Tanking 102: Builds and Skills

At the request of Greg (my guild and alliance leader), I'm adding some more specific info on tanking. There are several key skills that can assist the playing of a tank, depending on whether or not you spec for Strength or Tactics, and whether you spec for energy or adrenaline use:

• Strength/Adrenaline: Defy Pain (+hp, +AL, -DR), Lion's Comfort (self heal, +adren), "For Great Justice!" (double adren gain)
• Strength/Energy: Warrior's Endurance (+energy), Flourish (+energy, skill rech), I Will Survive (+regen), Endure Pain (+hp), Dwarven Battle Stance (+IAS, interupt)
• Tactics/Adrenaline: Auspicious Parry (100% block, +adren), "Watch Yourself" (+AL), Bonetti's Defense (75% block, +energy), Riposte (100% block, +dmg), To the Limit! (+adren), "For Great Justice!" (double adren gain)
• Tactics/Energy: Gladiator's Defense (75% block, +dmg), Protector's Stance (75% block), Deadly Riposte (100% block, +dmg), Victory is Mine! (self heal), Bonetti's Defense (75% block, +energy)

Signets were not listed because they don't cost adrenaline or energy. Dolyak Signet and Healing Signet are the two most common signets you'll use as a Warrior. Keep in mind both have very serious draw-backs. Dolyak Signet makes you nigh-immoble, so make sure you won't need to move once you use it. If you feel you will need to reposition after casting it, bring along a shadow-step skill (Death's Charge works). Running Warrior's Endurance, Dolyak Signet, and Death's Charge will turn you into a teleporting infinite energy tank. Healing Signet causes -40 armor. For those who don't know how armor works, that means it doubles the damage you take while casting it. Makes sure you're running a block stance while casting it (and make sure that it won't end on skill activation).

Skill synergy is paramount too. Consider running a hammer tank, with Gladiator's Defense, Protector's Stance, and Renewing Smash. Now you can keep up near infinite block, and protect your team too (requires you to stand with the backline, so it's better as an off-tank, or when facing enemies without AoEs). Running Brawling Headbutt and Steelfang Slash in any adrenaline fueled build will give you a constant boost in adrenaline gain, and give you a solid interupt on nasty enemy skills. A Warrior/Paragon build that uses Spear of Fury along with Barbed Spear and Blazing Spear can jack up the teams DPS, while being able to spam "Save Yourselves!", with either a Strength or Tactics spec.

For tanks that run energy intensive builds, the use of a Zealous weapon is highly recommended, especially if you are using an IAS stance (keep in mind, you can only activate one stance at a time; you'll need to decide whether or not attacking faster is more important than blocking). Even though most IAS stances list an increase of 33%, that translates to 50% more attacks. Blunty, if two identical warriors, without attack skills, auto-attack the same target, the warrior under the effect of a 33% IAS stance will do 50% more damage. So, for terms of DPS, no skill is more important to a warrior than one that provides IAS.

I prefer to run Strength/Adrenaline builds. I'll run Flail, Enraging Charge, Lion's Comfort, Defy Pain, "For Great Justice!", "Save Yourselves!", plus two attack skills, either energy based, or the Brawling Headbutt/Steelfang Slash combo, to increase the rate at which I spam "SY!". In my opinion, Defy Pain is the best and most versatile warrior primary tanking skill. With a 20 second duration, it's easy to keep in up indefinitely durring combat. At 16 Strength, it gives +314 HP, +20 AL, and -11 DR. All from one skill. This puts the average tank at 120 AL vs physical, 100 AL vs Elemental. Math time:

NPC deals 100 physical damage with attack 1, and 100 elemental damage with attack 2 to Tank A, who is wearing max AL armor. Tank A takes 50 damage from attack 1, and 70.71 damage from attack 2. The same NPC then attacks Tank B, who is wearing the same armor, but is also running Defy Pain at 16 Strength. Attack 1 does 24.36 damage, while attack 2 does 39 damage.

Now, “SY!” is also, in my opinion, one of the best ways to protect your team:

An NPC boss hits your team with Searing Flames, at 20 Fire Magic, dealing 230 damage (130 base, x2 for boss damage, and we’ll pretend the whole team is on fire because you’re in lava). You monks, mesmers, ritualists, and elementalists all take it on the chin at the listed damage. You assassins and dervishes get hit for 193.41 damage. You paragons and fellow warriors take 162.63 damage, while the rangers laugh it off at 115 damage.

The boss hits you team again, but this time, you’ve cast “SY!”. The monks, elementalists, ritualists, and mesmers all giggle as they take 40.66 damage. The assassins and dervishes tell knock-knock jokes while they take 34.19. The paragons and warriors have an arm wrestling match while they take 28.75 damage, and the rangers shed a single silent tear for the boss as they take 20.33 damage.

The above assumes that no one wears a shield or has native damage reduction, and doesn’t use insignia that boost AL. “Save Yourselves!” is a warrior PvE skill gained from either the Luxons or the Kurzicks. It’s +100 AL for your team, for 4 to 6 seconds, at the cost of 8 adrenaline. It’s pure hotness.

