How can I be a better Tank?

Azurephoenix999 · June 2018

I have an Argonian Health Tank. She's got one hand & shield for one bar and a Two-Handed on the other. More or less following this build as well as I can, except instead of Absorb Magic I've got Retreating Maneuver (I always have it on me somewhere). I'm running 5pc Fortified Brass and 5pc Plague Doctor. Infused on Chest, but Sturdy on everything else.

For my Boss strategy, I usually stab everything I see with Pierce Armor until everything is taunted, throwing out the occasional Heroic Slash for Ultimate Generation and Igneous Shield to protect my allies when I see the boss about to use an AoE. I use heavy attacks to recover stamina, but Magicka is often an issue for me (Been thinking of swapping Two Handed to a Staff for the Heavy Attack Magicka Regen but not sure whether I should or how I would). When I'm in a tough spot (mainly when healer's dead) I'll swap bars real quick and use Green Dragon Blood to heal, then switch back and use Igneous shield to make sure my health stays up while I try to fix things (by reviving the healer usually). If my resources are running low and my ultimate allows it, I'll use War Horn to refill everything and give the team a buff.

I like having Inner Fire (it's not morphed yet) on my off bar for when I need to taunt enemies at range, but I prefer Pierce Armor because of the debuff it applies, and because Inner Fire has a nasty habit of not activating unless my crosshair is 100% definitely dead center.

Problems tend to arise when:
* I run out of Magicka and can't use Green Dragon Blood or Igneous Shield - Leads to teammates or me dying depending on how desperate the situation is.
* I run out of Stamina and can't break free - Can't get out of Petrification (thanks Valkyn Skoria).
* DPS ally dies for the umpteenth time and I'm the only one with the fortitude to stay in place long enough to rez him - Leads to rest of the team suffering because I'm not helping them while I'm performing the rez.
* There are WAY too many adds for me to effectively taunt them all - adds go after allies and start being a nuisance.

So...any thoughts on how I could improve my ability as a Tank? I REALLY want a light Valkyn Skoria helmet for one of my other characters, but the boss is proving to be a nightmare, and I want to make sure I'm doing the very best I can.

FoolishOptimist · June 2018

If you grind Mage's Guild to level 8 *groan* you can unlock Equilibrium.
Equilibrium will exchange 5100 health for 3000 magicka, with penalties to damage shields and healing (made, not received) for four seconds - As a DK Health Tank running Plague Doctor, you could easily spam this 3-4 times and refill your magicka. Just advise your healer so they can keep you covered with Healing Springs/Mutagen, or wait the four seconds and hit Green Dragon Blood.

You can morph Equilibrium into:
Balance - giving you Physical and Spell Resistance (so you don't have to bar spikey armadillo armour)
or Spell Symmetry - Which reduces the cost of your next magicka ability by 25%.

I personally love Balance, and having it on my bar slot will provide a tiny bit of max magicka and mag recovery. This magicka can then be used to throw down your Igneous Shield, granting you 990 replenished stam, if you have the Helping Hands passive.

In addition to this, you could swap your 2H bar for a Frost Staff- despite what people say, they make an exceptional back bar, with a free ranged taunt that replenishes your magicka pool (and provides a small damage shield). Wall of Elements on an infused Frost Staff is a great way to largely dispense your Crusher (armour reduction) enchant to trash pulls. As of Summerset, there will be no disadvantage to back-barring a Frost Staff over a second 1HS bar, with the exception of one less enchantment and not double-barring defensive stance/absorb magic - which you're not currently slotting anyway (would recommend though - it's a wonderful skill!)

When it comes to taunting, only be concerned with taunting the Boss of the fight, and any of the larger enemies (minotaurs in Bloodroot). Trash pulls can be concentrated by applying an AoE (wall of elements) and then soft/hard CCing them into place (Talons/Volcanic Rune/Chilled Enemies on Wall of Elements- best done with Wardens). It's just important that you're the first one to engage in the battle, otherwise the trash will instantly focus on your DPS.

If you're running full heavy armour (which as a tank, please say you are) you won't really need Fortified Brass, as the max cap for resistances are about 33-35k (I could be wrong), which is achievable with CP allocation, armour and monster sets (Blood Spawn) and use of a skill (Balance). You could swap this set for a set like Akaviri Dragonguard which will decrease your Ultimate cost; casting your ultimate is another source of resource regen for DKs, and if you're running Aggressive Warhorn, is not only great for group utility, but handy for managing your own resources as well.

When you're tanking trials, there's a meta set up you're expected to follow, but for 4-man content, the world is your oyster. This is my set up and it works for me. Everyone's play style is slightly different: the more confident you are in your style, the better that will translate into your performance.

Hopefully you find these points useful? I'm pretty new to tanking myself.

VaranisArano · June 2018

Taunt the boss and hard hitting adds, like two handed adds that can one shot your DDs. Use Crowd Control skills to clump up the rest so your DDs can burn them in a stack, but don't worry about taunting all the adds. As a DK, chains and talons are really nice for this.

Azurephoenix999 · June 2018

FoolishOptimist wrote: »

If you grind Mage's Guild to level 8 *groan* you can unlock Equilibrium.
Equilibrium will exchange 5100 health for 3000 magicka, with penalties to damage shields and healing (made, not received) for four seconds

*Groan* is right. I already did that grind once on one of my other characters. I'll definitely do it at some point for this character, but that's definitely getting put off for a while.

