Building a good tank (AP distribution)

SeaGtGruff · April 2020

I'm curious how players distribute their Attribute Points between Magicka, Health, and Stamina on their tank characters. Specifically, what percentage of your AP do you put into Health?

Vermethys · April 2020

I set my attributes last when building a tank, because it depends on the race, food, and enchantments. Generally, I go for about 36k health, 20k magicka, and 24k stamina -- the standard setup for me is: 17 magicka, 20 health, 27 stamina. You can check out my two builds in my signature; they apply to any class, just have to change jewelry enchantments.

bmnoble · April 2020

10 in Magicka, 10 in Health, 44 in Stamina, rest of my health usually comes from sets and glyphs. Depending on the sets I use I have anywhere from 30 - 40K of health, usually have around 16 - 20K Magicka and around 20 - 30K Stamina again depends on the set combinations I am using at the time.

ArielSira · April 2020

My tanks are Nord Warden and Imperial DK. For both I put all points into Stamina; this way I can DD as well as tank by using Alphagear add-on. The armor and enchantments give me the health I need when I'm in tank gear (around 33k).

Iskiab · April 2020

ArielSira wrote: »

My tanks are Nord Warden and Imperial DK. For both I put all points into Stamina; this way I can DD as well as tank by using Alphagear add-on. The armor and enchantments give me the health I need when I'm in tank gear (around 33k).

I do the same thing but with mag.

Unless you’re doing vet trials there’s no need to go full raid tank build. I pump all my points into either mag or stam depending on the type of character it is, then shuffle around stats with glyphs.

The OP dungeon tanks I think do the same, where they’re half healer and half tank and run with 3 dps. I usually even put skills from other skill lines I want to level while tanking dungeons. Just don’t skimp on anything that’s a group damage buff, taunt the boss, and hold block. You only need to take DLC vet dungeons seriously, your CPs can carry you for most of your mitigation.

MrBrownstone · April 2020

I have 64 Stamina because I want to be able to PvP just by swapping gear. I also use Orzorga's Red Frothgar for the max magicka recovery possible. I end up with 10k mag, 33k hp and 20k stam. 250 block cost and 1700 mag recovery is nice. Can tank veteran trials & dungeons including DLC without issue

Vevvev · April 2020

I'm that crazy individual that enjoys magicka tanking and puts all 64 into magicka. I then use sets, enchantments, food, and the Lord stone to get my health to 38k. Primarily I use magicka skills while running a sword and board ((since its superior to the ice staff sadly, but I do run ice staff or resto staff on the back bar)) and then my jewelry has block cost reduction enchantments on them so I don't run out of stamina instantly. The stamina taunt is very cheap so I don't need all that stamina to begin with. If I do run low a single heavy attack will restore it to acceptable levels.

SeaGtGruff · April 2020

Thanks, all, for the interesting replies. I look forward to reading more interesting replies from additional players.

The reason I asked is because my first ESO character was poorly built, due to thinking I could put AP into the stats similar to how I do it in Skyrim-- 1 in Health, 1 in Stamina, 1 in Magicka, then repeat endlessly as I earn more AP. I soon realized that this wasn't working, so I abandoned that character except for being a mule and doing crafting writs.

My second character-- who is my main-- has been working out better for the most part, although his DPS is mediocre, so I'm planning to eventually respec him, or at least acquire a more DPS-oriented gear.

With my later characters, I've tried to more or less follow the game's build guidelines on the level-up adviser, but not following it mindlessly. So what I noticed is that for Tank builds the adviser states that Health is (or should be?) the primary stat, which seems to imply that anyone wanting to tank should invest the largest percentage of their APs into Health. Yet I've also heard that it isn't good to put a lot of APs into Health, so I'm not sure what to make of the level-up adviser.

Iskiab · April 2020

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

Thanks, all, for the interesting replies. I look forward to reading more interesting replies from additional players.

The reason I asked is because my first ESO character was poorly built, due to thinking I could put AP into the stats similar to how I do it in Skyrim-- 1 in Health, 1 in Stamina, 1 in Magicka, then repeat endlessly as I earn more AP. I soon realized that this wasn't working, so I abandoned that character except for being a mule and doing crafting writs.

My second character-- who is my main-- has been working out better for the most part, although his DPS is mediocre, so I'm planning to eventually respec him, or at least acquire a more DPS-oriented gear.

With my later characters, I've tried to more or less follow the game's build guidelines on the level-up adviser, but not following it mindlessly. So what I noticed is that for Tank builds the adviser states that Health is (or should be?) the primary stat, which seems to imply that anyone wanting to tank should invest the largest percentage of their APs into Health. Yet I've also heard that it isn't good to put a lot of APs into Health, so I'm not sure what to make of the level-up adviser.

The AP advisor is right in one sense, Health is the most important thing.

It’s just with race, sets, food, etc... you can tweak your stats a lot. If all you do is tank then a standard AP setup for tanking would be good. Thing is if you have enough skill points you can just change your gear and be able to do another role which is nice.

The basics for tanking is to taunt, block, have a good health pool (over 30k min), and have more stamina than Magicka. You can tweak things a lot with just gear and food.

Hotdog_23 · April 2020

Depends but generally go all stam or mag depending on the character. Makes if easier and more effective to switch sets and quest.

VaxtinTheWolf · April 2020

Over time I started to just use Attribute Points to fill in or balance out the stat distribution after the fact, with additional fine tuning through armor glyphs, with large pieces usually being infused Healthy enchants, and smaller pieces enchanted for the type of tank I'm going for. DPS usually put most or all investment into stamina/magicka to maximize damage potential.

Base Resource Investment:
8-12k(None) | 13-15k(Very Low) | 16-20k(Low) | 21-25k(Med) | 26-30k(High) | 31-35k(Very High) | 36-40k(Heavy)

Nightblade Tank - Health(High), Magicka(Low), Stamina(Very Low)
Templar Tank - Health(Med), Magicka(None), Stamina(Med)
Sorcerer Tank - Health(Med), Magicka(High), Stamina(None)
Warden Tank - Health(High), Magicka(Med), Stamina(None)

I'll also note that this made up scale of my own does not include all character passives or active food/drink buffs.

richo262 · April 2020

ArielSira wrote: »

My tanks are Nord Warden and Imperial DK. For both I put all points into Stamina; this way I can DD as well as tank by using Alphagear add-on. The armor and enchantments give me the health I need when I'm in tank gear (around 33k).

I do this too, however I have found making my Stam Tank/DPS with 44 Stam 20 HP, then using Lava foot food. It is very similar to All Stam + Dubious for DPS, and it gives a little more HP for Tanking.