Opinions on Glorious Defender for a tank?

KalinRan · November 2017

How viable would it be if combined with plague doctor or green pact and mighty chudan on a stam dk?
The new patch screwed my build by making the medium armor skill only useable with 5 pieces of medium, and I don't plan to go hist bark.

If you don't know and don't feel like googling:

Glorious Defender
(2 items) Adds 1206 Max Health

(3 items) Adds 1206 Max Health

(4 items) Adds 129 Weapon Damage

(5 items) When you deal damage with a Light or Heavy Attack, you have a 9% chance to gain 100% dodge chance against the next attack.

Plague Doctor
(2 items) Adds 1206 Max Health

(2 items) Adds 1206 Max Health

(4 items) Adds 4% Healing Taken

(5 items) Adds 4000 Max Health

Green Pact
(2 items) Adds 1206 Max Health

(3 items) Adds 129 Health Recovery

(4 items) Adds 1206 Max Health

(5 items) While you have a food buff active, your Max Health is increased by 2500 and Health Recovery by 250.

pizzaow · November 2017

It's not the right set for me, because the times when I need the dodge chance are when I'm taking a lot of damage. During those times I'm usually holding block, which means I'm not light or heavy attacking. If they removed the light or heavy attack requirement then it would be more useful for me.

I'm curious why you are against hist bark. HB always grants 15% dodge change, compared to 9% where you have to actively light/heavy attack... and it's active when you need it (i.e. blocking), not the reverse. The only conceptual type of fight where it would work would be a fight where the boss seldom attacks, hits crazy hard, and you have enough time to hit him with several light/heavy attacks in between his attacks; I can't think of too many battles like this.

If you wanted something different you could try Blessed:

(2 items) Adds 2975 Physical Resistance

(3 items) Adds 129 Stamina Recovery

(4 items) Adds 2975 Spell Resistance

(5 items) When you block an attack, you have a 33% chance to blind your attacker, causing them to miss all of their attacks for 5 seconds. This effect can occur once every 10 seconds.

Although I'm not sure if dungeon/trial bosses are immune to this set.

Another crazy option would be to go 5 medium... you could throw on some high resistance sets (e.g. fortified brass, armor master...), this would put you close to the resistance cap, and you could continue to use shuffle. Although the heavy armor passives are much better for tanks than the medium ones.

VaranisArano · November 2017

If you are using those armors for the dodge chance, Glorious Defender or Hist Bark should work. Meridia's Blessed Armor works very well in PVP, but I believe most bosses are immune to the blinded status effect.

However, if you were using Tava's with Shuffle in order to generate ultimate, you should look at sets that generate ultimate or reduction ultimate costs like the Akaviri Dragonguard set. Or craft 5 medium in something like Fortified Brass to make up the resistance loss so you can use Shuffle again.

idk · November 2017

I assume your speaking of PvE since this isn't in the PvP section.

It really depends on what your tanking. 4 man dungeons the set is just fine. Almost anything will work in most 4 man dungeons.

For trials, meaning vet trials, not at all.

Unless your tanking vHoF or vAS (especially as a new tank) stacking health isn't really needed but it's ok, especially if running with a less experience group. Plague is nice to have but not needed for most content.

Go to tank sets are
Torugs (with infused crusher enchanted weapons.
Ebon to give the group more health.
Alkosh for debut on targets to increase everyone's dps. Only if stam dps are not wearing the set.
Dragon - extra mag regen. All tanks are hybrids. Also lowers the cost of ultimately.
Of course plague for when you want some extra health.

Kanar · November 2017

I've been collecting glorious defender from my vMA runs, but I don't think it would be good for tanking. I see it more as a solo set (vMA, solo dungeons). Really though on closer look it is kinda crappy: you can at best light attack 1/second. So on a lucky day you will dodge one attack every 10s...seems pretty terrible to me actually.

