Kensai ELOB Tank

[elricken]

I've been asked by a guildie to post my take on an ELOB tank, feel free to comment or critisize.


Fighter 12 Paladin 6 Rogue 2
Lawful Good Half Elf
Barbarian Dilentantte

36 Point Buy in (Past life fighter and Past Life barbarian)

Strength 16
Dexterity 14
Constitution 17
Intelligence 9
Wisdom 8
Charisma 14

Feats
TWF
ITWF
GTWF
Khopesh
IC
PA
Weapon Focus Slashing
Weapon Spec Slashing
Greater Weapon Spec Slashing
Shield Mastery
Past Life Barb
Toughness
Hamstring
Improved Shield Bash

Skills -
Get a rogue level first so you can max UMD the whole way

Put 1 Rank in open lock
1 Rank in tumble
Max UMD
Max Intimidate
Rest however you want

Strength Breakdown

16 Base
6 Item
4 Enhancements
5 Levels
3 Exceptional
3 Abishai
8 Surge
2 DOS Stance
2 Yugoloth
2 Shrine
3 Tome
= 54

HPS

Con - 17 Base
7 Item
3 Exceptional
2 Enhancements (1 Helf 1 Barb)
2 DOS Stance
2 Shrine
3 Tome
2 Alchemical

38 Sustainable Con

HP

Can't be bothered to post a full break down, but it is in the neighborhood of 830ish with ship buffs. Could swap out hamstring for another toughness if I felt I was too light on HP for ELOB.





Gear:

Head: Helm of Frost Slotted with Greater False Life
Neck: Shintao Cord / Kensai for longer quests
Body: 10% AMP, 15% Threat, Destruction Dragontouched - Epic Red Scales for DPSing
Boots: Corrosion with +2 Luck and +6 Dex
Bracers: Epic Claw
Gloves: Epic Claw
Cloak: Epic Envenomed w/ 20 HP
Belt: FB while dpsing Greensteel Cha skills air guard while intim tanking
Goggles: Any flavor of +45 HP Goggles
Ring 1: FB with 20% Amp
Ring 2: Kyoshos with +2 STR
Trinket: Bloodstone for dps Epic Brawns with +1 con while tanking
Weapons: Lit II x2, Dr breaker(s) for tanking and dpsing lob/harry/sully/horoth
Alchem khopeshes, one with alchem con +2
DR Breakers for Harry/Sully/ Horoth -
Holy burst adamantine tower shield of greater construct bane with a large guild slot for bashing LOB. (Avoids mournlands and stuns while holding aggro solidly.


Intimidate Break Down

23 Base Ranks
9 Charisma
5 Claw Gloves
20 Item
3 Enhancements
2 Kensai
2 Luck
3 Guild Slot Tower Shield
4 GH
2 Barb Past life
6 Charisma Skills
2 Coin Lord Finishing School
1 Spider Cult Mask

82 Intimidate (Enough to hold ELOB)

Enhancements

Paladin AC boost 1
Fighter Attack boost 2
Fighter Haste boost 4
Fighter Critical Accuracy 2
Fighter Kensai 2
Fighter Kensai Signature Weapon Khopesh 1 & 2
Fighter Khopesh Specialization 1
Human Adaptability Strength
Human Greater Adaptability Con
Human Improved Recovery 1 & 2
Human Versatility 3
Paladin Courage of Good 1
Paladin Focus of Good 1
Paladin Bulwark of Good 1
Paladin Resistance of Good 1
Paladin Divine Righteousness 1
Paladin Divine Sacrifice 1
Paladin Defender of Siberys 1
Racial Toughness 1 2 & 3
Improved Intimidate 3
Half Elf Barbarian Constitution 1
Fighter Toughness 1 2 & 3
Paladin Divine Might 1
Rogue Wand and Scroll Mastery 1
Rogue Damage Boost 1

The intention of the build is to provide capable dps and tanking all rolled into one character. I tank Epic Lord of Blades on him a couple times a week with no problem. As I said feel free to comment on it or make suggestions.

[rodallec]

look your obviously new here. a kensai cant tank elob. you need at least 900-1000 hp. and why would you build for elob? you can get equivalent gear from shroud.

[elricken]

look your obviously new here. A kensai cant tank elob. You need at least 900-1000 hp. And why would you build for elob? You can get equivalent gear from shroud.

[Bacab]

Could this build tank Yaryar?

Looks solid btw...I miss when Fighters used to worry more about DPS than just HP...

