help with DK magicka tank build

HyperBeam · January 2017

I am trying to make a DK magicka tank. I have been trying to follow some of the other tank builds i have found on DKs but all i can find seem to either be stam builds, hybrid, pvp, or just outdated builds. I am aiming to just tank PvE and try to stay with all 64 magicka attribute points. I know there will have to be some tweaking with the skills to make this viable. I have 2 bloodspawn, 5 tava, and 5 of the dragon set pieces when I am using S&S.

I am mainly looking for help with what skills I should use and if I should use S&S on both bars or if what other kind of build type for a PvE magicka dk tank people of tried.

WalksonGraves · January 2017

You can't tank with no hp.

paulsimonps · January 2017

Mostly you want to go the same abilities like all other tank just you will use the magicka ones a lot more and you will not use the S&B Taunt but instead the Magicka morph of the undatunted taunt. But I don't know why you would want to do that. What is your reasoning for going so heavily into magicka? Dealing extra damage? Hybrids perform much better.

Either way. Hardened Armor, Inner Rage, Igneous Shield, Unrelenting Grip, Choking Talons, Deep Breath and Burning Embers might be DK skills you might want to look at. And I would suggest maybe running structured Entropy to get some HP if you are low, don't know what race you are so can't really tell. And if you want to give out the occasional heal you could go with Cauterize on one of your bars.

Curragraigue · January 2017

Yes you should use sword and board on both bars. Having all your attribute points in mag is fine as long as you can still get your food buffed health to 25-28k (Vet Dung) 30k (trials).

Personally I still use the sword and board taunt on a mag tank because you apply the debuff to armour and spell (pierce armour morph) and taunt all with one skill. You just have to be mindful of your total stam pool so you still have enough to block and dodge roll if required.

Skills I like to use

1) pierce armour 2) Green Dragons Blood 3) burning embers 4) heroic slash 5) igneous shield u) magma shell
1) draw essence 2) GDB 3) chocking talons 4) invasion 5) eruption u) shifting standard

Most people will tell you to use warhorn instead, put chains on to your bar and take invasion off and put volatile or hardened armour on instead. A lot of people like igneous weapons as well if no one else is running the skill. Some people also prefer coagulated blood although with the changes on PTS more might swap over to GDB.

Personally I prefer GDB for most of the content in the game. Do your obsidian shield first for the boost to the GDB heal. I would put warhorn on if I am running trials or in a group that I know for a Vet Dungeon otherwise I prefer the DK ults for better personal defence and damage. I like invasion because I think it is more effective to choose where you attack trash pulls to pull them in with draw essence before talons than it is to chains everything in to you.

HyperBeam · January 2017

@paulsimonps: I am Dunmer (dark elf). I am trying to stay pure magicka mainly so if i don't want to tank or don't need to i can just switch easily to DPS by swapping out skills.

@Curragraigue: how would you allocate your CP? Also, what about the undaunted taunt?

Curragraigue wrote: »

Most people will tell you to use warhorn instead, put chains on to your bar and take invasion off and put volatile or hardened armour on instead. A lot of people like igneous weapons as well if no one else is running the skill. Some people also prefer coagulated blood although with the changes on PTS more might swap over to GDB.

Now why would you not use these? is it just personal preference?

Curragraigue · January 2017

HyperBeam wrote: »

@paulsimonps: I am Dunmer (dark elf). I am trying to stay pure magicka mainly so if i don't want to tank or don't need to i can just switch easily to DPS by swapping out skills.

@Curragraigue: how would you allocate your CP? Also, what about the undaunted taunt?

Curragraigue wrote: »

Most people will tell you to use warhorn instead, put chains on to your bar and take invasion off and put volatile or hardened armour on instead. A lot of people like igneous weapons as well if no one else is running the skill. Some people also prefer coagulated blood although with the changes on PTS more might swap over to GDB.

Now why would you not use these? is it just personal preference?

Majority of my characters are like yourself set up as DPS that I swap into tank gear so my CPs are set up as a DPS on my Mag DK. The only pure tank I have is my Stam DK. Main difference is in the blocking and shield CPs from memory between the pure tank and DPS tanks.

