The Tank You Deserve (Final Version)

Armor Types

Gear and Item Set Info

***PRIMARY GEAR SETS:

*All gear values shown are accurate with build passives, 810 CP, and scaled to gold gear.

- Livewire set on chest, belt, legs, hands, & feet (Clockwork City overland heavy armor set)

• (2 items) Adds 4% Healing Taken
• (3 items) Adds 1,206 Maximum Health
• (4 items) Adds 4% Healing Taken
• (5 items) When you take damage, you overload your circuits, applying Concussion to enemies within 8 meters of you and healing for 1,140 Health for each enemy hit. This effect can occur once every 6 seconds.
• Notes: In my humble opinion, this set offers more group utility than Alkosh. This set ensures 67% uptime on Concussion and thus roughly 33% uptime on Off Balance to enemies in an AoE (factoring in cooldowns) rather than a directional cone like Alkosh. Hence, your group is hitting 3-5% harder. The extra benefits provided by the relatively high Off Balance uptime include 70% more heavy attack damage for your heavy attack builds in the group, 50% more resource gain from heavy attacking an Off Balance enemy (which also stuns them); 10-15% more dps in line with the Hawk Eye Bow, Ruffian, and Exploiter CP passives (hence the 3-5% dps buff when factoring in uptime which is on par with Alkosh). The last 2k penetration that Alkosh provides to get the group to the 18.2k penetration cap basically nets 4% more dps to the group while providing no further benefits apart from a bit more dps from reallocating CP. The recent updates to buffs/debuffs have made Alkosh less appealing and more of a waste because its penetration buff ends up getting your group ~2k over the cap. If you’re gonna run a lightening staff back bar as a tank, you might as well maximize the uptime on Concussion and Off Balance. (If you’re main tanking a trial, you can slap Alkosh on in place of Winter’s Respite because most group members will not be close enough to you to benefit from the heal. Although, Winter’s Respite is quite nice for your sustain.)

- Winter's Respite set on group healing/damage buff back bar lightening staff + jewelry (Western Skyrim overland light armor set):

• (2 items) Adds 129 Magicka Recovery
• (3 items) Adds 1,096 Maximum Magicka
• (4 items) Adds 1,096 Maximum Magicka
• (5 items) Casting abilities that leave an effect on the ground will create a circle of healing frost (8m radius) for 10 seconds. You and your allies restore 2,688 Health every 1 second while inside the circle. This effect can occur once every 10 seconds. 
• Notes: This is a phenomenal AoE group healing set. This is the primary heal for this build which can be proced by 4 different abilities on the healing bar (two mag, one stam, and one health ability).

Tremorscale Monster Set:

• (1 item) Adds 1,096 Maximum Stamina
• (2 items) When you activate a taunt ability on an enemy, you cause a duneripper to burst from the ground beneath them after 1 second, dealing 7,859 Physical Damage to all enemies within 4 meters and reducing their Physical Resistance by 2,395 for 8 seconds. This effect can occur once every 8 seconds (100% uptime on a boss atleast).
• Notes: This set is only useful in groups with stamina dps. However, it grants a unique enemy resistance debuff that increases group penetration, and thus dps, by a noticeable margin. DK tanks synergize best with stamina dps due to the Mountain’s Blessing passive (basically +10% group weapon damage for 20s when you cast Cinder Storm/Earthen Heart abilities).

- The Master's Perfected Sword & Board set on enemy crowd control (CC)/debuff front bar. (vDSA weapon set):

• (2 items) Adds 3% Healing Taken
• (2 items) When you deal damage with Puncture, you heal for 6,988 Health and gain Spell and Physical Resistance equal to the amount of healing done for 5 seconds. 
• Notes: This is a great self-heal during hard-hitting boss fights if you have stamina but not magicka. Although, this build has great sustain and many different heals.

