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Horny Tank - Stamina DK - End-Game PvE Tank Build
Liofa
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Hey all ! I decided to share my end-game PvE DK Tank build with you . If you don't want to read all of this , you can just go to my Youtube Channel here : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKuUUtOl7xgjmK48EHdqeOQ You will find the build video there .
I have been tanking in MMORPGs for a long time and from my experience I learned that I only need enough Max Health to survive most hard-hitting attacks and go full sustain with everything I have . I used the same tactic in ESO and the results are very good . This build is tanky enough to survive everything ( including Gatling Gun from Rakkhat ) with a decent healer . Horny Tank has the best Ultimate Regeneration a DK Tank can get . Horny Tank gets his sustain from insane Ultimate usage and high Magicka Recovery . Anyways , let's start !
RACE
For Tanking in ESO , every race is good . Even Altmers have some nice stuff as a Stamina based DK Tank . I am playing as a Dunmer and will not change it after new DLC . I am a vampire so Flame Resistance is helpful with that . Also , I like to go with high Max Magicka compared to usual builds since I use lots of Magicka based skills so 9% Max Magicka bonus is really handy . Also , I get a 6% Max Stamina bonus which boosts my sustain with Helping Hands . So , your race should be giving either Magicka Recovery or Max Stamina . For best sustain , go with Redguard .
OVERALL STATS
Resist buffs applied with tri-stat food active .
http://imgur.com/a/LdMBA
(use DNS changer (ZenMate for example) if you can't see the image for some reasons )
ATTRIBUTES
All in Stamina .
You want to maximize your Stamina for boosting the effectiveness of Helping Hands passive . I get exactly 1686 Stamina with every usage of Igneous Shield with this setup . I have some purple enchants and purple items so it should be 1700-1750 with all items legendary with legendary enchants .
ITEMS
Tava's Favor : Hands down , best Ultimate regeneration set ever . People don't know that Shuffle dodges proc it as well . You don't need to roll dodge to proc it . What it does is , when you dodge an attack , you get 3 Ultimate per second for 3 seconds . So 9 Ultimate for every dodge . Also gives Max Health and Magicka Recovery which are useful .
Blood Spawn : Best option for this build's purpose . Gives 15 Ultimate with a 6% chance when getting hit .
Endurance : Special set with exceptionally higher Max Health bonus .
Agility : Increased Max Stamina while in front bar . Buffs our sustain .
Blessing Of The Potentates : We get a 10% reduction to Ultimate cost when on back bar where I keep Warhorn .
TRAIT AND ENCHANT CHOICES
Infused on big pieces , sturdy on small pieces and Decisive Sword . As I said before , after getting enough tankiness , I go for Max Sustain and Max Group Support .
Tri-Stat enchants on Infused pieces and Stamina on Sturdy ones for maximum sustain . Weapon Enchant MUST be Crusher for group support . All jewelry enchanted with Block Cost Reduction to maximize sustain .
SKILLS
1.Bar ( Sword and Shield )
1- Ransack : I use this morph because there is always a Elemental Drain on the boss but I don't get the Minor Resist buffs all the time because Healers aim at DDs to give them Minor Berserk . Not to give tank Minor Resist buffs .
2- Heroic Slash : Minor Maim ( it works on bosses ) and Minor Heroism . Minor Heroism increases our sustain thanks to Battle Roar passive .
3- Igneous Shield : 8k Shield and 5% Stamina gain from Helping Hands passive . Also gives 3 Ultimate thanks to Mountain's Blessing passive . Use every 6 seconds .
4- Invigorating Drain : Most beautiful skill for this build . I use this pretty much all the time I don't need to block . Gives 5 Ultimate per second .
5- Absorb Magic : One of the best defensive skills . Boosts your mitigation , sustain and gives insane tankiness against casters .
Ultimate- Magma Armor : You can use whatever morph you want . I went with Corrosive for PvP but Magma Shell is better for pure PvE . I use this only if I am sure I am going to die .
2.Bar ( Sword and Shield )
1- Shuffle : 20% dodge chance . You can call it 20% damage mitigation and a tool to proc Tava's Favor .
