PVE Tank, Magicka or Stam? best race after the racial changes?

asgardianrule · August 2016

Hey guys new player wanting to make a tank. I am guessing DK but maybe another class is better. I am open to whatever class/race/build? I do not have another max character so dont have any bias towards one build or another from past patches. I do like Nords as a race but had read they were always a bad race in game.
Anyway any help would be greatly appreciated.

Asmael · August 2016

There's more to tanking than just saying "magicka / stamina", since all tanks are to some extent hybrids.

For races, Imperial might be best for your usual tank block build, but anything works, so don't torture yourself over race choice here.

That said, DK is a personal recommendation, since it's the easiest to sustain. If you don't mind the hour-long video, you can definitely check @Woeler 's guide to DK tanking below (the single best resource possible for it right now, couldn't have done it better).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upYhwqV8tvA

Ghettokid · August 2016

Orc

Brrrofski · August 2016

Imperial is my favourite race. Anything with big resource pool boosts works. Nord will be good with this patch. Dumner and orc are good too.

Nightblade with big magica pool focused on regaining stamina through syphoning strikes. Big damage (very big for a tank) and huge self healing. My favourite style of tanking.

Dk with a big stamina pool with emphasis on magica recovery to use earthen heart to sustain stamina. Focused on ultimate gain though Tava's for warhorn and sustain through ult.

Dubhliam · August 2016

I would suggest a Nord DK, if you plan on fully dedicating yourself to tanking.

DK stands out from all other classes with their skill set, two of the more notable skills are Talons and Chains.
Just by utilizing those two skills you bring an amount of crowd control unparalleled by any other class.

Since those two skills are magicka, along with many others, I personally prefer to spec as a magicka tank.
That includes a lot of spell cost reduction, magicka regen, and a lot of points in ALL primary stats - health, magicka and stamina.
This is not really a big deal, since you can use tri-stat enchantments and tri-stat food to boost all your attributes.

That being said, this is a long term plan, building such a hybrid tank can be expensive.
DO NOT, for the sake of Uncle Sheo, play the game as a tank unless you are listed as one for a group dungeon.
I suggest you play as a magicka or stamina damage dealer (your choice) until you reach lvl 50, but try to level each of your skill lines during that time.
That means having one of each armor on at all times - Heavy, Light and Medium, and filling the rest with either Light or Medium armor, depending if you want to play as mag or stam. Also don't forget to level multiple weapon skill lines - Sword and Board is a MUST for tanks, and the second one is the weapon of your preference for when you deal damage.

Woeler · August 2016

How good of a tank you are depends on you, not the race you choose. There are enough idiot tanks in this game that play imperial, and there are enough great tanks in this game that play another race even though imperial is theoretically the best race.

asgardianrule · August 2016

So nord would be ok to play even as a magicka tank?

Dubhliam wrote: »

I would suggest a Nord DK, if you plan on fully dedicating yourself to tanking.

DK stands out from all other classes with their skill set, two of the more notable skills are Talons and Chains.
Just by utilizing those two skills you bring an amount of crowd control unparalleled by any other class.

Since those two skills are magicka, along with many others, I personally prefer to spec as a magicka tank.
That includes a lot of spell cost reduction, magicka regen, and a lot of points in ALL primary stats - health, magicka and stamina.
This is not really a big deal, since you can use tri-stat enchantments and tri-stat food to boost all your attributes.

That being said, this is a long term plan, building such a hybrid tank can be expensive.
DO NOT, for the sake of Uncle Sheo, play the game as a tank unless you are listed as one for a group dungeon.
I suggest you play as a magicka or stamina damage dealer (your choice) until you reach lvl 50, but try to level each of your skill lines during that time.

ThePaleItalian · August 2016

Ghettokid wrote: »

Orc

This +1

Travy_2Hype · August 2016

So I've been running a Tank for approximately two months now.

I run a Orc Dragonknight. For awhile I ran a Magicka DK with 1H/Shield on both bars. If running two 1H and Shield, you will be able to take damage for days. With this build I had 34 points into Health and 30 points into Magicka.

I recently swapped over to a Stamina DK and running 1H/Shield and Bow. This build not only keeps adds immobilized and grouped together, but allows you constantly buff you and your allies, which is huge right now. With this build I have all 64 points into Stamina and use food to boost Stamina and Health and have yet to die in dungeons.

As a Tank - especially when it comes to boss battles, 1H and Shield + Taunting (I prefer inner fire for long range taunt, eliminates the need for a gap closer) is a MUST. Inner fire can also be morphed to either use Magicka or Stamina.

Outside of boss battles, you mainly want to buff you and your teammates - War Horn (+10% to hp, mag, stam for team), igneous weapons (+20% weapon and spell damage to team), etc.

When it comes to running into groups I swap to my bow. Bow has Bombard which immobilizes enemies for two seconds. I typically use bombard -> endless hail -> burning talons; repeat. Running a bow adds some DPS to the tank build which some would argue against, but I've yet to run into any "tanks" issues using this combo.

As far as armor sets, if you're aiming to buff you and your allies Ultimate regen is a must! I use Tava's Favor combined with Blood Spawn. With this combo, my Ultimate is almost constantly ready to be used.

Wrecking_Blow_Spam · August 2016

Travy_2Hype wrote: »

So I've been running a Tank for approximately two months now.

I run a Orc Dragonknight. For awhile I ran a Magicka DK with 1H/Shield on both bars. If running two 1H and Shield, you will be able to take damage for days. With this build I had 34 points into Health and 30 points into Magicka.

I recently swapped over to a Stamina DK and running 1H/Shield and Bow. This build not only keeps adds immobilized and grouped together, but allows you constantly buff you and your allies, which is huge right now. With this build I have all 64 points into Stamina and use food to boost Stamina and Health and have yet to die in dungeons.

As a Tank - especially when it comes to boss battles, 1H and Shield + Taunting (I prefer inner fire for long range taunt, eliminates the need for a gap closer) is a MUST. Inner fire can also be morphed to either use Magicka or Stamina.

Outside of boss battles, you mainly want to buff you and your teammates - War Horn (+10% to hp, mag, stam for team), igneous weapons (+20% weapon and spell damage to team), etc.

When it comes to running into groups I swap to my bow. Bow has Bombard which immobilizes enemies for two seconds. I typically use bombard -> endless hail -> burning talons; repeat. Running a bow adds some DPS to the tank build which some would argue against, but I've yet to run into any "tanks" issues using this combo.

As far as armor sets, if you're aiming to buff you and your allies Ultimate regen is a must! I use Tava's Favor combined with Blood Spawn. With this combo, my Ultimate is almost constantly ready to be used.

Just remember when taunting to always on bosses use pierce armour as it decreases the bosses resistances making your group do more damage.

Mysteri0n · August 2016

Argonian