First time tanking (in ESO), any tips? (pve)

Joxer61 · August 2018

Looking to give tanking a go and while not a rookie to the role (its what I did in all other MMO's save GW2) I am new to the role in ESO. I have learned that there isn't really an aggro table per say like other games (WOW) where damage dictates aggro and you have a multitude of ways to hold said aggro. With the few taunts (3?...s&b, undaunted, frost staff) we have how does one go about holding the fight so dps can go ham? I get that in this game you (the tank) need to focus on the "big" guys and all that but what I am asking is how does one step into the role for the first time?

I que for dungeon as tank is it best to let the group know I am new and have no clue as to the fights or is that sort of honesty an insta kick? In past games I have ran dungeons and such as dps first to try and learn the fights so perhaps that's a better approach? Or are folks pretty forgiving and helpful as long as you know your role and slap that taunt on and turn the boss away and all that fun stuff? Experiences of late (again, GW2) dungeon runs have left a bad taste in that people would just blow thru them, cheese mechanics and that and basically say f all the whole run. If that's the case here I reckon it would be pretty tough for a first time tank to learn their game?
So yea, feel free to share any advice you have or experience as a tank, or with tanks, that are shiny and new but keen to give it a fair go and not completely clueless when it comes to how the play the role. Any build tips or skill advice as well would be most welcome. I am levelling a Warden tank...and yes, I get that a DK is looked at as "better" but the Warden intrigues me with the amount of cc/heals and such and using ice as a tank is just a fresh approach (for me). AS for playstyle I guess you could say I am used to a sort of mitigation tank, as I mained a Deathknight in WOW but also ran as a bear tank but not really ever as a Warrior (i.e. blocking meat shield). I am used to taking damage and being squishy while holding aggro so no worries there.
Oh, that's the one last item...aggro. Is it only taunt based or does it scale off damage done as well or like a blood aggro sort of thing...first seen by mobs? How often is it an issue of dps , or healers, pulling aggro or is that negated if one keeps the taunt on?
Cheers all and sorry for the short novel!!

starlizard70ub17_ESO · August 2018

You need to taunt to keep aggro on you. I use a stamina Templar as my main tank, but a stamina DK will work just as well. I go with Sword and Shield for weapons. The skill line has it's own taunt, Ransack and depending on your setup, a few other blocking skills that will help. For armor sets I'm using Fortified Brass, Warrior-Poet and Mighty Chudan monster set. Fort Brass and Warrior-Poet are relatively easy to get, Mighty Chudan will require more effort. (when Mighty Chudan helms showed up on the Golden vendor a few months ago, I dropped 3 million AP to get as many as I could.)
Keep in mind some bosses like to jump around so it's important to keep on them with taunts and attacks. I found the Biting Jabs attack from the Templar skill, while not a taunt, does annoy the bosses enough that they stay on you. The rotation would be taunt, block, biting jabs, block, taunt.... etc. Dragon Knights have a nice root skill to help keep a boss in place, but some bosses ignore snares.
any way, that's all I can think of for now.

DocFrost72 · August 2018

You are the battlefield commander: your job is to make sure your enemies get funneled, debuffed and routed and that your allies remain safe and untargeted as best you can.

Sometimes, taunting every add would be a waste of resources. Things like gripping shards and ice staves with wall of elements morphed to elemental blockade harass enemy movement, and reduce the damage of their attacks. You're going to want to taunt heavy hitters or unique mobs during trash fights between bosses (see an enemy holding a two handed sword? Grab that one, or they'll burger flip your dps like a Big Mac).

During these trash fights, you're going to want to clump all the adds nice and tight for your friendly aoe. Not only does stacking make allied aoe potent, but it allows the healer to stack three springs and toss shards/orbs/buffs to further augment the team. How you do this is up to you, but my sucess as a warden has been gripping shards or elemental blockade on the beefier part of the pack to hold them nice and still, then use frozen gate to pull the ranged adds nice and close to your makeshift blender.

For tanking fights, mechanics are King. Know what you need to do, ask what you need to know for each boss you've not encountered, or learn and be fast on your feet about the red on the floor. If you do not have telegraphed attacks on in your settings, turn that isht up to 11. Make sure that the color of enemy aoe is clearly distinct and visible to you so you can remove yourself from it. Block heavy attack and bash interruptables.

For more fine tuned tanking, consider ultimates and abilities that aid the team. Torug's Pact is a great entry level support set you can craft very early on. Combining that with a crusher enchantment on your weapon will lower target resistances, making your allies deal superior damage. Make sure to use an infused weapon as well. You can also toss out bone shield or expansive frost cloak to aid allied survivability, and loot sets like ebon armory to add health to your allies.

Know the #1 thing to do though? Have fun, queue often, don't take salt seriously, and learn through combat. Welcome to tanking in ESO, and if you're on PCNA I'll happily dungeon with you to give you pointers

VaranisArano · August 2018

A basic tank holds boss aggro with a taunt, holds the boss more or less still, and doesn't die.

