Replies: 148
TG updated!
Lots of credit to my friend @aldric for his work in the original compendium. For information about skill choices, rotation and overall strategy, i recommend reading through our discussions on his thread: http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/pve-nb-tanks-for-starters-compendium-of-information-theory-and-insight-2-0/
tanking on NB has evolved quite a bit with the mechanics changes since 1.5, so be aware of that as you do your research.
boss bars:
1h/s:
-pierce armor
-defensive stance/heroic slash
-siphoning attacks
-funnel health/swallow soul
-twisting/refreshing path
ult: veil of blades/aggressive warhorn
1h/s, DW or resto staff (DW for offbar in normal/vet grpup dungeons, resto if you need healing ward/mutagen or magicka sustain boost)
-sap essence
-heroic slash/shadowy image
-crippling grasp
-mirage
-inner light
ult: soul harvest
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Gear choices detailed in my DK PVE tank build: http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/pve-magicka-tank/
Champion points:
Warrior, block expert 50+, spell shield 25 (unlocks shield expert at 75); rest of red cp into elemental defender and hardy split even with a few points in thick skinned.
Thief, magician 100, arcanist the rest.
Mage, distribute points among Elemental Expert > Elfborn > Blessed (refer to @Asayre‘s Sorcerer Arithmagic thread to see the scaling value of Elfborn and other valuable mathematical research that shows best ways to improve your magic DPS). first get Spell Precision 30 point passive to increase your crit rate; I also like Staff or Weapon Expert points to 30 so that you obtain the 30-pt passive that reflects damage while blocking; this reflected damage counts as a skill attack and can actually proc Siphoning Attacks!
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<b>GEAR:</b>
With the changes to siphoning attacks in thieves guild patch, sustain issues have cropped up… You can no longer just stack DOTs and permablock – DOTs do not proc SA anymore, only the initial hot from any skill will!
with that in mind, we also have to consider the strengths of NB as a tank… Sustain, self healing, group utility. We need to play to those strengths to add the most value. It is a little harder as a NB to reach the resistance caps compared to a DK or sorc because their are no class passives that increase phys/spell resist (shadow barrier aside, because that is a major buff). So! Our gear needs to support sustain while reaching an acceptable threshold for resistances to provide optimum performance. I recommend 30k+ buff resistances to go with your 27-30k health and 25k+ magicka… You also want 1500+ magicka regen.
5 piece Seducer is great for magicka sustain, but with no health or resistance bonuses you will have to achieve those elsewhere… With 5h-1-1 or 7h (reinforced on all heavy pieces, divines on M/L) you should be able to reach 30k resistances while major/minor buffs are up. That gives you 45% mitigation – not the max of 50% but pretty close… And with the magicka sustain allowing you to freely weave funnel, this allows you to proc siphoning attacks frequently for stamina and magicka return. Sustain strategy in a nutshell for NB tank right there.
to go with 5 seducer, 2 piece engine guardian is pretty much standard and ideal. If you dont have engine, you should go 4 piece song of lamae (1h + shield + head + shoulders)… That gives you 1 health, 1 spell resist and 1 physical resist buff… Perfect!
Since we are lacking armor, you have to consider your options for jewelry… 3 piece v16 pariah or v14 footmans will give you a health and a physical resist bonus (v16 pariah > v14 footmans > v15 pariah)… 3 reduced magicka cost glyphs and good to go. Another option is 3 piece v16 trinimacs hope… This gives you a max magicka and a magicka regen for yet more sustain; again reduced magicka cost on all 3…
If you do have engine guardian, you have to consider your weapon and shield. I recommend going for v16 willpower 2 piece for more magicka, endurance for health… Reinforced shield of course and defending weapon. These are cheap and effective ways to get v16 purples. You could also choose to go with 2 deaths wind or alessias bulwark crafted pieces for another physical resist bonus.
there are new sets out with TG that are unproven as tank standards… Until such a time as folks complete hard mode Maw trial, i am decidedly all in on the existing and proven setups. Enjoy!
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Couple of tidbits:
-Funnel Health vs Swallow Soul … your preference; Funnel will help your group’s healer since it will HOT your melee DPS around you and take the edge off, allowing your healer to throw some DPS, combat prayer or other buffs instead of burst healing constantly. Depends on your group. I have used both and like both, so it depends on group and preference.
-Heroic Slash vs shadowy image… heroic adds minor Heroism buff, so your ultimate increases steadily as you use it. I use both situationally based on what my needs are. Image is fine if you have good magicka sustain… since you have to crank out so many magicka skills for buffs and damage, sometimes using Heroic Slash as a stamina skill takes the edge off of the magicka output. I tend to lean toward Heroic Slash myself since I use a lot of magicka skills; my stamina sustain is so high that it is very easy to just weave a heroic in place of a pierce armor/swallow everytime i need the debuff back up.
-Twisting/refreshing Path … Either is fine. Since they removed dot procs for siphoning attacks, i would lean refreshing for the heals.
-Inner Rage … i have gotten asked why i dont slot both pierce armor AND inner rage… the answer is simple: why do i need to? granted, unlike a DK tank I have no chains to pull mobs in and no talons to root them in place, but that means as a NB tank you need to use your sustain and mobility to your advantage. example trash pull: i aggro the mobs with a ranged swallow soul attack… as they approach, some will start attacking my group members randomly (i never understood trash hate dynamics in ESO, it is so damn random). as a tank, it is your job to understand hate mechanics… so think of it like a scale; there is a list of who is higher and lower on the hate scale for each mob… you move up the scale based on the damage you deal, and you immediately move to the top of the scale when you taunt. so! as a NB tank, you keep hate on distant mobs by hitting them with a swallow/funnel and make sure your group members are not attacking them until the main pack of trash mobs is down. for those within the main pack, once they are pulled you have to hit them with a few quick Sap Essence spams to move yourself up the hate scale, then proceed to taunt with pierce armor on each melee mob to keep them around you. use what you have. there is no need for such a high magicka cost ranged taunt like Inner Rage unless you specifically need it situationally… for instance, the last boss of vFG is a mage who stays at a distance and has a massive AOE damage surrounding her… so you need to taunt from a distance anyway. I don’t use Inner Rage anywhere else but on molag kena, vFG final boss and lord warden bosses.
-Mirage vs Double Take vs Shuffle … i choose mirage for the minor buff; double take gives you the movement speed that you can get from crippling grasp or path, so unless you are doign PVP a lot and need to be able to move quickly without breaking stealth, mirage is the obvious choice here. shuffle costs stamina and does remove some negative effects, i still prefer a blur morph for this build. the ONLY time i’d use shuffle in place of double take or mirage would be if i wanted to run Armor Master 5 piece set. see my DK tank post for the rationalization for that set as part of a tank build… i dont think magicka NB needs to go that route, but it is still an option. mirage is better imo.
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