Viability of vampire PVE tanks?

Raudgrani · April 2020

With the coming changes to vampirism, is there any reason whatsoever to keep vampirism on your PVE tanks?

I've been looking around at the UESP build editor, and I can't really tell. Are there any vampire skills that can be used for any serious content, and if so what stage should you be at and so on?
It looks to me that the only benefits I'm really taking advantage of (recovery and resistance) is kind of not worth it, recovery gone and I don't know about the resistance. Most common damage element seems to be fire, so it's like +/-0 for the resistance part it seems.

Way back, I used to heal with the vamp drain thing, but it was WAY back. When I was like CP 300 or so, it worked back then - but I don't think it's viable for more demanding content. I'm a NB tank, and the Dark Cloak heal has other benefits too, so I doubt I will drop it. So, will you remain vampire or cure it next update?

Hotdog_23 · April 2020

Vampiric Drain https://eso-skillbook.com/skill/vampiric-drain could be very strong a tank build. You could also mist for big fire hits, maybe.

But if you did use it i would be a dark elf for the Resist fire passive "Increases your Flame Resistance by 2310. Gain immunity to the Burning status effect".

Plus the Undeath passive is still present but changed "While you are at Vampire Stage 3 or higher: Reduces your damage taken by up to 30% based on your missing Health".

Unnatural Movement could help with speed runs in dungeons to skip alot of adds without agro if the entire group was all vamps.

Raudgrani · April 2020

Hotdog_23 wrote: »

Vampiric Drain https://eso-skillbook.com/skill/vampiric-drain could be very strong a tank build. You could also mist for big fire hits, maybe.

But if you did use it i would be a dark elf for the Resist fire passive "Increases your Flame Resistance by 2310. Gain immunity to the Burning status effect".

Plus the Undeath passive is still present but changed "While you are at Vampire Stage 3 or higher: Reduces your damage taken by up to 30% based on your missing Health".

Unnatural Movement could help with speed runs in dungeons to skip alot of adds without agro if the entire group was all vamps.

Yeah, question is - can you block cast that heal? If not, I don't think it's an option. I mean, try and self heal without blocking for like 3 seconds on any of the big trial meanies? And given how clunky block canceling has become now, I think that's a perfect way to die for sure.

An all vampire group could surely run past most trash encounters no doubt run past a lot of contents, but then you'd need a real pre-built group meant to do so. As a NB tank, I Major Expedition-run (without invisibility) through all parts you can skip already.

Guess it all remains to see! It doesn't look too good though.

ElliottXO · April 2020

I would say the 5 second AOE stun could be pretty handy for crowd control, could perhaps be even better than talons.

MartiniDaniels · April 2020

ElliottXO wrote: »

I would say the 5 second AOE stun could be pretty handy for crowd control, could perhaps be even better than talons.

It has major downside in terms of inability to root recently chained mages/archers (because chains/leash grant cc-immunity). You can do it even on live with Turn Evil and though it has it's advantages (like minor protection+endurance) as well as stopping damage from stunned enemies on the other hand you lose synergy and maim from talons.

Raudgrani · April 2020

The CC thing doesn't seem bad, right. But as Martini says, you'll have a problem to leash/chain in ranged trash? I'm using a NB for tank, so I use the NB fear if I ever need to CC things. Most often I just round them up around me and taunt them, it usually works fine in all contents I've been through.

I'm mostly disappointed with the loss of recovery, and because the recovery is like about zero on stage four, even with Green Pact and Bear Haunch food that I use (I mainly run with 3 DD's so I need to take care of myself most of the time, thus the health recovery). Used to be like 1500 even as stage 4 vamp... :-/

John_Falstaff · April 2020

I'll voice an unpopular thing, and say that I frankly will sigh with relief once recovery's gone. Being a tank and being constantly under peer pressure to go vampire is not my definition of fun. If one is to use vampire line, then it should be for more than just a passive, and it should preferably create a separate playstyle (so, I'm not against enhancing options) without creating new meta.

