Replies: 46
Video for those who don’t wanna read : ( Video is very long because it is a very detailed one . I explain everything I do and why I do them and why I don’t use alternatives . )
Changes :
- Changed Coagulating Blood with Volatile Armor . Changed Unstoppable with Shuffle . ( 23.04.2016 )
- Replaced Reinforced items with Infused ones . (27.03.2016)
Hey all ! This is probably gonna be a wall of text . Sorry about that in advance ^^ . Anyways , the build is all about damage mitigation . I have been tanking since I started MMORPGs and only thing I found out is when you follow strategies , you don’t get 1 shot . Like blocking special attacks , jumping in holes in the correct time , dodging shits bosses throw at you etc. This build completely prepared for this playstyle . Taking hits like a boss and scratch your ass while doing it .
Now you will say ”Is this much tankiness really necessary ?!” . No . But I like feeling like a real tank . Not support , not DD . Pure tank .
Stats : All in Stamina .
Health : 25.2k
Magicka : 17.6k
Stamina : 29.7k
Race :
Any race will do . No joke . Even damn Altmers can be somewhat good with this build . Most suitable options would be : Dunmer , Imperial , Nord ( yes nord ) , Redguard . I can hear you say ”WTF dunmer doing there ?!” . Dunmer , my friends , may be the best choice for this build . Personally , I am a Dunmer ( a racist one ) and never said ”Imperial would be better” even once . Us , DKs , use magicka to restore stamina , right ? Max Magicka pool is important (%9) . Max Stamina is important (%6) . What was the most common element in the game ? Flame . Right . Dunmers don’t give a shit about flame . %7 flame damage can be useful in PVP maybe ( I agree that one sucks for this build ) . As I said , in this build , you don’t need Max Health . Anyways , now you know why Dunmer . But other races would do as good as Dunmer . No worries .
Mundus :
Atronach for more casting which means more Stamina .
GEAR :
Armor Master : I still see topics about which one is better : Hist Bark or Armor Master . I give you the answer : Armor Master is better if you know how to control your resources . That’s it . You get Hist Barks best bonus only while blocking . If you are blocking the whole time while you don’t need to , you are doing it wrong . There will be times you will get the same damage blocking or not . If you still choose to block at those moments , go with Hist Bark . But I should say it , if you chose Hist Bark , you don’t need to read anymore after this point because we gonna shape the build all around Armor Master .
Chest ( Heavy – Infused ) : Multi-Effect
Pants ( Heavy – Infused ) : Multi-Effect
Belt ( Light – Divines ) : Health if not at 25k otherwise Stamina
Sword x2 ( Defending ) : Stamina Absorb
Shield x2 ( Divines(my choice) – Infused ) : Stamina
Footman : As I said before , this build is all about mitigation . %12 matters . v14 or not . This is the be(a)st .
Jewelry : Shield-Play
Gloves : Health if not at 25k otherwise Stamina
Foot : Health if not at 25k otherwise Stamina
Engine Guardian : Best tanking set . Hands down . Only 1 proc from this thing will be much more useful than a 5 procs from Blood Spawn in a row . Most common mistake is , people think Engine Guardian is only useful when it gives stamina . Wrong . Stamina is the best of course but you are forgetting something . We use Magicka to gain Stamina . Spam Earthen Heart skills when it gives Magicka and use Heavy Attacks when it gives Health because you know there is something to save your ass if you drop your block and get some damage .
Helm ( Heavy – Infused ) : Multi-Effect
Shoulder ( Medium – Divines ) : Health if not at 25k otherwise Stamina
SKILLS :
1. Bar : Sword and Shield
1- Pierce Armor : Another discussion here . Ransack or Pierce Armor . If you healer is not using Combat Prayer already , you better find one that uses . Not only it gives what Ransack give , it also increases your teammates damage .
2- Heroic Slash : Ultimate Regen , Minor Maim ( yes it works against bosses . The reason it says ”Target is immune” is because bosses are immune to snares .) Battle Roar . Every point of Ultimate matters . Put this thing in your bar even if you are not gonna be using this build .
3- Igneous Shield : 8k shield . Saying again . 8k . You better wait for it to get destroyed before spamming the shit out of it . Also get %5 stamina . Since we have nearly 30k stamina we get around 1500 stamina each time we use this .
4- Shuffle : How I miss dodging shit . You should always keep Armor Master active with this . 20% dodge chance is very helpful in every situation .
5- Absorb Magic : Let’s make a comparison again . Defensive Stance or Absorb Magic . To be honest , I don’t use this actively a lot . Only time I am using this is when healer is dead and there are magic casters around . There has been times where I fought Lord Warden (vet) by myself for at least 10 mins (damn portals wouldn’t leave me alone) . I couldn’t do that with Defensive Stance . But Absorb Magic does the trick . About the damage shield it gives ; it gives you a shield half of your Max Health . So , about 12-13k . If you are getting hit by harder than that , it probably is a mechanic that you should roll dodge or block . So getting healed is absolutely a better choice . Main reason is of course %8 block cost reduction and %8 block mitigation .
