Alright, IMO you can skip conq if you don't already have it and try to go straight into vanq.
Here's what I was when I finally hit 40 (i got my renown rank to 50 before doing that)
-5/5 Ruin (drops from t4 PQ gold bags, can be bought from the currency you get from those PQs also)
Ruin gives you a nice armor bonus, some toughness and most importantly +5% block with the full set which you will desperately need.
-Grim Kladgird for the belt piece (Lower rank rvr bags) you can get it from the AH if you're lucky, 20 wounds + 2% block, crazy value for a fresh IB.
-rank 46 SC axe and shield (The ones you buy with Officer emblems) honestly these two are good enough even with higher end gear
-Rough Gunbad Diamond (Either from minibosses in Gunbad, or from the Auction House, last time I checked it was around 70g) You will use this for all your life as a snb tank so get it, it's useful.
-The Winds Impervious 3/3 set just follow these instructions
(
https://wiki.returnofreckoning.com/inde ... g_for_Sacs
https://wiki.returnofreckoning.com/inde ... he_Sticker
https://wiki.returnofreckoning.com/inde ... Your_Skill)
Good starting point for all tanks, gives you some stats, initiative and armor.
-Ravack's Grudgecloak (You get it from a lair boss in BFP or can buy it in the AH if there's any available) This is the BEST cloak from snb tanks before Sov, it offers you 2% block + 21 wounds, its a must have.
IF you don't need the armor bonus from Winds Impervious, get the ring from (
https://wiki.returnofreckoning.com/index.php/Demoted)
You will use this set until you have 5 piece Vanq. Your next gearing goal will be.
-5/6 Vanquisher + Conq boots.
The conq Boots give you some wounds, some toughness but they also give you 2% block, and the 5 piece bonus for Vanq is 5% block so you can finally switch out of Ruin without worrying about your block droping.
-61 SC shield 54SC weapon (gives you some nice regen) you can also go for the Fort shield if you have spare invaders, but at this point you won't.
Honestly right now you should be above rr 60 and you safely use the weapons I listed in the previous part with no drawbacks.
-At some point you will want to replace your Winds Impervious rings with Genesis ones
(Just any mixup you feel is needed, either parry/wounds + wounds/toughness for the 2piece wounds bonus OR block/wounds + wounds/toughness for the toughness bonus.)
Next step would be to go full Invader, now is it better than the Vanq setup above, eh kinda, but the difference honestly won't be that noticeable.
You can chose to not get the tome unlock so you can get the Invader jewel first, or not, with forts happening so often you'll have it in no time.
At this point you already should be using the 61 SC shield, the cloak stays the same.
At this point you will be working up towards your Sov gear, if you want to stay defensive, I'd suggest going for the main Sov cloak first, it's a great upgrade to your Ravack's Grudgecloak and it has a talisman slot (Plus it's the cheapest part and is a good start)
Slowly you can start getting Sov pieces and replacing your Invader ones, but keep in mind that the Block bonus is the most important part of the set for you, so don't lose it to a random mixup, you can safely go 4/8 Sov rest Invader and remain pretty tanky.
For 2h I'm not really sure, getting into Sentinel/Bloodlord is my fair guess (as with all 2h tanks) Now there's a lot of different builds, often the obvious mixup is 5/8 Alternative Sov 3/8 Warlord, I've had some ideas about a future 2h build which looks a bit differently but that's all for later.
The weapon you would want to use is either the Elf t4 epic quest weapon Earthshatter (because of the parry proc) Or the same weapon but with better stats from C/T.
2h IS more tricky because IB is useless as a 2h tank until he gets geared up, you don't really offer much outside of some ST dmg and ST buffs for your oathfriend, which is good in smallscale, but for warband play eh, well I'll have to test the future build I have in mind.
Have fun