Raudgrani · April 2020

John_Falstaff wrote: »

I'll voice an unpopular thing, and say that I frankly will sigh with relief once recovery's gone. Being a tank and being constantly under peer pressure to go vampire is not my definition of fun. If one is to use vampire line, then it should be for more than just a passive, and it should preferably create a separate playstyle (so, I'm not against enhancing options) without creating new meta.

You got the right to your opinion, I don't share it however. :-) It worked very well, not solely (but primarily) for the recovery. More than one time, I've seen my healthbar more or less "stop" at a very low level, when I've been resurrecting an otherwise "wiped" group (15% extra mitigation when doing it of course, from passives). I'm pretty sure I would never have been able to pull off those superman shows so many times, it it wasn't for the vampire mitigation, stacked with resurrect boost, major/minor protection and so on.

John_Falstaff · April 2020

Raudgrani wrote: »

John_Falstaff wrote: »

I'll voice an unpopular thing, and say that I frankly will sigh with relief once recovery's gone. Being a tank and being constantly under peer pressure to go vampire is not my definition of fun. If one is to use vampire line, then it should be for more than just a passive, and it should preferably create a separate playstyle (so, I'm not against enhancing options) without creating new meta.

You got the right to your opinion, I don't share it however. :-) It worked very well, not solely (but primarily) for the recovery. More than one time, I've seen my healthbar more or less "stop" at a very low level, when I've been resurrecting an otherwise "wiped" group (15% extra mitigation when doing it of course, from passives). I'm pretty sure I would never have been able to pull off those superman shows so many times, it it wasn't for the vampire mitigation, stacked with resurrect boost, major/minor protection and so on.

Actually, what you're observing may be subjective. I, while not being a vampire, have observed same miraculous near-death experiences when I drop low, but then abruptly take much less damage, which allowed me to salvage the situation. Often enough that it made me look on occasion for some passive I was overlooking all along that makes me take less damage the less health I have. So it might not be entirely vampire thing after all, and it may even be a gimmick of perception.

Recovery is a good thing of course, and it's even less fun that many tanking monster sets are being nerfed, but I think it's a good price to pay for not being shoehorned into meta. I'm all for tanks getting a buff, tanks need to be buffed, just not by giving them a skill line that idiomatically has nothing to do with tanking, that's my point.

Raudgrani · April 2020

John_Falstaff wrote: »

Raudgrani wrote: »

John_Falstaff wrote: »

I'll voice an unpopular thing, and say that I frankly will sigh with relief once recovery's gone. Being a tank and being constantly under peer pressure to go vampire is not my definition of fun. If one is to use vampire line, then it should be for more than just a passive, and it should preferably create a separate playstyle (so, I'm not against enhancing options) without creating new meta.

You got the right to your opinion, I don't share it however. :-) It worked very well, not solely (but primarily) for the recovery. More than one time, I've seen my healthbar more or less "stop" at a very low level, when I've been resurrecting an otherwise "wiped" group (15% extra mitigation when doing it of course, from passives). I'm pretty sure I would never have been able to pull off those superman shows so many times, it it wasn't for the vampire mitigation, stacked with resurrect boost, major/minor protection and so on.

Actually, what you're observing may be subjective. I, while not being a vampire, have observed same miraculous near-death experiences when I drop low, but then abruptly take much less damage, which allowed me to salvage the situation. Often enough that it made me look on occasion for some passive I was overlooking all along that makes me take less damage the less health I have. So it might not be entirely vampire thing after all, and it may even be a gimmick of perception.

Recovery is a good thing of course, and it's even less fun that many tanking monster sets are being nerfed, but I think it's a good price to pay for not being shoehorned into meta. I'm all for tanks getting a buff, tanks need to be buffed, just not by giving them a skill line that idiomatically has nothing to do with tanking, that's my point.

