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Curra's How to Tank Guide

Curragraigue
Curragraigue
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Like a lot of people that have DPS characters I endured the 1-2 hour waits for groups only to get grouped with a DPS who said they would tank with no taunt on the bar. I heard the rumours of tanks having really short que times so I decided to convert a DPS to a tank. It seemed to work so I decided to try and do it with all of my classes to get undaunted 9 and to test out my tanking strategy and general tips that may help people new to tanking.

I have had an opportunity to do alot of PUG runs which personally I think are the best way to test your builds as you get put into groups with people you haven't played with before so you need to learn their rotations and how to meld together quickly. So first my set of tanking rules that I follow:

1) Taunt! If you do not taunt and keep the attention of the boss when you can you are no tanking. When a boss is taunted a red mist forms around their head and stays there while they are taunted discussed further below.
2) Take the hits and don't die. As you are drawing aggro you need to be able to take all the hits you will receive. You do this by: blocking, having your resistances up and having your health up all discussed in more detail below.
3) Plan your pull. I stick to the theory that tanks always go in first and as such tanks decide what mobs/boss to pull which is discussed further below.

Taunt
There are only two taunts in the game the one hand and shield stamina puncture (first skill in the tree) and the magicka undaunted inner fire skill (which can be morphed for stamina). You should have both skills unlocked whether you are magicka or stamina. Personally I like the pierce armour morph on puncture because the application of major breach on both armour and spell resist helps the DPS out and means the DPS won't need to have a skill on their bar to do the same thing and if you need to get 33k armour resistance it is not hard to do even without the other morph. Since one hand and shield provides the best defence (for a weapon skill line) whether magicka or stamina I always run one hand and shield and so pierce armour is my bread and butter taunt. However some fights like the final boss in Fungal and the final boss in AA you need to be able to taunt the boss from a distance at times so having the Undaunted taunt can be useful for those fights, I usually swap out pierce armour in those cases.

Take Hits
The cap for damage mitigation from armour and spell resistance is 50% which equates to around 33k armour and spell resistance. There are a number of ways to increase resistance including skills, class passives, armour, set bonuses, CPs and mundus stone so read through your class skill morphs and passives and check set bonuses thoroughly before you make your armour. Obviously heavy armour provides a big increase to your resistance but as discussed in the next heading you also need to be mindful of your resource management. Medium gives stam regen and light armour gives magicka regen. Most of the time I will therefore go for 5 heavy (big pieces obviously) and then two pieces medium or light depending on which resource I need more of.

Resources
This is the number one area that you need to learn by playing your character as a tank. Learn your strengths and learn how many times you can cast a skill with the resources you have. I usually aim to have one set act as my resistance set and the other set help me with my resources management. As a tank you are not there for your damage you are there to take damage and not die so ensuring you have the resources to keep taunting, self heal, increase mitigation are all essential.

Crowd Control
Someone needs to do it and since tanks are controlling pull it makes sense that they also control mob location. The number one rule with PvE crowd control (cc) is that you want mobs stacked together so that your DPS can drop area of effect (AoE) attacks down to damage all of them at the same time for the most efficient kills. The two AoE roots in the game provide the best cc in the game for PvE; being the DK talons and the Sorc encase skills. However any skill that slows a group of mobs assists with cc so the main ones you will see used are caltrops, reflective light, standard and soul tether.

Blocking
You need to be able to block the big hits. The boss gives an animation to let you know a heavy attack is coming (yellow lines usually around their arms) for a second or two before the attack. If you see it stop everything and put block up. You will need enough stamina to block otherwise even with block up you will take the full hit. To help with blocking put sturdy on all of the armour you craft and on your shield for the block cost reduction. You can put a glyph on your jewellery as well to reduce stamina costs but if you have your resource management under control you probably won't need it. With trash fights I also like to block charges. While DPS should get out of the red sometimes with all the lights from AoEs they might not seem them so if you see a charge put block up and stand right in front of the charging mob. It stops and stuns the mob so it helps your DPS even you can do it.

Damage mitigation
In addition to resistances use shields and damage mitigation skills. DK, Sorc and Temp all have a class skill shield, there is also the Undaunted bone shield skill and the Alliance war shield ultimate. Damage mitigation can be obtained from some armour sets, skills (Temp Restoring Focus and Fighter's Guild Circle of protection) and ultimates (NB Consuming Darkness and morphs). For a more detailed review on this subject check out this post https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/279426/damage-mitigation-explanation-and-list-of-options/p1

Healing
Always have a self heal and boost your healing received and healing done with skills, passives and CPs. Vigor is significantly easier to get than it ever has been before. My recommendation is if you are stam character level from around 44 to 50 exclusively in Blackwater Blade campaign. By the time you hit 50 you should have Vigor and potentially even caltrops unlocked. BWB is a lot more forgiving on people who don't have a complete build yet so getting your stam heal should be easier here than it is in the Vet campaigns.

If people are interested I can also post my builds for the stam and magicka versions of each of the classes I have tanked on.

PS one thing I didn't deal with in this post was boss positioning. When you have taunt most bosses will follow you around, some don't but you soon learn which ones those are. If you have a standard boss that will follow you then face the boss away from the rest of your group. That way you take the AoE attacks rather than the squishy DPS. The other reason for turning the boss is so that you have a clear sight of them so you can see when they are doing their heavy attacks that need to be blocked. If someone goes down and particularly if two people are down move the boss away from the last person to help them so they can pick everyone else up without having to worry about getting hit by the boss.
Edited by Curragraigue on August 4, 2016 3:19AM
PUG Life - the true test of your skill

18 characters, 17 max level, at least 1 Stam and 1 Mag of every class, 1 of every race and 1200+ CP

Tanked to Undaunted 9+ Mag and Stam of every class using Group Finder for 90+% of the Vet Dungeon runs
  • Curragraigue
    Curragraigue
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    Stam DK
    My stam DK was always intended to be a tank so it is probably the tankiest character I have. I have 50 points in health with the rest in stam. Mundus stone I use Tower for more stam. I use purple food for the boost to all three stats. I use health pots, while tripots would be better I tend to find that I don't really need them.

    I use 5 piece heavy Armour Master with sturdy traits and 2 piece medium Bloodspawn with sturdy. I use 3 piece endurance jewellery with stam reduction cost. I use sword and board on both bars Oblivion's Foe set with sturdy on the shield and crushing on one weapon and boost weapon damage on the other.

    For my bars I use
    1) razor caltrops 2) resolving vigor 3) choking talons 4) invasion 5) eruption u) shifting standard
    1) pierce armour 2) green dragon's blood 3) immovable brute 4) venomous claw 5) igneous shield u) magma she'll

    The first bar is my trash bar and the second bar is my boss bar. While it is a waste I don't bother using immovable while fighting trash. With Bloodspawn, regular light attacks and mountain's blessing passives with earthen heart abilities regularly being used I have ultimate popping regularly.

