Replies: 7
It’s a Stamina-Tank-Templar build for all content up to and including SotH. Buckle the f**k up.
Race:
1) Imperial
2) Nord
3) Orc
Mundus:
Serpent. It’s simply the best for tanks.
CP:
Blessed 1
Melee Weapon Expert 10
Mighty 75
Precise Strike 5
Piercing 1
Thaumaturge 75
Warlord 75
Mooncalf 75
Shadow Ward 10
Tumbling 7
Elemental Defender 73
Hardy 73
Quick Recovery 21
Gear:
There are a lot of options here, so I’m going to present them based on the task at hand.
Normal Dungeons
LOL. Throw on a medium Hunding’s set with S&B main and 2-H back bar and vigor-jab a pug team through literally anything.
Bar 1 = [Biting Jabs], [Absorb Magic], [Puncture], [Repentance], [Echoing Vigor]; [Dawnbreaker of Smiting]
Bar 2 = [Rally], [Blazing Spear], [Razor Caltrops], [Restoring Focus], [Shuffle]; [Shooting Star]
Food: Max Health + Max Stamina
Veteran Dungeons
5-pc Black Rose, Heavy, Impen, Stamina
2-pc Velidreth, Heavy, Divines, Stamina
1-Agility neck, Robust, Weap Dmg
2-Leki rings, Robust, Weap Dmg
Bar 1 = Agility Sword, Defending, Crusher & Agility Shield, Reinforced, Health
[Heroic Slash], [Absorb Magic], [Puncture], [Blazing Shield], [Power of the Light]; [Dawnbreaker of Smiting]
Bar 2 = Agility Bow, Precise, Crusher
[Inner Beast], [Blazing Spear], [FLEX], [Restoring Focus], [Echoing Vigor]; [Aggressive Warhorn]
Food: Max Health + Max Stamina
The FLEX slot can be any choice of the following depending on your group’s need: Shuffle, Overflowing Altar, Rearming Beat Trap, Repentance, Razor Caltrops, Extended Ritual, Bombard, Toppling Charge, or Retreating Maneuver.
The backbone of the Stankplar is [Power of the Light]. Along with [Puncture], you are the ONLY class that can apply both Minor and Major forms of Fracture and Breach. This, compounded with the crusher enchant, is paramount to helping your MagNB group member hit 70k+ impales. If the StamDK is the definitive damage mitigation tank, than the Stankplar is the definitive debuff/damage tank.
Rotation should initiate with defensive buffs, toss two [Blazing Spear] to stun a mob or two and start building aggro, [Inner Beast] the biggest mobs as you close your distance and then do your best at keeping everyone grouped tightly. Make sure to keep [Power of the Light] and [Puncture] up as much as you can while scanning the horizon for escapees whilst making sure [Heroic Slash] is constantly building your ULT.
Now I know what you’re thinking…”Impen Black Rose?!” At 25k Tel’var stones, it’s pretty easy to acquire, and makes you hit like a truck while offering more than enough regen for 4-man content. You could save up more stones/gold and indulge in a PvE-inclined trait (like Divines, Sturdy or Reinforced) through the random boxes or guild traders, but I have had no problem getting Speed/No-Death runs done with this set. Alternative sets to Black Rose would include Tava’s Favor, Hist Bark, and Ebony.
Normal Trials
5-pc Ebony, Heavy, Divines or Sturdy, Health
2-pc Lord Warden, Heavy, Divines or Reinforced, Stamina
1-Agility neck, Robust, Weap Dmg
2-Endurance rings, Robust, Stamina Cost Reduction
Bar 1 = Agility Sword, Defending, Crusher & Agility Shield, Reinforced, Health
[Heroic Slash], [Absorb Magic], [Puncture], [Blazing Shield], [Power of the Light]; [Solar Disturbance]
Bar 2 = Agility Sword, Defending, Crusher & Agility Shield, Reinforced, Health
[Inner Beast], [Blazing Spear], [Shuffle], [Restoring Focus], [Echoing Vigor]; [Aggressive Warhorn]
Food: Magicka + Stamina regen
Using the Veteran Dungeon setup as a base, the Normal Trials version of this build simply focuses more into group-wide benefits through the Ebony and Lord Warden Sets, and a damage mitigating Ultimate in emergencies situations. I prefer [Solar Disturbance] because I don’t feel the synergy damage of the Prison morph to be very high given my magicka buffs/stats as well as the fact that the slow can be very helpful for both trash mobs and against enemy players in Cyrodill.