It remains to see, I guess. Because sadly enough I don't really see the reason to keep vampirism (no one is really changing my mind either), it's clearly made a lot more niche now - you gotta "roleplay" vampire, and probably even play more or less as a new sub-class entirely. Otherwise it won't be worth it. The mitigation thing doesn't kick in util stage 3 I think, and that's still too bad in other ways. Will miss the recovery a bit, even it it's a quite high recovery tank even without that Supernatural Recovery passive.

MashmalloMan · April 2020

Raudgrani wrote: »

John_Falstaff wrote: »

Raudgrani wrote: »

John_Falstaff wrote: »

I'll voice an unpopular thing, and say that I frankly will sigh with relief once recovery's gone. Being a tank and being constantly under peer pressure to go vampire is not my definition of fun. If one is to use vampire line, then it should be for more than just a passive, and it should preferably create a separate playstyle (so, I'm not against enhancing options) without creating new meta.

You got the right to your opinion, I don't share it however. :-) It worked very well, not solely (but primarily) for the recovery. More than one time, I've seen my healthbar more or less "stop" at a very low level, when I've been resurrecting an otherwise "wiped" group (15% extra mitigation when doing it of course, from passives). I'm pretty sure I would never have been able to pull off those superman shows so many times, it it wasn't for the vampire mitigation, stacked with resurrect boost, major/minor protection and so on.

Actually, what you're observing may be subjective. I, while not being a vampire, have observed same miraculous near-death experiences when I drop low, but then abruptly take much less damage, which allowed me to salvage the situation. Often enough that it made me look on occasion for some passive I was overlooking all along that makes me take less damage the less health I have. So it might not be entirely vampire thing after all, and it may even be a gimmick of perception.

Recovery is a good thing of course, and it's even less fun that many tanking monster sets are being nerfed, but I think it's a good price to pay for not being shoehorned into meta. I'm all for tanks getting a buff, tanks need to be buffed, just not by giving them a skill line that idiomatically has nothing to do with tanking, that's my point.

It remains to see, I guess. Because sadly enough I don't really see the reason to keep vampirism (no one is really changing my mind either), it's clearly made a lot more niche now - you gotta "roleplay" vampire, and probably even play more or less as a new sub-class entirely. Otherwise it won't be worth it. The mitigation thing doesn't kick in util stage 3 I think, and that's still too bad in other ways. Will miss the recovery a bit, even it it's a quite high recovery tank even without that Supernatural Recovery passive.

I don't understand why people keep saying "roleplay as a vampire" is the only option as if it's a bad thing. It's very clear that was ZOS's intention. Just like Werewolves, playing as 1 means you actually have to play as 1 to outweigh some of the cons, it should of never been used for mitigation or sustain passives. I say good riddance to vampire and shoehorning your entire playerbase into it. Mission accomplished ZOS. The passives are still fantastic anyway, but your resource drain needs to consist of at least 1/3 vampire abilities to break even, if you go 2/3s of your resource drain your sustain will actually increase and it's not that difficult to accomplish. By using the cc and the spammable and the escape tool you can easily go 2/3 of your drain with vamp, -40% cost is no joke.

At first I was a little upset about losing the 10% regen passive, but when you really think about it, the amount of regen you get from it is usually abysmal, at least from a damage dealer perspective, you're going to invest 300-450 into your main resource regen via food/enchant. That equates to 30-45 regen every 2 seconds. That's nothing. Maybe for a tank you're investing a little more, but I doubt it.

As mentioned in the previous comments, the tank playstyle can be buffed in other ways rather than relying on a couple of passives. Same goes for sustain, class and ability sustain can be buffed/nerfed from the perspective that no one will have vampire just for passives now. I'm willing to bet in ZOS's in house dps testing, they used vampire to sustain rotations and make decisions based on those scenario's for the sustain of a class. If it's based on combat logs, you can bet over 70-80% of the dps population was using vampire. Imo it did more harm than good.

