Need a 2h SM tanking build

[dasparkylad]

Hi, I'm trying to pick up my SM again, and want to PvE to get him some gear, BUT its proving hard to tank with 2h... is it possible to do it properly? do I need to swap out to toughness talis? or is it basically impossible without having defensive gear first and s+b? If anybody could help I would be greatly appreciative.

[fatelvis]

Buildwise it's not that different from pvp group spec. Going 2h the middle trees only helpful thing is vauls buffer. The rest is not helpful/usable/too high up in the tree.
You can go left tree for GW mastery to get some more parry, phoenix wings for mob groups and buff the statsteal enchant. Also ether dance will be great to build aggro on bosses quickly.
Right tree for absorb and winds to support your party.

Tanking 2h depends on your gear, the dungeon you want to run and the rest of your party, but it's doable up to BS I would say.
Not sure if anyone runs LV with 2h main tank (most likely guild runs), ppl tend to be picky for this dungeon.

[Demonito]

SnB is safer (more hp + m2)
2h is great (+50% parry skill) just more risky if your healers are sleepy/grumpy

For RR : always <0% chance to be crit
SnB = Block>Parry>Wounds
2h = Parry>Wounds

For gear : Beastlord>GB>Crypts>BS>LV works fine
You may keep some Redeye gear (belt) to get the huge +700 armor bonus

Some examples at rr40 ; any spec is good as long you don't forget menace :p

RoR.builders - 2h
RoR.builders - SnB

[dasparkylad]

Thanks

[nocturnalguest]

Not sure if anyone runs LV with 2h main tank (most likely guild runs), ppl tend to be picky for this dungeon.

LV bosses are easily solo tankable by 2h SM. This tho applies to any tank, its just on your healers in reality, if they carry

But i dont recommend to pug LV as 2h, its much safier, way less stressful and not so much reliant on your group to carry their weights if you go SnB.

[Sanctific]

SM is one of those tanks who easily tanks any PVE content with 2h even with minimal gear, all you need is maxed parry through RR & as much as you can should be invested into wounds (if you're of lower RR). That + parry sentinel talisman + genesis warrior set x3 jewels + parry selfbuff + parry/dmg tactic from left tree would get your parry to around 70-ish %. If you start taking dmg which gets you down to 50% of HP relatively fast for you to get slightly scared - push that WODS button and keep it up until you get fully healed (or longer even if your aggro generated is solid enough, you will give your healers a break that way). Done, you're invincible (apart from those cases when you get nuked by defenses bypassing attacks).

Also, i prefer tanking as 2h on my SM due to the more natural access to the spammable AOE (in s&b you would normally go 0-11-13 anyhow) which doesnt require advanced stances, there is almost 0 chance that some stray trash mob will start attacking your party instead of yourself that way, which makes a run more organized, fast, neat.

P.S: Toughness is irrelevant for PVE btw. It DOES work, contrary to the popular belief, but to a minimal extent therefore on a, say, 1k hit difference between 1050 toughness & 300 toughness would be like +-50 dmg.