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UPDATE: current build has been modified for a more advanced tank approach… And yes, I give you both stamina and magicka versions of the same build, and it works just as well both ways! See notes at bottom of this post!
Unbuffed, v16 purple gear (with purple v15 food):
[img]http://i.imgur.com/aySFTDB.png[/img]
Fully buffed, v16 purple gear (plus purple v15 food):
[img]http://i.imgur.com/FK9s6xU.png[/img]
This is a DK tank build that is proven and relatively easy to set up, with several gear options for the newb up to the veteran trial master… The goal here is to be a true, defense-focused tank with tons of sustain. Trial-proven and ready to rock.
Recommend imperial race for stamina leaning players; dunmer works well for stamina and magicka very well. Altmer and Breton would also work very nicely but only for magicka focused players. The choice of stamina or magicka is irrelevant to the use of the build; choose what you wish based on race preference and what you would like to play if you needed to run a dps setup in pve or pvp when not tanking. A quick gear swap and you should be able to do anything.
This build only needs 10-20 attribute points into Health and the rest in your power stat of choice… Once the CP cap rises above 550-600 you can sink all attribute points into the power stat and forego health altogether. For tanking, use health or prismatic glyphs on all pieces of armor/shield and healthy trait jewelry – the goal is to reach 25k health total before food, 30k after food.
Atronach mundus stone for Imperials or dunmer; bretons and altmers will have an easier time with magicka sustain and can choose another mundus such as the thief for more dps. Yes, even as the stamina focused option, the Atronach is a key piece for sustain with this build.
Champion points:
Warrior, focus on block cost reduction to reach 75 point shield expert. The steed constellation to 30 first for healing proc on bashes, and then split your remaining points between hardy and elemental defender to balance your physical and magical damage reduction… Ideally both of these passives would be maxed out.
Thief, focus on magician (to 30 first) then arcanist to help magicka sustain. Magician is your goal to take to 100 eventually but on the way once you hit diminishing returns balance with arcanist. 20 points in warlord isnt a terrible thing, and i personally like 10 points in tumbler for the reduced break free and speedy raises for those oh shit moments whenthe healer goes down and the dps are frantically trying to survive… Or in pvp when you need to raise.
Mage, the Mage trees are your dps trees and generally have little to do with tanking. As such, tailor your choices here with your stamina or magicka lean in mind. For mag builds, max out elemental expert and then get ~36 points in elfborn; after that, some points in thaumaturge for DOT damage boost are a good idea since the bulk of DK dps is fire DOTs. As a stam build, 100 into mighty is key; after that 36 into precise, 30+ in light/heavy attack bonus in center tree to unlock the damage reflect while blocking passive is nice.
Bar1: 1h/s boss bar
-igneous shield
-green dragon blood
-pierce armor
-shuffle
-hardened armor
Ult: Standard of Might / Magma Shell / Aggressive Warhorn
Bar2: 1hs trash/debuff bar
-unrelenting grip
-fiery breath (morph of choice)
-igneous shield
-defensive posture (i use absorb magic morph)
-choking talons / heroic slash
Ult: Take flight/dawnbreaker
You can run this in 5h-1-1, 5h-2L or 7 heavy, use blue max health + magicka regen drinks for sustain or purple food.
Gear… I run 5h-1-1, 5 armor master, 2 engine guardian with 2 agility/willpower and 3 endurance (weapon/jewelry combo… Defending on both weapons and reinforced on both shields; healthy trait jewelry and reduced magicka cost on all 3 slots… Yes even as stamina build i run reduced mag cost!)… Ideally i would run 2 agility/willpower and 3 trinimacs jewelry for the regen, but i only have v16 neck so far in arcane… I would like 3 healthy v16. v16 health glyphs on all but belt/hands/feet (which are instead v16 stamina… i may swap to stamina on head/shoulders as well since i’m overkill health at 32k buffed).
other viable options:
*5 footmans (1 health, 1 armor, 1 spell resist, increased block mitigation… jewelry, shoulders, hands… Shoulders and hands of footman set have divines as opposed to exploration on the other slots)
*4 song of lamae (1 phys, 1 spell resist, 1 health bonus)
*3 alessias bulwark (1 health, 1 phys resist)
Or
*5 footmans
*5 hist bark (1 armor, 1 health, 1 health recovery, evasion while blocking bonuses)
*2 alessias bulwark/deaths wind (1 armor bonus)
Or
5 willows path, 3 footman jewelry, 2 engine guardian, 2 alessia (super sustain build)
Or… if you are brave…
5L-1H-1M, armor master + willpower jewelry + 2 bloodspawn/engine guardian + 2 alessias/deaths wind… with shuffle up 100% of the time and a good bloodspawn proc rate, you are looking at somewhere around +21,000 armor with all your bonuses from gear. that is not including the base with a heavy chest, medium legs and 5L, which I believe will net you somewhere around 7,000-10,000 base. Add in a minor resolve/ward for another ~1,000 armor, and you are looking at very close to capped mitigation (33,000). In LIGHT ARMOR?!
I have since switched my 5L armor master to 5h. It is more forgiving should you miss a buff (I have been oneshotted in vWGT with just one mistake, and that is annoying…) – i have also swapped to 1hs on both bars instead of destro on trash bar; talons is great damage so i dont need elemental ring/pulsar.
General rotation for boss fights:
Buff with shuffle, green dragon blood, hardened armor; taunt with pierce armor and weave heavy attacks with igneous shield for stamina restoration and ultimate generation; bash to interrupt heavy attacks and boss skills; block as needed. Keep your maim from talons and taunt + debuffs from pierce armor up at all times. **for trials you cannot bar swap… There is a bug that basically leaves you vulnerable during a swap that will get you oneshotted on trial bosses. For trials, get your boss bar ready and do not swap from it; replace GDB with absorb magic for more mitigation and go to work. You should block the entire boss fight…**
For nontrial magic boss fights, you can stack harness magicka shield on igneous shield for increased mitigation if needed; alternatively, absorb magic works nicely to burst heal with a stamina cost if the boss uses projectile spells and while slotted increases block mitigation.
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