Tips for Tanking: Mid-reaper Quests and Low-reaper Raids

[Agr33n3]

Howdy! Phloat here.

I am levelling my tank, and will hit level cap in just a day or two. After I get my gear (3 piece sharn, 4 piece winter, etc.) I will be running a bunch reaper content for fun and Reaper xp.

I would love to hear some tips of the trade, though I have a few questions lined up. I am mostly curious about in-combat things to do between Intim'ing and grabbing agro.

1. Given I have enough Intim to no-fail (say, 120 for the aforementioned content), do I still need threat generation? Or is hate then just an additive aggro-mechanic? Is it necessary or just the sprinkles on top?

2. I see this less so in elite/low skulls, and more so in mid/high reaper: Some tanks will have their DPS wait until they have 'established aggro'. I understand this is important but don't know why. How much agro or how many intim's mean you have established agro?

Any other tips for things to do between Intim'ing would be helpful. Thanks all!

[TitusOvid]

Howdy! Phloat here.

I am levelling my tank, and will hit level cap in just a day or two. After I get my gear (3 piece sharn, 4 piece winter, etc.) I will be running a bunch reaper content for fun and Reaper xp.

I would love to hear some tips of the trade, though I have a few questions lined up. I am mostly curious about in-combat things to do between Intim'ing and grabbing agro.

1. Given I have enough Intim to no-fail (say, 120 for the aforementioned content), do I still need threat generation? Or is hate then just an additive aggro-mechanic? Is it necessary or just the sprinkles on top?

2. I see this less so in elite/low skulls, and more so in mid/high reaper: Some tanks will have their DPS wait until they have 'established aggro'. I understand this is important but don't know why. How much agro or how many intim's mean you have established agro?

Any other tips for things to do between Intim'ing would be helpful. Thanks all!

1) Yes, you do. Because intim means you get additional threat to your base threat. The higher the better because intim just adds 200x skill to the highest threat. If you have 120 intim, that is only 24k. If you have heavy hitters in the group that don't have threat reduction you will have a hard time holding aggro.
So high intim let's you block longer, best tanking style imo. If you still lose aggro you need to attack to add to your threat:

400% bonus to the threat generated by melee attacks
100% bonus to the threat generated by missile attacks and spells

If you still lose aggro regularly, your teammates have to pay attention to their aggro management.

2) Nowadays it is a bit easier, imo because you have the shield throw in US in epics and legendary. That helps a lot to get enemies focus back on you. But if the group is high dps and they starts hitting fast and first you need time to get the aggro back. Time that could be fatal for the group. Again how much and how many intim's depends on the damage output/threat of the group.

Have a look at the wiki article: https://ddowiki.com/page/Intimidate


You need to have some form of aggro for mobs that can't be intimidated like the red crows in Baba. Again the shield throw helps tremendously but I carry ice storm scrolls and solid fog clickies/potions with me. And I use debuff spells.

The right positioning is important, too. But you will figure that one out over time.


Cheers,
Titus.

[Agr33n3]

Titus, thank you very much!!

The Knights Challenge shield throw is an amazing aggro mechanic, and I have been making great use of it with by Roar spell. Before each mob, I will get 3 stacks of Killer Instinct for the Roar damage. I will bear charge ahead of the group, throw a shield as I land in the middle of the mob, pop an Intimidate, and then Roar.

With about 80 Melee Power, the Roar hits for about 3k on Elite (with only 8 Druid levels), and more from 26-30 when the shield throw becomes a stun for helpless damage. This is my tactic for initially grabbing agro, and it works well when mobs take about 5-10 seconds to finish off. Roars' massive AoE also makes it a great hate-generating spell.

After doing some reading and watching videos of tanks being, well, tanky, I have found that 80% of tanking is coming prepared, with 10% being hitting Intim on cooldown and 10% being having heals. Is this accurate, or is there something I am missing during combat?

All the best,
Phloat from Argo