It is all personal preference re volatile armour I find I have enough armour without it most of the time, aggressive warhorn (for non-trial runs but for trials it is mandatory on the bar) and igeneous weapons I would consider running it but I prefer having GDB on both bars mainly because I do mostly PUG runs and PUG heals can be hit and miss. I think I gave reasons for the others in my post.

You can check out this thread if you want some tips for converting DPS to off tanks for PUG Vet Dungeon runs.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/281446/curras-how-to-tank-guide/p1

The sets are outdated (although further down I give some of the new sets I'm using - just picked up a full Desert Rose set that I'm drooling over for the Mag DK) but the main tanking principles in the first post are still the same with the Mag DK build further down. Should really update the thread but will wait until after the changes in homestead I think. Frost staff tanking needs some testing and I'm only playing on console atm so will have to wait to test.

Curragraigue · January 2017

Oh forgot re the undaunted taunt. I only use it for a few bosses where you have to range taunt (last boss AA and last boss FG2) because it is a high cost skill and does not include the debuffs of pierce. So when I am fighting the range fight bosses I will put the undaunted taunt on instead of pierce.

Liofa · January 2017

Your items are good . Did that setup myself and completed vMoL with it several times . You can stick with it until you learn the bitter truth of being able to DD and Tank with the same character is just a waste of money and time ^^ Jack of all trades , master of none .

1.Bar (1h/s) : tanking

1- Pierce Armour(debuffing enemies)
2- Heroic Slash(ultigen and minor maim)
3- Igneous Shield(stamina return)
4- Structured Entropy(max health bonus , buffs your burning embers heal)
5- Absorb Magic(block cost reduction)

Ulti- Barrier(support tree first passive gives 10% magicka recovery , saves you from death in some situations too)

2.bar(1h/s) : buff/healing

1- Elude(procs tava's)
2- Hardened Armor(12% healing taken buff and major resist buffs)
3- Inner Fire(ranged taunt)
4- Burning Embers(real big self heal , always use igneous shield before healing yourself and make sure hardened armor is up)
5- Chains(gathering mobs together)

Ulti- Aggressive Horn(best tank ulti in the game)

Being honest , Max Magicka does nothing for a DK tank because of scaling . You should at least have lots of Magicka Recovery to cover up the low stamina . You will have to use some expensive stamina skills like Elude and Heroic Slash . These are really important skills that you should keep up with 100% uptime . Your main source of resource gain is Battle Roar . Don't forget that .

The reason for Burning Embers is making use for that High Max Magicka pool . If you will have it , use it .

CP :

80 Warlord , 20 Magician , 87 Shadow Ward (this will give you really nice control on stamina management)

100 Blessed , 40 Elemental Expert , 47 Elfborn (these combined will make your burning embers heal for crapton . I tested this in vTrials and I was getting 10k+ healing for spamming it .)

94 Hardy , 93 Elemental Expert

Item traits , all Sturdy wherever possible

Sword is Decisive on front , powered on back bar .

jewelry enchants are all block cost reduction . Sword has Crusher , all armor and shield have tri-stat enchants .

Use Max Health + Max Stamina food .

Be a vampire . 10% magicka recovery is good . Undeath passive is amazing .

Here you go , this is what your character will look like when you are done : http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData?id=6456

Last words : Don't get discouraged if you have stamina management issues . Smart usage of skills and knowing your passives will cover everything up in no time . Just practice a lot .

Good luck !

Oreyn_Bearclaw · January 2017

HyperBeam wrote: »

@paulsimonps: I am Dunmer (dark elf). I am trying to stay pure magicka mainly so if i don't want to tank or don't need to i can just switch easily to DPS by swapping out skills.

@Curragraigue: how would you allocate your CP? Also, what about the undaunted taunt?

Curragraigue wrote: »

Most people will tell you to use warhorn instead, put chains on to your bar and take invasion off and put volatile or hardened armour on instead. A lot of people like igneous weapons as well if no one else is running the skill. Some people also prefer coagulated blood although with the changes on PTS more might swap over to GDB.

