Akaran

Mornin' folk. Got a question.
A few days ago I attempted to tank an epic x4 mob. Now, I'm not a raid tank, I'm not raid geared though I don't think my equipment is horrible. I've done my best to get my gear up as I can on a casual level - playing 2, 3 times a week. But. When It anked this mob (Dominous somthing in Danak) he ate me in less than 2 seconds flat.

I found out later that my 'avoidance' was low and that's why it destroyed me. I then had a talk with a local raid leader and he explained that most guardians (on a raid level) take the AGI STA INT line to increase their avoidance to around 70% or so.

So. This morning I grabbed my respec card, ran to a mirror, and started running aa lines. Here are my results.

Gear link: EverQuest II Players

Mitigation profile:
Mitigation 4,425
Avoid 46.9 / 7068
Melee Crit 34%
Melee DA 76%
Haste Mod 28
Hate Mod 8%

STR: 4 4 6 6
STA: 4 4 8 6 1
WIS: 4 4 7 8 1


Avoidance profile:
Mitigation 4067
Avoid 51.1 / 7812
Haste 46
Melee DA 76
Melee Crit 17

AGI: 4 4 4 8
STA: 4 4 8 6 1
INT: 4 4 7 8 1


From what I can see it doesn't look like I gain all that much avoidance for losing half of my criticals and a hate mod. I do like the look of the haste modification and I'll admit I don't see much of any kind of loss from a mitigation standpoint.

I guess my question is: is the switch to avoidance tanking worth it or, as someone that rarely raids, should I stick more with the small group / duo / instance setup that I have?

crayme

Well, first of all, ditch the WIS line, it sucks pure and simple IMO.

also, the 8 points in the Hate increase in STR line is better used elsewhere, again, IMO.

I use:

STR 4-4-8

STA 4-4-8-8-1

INT 4-6-8-7-1

If you are taking the STA line, you def want to get all 8 points in Double Attack + the 8 points in the Riposte, that is 8% uncontested.

Avoidance is king in RoK as it is better to outright avoid a 7K hit than it is to mitigate it.

Also, when you first engaged this epic, did you pop ToS? Do you have Block AA from the Guardian tree? Both of those can help.

You prob want to shoot for a min. of 65% avoid tho, which may take acquiring a bit better gear.

Good Luck

Akaran

So I've got the gist that avoidance tanking is the best way to goa bout it in RoK, and that INT and STA are the primary two lines to take. However, where should the rest of the points go? STR, WIS or AGI?

And, as annoying as it is, the numbers posted above are now slightly off. I picked up a new BP and helm today.. go fig.

salle

STR for 448 is great gives you a load of crit which really increases your dps and executioners wrath gives you almost a guaranteed crit hit for the next hit that lands... which can be very sucessfully used before Mar or your AE.

AGIi for the end ability 4 4 8 6 1 (or something like that) is also really good gives you a 100% chance to block attacks for 12 seconds allthough you can't do anything for that time it's still a lifesaver, for me aggro isn't a problem so I can use it very freely.

WIS is pretty much a no no zone.

And about stamina line, it really depends on what buckler you have or what healers you have, If your healers can't keep you up, perhaps change to a tower specc.

__________________

"The ultimate lack of self-preservation is probably to call the tank a chicken." - Ravengash

Armus

sorry to tell ya but the wis line blows. mitigation does not matter because with a healer or two around you're going to be above the sft cap and 300-400 mit wont do you any good. run str,sta,intel or (for really tough mobs) agil,sta,intel or even str,agil,intel (no buckler - harder to keep agro) dont go with the str line's hate increase. if you run with a dirge and usually a coercer your hate will be well over the cap. some item upgrade suggestions (non raid based): ganaks torque (vaults), green dragon shield (contested near city of mist), incarnadine earring (queen in chardock), mantal of the jarsath tribe (maidens). run parry adornments on your forarms and wrist items. shield block and repost on your weapon. consume the parry food and drink. I usually dont run 70 percent avid on anything but serious mobs in vp. I spec for about 66 percent with 55 percent crit and 88 doubleattack. long as you're about 60 percent avoid, you can tank t1 without trouble. t2 maybe run 63 percent

mindeen

No guard uses the WIS line anymore and most of use gave up the AGI line after EoF was done.

I would recommend going the following:

STR448 - crit obviously

STA4488 - with a good buckler this will give you the same avoidance as the agi line and you 60% double attack, you don't need the end ability.

AGI41 - The extra AOE is always nice.

INT44681 - Gives you the acceraltion, lots of parry, and the reuse speed.

The wis line is not useful to you, and the AGI isn't useful anymore due to lack of group encounter epics. You might investigate the end ability of the AGI line in VP only, otherwise depend on your support classes. Make sure to use ToS on your pulls too, the mob is effectively ignoring your avoidance (other than uncontested block, repos, etc.) until its debuffed due to the +hit% it has at the start of the fight. Hope this helps.

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Captn

How about on a pvp server, would this setup still be the same?

Captn

Anyone?

salle

Don't play on a pvp server, only duel/arena occationally. But I'd say going for buckler with 448 str and 488X2 int is probably a pretty solid decission.
I only have a real problem with swashies, illus and, if I don't have enough power regen, templars.
The AGI endline ability is only usefull if your opponents are hitting and wasting ca's on you rather than going for your friends or buffing up meanwhile, then it's fairly pointless.

__________________

"The ultimate lack of self-preservation is probably to call the tank a chicken." - Ravengash