Gankblades were always free AP so I'm not worried about them. My concern is that there's still zergs of heavy armored Templars, and DKs steam rolling everything in Cyrodiil.

Skander wrote: »

The meta now is dmg and defile.

Interesting. That would naturally make damage shields the strongest line of defense due to the immunity to crits, and being unaffected by defile. Thanks for the feedback.

montiferus wrote: »

There are still plenty of do nothing tanks out there. Just ignore and move on to the people who actually want to play the game.

Yeah those aren't the tanks I'm talking about.

Tanks havnt been a problem since before morrowind.
The meta now is building for high damage, and stacking defiles.
Any spec that relies on vigor, rally, damage shields is fine.
Magdk and to a much greater extant magplar have been nerfed patch after patch. The only thing magplar is good at these days is healing a group and taking up a slot in a group as damage that would be better taken by another spec.
Heavy armor never was the issue. It was the set bonuses. It still has a place for stamina builds but magplar are not very good in heavy armor. The mitigation is not what you wear heavy armor for. Fortified brass in all of my testing is garbage, and even light armor sets like wizards riposte are feeling less and less tanky as more and more players stack more and more damage. Forcing magplar to stack even more passive mitigation and regen. Than ever before.
ZOS has had magplar in their sights for such a long time it's getting sad.

Players get mad at me for wearing pirate skeleton, riposte and desert rose. But trust me, I'd luv to be able to wear two damage sets and only one defense set...you know, like everyone else? But the regen nerfs, the block nerfs, honor the dead and puncturing sweeps nerfs, sun shield, flashes...they've taken everything away from us for passive mitigation. When I'm in a bad place the only thing I can do now is purge and honor the dead spam...
Tank meta has been dead. Defile meta began, and magplar left in droves. There's a reason no streamer runs a magplar Damage build...cause they aren't fun to play. Oh yeah and don't forget the easiest skills to counter in game as well...

Even my non brass medium builds easily reach 22-19k resists. If you're one of those "heavy armor shouldnt do damage" guys, then dont bother really. You wil get trashed out.

Everyone is still tanky. Most zergs consist of wardens, Templars and dks. Small groups are a little different but they are rare. The meta is still tank. The meta will always be tank because it's a more forgiving build

Thogard wrote: »

There definitely isn’t a “tank” meta at the moment.

But there wasn’t a “tank” meta at clockwork city launch either, which is apparently when you quit

So I don’t know if you’ll like it or not.

40% of players you encounter will be nichtblades though. People will always build for survivability and frustrate those who can’t kill them. Right now it’s just easier to use vanish and dodge roll to be immortal than it is to try to tank.

Nightblades are probably the easiest class to kill. If 40% of the players are playing as one I'm going to have an easy time in PvP.

It's a tank meta if you are playing on a class that can't counter block...like a dk's petrify or a NB's fear to name 2. Templars are out of luck.

Checkmath wrote: »

jabs do that, when they hit...
which is rarely the case, when rooted by magdks talons....(we are talking about those permablockers, right?)

Fair enough lol. I was watching a video of me and despotic fighting, my saved video and the one he posted really highlighted the lag during prime time.

Daus wrote: »

Ugh, alright so if I have access to major fracture, and I'm at max CP should I use a Maul or a greatsword based upon the current PvP environment.

Axe lol

Tanks have not been a thing for quite some times. People who used 7th Legion before it got noticed was the only "tanks" I can think of that lasted "forever" with good damage. Even healbot "tanks" die very easy. So... yeah. Nothing like before. And your underestimation of stamblade might bring you much more frustration than any other.

Brutusmax1mus wrote: »

Daus wrote: »

Ugh, alright so if I have access to major fracture, and I'm at max CP should I use a Maul or a greatsword based upon the current PvP environment.

Axe lol

Axe eh? I know that would be strong against tanks, but what about damage shields? If I recall correctly the DoT gets absorbed.

Brutusmax1mus wrote: »

Daus wrote: »

Brutusmax1mus wrote: »

Daus wrote: »

Ugh, alright so if I have access to major fracture, and I'm at max CP should I use a Maul or a greatsword based upon the current PvP environment.

Axe lol

Axe eh? I know that would be strong against tanks, but what about damage shields? If I recall correctly the DoT gets absorbed.

Everything but oblivion damage gets absorbed by shields though.

Yeah fair point. I'll try it out when I come back. Thanks for giving me a third option.

I know a few Stamplars out there that love those bleeds. Very, very effective against most people who don't shield stack. The hardest fights I've been in are stam builds using bleeds (especially if I'm defiled). Their DoTs put more pressure on me than my burning DoTs on them.