Thanks, you and Varanis were very helpful:

I taunt the boss and the particularly annoying adds, but don't go out of my way to taunt them all.
Use CC to pull other adds together and then immobilize them.
I swap out Fortified Brass for Akaviri Dragonguard (at least when I have time to farm it and such).
I train the character's destro staff skill line and give it a Frost Staff along with the CC abilities from said skill line.
I grind to Mages Guild 8 and get Equilibrium (I'll morph it to Balance)(Also this will be after I've done the other stuff, as this will take so freaking long).

As for the Resistance boosting skill I'd normally use, I've already unlocked both spiky armadillo and Immovable (Brute Morph). I'll probably use one or the other depending on what's more appropriate (definitely Immovable Brute for Valkyn Skoria. Can't tell you how many times I've been tossed up into the air when trying to rez someone, and the reduced break free cost would be good for his Petrify).

dtsharples · June 2018

Fortified Brass is a bit 'Meh'. Change it up for something that offers you better stats, as Plague Doctor will give you enough HP to deal with pretty much anything.

Like mentioned above, you could go with Akiviri Dragonguard - that has a little boost to your magika recovery and reduces the cost of your ultimate. So you can feel free to use the 'Take Flight' ulti to regen your resources.
With Bloodspawn, Akiviri + Heroic Slash, it will be back up and ready in no-time at all.

You might also consider adding Tri-Stat glyphs to your large armour pieces + shield too.

Unless you know your healer, I'd say Equilibrium is risky for PUG groups.

BejaProphet · June 2018

@Azurephoenix999

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/416797/royal-poets-guide-to-traditional-tanking-in-veteran-dungeons#latest

profundidob16_ESO · June 2018

Azurephoenix999 wrote: »

I have an Argonian Health Tank. She's got one hand & shield for one bar and a Two-Handed on the other. More or less following this build as well as I can, except instead of Absorb Magic I've got Retreating Maneuver (I always have it on me somewhere). I'm running 5pc Fortified Brass and 5pc Plague Doctor. Infused on Chest, but Sturdy on everything else.

For my Boss strategy, I usually stab everything I see with Pierce Armor until everything is taunted, throwing out the occasional Heroic Slash for Ultimate Generation and Igneous Shield to protect my allies when I see the boss about to use an AoE. I use heavy attacks to recover stamina, but Magicka is often an issue for me (Been thinking of swapping Two Handed to a Staff for the Heavy Attack Magicka Regen but not sure whether I should or how I would). When I'm in a tough spot (mainly when healer's dead) I'll swap bars real quick and use Green Dragon Blood to heal, then switch back and use Igneous shield to make sure my health stays up while I try to fix things (by reviving the healer usually). If my resources are running low and my ultimate allows it, I'll use War Horn to refill everything and give the team a buff.

I like having Inner Fire (it's not morphed yet) on my off bar for when I need to taunt enemies at range, but I prefer Pierce Armor because of the debuff it applies, and because Inner Fire has a nasty habit of not activating unless my crosshair is 100% definitely dead center.

Problems tend to arise when:
* I run out of Magicka and can't use Green Dragon Blood or Igneous Shield - Leads to teammates or me dying depending on how desperate the situation is.
* I run out of Stamina and can't break free - Can't get out of Petrification (thanks Valkyn Skoria).
* DPS ally dies for the umpteenth time and I'm the only one with the fortitude to stay in place long enough to rez him - Leads to rest of the team suffering because I'm not helping them while I'm performing the rez.
* There are WAY too many adds for me to effectively taunt them all - adds go after allies and start being a nuisance.

So...any thoughts on how I could improve my ability as a Tank? I REALLY want a light Valkyn Skoria helmet for one of my other characters, but the boss is proving to be a nightmare, and I want to make sure I'm doing the very best I can.

equip inner fire on your main bar permanently. It's an essential tanking skill, not an optional one. There are lots of mobs that cannot be chainpulled and you cannot reach them in time or doing so will cause you to move the boss constantly.

Consider using the atronach as mundus stone. Together with the cp regen boost it adds a massive boost to your magicka regen.

Make sure you have 18K magicka foodbuffed. Respec attributes to lose a bit of health if needed. 18K magicka and 20K stamina is a good number

Learn and focus specifically on becoming twice as efficient with the use of skills. Instead of running to and pierce armor taunting 7 mobs consider this: Upon pulling, 1 and only 1 taunt on the heavy hitting mob out of the thrash pack as you run into the biggest bunch and 1 ranged inner fire on the ranged sorc that doesn't come while you drop your talons (aoe root) to hold the rest of the mobs in place. 3 skills within the first 3 sec and DONE, no more action or resources needed until this entire pack dies. If the dps does their job all danger is removed for them until the mobs die. Gives you all the time you need to do heavy attacks now to recover or do extra utility such as pull mobs in or whatever

Finally something outside of the general meta but I found a really amazing combination which is totally not considered meta. I farmed all trappings of invigoration weaps, shields and jewelry and paired it with plague doctor for the essential heavy armor and health. Then morph your inner fire into a the stamina version (because you'll be able to get away with it thx to trappings) and use atronach mundus stone. The result is a sea of magicka and stamina even when permablockmode. I fell in love with this combination on my maintank since it litterally allows me to last so incredibly long in resources, especially in the many scenario's where stamina support is completely lacking or absent.

BooPerScOOper · June 2018

Staple skill for tanking
https://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Balance

Morph to Balance. You can get rid of "turtle shell"

Igneous Shield regens Stam.