I'm a hybrid.... my build is uncoventional, but keeps me alive in dungeons (as long as I don't make stupid mistakes)... and I run around as the tank in PvE dungeons

I think you should do with hybrid build that focuses on building ulty. You dont scale so good with max health like DK, but you can generate ulty very fast, especially vs mobs that use projectiles. The heal ulty gives great support and restore your resources. You got enough ulty regen to pop between horn. Go with an Argonian, works great with hybrid/tanky wardens.

Warden tanks are 2nd best to DK. I have done both and deleted my Warden tank. Who wants 2nd best unless you are just playing for fun?

Tanking is a very specific job. Wardens are jack of all trades master of none.

I kept my Orc Warden Stam DPS for Battlegrounds and lol.

Floki_Vilgerdarson wrote: »

Warden tanks are 2nd best to DK. I have done both and deleted my Warden tank. Who wants 2nd best unless you are just playing for fun?

Tanking is a very specific job. Wardens are jack of all trades master of none.

I kept my Orc Warden Stam DPS for Battlegrounds and lol.

Isn't that a bit discouraging, not to say elitist sounding, that only 1 class can make an acceptable tank, 1 an acceptable healer, and 1 or 2 an acceptable DPS? Although, might feel more bitter towards ESO than you for stating the possible obvious...

But... aren't we supposed to be playing for like... actual "fun", you know? Are "fun" and being "effective" mutually exclusive in nowadays MMO's endgame? :_(

Warden tanking in trials is best accomplished as a hybrid imo. But tbh, most endgame tanks are basically hybrid. There are a few reasons that I think support this idea. Note, however, that none of this accounts for using a frost staff.

Nature's Gift has no internal cooldown and has the ability to restore substantial resources to either magicka or stamina, and we constantly use both. Stamina is more restrictive by nature, in that we cannot recover it while blocking. To direct these passive procs to our stamina pool, which are not restricted in and of themselves, we have higher magicka recovery to lessen the strain on our magicka pool.

A "stamina" tank, with a low max magicka and a high magicka recovery, will redirect more of the passive procs to the magicka pool. We are constantly refreshing our magicka skills in between primary buffs and debuffs, and thus constant magicka consumption. With a smaller pool, a single cast of a spell will consume a larger percentage of magicka, and since its maximum is already lower, taking away a relatively larger percentage only widens the gap. Thus, the procs will often go to magicka, leaving our stamina to be recovered by other means.

On the other hand, a "magicka" tank would face the opposite constraints. The passive procs would constantly go to our stamina pool, which could be fine if block costs are properly managed. However, it leaves us vulnerable to anything requiring a dodge or break free, and prevents us from ever getting stamina back from orbs or shards. It also requires a more exact timing of stamina-based abilities, or just ordinary buffs and debuffs can become difficult to manage if the pool is small enough. The up-side is that magicka-based abilities will scale well with a high magicka pool, so our heals will be more potent. That, however, is not the primary role of a tank, albeit a very nice thing to have while learning fights (as opposed to speed runs, for example).

With a low max pool, the only way to reliably redirect those procs is to limit consumption, and pretty heavily, but this is counter-intuitive, I think, to the way the class is designed. Wardens are built mechanically around the concept of balance in many ways, and that extends to our resources in that we want to have the most we can get of both, usually. More stamina means more blocking, dodging, breaking, and most importantly, debuffing and buffing. More magicka scales our heals to boost the groups survivability and redirect our passives to our stamina. More control means we are better able to focus on mechanics, which is crucial in every trial. It allows us to support our group better, without having to worry so much about ourselves.

Keep_Door wrote: »

Hybrid isnt a thing and most likely will never be. Go magicka.

Hybrid has been a thing for tanks for a long time now.

Floki_Vilgerdarson wrote: »

Warden tanks are 2nd best to DK. I have done both and deleted my Warden tank. Who wants 2nd best unless you are just playing for fun?

Tanking is a very specific job. Wardens are jack of all trades master of none.

I kept my Orc Warden Stam DPS for Battlegrounds and lol.