The most important thing to remember when tanking any trial is learning when NOT to block. You want to fit in taunts/buffs/debuffs into very small windows and normal is the best place to start practicing. The better you get at memorizing the attack patterns and telegraphs of normal trial bosses, the more prepared you will be in the Veteran version.
In addition, trials is where Warhorn becomes the almighty gate-keeper of success. While vet dungeons benefit greatly from the horn, having 12 group members all benefit from this amazing Ultimate is unparalleled utility in this end-game content.
Veteran Trials
5-pc Tava’s Favor, Heavy, Reinforced Chest and Pants, Sturdy everything else, Health
2-pc Lord Warden, Heavy, Reinforced Helm, Sturdy Shoulder, Stamina
3-Alkosh Jewlery, Robust, Block & Bash cost reduction
Bar 1 = Alkosh Sword, Defending, Crusher & Alkosh Shield, Reinforced, Health
[Heroic Slash], [Absorb Magic], [Puncture], [Blazing Shield], [Power of the Light]; [Solar Disturbance]
Bar 2 = Alkosh Sword, Defending, Crusher & Alkosh Shield, Reinforced, Health
[Inner Beast], [Absorb Magic], [Shuffle], [Restoring Focus], [Echoing Vigor]; [Aggressive Warhorn]
Food: Magicka + Stamina regen
Extrapolating even further from the Veteran Dungeons and Normal Trials, this is all about debuffs and mitigation, baby. Your whole world now is that little green bar and hitting synergies at every opportunity. Again, you WILL have your shield up almost constantly at the vet level, so make sure you’re not just spamming abilities/synergies/channels because even a trash mob’s heavy attack can one-shot you.
By the time you even CONSIDER veteran trails, you should have all of this gear easily through normal Maw and vet ICP farms, which you complete with your eyes closed. Even with this gear, you will cause your fair share of wipes upon realizing the Warrior does five swipes or that the Mantikoa ALWAYS enrages after a portal and not having mitigation already down will most likely kill you on his first punch or two. Pray to the divines that your group is patient and cool with you learning this stuff, or, if possible, try to off-tank. Practice doesn’t make perfect; PERFECT practice makes perfect.
Alternative’s to Tava’s Favor would be Ebony (if the off-tank is not running it) or Lunar Bastion. Lunar Bastion is a somewhat lackluster set, but combined with the 5-pc proc of Alkosh, makes every synergy you hit an offensive and defensive asset to everyone around. That being said, Tava’s is simply the best due to the sheer volume of Ultimate is can generate on a tank. Similarly, the Bloodspawn set can replace Lord Warden’s for the Ult generation.
PvP #1
5-pc Black Rose, Heavy, Impen, Stamina
2-pc Velidreth, Heavy, Impen, Stamina
1-Agility neck, Robust, Weap Dmg
2-Leki rings, Robust, Weap Dmg
Bar 1 = Agility Sword, Defending, Crusher & Agility Shield, Reinforced, Health
[Biting Jabs], [Shielded Assault], [Puncture], [Restoring Focus], [Absorb Magic]; [Dawnbreaker of Smiting]
Bar 2 = Agility Bow, Precise, Crusher
[Poison Injection], [Binding Javelin], [Shuffle], [Extended Ritual], [Echoing Vigor]; [Shooting Star]
Food: Max Health + Max Stamina
The above build works effectively in small-scale PvP as it allows you to pack a serious burst with high survivability. And feel free to throw [Repentance] in there at your prerogative. If things get more serious and you find yourself working with or against larger groups, I highly recommend this alternative build below that provides more tanky-support through snaring/stunning enemies and breaking through/holding the front lines:
PvP #2
5-pc Black Rose, Heavy, Impen, Stamina
2-pc Malubeth, Heavy, Impen, Stamina
1-Agility neck, Robust, Weap Dmg
2-Leki rings, Robust, Weap Dmg
Bar 1 = Agility Sword, Defending, Crusher & Agility Shield, Reinforced, Health
[Reverberating Bash], [Shielded Assault], [Puncture], [Shuffle], [Absorb Magic]; [Empowering Sweep]
Bar 2 = Agility Bow, Precise, Crusher
[Bombard], [Blazing Spear], [Rearming Beast Trap], [Extended Ritual], [Echoing Vigor]; [Reviving Barrier]
Food: Magicka + Stamina regen
Please let me know what you think or if you have any questions about this awesome class.
-
This topic was modified 6 hours, 11 minutes ago by
![Profile photo of TheM0rganism]()
TheM0rganism.
