Depends on the circumstances. DK is the default tank but personally I like sorc and cro way better, doesn’t mean any is better than any other though.

That said, templar and NB are bottom of the barrel. The rest are the circumstantial ones. Templar and NB are just lacking in group buffs.

DK just cuz of Magma Shell. Other than that, all of them are good.
Slot:
1) Silver Leash (use it also for range taunt if needed) OR Resolving Vigor for bosses
2) Pierce Armor
3) Self healing skill (preferably the ones that scales from HP)
4) flex
5) flex
And you are ready for nice&chill Oakentank for dungeons at any difficulty, including vet DLC HM 3DD run.

NB setup for example:

Probably the easiest class to tank with, even if you don't know what you are doing. Warden is my #2 with Necro at 3.

DK for ease of use and group buff potential. Magma Shell and Unrelenting Grip are both outstanding, as are the passives that restore stamina from using Earthen Heart skills and from flame/poison attacks. Depending on your use case Magma Shell is not just "selfish". I believe it is meta in Infinite Archive. Group buffs include Major Sorcery / Brutality, Minor Brutality, Stagger, Engulfing Flames. I'm probably forgetting some.

Soarora wrote: »

NB [is] bottom of the barrel. NB [is] just lacking in group buffs.

They can provide Minor Savagery and debuff bosses with Maim and weapon / spell damage debuffs. The latter isn't highly valued, but possibly underexplored. However the reason I actually rate NBs quite highly is that I've seen one single-tanking vSS, sitting underneath Yolnakhriin, pulling the flame atros in. This is normally a DK / Magma Shell strategy, but a nightblade standing still has a ton of self-healing, these days. That self-healing also means that, as of this patch, nightblade has a viable way of regaining 2.6K stamina and magicka while blocking. It costs health, but I've tried it. It's awesome for beginner tanks. Perma-blocking is even easier than on DK.

As for sorc, it's got that skill increasing block mitigation by 40%. This arguably makes it easier to block hard-hitting bosses. I have not done hard modes, but Talaria's heavy attacks on non-hm vet are an example. Blocking those attacks is arguably easier for new tanks than dodge rolling them. Furthermore, at the high end, it may allow playing a DD as a tank. I believe Hyperioxes has footage of him on a sorc "tank" doing 120K DPS on the first vMoL boss.

fred4 wrote: »

DK for ease of use and group buff potential. Magma Shell and Unrelenting Grip are both outstanding, as are the passives that restore stamina from using Earthen Heart skills and from flame/poison attacks. Depending on your use case Magma Shell is not just "selfish". I believe it is meta in Infinite Archive. Group buffs include Major Sorcery / Brutality, Minor Brutality, Stagger, Engulfing Flames. I'm probably forgetting some.

Soarora wrote: »

NB [is] bottom of the barrel. NB [is] just lacking in group buffs.

They can provide Minor Savagery and debuff bosses with Maim and weapon / spell damage debuffs. The latter isn't highly valued, but possibly underexplored. However the reason I actually rate NBs quite highly is that I've seen one single-tanking vSS, sitting underneath Yolnakhriin, pulling the flame atros in. This is normally a DK / Magma Shell strategy, but a nightblade standing still has a ton of self-healing, these days. That self-healing also means that, as of this patch, nightblade has a viable way of regaining 2.6K stamina and magicka while blocking. It costs health, but I've tried it. It's awesome for beginner tanks. Perma-blocking is even easier than on DK.

As for sorc, it's got that skill increasing block mitigation by 40%. This arguably makes it easier to block hard-hitting bosses. I have not done hard modes, but Talaria's heavy attacks on non-hm vet are an example. Blocking those attacks is arguably easier for new tanks than dodge rolling them. Furthermore, at the high end, it may allow playing a DD as a tank. I believe Hyperioxes has footage of him on a sorc "tank" doing 120K DPS on the first vMoL boss.

NB isn’t lacking in group buffs on a healer but it is on a tank. There’s already the NB healer usually anyways, but even without a NB healer— to proc the class group buff you need to do critical damage, no? Tanks don’t buff their crit chance which is my problem with that proc condition.

DK has great tool for tanking. I resisted for a while because I don’t care for the look of several of the tanking skills, but it’s so fun to chain enemies in!
I enjoy tanking with other classes too, especially Arcanist and NB (mass hysteria stun is great).

I haven’t tried tanking on Warden. Templar seems most lacking to me in tanking toolkit.

I main a NB tank, hence my vote...

Soarora wrote: »

NB are just lacking in group buffs.

AoE versions of both major and minor cowardice, plus AoE expedition that also grants minor recovery.

Compare that to the necro, for example. Necro can provide major vulnerability, but that can also be sourced from item sets. I feel like necro's prominent placement is a lingering effect from back when they had a monopoly on vulnerability, and NB's dismissal is a lingering effect from back when they truly did offer nothing to the group.

mocap wrote: »

NB setup for example:
Leeching Strikes
Structured Entropy (HOT + Leeching Strikes proc)
Dark Cloak
Pierce Armor
Silver Leash or Vigor or Mirage

I would replace Leeching with Siphoning Attacks; resource sustain is generally more important, and the extra self-healing from Leeching is really not at a level that's relevant for a tank. I would also not use Entropy; the healing from that is scaled off of offensive stats and are thus largely irrelevant for a tank. Path for mobility (and a little bit of healing) or Mass Hysteria (for add control and cowardice) are far better options.

(I also would never use Oakensoul on a tank; there's too many useful skills that you'd want to use when tanking on any class, and Oakensoul really is not very useful in general for tanking.)

LittlePinkDot wrote: »

I see alot of people saying DK. I was having trouble sustaining on DK.

Sustaining which resource? DK is not a very stam-intensive tank class, particularly since it can essentially convert magicka to stam via the Helping Hands passive. But DK does guzzle magicka. You'll want to have the Atronach mundus stone, and many will also use Balance from the Mages Guild skill line to supplement their sustain.

DK has historically been THE tank class in ESO, in large part because early in the game's history, it had a monopoly on essential tools. For many years, only DK tanks could chain in enemies. For a long time, only DK tanks had a defensive ability that was scaled off its max health.

Over the years, changes to the game's combat have effectively dismantled that monopoly. Silver Leash from Fighter's Guild means that all classes now have a chain ability. And eventually all classes gained a health-scaled heal or shield. So these days, any class can tank. But that inertia from the game's formative years is incredibly strong (e.g., most "tank mains" grew up on DK, there are far more guides and videos on DK tank than any other tank class, etc.), and so DK continues to remain the "default" tank class, even though there are cases where DK is an inferior choice.