Beginner Tank Questions

bongtokin420insd16 · March 2019

so my first MMO tank has reached the precipice of CP, and i want to start tanking Vet dungeons and eventually N/V trials. I know that sets are situational and eventually ill have like 7 to swap with. However, starting out on vet dungeons i want to put a build together that will benefit it directly. ( i will be CP 810 mind you so new but not new).

So far, I've ran a large portion of normal dungeons and have had 0 issues. Obviously if you can take a good *** you can tank a normal i get that. I'm simply stating i do have experience in the concepts. For vet i was thinking of running:

5 Akaviri
5 Plague Dr
Misc monster set (LW, chockle, etc)

I feel like this will give me a nice health pool as well as the ability to pop WH frequently which will help me sustain. Has anyone ran this combo for vet dungeons? If so, was it successful?
I have read alot of tanking guides regarding these sets but many are older and i want to verify with those still rolling how relevant it is.

Second question is, once i move to trials, could i swap Ebon for either of these, or should i replace both with ebon and a different set? Seems the sets that mitigate damage from trial and dungeon bosses aren't very popular, was just wondering if i should be using one.

Last question, my health right now is up over 45k (Imperial DK). I see most places say that 35k is enough but I'm afraid especially in 4 man that i'd be one shot on vet with such low health. Is this low number there so that more stam can be had resulting in more up-time on block? And is this more effective than the extra health in the long run or can i just stack 50-60k health and ride it out with my various forms of sustain?

Thanks in advance for the help. Like i said i did my research, i just want to make sure it isn't too far out of date. Cheers all.

VaranisArano · March 2019

The low amount of health you see is simply because on Vet many mechanics will one shot regardless of heath if you don't follow the mechanic. If you have good resistances and follow the mechanics 35k health should be sufficient...however while you are learning it doesnt hurt to have an extra health cushion.

I will say that the hardest learning curve for me going from normal to vet was relearning which mechanics could actually kill me.

code65536 · March 2019

Plague/Dragon is perfectly fine for a selfish/learning setup.

Are you running with a healer with with 3x DPS? If going healerless in one of the newer DLC dungeons, then Crest of Cyrodiil is a good set to invest in. Ebon/Crest, Plague/Crest, or Dragon/Crest are good options.
Are you getting synergies? If you have a healer tossing orbs, a sorc dropping conduit, then Ebon/Alkosh is great.
30K health is fine for all the base game dungeons and the IC dungeons. I'd probably go 35K for the Hist dungeons. And probably 40K for the newer DLC dungeons (and at least 45K if doing Frostvault HM). Higher would give you more margins for error, particular if you are running without a healer.
I wouldn't worry too much about sustain. I often find many windows of opportunity to get in a heavy attack to restore stamina.

Vermethys · March 2019

When I first started tanking, I went with about 42k-45k health, but I quickly realised that most content does not need that much health. Right now, I run 35.5k health, 21k magicka, and 23k stamina, and for most content I do that is more than enough health/suvivability. 10k extra health won't really save you in vDLC dungeons, but more resources and knowledge of mechanics can (imo). So, I think investing in more stamina and magicka is better. Only exception I can think of is vBRP, where I felt more comfortable with about 41k health.

You could drop Plague Doctor for Ebon, because you don't need 45k health and Ebon improves the group's survivability. Ebon + Akaviri Dragonguard + LW is a very solid set-up.

El_Borracho · March 2019

I can't think of anything in a 4 man dungeon that is a one-shot without mechanics involved, which are mostly DLC dungeons. I think one of the Spindleclutch sub-bosses have a random one-shot if the group keeps attacking in a certain phase, but that's it.

For tanking dungeons, everything has to do with your group. If you are running a premade/guild run with friends, you can go with more support-oriented gear. PUGs, I'd go in with both types of gear and see how the group does on the first pull.

UntilValhalla13 · March 2019

Plague doctor is a good training wheels set. I used it when I first started tanking to get accustomed to the role, using Balance, tanking with a staff back bar, etc.

The main thing you want to do as you're tanking, is to learn each boss in a dungeon and their mechanics. Learn what attacks you definitely need to block, and which attacks are softer if you need to heavy attack or something.

In the newer dlc dungeons, even a basic adds heavy attack can one shot a non-tank through a block if they're not careful. Base game dungeon bosses are pretty easy peasey on a tank. Just take your time and get familiar with the role and surviving. Once you have a grasp on what to do, then you can drop plague doctor for more support oriented sets.

