Tanking. Minimum expectations

VonNelson · December 2017

Like everyone else I want my reward boxes but that will mean taking a couple of low level tanks into group dungeons. What are the base skills that are a must - or is it simply a case of high health resource and taunts?

newtinmpls · December 2017

Taunt. occasionally re-taunt to get the .. what the heck .. the reduction to armor stuff (I'm blanking here, somebody help me)

Go in first - pretty much any AoE is functionally a soft taunt if you use it before the DPS swarm.

Turn the bosses to a wall/corner (away from the party)

YamiKuruku · December 2017

heavy frost staff attacks
or puncture from swordnboard obviously
try not to run around like a headless chicken, turn yourself away from group so that no one gets hurt (except you)
know when to block and know when to bash and you are good to go

high health is cool but health doesnt help you when you got no ressources left to block or taunt

Azurya · December 2017

lets turn this around
playing a tank, I mostly meet ppl in the grp-finder who are not able to do any dmg
they die almost instant
they are not aware about the mechanics
and they slotted skills that are unuseable

but well, they all complain about the tank or the healer

LoL

VonNelson · December 2017

YamiKuruku wrote: »

heavy frost staff attacks
or puncture from swordnboard obviously
try not to run around like a headless chicken, turn yourself away from group so that no one gets hurt (except you)
know when to block and know when to bash and you are good to go

high health is cool but health doesnt help you when you got no ressources left to block or taunt

Heavy frost attacks lol yes I learned about this the hard way

Must remember to block rather than dodge- that’s my usual response. I’m going to be a bit *** I think

VonNelson · December 2017

Azurya wrote: »

lets turn this around
playing a tank, I mostly meet ppl in the grp-finder who are not able to do any dmg
they die almost instant
they are not aware about the mechanics
and they slotted skills that are unuseable

but well, they all complain about the tank or the healer

LoL

Yeah when you are doing more dps as a healer than the dps

GreenhaloX · December 2017

..or you're doing more damages as the tank than the actual dd/dpsers. Hey, it's all good. That's why I have my hybrid tanks, and there are a lot of new or lower level players/toons. Plus, I can typically clear any of those normal I and II level dungeons by myself as a tank (or with my other dps toons.) As long as those lower dpsers are actually fighting and contributing what dps they have, it's cool.

As for the tank.. all you need to do is taunt the boss (and any other higher hp adds; oh, you know.. those with 60k hp and more), keep that boss and those higher end adds at bay, use Pierce Armor for the simultaneous taunt and Major Breach, and you will be fine as a tank. All the extra goodies, like Igneous Shield and Magma Shell, if you're a DK tank or whatever other race and class tank does to assist the group with the buff, puff and fluff, it's all good too. Oh, don't forget to buff yourself and block when you should. You can heavy attack the boss as well, instead of standing there and just blocking. You don't really need to block and shields up all the time. Heck, when the taunt timer is still up on the boss, I'm doing a combo of heavy attack/Heroic Slash or heavy attack/Pierce Armor on the boss. With this, you're also damaging down the boss and continuously taunting the boss. Plus, I'm replenishing my resources with the heavy attack. I'll also pop in Flame of Oblivion, Draw Essence, Burning Embers and whatever other damage dealing tricks I have up my sleeves.

kylewwefan · December 2017

During this event, all expectations fly out the for normal. If fact, 4 DPS may well be preferable.

DeadlyRecluse · December 2017

If you are tanking normals, just taunt and don't die. That's literally it. Anything else you do is gravy.

You absolutely don't *need* a tank for most normal dungeons, but I think it's polite to taunt bosses, at a minimum, for PUG groups. If I queue as a tank, even on a DD toon, I consider that an agreement to slot inner fire and hold aggro while I'm DPSing.

deepseamk20b14_ESO · December 2017

I have a few low level alts I honestly have never had the time to level past 20. A magicka DK, stamina DK, and a magicka sorc. As far as tanking, what would fair better, Stam DK or mag DK? What crafted armors would be good as I don’t want to farm or buy sets for such a low level character (unless the set is very cheap)?

