Tank abilities question for my Dunmer Sorc? any tips?

dragonyte1 · December 2020

I am going to try out the tanking or heal as my main role. Sorc tank got me bit interested so I decide to level it up and build it.

Have you got any tips on which abilities to get for a basic sorc tank build that I can do? I plan to use eternal vigor and some
other set I can use for bit of dps increase to balance it out. I do have a self heal via clanfear I use if I need it. can you tell me
what I need to get? my sorc is at lvl 11 right now and I am questing to 50.

White wabbit · December 2020

Boundless storm , dark deal and your clan fear are really only the sorc skills you need . This was my favourite tank to play on after my 2 warden tanks

dragonyte1 · December 2020

okay thanks I'l get those

Vermethys · December 2020

Hiya, if you ever feel like taking that Sorc tank into veteran (and DLC) dungeons some day, feel free to check out my build. I personally prefer it over my DK, though it isn't as easy. But it's a lot of fun, with endless sustain and great survivability. ^^
https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Special:EsoBuildData?id=171583

I haven't updated it in almost a year, but it's still as effective. If you don't have access to Alkosh, you can always go with Plague Doctor, Battalion Defender, or Yolnakhriin.

Jaimeh · December 2020

White wabbit wrote: »

Boundless storm , dark deal and your clan fear are really only the sorc skills you need . This was my favourite tank to play on after my 2 warden tanks

From the class skills, in addition to those mentioned above, I 'd also add the restraining prison (it's a nice CC for big mob packs in dungeons), and also bound aegis (for harder hitting vet DLC bosses and for trials). If it's a fight where nothing hits too hard, or the boss is semi-tauntable, so you don't have a lot to do, you can add more dps skills, like frags, mage's wrath, or liquid lightning to help with damage, but that depends on your magicka pool (though you can do a coordination of equlibrium->dark deal with sorcs as well for never ending sustain, but usually there's no slot space). If dps is too low where warhorn won't yield too much benefit, you can slot the atro, and also negate--it might not be an intuitive choice but it works a treat for certain fights (especially with slow groups) like for eg., the mob pack bosses and the incineration beetles in Blessed Crucible comes to mind, or for dangerous add packs--it's a really fun skill for a tank, imo!

Sinolai · December 2020

Don't try to go half-tank/half-damage. You will end up with suboptimal damage and suboptimal toughness for either role. The generic tank sets (Ebon, Yolna, Worm/Hircine, Defiled Dragon, Thurvokun/Earthgore/Lady Thorn) are the best ones. Skills you want from sorc skills:
Dark Deal -> HoT+ Infinite Stamina Also grants minor phropecy to group.
Restraining Prison -> Good root ability, Major Vitality on demand.
Bound Aegis -> With this you can face tank any heavy attack
Boudless Storm -> Resistance buff with speed boost is very good on tank.
Empowered Ward -> Increases your survivality, especially on fights where defiles are common. Also grants intellect to group.
Clannfear pet -> Very Strong Self-heal
Negate -> very good CC. Usually not needed but really shines in some places (MHK HM)

Other Skills you want/might want:
Ransack/Pierce armor-> Minor Protection and taunt on ransack. Pierce Armor grants bigger resistance strip from enemies
Heroic Slash -> Heroism and Maim
Silver Leash-> Your "chain" to pull ranged adds into the stack.
Innerfire -> Ranged taunt for backbar
Unstable wall of elements -> great for applying enchantment when runnning ice/lightning staff on backbar
Elemental Drain -> if you ever run 3x magDD they want you to use this
Overflowing Altar-> When healer cant use this, tank usually should.
Aggressive Warhorn -> Every tank's ultimate
Barrier (any morph)-> Slot this just for extra magicka regen.
Temporal Guard -> Passively grants minor protection. Not needed if you use Ransack.
Balance-> If you have ice staff and can block with magicka, you can permablock with this ability as long as healer keeps hots on you. Also grants resistance buffs.

jekyto · December 2020

Mean that the dark deal skill is a channel and you drop block when you using it, so the endless sustain saying doesnt really apply for situations where youre in combat and need to protect yourself