    When fighting trash I invasion in on the largest group of mobs preferably a healer. I will then talons, then caltrops and then eruption on the mobs. If I have standard up I will drop standard and then light attack and invasion on any mobs near the healer. If I have squishy DPS or they run away pulling mobs away I will swap bars and pierce to pull the mobs back in. Both caltrops and eruption are expensive so make sure to only reapply when you need them. Unfortunately eruption has a very small circle so choose your targets well. Save your stam for vigor, while you won't need it as often for a good group for a PUG you need to be a little more defensive and self reliant.

    Boss I will usually invasion in then pierce, immovable brute and venomous claw. For your heal use igneous shield first then GDB so that you get the boost to your heal. Keep immovable up for the capped resistance. Like with the trash bar make sure to keep magicka spare for your heals particularly given that you will have a smaller pool as a stam DK. While it is important for both boss and trash fights I find resource management is more important for boss fights so just keep in mind the battle roar passive (probably my favourite passive in the game) drop standard or pop magma shell to get resources back.
    PUG Life - the true test of your skill

    18 characters, 17 max level, at least 1 Stam and 1 Mag of every class, 1 of every race and 1200+ CP

    Tanked to Undaunted 9+ Mag and Stam of every class using Group Finder for 90+% of the Vet Dungeon runs
  • Curragraigue
    Curragraigue
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    Stam Templar
    I have 20 points in health with the rest in stam. Mundus stone I use Tower for more stam. I use purple food and health pots.

    I use 5 heavy pieces willow's path with sturdy, a light helm with reinforced and medium infused both engine guardian. I would swap the helm for a medium sturdy or infused trait just waiting for a drop or vendor sale. Sword and board Oblivion's Foe on both bars with sturdy on the shield and health return on the weapons. I use 3 piece endurance jewellery. I don't use Bloodspawn because the temp ultimates are underwhelming imo other than empowering sweep which is a cheap ultimate anyway. So instead I focused on regen for my sets to match the repentance passive.

    For my bars I use:
    1) reflective light 2) biting jabs 3) invasion 4) heroic slash/repentance 5) radiant shield u) solar prison/aggressive war horn
    1) pierce armour 2) vigor 3) restoring focus 4) repentance 5) power of the light u) empowering sweep

    For the trash fights I start with reflective light then invasion shield, heroic slash for more cc and jabs. I will probably eventually swap caltrops for reflective light. I currently use reflective light for the illuminate and prism passives in addition to cc. The problem is that it can only cc 3 at most so caltrops would be a more effective cc. Normally I don't have a heal on the trash bar so I am more reliant on the shield and pots or swapping for vigor but I prefer the shield to the Temp cleanse or a Temp heal it also helps to draw aggro applying some damage. If the heals are not great or if no one else is running it I usually put repentance on both bars so I can have a heal, more regen and become a stam battery.

    For boss fights while I have a big pool of stam and good regen I am using a lot of stam so I usually only block heavy attacks so I can get stam regen. With only one magicka skill on the bar restoring focus should be up all the time. Power of Light with Pierce Armour results in both major and minor breaches of boss armour and spell resistance so keep Power of the Light up 100% of the time in addition to maintaining taunt with pierce. Repentance is there for the regen mainly but don't forget that your dwemer recharger from the guardian set counts as a body that can be used for repentance. I mainly use sweep for my ult for the additional defence but war horn would be a more useful group buff for boss fights if you can wait for it to charge.
    PUG Life - the true test of your skill

    18 characters, 17 max level, at least 1 Stam and 1 Mag of every class, 1 of every race and 1200+ CP

    Tanked to Undaunted 9+ Mag and Stam of every class using Group Finder for 90+% of the Vet Dungeon runs
  • Rawblin
    Rawblin
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    Quite a lot of good info in here. Just curious though, is Stamina the only way to go for actual PvE tanking builds?

    And if so, what about a Sorc Stam Tank? I've heard that root is the single most important ability for tanks in PvE, because of no diminishing returns. And since Sorcs and DKs are the only folk lucky enough to have it, and we all know DKs can tank well... It might be fun to be a decent Sorc Tank.
  • Curragraigue
    Curragraigue
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    Rawblin wrote: »
    Quite a lot of good info in here. Just curious though, is Stamina the only way to go for actual PvE tanking builds?

    And if so, what about a Sorc Stam Tank? I've heard that root is the single most important ability for tanks in PvE, because of no diminishing returns. And since Sorcs and DKs are the only folk lucky enough to have it, and we all know DKs can tank well... It might be fun to be a decent Sorc Tank.

    It is certainly possible to do a magicka tank as well. I have done a magicka DK and magicka NB tank with varying degrees of success. I find stam tanks a little more forgiving than magicka but I also find in a good group that the magicka tanks can be more of a third DPS that off tanks. I usually block less on a Magicka tank and I'm more conservative with the stam taunt.

    Roots make life easy for everyone whoever uses them. NBs have single target roots but it is a waste of a skill spot for a tank imo. Since tanks should be dictating pulls it makes sense for them to have an AoE root on their bar if they have one. Having said that if everyone stays together the mobs will stay together as well so it is not the most important skill for a tank imo, the taunt is the most important skill because drawing aggro and holding it is what makes a tank.

    A Sorc tank should be very viable. I am currently levelling another Stam Sorc that I want to try some tanking on and I have a few ideas about a magicka Sorc tank. I will try and post so more builds soon but happy to help you theory craft a Sorc tank if you want to try one. @Rawblin

    PUG Life - the true test of your skill

    18 characters, 17 max level, at least 1 Stam and 1 Mag of every class, 1 of every race and 1200+ CP

    Tanked to Undaunted 9+ Mag and Stam of every class using Group Finder for 90+% of the Vet Dungeon runs
  • DannyLV702
    DannyLV702
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    I appreciate this post! I've been wanting to use my DK for tanking so I can increase my undaunted levels. I'm excited to try something that isn't dps for once :)
  • Dubhliam
    Dubhliam
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    Very well written guide.

    I tank with all classes, with only one class specced into stamina - sorc.

    I highly suggest making a magicka Dragonknight tank, the sheer amount of crowd control it can provide is unprecedented.
    Imagine pulling EVERY long range mob, and keeping all mobs pinned to the ground non stop.

    Magicka Dragonkinghts don't have trouble permablocking because of their class passives - Battle Roar and Helping hands.
    You can focus your build to ultimate generation, and your group will have a constant War Horn buff that also replenishes your resources each time you activate it.

    I chose to go for a more crowd control approach - which requires stacking a lot of magicka regen. With enough regen, you can cast Igneous shield after every other skill, which will restore 5% of your stamina each time.

    It's important to note that even if you build your DK tank with magicka regen and spell cost reduction, you also need to have a large stamina pool.
    Prismatic Defense enchantments and tri-stat food will help you build a large pool of all three of your resources, all of which are important for a magicka tank.
    If your character does not swap into DD or Healer roles, you may also split your attributes between stamina and magicka.
    Usually, I aim to have around 20k+ stamina, 25k+ health, and rest into magicka.