General Info

***SECONDARY GEAR SET OPTIONS:

- Brands of Imperium set (in place of Livewire) (Imperial City Prison dungeon set):

• (2 items) Adds 1,206 Maximum Health
• (3 items) Adds 1,206 Maximum Health
• (4 items) Adds 4% Healing Taken
• (5 items) When you take damage, you grant you and your group members within 8 meters a damage shield that absorbs 11-13k damage for 6 seconds (based on CP allocation). This effect can occur every 12 seconds. 
• Notes: The group damage mitigation of this set is unparalleled due to its 50% uptime and the fact that it works in the same radius as Winter's Respite/all of your heals. It basically amounts to ~33% damage mitigation for the group if your group stays within 8m of you, assuming they have ~20k health. It's insane. (Use this set in place of Livewire if your random group’s dps is too abysmal to be worth buffing by percentages or if your group is inexperienced in certain content and needs help with damage mitigation instead/isn’t lacking in the dps department.)

*Roar of Alkosh is also an option (in place of Winter’s Respite) if you are the main tank in a trial, but the primary set-up with this build using Livewire is more than adequate for off-tanking trials and tanking dungeons/group arenas. You melt add groups.)

- Earthgore Monster Set (in place of Tremorscale):

• (1 item) Adds 4% Healing Taken
• (2 items) When you heal yourself or an ally that is under 50% Health, you conjure a pool of quenching blood underneath them, immediately removing all previous enemy placed effects, and healing the lowest Health friendly target in the area for 35,211 Health over 10 seconds. This effect can occur once every 20 seconds. 
• Notes: This is a phenomenal healing set. The way it procs is extraordinary, and it is always up when it is needed as long as you have at least Overflowing Altar/one of your heals up. It is basically a fire and forget clutch heal. Great for no-death dungeon runs when you’re not running a healer. It also procs in an 8m radius like most of the other ground based heals of this build. Hence, it can save multiple group members. (Use this in place of Tremorscale if you don’t have any stamina dps in your group or the group needs help with damage mitigation.)

***TRAITS:

- The shield & all armor should be sturdy to maximize block cost reduction to yield great stamina sustain.

- Your sword/one-handed weapon should be defending in order to maximize your base resistances while on the sword and board bar.

- The lightening staff should be infused to maximize the debuff on the crusher enchant (which is twice as powerful on two-handed weapons).

- One jewelry piece should be protective while the other two are healthy. (This plays into min-maxing your resources and base resistances).

***ENCHANTMENTS:

- Weapons: crusher enchants on both to maximize armor debuff uptime on enemies.

- Armor: 

• helmet, chest, & legs: triune
• shoulders, hands, belt, feet, & shield: max health

- Jewelry:

• rings & neck: magicka recovery

***MUNDUS STONE:

- The Tower: Increases your Maximum Stamina by ~2,000.

***DETAILED MAX CHARACTER STATS:

- max health: ~35.2k (front bar); ~33.9k (back bar)

- max magicka: ~18.6k (front bar); ~20k (back bar)

- max stamina: ~24.5k w/ Tremorscale (~23.1k w/ Earthgore)

(w/ tri-stat food and primary gear sets on)

- health recovery: ~560 (definitely way higher with sets procing/heals; +500 w/ Bewitched Sugar Skulls)

- magicka recovery: ~1,350

- stamina recovery: ~660 (Sturdy traits and play style circumvent any stamina sustain issues. Also higher with abilities active.)

- spell resistance: ~23k (while on unbuffed front bar)

- physical resistance: ~23k (while on unbuffed front bar)

*Resistances are maxed out easily on the front shield bar with keeping 100% uptime on Hardened Armor and/or procing the vDSA weapon set via taunting. Keeping 100% uptime on Turn Evil/AoE heals also ensures additional damage mitigation. While casting heals/AoEs on the staff bar, you are only 4k under the resistance cap (6% damage mitigation).