Jaimeh · December 2020

jekyto wrote: »

Mean that the dark deal skill is a channel and you drop block when you using it, so the endless sustain saying doesnt really apply for situations where youre in combat and need to protect yourself

It's not for moments in fights where you have to essentially perma-block, or where the window you have before blocking is short, and it's generally risky to use, but it's great for everything else, and especially for no-healer runs in dungeons.It's better to learn when to use it, than not use it at all, as imo, it's one of the perk skills of being a sorc tank.

etchedpixels · December 2020

dragonyte1 wrote: »

I am going to try out the tanking or heal as my main role. Sorc tank got me bit interested so I decide to level it up and build it.

Have you got any tips on which abilities to get for a basic sorc tank build that I can do? I plan to use eternal vigor and some
other set I can use for bit of dps increase to balance it out. I do have a self heal via clanfear I use if I need it. can you tell me
what I need to get? my sorc is at lvl 11 right now and I am questing to 50.

You can tank the low level normal dungeons at level 10 and I'd suggest you do so if you've got a guild group you can run with. It's both a good way to learn the ropes and to level up with the daily random normal (it will only give you the easy dungeons at your level). You'll also have a queue of high level guild DPS and healers wanting to run with you so they can get their 10 transmute crystals on an easy run. If you jump in at level 50 and suddenly find yourself tanking a harder DLC dungeon it'll be a rough ride. Another consideration for this is armour sets. Most of the best tank sets are dungeon sets. Ebon is the defacto generic tank set and you'll acquire it doing the randoms, so you might as well begin acquiring it for the stickerbook early. To get going there are some decent craftable tank sets like fortified brass you can either craft or get someone to craft for you.

If you are just tanking then DPS should not be a consideration in a group. It's not your job. For a more hybrid build or when you know you can DPS as well then there are a bunch of skills that become relevant including some fighters guild skills for stamina and mages guild ones for magicka. Likewise with a reasonable healer you probably don't need any self heals on the bars, although with a pug group it's probably good to have.

For pure tank the other one that can be really useful is the psijic skill line. That gives you an additional damage shield passive triggered by blocking providing you have a psijic skill slotted and a very handy ultimate (undo) that puts your stats and position back where you were 4 seconds before which you can slot as the front bar ultimate for use in emergencies and for the block passive.

zvavi · December 2020

jekyto wrote: »

Mean that the dark deal skill is a channel and you drop block when you using it, so the endless sustain saying doesnt really apply for situations where youre in combat and need to protect yourself

Dark deal doesn't work well when you need to turtle up, but rarely fights make you turtle up for the whole fight, even the most taxing fights have phases, when you don't need to turtle up dark deal gives you a strong enough heal to outheal the non heavy phase, for a low cost, regaining a lot of stam, it is a good skill if you have bar space.

Additionally, sorc has a lot, a lot of situational skills, even endless fury can be used for endless sustain on smalls adds that are going to die soon (unorthodox use).
Empowered ward is actually a bad shield(too small), the only thing it is good for is the group buff of minor intellect the weaker morph gives.

Of the more orthodox skills not mentioned before:

Streak: this one is love, usually useless, but some situations make it a group saver (vFL HM and vDoM if your group can't f***ing see walls are great places for it)

Crystal weapons, great self heal if you don't need to block too much with enough sustain support, deals damage, lowers resists, procs minor prophecy.

Power surge: this one is great if you are off healing, to combine with healing orb. Really strong group heals, before you could proc it with altar, making it great HoT for you and your group, but it was nerfed.

Negate: situational skill, when there are many adds that are very dangerous to your groups, a ten seconds stun is great.

Overload: free sustain if you are selfish.

jekyto · December 2020

Ye as a tank you def want dark deal, i meant besides just using the skill, you also wanna learn to deal with it to avoid bad situations. For me personally dark deal is something to provide buff to group from the passives, not for sustain. The time i usually have for the skill is enough to land a heavy attack, and the HA i can stop whenever, where bad timed dd may bring you in a situation being 1-shoted. Streak i know ppl like to use it as off tanking vAS+2. Thats my tips