[BG] The Black Guard's Purpose?

[Raikami]

So, still in my low 30's with this. However, I am rather curious. Is the purpose of a BG really just.. a couple of debuffs? What do they bring to the table that makes them a superior choice to any of the other tanks? I am specifically asking in regards to SnB, but I'd like to know as a whole. I doubt I'll level anything else as I enjoy it, but.. I am rather curious where you fit in as a whole. Seems like Chosen and Black Orks bring a lot more to the table than a BG. I cannot really comment at durability as I am in my 30's.. so gear isn't there, etc.

Appreciate any tips or advice as well. Haven't really played WAR in like 2 years give or take, so.. it's great to know.

[dangoraric]

I play all 6 tanks and BG is weakest one of them in my opinion.
i would choose another tank if i was you, unless you really like BG, he can still do the tank job.

[leftayparxoun]

On a more serious note: Blackguard might be the "weakest" Destro tank currently for orvr, but it's far from useless and far from unwanted.
Their niche in the META is quite more limited compared to Chosen or Black Ork, but in ideal circumstances most warbands would want to have at least 1 SnB Blackguard.

For more tips and info on how the class functions in orvr and what their role is in warbands, you can check out the SnB Blackguard section in the guide linked in my signature (and specifically the "Gameplay-Basics" section of the SnB Blackguard.

In the end, most warbands can't be picky about what tanks they will take since there is a Tank scarcity on both factions. I'd recommend playing whatever you like more in appearance or gameplay regardless of META relevance.

[Sever1n]

Snb blackguard have strong options to defend key allies tnx to force of fury, elite training, 400willpower buff, shields, punt into cosmos, and morale masspunt. Also he works as debuff/buff, snare bot, have 2 interrupts and pretty obnoxious outgoing healdebuff and ap increaser that can ruin healers day. In warband shams spam fury of the green, and any dps have redused channels cd tnx to him. Snb version of bg is really usefull.

Sadly 2h version is basically 10% crit debuff bot. He have also access to mass wound shred but its tied to crit wich he cannot stack if he wants to live in wb, and chosens have it for free. As support dps he prob worst dps tank ingame tnx to rework of ws, nerfs of warlord set leaving 2h bg with only option go heavy expensive crit build that will eat all defence options and still you will do zero dmg to high armored target unless you double armorshred them. Those tanks lived on parry and armpen from WS, but now they need to choose dmg and die fast, or live and do no dmg. 2h bg need help and long time ago, i believe even kotbs 2h > 2h bg. Didnt play 2h since rework, but from my pov spec is bad. In snb it still really strong and do it job well.

[Roids]

I quit playing him like a year ago, something not right with BG, normally full hatred i have 70% block/parry/disrupt and still if im a bit infight i get hit like with every attack.
Dont know if it has something to do with the tactics that they are not working right or somehow with order classes who have anti def tactics and this somehow stacks on bg, its just after some time ur like completly defenseless, havent tried for couple of months, hope its fixed.

[DiMakss]

BG is a completely abbandon class. In 2020, when BG was already the least popular class and we were getting weekly patches with lots of balance changes, BG didn't get a single change. And only after 5 or 6 months of weekly patches we had BG mention in patch notes - a fix for the tooltip. I laughed so hard I peed my pants. Now I'm back in the game, only to find out that BG has received several nerfs and even fewer people are playing it now. At this point, no one will notice if it is completely removed.
And yes, as the poster above said, something is wrong with parry, and your real numbers will be around a 10-15% chance of parry if you manage to stack 60%+

[Raikami]

So, not only is it a low performing tank, with a role.. certainly.. but less of one than the other five really; but it is also bugged? Hrm.. That does make me want to not play one, lol..

[Kylashandra]

BG got nerfed over the years, stripped of many of its defensive options just to get a "use" in RvR with the addition of For the Witch King! Compared to IB, its dark protector buffs are ridiculously bad (str / tough / - inc crit / 4 free parry + AP regen vs WS / ini / +crit % / Str / tough / parry from IB), its Hate generation has also been nerfed over the years and it results in alot of its tankiness tactics being pretty inconsistent compared to classes with fix values. Even the so called "best punt in game" is nowadays one of the worst because it requires max hate to be able to perform as well as the other tanks (so at least 5 seconds into fight vs insta punt). BG is a shadow of its former glory and I think it's a pretty abandonned class, as stated above.

[leftayparxoun]

So, not only is it a low performing tank, with a role.. certainly.. but less of one than the other five really; but it is also bugged? Hrm.. That does make me want to not play one, lol..

Neither SnB nor 2h BG are low performing tanks by any means. Sure, they might have not received the same kind of love as the other 2 Destro tanks, but they are still absolutely indispensible part of the META.

Just because they are not needed at the same numbers as the other 2 classes, it does not mean they are not needed at all.

I should also state that, unless there has been a private report about it, there is no report about any potential avoidance bugs for Blackguard on the bugtracker. All 3 BG avoidance tactics seem to be working properly in the ability database too.
I don't want to outright dismiss the other commenters' experience but I imagine that if there actually was a big bug out there, Blackguard players would have at least bothered to test, reproduce and bugreport it.

[Raikami]

Interesting.. not the overall greatest of news as it stands. Aesthetically I may just stick with it, and I like having debuffs and whatnot. But, it does bug me to see a Black Ork or a Chosen wade in and do so much whereas I have more issues. Especially with that apparently very crucial skill being so deep in the Right Hand tree, and I really need a lot from the middle. Oof.