KOTBS - 2hander builds

[Tankbeardz]

The main thing is play and test yourself. I see a lot of terrible advice and specs in this thread BUT...that is just my opinion.

[roadkillrobin]

Focus on stats in this order Parry - Covers Guard damage. Wounds - Covers guard damage. STR - prevents your debuffs to be defended. Any remaining stats should be focused on not being focused down by organized groups. Deft Defender > Initiative > Toughness > Weaponskill.

[Alfinnete]

I have a 60+ KOTBS and a 60+ Chosen and the KOTBS does not compare to a chosen 2H.

Really?

Yes bro... Chosen hit spiritual on main tree...

[Tankbeardz]

I have a 60+ KOTBS and a 60+ Chosen and the KOTBS does not compare to a chosen 2H.

Really?

Yes bro... Chosen hit spiritual on main tree...

What about slice thru, vigi, ea or fm, runefang...it's not even close. Knight is wayyyy better almost every 2h spec.

[Alfinnete]

Really?

Yes bro... Chosen hit spiritual on main tree...

What about slice thru, vigi, ea or fm, runefang...it's not even close. Knight is wayyyy better almost every 2h spec.

Okay buddy, if you say ...

[Eathisword]

Focus on stats in this order Parry - Covers Guard damage. Wounds - Covers guard damage. STR - prevents your debuffs to be defended. Any remaining stats should be focused on not being focused down by organized groups. Deft Defender > Initiative > Toughness > Weaponskill.

Don't listen to this. If you wanna play 2H, you are not tanking in WB, you are tanking in 6 man or less. Hence, don't stack wounds, basic set of gear will get you close or above 8k, plenty enough. Don't stack initiative either. With Runefang, you will cap easy at 400+ which is more than enough (I run somewhat successfully at 200 on IB). Adding more is not useful.

For stats of physical 2H tank, there is 2 way : duo stats or triple stats.
If you play with a armor debuff (WL, SW, IB), stack equal amount of strength and toughness.
If you don'T play with an armor debuff, stack equal strength, toughness and WS.
Always consider your stats with Runefang procced. Which mean from talis and gear you will mainly want toughness, so it is equal to the other 2 when the 240 runefang buff procs.

Edit : in annihilator at RR40, it is possible to get around a 700-700 build or a 600-600-600. Somewhere ballpark.

All renown point, at RR40, should go in parry (20 points) and deft defender (remaining 20 points) for 2H tanks. Some talis should go as armor, imo. Getting around 5k ish with a buff or a pot is very helpful.
For spec, I'D say listen to Tankbeardz.
My 2 cents.

[deathkylem]

Focus on stats in this order Parry - Covers Guard damage. Wounds - Covers guard damage. STR - prevents your debuffs to be defended. Any remaining stats should be focused on not being focused down by organized groups. Deft Defender > Initiative > Toughness > Weaponskill.

Don't listen to this. If you wanna play 2H, you are not tanking in WB, you are tanking in 6 man or less. Hence, don't stack wounds, basic set of gear will get you close or above 8k, plenty enough. Don't stack initiative either. With Runefang, you will cap easy at 400+ which is more than enough (I run somewhat successfully at 200 on IB). Adding more is not useful.

For stats of physical 2H tank, there is 2 way : duo stats or triple stats.
If you play with a armor debuff (WL, SW, IB), stack equal amount of strength and toughness.
If you don'T play with an armor debuff, stack equal strength, toughness and WS.
Always consider your stats with Runefang procced. Which mean from talis and gear you will mainly want toughness, so it is equal to the other 2 when the 240 runefang buff procs.

Edit : in annihilator at RR40, it is possible to get around a 700-700 build or a 600-600-600. Somewhere ballpark.

All renown point, at RR40, should go in parry (20 points) and deft defender (remaining 20 points) for 2H tanks. Some talis should go as armor, imo. Getting around 5k ish with a buff or a pot is very helpful.
For spec, I'D say listen to Tankbeardz.
My 2 cents.

+1, i build some more str...800 and 680 tougnes but is correct what you say

[roadkillrobin]

Spoiler:

Focus on stats in this order Parry - Covers Guard damage. Wounds - Covers guard damage. STR - prevents your debuffs to be defended. Any remaining stats should be focused on not being focused down by organized groups. Deft Defender > Initiative > Toughness > Weaponskill.