    Try mag DK tank out, I assure you you'll have fun ;)
    >>>Detailed Justice System Concept thread<<<
  • Rawblin
    Rawblin
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    @Dubhliam Oh that does sound fun! I'll give it a shot once I finally get around to leveling up a DK haha. I'm a sucker for Magicka builds really, and so far only have a MagSorc and Magplar(Heals/DPS).

    So yea that sounds like it would be right up my alley! Thanks a bunch :)
  • AzuraKin
    AzuraKin
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    Stam DK
    My stam DK was always intended to be a tank so it is probably the tankiest character I have. I have 50 points in health with the rest in stam. Mundus stone I use Tower for more stam. I use purple food for the boost to all three stats. I use health pots, while tripots would be better I tend to find that I don't really need them.

    I use 5 piece heavy Armour Master with sturdy traits and 2 piece medium Bloodspawn with sturdy. I use 3 piece endurance jewellery with stam reduction cost. I use sword and board on both bars Oblivion's Foe set with sturdy on the shield and crushing on one weapon and boost weapon damage on the other.

    For my bars I use
    1) razor caltrops 2) resolving vigor 3) choking talons 4) invasion 5) eruption u) shifting standard
    1) pierce armour 2) green dragon's blood 3) immovable brute 4) venomous claw 5) igneous shield u) magma she'll

    The first bar is my trash bar and the second bar is my boss bar. While it is a waste I don't bother using immovable while fighting trash. With Bloodspawn, regular light attacks and mountain's blessing passives with earthen heart abilities regularly being used I have ultimate popping regularly.

    When fighting trash I invasion in on the largest group of mobs preferably a healer. I will then talons, then caltrops and then eruption on the mobs. If I have standard up I will drop standard and then light attack and invasion on any mobs near the healer. If I have squishy DPS or they run away pulling mobs away I will swap bars and pierce to pull the mobs back in. Both caltrops and eruption are expensive so make sure to only reapply when you need them. Unfortunately eruption has a very small circle so choose your targets well. Save your stam for vigor, while you won't need it as often for a good group for a PUG you need to be a little more defensive and self reliant.

    Boss I will usually invasion in then pierce, immovable brute and venomous claw. For your heal use igneous shield first then GDB so that you get the boost to your heal. Keep immovable up for the capped resistance. Like with the trash bar make sure to keep magicka spare for your heals particularly given that you will have a smaller pool as a stam DK. While it is important for both boss and trash fights I find resource management is more important for boss fights so just keep in mind the battle roar passive (probably my favourite passive in the game) drop standard or pop magma shell to get resources back.

    you really dont need points into health as a tank or at most more then 10 if you low on cp. (this is based on my xp with a dk tank in which i put 14 points into health thinking i needed it and i now have 25k health (target health for tank) without food/drink. that said i wont respec those yet as i still havent decided to go more stam or more magicka focus or keep it split 50/50. also i am training skills ( i train all skills and both morphs regardless if i plan on using) so i generally keep 1 taunt on bar for tanking and rest of skills are skills in training so i dont use my heavy armor skill to push to 35k resists as well as many other skills, all i do is run into a mob and heavy attack, and taunt every thing i can. ( i have tanked easily over 12 adds without issue and rarely ever block) wether i am bad or good at tanking i dont know, but i know few players who have commented have appreciated how i tank.
    v160 spellsword (nightblade)
    v160 restoration archmage (Templar)
    v160 battlemage (sorcerer)
    v160 restoration archmage (Templar)
    v160 warrior (DragonKnight)
    v160 assassin (nightblade)
    v160 swordsman (sorcerer)
    v160 spellsword (nightblade)
  • Curragraigue
    Curragraigue
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    AzuraKin wrote: »
    Stam DK
    My stam DK was always intended to be a tank so it is probably the tankiest character I have. I have 50 points in health with the rest in stam. Mundus stone I use Tower for more stam. I use purple food for the boost to all three stats. I use health pots, while tripots would be better I tend to find that I don't really need them.

    I use 5 piece heavy Armour Master with sturdy traits and 2 piece medium Bloodspawn with sturdy. I use 3 piece endurance jewellery with stam reduction cost. I use sword and board on both bars Oblivion's Foe set with sturdy on the shield and crushing on one weapon and boost weapon damage on the other.

    For my bars I use
    1) razor caltrops 2) resolving vigor 3) choking talons 4) invasion 5) eruption u) shifting standard
    1) pierce armour 2) green dragon's blood 3) immovable brute 4) venomous claw 5) igneous shield u) magma she'll

    The first bar is my trash bar and the second bar is my boss bar. While it is a waste I don't bother using immovable while fighting trash. With Bloodspawn, regular light attacks and mountain's blessing passives with earthen heart abilities regularly being used I have ultimate popping regularly.

    When fighting trash I invasion in on the largest group of mobs preferably a healer. I will then talons, then caltrops and then eruption on the mobs. If I have standard up I will drop standard and then light attack and invasion on any mobs near the healer. If I have squishy DPS or they run away pulling mobs away I will swap bars and pierce to pull the mobs back in. Both caltrops and eruption are expensive so make sure to only reapply when you need them. Unfortunately eruption has a very small circle so choose your targets well. Save your stam for vigor, while you won't need it as often for a good group for a PUG you need to be a little more defensive and self reliant.

    Boss I will usually invasion in then pierce, immovable brute and venomous claw. For your heal use igneous shield first then GDB so that you get the boost to your heal. Keep immovable up for the capped resistance. Like with the trash bar make sure to keep magicka spare for your heals particularly given that you will have a smaller pool as a stam DK. While it is important for both boss and trash fights I find resource management is more important for boss fights so just keep in mind the battle roar passive (probably my favourite passive in the game) drop standard or pop magma shell to get resources back.

    you really dont need points into health as a tank or at most more then 10 if you low on cp. (this is based on my xp with a dk tank in which i put 14 points into health thinking i needed it and i now have 25k health (target health for tank) without food/drink. that said i wont respec those yet as i still havent decided to go more stam or more magicka focus or keep it split 50/50. also i am training skills ( i train all skills and both morphs regardless if i plan on using) so i generally keep 1 taunt on bar for tanking and rest of skills are skills in training so i dont use my heavy armor skill to push to 35k resists as well as many other skills, all i do is run into a mob and heavy attack, and taunt every thing i can. ( i have tanked easily over 12 adds without issue and rarely ever block) wether i am bad or good at tanking i dont know, but i know few players who have commented have appreciated how i tank.

    How many attribute points you put in to health depends on a few factors but the main ones are what glyphs you are using and what armour sets you are using. The Armour Master Set has one healthy boost and the Bloodspawn set has no health boost. I have more points in health and so I can use more glyphs for stam. It is really about looking at your final attribute pools and working out how best to boost the pools you need more points in.