Hooray for the Kensai!

[totabc]

Can't wait for Alinosa's trs to be done and back to it... Only 7 more to go /sigh

Edit: Also, like I've probably told you... I plan on doing 2 monk instead of rogue because I need more feats and want to break 1k hp this time.

[Lavek]

seen sofu tanking and the build was doing it without problems

didnt know he was kensai...nice to see a character that does dips and is not just a meatsack for lob raid

[Isharah]

I say go for more HP if you could. Aim for 900s buffed (this is without positive infusion -- with positive infusion you should reach 1k).

800s would be fine, but you need an equally capable offtank or else you will get a big blow to the overall party DPS. Needless to say, it is definitely doable with 800s HP.

Our rule of thumb for eLoB is when the tank's HP falls below 700, either switch to offtank (and DPS continues all-out) or have the tank block until the mournland debuff expires. If you don't have an offtank, this means that the DPS on LoB is greatly reduced since the DPS can't go all-out while the tank is not generating threat. If you do, then this build should work nicely.

So if you think of it in terms of total party DPS, a "meatsack" isn't exactly a bad thing.

Cheers.

[Arshan]

I say go for more HP if you could. Aim for 900s buffed (this is without positive infusion -- with positive infusion you should reach 1k).

800s would be fine, but you need an equally capable offtank or else you will get a big blow to the overall party DPS. Needless to say, it is definitely doable with 800s HP.

Our rule of thumb for eLoB is when the tank's HP falls below 700, either switch to offtank (and DPS continues all-out) or have the tank block until the mournland debuff expires. If you don't have an offtank, this means that the DPS on LoB is greatly reduced since the DPS can't go all-out while the tank is not generating threat. If you do, then this build should work nicely.

So if you think of it in terms of total party DPS, a "meatsack" isn't exactly a bad thing.

Cheers.

I disagree on the need of off-tank if you have 800 HP. A capable tank wont get so much mournland (i happen to get stacks of 4 mournland on my tank if luck is bad. replacing, bad placing, tumbling, or just bug... sh** happens) and even if he does.
Actually with heavy heals, i'm pretty sure 550 HP can hold against eLOB if amp and heals are good, well as a very "to avoid" solution. But i don't think mournland is a mandatory reason to stop tanking, and as i said if the tank is stacking over 4 or 5 mourlands... he is prolly doing it wrong. But ya in this case just keeping blocking with no one hitting is a good solution as you said.
Oh i feel like trolling but not on purpose...

As far as my tank has ok dps if i go full dps mode, i dont think it can get close to the possibilities of a kensai so it's a great build right here Morfane.
Aint saying i would go for it on Tarnesh, nor on my tank that i like as it is, but the idea is more than great and i 'm sure you just do fine.

[Candela90]

Dont worry. In like 4 months you will be able to have kensei and stalwart defender on your fighter

[Impaqt]

I'm building a similar tank currently except I went with 2 Monk instead of 2 Rogue. I'll still hit 40 UMD.

Force of personality would be good to get into the build. With a dumped Wis, your Will save is going to be a little on the low side.

why Hamstring over Improved Sunder? is this an eLOB thing?

[Monkey-Boy]

Force of personality would be good to get into the build. With a dumped Wis, your Will save is going to be a little on the low side.

At end game . . . why do you need a will save . . . for anything? FoM, GH, and prot evil make you immune to anything that attacks a will save.

[Madryoch]

I disagree on the need of off-tank if you have 800 HP. A capable tank wont get so much mournland (i happen to get stacks of 4 mournland on my tank if luck is bad. replacing, bad placing, tumbling, or just bug... sh** happens) and even if he does.
Actually with heavy heals, i'm pretty sure 550 HP can hold against eLOB if amp and heals are good, well as a very "to avoid" solution. But i don't think mournland is a mandatory reason to stop tanking, and as i said if the tank is stacking over 4 or 5 mourlands... he is prolly doing it wrong. But ya in this case just keeping blocking with no one hitting is a good solution as you said.
Oh i feel like trolling but not on purpose...

As far as my tank has ok dps if i go full dps mode, i dont think it can get close to the possibilities of a kensai so it's a great build right here Morfane.
Aint saying i would go for it on Tarnesh, nor on my tank that i like as it is, but the idea is more than great and i 'm sure you just do fine.