***ATTRIBUTES:

- Magicka: 0

- Health: 39

- Stamina: 25

***Other Sets to Alternate:

• I used Arkasis’s Genius (Stone Garden dungeon heavy set) in place of Livewire when running vMHK HM. It allows the tank to keep up with dps Ultimate regen so the dps don’t need to slow down the burn. It also provides great group ultimate regen.
• Using Wyrd Tree’s Blessing in place of Livewire helped me tank vLoM HM w/o needing a healer to purge me.
• You definitely still need a very competent healer for vSG HM & vBRP in addition to great group coordination. I had mine even running Guard from the Support skill tree for vSG HM. All of the dps ran Shuffle too. This HM stretches any build/group to its limits. Best of luck.
• I find myself keeping Winter's Respite on 99% of the time because it makes the build, but you can run Roar of Alkosh instead if you’re main tanking a trial. The primary gear setup for this build is great for off-tanking veteran trials though. (You’re almost a 3rd healer that helps make the adds vanish.)
• When progressing challenger content on some dungeons, I sometimes used Brands of Imperium in place of Livewire and/or Earthgore in place of Tremorscale, but I now almost exclusively utilize the primary gear sets. (I typically role with 3 stamina dps when running dungeons. Everything just melts, and we just sprint through DLC dungeon content, regularly just skipping mechanics and straight burning bosses, even on dungeons like vMHK.)

***PURPOSE OF BUILD:

This build is the culmination of ~3,000hrs of tanking experience, an extensive review of all of the current in-game gear sets, and a 4-month build process. It serves as a universal PvE tank/healer hybrid that allows you to maximize group dps and run most dungeons without a healer. It has been vetted in all veteran DLC dungeon challenger content (no-deaths, hard modes, speed-runs), group arenas including vBRP (still need a healer), and veteran trials (off-tank). It has allowed me to complete all dungeon challenger content without a healer except for 4 HM’s (FV, MGF, IR, & SG) and 2 no-death runs (DoM & MGF). The set synergy and ability bar layout facilitate the hardest group content ESO has to offer. From damage mitigation to heals, group damage buffs, enemy resistance & damage debuffs, crowd control, and group resource sustain, there is little this tank build can’t do. This is the pinnacle of tanking. This is… “The Tank You Deserve”.

Champion Point Tips

***USE OF ABILITIES:

*Abilities are laid out on their respective bars for ease of use with a controller.

Enemy crowd control/debuff Front Bar:

• Use Green Dragon Blood as your primary self-heal when at low health. Opt for using Pierce Armor to proc your ~7k instant heal from The Master's Perfected set when you are only missing a bit of health. Green Dragon Blood is a % based heal, so it will not replace much of your health if it already isn't very low. Don't waste magicka.
• Maintain 100% uptime on Hardened Armor in order to maximize your resistances when swapping to your more vulnerable staff bar.
• Use Heroic Slash to generate some ultimate and debuff boss damage by 5% for 12sec.
• Use Unrelenting Grip to chain in enemies for your group to stack DoTs on prior to using Turn Evil to CC them. Stack em tight! 
• Use Pierce Armor as your melee taunt/an enemy debuff to get up group penetration by ~9k. Again, it can also be used as a ~7k self-heal when procing The Master's Perfected set.
• Use your Magma Shell Ultimate if shit is just hitting the fan and you need to go God Mode for a bit.
• Notes: I sometimes slot Energy Orb in place of Unrelenting Grip during boss fights with few adds (i.e. vDoM) as a directional AoE heal (~1,100hp/sec in 8m radius + ~4,600hp from synergy) and group resource sustain ability (~4k mag or stam on synergy). This build puts out a minimum of ~4,500hp/sec and maximum of ~9,100hp/sec when Earthgore procs (if using it) & an Energy Orb is up (in addition to the other ground based heals). This maximum doesn’t even include the Energy Orb synergy, critical healing, or self-heals.