Asardes · November 2017

A bad set. Even if you are weaving light and heavy attacks, which is not always possible, the dodge chance is simply too low and you gain little from it. All Maelstrom armor sets are terrible IMO except Winterborn that may provide a bit of utility in PvP though is certainly not the best set. I decon basically everything I get from there. As tank I would comobo Torug's with a dropped set like Alkosh, Dragon, Ebon or even Livewire - not sure how effective it is but the tool tip looks promising. Plague Doctor is overkill for most content as all trials except the newest 2 can be tanked with around 30K health.

KalinRan · November 2017

pizzaow wrote: »

I'm curious why you are against hist bark. HB always grants 15% dodge change, compared to 9% where you have to actively light/heavy attack... and it's active when you need it (i.e. blocking), not the reverse. The only conceptual type of fight where it would work would be a fight where the boss seldom attacks, hits crazy hard, and you have enough time to hit him with several light/heavy attacks in between his attacks; I can't think of too many battles like this.

Mostly because I'm not looking to be a pure tank. I should've probably mentioned that my build has been a tank/dps hybrid.
I wouldn't consider it the best out there, but it has given me enough versatility to win an average 7/10 times in pvp, and tank vet dungeons with ease. (I don't do trials)
While hist bark is good, it is indeed more leaned on a defensive playstyle.
Glorious Defender seems like it might complement my very aggressive playstyle more, I just wanted a few opinions on it before I commit to farming a few hours for it.

pizzaow · November 2017

KalinRan wrote: »

pizzaow wrote: »

I'm curious why you are against hist bark. HB always grants 15% dodge change, compared to 9% where you have to actively light/heavy attack... and it's active when you need it (i.e. blocking), not the reverse. The only conceptual type of fight where it would work would be a fight where the boss seldom attacks, hits crazy hard, and you have enough time to hit him with several light/heavy attacks in between his attacks; I can't think of too many battles like this.

Mostly because I'm not looking to be a pure tank. I should've probably mentioned that my build has been a tank/dps hybrid.
I wouldn't consider it the best out there, but it has given me enough versatility to win an average 7/10 times in pvp, and tank vet dungeons with ease. (I don't do trials)
While hist bark is good, it is indeed more leaned on a defensive playstyle.
Glorious Defender seems like it might complement my very aggressive playstyle more, I just wanted a few opinions on it before I commit to farming a few hours for it.

I do indeed have a more defensive playstyle, which doesn't benefit from this set. If you are looking for a hybrid, have you considered one pure damage set and another pure defensive set? The 5-piece bonus on GD is still very defensive (even though you need offense to proc it). I've been looking for a hybrid tank myself... well, solo gear I can put on my trial tank and not take 10 minutes to kill small target. The main issue I run into isn't damage absorption or avoidance, it's doing enough DPS. I've found that in almost any heavy armor I'm able to stand in stupid, not block and still survive okay. Point being, that in most (non-trial) PvE content GD won't make a big difference defensively.... so, you might be better off with a DPS set like Seventh Legion, Ravager, Fury or heavy hundings.

Personally, I've been playing with Heavy Hundings, VO and Chudan. I'll run DW on one bar and either a bow (solo) or S+B if I'm pugging a dungeon (having deadly cloak as a tank is pretty ridiculous). It's a surprisingly forgiving build that puts out enough DPS to where I'm happy. At just under 20K, it's not melting things, but I like that I can make a mistake or two and still survive.

KalinRan · November 2017

pizzaow wrote: »

KalinRan wrote: »

pizzaow wrote: »

I'm curious why you are against hist bark. HB always grants 15% dodge change, compared to 9% where you have to actively light/heavy attack... and it's active when you need it (i.e. blocking), not the reverse. The only conceptual type of fight where it would work would be a fight where the boss seldom attacks, hits crazy hard, and you have enough time to hit him with several light/heavy attacks in between his attacks; I can't think of too many battles like this.

