So what exactly do THF/ITHF/GTHF do in U5?

[BangsLiekWhoa]

It used to be this way, but not since update 5.

That's what I thought. So if you aren't moving, you can do a little more damage and take a lot more at the cost of 3 feats... I bet I could find something more useful to do with those 3 feats... Maybe I'm just overlooking something?

[MrWizard]

This is what I got in mind for feats . . .

Feats:
1 Toughness
1 Weapon Focus: Slashing Weapons
2 Dodge
3 Bullheaded
4 Weapon Specialization: Slashing Weapons
6 Power Attack
6 Skill Focus: Intimidate
8 Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons
9 THF
10 ITHF
12 GTHF
12 Greater Weapon Specialization: Slashing Weapons
14 Combat Expertise
15 Superior Weapon Focus: Slashing Weapons
16 Force of Personality
18 Shield Mastery
18 Improved Shield Mastery

. . . will this be viable as a "tank?" With these feats I can swap between Kensai and defender with just resetting Enhancements.

I'm concerned about having enough HP for the really hard stuff. I want to be tough enough and have enough Intim for Horoth on Hard. I'm don't want to gimp DPS too badly if I can avoid it.

I think you are missing one feat, should be 19 if human....18 for others...

looks fine though.

The hardest thing about tanking with an AC toon and intim is learning how to maximize its usage. Like any class it takes time and lots of experience. Your first time with horoth will be much different than your 20th time.

As you progress and gain the proper equip as an AC tank, you will find normal settings on raid allow you to mostly go without shield, THF, and intim while beating things silly. And eventually hard is like that, and so on.

You can tank Sully at 16 pretty easy, but you will probably be doing a lot of shield block/intim.

I would take the feats, if it were me, in a different order though. You want personality early on for your saves without a doubt. And shield mastery last is fine if you do not plan on tanking raids early...but I think you are pretty experienced and will relish it, it will be easier with those feats early on....


you are gonna be fine, enjoy it...its a hoot. And if you ever get epic gear you will be a crazy mad dps ac tank like quikster is..

[Quikster]

TWF gets the most DPS by standing still and going through the attack animations. It has always been that way. it was especially so with tempest IIIs.

yes, if your AC doesn't stand up you have to stand their and take a hit.

Actually this is incorrect. TWF used to get a significant boost to dps when breaking the attack animation. This changed around the time they changed attack speeds around mod 9.

[grodon9999]

I think you are missing one feat, should be 19 if human....18 for others...

He's Dwarf, not human.

looks fine though.

The hardest thing about tanking with an AC toon and intim is learning how to maximize its usage. Like any class it takes time and lots of experience. Your first time with horoth will be much different than your 20th time.

As you progress and gain the proper equip as an AC tank, you will find normal settings on raid allow you to mostly go without shield, THF, and intim while beating things silly. And eventually hard is like that, and so on.

You can tank Sully at 16 pretty easy, but you will probably be doing a lot of shield block/intim.

I would take the feats, if it were me, in a different order though. You want personality early on for your saves without a doubt. And shield mastery last is fine if you do not plan on tanking raids early...but I think you are pretty experienced and will relish it, it will be easier with those feats early on....


you are gonna be fine, enjoy it...its a hoot. And if you ever get epic gear you will be a crazy mad dps ac tank like quikster is..

When is the first time that an intim-tank is actually "needed?" VoD? I won't be tanking until 18-20 level because if for no other reason it'll take me that long to get geared up for the task.

[MrWizard]

He's Dwarf, not human.

okay, then d-axe is the missing feat, granted feat..cool

When is the first time that an intim-tank is actually "needed?" VoD? I won't be tanking until 18-20 level because if for no other reason it'll take me that long to get geared up for the task.

16 should get you tanking most of the raids on norm and surviving pretty well. For me, all I had special was chaos bracers and Dragon touch (with +4 insight on it).
Oh, I also had leviks from the hound (simply do hound a bunch of times first)

with the two tiers of stalwart, a proper build, and just regular armor, proper buffs, you will be in the 70s raid buffed. The hardest thing is getting the intim up where it needs to be (get that 15 intim helmet).

A lot of raiders do not like intim/shield blocking, but at 16 going against sully it helps you become a non-drain on resources.
And there are many a cleric who swear by a good intim that can absorb damage and be healed with a wand in a raid versus blowing their bars and mana pots.


At 16, especially with some good DT raids like DQ, TItan, VON, REaver, Hound, VoD, Shroud, and abbot should find you a very valuable asset or a good pike. You can survive all of these and tank anytime needed....on norm easily...hard is a bit tougher due to your intim...but still can be done.


it is fun.