Guild Wars 2

Sup community.

I’m trying to build the ultimate tank for dungeon runs and so far I managed to build a pretty decent build. The DPS is on the low end unfortunately, but my team makes up for the rest of the damage output.

Currently my test subject is in the dungeon of Ascalon Catacombs, the general who does his scorpion pull, then spin attack.

In the past with my tank build, he would pop me with 1,500 damage. Now, he pops me for 500. With that said, I don’t know what it is about “me” or my character, but they always love to aggro on me. Thats a good thing though. I managed to tank him pretty much the entire time while my team just unloaded on the guy. (felt like a champ!)

Anyways, my current build is 30 in toughness and 30 in vitality trait. Then a additional 90+ armor with shield equipped trait. Then I updated all my armor into the toughness line, with toughness runes. Even my weapon is toughness. Trinkets and Rings, all toughness.

Any other way I can make my tank have additional armor? Keep in mind, i’m only 71 so I haven’t hit 80 yet. I’m currently running about 1000+ armor at level 35 in the dungeon.

Normally I frown upon telling people they’re playing the wrong class, but honestly, why try to do this on a warrior? You have more of a buffer than a guardian, but when it comes to sustained tanking (and doing other stuff at the same time, like damage) warriors aren’t exactly wonderful.

Anyway, you can’t really add to armour without adding armour. But you could use things like the warhorn’s #5 to reduce incoming damage, which follows the same purpose.

EDIT: when I say armour I actually mean defence in general, so armour and toughness. But yeah, if you really like that particular value, those are all that add directly to it, then you get into things like healing power, protection, dodging, etc.

imo your build is a fail, dps is king in dungeons and honestly a fast encounter is the best source of dmg mitigation.

that said there are warrior builds that have excellent dps and good survivability ie. vampire of lyssa dps (lots of dmg, lesser survivability), and shout warrior (good dmg, good survivability)

i alwasy see a character that builds for def only as a drain on the team as the lack of dmg does not make up for the increased survivability.

granted keep that gear in your bag, as there are some parts where it’d be extremely usefull, cof2 kite room, AC spike trap path, a few others…

@Azmodeus, obviously everyone has different opinons but I couldnt disagree more. I think the dps margin between glass canon and tanky build is not near enough to risk quick deaths. I run full tank (shouts heal, 3 shouts, etc) and I dont know how many times in pugs I have held the line while all 4 others have run back on boss fights so he doesnt reset.

@Nightstorm my best suggestion to you would be to take up the hammer asap if tank is what you want to be. The control it offers is a must. You can kite like a master with this build and earthshaker.

Also I dont believe guardians do it any better. If you practice the warrior tank you will as good as any class out there.

Yea toughness and vit is good but you need to think more support and health regen when tanking in this game. Bosses in some dungeons hit incredibly hard and have crazy AoE so health regen and team support > lots of health/toughness. Think more support by using soldier runes(shouts remove a condition with tough/vit stats) and a shout build but then gear for damage. You will have less initial survivability and probably a little less survivability over all but you will be a much bigger help to your team with group heals and more dps. You’ll have 3 shouts that heal and take at least one condition off of everyone(shake it off will remove 2) per shout and if you use warhorn and spec for it your warhorn skills will remove a condition and change it to a buff as well, not to mention warhorn 5 ability is AoE weakness, so thats less damage to everyone.

AC is a poor example of a dungeon when talking group damage. Everything is avoidable for the most part and there is no real AoE damage going out. When you get to a place like CoE you will need much more group support to be a viable “tank”.

So really it comes down to you, do you think that holding agro 95% of the time and doing crap damage is more help to your team then holding agro 60-70% of the time and passing around group heals, condition removal, decent damage, and debuffs?

full defense , tactics with shout heals and runes of the soldier make you tough enough and a good asset to any dungeon. You’ll never take as much of a beating as a healing spec guardian though

actually, what the guy above said is pretty much the way to go, ive switched 30 from defense down to 20 and moved 10 spare points into precision tree. In the process of switching some of my tank jewelry to zerker as the soldier runes make up for it

Toughness gear comes with power anyway so please don’t presume said dps of a tanky build as terrible. In fact, I allow EZ AoE and combo hotspots; FGJ and OMM enable even more team dps. If I “needed” more dps I use a sharpening stone.

Never had a complaint about my build during speed clears whatsoever.

