jaws343 wrote: »

You farmed 30 times... So literally only 15 more and you have every set piece in the dungeon in your stickerbook. And then you never need to farm gear from the dungeon again. And you are more likely than not to get what you need before then.

Also, dungeons have 3 sets. Light, Medium, Heavy. So at most, you need to run the dungeon 45 times to get everything. But realistically, it is less than that due to chests.

this

the actual number of runs can also be less for other reasons (trading, some gear sets having a more limited weapon selection, as noted chests, and when the undaunted event is active you have double drops)

i think im down to maybe 8 more dlc dungeons before im 100% gear collected on all dungeons

For perspective: The commonly recommended tank sets help the group do more DPS. That said, the biggest contributor to DPS by a huge margin are the DDs themselves, e.g. their skill, their knowledge, their situational awareness, their rotation. Should a DD ever blame you for wearing something non-meta, don't take it to heart. They may genuinely believe what they're saying, but in anything outside a trifecta or scorepushing context, they would be wrong. Your guild / raid leader may ask for meta sets earlier than that, but they would arguably have an eye towards the future in that case, not because it's required for plain veteran modes. Should you run into toxic people, just move on.

You don't say what class you are. In case you are an Arcanist, that class brings an extra 2K penetration to the table as a tank via Runic Sunder. I like Crimson Oath a lot. Becauses of the 2/3/4 bonuses it backbars very nicely while balancing your resistances, it has a nice and easy activation condition, and it provides an obvious benefit to most groups. Or does it? If you are an Arcanist tank, if you have light armor DDs in the group, or a lot of medium armor Arcanist DDs (which tend to have more pen than other classes), then Crimson may in fact not be optimal. It's also not optimal for vet Blackrose Prison, cause you aggro netches that you don't want to go after you. Thus, while Crimson (ice staff) is my default back bar set, it isn't quite the no brainer you would think.

Turning Tide is a set I don't like at all. The activation condition is too complicated for my taste and the combination with Nazaray shoehorns you into using your ultimates in a coordinated way. That's quite advanced and will work with a progression group of 12 regular friends or guild mates. I don't think it's ideal for PUG groups where you may prefer to use a defensive ultimate, such as Magma Shell, reactively to get yourself or the group out of a jam. In well-coordinated groups, on the other hand, I believe necromancers can provide the same buff, but most of all you can get it from the Deviryc monster set - yes with less uptime per person, but at an investment of only 2 armor pieces for one or two people.

If there is a no-brainer set for at least one of the two tanks in a (random) group, these days, it's got to be Pearlescent. Of course you got to farm (normal) Dreadsail Reef for that, but you only need body pieces.

An alternative backbar set to Crimson or TT is Powerful Assault. This is often used by the off-tank and can be bought in guild stores, albeit the obligatory ice staff tends to be extremely expensive (1.5M to 2M on PC EU). A craftable backbar option, instead, is Torug's Pact. You should backbar an Infused ice staff. This normally adds 2K penetration from Frost Blockade. Torug's Pact ups that to 3K.

One set I personally do not like living without is the Master's 1H+Shield from Dragonstar Arena. It turns the Puncture skill into a significant self heal. You don't need to farm on vet. Dragonstar is easy, albeit time-consuming.

People make a lot of fuss about sets that buff the group. This makes a difference if you play in a guild and the raid leader has an eye towards the future, e.g. progression to hard modes, achievements, and so on. For PUGs (pick up groups), however, it arguably makes next to no difference.

In other words, get the basics right. If you have a group utility set fully farmed, by all means wear it. However your first priority is getting to 33K resistances, having magicka sustain, having a block cost of about 800 or less, providing Major and Minor Breach, typically via Puncture, and having an Infused ice staff back bar for the extra 2K penetration from Elemental Blockade. My recommendations for a beginner include:

Monster set options (if and when available): Tremorscale, Deviryc, Engine Guardian (self sustain while blocking), Bloodspawn as a DK.

Main set if / when available: Pearlescent or Yolnahkriin or Saxhleel (prioritise Pearlescent)
Otherwise: Cyrodiil's Crest (self heal while blocking)

Totally off meta option: Steadfast's Mettle together with Jewels of Misrule, but still build towards 33K resistances. This reduces your core combat costs, e.g. blocking, dodge rolling, sprinting, bashing, and will make things easier that way.

Front bar: Any 1H+Shield, Master's 1H+Shield from Dragonstar Arena when available.

