what char to roll?

[bleurgh]

Well i have played a Hero up to 40 before now. i have played almost all classes in hib in fact.
i enjoyed tanking the most and tried a shield hero. this was much fun but no groups after lvl 40. and apparently there are hundreds of shield tanks so not really filling a realm requirement as such. tried lrg weaps champ and got fed up of waiting ten minutes between swings of weapon. bm not take enough dmg for my liking.
what i need is ideas for a decent tank type char that can take abuse and the realm has need of.
is it true that tanks are crap? i am told this almost every day by other classes ( as i hold the aggro off them so they can kill the mob safely).

please dont turn this into a "my char is better than yours" thread.
i need constructive analysis of tanks and rvr/pve application.
i can appreciate all class of tanks for various reasons but i need to make a decision on what char to take out into emain. my hero at 21 so i got 3 lvls to delete.

cheers for any advice you can give hib

 

[VodkaFairy]

A shield hero is the most wanted tank in the realm, I guess it was just bad luck you couldn't find groups :/ Piercemasters seem to do really well at level 50, no matter what people think of the class. Fast swings make it lots of fun to play, you're not as wanted as shield heroes but you -can- take alot of damage. Heroes have the most hitpoints, BM's have second-most.

If you really want to level fast make a bard or druid, people are always looking for those classes

 

[Jonaldo]

Unfortunately for tanks levels 40-43 are wilderness levels as most other classes at 40 step up to cursed forest but you cannot quite damage the mobs there anywhere near like Coruscating mines nor take the damage they deal to you.. it's a case of grouping with lower people in Corus pit or soloing (as I seem to have done from lvl 40-42 on my LW champ lately).

Luckily I'm in a nice guild who regularly do xp trips or mini zerg xp (mcf's as we now call them ) these have helped a lot but I still end up soloing mobs on the top level of Corus for hours on end all the people I grouped with beforehand are now 46-50 as they got into Finliath groups while I was told 'too low' every time.

Just stick at it, shield tanks are great in pve and very under-rated, people only realise just how much easier they make groups after they have left and everyone else is suddenly being hit a lot more.

 

[celestina]

Have you ever thought of making a Shield BM? Very interesting Style of play and not that many around Hib atm. Bm increase in Dex and Quic which will help you with your blocking and evade. You take 8% more damage due to low resist on armour. (Not fully sure about this but scale 27% RF 19%) But hige dex/qui should make up for it in blocking and evade,

You also get TW which while on a long timer does come in handy on close fights in PvE or RvR. RAs you can go dodger which will make you even harder to hit.With IP and Master of shield/parry u go a long way in a fight too and like you said you arnt there to do damage just take it. Lvl 42 shield spec slam is very good for keep enemy tanks away from your support classes.


Might wanna try these specs
Blade/blunt 50
Shield 42
Parry 39

If you go Blades speccing to 44 would be good enough as the lvl 50 style isit that great, put the rest into parry.

Hope this helps

 

[old.mattshanes]

Warden great class, think hib is lacking them myself when i see them in rvr, i hardly see wardens.Only tuorin mainly,he be good to ask about them.

 

[hrodelbert]

tuorin is one warden too many in my books

 

[Cernos]

Since you already got a Hero to 21, why not consider a hybrid Hero spec? By hybrid I mean a Hero who can use both 1h+shield and 2h.

I was a full shield Hero until 40 and brought celtic spear up to 50 with my mini ding points between 40 and 50. This meant I had a great defensive spec for PvE and have a very flexible mixed offensive / defensive spec for RvR.

My final spec is:

50 celtic spear, 42 shield (for slam), 34 blades, 20 parry (but this is 34 with items and realm rank and will be effectively 46 when I raise Master of Parry to level 2).

I love this spec because it means I can fill a variety of roles in RvR, from out-and-out damge dealer with spear, to lead slam tank (choosing which targets to pop from mezz with a stun), to bubble burster (I have high enough blades to do reasonable damage if up against a PBT group), to defensive shield hero protecting mages and support classes with guard and slam. And if PvE trips need a good shield tank, well I'm still up for that too.

Btw, as Cornell mentioned, 40-43 does seem to be a wilderness for tanks - Corus mines are too low, and you're not quite up to tanking in CF or Sheeroe. I solo'd a lot in these levels, or went with smaller groups to Bog of Cullen.

Cernos
50 Celt Hero, Raven Ardent, Hib Prydwen

 

[mid_Efour]

infiltrator

 

[old.Downanael]

We need almost anything else than manachanters what we are more than full atm

Dont know much about tank classes but if you want to heal instead taking damage i suggest trying druid

Matt: There are warders on rvr,they just look like hero

 

[Laralyn]

the absolute best Hib tank is the hero speced 50CS 42shield 39parry 6blades *rvr wise... (both heroes gilded spear on exca speced this way and yes we did test other specs)

the 2nd best option is probably hero speced 50LW 42shield 39parry 6blades

 

[Khalen]

I gonna roll a warden I think still looking for a guild though

 

[Dorin]

For godsakes start a void eld and GTAOE their asses . No need for more (mana)chanters, need elds (void gtaoe powa) and mentalist (light specced, aoe nuke . Hibernia lacks casters (caster with range that is

 

[old.Aure]

Wardens are fabulous for fighting solo tanks and also in a decent rvr group.