    Personally I wouldn't use PUG vet dungeon runs as the time to train up skills I am not going to use in the dungeon. I try to focus on what skills I will actually need to use to help in my role as a tank for the group.
    PUG Life - the true test of your skill

    18 characters, 17 max level, at least 1 Stam and 1 Mag of every class, 1 of every race and 1200+ CP

    Tanked to Undaunted 9+ Mag and Stam of every class using Group Finder for 90+% of the Vet Dungeon runs
  • Curragraigue
    Curragraigue
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    Magicka DK
    My magicka DK was set up as a DPS so it really is more of an off tank. I have run all the first and second zone Vet Dungeons on him without any problem. I have only done Crypt as a tank with him in a group of people I know.

    As I was always planning on being an off tank my resists are lower and I rely more upon my shield and self heals. So I wear 5 pieces of medium Twice Born Star with divines, 2 light Bloodspawn head reinforced and shoulders infused (although divines would probably be better), 3 piece willpower or 3 piece endurance (depending on the group and whether it is going to be a fast or more blocking run) sword and board on both bars with Oblivions set with sturdy trait on shield and crushing and weapon power boost on the weapons. Mundas stones I went with health and stam regen.

    For my bars I went:
    1) pierce armour 2) Green Dragons Blood 3) burning embers 4) heroic slash 5) igneous shield u) corrosive armour
    1) draw essence 2) GDB 3) burning talons 4) invasion 5) eruption u) shifting standard

    I mainly fight the same way I do with my stam DK. The main differences are draw essence rather than caltrops and heroic slash rather than immovable for more ult gain. You also get health back from burning embers so make sure to reapply the dot when you see the health return animation. Because the resistances are lower you need to reapply your shield more often but the stam recovery from medium allows you to regen faster when not blocking so that you can maintain taunt, apply heroic for the ult and block the big hits only while still having stam for one roll dodge if required.

    The build is focused on helping with DPS but remember that your role is not to die so while DPS works well in a good group you need to be mindful of your resources more if the group is struggling. DK tanks are only allowed to die when everyone else is dead ;) so if the DPS keep dieing or you are getting intermittent heals focus on defence for your resources and not offence. The fight might take a little longer but it is better than a wipe.

    Would love to hear from any magicka DKs that are more focused on serious tanking rather than off tanking and what your builds are so please post below.

    PUG Life - the true test of your skill

    18 characters, 17 max level, at least 1 Stam and 1 Mag of every class, 1 of every race and 1200+ CP

    Tanked to Undaunted 9+ Mag and Stam of every class using Group Finder for 90+% of the Vet Dungeon runs
  • Curragraigue
    Curragraigue
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    Stam NB

    For my Stam NB I wanted to take the idea of a sap tank and convert it slightly to a stam build with a focus on ult regen (not dissimilar to my DK build in a lot of respects. I have tanked most of the PvE content with little difficulty with this build.

    I wear 5 piece heavy Tava's Blessing with sturdy trait and with 2 health enchants and 3 stam enchants. I wear 3 piece endurance with stam cost reduction. 2 medium Bloodspawn pieces with sturdy trait. Sword and board on both bars Oblivions Foe with sturdy trait on shield and stam enchants. I use health pots and tri stat food.

    For my bars I use:
    1) Pierce 2) Refreshing Path 3) Shuffle 4) Heroic slash 5) Leeching strikes u) Veil of Blades
    1) Funnel Health 2) Vigor 3) Power extraction 4) Shuffle 5) Teleport Strike u) Soul Tether

    The first bar is my boss bar. I have Refreshing Path for the Shadow Barrier passive Major Resolve and Major Ward buffs that are extended because I'm in 5 piece heavy and for the Dark Vigor passive boost to health. I obviously have Shuffle up 100% of the time for boss fights for both the dodge chance, cleanse for snares and for the ult regen with the Tava set, while you could use Mirage for more resistance I prefer a stam cost and the cleanse over the increase in resist so I can spare my magicka for heals with refreshing path and more importantly leeching strikes. Leeching strikes should be your go to skill for resource management it is a fantastic skill for a tank so use it when ever you can. As I have said before a tank is not in a group for damage for the most part they are there to take hits and stay alive so keep your resources stocked with this skill when ever you need to. Also as I am aiming for an ult regen build I try to heroic slash, use pots (NB passive catalyst gives ult when you drink a pot) in addition to light attacks, Bloodspawn proc and shuffle for Tava procs. Veil of Blades is the DPS ult version but it still provides a good damage mitigation for everyone standing in it. If you are going to be serious about NB tanking then you should use Bolstering Darkness instead.

    The second bar is my trash bar and the obvious first thing to note is that there is no real cc other than the ult. As such you need everyone to stack to keep the mobs together. Teleport strike on to the biggest cluster and power extraction as your first attack to draw attention with an AoE. Hopefully your group will learn to wait for you to pull before they start bringing the big DPS that will draw aggro. If you have problems with DPS running off to a corner swap bars and start taunting mobs. I have found most people pick up quick on how it works and you won't need to as everyone likes a good turkey barrel AoE attack and heals. Soul Tether is a great cc and heal for you so if you know a big trash pull is coming try to generate ult and have the ult ready to go. With all the ways to generate ult I rarely have to wait long for it to pop even if you don't have it before the pull.

    This one is one of my favourite tank builds and I think it works really well with a little practice and patience. If you are having trouble with cc for trash just swap out funnel health (which I only have so I have another option for resource use and for another group heal) or the second shuffle for caltrops. I like having shuffle on both bars so that it can be up 100% without having to bar swap all the time.
    PUG Life - the true test of your skill

    18 characters, 17 max level, at least 1 Stam and 1 Mag of every class, 1 of every race and 1200+ CP

    Tanked to Undaunted 9+ Mag and Stam of every class using Group Finder for 90+% of the Vet Dungeon runs
  • Curragraigue
    Curragraigue
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    Mag Sorc

    This one is still a work in progress so I might come back and make some changes but currently how I have it set up is 5 piece heavy Twice Born Star with divines on all of the pieces and magicka glyphs. Mundus stones are Mage (max mag) and Atronach (mag regen). I have sword and board on both bars Oblivion's Foe with stam glyphs on shields and Bloodspawn light armour mag glyphs. Tri stat food but even with this this is the lowest stam pool I have run with a tank and so it is heavily reliant on mobility (discussed below) to move rather than dodge and stam is used sparingly on taunts and block only.

    For my bars I use:
    1) Pierce 2) Boundless Storm 3) Bound Aegis 4) Hardened Ward 5) Degeneration u) Suppression Field
    1) Heroic Slash 2) Lightening Flood 3) Shattering Prison 4) Bound Aegis 5) Streak u) Shooting Star

    The things I'm still testing are:

    1) I tried to use Daedric Minefield for some offensive, health return with the passive and crowd control. I felt the magicka cost was too high and I did not seem to be getting a full 4% health back when a mob stepped on one so I dropped it, but I might try it again if I can squeeze it on a bar.
    2) I went with Bound Aegis rather than the Clanfear. I went Bound Aegis for the minor buffs to resists and the boost to max magicka. With a good shield option I think the max magicka has more of a benefit for me than the boost to max health from the clanfear slot. Since I went with Aegis I put Degeneration on for the heal which also gives another magicka boost from the mages guild passive.
    3) I haven't put crit surge on my bar. I am tempted to swap out heroic slash for crit surge so I have another potential source of heal return but it goes against my usual playstyle of having at least one skill that uses my minor resource pool on each bar. I also like both of my ults for tanking so having another way to ult regen is always a plus in my book.