2- Resolving Vigor / Unrelenting Grip : Vigor for very good AOE healing . Useful in certain situations . Unrelenting Grip for Trash fights where there are annoying archers and mages .
3- Inner Fire : Ranged Taunt : No need to morph . Always good to have a Magicka Taunt .
4- Retreating Maneuver / Choking Talons : Gives all team speed buff . Pretty useful in speed runs and certain fights . Choking Talons for trash fights . AOE Minor Maim and root . Pretty useful for DDs so they can burst trash packs down faster .
5- Volatile Armor : Other morph's shield is a joke . You can take it for pure PvE Tanking but I do some PvP so ...
Ultimate- Aggressive Warhorn : Gives all team 30% more damage on criticals for 9.5 seconds and buffs their all resource pools by 10% for 30 seconds . Insane Ultimate . Must use . Build got its name for abusive usage of this skill .
CHAMPION POINTS
Red : 87 Hardy , 80 Elemental Defender . ( 10 points into Thick Skinned after patch )
This build lacks some resist values . I close that gap with these .
Blue : 100 Blessed . Rest into Elfborn .
100 Blessed really helps with Vigor , Absorb Magic and Coagulating Blood . I use Coagulating Blood where I don't need Speed buff . Also , Arcane Well helps with Magicka sustain in Trash fights where I use lots of chains and Talons .
Green : 70 Warlord , 75 Arcanist , rest into Magician . I use it like this because I want the Master Gatherer passive . Most optional would be : 100 Warlord , 30 Arcanist , rest into Magician .
30 Arcanist is a must for Synergizer passive . What you do after that is up to you to be honest . I feel comfortable this way .
Food : Tri-Stat
I have lots of Magicka skills so I want a big pool of Magicka with high Stamina and enough Health . Tri-stat is the best choice for that .
Mundus : Atronach
More Igneous Shield means more Stamina . I tried Tower . It doesn't do as much since I have lots of Magicka skills which are not from Earthen Heart tree .
Potion : Stamina
To be honest , best choice would be tri-stat potions but I don't have money for that . Stamina potions are enough for me .
That is all for now . After patch , when I get Dragon and Werewolf set , I may update the build depending on how they do . Thanks for reading ! Hope you enjoy it !
Liofa
I have been tanking in MMORPGs for a long time and from my experience I learned that I only need enough Max Health to survive most hard-hitting attacks and go full sustain with everything I have . I used the same tactic in ESO and the results are very good . This build is tanky enough to survive everything ( including Gatling Gun from Rakkhat ) with a decent healer . Horny Tank has the best Ultimate Regeneration a DK Tank can get . Horny Tank gets his sustain from insane Ultimate usage and high Magicka Recovery . Anyways , let's start !
RACE
For Tanking in ESO , every race is good . Even Altmers have some nice stuff as a Stamina based DK Tank . I am playing as a Dunmer and will not change it after new DLC . I am a vampire so Flame Resistance is helpful with that . Also , I like to go with high Max Magicka compared to usual builds since I use lots of Magicka based skills so 9% Max Magicka bonus is really handy . Also , I get a 6% Max Stamina bonus which boosts my sustain with Helping Hands . So , your race should be giving either Magicka Recovery or Max Stamina . For best sustain , go with Redguard .
OVERALL STATS
Resist buffs applied with tri-stat food active .
http://imgur.com/a/LdMBA
(use DNS changer (ZenMate for example) if you can't see the image for some reasons )
ATTRIBUTES
All in Stamina .
You want to maximize your Stamina for boosting the effectiveness of Helping Hands passive . I get exactly 1686 Stamina with every usage of Igneous Shield with this setup . I have some purple enchants and purple items so it should be 1700-1750 with all items legendary with legendary enchants .
ITEMS
Tava's Favor : Hands down , best Ultimate regeneration set ever . People don't know that Shuffle dodges proc it as well . You don't need to roll dodge to proc it . What it does is , when you dodge an attack , you get 3 Ultimate per second for 3 seconds . So 9 Ultimate for every dodge . Also gives Max Health and Magicka Recovery which are useful .
Blood Spawn : Best option for this build's purpose . Gives 15 Ultimate with a 6% chance when getting hit .
