Disclaimer one : English isn’t my native language.
Disclaimer two : If you are not interested in maths, read only italic bold.
Disclaimer three : I did NOT play Black Guard to 80, if i’m off with something just point it out.
Time is a problem for IBs, more so than any other tank in the game, and that’s why they underperform severely. Does that mean they are terrible ? All tanks are good since guard is a super strong mechanic, so no, IBs are not terrible. Would you do better playing any other tank ? Most certainly yes. And this is why :
Time management :
(Global Cooldown = 1.15sec, or 11.50% of your time resource over a period of 10sec. Time cannot be rounded down.)
Whatever tank you are playing, you have to do some basic tasks, and i’m only talking about the very basics here :
You could argue than taunt won’t be used every 15sec (even if there is always something to interrupt) so let’s say it is used every 30sec, lowering the time needed to perform the very basics to 3.06666sec every 10sec. 30.67% of your time resource is used to perform the very basics (applies to all tanks).
Then, in order to maintain all your buffs on yourself plus one ally (obviously even worse if you wanna buff several allies), you have to spend 6.325sec casting every 10sec, in a perfect situation with no lag, no enemy disabling you and with the help of nerfed buttons.
This will never happen, but let’s say you are the absolute god of positioning, with the best “brain to hand connection”, defend each and every disabling effect, and play sitting on the server.
You will still spend 63.25% of your time casting buffs :
Your time resource does not allow for any other ability cast. So, no snare, no armor debuff, no KD, no punt, no crit debuff, no hold the line...(and only one outgoing heal debuff in that case)
This is not realistic at all, so let’s say you only use the buffs your buddy slayer wants, and the reason he invited you in the warband in the first place :
Not so bad heh ? Only 40.25% of your time resource used here.
Add the 30.67% from the very basics and your are at 70.92%. Since one skill is 11.50% you are allowed to use TWO whole skills (no hold the line of course) before running out of time.
Keep in mind that if you want Watch An’ Learn to give AP, you have to hit people, so better use abilities with a damage component and not raising your arms in the air buffing.
Not the most relevant thing for snb, but matters for 2H, only Sever Blessing does some damage amongst all these skills. If you compare that to Black Guard, he only spend 21.09% of his time not doing damage, buffing. That’s roughly half the time IB spends (21.09 compared to 40.25) and allows him to use FOUR skills instead of two per 10sec period [100-(30.67+21.09)=48.24] while performing the very basics.
So yes, when you read IB skill set, you think they have everything, that’s amazing. In reality, they don’t because they don’t have the possibility to use skills without forgoing their buffs. Meanwhile, KotBS and SM are buffing passively (or almost passively) and have time to perform other tasks like crowd control or even holding the line !
Proposal :
Buff the Ancestor’s Fury and Oathbound duration to 20sec.
Buff Runic Shield value and duration by 20%.
This would allow IBs to use one more skill per 10sec period, which is my primary concern here, remember, BGs can still use four (so 33% more skills than IBs, right now they can use 100% more which seems far over the top).
And give a boost to Runic Shield which is a very underperforming absorb mechanic compared to other tanks “bubbles”.
Shoot. I'm holding the line !