A good tank holds boss aggro with a taunt, holds the boss more or less still in the DDs' aoes, doesn't die, buffs the group, debuffs the boss, crowd controls mobs for the DDs to burn down, taunts priority adds, faces the boss away from the group and blocks, bashes, interrupts when needed for mechanics.

The good news is that with the prevalence of fake tanks who won't even bother with slotting a taunt, you'll do well even with a basic tank.

Finally, this thread is a little old now, but much of the info is still good: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/377221/tanking-university/p1

Joxer61 · August 2018

Thank you heaps all, great info!!

keevil111 · August 2018

Tanking in ESO is very reactive. Taunt is different here because highest damage does not equal highest aggro. Many bosses and unique enemies, even though taunted, will pull off and slam your healer of DDs. Some people don't understand this and will think you "lost aggro." LOL! Don't sweat it.

Like the other posts have said, round up what you can and lock them down. Every class has access to CCs and self healing so your groupmates should be able to handle an add or two if you don't quite get everything perfect every time. Focus on the large add packs and/or bosses, then finish off the stragglers.

Good luck and have fun!

ZeroXFF · August 2018

If you dislike blasting through dungeons skipping mechanics, you're out of luck, it happens a lot in ESO. However if you solo queue for dungeons you might also have groups with such bad dps that you wish you did have one of those guys who can cheese it.

In regards to aggro, yes, it's just the taunt, every other method is unreliable, and works just for a few seconds at best (like being the first to attack a mob). Depending on class you can utilize AoE roots to give you time to taunt more adds.

As a tank you have to keep in mind that in ESO most of the damage comes from ground DoTs, so you have to maximize the time the bosses stand still. You should also try to group enemies to make it easier to AoE them. Wardens have a skill that teleport adds to you (don't remember the name, don't have a warden tank).

In regards to the build, that depends on the content you run, and who you run it with. If you run with random PUGs, I recommend building for maximum self-sufficiency and/or maximum dps. In good groups you will want to run gear that gives the best buffs to the dps of your team. The one universal thing is though that you will block a lot, so get sturdy gear and block cost reduction enchants on jewelry (at least 2 such enchants, unless you run with an infused trait, then you might get away with one). Also keep in mind that the resistance cap in PvE is 33100 (which is 50%), so if you go over it, you're wasting stats.

In regards to other stats, what you want is:
- Health
- Magicka regen
- Ultimate regen/cost reduction

Stats that sound good but you want to avoid:
- Passive health regen (any active heal is better, so mag regen is always better)
- Passive stam regen (not working while blocking)
- Shield procs (don't benefit from resistances or block, so heals are again better, they can however be useful if they proc on your team mates)

If you want to have an easy time tanking all 4 man content, aim for resist cap, 35k HP and 1k+ magicka regen. Most of it can be done with less though, this is just the stats that will make the hard stuff relatively easy to do.

profundidob16_ESO · August 2018

in addition to the great responses above I add this:

1. agro in ESO tanking-wise is purely based on the use of your agro skills and not influenced by dps modifiers like in WOW. in ESO any taunt supersedes all DPS tables by definition and by far. I played shadow priest in Lich King constantly fighting to maximize dps while minimizing agro to stay under the tank so I know what you mean. That dps-dependant mechanic for agro doesn't exist in ESO
2. Since Frost is for exceptional builds (a tanking mage etc) you basically only have 1 cheap melee taunt and 1 costly ranged taunt so positioning/pathing smart is key
3. The trick is augment your taunt with cc to control the dmge. Use aoe cc tools (DK talons, Warden grippling shards, Psijic timestop) to stop the biggest bunch on the spot and then use a remote-pull skill (DK chains, any class silver leash) to pull in the ranged mobs (casters,archers) that otherwise wouldn't come.
4. by combining the 3 above you control all the damage so you immediately see that positioning/pathing is just as important as a tool. Dropping aoe cc in the big bunch first and pulling in or range taunting the exceptions is alot more effective than the opposite order by which all mobs are scattered all over the place and killing people...
5. 50% of the tanks in pugs (random group finder...) are fake tanks. The next 20% that are not fake tanks are just bad tanks. In fact as soon as you are actively managing the basic tank job of taunting/cc'ing everything you're already in the best 30% of the random group finder's tanks. Let that be your encouragement to go do random dailies nonstop. In addition they are the greatest training because there's alot of bad dps/healers that will force you to bring your best tanking skills to the table.
6. Once you master these basics and all tactics in all pve dungeons and trials you will automatically also know how much more luxury/advanced tanking skills you'll be able to do. No need to actively try that right now
7. Read all the online guides on the net and here on the forums. You'll be amazed just how much golden information is hidden in them

Good luck and more important: have fun !

jypcy · August 2018

I’ll just add that if you want to avoid group kicks or blasting through dungeons, I’d avoid the group finder and try zone chat to gather some people so they know going in what the expectations are. It might take a little bit and there’ll likely be toxicity while you’re asking, but it might be your safest bet to actually work on tanking.