I’ll add more tidbits as they present themselves.

Dual Attunement Air Spike: Bringing the Thunder

I've tried to think of some catchy names to attach to this build. 'Da Hammah', 'Air Hammer', 'Thunder-Fucked', stuff like that. But frankly, names don't matter when it comes to how well something works.

I don't play casters, it's not my schtick. However, I rolled up a PvP Elementalist (codename: Cripslashin Kittens), and took it to Jade Quarry. I'd actually never played in JQ, but one of my guildies wouldn't shut up about it, so I decided to join him. Not having many Elementalist elites, I went and capped Elemental Attunement, and threw together a generic air spike build:

• Lightning Javelin
• Shell Shock
• Lightning Orb
• Lightning Hammer
• Glyph of Elemental Power
• Elemental Attunement
• Air Attunement
• Aura of Restoration

It works great. It fell out of meta with the increase of enchantment stripping (Rend/Rip Enchantment being high up on that list), however, in JQ, most necros are fond of running Weaken Knees builds, to target NPC carriers. So, for purposes of RA, AB, JQ, or AW, this build is perfectly viable. It hits for 160+ dmg consistently, and never runs out of energy, provided you maintain both attunements. But, I still didn't feel like the build was doing as much damage as I wanted, so I opted to go Ele/Me, and run Arcane Echo:

• Shell Shock
• Lightning Orb
• Lightning Hammer
• Arcane Echo
• Glyph of Elemental Power
• Elemental Attunement
• Air Attunement
• Aura of Restoration

This was fun too. Echoing Lightning Hammer makes for some insane DPS. Either build is capable of taking out a carrier turtle in 6 seconds or so, making it a tad faster than Necro/Assassins running Weaken Knees and Shameful Fear. However, running an echo build in the middle of a frantic PvP scenario is annoying to say the least. As much as I liked it, I ended up echoing the wrong skills on more than one occasion. Regardless, I was looking for a bigger and more effective spike. So, I added Energy Blast, which worked well, especially since it's armor ignoring damage. The downside is that I regain no energy casting it, and it doesn't benefit from Glyph of Elemental Power.

But that doesn't matter. The build does a sickening amount of damage, and most of the spells don't require line of sight to use. This allows me to attack relatively unseen, a tactic I've been fond of ever since my days with an AR/Dev in CoH.

Non-Consensual PvP: Intro to World/Zone PvP

Non-consensual PvP can ruin a game for some people. While I'm an avid PvPer, and I support a players right to attack another without permission or provocation, I acknowledge how my actions can impact my opponent (or victim). My old roommate John refused to play games online for this very reason. Quite blunty, he told me that he didn't want to deal with other players that would try to force him into a PvP engagement. Despite my trying to convince him that there were easy ways to avoid such a fate, or to prevent it entirely, he merely responded that he shouldn't have to alter his behavior to avoid being targeted by "douches".

One of the most common arguments I heard against this type of PvP (or, simply against people attacking others without warning), was the analogy of dodgeball. You shouldn't be allowed to force someone to play dodgeball with you; it needs to be their choice. Honestly, I see merit in this argument. It's not fun to get killed. It's not fun to get killed by another player. It's even less fun getting your ass kicked by another player when you had no idea it was coming, or intention of fighting back. I am aware of these things, and I understand.

I'll still probably kill you.

And it's not cause I want to be a bully, or because I giggle to myself as I gank you. Firstly, there is usually a tactile reward for winning. Faction, renown, honor, gold. If an NPC asked you not to farm him, would you listen? To those who would listen, I applaud your compassion, but suggest you leave the warzone. Secondly, I don't know that you aren't a threat until one of two things happens:

1. You leave the area.
2. I leave the area.

Remember when I said it's not fun getting killed? PvPers don't like getting killed either, that's a big part of why we are so hard up to kill you first. Nothing is as harmless as a corpse.

However, a distinction arises here. World PvP=/=Zone PvP. They are similar but hardly the same. World PvP can, in some instances, mean that nowhere is safe. Danger of PvP can be around any corner, and everyone could be spoiling for a fight. In this situation, the "dodgeball" analogy holds water. The PvEer can't help to cross paths with the PvPer sometimes, and only one will walk away from that encounter (guess who).

But then there is Zone PvP. Imagine a place 100 times the size of Warsong Gulch, or Grenz Frontier. A place where there are plenty of places to hide, plenty of hidden treasures to earn, and a place where you are meant to fight other players. If you're here, you're meat. Period. In this place, the counter analogy is "Why are you on the court if you don't want to play?", and you'll get held to it. Cries of "Why does my gameplay experience have to suffer to benefit yours?" gets thrown back and forth between players on both sides.

My policy is to shoot first, ask questions later. But please believe, I will ask afterward, and I will listen to your answer. If I find you're not here to fight, I probably won't bother you again. But I will not let you pass untouched, on the premise or chance that PvP might not be your schickt. I will kill you. I will remind you of why this place is dangerous, why you need to be prepared, and why you need to tread lightly. I'm sorry if your gear is expensive to repair, I'm sorry if you respawn miles away from here, I'm sorry if I fuck up your quest.