    The first bar is my boss bar. I really have to be careful with the taunt to not over use it so I have stam left to block. Boundless Storm needs to be up 100% for the major physical and spell resist boosts. I also use it for mobility rather than dodge roll. Although you should still have enough stam for a dodge roll particularly if you have CPs in tumbling (which I always do on all of my characters) I will only dodge roll if there is no other option because my stam regen is atrocious with this build and I don't have a siphoning strikes, helping hands or repentance option. The shield goes up regularly to help with health regen and just in case if the healer isn't able to heal. I'm always light attacking for ult regen and to give my stam regen a chance to tick so degeneration is a perfect complement to getting a regular heal from both using it and light attacking regularly.

    The second bar is the trash bar and has a good root with shattering prison (just be careful wear you aim it if you are used to the face roll DK talons cc ;) ) it has lightening flood for some AoE (I prefer the greater radius so I can hit more mobs) and streak for both a gap closer and stun. I use streak to help out the DDs by giving a stun to the mobs as an additional form of cc and damage when required. Heroic slash is there for ult regen and shooting star is just a great AoE ult for trash.
    PUG Life - the true test of your skill

    18 characters, 17 max level, at least 1 Stam and 1 Mag of every class, 1 of every race and 1200+ CP

    Tanked to Undaunted 9+ Mag and Stam of every class using Group Finder for 90+% of the Vet Dungeon runs
  • Curragraigue
    Curragraigue
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    Oh forgot to tag @Rawblin since you were asking about magicka characters and Sorcs in particular. Let me know if you have already tried to tank and what you went with for your set up if you did.
    PUG Life - the true test of your skill

    18 characters, 17 max level, at least 1 Stam and 1 Mag of every class, 1 of every race and 1200+ CP

    Tanked to Undaunted 9+ Mag and Stam of every class using Group Finder for 90+% of the Vet Dungeon runs
  • Curragraigue
    Curragraigue
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    Mag NB

    I made my magicka NB into a blend of the sap tank and my stam DK. While a pure sap tank is a lot more fun and is great for an organised group I have found with a PUG you are better having more protection and being able to do a more conventional tank role. So I went 5 piece heavy armour master, 2 piece light Bloodspawn, 3 piece endurance or willpower depending on group and how much blocking I need and two piece Oblivion's Foe. I found with the pool of magicka I have (normally a magicka DPS) that I had enough magicka to be able to do a lot of sap essence with mobs but I'm not hitting as hard because I have distributed resources to tank. So the style of play is a little different from the usual sap tank. Tri stat food and tri pots although health pots should be fine given siphoning attacks.

    For my bars I use:
    1) Pierce Armour 2) Refreshing path 3) Immovable Brute 4) Dark Shades 5) Siphoning Attacks u) Veil of Blades
    1) Swallow Soul 2) Concealed Weapon/Impale 3) Sap Essence 4) Heroic Slash 5) Lotus Fan u) Soul Tether

    Like the Stam NB tank I use refreshing path on the boss bar for the passive boost to resistances. Like the stam DK I use immovable for more resistance and a boost to health with armour master. Dark Shades are there for the maim reduction in damage received from the target but it also pops the resistances and both the refreshing path and shades boost your max health which is helpful for your boss bar. I try to line up the refreshing path with any group members on the other side of the boss so that they get the small heal over time (HoT) from the skill as well. As with the stam NB Siphoning Strikes is your resource regen tool. However the Siphoning strikes morph does not give health back so be careful given that your only heal on the boss bar is the small HoT from refreshing path. I have not found it a problem given the boosts to health pool from the three shadow skills (Veil is shadow as well) and the immovable brute armour master boost. You can always swap bars for a quick swallow soul boost if the healer is down and you have a cool down on your pots already. As with the stam NB the Veil ult is a great boss ult, just stand in the ult for damage reduction and while the boss is in it they take damage.

    Trash bar is similar to the stam NB. Gap closer in on a group of mobs with lotus fan, then sap essence to draw aggro and get the mobs to stack on you then the other three skills depending on the situation. As a magicka NB you can provide a back up healer. If that is the plan go funnel health and not swallow soul. I prefer swallow soul on my magicka NB and it is probably the better morph for a tank with the boost to vitality but it is a purely self heal. Heroic slash as always for the ult regen is my preferred option. Soul tether is a great cc ult for trash so make sure to always do light attacks, drink pots (NB ult regen passive) and proc Bloodspawn ult regen getting hit to get as much ult as you can.
    PUG Life - the true test of your skill

    18 characters, 17 max level, at least 1 Stam and 1 Mag of every class, 1 of every race and 1200+ CP

    Tanked to Undaunted 9+ Mag and Stam of every class using Group Finder for 90+% of the Vet Dungeon runs
  • Minute_Waltz
    Minute_Waltz
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    Nice work on the guides, one important thing that is missing here is group support, and this is the next step in tanking once you master the taunt/position/survival etc, similar to how as a healer once you can keep your group alive all the time along with resource support, you should then be looking at increasing your group's dps.

    Whether its dungeons or trials, its always good to have tanks running warhorn and either armor debuff sets (alkosh), group support sets (ebon/worm/hircine), or ulti regen/reduction for more warhorn in fights (tava/dragon).
  • Curragraigue
    Curragraigue
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    Nice work on the guides, one important thing that is missing here is group support, and this is the next step in tanking once you master the taunt/position/survival etc, similar to how as a healer once you can keep your group alive all the time along with resource support, you should then be looking at increasing your group's dps.

    Whether its dungeons or trials, its always good to have tanks running warhorn and either armor debuff sets (alkosh), group support sets (ebon/worm/hircine), or ulti regen/reduction for more warhorn in fights (tava/dragon).

    Good point. Although I'm still not sold on warhorn for group dungeons. Warhorn like Barrier is designed so that the ult cost is reflective of the number of allies it can be used on in PvP. The cost benefit goes down in my mind when you are using it to buff four people. I can see the value of warhorn for trials where you have a half raid but in that case I wouldn't limit it just to tanks I would get a few people running it so you can try and keep warhorn up all the time in boss fights.
    PUG Life - the true test of your skill

    18 characters, 17 max level, at least 1 Stam and 1 Mag of every class, 1 of every race and 1200+ CP

    Tanked to Undaunted 9+ Mag and Stam of every class using Group Finder for 90+% of the Vet Dungeon runs
  • Minute_Waltz
    Minute_Waltz
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    Nice work on the guides, one important thing that is missing here is group support, and this is the next step in tanking once you master the taunt/position/survival etc, similar to how as a healer once you can keep your group alive all the time along with resource support, you should then be looking at increasing your group's dps.