Perhaps I am doing it wrong but unless u block a few seconds per intimidate cycle u are gonna get 4 mournlands quite a few times. Which I do and it still hurts having 4 debuffs on you. I am really curious on how u tank it with 550 hp. I have 3.22 healing multiplier, scrolls heal me for 500+ each with scroll mastery but still unless u intend to burn ur healers sp by getting down to 550 hp and having them have to spam cure and heal spells u need to have lots of hit points or an off tank to make sure u won't get more than the 3-4 mournland debuff.The problem with scrolls is that they have long cooldown and u can't expect to ''cycle'' them with the lag we are experiencing be it brain or server. I personally intimidate and attack like 5-6 seconds after that and then i guard and wait till next intimidate is available. That way since one can be unlucky i get debuffs that can go over 4-5 and then i have the party wait if i don't have an offtank.

To the OP I ll say i have to agree with Isharah and kensei is not a very good solution to tank epic lotb unless u are completionist and u get more hp somehow.

[Arshan]

Perhaps I am doing it wrong but unless u block a few seconds per intimidate cycle u are gonna get 4 mournlands quite a few times. Which I do and it still hurts having 4 debuffs on you. I am really curious on how u tank it with 550 hp. I have 3.22 healing multiplier, scrolls heal me for 500+ each with scroll mastery but still unless u intend to burn ur healers sp by getting down to 550 hp and having them have to spam cure and heal spells u need to have lots of hit points or an off tank to make sure u won't get more than the 3-4 mournland debuff.The problem with scrolls is that they have long cooldown and u can't expect to ''cycle'' them with the lag we are experiencing be it brain or server. I personally intimidate and attack like 5-6 seconds after that and then i guard and wait till next intimidate is available. That way since one can be unlucky i get debuffs that can go over 4-5 and then i have the party wait if i don't have an offtank.

To the OP I ll say i have to agree with Isharah and kensei is not a very good solution to tank epic lotb unless u are completionist and u get more hp somehow.

Shield bashing for the win of course !
About the 550 HP thingie it's just that you can hold n survive, more than tank i admit it.

I never get more than 2 mournlands when i tank and i still have everyone hitting LOB as soon as he is on me. Shield bashing is full of win still

[elricken]

In the last 2 Elobs I have tanked I didn't get mournlands once, 830 hp is more than enough.

Also, I have hamstring for bosses like horoth, it really cuts down on the amount of damage you take while tanking.

(My will save is 30+ btw, not that it at all matters in like 95% of content)

[maddmatt70]

At end game . . . why do you need a will save . . . for anything? FoM, GH, and prot evil make you immune to anything that attacks a will save.

I actually like a will save for elob. It is really nice when a tank can lower their intimidate to 60 and kite the adds at the end. Alot of tank builds lack in saves so can not do this and it frees up more dps for pillars.

[Munkenmo]

seems like an ac version would work better.

[moops]

I say go for more HP if you could. Aim for 900s buffed (this is without positive infusion -- with positive infusion you should reach 1k).

800s would be fine, but you need an equally capable offtank or else you will get a big blow to the overall party DPS. Needless to say, it is definitely doable with 800s HP.

Our rule of thumb for eLoB is when the tank's HP falls below 700, either switch to offtank (and DPS continues all-out) or have the tank block until the mournland debuff expires. If you don't have an offtank, this means that the DPS on LoB is greatly reduced since the DPS can't go all-out while the tank is not generating threat. If you do, then this build should work nicely.

So if you think of it in terms of total party DPS, a "meatsack" isn't exactly a bad thing.

Cheers.

I used to be a strong supporter of an off tank, but now I disagree. Also I don't think the OP needs more HP as someone who has healed him b4.

All my groups lately have had just one tank, been pretty fast runs with no pot usage. However I will concede that people have had a chance to not only learn the raid better, but for main tanks to get better gears, and do Sheild Bashing. And I run in some crazy agro beast Chinese groups, if they can control it, anyone can.

[maddmatt70]

All my groups lately have had just one tank, been pretty fast runs with no pot usage. However I will concede that people have had a chance to not only learn the raid better, but for main tanks to get better gears, and do Sheild Bashing.

You do not need shield bashing either.. You do not really have to do much of anything as a tank to be honest..Intimidate needs to get nerfed and soon I think..

[rodallec]

oh you missed the nerf where its timer got increased from 6 seconds to 15 ?

[rodallec]

To the OP I ll say i have to agree with Isharah and kensei is not a very good solution to tank epic lotb unless u are completionist and u get more hp somehow.

its not really a solution its an option. has uses outside of tanking.