To your question, no it's not worth being a vampire for tanks. +15% cost for the mitigation passives isn't worth it to me.

xaraan · April 2020

John_Falstaff wrote: »

I'll voice an unpopular thing, and say that I frankly will sigh with relief once recovery's gone. Being a tank and being constantly under peer pressure to go vampire is not my definition of fun. If one is to use vampire line, then it should be for more than just a passive, and it should preferably create a separate playstyle (so, I'm not against enhancing options) without creating new meta.

I agree with you completely.

I made it through this long without vamping my tanks and they all worked just fine for end game HM vet runs of trials and dungeons. So I got tired of hearing about how I should be a vamp just cuz.

No, you should be a vampire b/c you want to play a vampire. Glad they are making it that way finally.

Nova_J · April 2020

xaraan wrote: »

John_Falstaff wrote: »

I'll voice an unpopular thing, and say that I frankly will sigh with relief once recovery's gone. Being a tank and being constantly under peer pressure to go vampire is not my definition of fun. If one is to use vampire line, then it should be for more than just a passive, and it should preferably create a separate playstyle (so, I'm not against enhancing options) without creating new meta.

I agree with you completely.

I made it through this long without vamping my tanks and they all worked just fine for end game HM vet runs of trials and dungeons. So I got tired of hearing about how I should be a vamp just cuz.

No, you should be a vampire b/c you want to play a vampire. Glad they are making it that way finally.

Lol and now they are trying to make it so your tank has to stay at stage 1. So much for all that then.

MattT1988 · April 2020

I’m curing my tank the minute the patch drops, if I’m even still playing. Really not a fan of vamp tanks this patch. That increased ability cost is a killer.

Faulgor · April 2020

I think Templars could benefit the most from it, because Vampire skills can fill their weak spots: Lack of a health-based heal and good CC. 6% ability cost reduction can also mitigate the Vampire penalties somewhat. I'll certainly give it a try.

Other, better classes, probably not.

Raudgrani · April 2020

Nova_J wrote: »

xaraan wrote: »

John_Falstaff wrote: »

I'll voice an unpopular thing, and say that I frankly will sigh with relief once recovery's gone. Being a tank and being constantly under peer pressure to go vampire is not my definition of fun. If one is to use vampire line, then it should be for more than just a passive, and it should preferably create a separate playstyle (so, I'm not against enhancing options) without creating new meta.

I agree with you completely.

I made it through this long without vamping my tanks and they all worked just fine for end game HM vet runs of trials and dungeons. So I got tired of hearing about how I should be a vamp just cuz.

No, you should be a vampire b/c you want to play a vampire. Glad they are making it that way finally.

Lol and now they are trying to make it so your tank has to stay at stage 1. So much for all that then.

And at stage 1 I suppose the mitigation passives are not active anyway. You got access to a strong heal, which you basically can't use when you need it - at least I THINK so, I doubt you'll be able to block cast it. So it's pretty much settled I guess, trade recovery for cost increase, and if usable at all it will mean a massive cost increase. People were crying about 8% for New Moon Acolyte, how about 15-20% cost increase for even being what your character is?

Urzigurumash · April 2020

Raudgrani wrote: »

You got the right to your opinion, I don't share it however. :-) It worked very well, not solely (but primarily) for the recovery. More than one time, I've seen my healthbar more or less "stop" at a very low level, when I've been resurrecting an otherwise "wiped" group (15% extra mitigation when doing it of course, from passives). I'm pretty sure I would never have been able to pull off those superman shows so many times, it it wasn't for the vampire mitigation, stacked with resurrect boost, major/minor protection and so on.

I suspect this is an underappreciated component of the "tank meta" in PvP, and will lead to substantially reduced TTK in this patch, along with the reduced Healing, Monster Set nerfs, etc.

Feizao · April 2020

I might just stay stage 1 for mist form. i use to use the drain but it can be risky to channel over blocking. especially with the new performance block

Kurat · April 2020

Feizao wrote: »

I might just stay stage 1 for mist form. i use to use the drain but it can be risky to channel over blocking. especially with the new performance block

Mist form is useless because you cant block or use any abilities. Its better to just block the attacks that you can survive and rolldodge others. Also the cost increase that vamp brings isnt worth it.
Imo vamp is only good for RP, questing and target dummy parse cheesing.