    Whether its dungeons or trials, its always good to have tanks running warhorn and either armor debuff sets (alkosh), group support sets (ebon/worm/hircine), or ulti regen/reduction for more warhorn in fights (tava/dragon).

    Good point. Although I'm still not sold on warhorn for group dungeons. Warhorn like Barrier is designed so that the ult cost is reflective of the number of allies it can be used on in PvP. The cost benefit goes down in my mind when you are using it to buff four people. I can see the value of warhorn for trials where you have a half raid but in that case I wouldn't limit it just to tanks I would get a few people running it so you can try and keep warhorn up all the time in boss fights.

    Just wondering what kind of dps do you achieve on boss fights as a tank, and how much ulti (shifting standard for example) contribute to that? I can understand healer not using horns in dungeons as they can usually pull high dps and fight is short, but i feel a horn with tank would give better group dps overall.
  • Curragraigue
    Curragraigue
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    Nice work on the guides, one important thing that is missing here is group support, and this is the next step in tanking once you master the taunt/position/survival etc, similar to how as a healer once you can keep your group alive all the time along with resource support, you should then be looking at increasing your group's dps.

    Whether its dungeons or trials, its always good to have tanks running warhorn and either armor debuff sets (alkosh), group support sets (ebon/worm/hircine), or ulti regen/reduction for more warhorn in fights (tava/dragon).

    Good point. Although I'm still not sold on warhorn for group dungeons. Warhorn like Barrier is designed so that the ult cost is reflective of the number of allies it can be used on in PvP. The cost benefit goes down in my mind when you are using it to buff four people. I can see the value of warhorn for trials where you have a half raid but in that case I wouldn't limit it just to tanks I would get a few people running it so you can try and keep warhorn up all the time in boss fights.

    Just wondering what kind of dps do you achieve on boss fights as a tank, and how much ulti (shifting standard for example) contribute to that? I can understand healer not using horns in dungeons as they can usually pull high dps and fight is short, but i feel a horn with tank would give better group dps overall.

    On PS4 so no accurate way to measure DPS but the majority of the tanks I'm running are DPS set ups that are off tanking as set out in first post (all of the CPs are set as if they are DPS) so I can see even without numbers and just looking at the boss bar that even in tank gear I'm outperforming the DPS in some of the PUGs I am doing.

    Because I am mainly PUG (as set out in the first post) the DPS of the people in that role is variable with each run so with some runs you may be right but usually in those runs even without warhorn the Vet dungeons are getting done in 15-20 mins anyway the extra minute or two saved by having warhorn boost is not going to get any other speed run achievement. As I said in the Stampler tank (where I have Warhorn as a switch ult in a good group) the DPS boost of Warhorn probably would be better but the damage mitigation from sweep is my preference. With all of the other classes I think the utilities that come with the ultimates are worth more than a boost to stats for 4 people.
    PUG Life - the true test of your skill

    18 characters, 17 max level, at least 1 Stam and 1 Mag of every class, 1 of every race and 1200+ CP

    Tanked to Undaunted 9+ Mag and Stam of every class using Group Finder for 90+% of the Vet Dungeon runs
  • Brrrofski
    Brrrofski
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    I love tanking on my sap tank.

    Great damage (hitting 7k Swallow soul on bosses non stop which is great added dps), incredibly sustain and awesome survivability.

    I can tank any dungeon comfortably without a healer now. Even prison and white gold.

    I don't have undaunted 9 yet..

    33k magica
    31k health
    20k stamina
    1555 magica recovery
    2700 spell damage (with wrath kicking in)
    32% spell crit
    29k spell resit
    28.5k physical resist

    I run 5 kagernacs, 5 baharas curse and 2 nerien'eth. Looking to maybe swap baharas with necropotence next patch maybe. Still got a week on xbox till then. Double sword and board

    Pierce armor / sap essence / absorb magica / inner light / Swallow soul / Veil of blades

    Inner fire / summon shade / refreshing path / syphoning strikes / Mirage / shooting star (agressive war horn with a good group)

    The stuff I've done on this is beyond what other tanks can do. It's really pug friendly. I've soloed valkyn skoria (pre nerf) from 40% health with no platforms left, the boss in Coa that summons two air atros from 57% health, two manned the quad bosses in icp and done a lot of normal dungoens solo. No other class would be able to do that as tank I don't think. As soon as I get undaunted 9 I'm going to try the blood spawn test solo.

    Honestly, the things that can do it amazing. It's great fun too. Super active. Syphoning strikes, Mirage and path are always up, shades on boss for extra dps and before big hits. Sap mobs in between taints and interrupts, Swallow soul spam on bosses.

    It lacks chains and talons. There's no getting around that. You don't need them for 4 man dungeons anyway. Ult gain is stupid on a nb by the way. I often start trash pics with shooting star and it's up bu the end of it.

    Just something to keep in mind. A saptank is totally viable, even though stam Dk Tava's tank is the in thing.

    As soon as I get undaunted 9 I'll be releasing a build for it anyway. Hopefully with some necropotence (after testing) or even that new one from one of the dungeons which heals ans gives resources when you drop below 30%. That might be awesome to be fair.
  • Brrrofski
    Brrrofski
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    OP, why use immovable on a sap tank? Using shades/refreshing path gives you thay buff for 8 seconds anyway. Just reapply that and save stam.
  • Brrrofski
    Brrrofski
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    Nice work on the guides, one important thing that is missing here is group support, and this is the next step in tanking once you master the taunt/position/survival etc, similar to how as a healer once you can keep your group alive all the time along with resource support, you should then be looking at increasing your group's dps.

    Whether its dungeons or trials, its always good to have tanks running warhorn and either armor debuff sets (alkosh), group support sets (ebon/worm/hircine), or ulti regen/reduction for more warhorn in fights (tava/dragon).

    Fro trials I absolutely agree. For 4 man dungeons adding your own dps works fine. For pugs i prefer running my own dps set up. Getting war horn and group buffs for randoms is often wasted.
  • Curragraigue
    Curragraigue
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    Brrrofski wrote: »
    OP, why use immovable on a sap tank? Using shades/refreshing path gives you thay buff for 8 seconds anyway. Just reapply that and save stam.

    It is not a sap tank build it just uses some of the ideas of a sap tank. It is more of a conventional tank build.

    Wearing Armour Master so I need an Armour skill for the 5th trait. It actually boosts me over resist caps with immovable and refreshing so have been considering putting Shuffle on for dodge chance instead especially since immovable prevents very few boss knock backs.
    PUG Life - the true test of your skill

    18 characters, 17 max level, at least 1 Stam and 1 Mag of every class, 1 of every race and 1200+ CP

    Tanked to Undaunted 9+ Mag and Stam of every class using Group Finder for 90+% of the Vet Dungeon runs
  • Brrrofski
    Brrrofski
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    Sorry, missed the armor master part. Makes sense now.
  • Curragraigue
    Curragraigue
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    Not completely happy with the Mag NB build so I'm going to try running Alessia's Bulwark instead of Armour Master and Lord Warden instead of Bloodspawn. I'll then take Immovable off the Boss bar and put Double Take in instead. Mirage would be better as a tank skill but I love Double Take in PvP so I'll try to use the speed buff instead of roll dodge to avoid AoEs like I try to do with my Mag Sorc build.

