Veltars Guide to be a tank!

[Veltar]

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[Riot]

Tank?

You must be joking....

[A_Sheep]

Yeah, some of his info is a little sub-true, but some of it is a fun little read. I especially like:
1. pick whichever you like
2. Go back and pick Barbarian.

[Deragoth]

Your description better fits a general DPS "off-tank".

Where's the AC breakpoint discussion? How about DR, skills, and safe hp thresholds? What about tactical feats like Trip and Stunning blow? Power Attack?

The effort is appreciated, but you've skipped over some fairly important topics.

[TheRev]

...

Now once you make it threw training, and are in Stormreach you will be in a whole new world. I strongly suggest grouping up with a low level party to get threw a few of the low level quests. There you can ask questions and learn the basic swing of things.


Being a tank means having to obtain the right gear as well. A tank needs Strong armor.
In the beginning full plate will do the job. In the higher levels shoot for white dragon scale armor or Giant crafted plate. Along the line while leveling you will have the option to choose other feats. Feats are like enhancements, read well and choose carefully. Be sure to pick up the tower shield feat. Tanks need a shield and tower shields offer the most for the buck.

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Spelling

And Barbarians only have medium armour, so unless it is mithril fullplate, they can't take it without using a feat.

[Impaqt]

Once you reach 5 action points you will level. You seek out your trainer for barbarian and speak with them. First spend your action points. Choose wisely! I recommend concentrating on the choices which increase armor class, constitution, and your dexterity.
Also there are a few that dwarfs get that are great to build up. Dwarven sprint boost, Extra rage, Extend rage, Hardy rage, these are all equally important enhancements you will need to obtain throughout your leveling. Read all the choices and then start choosing. You will have 4 action points per level to spend.

There are no Barbarian Enhancments that specificy increase AC or Dexterity.

There is No Dwarven Sprint Boost. Rage enhancements are Class based, Not racial.

Not to discourage you, but there is a lot of incorrect information in this guide.

[Kistilan]

Once you reach 5 action points you will level... You will have 4 action points per level to spend.

I've been going about levelling all wrong!!!!!! And who keeps taking the fifth action point from me?!?

It's like that saying goes: They say an ap for your thoughts, but everybody has to put their 2 aps in -- somewhere, somebody's making an ap out of me.

*************

On-Topic:

I think our dear-author is just kind of young or maybe not writing in his first language, but I don't sense a language barrier in this post. It's most likely just a juniour author. This kind of zeal to actually want to write a guide shouldn't be discouraged.

Maybe we should help him with additional corrections and suggestions? I know a lot of us are having a laugh with this very-biased Dwarven Barbarian-Fighter (no, only Barbarian) "Tank" Guide... But in all honesty, this was an earnest attempt to write a guide with the best knowledge and skills this person has learned so far.

Truthfully, he should try to write 2 separate guides; 1 about building a Dwarven Barbarian with specific skills, enhancements and feats, and 1 about how to build a true Tank. I think some reading in the Fighter and Barbarian Forums would help first off on the builds proposed and possibly assimilating them into a collection, along with comments and opinions on why one should consider said builds and how to play them (See Brenna Wavekins Notes From a Dancing Rogue).

If the author (Veltar) does return to this guide, I gladly will offer assistance in correcting at least the misleading or obscure information for him. Feel free to contact me Veltar -- I've corrected poorer papers for college students, and they managed to bring those papers up to A's and A-'s. There's definitely a possible future for ya in writing guides -- all you need is the dedication and passion to do it.

-Kistilan

[Attomic]

Change this to "How to build a damage-dealing melee character" and it'll be a lot closer to what you're talking about; Riot can tell you all about actual "tanks" - AC, Intimidate, etc.

[Shade]

Personally I don't even believe in the idea of a "tank" in ddo.

The game just doesn't need or support tanks like other mmos. EQ has tanks, DDO doesn't and doesn't need them.

Any character can handle agro. Build, class, AC.. None of that really matters, handling agro ins DDO all about skill.

There no quest that you need a "tank" type build, ie one that focuses on defensive feats. While there are many that require a DPS type build. And while I do agree barbarians often make the best "tanks" due to there superior hitpoints and DR, I wouldn't recommend making that a focus of any build.

DDO just doesn't support or subscribe to those ideals.

While a few might like to think it does, fact is no one cares if your character has 60AC, it won't make or break anything, ever.

[cforce]

Personally I don't even believe in the idea of a "tank" in ddo.

The game just doesn't need or support tanks like other mmos. EQ has tanks, DDO doesn't and doesn't need them.

Any character can handle agro. Build, class, AC.. None of that really matters, handling agro ins DDO all about skill.

There no quest that you need a "tank" type build, ie one that focuses on defensive feats. While there are many that require a DPS type build. And while I do agree barbarians often make the best "tanks" due to there superior hitpoints and DR, I wouldn't recommend making that a focus of any build.

DDO just doesn't support or subscribe to those ideals.

While a few might like to think it does, fact is no one cares if your character has 60AC, it won't make or break anything, ever.

Well, I'd like to avoid this thread turning into "Yet Another Tanking Debate" thread, but since you posted an anti-tank opinion here, Shade, I have to post at least one counter-point. I'll try and keep it brief and not indulge myself in any further discussion.

You don't *require* a tank in DDO the way you have in some other games. That doesn't mean that they're not useful. You can build a party with them or without them, the same way you can build a party with or without, say, a bard.

I'll tell you that I've seen a huge correlation between jumping into a PuG and seeing the yellow "intimidate" icons pop up over peoples heads, and having very smooth, easy runs.

So, you may not care about having a tank, but my Sorc and Rogue are both *very* excited to see someone out there intimidating and taking aggro.

So, my counter to your final thesis would be:

While a few might like to think it doesn't, fact is 40+ AC still matters in a lot of level 14 Elite content, and it *will* help your Cleric spend less SP.

And with that, I'll (try) to leave this poor thread without further molestation by the "Are Tanks Useful?" debate.