Shield tank

C

Chameleon

Guest
Hi

I would like to start a tank, but am more keen on defense than offense. Id prefer to prevent damage on my group, rather than storm headlong into the fray and start bashing.
I've not been able to find a lot about shield tanks, I guess cos most go lw champ or spearo hero, so im not sure of the best route to take. I know i want celt or luri, as I want to block, parry and hit quicker, rather than hit hard, but i dont know if a hero with moose ability, bow and more damage taking ability (afaik, but maybe champ/hero are same on this, i dunno), or the champ with his valor line would be best.
Anyone have an opinion ........ other than the "dont make a shield tank" one ;) hehe
tia
 
O

old.Laryssa

Guest
if u go blade/shield (not as champ since u need the points in valor) all the way u might end up in emain as caster protector.

I respecced my celt champ to LW around lvl40 since I wanted to
do some dmg in emain later on.

Before i did so i was a block maschine ;)
 
O

old.Tzeentch

Guest
icebreaker is the best tank in hib. :D

he kicks ass.

and im not joking. :)
 
E

elerand

Guest
Shield tank is very nice pve, before the last pach my hero was 50 weapon, 50 shield and it worked very well, works well in rvr, if you have a bard to keep the end going since your most effective tool is going to be a shield :)

Ok, you won't be a dmg dealer but you can protect casters and still play an effective roll in taking out support classes, slam is just as effective on them as it is on tanks ;)

I tried spear but I really can't stand the long wait times on such weapons, although I let a friend of mine respec my hero to the usual CSpear hybrid since I play my BM the most anyway and he's way more fun for me :)
 
V

VodkaFairy

Guest
Originally posted by elerand
Shield tank is very nice pve, before the last pach my hero was 50 weapon, 50 shield and it worked very well, works well in rvr, if you have a bard to keep the end going since your most effective tool is going to be a shield :)

Ok, you won't be a dmg dealer but you can protect casters and still play an effective roll in taking out support classes, slam is just as effective on them as it is on tanks ;)

I tried spear but I really can't stand the long wait times on such weapons, although I let a friend of mine respec my hero to the usual CSpear hybrid since I play my BM the most anyway and he's way more fun for me :)

(he's a shield bm) :p
 
N

Novamir

Guest
go def hero, 50 shield, 50 blades, rest parry. you might even make some decent damage if you get ebop :)
 
T

Tyka

Guest
Best tank in hib would be Harle imo, runner up Ice of course, they're both great :)
 
C

Chameleon

Guest
Thanks for the replys.
I'd looked at the character builder and realised I could do a champ with

Valor 50
Shield 42
Blades 39
Parry 6

I wonder how this might compare to the hero

Shield 50
Blade 50
Parry Rest

and also whether one handed blunt might be better in any template, rather than blades due to the -bonus of blades against most enemies in rvr ..... but that said, maybe as a defender tank, id be better with the speed of blades over blunts, regardless of damage output.
Erk, I thought a tank would be easy to spec compared to an ns ;)
 
L

Laralyn

Guest
I was a shield/sword tank through all lvls from 1 to 50 and to rr5.. it is the best way to lvl

in rvr you are a good soloer (against all solo classes) used to kill all stealther classes that took a chance on me with only moose (no IP)

however your role as a mage guardian is not the best option.. a main role for tanks in rvr is to take out enemy casters besides protecting your own and sadly without ebop (and sometimes even with it) you cant do that verry efficiently..
i have a laugh when i remember the dmg i did with slash/fast weaps especially on casters.. if they have suport you fail to take them out in due time almost all the time
and the dmg you do on any other class is almost insignifiant

as a guard bot you can slam/guard/intercept for 1 caster but you are one member of 8 who doesnt actively take out enemys..

imo overall as a spear/LW hero you would be much more effective in a RvR group (provided you adapt your playstyle accordingly - be aware of any danger to your weak classes and support them if necesary but in the meantime take out key classes from the enemy)

not trying to convince you to go spear/LW.. just my 2cents

if you are set on making a shield/sword class and plan on playing ONLY support role you would be better off as a luri champ imo cuz you get ~same hp as a hero and in adition a nice set of buffs, etc
ofcourse with low blades your dmg will suffer but that wouldnt matter anyway

sorry for the long post ;) hope it helps
 
D

Dinfar

Guest
Well, i _was_ a blade / shield specced hero. Which was great when i was exping, but not in rvr. It might have been with an ebop, but noone wanted to give me one :(

So i specced LW, which im trully glad i did.
So before u make a blade / shield hero, im just saying, think about it :)
 
O

old.Icebreaker

Guest
The use of an Defence Hero: Support :)

Slam, Guard, intercept for your Group members and stop enemy mages/healer etc from casting.

