Tanking Stats Basic Overview for PvE

[CountTalabecland]

I have come across several tanks doing lvl 40 dungeons who are SnB and don't even know to spec anti-crit, leading to disaster. Ppl cite a lack of information about the game as their reason for not knowing, so here is my attempt to do my part to fix it.

Just FYI for anyone tanking dungeons, and really all other aspects of the game, you need the following stat priority to tank:

1) block: forward facing arc that blocks damage from all sources, god tier stat, stack as much as you can.

2) Reduced chance to be critically hit: Reduces chance to receive critical damage. This is important against all enemies but especially against bosses. Your grp will literally live or die by how long healers have to heal you from boss damage. This must be at least 0% in your character window. You can check this stat by moving your mouse over the initiative stat. Also you can check .getstats by typing the same into your chat bar. Use gear and renown points at the trainer (futile strikes) to improve the stat. Probably get 2-3 ranks of futile strikes. This stats is a must, must, must.

3) Armor: Mitigates mob damage. After your block and anti-crit are squared away, stack this. Use a 660 armor pot and any ability that increases armor for yourself or group.

4)Threat = aggro. Run the menace tactic and use abilities that increase threat/aggro/ "monsters will hate you more."

Toughness doesn't do anything in PvE so don't waste your pots and buffs.

[Nameless]

2/ reduced change to be crit hit at pve should be 0, everything less is not worth since pve mobs have 0 crit chance

most bosses do melee dmg so i would stack parry then block. Just parry from renown is cheaper.

So stack chance of being crit to 0, as much as possible parry, some block and wounds on softcap,use agrro build skill, learn to circle challenge and taunt and you are good to go

toughness for pve is useless so dont stack it at all

[anstalt]

I definitely prefer to stack block over parry when snb.

Part of that is because most tank sets give block as a stat, either directly on gear or as set bonus. So, it's much easier to get a high block % than it is to get high parry %.

The other part is that block works against everything, whereas parry doesn't. In PvE its not an issue most of the time, as most NPC attacks are melee. But it does come into play at times, so I prefer to go for the superior stat.

Also, im a black orc. We're the block kings



When it comes to aggro, this can be difficult for some players. On black orc, I only have 1 aggro skill (clobber) + 2 taunts (1 aoe, 1 st), plus the tactic (menace). It's really not much, and the only aoe aggro skill is on a 30s cooldown.

This is where guard comes in handy. It not only protects your guarded target, but it also transfers 50% of their aggro to you. But, only if they're in range! So, be very choosey about who you guard, don't necessarily guard the squishiest person, guard the most aggressive person! It'll likely be someone going crazy on AoE damage, or a healer not running anti-aggro tactic (but, healer might be out of range, so communicate / move as needed).


If ur tanking on black orc specifically, here are some other hints:

* AoE knockdown - it's not uncommon for AoE dps to steal aggro as ur clearing trash, or for a group to be temporarily overwhelmed if pulling too many. Use ur AoE knockdown to give urselves a breather! Chances are ur DPS will kill enough during that 3s knockdown, and ur healers will get off 1 or 2 heals, and u'll be fine.

* AoE Root - mostly for Bastion Stairs, but if ur trying to skip trash by running past them, they can all end up hitting u from behind, bypassing ur block chance. Root them!

* Can't Hit Me - the channel that increases block chance by 50% and reflects damage is a BOs best friend! Itll make you practically invincible, plus the reflected damage generates aggro. Very handy against large groups - challenge first to grab aggro, then channel CHM, win!

[shamallow]

Hi,
This thread is very interesting for a newbie tank like me, so thanks for bringing this.

I see that "Toughness doesn't do anything in PvE".
I wasn't aware of that, but i'm curious to know why exactly.
So for dungeon tanking, I should replace my toughness talismans with armor/wounds ?

And what about the 160 toughness tactic (BG) I have, do i keep it ?

[anstalt]

I still use toughness on my BO when tanking PvE.

I don't know whether it helps or not, my reasoning is more straightforwards: laziness!

Whatever gear i use for pve is the same gear i use in pvp. and i want toughness for pvp. I don't think it's worth keeping a separate gearset just for pve, so there's no way im dropping my toughness talismans just for the odd dungeon run! And yes, i still run the toughness tactic.


In general, for gearing / stats, I'd aim for:

0% chance to be crit (always top priority, for any game mode and any class)
Max Block Chance
9k+ health

After that, it's your call for toughness (reduces damage) or strength (helps with threat).

I've never bothered to prioritize armour, I just enjoy whatever I get naturally from gear and that's always seemed like enough. I have played with some other newbie tanks who used a combination of low level sets (red eye / beastlord) to get multiple set bonuses for +armor. This allowed them to get 5k armor, something u normally can't get until sovreign. They were able to tank Bastion Stairs with this setup, so it seemed quite powerful for PvE.

