DR Tanking 101

[AltheaSteelrain]

Questions.

1. What is the minimum requirements for DR tanking?

2. Can a non-stalwart defender/defender of Siberys achieve the minimum required DR to tank?

3. Will stacking guards generate enough hate to sustain aggro to pair with intimidate? And w/c guard is best in generating hate?

4. How much healing amp would I need to be SP efficient for a dedicated healer?

Thanks.

Discuss.

[Noctus]

1. There is no spoon.... ehhr "DR tanking". DR is what you add to other forms to lessen the strain on the healer.

2. You dont need to be one of the AC-PrEs to "tank".

3. No. Not by faaaaaaaaaaaar. - If you want to keep aggro, there are only 2 ways: Intimidate high enough, or Hate generation high enough.

4. The more, the better, but there is no minimum needed.

5. (The question not asked, but most important ;) ) You should aim to reach at least 600 HP before shorttime buffs (madstone, bursts, etc...) if you want to be eligible as a maintank. And no, this is not unbelievable high, my Rogue reaches that. And if he can, so can your Fighter/Barbarian/Paladin.

[AltheaSteelrain]

1. There is no spoon.... ehhr "DR tanking". DR is what you add to other forms to lessen the strain on the healer.

So I can "hate" tank even w/o using a shield to begin with? :)

2. You dont need to be one of the AC-PrEs to "tank".

That's good to know ^^

3. No. Not by faaaaaaaaaaaar. - If you want to keep aggro, there are only 2 ways: Intimidate high enough, or Hate generation high enough.

W/c is more easier to accomplish then? I am leaning to get both :)

4. The more, the better, but there is no minimum needed.

yey! XD

5. (The question not asked, but most important ;) ) You should aim to reach at least 600 HP before shorttime buffs (madstone, bursts, etc...) if you want to be eligible as a maintank. And no, this is not unbelievable high, my Rogue reaches that. And if he can, so can your Fighter/Barbarian/Paladin.

The reason I never asked that is because its mandatory even for non-tanks to have big hp pools :)



yey

[garlor]

intimidate is easier to get

intimitanking is easier to achieve because the tank focuses only on protecting himself, for that reason his survivability is higher than in a hate tank that has to protect himself and get enough hate through dps to keep the aggro

if you want to hate tank, using a shield is not such a good option, because to hate take you have to do a good amount of damage, which is not so compatible with s&b, also, you CAN NOT hate tank and get blocking dr

[MrWizard]

I think warforge barbs can get a pretty high DR when not blocking, but other than that you would be hard pressed to get past 10/- DR while fighting no matter who you are.

DR really comes in during blocking. You can block with two handed weapons, two weapons, no weapons, shield and no weapon, and a shield with a weapon. Each has their own base DR to which feats and enhancements can be added.

I know that a fighter, stalwart, in stoneskin, and a dwarf can get blocking DR around 52 at 20th level. This means in epic or elite stuff you might be getting hit for 16 to 25 points of damage, if your ac allows you to get hit a lot.

things that help are enhancements and shield mastery feats and PrE's. That is about it.

DR is incredibly effective when intim tanking a very ferocious enemy while the party can beat it down. Great for door blocking. Great for intim while sitting in a firewall. If used, it is useful in epic when the party decides not to use AI exploits to force mobs in firewalls.

But as stated, there is no 'DR tanking'. And the second you face wrong or take a swing, potion, etc, your DR is going to go from 50 to about 6 in a half second.

Healing amp is very beneficial if you have DR too, since for the most part you can self heal in 99% of raids and dungeons while shield blocking and in combat, while intimidating.

[Noctus]

W/c is more easier to accomplish then? I am leaning to get both :)There are situations in which intimitanking is better, and in others hate tanking.


Hate tanking is relatively simple. Go for high DPS (THF or TWF - Sword&Board is not DPS-style) and some aggro-raising items and enhancements (Warforged and halforc have racial ones).


Intimitanking can be done with AC.
Intimidate mob, and swing while it is focused on you, and most of its attacks bounce off your AC. But AC costs DPS, thus if you should fail a intimi-check aggro will bounce to a full DPS-mode char. Thus you need to have Intimidate maxed out, a moderate CHA, and taken some feats for it at best (SF:Intimidate and Bullheaded)

Intimitanking can be done with Blocking.
If you dont have enough AC to make the hits bounce off, you can intimidate it, and then use a shield to get blocking DR and thus not prevent hits through AC, but lessen the impact of each.


Hate tanking:
* low damage mitigation, mostly just through normal DR. Main advantage is that aggro doesnt switch around.

AC-Intimitanking:
* high damage mitigation, but hard to get a high AC past level 13. Need to grind items to keep the AC in a working range and buy expensive items from the AH. Whole build needs to be focussed on reaching high AC. Some monsters will still have very high to-hit so still deal full damage against you on most swings.

Blocking-Intimitanking:
* moderate damage mitigation, no DPS when blocking, but works against every melee mob that can be intimidated.




For a new player i´d recommend a character who can switch between DPS when enemys die fast, and Block-Intimitanking when a tough nut is to be cracked. A pure Fighter Kensai is capable of this. he has enough feats to fill out both styles. 6 BP into CHA, high STR, high CON, all level ups into STR. Go THF-chain when DPSing, and block with a TowerShield when you go for Intimidating.

[AltheaSteelrain]

thank you guys! XD

I'm about to roll one up ^__^

Thanks XD