Mostly because I'm not looking to be a pure tank. I should've probably mentioned that my build has been a tank/dps hybrid.
I wouldn't consider it the best out there, but it has given me enough versatility to win an average 7/10 times in pvp, and tank vet dungeons with ease. (I don't do trials)
While hist bark is good, it is indeed more leaned on a defensive playstyle.
Glorious Defender seems like it might complement my very aggressive playstyle more, I just wanted a few opinions on it before I commit to farming a few hours for it.

I do indeed have a more defensive playstyle, which doesn't benefit from this set. If you are looking for a hybrid, have you considered one pure damage set and another pure defensive set? The 5-piece bonus on GD is still very defensive (even though you need offense to proc it). I've been looking for a hybrid tank myself... well, solo gear I can put on my trial tank and not take 10 minutes to kill small target. The main issue I run into isn't damage absorption or avoidance, it's doing enough DPS. I've found that in almost any heavy armor I'm able to stand in stupid, not block and still survive okay. Point being, that in most (non-trial) PvE content GD won't make a big difference defensively.... so, you might be better off with a DPS set like Seventh Legion, Ravager, Fury or heavy hundings.

Personally, I've been playing with Heavy Hundings, VO and Chudan. I'll run DW on one bar and either a bow (solo) or S+B if I'm pugging a dungeon (having deadly cloak as a tank is pretty ridiculous). It's a surprisingly forgiving build that puts out enough DPS to where I'm happy. At just under 20K, it's not melting things, but I like that I can make a mistake or two and still survive.

I know exactly what you mean.
I did consider pairing GD with seventh legion, but then I would be sacrificing tanking for sustain. In the end I think I would benefit most from a tanking set paired with an offensive set, but after all I still don't know which would work best for my build, so I'm going to have to likely get multiple sets and try them all out.
I run sword and board for tanking too, with bow as my secondary weapon. I sometimes just switch the shield for another sword for pvp too.
Before they killed my build, my dps was at 15k with 15% evasion and 32k physical and spell resist buffed, 34k health and 27k stamina . I also ran selene for that extra kick.
But now I have to change that for a new build, which even if it might suck compared to more hardcore players, it will still be an upgrade from what I had before. As I tested some sets on the pts, I was able to achieve 45k health, 31k stamina, 31k physical and spell resist unbuffed and because of mighty chudan the need for refreshing major ward and major resolve leaves me with 2 free slots on my bar that I can use to tech in more sustain for pve, and my dps is still average at 15k.

Overall though I think there's still room for improvement, so I'm trying to think what would suit it more, green pact with GD and chudan or GP with seventh legion and chudan, or GP with Dreugh King Slayer and chudan.
I've even considered twice born star with chudan and green pact all on divines, and using the warrior and the shadow. Though I recall the math didn't work in the favor of that build last I tried it.
I definitely plan on having the master's bow for pvp eventually.

Nestor · November 2017

pizzaow wrote: »

If you wanted something different you could try Blessed:
(2 items) Adds 2975 Physical Resistance

(3 items) Adds 129 Stamina Recovery

(4 items) Adds 2975 Spell Resistance

(5 items) When you block an attack, you have a 33% chance to blind your attacker, causing them to miss all of their attacks for 5 seconds. This effect can occur once every 10 seconds.
Although I'm not sure if dungeon/trial bosses are immune to this set.

Bosses are immune, at least according to one of my guildies. However this set is awesome for Duels and probably Battlegrounds.

Nestor · November 2017

I have a set of Hist Bark that I made for my Tank. I have yet to find a set that I want to replace it with. And, I can tank anything in the game. I am not convinced that the Health Boost to the group with my Ebon Set I have store up is all that beneficial.

Look at the set combos here for some ideas.

https://woeler.eu/

pizzaow · November 2017

KalinRan wrote: »

I'm going to have to likely get multiple sets and try them all out.