Wardens currently solo do extremely well against tanks/hunters/scouts/skalds, very poor versus runies/sms and range nukers. Anything 2h dies to a warden, its not uncommon to beat a 2h skald or poleman without taking any melee damage in 1 on 1 encounters. We die very quickly to range casters.

Finding 1 v 1 encounters is rare however.

In between are infies, zerkers and sb's. I've been owned by ratboys in encounters and infies who attack in 8 v 8 fights.

I don't think I've ever died solo to an infy or sb at 50, but once engaged in group combat they are swines with stuns and stuff.

In PVE early a warden is very hard to level. Once your nurture reaches 26, things take off. Pre 26 with poor kit, blue mobs are very hard. With good kit post 26, yellows are fairgame, downtime is little, killing however takes a long time.

In PVE at 50 and decent Ra's you will take agro very well either with taunt or group heal. With high RA's I can solo the odd purple mobs without using fa2 or ip. Slow attackers without magic are especially doable.

Post 45, then you are pretty nifty if you spec for 6 sec bubble. Options for wardens are mainly at least 45 nurture for six second pulsing bladeturn, however a nice spec I toyed with was 38 nurture, 50 blunt, 19 parry and 6 regrowth. Another interesting spec is 38 nuture 33 parry 39 blunt rest regrowth. Those specs give 8 sec bubble, but 33 parry + ranks and +11 parry would make 50 in parry possible.

In some rvr encounters it can be frustrating as you don't frontload damage and especially against plate you can be kited around the battlefield stuck on the back of tanks attacking your bard or druid. Healing is an option here but its normal for someone to be interupting you, usually a scout that can't hit you, but at the least interupting you. Mez takes down the bubble and is a problem, but with uber resists, especially next patch, that will barely be anytime.

However equip a warden with a couple of shield tanks with guard/intercept from one and you can take double the enemy tanks if they don't shield slam and gank the warden.

A recent example with Jaenelle we killed a caster blue, a 50 friar and 3 50 Alb tanks at HMG Odins. We got a little melee aid from a Middie hunter who popped on Yussef, but I took caster, Jaen killed the friar. We both attacked the 3 tanks and after Jaen had iped, I spammed a few heals and then we took the 3 tanks between us, all iped too. I was hit once in the entire fight, uber Jaen blocking and PBT.

Doesnt work a second time though if foes are clever.
I specced out of TWF, but now with the lack of bards and the surplus of Albion casters, its an option to interupt and partly snare.

I recall with Slayn and Oran we killed a full group + hunter of Mids with aoe root, instas and twf.

Casters from range cause us major problems though, as with fewer HP than major tanks, 4 big nukes and you will need ip or fa2. In melee vs a caster its 50-50. If you have purge, then you will win every time. If you hit first and they don't cc, you win. If they nuke first 90/100 you die if fighting them alone. Wardens have en regen and you can chase fleeeing casters all over the place.

Fights with Albion tanks are usually pretty good, Hrodel, Shane and Araudry, Bullveye and crew are good foes and there's always a good fight there when casters drop. I miss Slayn's shield, although Cernos when he's on is a top shield tank with damage options.

I sort of see both sides (or will do) as I've finally got round to leveling Mescher. He's a shield tank with spear. I am toying with a few specs. He's got 12 in blunt atm and probably won't raise that any more. 42 shield of course, then either 50 cs or 50 lw, rest parry. Rest for rvr is basically get 2 shield tanks and a warden together and go find some long drawnout and ace scraps with Hrodelbert and crew.

As Dorin says Hibs lack a lot of ranged nukers though.

We also lack bards and with foes caster heavy meleers are chaffe with foes free of CC.

 

[twistedmind]

i have light specced menta

well the description says it.. i have a light specced menta only lvl 24 atm but it is growing...

----------------------------exc-------------------------------------
Twistedmind lvl 4* skald
Twistednurse lvl 3* healer
Twistedberserker lvl 2* berserk
Luskegudny lvl 1* dark runemaster

----------------------------pryd------------------------------------
Twistedspells lvl 24 light mentalist
Twistedblades lvl 8 Blademaster

 

[szleynix]

1 warden??? that's coz u know him

i just get rooted ;( so crappy heals and that's it.

as far as tanks go.....play any class till L15 at least......u can't say they're good or bad till u're played them a bit.

if u make a class, play one that suits your play style! if u want to help defend ppl in PvE go shield+weap. always remember u have 2 respecs (L20 and L40). so play about, see what u like.