I don’t think warriors are subpar with guardians on the “tank” side. I can only speak about my experience so: I have 2K power, 2.2K toughness and 2K vit. All pow/togh/vit gear. My dps is not bad at all, I have 3K attack with 3.5K armor and 28K hp. Its really nice overall. I have 6/6 soldier runes and use Shake it off trait and skill with FGJ (that gives 5 condition removal plus the signet to resist damage with elite banner. For weapons I usually run with shield + axe and bow for team combos but rarely use it. If the dungeon or boss is hard enough I switch to mace. So far I’ve never seen a guardian outlast my warrior. My build is 15/0/25/30/0 (the 15 in arms gives me pow → vit and recharge endurance when using burst skill what gives me 4 dodges in a row).

I don’t know… I think both classes are pretty even when it comes to support/tank capabilities. I know many guardians would sell their sons for our shield blocks

Here’s what I use and it makes me pretty tough to kill.

I have full Toughness/Vitality armor, except for the helmet because I couldn’t find one so I use a Vaklyrie one. My weapons are an Exotic Knight’s Hammer, a Rare Knight’s Mace, and the Pact Shield. I also have Rare Cleric’s Jewelery. 5 Runes of Earth and 1 Rune of Svanir all Superior

Traits are 10/0/30/30/0.

Strength: III
Defense: V/IX/X
Tactics: II/V/XI.

Utilities are Healing Surge (still don’t know if this is better than Healing Signet I haven’t gotten a dungeon test yet), Banner of Defense, Shake it Off, Endure Pain, Battle Standard.

You get nice regen ticks for about 225, also giving them to the party. 25-26K health. 3300-3500 armor, about 2700-3100 attack (depends on weapon equipped).

This is with all your Banner buffs on you.

You’re able to take 1-2 Silver Mobs out of the fight while your party members finish off the others, while granting them Regeneration and other boons from Banners. Lots of Blast finishers for those epic Water fields. You still do decent damage too, Hammer hits for 800-1200, Mace 600-700 and 1200 on the third hit

Edit: Forgot to mention that I have a Sigil of Leeching on my Hammer and Mace, and a Sigil of Water on my Shield

so i see you like the shield i do too i originally wanted to do the same thing as you then i hit 80 and learned to not skimp the support it is vital specially when you got squishys with you that do loads of dps anyhow heres what i did

Arms V
Defense II IX XI
Tactics VI VIII XI

sense all gear gives power i run axe/shield the axe scales the best with power. i love shields so i will always use shields lol i also use a bow for aoe/ range its decent no condition dmg but it works and works well.

I use the shouts but not fear me cooldown is to long to make it practicle. I went with clerics gear for the healing shouts. right now im healing for 1800 each shot but im not done with my jewlery so it will prolly be around 2k per shout? i use sigil of blood on my axe to leech health and sigil of life on shield i thought about water but the splash heal dosnt do enuff to be effective as i had hoped and it dosnt heal you.. but anyways your usually always the tank with a shield. cause the agro table usually leans to whos got the most defense as shields give defense that means your it and they go by toughness to . anyways rethink your healing and support but as far as toughness goes as a warrior it is good cause we have a high hp pool already but dont skimp the healing for your party since war and guardians only 2 classes that can heal like that it makes it vital. also i run soldier runes so each shout removes conditions and its toughness and vit on the runes.

forgot to mention it but i use the arms tree for vulnerability i stack it even with low crit it still helps cause you get 20%crit from a shout and you get a 10stack from a shot but this way your supporting your group by opening the target up for thier dmg and your also healing them while doing decent dps with the axe its a solid dungeon build

yes I also run leeching and water sigils on my axe & shield

You can make an awkward “tank” that can survive two hits instead of just one, and accompany that with Shield Block and Endure Pain. That’s about it, though.

Seriously. Don’t try to tank on a Warrior. We can’t do it. A Guardian will have far more luck. Hell, most other classes “tank” better with mitigation. I can resist damage pretty well, running 3k armor with 3k power, but I’d never try to “tank” in a traditional sense. Tanking as a Warrior is just short term longevity, and something you use for odd situations, like the path 2 graveling rush.

Why is people so Wowish to the concept of tanking?

“Warriors can’t tank, you will die in two hits instead of one” ¿¿¿??? Warriors can tank amazingly GW2wise. Compared to other classes we are pretty much on top of survivality. Whoever says different didn’t really explored all the potential and synergy we have. Besides, saying this and then saying Guardians are better is contradictory since Guardians only real difference with us is having protection as a buff, and that will make you recieve less damage but not mitigate it 100% like a dodge or a block.