This is really the only way you'll know if it works for you. It sounds like you've settled on Chudan, which at least eliminated the monster helm choice

If you end up farming all your proposed sets I'd give Dreugh + Seventh + Chudan a try... and let us know if you find a good combo.

Asardes · November 2017

If you play more offensively you can simply run 1/5/1 instead of 1/1/5 and run Tava's with Shuffle, and pair it with a DPS set. Most veteran dungeons can be easily tanked in medium, and the difference between 1/5/1 and 1/1/5 is about 6-8% less mitigation when not blocking and that shrinks to less than 2% when blocking. Most people don't realize how "tanky" they can be in medium (has 3/4 resistance heavy has) if they have 1H+S equipped and all passives unlocked. Running 2H on back bar with brawler ensures you can do some nice AoE. I would get something like 5 Tava's 5 VO, Maelstrom 1H+S / Master's 2H and crash trough any vet dungeon as tank/DD hybrid.

Kanar · November 2017

Asardes wrote: »

If you play more offensively you can simply run 1/5/1 instead of 1/1/5 and run Tava's with Shuffle, and pair it with a DPS set. Most veteran dungeons can be easily tanked in medium, and the difference between 1/5/1 and 1/1/5 is about 6-8% less mitigation when not blocking and that shrinks to less than 2% when blocking. Most people don't realize how "tanky" they can be in medium (has 3/4 resistance heavy has) if they have 1H+S equipped and all passives unlocked. Running 2H on back bar with brawler ensures you can do some nice AoE. I would get something like 5 Tava's 5 VO, Maelstrom 1H+S / Master's 2H and crash trough any vet dungeon as tank/DD hybrid.

Another option if OP is open to medium, is a set of Fortified Brass medium armor. You can easily get to res cap with that and still run another dps set. S+B and 2h, run an asylum 2hander for crazy ulti gen during execute (when the tough bosses actually get tough and you need ulti). And yeah brawler is awesome against big packs.

Asardes · November 2017

Kanar wrote: »

Asardes wrote: »

If you play more offensively you can simply run 1/5/1 instead of 1/1/5 and run Tava's with Shuffle, and pair it with a DPS set. Most veteran dungeons can be easily tanked in medium, and the difference between 1/5/1 and 1/1/5 is about 6-8% less mitigation when not blocking and that shrinks to less than 2% when blocking. Most people don't realize how "tanky" they can be in medium (has 3/4 resistance heavy has) if they have 1H+S equipped and all passives unlocked. Running 2H on back bar with brawler ensures you can do some nice AoE. I would get something like 5 Tava's 5 VO, Maelstrom 1H+S / Master's 2H and crash trough any vet dungeon as tank/DD hybrid.

Another option if OP is open to medium, is a set of Fortified Brass medium armor. You can easily get to res cap with that and still run another dps set. S+B and 2h, run an asylum 2hander for crazy ulti gen during execute (when the tough bosses actually get tough and you need ulti). And yeah brawler is awesome against big packs.

I've tanked for a long time and realized that being resistance capped is not necessary. As long as you can manage to be at 20K+ physical and 25K+ spell resistance (warded), everything on top of that has diminishing returns due to the way mitigation is calculated. And that's achievable in 1/5/1 without any set bonuses. Higher spell resistance is required because most damage in dungeons and trials, especially ground based AoE DoTs, which cannot be mitigated by blocking, are spell/elemental damage. As long as you have class (DK, Templar) or race (Dunmer, Breton) bonuses and plenty of CP in Elemental Defender, Thick Skinned and Hardy your mitigation will be quite good even if you are far from the mitigation cap - 50% at 33K. I see Fortified Brass more as a PvP set because you go against players wearing penetration sets (Spriggan or Spinner), having CP in Piercing or Spell Erosion, applying major/minor Fracture and Breach trough various skills - some classes have those in their kit. But NPCs don't have that, they attack against the full mitigation you have. There are only a handful of mechanics that "break" your armor, but that's a complete debuff so even being capped won't help you.