You should have been more careful. PvP is srs bizness.

Guild Life

Well, it's been a crazy week.

I've been made an officer of my guild. Since it's full to capacity, I'm not required to recruit, but they expect officers to organize and help with events without being directed to do so. So far, I've raised interested in structured PvP, and have helped host a few 8v8 matches within the alliance. They've been fun, and I'm impressed with the overall skill level, despite their lack of experience.

Our home map is Burning Isle, which is a bitch to navigate, but it makes for some interesting matches. I'll probably suggest we host the next set of matches at a "friendlier" guild hall.

Hopefully, I'll be able to lead a GvG team to victory before the end of spring. I doubt it will take that long, but my schedule in real life makes it hard to coordinate events on a regular basis.

Guildmates, love 'em or hate 'em

Recently, I left my guild.

There was no conflict, there was no bitterness; I just needed a guild with active players. I was an officer in a guild founded and run by my sisters-in-law, whom I have nothing but good things to say about. Other than they're inactive as fuck (sorry guys).

However, joining a new guild is like finding a new job. The first rule is don't quit your current one till you find a new one. So, I went guild hunting. There are many ways to do this. Look on the forums for your respective MMO to see who's recruiting. Some MMOs, like WoW, have sites entirely dedicated to people looking for guilds. A more laid back approach is to seek out guilds in game, either by soliciting yourself (r5 Warrior Looking For Guild!) or looking for people who are actively recruiting (Wicked Tough Fighters [WTF] is now recruiting! PvP/PvE/AB/HM/Vanq/Kurz/1.5 mil fac, pst!).

I took the latter approach.

However, when I look for a guild, I have more questions for the recruiter than they do for me. How big is your guild? How big is your alliance? Do you PvP? What kind of PvP? Does your GvG team have spots open, or do you have multiple GvG teams? Do you run dungeons? Do you vanquish? Do you use voice chat? Do you have a website? How active are you? What's your officer to member ratio? (That last one is a biggie, imo)

So, after some searching, I found a Kurzick guild that was recruiting. After finding out there were almost no requirements to join, other than not being a tool, I hit the guy with my list of questions. Most were answered to my satisfaction, but I had one last demand: Lemme see your cape. Capes are make or break. I much prefer tabards ala WoW, but capes are neat in their own way. However, they can be gaudy and ostentatious, so as a result I end up being picky about them. The cape wasn't all that, but the recruiter struck me being a solid guy. So, I went ahead and joined up.

It's been a while since I logged on to an active Ventrillo server. And I can't remember why I missed it. People talking over each other, feedback, audio loops, and my mic shutting off every 15 minutes. But I still missed it.

Anyways, as complicated as joining a guild may or may not be, actually integrating into one is a different story. There are two types of guild mates; the ones that treat you like family simply because you're guildies, and the ones who treat like a stranger who isn't welcome in their house. All the people I met fell into the first category. Score.

Even better still, my new guild is the head of the alliance, meaning my guild leader is also alliance leader. Double Score. We ended up teaming right after I joined. He started out treating me like any other noob, which I didn't mind really. I provoked this by admitting I didn't have any good ranger builds for my NPC hero. As a result, he ended up explaining a lot of things I already knew, but in a way that I didn't care or feel like I was being talked down too.

Sarutobi is doing the Asuran quests in EotN, which from what I hear, are the most annoying of the three racial factions. My GL agreed with this sentiment, and showed me a different route to take to get to Gadd's Encampment, entirely avoiding the Shards of Orr. After we reached our destination, he stayed on to help with the quest, Finding Gadd. Is so doing, we ended up fighting a lot of dinosaurs. On the way to Gadd's Encampment, he gave me a rundown on the different dinosaurs:

GL: "Raptors are assassins, which makes them nasty, but manageable, don't get mobbed. Angorodons are necros with nasty degen and lifesteal, be careful. Tyrannuses are warriors, and hit hard as hell. Triceratops... Just don't fuck with them, they're bad news."

So, after completing most of the first quest, we come upon a trio of Ceratadons, milling around. I suggest we attack, and while the GL mulls over it, I blitz them. He runs in after me, and we end up almost wiping after killing two of the three (it was just us and six heroes). While we rez the fallen...:

GL: "Who's bright idea was it to attack?"
Me: "Yours."
GL: "Um, no?"
Me: "Uh, yeah? You were totally like 'I've seen Jurassic Park! These guys ain't shit! All they do is get sick and die! Let's take these bastiches!' and I was all like, 'Uh, ok' and them you died."

The GL ended up laughing his ass off, and tells me that I'll fit in just fine with his guild.

The good news didn't end there. The next day, I ended up scrimmaging with a guildie who shared my same affinity for FoW farming. After a few battles, I looked in the vent channel to find out five other had joined us in the Fow Farming (solo) channel, and realized that all five were in the same GH as us, deciding who as going to fight who with what build. I'm glad to see so many players chomping at the bit for PvP, and I'm really looking forward to helping in the organization of a GvG team or two.