Again, Guardians have no shiled block (bubble sucks compared to our shield stance), they don’t have 3 stuns in their mace/shield build like we do, they don’t have as much endurance regain resources as we have, they don’t have our HP pool, our adrenaline regen, etc etc…

Mesket you got it bro.

@Plague: “Tanking” with 3k armor.. yes you better dont.

@Mesket: It’s not permanent but Warrior’s can get Protection every 30 seconds with the Earth runes. It lasts 6 seconds for me

Grok Krog.9581:

@Mesket: It’s not permanent but Warrior’s can get Protection every 30 seconds with the Earth runes. It lasts 6 seconds for me

yeah you see? more in favor of the warriors… we are beastly for PVE;… PvP has different rules and range+cc is deadly for us, something that will improve with further balance… but when it comes to PvE we are arguably the strongest and more solid class.

The OP is definitely on the right track. Warrior DPS is not king in dungeons unless you have a ton of support in your group..and even then. What good is all that DPS if you have to bail out every 10 seconds to wait for your heal to refresh? A high toughness build lets you stay in and do more sustained DPS, and give you a bigger margin for error.

Personally, I run 10/0/30/30/0
Restorative Strength
Turtle’s Defense/Merciless Hammer/Defy Pain
Empowered/Lung Capacity/Vigorous Shouts
For dungeons, you can also swap to Inspiring Battle Standard and Inspiring Banners for what is essentially perma group-regen with your +30% boon duration.

I’ve tried moving 10 points from Defense into Strength or Discipline, but Defy Pain is just too huge.

i run 0/0/30/30/10, for crazy survivability, support, healing, and adrenaline from shouts.

I run disruption mainly with my weapons. I know its sub par against bosses, because that dastardly defiance. But it feels fun. However, against groups.

Bring on the earthshaker!

I fight like a norse god against enemies without defiance. Show me a vet on the side you need tanking? BOOM! chaining nine different stuns together one after the other!

I know Warrior can’t take a beating like a guardian, though shamefully thats because the mechanics are stacked against Warriors. we mitigate damage through disabling the enemy, which bosses are resistant against, while Guardians mitigate damage through healing and blocks and protection, none of which focus on the boss and so, are not effected by defiance.

If we want to be unique but as good as Guardians, we need to be able to remove defiance more reliably, or ignore it for a large point investment.

But if i could flat out ignore defiance? I would be fugging OP.

mace – 1 second daze
1 second stun
2 second adrenal stun

hammer –
knock back
2 second stun
AoE 2 second stun

possible utilities –
knock back
AoE knock back
2 second stun

Rampage elite –
knock back
charge stun
ranged boulder stun
AoE knock back

a full ultra control Warrior, ignoring defiance, with 13 possible stuns in his rotation. Keep a boss down for like, 20 seconds, at which point, some CD’s will already be up…

Guardians would become the meh tank, Warrior would rule.

Grok Krog.9581:

Utilities are Healing Surge (still don’t know if this is better than Healing Signet I haven’t gotten a dungeon test yet)…

IMO signet is better at low levels, even scaled down, while surge is better at high levels. Dungeons are slightly different. I’ve used signet and healing surge both successfully in AC, but I don’t think I’d take signet any higher than that.

http://tinyurl.com/bhy3ph3

For the record, I use this in WvW at the moment. Great success! I’ve actually been duo-ing a large (not zerg, but too many to quickly count) group today, had to revive my ally in the middle of combat (one of those ‘OP’ thieves :P) and literally sat there ignoring all their DPS while I did it. I don’t recommend that, because I honestly expected to die, but these guys were miraculously bad.

My stats aren’t in there because it lists PvP stuff, but they’re exotic pwr-vit/tgh armour and pwr-prec/crit (berserker) jewellery. I did use a hammer instead of the mace offhand for control, but it’s so slow and can be interrupted mid attack. If you want to do dungeons, hammers are awesome though.

This build gives me and the group (sometimes people just gather behind you in WvW if you look like you have something in mind) permanent swiftness, lots of buffs and de-conditioning, small AoE heals, plus when I use my own heal it’ll do an emergency clearing of some annoying conditions. The warhorn weakens, the axe, mace and one shout can stack 18 vulnerability on a target, plus the second of immobilise on throwing the axe is much more useful than it sounds when I’m catching someone. Not that you need that bit in a dungeon, but it’s easy to switch out, which is one reason I like the build.