Endurance : Special set with exceptionally higher Max Health bonus .
Agility : Increased Max Stamina while in front bar . Buffs our sustain .
Blessing Of The Potentates : We get a 10% reduction to Ultimate cost when on back bar where I keep Warhorn .
TRAIT AND ENCHANT CHOICES
Infused on big pieces , sturdy on small pieces and Decisive Sword . As I said before , after getting enough tankiness , I go for Max Sustain and Max Group Support .
Tri-Stat enchants on Infused pieces and Stamina on Sturdy ones for maximum sustain . Weapon Enchant MUST be Crusher for group support . All jewelry enchanted with Block Cost Reduction to maximize sustain .
SKILLS
1.Bar ( Sword and Shield )
1- Ransack : I use this morph because there is always a Elemental Drain on the boss but I don't get the Minor Resist buffs all the time because Healers aim at DDs to give them Minor Berserk . Not to give tank Minor Resist buffs .
2- Heroic Slash : Minor Maim ( it works on bosses ) and Minor Heroism . Minor Heroism increases our sustain thanks to Battle Roar passive .
3- Igneous Shield : 8k Shield and 5% Stamina gain from Helping Hands passive . Also gives 3 Ultimate thanks to Mountain's Blessing passive . Use every 6 seconds .
4- Invigorating Drain : Most beautiful skill for this build . I use this pretty much all the time I don't need to block . Gives 5 Ultimate per second .
5- Absorb Magic : One of the best defensive skills . Boosts your mitigation , sustain and gives insane tankiness against casters .
Ultimate- Magma Armor : You can use whatever morph you want . I went with Corrosive for PvP but Magma Shell is better for pure PvE . I use this only if I am sure I am going to die .
2.Bar ( Sword and Shield )
1- Shuffle : 20% dodge chance . You can call it 20% damage mitigation and a tool to proc Tava's Favor .
2- Resolving Vigor / Unrelenting Grip : Vigor for very good AOE healing . Useful in certain situations . Unrelenting Grip for Trash fights where there are annoying archers and mages .
3- Inner Fire : Ranged Taunt : No need to morph . Always good to have a Magicka Taunt .
4- Retreating Maneuver / Choking Talons : Gives all team speed buff . Pretty useful in speed runs and certain fights . Choking Talons for trash fights . AOE Minor Maim and root . Pretty useful for DDs so they can burst trash packs down faster .
5- Volatile Armor : Other morph's shield is a joke . You can take it for pure PvE Tanking but I do some PvP so ...
Ultimate- Aggressive Warhorn : Gives all team 30% more damage on criticals for 9.5 seconds and buffs their all resource pools by 10% for 30 seconds . Insane Ultimate . Must use . Build got its name for abusive usage of this skill .
CHAMPION POINTS
Red : 87 Hardy , 80 Elemental Defender . ( 10 points into Thick Skinned after patch )
This build lacks some resist values . I close that gap with these .
Blue : 100 Blessed . Rest into Elfborn .
100 Blessed really helps with Vigor , Absorb Magic and Coagulating Blood . I use Coagulating Blood where I don't need Speed buff . Also , Arcane Well helps with Magicka sustain in Trash fights where I use lots of chains and Talons .
Green : 70 Warlord , 75 Arcanist , rest into Magician . I use it like this because I want the Master Gatherer passive . Most optional would be : 100 Warlord , 30 Arcanist , rest into Magician .
30 Arcanist is a must for Synergizer passive . What you do after that is up to you to be honest . I feel comfortable this way .
Food : Tri-Stat
I have lots of Magicka skills so I want a big pool of Magicka with high Stamina and enough Health . Tri-stat is the best choice for that .
Mundus : Atronach
More Igneous Shield means more Stamina . I tried Tower . It doesn't do as much since I have lots of Magicka skills which are not from Earthen Heart tree .
Potion : Stamina
To be honest , best choice would be tri-stat potions but I don't have money for that . Stamina potions are enough for me .
That is all for now . After patch , when I get Dragon and Werewolf set , I may update the build depending on how they do . Thanks for reading ! Hope you enjoy it !
Liofa
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