the guide, it recommends attribute points to be slammed in Stamina. which is what i did. but that is something i can easily change.
For a mundus, i went with The Lord for more HP.
As far as the gear goes, im not entirely sure what glyphs were used so i will have to double check that once im online tonight.
I considered stam was a good idea mainly because the skill i spammed the most was Piercing Armor since i didnt really have a dps ability slotted and wanted to always make sure i had magicka for when i need to use dragons blood or CC an enemy.
But im going to try and slot one of those abilities you mentioned above and give this another go.
I also make sure to share my stats on here once im home as well.

NBrookus · December 2015

I did something similar to Deltia's DK tank build for a while with Hist Bark/Footman/Engine Guardian. It certainly works, but his exact setup requires time in PvP for skills, grinding vet Darkshade to get the right helm weight and tons of Undaunted keys to get the right shoulders. If you find good pieces of Footman for cheap, snap them up. Footman is getting hard to buy since so few people grind vDSA anymore -- and you probably aren't going to be completing vet DSA until you are comfortable with most vet dungeons, so there's a catch 22.

I eventually went in a whole different direction and became a magicka DK tank. I split stats about 2/3 health and 1/3 magicka and use tri stat regen drinks. I am running double S&B, 5 piece Armor Master and 5 piece Trinimac when tanking, with about 29k health. (I want Bloodspawn or Engine Guardian; what I have is Maw of the Infernal. Meh.)

For soloing and bosses that can't be tanked, I switch to a dress (Julianos/Trinimac/Torug's Pact) and destro staff. I'm not a big source of DPS then -- I just don't have the magicka, mundus stone & CP assignment to get high numbers -- but 7-10k is a lot better than contributing next to nothing. I use the add-on Dressing Room to make switching mostly painless.

This gives me the magicka I need to spam shielding abilities and soak up some damage instead of trying to block everything with my shield. My rotation for a single target melee boss is:
Pierce Armor (taunt + debuff)
Heroic Slash (debuff + ultimate generation)
Absorb Magic (shield)
Obsidian Shield (shield me + shield allies + procs Trinimac)
Green Dragon Blood (health + health & stam recovery)

... with renewing Pierce Armor and GDB as needed, and usually I try to keep Shuffle up. GDB and Shuffle you can see; I use FTC to see how long is left on my taunt. (Bear in mind some bosses can't be taunted or drop taunt when certain mechanics fire; you cant just watch the timer, but I think those are all in vet dungeons.)

Not saying you should switch builds; there's more than one way to be an effective tank. The Magicka build is just working better for me personally. And I think running stamina for a while with the no-stam-regen-while-blocking nerf was very educational in terms of learning stamina resource management. That's particularly important for me now that my stam pool is so small.

DPSing as a dedicated tank toon is just not a priority. Adding DPS is a great plus IF you are doing everything else you need to do, but if you can create a battlefield environment that lets the optimized DPS players just focus and burn down the boss faster, your net contribution is going to be higher. The right build and skills are whatever get you there with the most amount of fun.

NitemareSB · December 2015

NBrookus wrote: »

I
Not saying you should switch builds; there's more than one way to be an effective tank. The Magicka build is just working better for me personally. And I think running stamina for a while with the no-stam-regen-while-blocking nerf was very educational in terms of learning stamina resource management. That's particularly important for me now that my stam pool is so small..

Honestly I'm up for trying any build untill i can find one that feels great for my play style so thank you so much for the input!
Only thing holding me back from trying other builds is really the money/resources to keep changing. Going to try and get to Wrothgar today and see if i can grind out a level or get some upgrades before attempting dungeons. And i agree with your last statement, my main focus is to learn how to control every situation as best as possible in group content before worrying about DPS'n. thats just going to come with practice though. I honestly love the look of HA so i doubt i will ever go dress for solo'n but im sure there are some dps builds that i could use well with my tank gear if i just switch to a different weapon like 2Hander.

NitemareSB · December 2015

here is a picture of my current stats with no buffs
My 5/5 hist bark set has 2/5 divines and 3/5 Impenetrable and all have +maximum health

NBrookus · December 2015

When you upgrade, drop the Impenetrable trait. AFAIK, nothing in PvE crits on you -- save that trait for PvP where you actually need it. Reinforced, divines and infused are more useful for tank armor.

If you mixed your existing V12 Hist Bark with a complementary dropped set with jewelry (like Footmans), you could probably buff your phys resistance and max health considerably, then worry about upgrading/replacing your Hist Bark when you hit V16. Eventually you will probably want to run 5 heavy + 1 light + 1 medium, so go ahead and level those armor skills lines by wearing a piece of each in your small slots. (Like sash and arm cops.)

I'm V16 in V15/V16 mostly purple and gold gear, so this isn't apples to apples, but having multi-set bonuses and the right glyphs really adds up:
(unbuffed)

Yeah, my weapon and spell damage is lousy. Such is a tank's life! As long as your damage is low, just swapping out for a 2H weapon is not going to let you double as a DPS. Let your horse carry your extra gear and swap out skills and armor sets that buff your damage when you aren't tanking.

NitemareSB · December 2015

NBrookus wrote: »

If you mixed your existing V12 Hist Bark with a complementary dropped set with jewelry (like Footmans), you could probably buff your phys resistance and max health considerably, then worry about upgrading/replacing your Hist Bark when you hit V16. Eventually you will probably want to run 5 heavy + 1 light + 1 medium, so go ahead and level those armor skills lines by wearing a piece of each in your small slots. (Like sash and arm cops.)

Thanks a ton for this! now i have something i can use for comparison.
I was able to find a cheap v14 footmans necklace yesterday, still on the look out for more pieces.
@Nestor was nice enough so craft me a dps set if i mailed him the blue materials he needed for each piece. so hopefully that will help with me being able to quest and farm more gear later on. Till then im just going to try and do normal pledges till i hit v16 and can replace my histbark set with a v16 version and focus on Reinforced, divines and infused for those pieces.

Im still a little confused how crafting works though, If i make a v16 blue set (due to limited resources) i can later upgrade the set to purple and then yellow ? or would i have to craft the pieces over again ?

Nestor · December 2015

NitemareSB wrote: »

Im still a little confused how crafting works though, If i make a v16 blue set (due to limited resources) i can later upgrade the set to purple and then yellow ? or would i have to craft the pieces over again ?

You can upgrade any gear in your inventory, even dropped set items. The only restriction is once you wear a Crafted Item, it becomes bound to your account so when you are done with it, you either decon it or sell it to a vendor. I recommend Decon as you can get some Tempers and Mats back. However, even if it is bound, you can still upgrade it more if you want.

NitemareSB · December 2015

Nestor wrote: »

NitemareSB wrote: »

Im still a little confused how crafting works though, If i make a v16 blue set (due to limited resources) i can later upgrade the set to purple and then yellow ? or would i have to craft the pieces over again ?

You can upgrade any gear in your inventory, even dropped set items. The only restriction is once you wear a Crafted Item, it becomes bound to your account so when you are done with it, you either decon it or sell it to a vendor. I recommend Decon as you can get some Tempers and Mats back. However, even if it is bound, you can still upgrade it more if you want.

that is awesome and great information to know, Thanks a ton!

NBrookus · December 2015

You also can't change traits on items, crafted or otherwise. If you want to change traits, you have to re-craft.