Now why would you not use these? is it just personal preference?

I get your reasons for wanting to go all magic, but personally, I find it much easier to go almost all in stamina, which accomplishes the same thing. I can just swap to some stam gear and DPS if needed. They only downside is that my stamina regen is not that great if trying to DPS, but stamina is easy to manage with good support.

The thing about DK tanking is that a really big magic pool is not all that beneficial. What you really want is a big stamina pool and very high magic regen. The idea of thinking of tanks as Magic or Stamina I think is a bad notion. You want high stats across the board. The absolute best way to accomplish this is to put tri stat glyphs on everything and then add attribute points where you need. I run identical gear to you and have found that I can put about 55 into stam and 9 into magic and end up in a really good spot, using all tri- Glyphs

To do what you are suggesting, I would probably go all magic (maybe a few into health) and enchant everything else with Stam (and maybe a health or two). Skills will be as others have suggested. The bread and butter of DK tanking is block casting igneous shield to manage your stamina. You then need to keep up evasion to proc tavas as your ultimates are your other layer of resource management. Finally, DKs excel at CCs and controlling the battlefield with chains. I think of my goal in bosses as to be a fortress that holds the boss in one spot. In trash, I am trying to group everything into a tight little ball so my DPS can explode them.

Hatoreehanzo · January 2017

I enjoy my little setup.

5 Kags (3 Body Impen w/Mag Glyph, 2 Swords Sharpened w/ WD/SD Glyph) *Rattlecage is also nice*
2 Skoria (Both heavy, Head Infused, Shoulders Impen w/ Mag Glyph)
5 Desert Rose (3 Jewelry w/ SpellDmg, Hands Light Divines, Feet Light Divines w/ Mag Glyph)
1 Maelstrom Resto (Defending)

Spell Pots for Major Sorc.

Bar 1: Lash, Searing, Engulf, Fossizle/Vamp Drain, Burning Talons. Ult: Standard of Might/Ice Comet
Bar 2: Elusive Mist, Rapid Regen, Healing Ward, Igneous, Wings. Ult: Devouring Swarm

I generally use Fossilize and Ice Comet in 1v1s, Drain and Might in 1vXs.

Can also sub desert rose with BSW for more dps, but way less sustain.

Savos_Saren · January 2017

@HyperBeam

The setup that you have is pretty much for tanking Veteran Trials (which is end-game content). If you want to tank normal trials, veteran dungeons, and solo content- you've got a lot more flexibility. Your group will not need the uber-buffs of constant aggressive warhorn (nor should they really need it for dungeons),

If you're looking for a tank that can complete all content except Veteran Trials (and maybe vDSA)- then I'd suggest the same build that I have on my Dunmer mDK:

5 Kagrenac's Hope
5 Burning Spellweave
2 Valkyn Skoria

I use prismatic enchantments for all three stats.

Personally, on my setup, I have sword and shield on my front bar and an inferno staff on my back bar. I can hop into any vet dungeon and tank it. I can also solo almost every world boss... just for sh*ts and giggles. You'd be amazed at how much DPS you can put out as a tank. Just make sure you're maintaining aggro (pierce armor), keeping the bosses/enemies debuffed (pierce armor, choking talons), and buff your group when you can (Igneous weapons, obsidian shield, etc). That's the trifecta of tanking.

Some DK tanks (usually hybrids and stamDKs) use Vigor as their heal. I prefer Burning Embers since it adds DPS, procs Valkyn, and gives HUGE self-heals (yay Dunmer!).

PM me if you want the exact specs of my build. Here's a picture of what you can expect from that gear setup:

Edit: I should note- this is also my PVP gear and i'm currently specced for PVP. (I've got CP points in crit resist and my armor is Impen) You can expect higher recovery and stats if you use Infused traits on your large armor pieces (head, chest, legs) and divines on your smaller pieces. Your resistance will also be higher than mine if you allocate no points into crit resist in the champion constellations. Just put those points into heavy armor focus and spell resistance.