    Looking to see if the damage reduction from Bulwark stacks with the Shades maim damage reduction on bosses. The resistances will be more reliant on the proc from Lord Warden but with a 50% chance and with all the hits coming in I'm hoping for a close to 100% up time on the Arm and Spell Resist boost for me and melee DPS. I'm also going one health glyph helm, magicka glyphs on chest and belt and then stam glyphs on greaves, shield, gauntlets and sabatons to have some more stam for blocking and taunting.

    The main reason for trying the change was the high stam cost on immovable, the fact that it provided little assistance with boss fights, I already had enough of a health boost (from NB passive with Refreshing Path and Shades) without 5% from immovable with Armour Master and it brings me back to my usual play style of having only one minor pool skill on each bar (pierce armour) to conserve resources. I'll give it a go after the patch update on console and then update this post on whether I prefer the change in sets or not.

    Update
    Works well particularly if you have melee DPS because they will get the buffs as well. The blue disco ball is a little distracting and is solid so you have to move the camera to see behind it. The damage mitigation does seem to be better with this set up so the armour and shades damage mitigation seem to be stacking.
    Edited by Curragraigue on August 21, 2016 9:02AM
    PUG Life - the true test of your skill

    18 characters, 17 max level, at least 1 Stam and 1 Mag of every class, 1 of every race and 1200+ CP

    Tanked to Undaunted 9+ Mag and Stam of every class using Group Finder for 90+% of the Vet Dungeon runs
  • Brrrofski
    Brrrofski
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    Honestly man, you don't need armor that gives resistances. I use heavy Kags, baharas curse and Nerienth. With shades/refreshing path every 8 seconds and Mirage I'm at 28 spell and 27 physical. I have so much self healing that my health doean't drop below 90%.

    I've ran every dungeon with out a healer. Able to self heal and self sustain completely. Even cream guards in wgt are a piece of cake in wgt. And they bring other tanks I've seen do that.
  • Curragraigue
    Curragraigue
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    With all the new sets I have been trying out some new combinations.

    Mag NB I have gone jewellery and sword and board Withered Hand with 5 piece heavy Alessia Bulwark and 2 piece Warden. Has been working well so far.

    Mag and Stam Sorcs I have gone jewellery and sword and board Thunderbug. The AoE lightning which can proc an execute on a Sorc is just took good to pass up on a Sorc tank. Plus a lot of fun. I am thinking about wearing 5 heavy Thunderbug with Worm, Netch's Touch or Hist Sap jewellery and sword and board on the Mag Sorc I just have not decided yet.

    Stampler Undaunted Bastion with Willow's Path and Engine Guardian.

    Stam NB Witchman jewellery and sword and board with tava (although I'm thinking of changing to akaviri) with Bloodspawn.

    Stam DK Draugr Hulk (still need to farm it) jewellery and sword and board with Akaviri and Bloodspawn.

    I tried Diagna and it was just too underwhelming to even consider with any of the builds. As set out in my rant post about it if you want more healing received you are better going Sanctuary jewellery and sword and board to get the 12% received for you and anyone within 10m of you.
    PUG Life - the true test of your skill

    18 characters, 17 max level, at least 1 Stam and 1 Mag of every class, 1 of every race and 1200+ CP

    Tanked to Undaunted 9+ Mag and Stam of every class using Group Finder for 90+% of the Vet Dungeon runs
  • pattyLtd
    pattyLtd
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    Cool guide and good tips.
    I love how their are so many ways of doing things relatively successfull.

    Personally on my stamDK i have 0 attribute points into health and only my bloodspawn head piece has a max health glyph.
    Everything else has stamina glyphs jewelry mag recovery. I guess i get my health from being imperial and ebon mostly.

    I don't agree with you regarding warhorn, it's simply just awesome. I actually have it on both bars now to make sure i don't accidently waste my ultimate if my bars failed to swap or if i messed up myself.

    I love tanking atm and still learning every day.
    English is not my native language, no grammar police please, tyvm
  • Curragraigue
    Curragraigue
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    pattyLtd wrote: »
    Cool guide and good tips.
    I love how their are so many ways of doing things relatively successfull.

    Personally on my stamDK i have 0 attribute points into health and only my bloodspawn head piece has a max health glyph.
    Everything else has stamina glyphs jewelry mag recovery. I guess i get my health from being imperial and ebon mostly.

    I don't agree with you regarding warhorn, it's simply just awesome. I actually have it on both bars now to make sure i don't accidently waste my ultimate if my bars failed to swap or if i messed up myself.

    I love tanking atm and still learning every day.

    Glad you liked it. Yes many different ways to tank and different sets and skills you can choose to be effective. I have tried to keep the guide focused more on DPS characters that have been converted to tanks so building up health can be the challenge for that type of build set up.

    Warhorn is a must have for trials where you have 12 people with end game builds but still find that in most group finder PUGs for 4 man group content that warhorn is a wasted skill. For an organised group then yes it can be useful in group dungeons but the DPS in group finder PUGs are really hit an miss.
    PUG Life - the true test of your skill

    18 characters, 17 max level, at least 1 Stam and 1 Mag of every class, 1 of every race and 1200+ CP

    Tanked to Undaunted 9+ Mag and Stam of every class using Group Finder for 90+% of the Vet Dungeon runs
  • Lefthy
    Lefthy
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    Stam DK
    My stam DK was always intended to be a tank so it is probably the tankiest character I have. I have 50 points in health with the rest in stam. Mundus stone I use Tower for more stam. I use purple food for the boost to all three stats. I use health pots, while tripots would be better I tend to find that I don't really need them.

    I use 5 piece heavy Armour Master with sturdy traits and 2 piece medium Bloodspawn with sturdy. I use 3 piece endurance jewellery with stam reduction cost. I use sword and board on both bars Oblivion's Foe set with sturdy on the shield and crushing on one weapon and boost weapon damage on the other.

    For my bars I use
    1) razor caltrops 2) resolving vigor 3) choking talons 4) invasion 5) eruption u) shifting standard
    1) pierce armour 2) green dragon's blood 3) immovable brute 4) venomous claw 5) igneous shield u) magma she'll

    The first bar is my trash bar and the second bar is my boss bar. While it is a waste I don't bother using immovable while fighting trash. With Bloodspawn, regular light attacks and mountain's blessing passives with earthen heart abilities regularly being used I have ultimate popping regularly.

    When fighting trash I invasion in on the largest group of mobs preferably a healer. I will then talons, then caltrops and then eruption on the mobs. If I have standard up I will drop standard and then light attack and invasion on any mobs near the healer. If I have squishy DPS or they run away pulling mobs away I will swap bars and pierce to pull the mobs back in. Both caltrops and eruption are expensive so make sure to only reapply when you need them. Unfortunately eruption has a very small circle so choose your targets well. Save your stam for vigor, while you won't need it as often for a good group for a PUG you need to be a little more defensive and self reliant.