Ultimate- Magma Shell : Learn how to cancel animations and you will be activating this a lot . 200 ultimate is cheap . Light attack > Heroic Slash > Block . Do this and you will generate insane amount of Ultimate . This is making you unkillable simply . Beware the damage shield thing though . The radius is pretty small . Not all your friends will benefit from that .
2. Bar : Sword and Shield
1. Cinder Storm : If there are people who still doesn’t know more than one Caltrops doesn’t stack , I am telling you now . They don’t . Since there always be a stamina DD who will use Caltrops , you don’t have much of a choice . To be honest , I like Cinder Storm better because %70 > %30 . Snare really helps everyone in the team .
2. Unrelenting Grip : Thanks to ZOS , we can use this without thinking twice . ”Did someone stunned this mob or not ? If someone did I am gonna fuck up all this gathered trash . Goddammit .” Put Cinder Storm on the ground and chain ranged mobs into it . Also useful trick here . If you are getting ”Target too high or too low.” message , use a heavy attack and you will be able to use chains . Magic .
3. Inner Fire : Ranged Taunt . DON’T morph to stamina . Don’t morph to anything actually . Just ranged taunt . If there is a mob that you can’t chain DON’T go to it and use Pierce Armor . Use this . DKs does the best ”gathering trash in one place” thing . Don’t mess that up .
4. Choking Talons : AOE Minor Maim . What the hell do you want more ? Cinder Storm > chain ranged mobs into it > talons . Best trash gathering combo .
5. Volatile Armor : This is our new Major Resist buff . Since I wasn’t using Coagulating Blood actively , I wasn’t getting extra 12% healing taken but I always keep this up . Very useful .
Ultimate- Standart Of Might / Aggressive Warhorn : Standart of Might is the best for every AOE situation but I make sure I make my team start the combat with extra stats so I charge my Ultimate before going to boss fight . In trash fights you can use Standart Of Might .
CHAMPION POINTS :
Red :
75 Points to Block cost reduction to get the %75 shield armor bonus .
Rest goes to Hardy . You may ask ”Why not Elemental Defender also ?” . Because I am a Dark Elf and I am resistant to the most common element in the game . Also most magic attacks are projectiles and avoidable AOEs so I can just use Absorb Magic and heal myself instead of worrying about it . If you want you can spend some in Elemental Defender also . But let me tell you this , Hardy will give you nearly %25 damage mitigation when we max it . Exactly %25 after Dark Brotherhood .
Green :
3-2 ratio between Stamina cost reduction and Magicka cost reduction . In the end , you should have 100 in Warlord and 67 in Magician . Reason is our Stamina is really valuable so I don’t want my stamina consuming skills to empty my stamina pool easily . Also we have enough Magicka Recovery . Reduction feels better and yes , I tested Arcanist and didn’t do any better than Magician .
Blue :
For full tanking go with 100 Healing done and 67 to increase critical healing . But mine are not like that since I do some PVP time to time . Just spend your Blue Points however your PVP build is working best with .
Food :Tri-stat . You can use Max Health + Magicka Recovery but since I have so many magicka consuming skills , I want a big magicka pool .
Potion : Dropped stamina or magicka potions . You don’t need tri-stat potions . They are expensive and not necessary with this build .
Inhibitor fight :
5 Hunding’s Rage , 1 Molag Kena , 2 Night Silence ( 1 armor piece and weapons (2h , Bow) ) 3 Agility jewelry ( or endurance doesn’t matter )
1. Bar : 2 Handed
1- Evil Hunter : Keep this up all the time for stamina regeneration and extra damage and critical rating .
2- Wrecking Blow : Heavy attack weave with this .
3- Executioneer : You know what it is .
4- Unstable Flame : Strong DoT .
5- Rally : Weapon Damage bonus and nice HoT . (also burst heal if needed )
Ultimate – Aggressive Warhorn : Use this before combat and nuke the shit out of the boss before it goes into blue phase .
2. Bar : Bow
1- Silver Shards : Light attack + this will close the portals instantly .
2- Scorched Earth : Nice DoT . Unless you know , you don’t have to kite the boss in red phase . So this will be definitely useful .
3- Molten Armaments : Increase damage of your heavy attack weaving by %40 . Also grant %5 Stamina .
4- Vigor / Caltrops : For ”Oh shit” situations . If there are no Stamina DD you can use Caltrops .
5- Evil Hunter : Same .
Ultimate – Standart Of Might : When the boss drops after blue phase is over . Finish the combat with another nuke .
I think I covered all the things I need to cover . If you want to contact me via mail : @LiofaTR . I am playing on PC EU server . I hope you enjoy this kind of tankiness . Also I have a little Youtube channel with some videos on it . You can see the build in action there . Just search for ”Liofa” in Youtube . You will see that I don’t use any shards and rarely use potions since sustain is really good .
Stay safe friends ,
Liofa
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This topic was modified 1 month ago by
Liofa.
