A useful tank?

[mortacigh]

from what i see on the forums, alot of people either dont really like intimitanks unless, some times for raids.

now, i'm a newb, i wanted to build a very sturdy character that can help my team, but this kinda turns me off it i'm probably, most likely, not going to get in a group later game. should i maybe focus on just a DPS sword-n-shield fighter while going the stalwart defender prestige?

and i can't say i really trust in preset builds. i never really like things automatically raising my stats n whatnot, but i will follow guides n somewhat alter it to my liking, so if anyone has a helpful guide for newbs (i dont understand alot..ALOT of accronyms, i never played PnP and all this reading n starring at the comp is giving me a headache, sometihng simple would be nice.)

thanks in advanced.

[r3dl4nce]

from what i see on the forums, alot of people either dont really like intimitanks unless, some times for raids.

IMHO it's because very few people knows how to play a intimitank and has a good built one. Usually a tank should be a good dps too because killing mob fast is better than staying with shield block doing 0 damage. On some bosses fight is good intimidate + turtle up.

now, i'm a newb, i wanted to build a very sturdy character that can help my team,

For a new player my advice is not to try to build a tank. Build a solid dps character. To do a good tank you need qeuip, tomes, 32 point build and lot of grinding to be very effective. Instead lot of dps build are very newbie friendly. My advice: go for a TempestIII Ranger.

should i maybe focus on just a DPS sword-n-shield fighter while going the stalwart defender prestige?

A good tank uses shield only in the rare situations where he must tank a boss, against trash mobs better go DPS mode with 2 weapons

So, follow a build for a TempestIII ranger if you want to do your first character. When you will have a good knowledge of the game, you could think to roll a tank.

[Kriogen]

from what i see on the forums, alot of people either dont really like intimitanks unless, some times for raids.

now, i'm a newb, i wanted to build a very sturdy character that can help my team, but this kinda turns me off it i'm probably, most likely, not going to get in a group later game. should i maybe focus on just a DPS sword-n-shield fighter while going the stalwart defender prestige?

and i can't say i really trust in preset builds. i never really like things automatically raising my stats n whatnot, but i will follow guides n somewhat alter it to my liking, so if anyone has a helpful guide for newbs (i dont understand alot..ALOT of accronyms, i never played PnP and all this reading n starring at the comp is giving me a headache, sometihng simple would be nice.)

thanks in advanced.

In DDO so called "tank" is NOT needed for 99.9999% of content. Not that properly built tank is useless, just not needed. There are a couple of quests where Tank is a **** good idea. But just a couple.

Do not build sword-n-board fighter. Built "damage" fighter that is speced for 2handed weapons (cheaper on stats), that also can "tank". So THF plus "defender"? Very solid damage output (dead mobs need no tanking) that can also "tank" if required.

Thats how I would do it. Regular damage Fighter (not the best but more then good enough) that is also good with Shield and has maxed Intimidate skill, Tank.

The trick in DDO is, that you do NOT build 1-trick-pony character. Thats the good side of this game. You can do more then thing, you can be good in more then one area. Not all areas, just more then one.

[mortacigh]

The trick in DDO is, that you do NOT build 1-trick-pony character. Thats the good side of this game. You can do more then thing, you can be good in more then one area. Not all areas, just more then one.

yeah, i've been noticing this alot but i dont want to dabble in multi-classing, so i might just try building him to adjust, i suppouse.

another question, is shield bash worth it? if i could defend and shield bash at the same time, would it be worth it?

[mortacigh]

So, follow a build for a TempestIII ranger if you want to do your first character. When you will have a good knowledge of the game, you could think to roll a tank.

i don't think i'd enjoy ranger that much, to be honest. i'm not a complete newb, i've been playing for maybe 5 months now, but i still don't really know how to build a character n whatnot. but unno, when i see rangers they dont look fun. i might give it a whirl i suppouse.

[r3dl4nce]

would it be worth it?

No.

[Kriogen]

yeah, i've been noticing this alot but i dont want to dabble in multi-classing, so i might just try building him to adjust, i suppouse.

Having more then one 'fuction' doesnt have anything to do with multiclassing. My advice would be Fighter-fighter that can chop mobs with big greataxe/falchion/maul and is also "defender". Not "just shield tank only". Key is "just one single thing".

It's like a Rogue that can only do traps and nothing else. Or, in your theretical case, a Fighter that can only Tank.

Easy to make a Rogue that can fight good and do traps good. Same with Fighter that can fight good and tank good.

..
another question, is shield bash worth it? if i could defend and shield bash at the same time, would it be worth it?

No.

Have seen many things in this game. But so far I have never seen that a group would kill raid boss like Harry with "shield bash". I bet theres a reason.

May some crazy players will try this one day. Sounds "fun". But I sure would not join that group as a "healer"

[Bolo_Grubb]

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=216140

That link has a ton of discussion on a dps tank that is fun and useful at all levels

Here is another
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=245032

[EKKM]

IMHO it's because very few people knows how to play a intimitank and has a good built one. Usually a tank should be a good dps too because killing mob fast is better than staying with shield block doing 0 damage. On some bosses fight is good intimidate + turtle up.