Back bar: Infused Ice Staff. Crimson Oath or Powerful Assault or Torug's Pact
Alternative for dungeon PUGs: Tormentor 2H and use Stampede instead of Elemental Blockade

Tormentor (from Banished Cells) adds an AOE taunt to your toolkit and is great in that it provides extra resistances that carry over to your front bar. This allows you to make some interesting off-meta builds, mainly for dungeons. You can run medium armor and go for low costs with Steadfasts's Mettle as your other set. You can go for hybrid tank / DD builds. You can, for example, wear Vicious Ophidian instead of Steadfast's and be half a DD in dungeons, especially as a Brawler build, with Master's 2H - also from Dragonstar. Best class for a Brawler build is IMO stamsorc.

aru wrote: »

I like Powerful Assault. I spent a lot of time in IC and I think I can try and farm the ice staff myself.

I got it!

aru wrote: »

I've never used two dungeon sets at the same time because weapon and jewelry drops are terrifying. I mean, each set have 13 weapons including shields and 2 jewelry, and each dungeon has 4 sets. Your chance to get the weapon you want is literally 1.6%. So I farmed the body parts of the set I wanted and used an overland or craftable set for the weapons/jewelry.

Yesterday I decided I wanted to take part in trials and looked up a main tank build. Everyone I saw advised Turning Tide and Crimson Oath, and I was like, '''Maybe I can farm them. If I ask my team to give me the desired gear my chance would be 5%. Not bad.'' And I started to farm. I beat the dungeons 30 times probably, and every time asked for the gear. Some of my teammates were nice, some of them just ignored me. In the end, I got an Oath shield, a Tide mace, and no staves.

I don't want to bother with this anymore. Can you advise me on an overland or craftable set to pair with Tide, please? Or should I wear the Oath shield with the Tide mace and a random frost staff back bar? Is that good enough? I use Tremorscale as my monster set. I don't know much about trials as you can presume. Thank you in advance.

The sense of entitlement is strong with this one....

Dude, running a dungeon 30 times is nothing. Before curated drops, me and my group ran Wayrest Sewers 80+ times to get the Seargants lightning staff. With curated drops, at worst, you'll have to run the dungeons just a few more times to get the drops you need.

In all honesty, its not that difficult to farm dungeons for gear. I get the sense that you could be a solo player, which would make things more difficult, but if you want to play this kind of content (dungeons or trials), your going to need to find groups of people to play with regularly. If you have even two people who know what they are doing, you can complete any normal dungeon using companions now so there's really not much of an excuse. The game is not just going to give you the goodies your going to have to work for them. Sometimes they'll be harder to come by, but other times the game will give it to you on your first or second go. That's just the nature of these games.

What I may suggest is that you make yourself a Petsorc and hunt down the one ring (Oakensoul) and make yourself a heavy attack build using any number of heavy attack sets. The sets don't come from difficult dungeons, and the petsorc is so strong and self-sufficient that you should be able to burn through dungeon runs even without a tank. That is what I do. If I can't get my group of 4 together to farm a dungeon, I'll take my petsorc, a companion, and maybe 1-2 other people and I'll just go burn the dungeon.

BXR_Lonestar wrote: »

The sense of entitlement is strong with this one....

What an unnecessary thing to say. You can read it that way, but IMO the pressure to wear meta sets comes from players, not from how ZOS designed the game. I've completed all but perfected trial sets in my stickerbook, but would be the first to admit that it's perfectly viable to tank normal and some, if not all, veteran trials / dungeons with crafted / overland gear.

I would encourage people to have fun playing the content they enjoy at a difficulty level that currently suits them with "basic" gear rather than going for meta gear right off the bat. This is not least because, if you want to be one of two meta tanks in a (random) trial group, you best have multiple gear options ready to coordinate with that group. In veteran trials the two tanks almost always communicate on their role and usually coordinate their gear with at least the other tank.

Yolnahkriin only makes sense, if the buff isn't covered by Arcanists. Pearlescent only makes sense, if the other tank is not already wearing it. Turning Tide only makes sense if there aren't necros or healers (Devyric) in the group already providing that buff. Saxhleel, to a degree, only makes sense if you want to use Magma Shell instead of Warhorn. Crimson only makes sense, if the pen is truly needed and you don't have, say, a Zenkosh DD in the group. Powerful Assault only really makes sense if you're the off tank and you don't have healer(s) also running that set. As a main tank the DDs may be too far away to catch the PA buff. And so on.

Having a single meta gear option is not bad, but it is still only a stepping stone as different groups and different trials favor different options. Will it quiet dissenting voices that want to see you wearing meta gear? Possibly, but I run a lot of veteran trials with random groups. Rarely, if ever, does anyone but the other tank ask what I'm wearing. If you wear Pearlescent it's a giveaway, but I haven't drawn ire or comments when I'm not showing the telltale baubles.