Lord of the Blades: Tank requirements

[Isharah]

Can anybody lay out the requirements for a Lord of the Blades tank on elite and epic? Like reflex/hp requirements (bare minimum and recommended values) and other important details?

Thanks a lot in advance.

[Mrmorphling]

The most important thing is the ability of the player behind the tank as he needs to read tells flawlessy for 40/60 mins and react accordingly.

For elite 7/800 HP are ok even if the more the merrier as it'll mean less dead time shieldblocking to get rid of mournland debuffs (you cant really getr below 500hp safely).
In the two epic tries i did so far the problem never was HP of tank but small mistakes here and there i think you can do fine with 800 to 900 HP but this time the execution must be flawless and a good DR% is advisable (shield mastery mainly).

Tank will need a good returning weapon to grab aggro fast after 'superman' leaps (HB admantine of GCB is perfect, but H adamantine of CB can do too)

[Shade]

Yea it's more about the player then the stats by far. It's the most challenging raid to tank in the game. Mistakes really hurt here.. Every mistake the tank makes will bring you closer to a wipe, or at least more resourced used.

Stats wise Epic I recommend a 900+ hp sword n board stalwart minimum.. Doable with less (ive tankd successfully on a bbn), its just very rough on the healers so thats what i'd prefer.

Normal you can get by with as little as 600, and drop to 450 with debuffs and be ok, just have some good healing amp, threat and skill.

Reflex save can make a big difference in some cases (cometfalled during a whirlwind - what you know bout dying?), but theres no critical score to hit. 30ish ref save against most his cometfalls/tacticals.

[djl]

Ive actually seen a 500 HP monk AC tank him successfully, albeit it was on normal. Healers were able to easily scroll heal him because he took such minimal damage from the LOB.

On epic, you really need two tanks, preferably Stalwarts with high AC. Stuff happens, and if one of your tanks drops in epic, you need a backup to take over because he will wipe you quickly otherwise.

[Shade]

On epic, you really need two tanks, preferably Stalwarts with high AC. Stuff happens, and if one of your tanks drops in epic, you need a backup to take over because he will wipe you quickly otherwise.

AC on epic?
Um no. Shield mastery, healing amp, hitpoints - Yes.

And you should have a backup tank on all difficulties. Backups are smart.

[djl]

AC on epic?
Um no. Shield mastery, healing amp, hitpoints - Yes.

And you should have a backup tank on all difficulties. Backups are smart.

Of course two are nice, but that is a luxury on my server. There are very few LOB pugs on Sarlona-- most of the people who do LOB do it in private or semi-private groups, so when pugging, finding two people who are competent enough and have the proper build to tank LOB can often be a little bit of a headache. To me, it seems like most people on my server are afraid or simply don't know the benefits of doing LOB, so they don't do it.

Anyway, normal is forgiving enough that if you have a good team and a good tank, a backup tank is not essential to a successful run. It's helpful but not essential.

[Thrudh]

Tank will need a good returning weapon to grab aggro fast after 'superman' leaps (HB admantine of GCB is perfect, but H adamantine of CB can do too)

This is why I like my 12/6/2 fighter/ranger/monk tank... Manyshot gets aggro back quick...

[Shade]

Of course two are nice, but that is a luxury on my server. There are very few LOB pugs on Sarlona-- most of the people who do LOB do it in private or semi-private groups, so when pugging, finding two people who are competent enough and have the proper build to tank LOB can often be a little bit of a headache. To me, it seems like most people on my server are afraid or simply don't know the benefits of doing LOB, so they don't do it.

Anyway, normal is forgiving enough that if you have a good team and a good tank, a backup tank is not essential to a successful run. It's helpful but not essential.

Any smart leader will set the backup tank to the next most qualified player, regardless of how unqualified that player may be. I'm sure that even Sarlona has the odd 400+ hp dps bbn/ftr/monk in the grp that can at least hold agro and shield block while you rez and rebuff the tank should something go wrong.

The backup tank doesn't need to any special tank build, he can be anyone with some basic dps to get agro (which youll obvious have if your planning on the winning the riad in any reasonable time frame), just someone ready to keep him from going on a killingspree should your tank go down.

Never do the minimum of "whats essential" in a pug run. Always assign back ups and assume the worst, and youll have a much greater success rate.

[djl]

Never do the minimum of "whats essential" in a pug run. Always assign back ups and assume the worst, and youll have a much greater success rate.

That's very good advice, and applies to pretty much everything. :-)

[KingOfCheese]

Goals I've set for my intim tank for tanking LOB on all difficulties:

1) max healing amp (this is a big one--getting 300+ hp from heal scrolls makes resource management much easier);
2) high hps 900+ unbuffed; 1000+ buffed;
3) near max hate to maintain agro without intim;
4) no-fail intim (80) as a backup and for grabbing initial agro on agro resets;
5) max shield blocking ability when needed/desired;
6) max self-healing capability in a pinch (silver flame pots; UMD heal scroll use).

[Chai]

Any smart leader will set the backup tank to the next most qualified player, regardless of how unqualified that player may be. I'm sure that even Sarlona has the odd 400+ hp dps bbn/ftr/monk in the grp that can at least hold agro and shield block while you rez and rebuff the tank should something go wrong.

The backup tank doesn't need to any special tank build, he can be anyone with some basic dps to get agro (which youll obvious have if your planning on the winning the riad in any reasonable time frame), just someone ready to keep him from going on a killingspree should your tank go down.

Never do the minimum of "whats essential" in a pug run. Always assign back ups and assume the worst, and youll have a much greater success rate.

Did you guys video the no mana potion completion on Khyber? Id love to see this, because thats what I am more concerned with. Time schmime. (Sarlona's epic completion time was pretty good btw)

Two defender types are alot easier to find nowdays now that the PRE was revamped to give decent HP totals, better stats, and damage mitigation. I see them all the time on Sarlona and Thelanis whenever I PUG.

[grodon9999]

Did you guys video the no mana potion completion on Khyber? Id love to see this, because thats what I am more concerned with. Time schmime. (Sarlona's epic completion time was pretty good btw)

Two defender types are alot easier to find nowdays now that the PRE was revamped to give decent HP totals, better stats, and damage mitigation. I see them all the time on Sarlona and Thelanis whenever I PUG.

He has a video of a normal no SP-pot run that shows a tank EXACTLY what he should be doing. Very good video that I'd link if my search-fu wasn't so weak.

[djl]

He has a video of a normal no SP-pot run that shows a tank EXACTLY what he should be doing. Very good video that I'd link if my search-fu wasn't so weak.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xyIpCghUcI


Watch it in 1080 so you can actually see what's going on.