Spec should be 50 Shield, 50 Sword/Blunt/pierce, 28 Parry

And what i do is getting alot of Defence RA's like Mastery of Blocking/Parry, Avoidance of Magic,...


And remember, you don't hit hard but more often then Spearos or LW Heros/Champions and with a good weapon you can make good enough Damage to kill enemy support classes quick.


------------------------------
Icebreaker <Celtic Fist>
 
K

Khefru

Guest
I lvl'd to 50 and rr4 as a sheild hero and tbh it was ok. Even in RvR one on one, u could hurt most classes, but the eventual realisation was that wehn u are protecting a mage, u usually have no chance as 3 enemy tanks jump him. Also the block rate is very poor and i've heard that even in the next patch where it supposed to be fixed, it's still poor. Remember, in PvE u are not dealing with 'bonus to hit' styles. If u went for a defensive tank, u could go with the standard spec of 50 spear, 42 sheild, 39 parry and 6 blades. With rr u will still have almost as good block rate and your damage output is not important for the time when u protect your mage, but u still have the spear or lw for the times when u are not needed to protect.

If u are hell bent on becomming a pure defensive tank, then I think a spec that is overlooked is 44 blades or blunt, 44 sheild and 44 parry. Again with rr and items u can easilly get over 50 in all 3 and the styles that you miss out on are not that good anyway. This is imo the best and most balanced defensive tank spec. With mastery of parry and blocking you would be a formidable opponent and exellent defence for your mages.
 
O

old.Icebreaker

Guest
The lvl50 Shield style is very usefull, High Damage and Stun.
You can use it after you blocked. Guess what Defence Heros do most. :D

About the "you can only Intercept/Guard one Groupmember" thingie:
Guard is switchable and you can slam around all the time while the Spear/LW Tank deals the Damage. :)

Mages arent a big Problem cuz they die quick and can't stop you because you hit too fast with 1 handed weapons. (expect quickcast etc) ;)


------------------------------
Icebreaker <Celtic Fist>
 
K

Khefru

Guest
Sheild hero's block most as a defence? Really? :D I think I parry in RvR now with a spear almost as much as I used to block when I was sheild specced - i.e hardly at all ;)
 
T

tankster

Guest
even me with my small litle slam shield block alot for the person i am guarding.
 
L

Laralyn

Guest
It all comes down to how you like to play the game..
if you are more of an active type and like to see clear results from your actions defence hero is not for you.. (only the ones who do the killign get to have their names spammed over the entire zone ;p)

also you can protect your mages verry well using spear/LW too since you should get slam in any choice, you can slam and then kill those who go for the elphs
 
H

<Harle>

Guest
Originally posted by Tyka
Best tank in hib would be Harle imo, runner up Ice of course, they're both great :)

/blush

I'm going with Ice here on the defensive-Hero issue. The lvl 50-shield-style IS usefull, especially if you know that "engage" is not only good for archers ;)
My old spec was 50 shield, 44 blade, 37 (i think) parry, so if you add up the defensive values (shield+parry) you end up at 87, where with Khefru's spec you'll have 88 ( each skill-rank in parry or shield is 0.5% greater chance to parry/block) - so almost no loss in defense for a nice style.
Actually i regret respeccing to CS, and I can't wait for the SI-patch, where i'll remake Harle as a Luri-Hero ;)
 
G

Gahldir

Guest
if going ultradefencive tank why take weapon to 50? wouldn't it be more logical to have higher parry and shield then weapon?

lurichamp:

valor 50
shield 42
blunt 25-34
rest parry


celthero/celtBM:
shield 50
parry 42
blunt 39

(bms can be pretty good at dodging dmg and also have TW as a dmg increaser)

also, I think blunt would be best as he will mainly meet the other realms tanks. and when looking by the resisttable I find blunt best. only 2 classes, scouts and mercs, that are resistant to blunt. blade will prolly work to, but more classes (that really do exist in quiet a high number) are vurneble to blunt then blade of the ones you meet. Pierce would deffo suck as you will meet many that are resistant to it.

But on the other hand, you wont be making to much dmg anyway. maybe let the styles/looks of the weapon decide what to specc. :)
 
H

<Harle>

Guest
I'm gimped again, yeehaa!

<shameless bump>

Just wanted to let everyone know that I found out I still had a respec available with my Hero and I'm back at my loved 50/44/37 template :D
 
S

SingerOfSoul

Guest
btw 50/50/28 sux te 50 blades style is poop
on my hero i was thinking bout
shield:42
blades:44
parry : 46
but the i thought that there was no parry style in blades and went back to the drawing board and came out with

shield:50
blades:44
parry:37
 
O

old.Icebreaker

Guest
The 50 Blade Style works very good now :D




------------------------------
Icebreaker <Celtic Fist>
 

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