For a new player my advice is not to try to build a tank. Build a solid dps character. To do a good tank you need qeuip, tomes, 32 point build and lot of grinding to be very effective. Instead lot of dps build are very newbie friendly. My advice: go for a TempestIII Ranger.

A good tank uses shield only in the rare situations where he must tank a boss, against trash mobs better go DPS mode with 2 weapons

So, follow a build for a TempestIII ranger if you want to do your first character. When you will have a good knowledge of the game, you could think to roll a tank.

I disagree, you can build an effective tank for endgame without all that gear. Now epic quests and elite endgame will be tricky but still doable with very little hard to get items. SoS armour, chaosgardes, +5 mithril TS and a few a few +2 tomes (obtainable at store).

I do agree that a good tank does't SnB all the time. TAKE the THF line as well and you can do solid DPS. You wont match a kensei and barb but it will be solid.

yeah, i've been noticing this alot but i dont want to dabble in multi-classing, so i might just try building him to adjust, i suppouse.


another question, is shield bash worth it? if i could defend and shield bash at the same time, would it be worth it?

No shield bash is not worth it. he dps is marginal at best and unnoticable at end game. If special attacks like stunning blow and trip could function off it then maybe, but they don't.

As for a guide, check out the Riot Tank build on the fighter page. It is an olod build and could do with some updating so read the end of the thread (its very long) as well. I would adjust the stats a bit to offset the fact that tomes are much more easily obtainable then they were at the time. Take into account that a +1 INT tome can be acquired at level 3 for combat expertise (ie start at INT 12 not 14 and bump CON to 14).

If you have 32 point build I'd do the following (if not, drop CHR to 8 and change force of personality to iron will):
HUman LG Ftr 20
STR 16
DEX 14
CON 15 (the human enhancement will even this out)
INT 12 (+1 tome at level 3)
WIS 8
CHR 12

Feats:
1 two hander fighting, force of personality, toughness
2 lightning reflexes
3 dodge
4 combat expertise
6 wpn focus slash, weapon spec slash
8 Imp crit slash
9 power attack,
10 Imp tHF
12 IMP weapon Spec, SF intimidate
14 grtr THF

After this whaever you like, consider shield mastery I and II,quickdraw, imp and grtr weapon focus,improved trip stunning blow, cleave andgratceave (for turtle mode)).

This build is viable for most cotent inhe game as is and with some grinding for end game as well. Will have strong saves, good AC and enogh skill points and CHR to get a useful UMD.

Spend most of your time in DPS mode and switch to tank when required.

[Asymetric_War]

A tank needs to be able to dps because most of the time being just an intimitank is not going to be useful to the party.

I recommend warforged or dwarf fighter with high con, 14 starting dex, medium str, 12 int, at least 10 starting charisma. Take skill focus: intim and bullheaded, dodge, combat expertise, power attack, the 2hf line, toughness 2x, mithral body if you're warforged, and shield mastery. you'll have 2 feats left over as a warforged or 4 as a dwarf you can spend on whatever you want.

With this build If you're a dwarf your dwarven axes (a free feat) will get glancing blows when you're using a shield so you still benefit from your thf line even when not using a 2h weapon for dps. that's a good thing. If you're warforged you can burn a feat on dwarf axes or bastard swords for the same benefit.

dwarves end up with 2 more feats because they don't have to burn one on armor and they get dorf axes for free. they also get racial armor master that stacks with fighter armor mastery (giving them a higher max dex bonus to AC) and don't take the warforged penalty to wisdom.

warforged get to be healed by arcanes which is very handy in quests where the bosses hand out curses that make you immune to divine healing. they also get a range of very nice immunities and a slightly higher max Armor bonus to ac (2 composite plating + 5 mithral body + 5 docent + 2 reinforced plating on DT and Quarforged docents = 14) and it counts as "light" armor so if you splash 2 Rogue you can use evasion. A dwarf would have to use a mithral full plate to get close to that and it would prevent them from using evasion.

either way you've got a very solid ac/intimitank who can take off the shield and pull out a greataxe or maul when dps is the order of the day.

another route would be to take the 2wf line instead of 2hf and burn your extra feats on weapon specialization. you lose the benefit of those feats when you put on your shield but have marginally higher dps in dps mode.

myddo Cuchulain (my intimitank) for reference if you're interested. other excellent fighter tanks on cannith i can recommend include Tank, Traeci (his first life), and Lawn. Keep in mind that intimitanking is very very gear intensive and it will take you a long time to get enough gear to really excel at it.

[Bloodlance]

i think the law of dps over tanking is correct when looking about the content and how you can complete it. (like others have said in this thread)

and its the same with healers also, if you can dps while healing the better (fight is over faster = less heals needed).

just my opinions tho.