DeadlyRecluse · December 2017

deepseamk20b14_ESO wrote: »

I have a few low level alts I honestly have never had the time to level past 20. A magicka DK, stamina DK, and a magicka sorc. As far as tanking, what would fair better, Stam DK or mag DK? What crafted armors would be good as I don’t want to farm or buy sets for such a low level character (unless the set is very cheap)?

Any of them is fine, and you can probably craft the same set of gear and pass it between all 3. Something simple like 5x Histbark and 4x Death's Wind (or really anything). Just go 7 heavy.

It's a normal dungeon--there is really very little damage flying about, so you don't need to have a build capable of holding block all day. Block big hits and mechanics, heavy attack for stamina, keep everything taunted, and have selfheals on deck--don't overthink it and treat lowbie dungeon tanking like a sized down version of trials tanking.

jaws343 · December 2017

Tanking in normal dungeons is mainly three things, taunt, keep the boss still, and stay alive. I ran my mag warden pvp dps build through Banished Cells 2 as a tank using inner fire to taunt and annulment to mitigate damage. No wipes and we cleared the dungeon in 20 minutes.

VaranisArano · December 2017

I agree with the others here that say bare minimum tanking is using a taunt, holding boss aggro, and staying alive. Anything else like crowd control or turning the boss around is a nice bonus, but I don't expect it from new tanks.

I do sit there in annoyance if the boss is not taunted and is trying to smash my healer. Or my DPS, who has to recast all my aoes when the boss is chasing someone other than the tank. There was one dungeon that when the Boss finally settled down and focused my DPS and I was so glad he'd stopped running every which way I was happy to take the aggro.

VaranisArano · December 2017

deepseamk20b14_ESO wrote: »

I have a few low level alts I honestly have never had the time to level past 20. A magicka DK, stamina DK, and a magicka sorc. As far as tanking, what would fair better, Stam DK or mag DK? What crafted armors would be good as I don’t want to farm or buy sets for such a low level character (unless the set is very cheap)?

MagDK has better access to the lower level DK skills that are helpful for tanking, but StamDK can be super effective as well. Both work. I've got a level 24 stamDK tanking for the event and she's having no troubles.

You can use any armor, I'm using about 5 heavy on my low level tanks. If you want generic crafted sets for leveling tanks, there's Fortified Brass (3 trait), Whitestrakes Retribution (4 trait), Hist Bark (4 trait) though most sets or even non-set gear will work. I love Whitestrakes as that damage shield at 30% health is a great way to recover if you make a mistake or you get a healer who can't heal.

Asardes · December 2017

- Taunt the 2H mob and move it out of the group in trash pulls
- Taunt the blue one, then take the yellow one (or the other way around), then chain the adds of the same color on top of it
- Always move clockwise when colors change in prayer phase
- Always stay on the platforms, take the add when off-tank has armor broken

Oreyn_Bearclaw · December 2017

In a random normal, I would say the only requirements are that you taunt the Bosses and maybe things like 2hander adds. If you have reasonable health and a sword and shield with pierce armor, you should be fine.

I tanked a few yesterday, and was "fortunate" enough to get paired with really low level players, talking group DPS of 15-20k. I made it my goal to move slow, and try to chain adds and just talons everything in place, so they could beat on trash for 5 minutes at a time. Haha.

Mojmir · December 2017

I'll call you to the end of dungeon when I've cleared it for you.

Narvuntien · December 2017

Taunt and hold still. Be able to take enough damage that you can just stand there. Block the big hits and CC, pretty much nothing in normal is going to 1 shot you (Although I did get killed by molga kena in normal WGT once).

It is somewhat difficult to deal with the trash but any reasonable dps can burn through the trash and not die (Unless they run out ahead of you and aggro everything). So you really don't have to deal with trash unless someone else is being terrible.

I have "tanked" on my MagDK dps in light armor, with inner fire, a bunch of defensive skills and self heals, although it was with a group I knew not a PUG.