    Boss I will usually invasion in then pierce, immovable brute and venomous claw. For your heal use igneous shield first then GDB so that you get the boost to your heal. Keep immovable up for the capped resistance. Like with the trash bar make sure to keep magicka spare for your heals particularly given that you will have a smaller pool as a stam DK. While it is important for both boss and trash fights I find resource management is more important for boss fights so just keep in mind the battle roar passive (probably my favourite passive in the game) drop standard or pop magma shell to get resources back.

    Hi, nice post men, just a couple of point from my point of view.

    I see you put immovable brute, you can have the same buff from spike armor and keep the stamina since spike is magika, i would put shuffle as the armor skill for the bonus so you would get the armor+evasion combo, and proc more bloodspawn.

    It seems overkill to put caltrops+eruption since one aoe+talons are perfectly fine to control the pulls, i would drop caltrops so a dps can apply that with more damage.

    I think that you are not using an awesome skill like heroic slash in your bars, i would put that instead of venomous claw, since thats more of a dps skill, you will get more ultimate gen and a damage debuff on the boss with slash.

    And talking about awesome skills, where is my chain!! haha thats or signature skill with a DK man, you have control of everything with chains, other clases dream to have something similar, invasion has no to much point as a tank, i would swap them.

    Green Dragon Blood - stamina regen as a tank is not so sweet, you cant regen while blocking and in a hard pve situation you are gonna be blocking a lot, so...no stamina reg. thats why in general we focus on magika reg to spam igneous shield while blocking to get stamina back. i would change it for coagulating to get more heal.

    Why oblivion foe - health regen its not such a nice stat, i think that as a DK you will get more from magika reg or more hp, i recomend 2 piece trasmutation.

    Anyways, just some thougths.

    Good luck bro.


  • Curragraigue
    Curragraigue
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    Lefthy wrote: »
    Stam DK
    My stam DK was always intended to be a tank so it is probably the tankiest character I have. I have 50 points in health with the rest in stam. Mundus stone I use Tower for more stam. I use purple food for the boost to all three stats. I use health pots, while tripots would be better I tend to find that I don't really need them.

    I use 5 piece heavy Armour Master with sturdy traits and 2 piece medium Bloodspawn with sturdy. I use 3 piece endurance jewellery with stam reduction cost. I use sword and board on both bars Oblivion's Foe set with sturdy on the shield and crushing on one weapon and boost weapon damage on the other.

    For my bars I use
    1) razor caltrops 2) resolving vigor 3) choking talons 4) invasion 5) eruption u) shifting standard
    1) pierce armour 2) green dragon's blood 3) immovable brute 4) venomous claw 5) igneous shield u) magma she'll

    The first bar is my trash bar and the second bar is my boss bar. While it is a waste I don't bother using immovable while fighting trash. With Bloodspawn, regular light attacks and mountain's blessing passives with earthen heart abilities regularly being used I have ultimate popping regularly.

    When fighting trash I invasion in on the largest group of mobs preferably a healer. I will then talons, then caltrops and then eruption on the mobs. If I have standard up I will drop standard and then light attack and invasion on any mobs near the healer. If I have squishy DPS or they run away pulling mobs away I will swap bars and pierce to pull the mobs back in. Both caltrops and eruption are expensive so make sure to only reapply when you need them. Unfortunately eruption has a very small circle so choose your targets well. Save your stam for vigor, while you won't need it as often for a good group for a PUG you need to be a little more defensive and self reliant.

    Boss I will usually invasion in then pierce, immovable brute and venomous claw. For your heal use igneous shield first then GDB so that you get the boost to your heal. Keep immovable up for the capped resistance. Like with the trash bar make sure to keep magicka spare for your heals particularly given that you will have a smaller pool as a stam DK. While it is important for both boss and trash fights I find resource management is more important for boss fights so just keep in mind the battle roar passive (probably my favourite passive in the game) drop standard or pop magma shell to get resources back.

    Hi, nice post men, just a couple of point from my point of view.

    I see you put immovable brute, you can have the same buff from spike armor and keep the stamina since spike is magika, i would put shuffle as the armor skill for the bonus so you would get the armor+evasion combo, and proc more bloodspawn.

    It seems overkill to put caltrops+eruption since one aoe+talons are perfectly fine to control the pulls, i would drop caltrops so a dps can apply that with more damage.

    I think that you are not using an awesome skill like heroic slash in your bars, i would put that instead of venomous claw, since thats more of a dps skill, you will get more ultimate gen and a damage debuff on the boss with slash.

    And talking about awesome skills, where is my chain!! haha thats or signature skill with a DK man, you have control of everything with chains, other clases dream to have something similar, invasion has no to much point as a tank, i would swap them.

    Green Dragon Blood - stamina regen as a tank is not so sweet, you cant regen while blocking and in a hard pve situation you are gonna be blocking a lot, so...no stamina reg. thats why in general we focus on magika reg to spam igneous shield while blocking to get stamina back. i would change it for coagulating to get more heal.

    Why oblivion foe - health regen its not such a nice stat, i think that as a DK you will get more from magika reg or more hp, i recomend 2 piece trasmutation.

    Anyways, just some thougths.

    Good luck bro.


    Thanks for the comments and the reasons for your choices always nice to hear how others are tanking.

    Bloodspawn procs on hits so dodging with Shuffle actually reduces Bloodspawn procs. You want Shuffle for Tava which I'm not using with this build. It is a stam DK so I stick to a system of one magicka skill per bar where I can which is why I went for immovable for the major resistances buffs on the boss bar because personally GDB is a must have for any DK.

    If a DPS is running caltrops I will swap it out for heroic slash. I personally find that 80-90% of PUGs I run the DPS either doesn't run caltrops or only drops it once in a fight (so ineffectivly uses it) so sticking with the theme of this thread I run it for more damage in PUG runs. With the aim of doing damage running multiple AoEs for trash fights works well.

    There are a few dungeons that I will run chains but most dungeons (as opposed to trials) you don't need chains if you invasion to the right point you can talons 90% of the mobs and then pull the rest with caltrops. One magicka skill use (talons) compared to multiple chains is a no brainer for me on a stam DK.

    GDB is an awesome skill and the better morph imo for 98% of the content of the game. It is only some bosses in trials where you need to perma block and even then casting obsidian will give you stam in any event with block up. For the purposes of this thread which is just group dungeons there is no dungeon that requires perma block so you should be getting stam regen.

    Now that we have One Tam I am trying out a number of sets to replace jewellery and sword and board with all of these builds as per my post above.

    One of the good things about DKs is that they are versatile as tanks and so have a number of skills that let you tank in a few different ways. Keep on tanking.
    PUG Life - the true test of your skill

    18 characters, 17 max level, at least 1 Stam and 1 Mag of every class, 1 of every race and 1200+ CP

    Tanked to Undaunted 9+ Mag and Stam of every class using Group Finder for 90+% of the Vet Dungeon runs
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