For trials, average tank health nowadays can vary from 35-40k. Alkosh will be a set you want to pick up at some point as well, usually paired with Ebon on one tank. Ebon is a nice, all-around, good support set.

pluckpluck · March 2019

Seven sets to swap between? woah.

So, like previous peeps told you, 35/40k health is more than enought for non DLC veteran content. Now, let's distinguish 3 types of tanks :

Dungeon/trial solo tank :
base set should always be Ebon because it gives 1k more health to your mates, and sometimes not being one-shot can depend of that 1k health bonus. I tend to play with 2DD doing over 100k together, so as a lazy tank, i'm running on PD+Ebon+Chudan but I could swap PD for Alkosh or PowerfulAssault to speed up things. Now, when i run late DLCs dungs, i'm in Ebon+PD because Wolfhunter and Wrathstone hit hardly on tanks. For monster sets, I said Chudan because it saves me a skill for major ward and resolve, but if you are playing with stamina (melee) DDs, you'll want LWD instead.

Main tank in trials :
if you are a main tank, there is then an offtank. Mostly i'd say main tank only thinks to him, off tank thinks for the group. So there i'd go for PD+WarriorPoet (over 50k health) + chudan. Particularly for HRC HM or SA. You are mostly too far from the group to really give a bonus to everyone.

Off tank in trials :
Contrary to main tank that will take a load of damage, off tank gets adds that will hit way lower, and so you will equip sets that will give bonuses to the group. Ebon, so, but also PowerfulAssault, Alkosh, or even BattalionDefender (but it's not the best in trials, better for DSA or BRP). LordWarden is also a nice option here, and new set of.. ?frostvault? giving major ward and resolve to group seems a good option too.

I would say to start with a solid base allowing you to run most of content, as PD+Ebon+Chudan (if DDs are both magicka) or LWD (if at least a melee DD in group). Also, consider the vampire state. I do all content as R4. I've to admit that frostvault HM or BRP are a little hard to sustain, but..

Learn to play it and up different skills that are situational (well, i replaced talons for timestop since it's helpful in any dung since DragonBones), like, so, TimeStop and Meditation in Psijic Line, BoneShield in Undaunted Line, Vigor (that will pop the PowerfulAssault bonus), Purge, Horn (ulti) and Barrier (ulti) from PVP Lines. And most important, learn mechanics of dungeons. What you can get and survive, when to place heavy attacks, when to rolldodge, when to bash.

Some addons are vital as a tank. I think to "untaunted" that gets a record of what you taunted and in how much time you'll have to taunt again, and, for dungeons, Code's Combat Alerts ( thx to @code65536 ) that will "ding" before you have to rolldodge heavy oneshotting attacks. It's like the RaidNotifier but for dungeons.

Diatonic · March 2019

I wrote some tanking advice, initially for my trial mates who were interested in trying it out...the decided to put it on a website and I’ve been expanding on it every few days over the last few weeks. That’s about as recent as you can get! Have a look...I hope you get something out of it...
Diatonic.net

Suddwrath · March 2019

Since you are just now getting started off on tanking, Plague Doctor is fine for the moment. If you're a brand spanking new tank it is okay to be a little selfish with your sets. As you mentioned, most endgame tanks only have around 35k health because that is all the health you will need for most content. Having a little bit more health as a new tank will give you some wiggle room while you learn the ropes. When you get more comfortable with the mechanics of tanking I would recommend swapping out Plague Doctor for something like Torug or Alkosh and then go back and re-run the dungeons you are comfortable with so that you can get used to only having 35k health.

For trials it's a little bit of a different story because there will be two tanks. The main tank and the off tank usually wear different sets. A typical trial setup is the main tank wears Torug and Alkosh to debuff the bosses as much as possible, while the off tank wears Ebon and Dragonguard to provide group utility.

In general, you won't need Ebon for most dungeons unless your group struggles with staying alive. If your group keeps wiping or the DPS can't say alive then putting on Ebon can help with that. But otherwise you'll be just fine wearing Alkosh + Torug for most vet dungeons (and those sets will allow your DPS to burn down bosses and adds even quicker which can also help them stay alive).

35k health might sound like a low number, but once you become comfortable with the mechanics you'll realize that having more than 35k is a little overkill for most content. You'll learn how to mitigate damage via blocking, dodging, and casting shields which will prevent you from being 1-shot.