Raudgrani · April 2020

Feizao wrote: »

I might just stay stage 1 for mist form. i use to use the drain but it can be risky to channel over blocking. especially with the new performance block

I have never used mistform on my PVE tank(s), I can't see any real way to use it effectively to be honest. I use it quite a lot on PVE through, especially on my Magplar and (scrubby enough) on my heavy armor StamDK as a gettaway tool. But that's about it.

John_Falstaff · April 2020

Raudgrani wrote: »

Feizao wrote: »

I might just stay stage 1 for mist form. i use to use the drain but it can be risky to channel over blocking. especially with the new performance block

I have never used mistform on my PVE tank(s), I can't see any real way to use it effectively to be honest. I use it quite a lot on PVE through, especially on my Magplar and (scrubby enough) on my heavy armor StamDK as a gettaway tool. But that's about it.

I saw tanks that used mist form for rapid positioning on chickens in vHoF (when doing by the book, it's less useful for stack'n'burn strat), maybe also useful for similar situations like kiting crushing darkness, but that I already don't know first hand.

Raudgrani · April 2020

John_Falstaff wrote: »

Raudgrani wrote: »

Feizao wrote: »

I might just stay stage 1 for mist form. i use to use the drain but it can be risky to channel over blocking. especially with the new performance block

I have never used mistform on my PVE tank(s), I can't see any real way to use it effectively to be honest. I use it quite a lot on PVE through, especially on my Magplar and (scrubby enough) on my heavy armor StamDK as a gettaway tool. But that's about it.

I saw tanks that used mist form for rapid positioning on chickens in vHoF (when doing by the book, it's less useful for stack'n'burn strat), maybe also useful for similar situations like kiting crushing darkness, but that I already don't know first hand.

Never heard of that, but on the other hand - I've never used Bone Shield in PVE until today, on that next last boss encounter in Lair of Maarselok. I just did as I was told by the "pros" in group and got the skill, and it was so much easier during that bombarding phase. Not a single death once we all used shields. ;-)

Sanguinor2 · April 2020

On live you could blockcancel mistform for Major Expedition but that wont be possible on pts anymore and with psijic you got a better Major Expedition tool anyway. Only reason to take Vamp on a tank now is drain since in some fights atleast you can use it otherwise Vamp doesnt have anything to offer anymore.

John_Falstaff · April 2020

Raudgrani wrote: »

John_Falstaff wrote: »

Raudgrani wrote: »

Feizao wrote: »

I might just stay stage 1 for mist form. i use to use the drain but it can be risky to channel over blocking. especially with the new performance block

I have never used mistform on my PVE tank(s), I can't see any real way to use it effectively to be honest. I use it quite a lot on PVE through, especially on my Magplar and (scrubby enough) on my heavy armor StamDK as a gettaway tool. But that's about it.

I saw tanks that used mist form for rapid positioning on chickens in vHoF (when doing by the book, it's less useful for stack'n'burn strat), maybe also useful for similar situations like kiting crushing darkness, but that I already don't know first hand.

Never heard of that, but on the other hand - I've never used Bone Shield in PVE until today, on that next last boss encounter in Lair of Maarselok. I just did as I was told by the "pros" in group and got the skill, and it was so much easier during that bombarding phase. Not a single death once we all used shields. ;-)

Live and learn.

I actually never tried that shield in vLoM, should definitely give it a shot.

Though hm-m, if you can't block-cast mist form anymore in Greymoor, maybe it pales some compared to RAT. I blame zos for pushing the new speedy ring on tanks (which I probably will look forward to getting, so many places where extra speed is both advantage and fun on a tank).