Joxer61 · August 2018

Again awesome info all!! Most appreciated and will be put to good use. I will try and be that good 30%!!!

Priyasekarssk · August 2018

Joxer61 wrote: »

Looking to give tanking a go and while not a rookie to the role (its what I did in all other MMO's save GW2) I am new to the role in ESO. I have learned that there isn't really an aggro table per say like other games (WOW) where damage dictates aggro and you have a multitude of ways to hold said aggro. With the few taunts (3?...s&b, undaunted, frost staff) we have how does one go about holding the fight so dps can go ham? I get that in this game you (the tank) need to focus on the "big" guys and all that but what I am asking is how does one step into the role for the first time?

I que for dungeon as tank is it best to let the group know I am new and have no clue as to the fights or is that sort of honesty an insta kick? In past games I have ran dungeons and such as dps first to try and learn the fights so perhaps that's a better approach? Or are folks pretty forgiving and helpful as long as you know your role and slap that taunt on and turn the boss away and all that fun stuff? Experiences of late (again, GW2) dungeon runs have left a bad taste in that people would just blow thru them, cheese mechanics and that and basically say f all the whole run. If that's the case here I reckon it would be pretty tough for a first time tank to learn their game?
So yea, feel free to share any advice you have or experience as a tank, or with tanks, that are shiny and new but keen to give it a fair go and not completely clueless when it comes to how the play the role. Any build tips or skill advice as well would be most welcome. I am levelling a Warden tank...and yes, I get that a DK is looked at as "better" but the Warden intrigues me with the amount of cc/heals and such and using ice as a tank is just a fresh approach (for me). AS for playstyle I guess you could say I am used to a sort of mitigation tank, as I mained a Deathknight in WOW but also ran as a bear tank but not really ever as a Warrior (i.e. blocking meat shield). I am used to taking damage and being squishy while holding aggro so no worries there.
Oh, that's the one last item...aggro. Is it only taunt based or does it scale off damage done as well or like a blood aggro sort of thing...first seen by mobs? How often is it an issue of dps , or healers, pulling aggro or is that negated if one keeps the taunt on?
Cheers all and sorry for the short novel!!

Make a NB or DK. Never ever make a magic sorc or warden or templar. You will be fine and avoid regrets later. This game has strong bias for NBs. You will eventually learn the game once you leveled up.

Xerge · August 2018

This game has no AoE taunt. Even it was limited to 3-5 mobs and not the whole pack, would do the game wonders. I have tanked successfully in other games and tanking is the one role in ESO that does not carry over too well.

*your teammates will be tanking an add or two
*One single target taunt
*one ranged taunt
*no team mate saving abilities (yes and no), would be nice to charge a team mate and take the damage for them or give them a damage shield/buff

All of the above makes me feel inadequate and i'm not doing my job successfully.

I've read around the forums and a lot of end game tanks say it's all fine and just have to adapt. I disagree and feel tanks are vastly underpowered in this game. Maybe it's the low CP game that's giving me this view, perhaps it's my personal vision on how tanks should play and what is actually fun versus the ESO vision.

I don't know. I'll continue to DPS for now though.

profundidob16_ESO · September 2018

Xerge wrote: »

This game has no AoE taunt. Even it was limited to 3-5 mobs and not the whole pack, would do the game wonders. I have tanked successfully in other games and tanking is the one role in ESO that does not carry over too well.

*your teammates will be tanking an add or two
*One single target taunt
*one ranged taunt
*no team mate saving abilities (yes and no), would be nice to charge a team mate and take the damage for them or give them a damage shield/buff

All of the above makes me feel inadequate and i'm not doing my job successfully.

I've read around the forums and a lot of end game tanks say it's all fine and just have to adapt. I disagree and feel tanks are vastly underpowered in this game. Maybe it's the low CP game that's giving me this view, perhaps it's my personal vision on how tanks should play and what is actually fun versus the ESO vision.

I don't know. I'll continue to DPS for now though.

coming from WOW and many mmo before that even (EQ hardcore style) we were used to the tank role having (easy) roles to grab agro of all mobs and then being able to maintain it would become a 'dps agro' versus 'tank agro' fight which is really boring and non-dynamic in the end. Not much skill was needed.

After playing this game since beta as healer adn then later switching to maintank all content this game has to offer I can now honestly say I really like tanking here alot more. The absence of an aoe taunt brings out the best awareness and tanking skills in me and challenges me properly. Having to mix chainpulling adds with aoe cc with single target ranged and melee taunts to find the optimal crowd control at the cheapest resource cost at all times makes tanking fun again and then to do all that on top of dodging all aoe, blocking exactly when necessary and doing all other dungeon/trial specific mechanics...

in short playing a tank in ESO feels like an active job where player skills pay off...