[Nameless]

Hi,
This thread is very interesting for a newbie tank like me, so thanks for bringing this.

I see that "Toughness doesn't do anything in PvE".
I wasn't aware of that, but i'm curious to know why exactly.
So for dungeon tanking, I should replace my toughness talismans with armor/wounds ?

And what about the 160 toughness tactic (BG) I have, do i keep it ?

Toughness reduce main dmg stats one to one ratio.
So if you got 500 str and i got 400 toughness your skill will got contribution from only 100 str.
The thing with pve is that npc mobs use skills with high base dmg that toughness cant reduce so much or less make stacking it for pve useless

[leftayparxoun]

This thread is very interesting for a newbie tank like me, so thanks for bringing this.

I see that "Toughness doesn't do anything in PvE".
I wasn't aware of that, but i'm curious to know why exactly.

Doesn't do anything is an oversimplification of things, but let me try to explain.

In the following image you'll see the breakdown of Gunbad's left wing Bilebane optional boss.
In total he has 4 attacks outside his AA:

• Foul Vomit: 12 s CD ability with Direct and DOT damage portions

• Warped Bile: 15 s CD ability Direct damage ability

• Overhand Slam: 12 s CD ability Direct damage ability that also knocks you down

• Strain Defences: 12 s CD ability Direct damage ability that also debuffs you

The blue line in the center of the image separates the tests that were done without a TOU buff on me (above) and with a +80 TOU buff (bellow).

First thing to notice is how the damage I take changes. An extra 80 TOU barely results in 15 less damage taken across the board.
This is to be expected because:

• Armor mitigation is applied after TOU reduces the initial damage so, the more Armor you have, the less significant your reduction from Toughness becomes (vs physical attacks)

• The ratio of Base damage to Damage Bonus (DB) modifier for most Boss abilities leans heavily towards Base damage.
  To give you an example, here's what Blackguard's Hateful Strike ability does:
  
  
  This means that the Base damage portion is 112, and the effective Damage bonus, DB* = [STR_yours - TOU_enemy]/5, will be multiplied by 150/100 = 1.5. The same happens for your Weapon Damage bonus, wDps = weapon_Dps, that will be multiplied by 150/100 = 1.5 too.
  So, e.g. if you have 500 more STR than your target as Blackguard and are wielding a Sword with 50 weapon_Dps then the ability will do:
  112 + 150 + 75 = 337 damage before armor mitigation
  Here you can see how the base damage, DB, and wDps portions are all in the same order of magnitude.
  
  Now take a look at Bilebane's abilities again; all of them have a similar DB modifier of 150 (x1.5) while the base damage ranges from 100 to 2500.
  Most player abilities in game will have a base damage of <= 500 and there you can see how TOU does a decent job:
  • In Overhand Slam, +80 TOU meant that I took 105 instead of 114 damage --> 8% less damage
  For many PvE boss abilities however...
  • In Strain Defenses, +80 TOU meant that I took 925 instead of 933 damage --> 0.9% less damage
  That is not really good.

This is a common phenomenon across most PvE Bosses and as such it is advised to either stack Armor or Wounds in talismans (until softcap in case of WOU) when tackling PvE. Armor will reduce the damage as a percentage, while Wounds will give you a higher health total that scales linearly with the amount of stats you put into it.

Similarly, if you have a better defensive option that the Rugged (160 TOU) tactic (e.g. tactic with WOU, parry%, block%, etc.), it is advised to use that instead.
Rugged is not completely worthless however, as it will also net a decent dmg% reduction especially vs trash mobs between Bosses or adds during some Boss fights. It will also provide 0.8% block too (by the virtue of being a TOU increase).

[shamallow]

thanks a lot for all the explanation.
Now I have a better understanding of how it works.
And yes I forgot that toughness increase %block, so I'll keep the toughness tactic.

[SpacestarKid]

Aoe damage generates aggro very well, reduced armor penetration helps to survive boss damage.
3800 armor, 0% crit and 9k+ wounds is base, after this it's about your gear and renown for Block and Parry. If you choose shield - max Block first, because it works differently from Parry, 30 block works like ~60-70 parry. Use Aggrometer addon and guard the next threatening player after you. Aoe heals generate insane aggro, so slap your healers to use Subtlety. Always turn boss away from party and don't waste your M4.

[Nameless]

max Block first, because it works differently from Parry, 30 block works like ~60-70 parry.

what does that means. 50 parry vs 50 block should be same vs frontal melee attacks. Block just stop all source of frontal dmg while parry only melee ones. So my understanding is that since most boss do melee dmg and parry is cheaper renown wise better take that