- Group healing/damage buff Back Bar:

(This bar in tandem with the aforementioned set pieces virtually makes you a tank healer and notably buffs group dps. Swap to this bar whenever your AoE heals/debuffs expire to recast them ~every 20 sec or whenever you need to use the ranged taunt. Otherwise, stay on your shield bar to be more tanky/group enemies.)

• Keep Blockade of Storms up on add groups as well as the boss to maximize Off Balance uptime when Concussion procs on the Livewire set every 6 sec.
• Keep 100% uptime on Turn Evil to maximize your group’s resistances. Your resistances should be high enough regardless though. This ability grants 5% damage mitigation and 20% stamina recovery in an 8m AoE in addition to fearing all enemies within for 5sec. Recast it to fear/CC enemies after grouping them. DO NOT spam it.
• Use Overflowing Altar as your primary heal. This is this build's #1 ability. The synergy is unbeatable given that it instantly heals 65% of your teammates' missing health. This is also a ground based heal that does about ~700 hp/sec, so it will proc Winter's Respite (another ~2,700 hp/sec). Lay this down when you need extra heals yourself or to protect melee dps during boss fights. Always throw this down to proc Winter's Respite when doing large add pulls. This is the beauty of this build. Stack every add you can and you'll have all the heals and DoTs on the same convenient spot. Group survivability while pulling large trash groups is unparalleled. Feel free to spam this ability if your group is getting hammered. The health it costs to cast is immediately replaced by the Winter's Respite procing.
• Use Cinder Storm as your ranged AoE heal (~1,100hp/sec). You can also use this ability to proc Winter's Respite at range on teammates, and it is fantastic to cover reviving allies. You can also just stack this heal on your other heals for intense healing. Always cast this on teammates behind the boss when you have it turned away from them. (It also snares enemies by reducing their movement speed by 70%.)
• Use Inner Rage as your ranged taunt or main taunt if you happen to be out of stamina or chilling on your heal bar. DO NOT spam it.
• Use your Aggressive Horn Ultimate during execute phase on bosses or whenever available during trials to buff group resources by 10% and critical damage by 20% for a short time.

***Champion Points:

*Feel free to adjust these at your own discretion, but this is what seems to work best w/ this build. I strongly recommend adhering to the following allocation:

- The Tower

• Bashing Focus: 50 (helps with stamina sustain while getting interrupts; spamming bash during execute does the most dps)
• Warlord: 25

- The Lover

• Mooncalf: 40
• Arcanist: 40
• Tenacity: 40

- The Shadow

• Shadow Ward: 75 (ESSENTIAL for all tanks)

- The Apprentice

• Blessed: 82
• Elfborn: 82 (both to maximize heals w/ build sets)

- The Atronach

• Master-at-Arms: 56

- The Ritual

• Mighty: 50

- The Steed

• Ironclad: 72 (paramount for tanks)
• Spell Shield: 11

- The Lady

• Hardy: 43
• Elemental Defender: 43

- The Lord

• Heavy Armor Focus: 58
• Quick Recovery: 43 (can transfer to Bastion if using Brands of Imperium to increases strength of damage shield)

***PASSIVES:

- All class passives: Ardent Flame, Draconic Power, and Earthen Heart

- All One Hand & Shield passives

- All Heavy Armor passives

- Intimidating Presence and Banish the Wicked passives in Fighters Guild

- All Undaunted passives

- All racial passives

- Medicinal Use passive in Alchemy

- Gourmand passive in Provisioning

***POTIONS:

- Tri-Stat Pots (Immovability Pots if you need to get revives in the presence of knockback effects)

***FOOD:

- Bewitched Sugar Skulls or Purple Tri-Stat Food

***RACE:

Use whatever race you want with this build, but keep in mind max stats may vary accordingly with racial passives. I consciously chose Khajiit for this build because they do 10% more critical healing and have a nice uniform 825 max stat increase passive, but there are other great tank/healer races.

Build Rating