Raudgrani · April 2020

John_Falstaff wrote: »

Raudgrani wrote: »

John_Falstaff wrote: »

Raudgrani wrote: »

Feizao wrote: »

I might just stay stage 1 for mist form. i use to use the drain but it can be risky to channel over blocking. especially with the new performance block

I have never used mistform on my PVE tank(s), I can't see any real way to use it effectively to be honest. I use it quite a lot on PVE through, especially on my Magplar and (scrubby enough) on my heavy armor StamDK as a gettaway tool. But that's about it.

I saw tanks that used mist form for rapid positioning on chickens in vHoF (when doing by the book, it's less useful for stack'n'burn strat), maybe also useful for similar situations like kiting crushing darkness, but that I already don't know first hand.

Never heard of that, but on the other hand - I've never used Bone Shield in PVE until today, on that next last boss encounter in Lair of Maarselok. I just did as I was told by the "pros" in group and got the skill, and it was so much easier during that bombarding phase. Not a single death once we all used shields. ;-)

Live and learn. I actually never tried that shield in vLoM, should definitely give it a shot.

Though hm-m, if you can't block-cast mist form anymore in Greymoor, maybe it pales some compared to RAT. I blame zos for pushing the new speedy ring on tanks (which I probably will look forward to getting, so many places where extra speed is both advantage and fun on a tank).

Yes, we had Barrier and all, but we wanted to keep ultis to nuke the boss instead, so for the first time I was using Bone Shield on a PVE DD! Might very well work at other places as well, when there are no healers in group and so on.
The Speedy Ring yes... Maybe I don't need it on mine, as I have a NB tank and use the path. A majority never seems to have even seen a NB tank before and go like "Wtf? Are you running in medium armor or what?". It's perfect for speed runs too, as the whole group get Major Expedition from a skill I use anyway, everyone moving around much faster at no real cost.

Cronopoly · May 2020

Sucks but I see no viability of Vamp on my DK Tank... Pretty sure I paid $ for this *** too, now useless for PVE Tanking. Now I gotta pay to remove it. Who is the dummy? Got me both ways. /rant off.

Obviously it was useful in the past, and I'm not a moron...i think lol. i can see it was initially designed with a perk of being highly useful for mostly the passives. So we used it as such... Now not so much. Welcome to MMO's

MartiniDaniels · May 2020

What do I think about Mist:
1. It now costs only 1k per second instead of guaranteed ~4k for 4 seconds, this means it can be used as timed block
2. You can activate it if you are ultra-snared or immobilized and save stamina which will be otherwise consumed by roll-dodge
3. Emergency magicka block in case stamina is low, sometimes it can save the day and no ice staff is needed
4. Mist mitigation applies to shields, so you can virtually extend your HP before blocking heavy attack buy using igneous/bonewall -> mist
5. Mist speeds up you instead of slowing down (like block), so you can better position yourself, get off the nasty aoe without risk being one-shot on roll-dodge exit etc.
6. Health recovery still works in Mist, so if multiple weak attacks are expected, you may save your stamina by going to mist for couple of seconds

Disclaimer, I never used Mist for tanking, so all this is theory which need testing

Overall, I doubt it will be used in trial score runs, but for dungeons/arenas, Mist might have interesting applications.

Raudgrani · May 2020

MartiniDaniels wrote: »

What do I think about Mist:
1. It now costs only 1k per second instead of guaranteed ~4k for 4 seconds, this means it can be used as timed block
2. You can activate it if you are ultra-snared or immobilized and save stamina which will be otherwise consumed by roll-dodge
3. Emergency magicka block in case stamina is low, sometimes it can save the day and no ice staff is needed
4. Mist mitigation applies to shields, so you can virtually extend your HP before blocking heavy attack buy using igneous/bonewall -> mist
5. Mist speeds up you instead of slowing down (like block), so you can better position yourself, get off the nasty aoe without risk being one-shot on roll-dodge exit etc.
6. Health recovery still works in Mist, so if multiple weak attacks are expected, you may save your stamina by going to mist for couple of seconds

Disclaimer, I never used Mist for tanking, so all this is theory which need testing

Overall, I doubt it will be used in trial score runs, but for dungeons/arenas, Mist might have interesting applications.

