DK tank

Phranq · March 2016

Hi, is me again, lol..
Apparently, I was following a somewhat outdated build, I had all of my atribute points into health, and was only blocking when it was obviously needed, ie power attacks, etc.. I was actually doing really well, except that I could not do white gold tower, or ic prison because I didn't have any dps skills. Well, I took some advice from players online and looked up some other builds, and put my atrib points into stamina trading around 10k health for stam, as it seems like the only tank builds out there revolve around holding block more or less permanently.. I also took a break from tanking to train up medium armor and bow to 50, and shuffle and lethal arrow to rank 4.
I am just wondering if this is really necessary or not, as I was doing really good with my previous build in gold undaunted pledges asside from the two in IC

AverageJo3Gam3r · March 2016

Having medium armor and now will be good when you need to switch to a DPS setup.

Autolycus · March 2016

Truthfully, you need very little in terms of damage to tank WGT. The only time you really need to do any damage is during the Planar Inhibitor. This is really true because of the fact that Planar Inhibitor doesn't have a normal aggro table, not because it requires that much damage. Most DK tanks I run with simply use a 2h + crit rush to ensure they kill the portals quick enough. Beyond that there is no need for the tank to dps, although many tanks still do a tank/dps hybrid or have an off-spec. There's nothing wrong with having an extra set of gear or having other weapons leveled, but you don't need to be a fully-geared dps to do it.

I'm willing to bet that your struggles in wgt have nothing to do with your ability to damage (or lack thereof). I tank WGT all the time, the only time I do a lick of damage is on Planar Inhibitor (and again, that's because there's no need for a tank, not because we need damage).

Phranq · March 2016

Yeah, I apologize, I was very tired when I wrote the op, lol.
I guess my questions were really, as a tank, do I really need to perma-block at V16 ? And, will Lethal Arrow (morph of snipe 1second cast) suffice to kill portals in planar inhibitor, or is it too slow?

NBrookus · March 2016

You don't need much damage to take out the portals. Just swap out to your DPS/solo suit before the fight and range them down.

Saint314Louis1985 · March 2016

In white gold you dont really need to permablock but it makes it easier on some bosses. Molag kenas attacks are kind of hard to predict so perma blocking makes it easier. Youre job is never to do much dps but you can contribute with with dots.

On the planar inhibitor, shield charge and a light attack, heroic slash can pretty much kill the portals. Although you want to pull the pinion as much as possible to try to avoid you having portals. I have been on runs where the group just has the tank hold aggro as long as possible until the tank dies, then they just res tank and repeat. Some groups do it differently though.

If you tank trials you pretty much need to be able to perma block so i recommend factoring that into your build (i found that out the hard way while tanking the purple axes on AA the first time). A decent stam pool and block cost reduction glyphs on jewelry and CP helps out alot. You dont really need more than 30k health.

Im no expert on tanking but thats what Ive figured out works for me.

Autolycus · March 2016

Phranq wrote: »

Yeah, I apologize, I was very tired when I wrote the op, lol.
I guess my questions were really, as a tank, do I really need to perma-block at V16 ? And, will Lethal Arrow (morph of snipe 1second cast) suffice to kill portals in planar inhibitor, or is it too slow?

Part of the difficulty with answering this question is that we haven't really defined "permablocking". I'm not trying to be nit-picky here, truly, but I want to clarify for the sake of being as helpful as possible. I can't speak for everyone, but I know and run with a lot of tanks, and my main is a tank too; the term "permablocking" is a generalization. In practice, no tanks are blocking for 100% of a fight. There are plenty of times I'm not blocking, and you shouldn't have to 100% of the time, that's not what defines you as a good tank. Your job is to hold aggro, retain your resources, aid the group with mechanics, and stay alive. Permablocking does not define whether you are a good tank or not.

That being said, most experienced tanks will likely suggest that permablocking is not an unreasonably difficult thing to do. Probably the most important factor(s) relating to whether or not you can permablock is your level of mitigation, paired with your cost reduction for blocking, which is why so many tanks are still using Footman (v13-14 gear). Armor and spell resist are important too, but with high mitigation and low block cost, you can easily forego several thousand armor and spell resist for something else (i.e. damage, regen, or the increasingly popular ultimate regen builds).

So in short, no you don't have to permablock to be a good tank. My main is a NB tank, and I weave light attacks on every target in every pull. Technically I'm not permablocking, but if I'm not light attacking or bar-swapping, I am blocking. So define it how you want to. The important aspect of this concept is not whether you block 99% or 100% of the time, but really about how well you manage your resources. A tank will always be his/her tankiest while blocking, and if you can manage your resources well enough that you don't have to drop block, then you're (generally speaking) in a better place all-around.

Edit: Forgot to address Lethal Arrow. In my experience, Lethal Arrow is too slow, and Venom Arrow is just slightly too weak to one-shot the portals (usually a light attack finishes it off). There are varying ways to accomplish the same thing, but out of the 200+ times I've run WGT, by far the most effective way to do portal duty efficiently and effectively is with crit rush.