Don't listen to this. If you wanna play 2H, you are not tanking in WB, you are tanking in 6 man or less. Hence, don't stack wounds, basic set of gear will get you close or above 8k, plenty enough. Don't stack initiative either. With Runefang, you will cap easy at 400+ which is more than enough (I run somewhat successfully at 200 on IB). Adding more is not useful.

For stats of physical 2H tank, there is 2 way : duo stats or triple stats.
If you play with a armor debuff (WL, SW, IB), stack equal amount of strength and toughness.
If you don'T play with an armor debuff, stack equal strength, toughness and WS.
Always consider your stats with Runefang procced. Which mean from talis and gear you will mainly want toughness, so it is equal to the other 2 when the 240 runefang buff procs.

Edit : in annihilator at RR40, it is possible to get around a 700-700 build or a 600-600-600. Somewhere ballpark.

All renown point, at RR40, should go in parry (20 points) and deft defender (remaining 20 points) for 2H tanks. Some talis should go as armor, imo. Getting around 5k ish with a buff or a pot is very helpful.
For spec, I'D say listen to Tankbeardz.
My 2 cents.

Are you aproaching this strictly from a fixed 6v6 group perspective?

Speccing defensive 2hander is way more adapteble for pretty much every situation, pug-6man, warband, scenario, everything. Wounds deal with every single damage type in the game. It's the only stat that deal with morales and mitigration of death from guard damage.

I found it funny that you honed in on Iniative when it was one of the last stats i listed. Inittiative soft cap at 1050 btw. It peaks in performance at 350, 470 with debuff.

Toughness is high and low. Sometimes you get alot out of it, and sometimes it's crapp. Depends on what skills you're getting attacked by. It have the same issue as just stacking armor or resistance. It's a gamble. Wounds and Intitive pretty much always gonna do something. Best of ofc not taking hits att all so you won't get debuffed by getting avoidance stats.

(Not sure why the don't listen to this whas needed)

[Tankbeardz]

Yes bro... Chosen hit spiritual on main tree...

What about slice thru, vigi, ea or fm, runefang...it's not even close. Knight is wayyyy better almost every 2h spec.

Okay buddy, if you say ...

Good points you make. Very well thought out. I guess you're right.

[Scottx125]

Hm not thruth..."So you should have no issue with runefang up time, especially as it procs it also increases its chance of firing again due to increased parry chance." you need read well the tactic. Initiative is not needed Runefang gives 240...easy to cap 400 ini. Armor potion is not worth many times in KOTBS because Perseverance doesnt stack with potion but you dont have a better choice...maybe reflect damage potion if you are a reflect kotbs.... Thougnes is a good choice with aura and m2 can cap 900+ enought. Wounds is not needed..8.5k unbuffed with beastlord/dom, 11k with m2 up 50% all the time

Please read my post carefully. I did not say initiative affected proc chance of runefang. Initiative reduces chance to be crit hit. As a 2H tank you want that as low as possible. Armour pot I agree is generally not worth it as with ideal armour you will be at your 75% armour cap. Anything over that from auras or pots or abilities is to negate any armour debuffs. Toughness is ok to invest in but it is less efficient and becomes exponentially less efficient the more you have (that's why you use potions for toughness, my normal combo is toughness + str). That's why I suggested wounds, wounds have no cap, don't become less efficient and more is always better. And I play in an organised guild, m2 buff is never used, you always use raze bomb. Plus I'm eventually heading for a 2/2/2 Conq/Domi/Overlord set(currently 2/4 Domi/Conq set). Positives of this are that I get the strength and toughness buff, however I miss out on the 120 odd wounds. But you gain extra armour and a lovely 10% chance to increase parry and dodge/disrupt by 7% for 10 seconds. (which is far better than 120 wounds IMO). This means my wounds are down to about 7k. So I pretty much need to heavily invest in wounds to get it back up to about 9k. The Initiative talism is optional, you can slot in more strength (you don't really need it) or more wounds, for me I found 24+ initiative gave me about 3% reduction in chance to be crit hit at 11% crit hit chance. So I feel it's worth it.