I saw that the Netch Potes had new adjusted numbers for vampires, made me kind of happy - and now vampire might actually be viable for something more than playing as *A* vampire for the sake of being vampire alone. Will investigate further!

amm7sb14_ESO · June 2020

There's such a lack of creativity in this thread that says that vampires can't be tanks. Says who? Can roles in this game only be performed just 1 way? Because that seems to be the thinking when everyone falls in line with the same metas over and over again.

As someone who mains a tank, I too was initially discouraged by the vampire changes for tanks. But after some experimentation, it may have made my main tank even funner than it was before because now I have an entirely new dynamic with him. I'll be honest - my main tank was getting kinda boring. There wasn't much left to do. But using vampirism on him and figuring out how to make it work as a tank has breathed a new wave of life into him and I'm having a blast with him.

Is it meta? Nope. Alcast, dottz, or anyone who thinks metas are the only way to engage the content will despise it.

Does it work? Yup! So far it sure does! I've done a number of PVE content with it, ranging from normal to vet DLC, and a number of trials as well.

Will it leaderboard? Probably not. So if you're into that sort of thing, maybe it won't work for you.

Will you be able to successfully run vet PVE group content, both 4 and 12 man? Yes.

I'm using vampire on my Breton Necro tank.

Front bar sword & shield: Hungry Scythe, Inner Rage, Elusive Mist, Mystic Siphon, Unnerving Graveyard, Ravenous Goliath / Blood Scion

Back bar restoration staff: Spirit Guardian, Angry Totem / Hypnotize, Enduring Undeath, Beckoning Armor, Necrotic Potency, Barrier / War Horn

Stage 3 / 4

My debuffs / sustains act as dot's, so I combine that with Elusive Mist - pop it quickly to boost my spell damage (which is already higher through enchants - when buffed I get over 2k spell damage on a tank, without sacrificing health or resist) and then drop my dot debuff and sustains and CC's. Lots of self heals to offset the lessened health recovery.

For bosses that are CC resistant and might need a bit extra DPS, I can replace the Angry Totem slot with Sated Fury and get my spell damage to nearly 3k for my debuffs.

When buffed, I'm still pushing 40k health and max resistances.

Currently using Balorgh's monster set so when I pop that Ravenous Goliath or Blood Scion ult, I become a virtually unkillable wrecking ball of destruction that wipes out everything in AOE range of me - which it will be since I'll be taunting it and pulling it in with Beckoning Armor.

It's a different take on the tank, as I'm a bit more offensive than a tank would be traditionally (tho far from being any form of viable DPS), but it still does all the duties of a tank while adding a bit of a punch to go with it. And it does work. I'm basically the guild tank for all of our guild trial runs, and my tank has never had any issues with any of the content - unless there are specific boss mechanics that I'm still working through, which is a me thing, not a build thing.

idk · June 2020

Hotdog_23 wrote: »

Vampiric Drain https://eso-skillbook.com/skill/vampiric-drain could be very strong a tank build. You could also mist for big fire hits, maybe.

But if you did use it i would be a dark elf for the Resist fire passive "Increases your Flame Resistance by 2310. Gain immunity to the Burning status effect".

Plus the Undeath passive is still present but changed "While you are at Vampire Stage 3 or higher: Reduces your damage taken by up to 30% based on your missing Health".

Unnatural Movement could help with speed runs in dungeons to skip alot of adds without agro if the entire group was all vamps.

Increased fire damage is not the problem with tanking as a vampire and dark elf is not a great choice for tanking, though we can tank on any race. As a vampire, I have tanked vet trials that had heavy fire damage without any issues.

The real issue with a vampire tank is the cost increase to all skills. That is a permanent increase in skill cost making vampires more challenging for the average player.

Can it be done? Sure, but dark elf would still not be an ideal choice. Max health is more beneficial all the time.

Nord is a great choice for ult regen.
Argonian is a great choice for sustain.
Imperial is still an ok choice due to its additional max health.