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Considering playing... Class question... Tank?
Laughing-man
Member RarePosts: 3,654
in Everquest II
So I was considering giving EQ2 a shot with a few of my friends, I normally play a tank class in every game I pick up.
Was looking to play a cat person... I was a mithra in FFXI and I've always enjoyed having a tail. If anyone could give me advice on what classes tank well in this game.
Thank you very much for your time ^,^
Comments
Your standard "warriors" are:
Guardian and Berserker, Guard being the more defensive warrior and Zerker the more DPS warrior.
Then you have your "mitigation tanks":
Monks and Bruisers. There are some slight differences but the both "tank" by dodging, but neither really tank well.
Finally you have your "Crusaders":
Paladin and Shadowknight. Paladin is what you would expect, a holy warrior with buffs and holy spells, where a SK is the opposite a warrior with lifetaps and disease spells.
If you want a straight tank, I'd say go guardian.
Monks and Bruisers are "Avoidance" tanks. The others, crusaders and warriors, are mitigation tanks with plate mail. Otherwise, right on, guardians are defensive tanks, zerkers are offensive tanks, and the crusaders, shadowknight and paladin, are hybrids that use spells. Paladins heal like clerics while Shadowknights drain life like necros.
"Granted thinking for yourself could be considered a timesink of shorter or longer duration depending on how smart..or how dumb you are."
Monk and bruisers require a lot more gear to tank then the Plate tanks. That being said a zerker will require better gear then a paladin or guard to hold agro the same. I play a zerker it took a while to get to the point that I could reliably hold agro off some of the high end toon with mythicals. Paladins and Guards get an advantage with a few skills. However with a dirge/assassin/coercer any tank can appear to be a golden god. So see how your group will turn out and then decide from there. best tank is the tank that fits his groups style.. Me I well i play a Barb zerker who you can always count on to rush into..more mobs then anyone in the group thinks we can kill and start AEing and swinging my weaopns like a mad man... So choose a class that fits your style and remember gear is king in this game.
at any rate you may find you need to roll a few different tanks before you get what you like. All tanks can tank some just need a little more attention. I play on crushbone PM me here if you need any help in game
Glad to see you looking at joining EQ2! As for tanks, the most powerful tank for leveling right now is the Shadowknight. It is a highly powerful dps tank with exceptional survivability.
www.PHARONE.com
Glad to see you looking at joining EQ2! As for tanks, the most powerful tank for leveling right now is the Shadowknight. It is a highly powerful dps tank with exceptional survivability.
is this true? Last time I played EQ2, Shadowknights were pretty much the one class that was never needed/wanted in any group as they didnt bring anything. I may have to break out my old lvl 36 SK if this is the case
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a robot foot stomping on a human face -- forever."
SKs are in better shape now. Around the time of TSO launch they got a major buff. They are still the no 4 of the plate tanks for survival. Paladin and Guards tend to live longer then SKs and Zerkers.
I had heard that EQ2 has settings in its options that make the play control a little less like LOTRO and a little more like WoW.
(As in I don't like the auto target auto face thing...)
Can't find the option to turn this off can anyone help me out?
Oh also
Guardian vs Paladin what really is the difference?
Like if I wanted to DPS could either one ALSO DPS its not just pidge holed into tanking?
Is one better for leveling?
Is one better for endgame tanking (Like for max/min players you know what I mean)
Also is there a race that is best for takning?
Well out of the two I would say if you'll be levelling up with your friends, paladin would probably be more enjoyable. Guardians use a combination of damage/threat generation moves to hold aggro while paladin aggro comes from a combo of the two and an ability, Amend (to the best of my recollection), that takes a % of a party member's threat. In small groups it is a delight as you don't have to fight for aggro if you just throw it on the damage happy caster or scout.
Endgame tanking I'd say paladins are best at small, quick encounters and pickup-groups. Guardian is your traditional raid tank, and really excel at those long, drawn out encounters. Both have a place in raids though, and our guild used all of the plate tanks while covering the KoS, EoF (previous expansions) and Kunark content up until Veeshan's Peak. Been a bit since I've played, but go with what has more flavor for you.
One important factor -- are your friends going to be evil? Guardian can be good or evil, paladin is only good. Not too big of a deal later on, but you will be based in different areas of the game.
And racial decision is a purely aesthetic decision.
Best o' luck to you
I'll try to answer your last 2 posts.
First for shutting off auto facing. go to options/controls/view options. Then un-check the box that says Enable combat auto face avatar.
For the differences between Guardian and Paladin.
Guardian- probablyy the best raid tank in the game. Lots of defensive buffs, decent single target damage, awesome taunts. They can duel weld weapons for extra dps. but their specialty is sword and board. Only one role though, main tank.
Paladin- Healing for self and group mates. Decent aoe damage. Can do diferent roles. Can be a healer, an off dank and can play limited dps. If specked right with certain AA trees.
In my opinion they both level about the same. combat seems slow for both classes till about level 40 then they get much better.In my opinion Paladins are more fun to play due their versatility and how they play as a main tank. Guradians rely on damage and taunts to keep agro on them. Paladins need damage, taunts and healing to do the same job.
For end game if your talking about raiding then guardian is the best. However if you join a guild that has been raiding the chances are high they have their guradians. Paladin might be a better option for end game to be an off tank/healer.
As for which race would be best. It really doesn't matter. Some races might have some racial traits that might benefit a tank more than others but it is not enough to justify a best race. Any race can play any class. So pick a race you don't mind looking at.
Now mind you I'm biased. I think the shadownight is the best tank in the game. Although not many agree with me.
So good luck wwith you choice, and most of all have fun.
I was curious about SK then... Why do you like it?
From my understanding it seems to be a melee DPS class that can off tank, am I mistaken?
I see the point of a Paladin being more versitile so it probably gets more raiding done, I wonder if paladin is more played too... hmmm
Thank you all for your advice ^.^
SK are a Tank class not a melee DPS, they just happen to be overpowered at the moment due to SOE and its fix Underpowered Classes by making them Overpowered Classes.
Seriously if you want to raid end game, you need to forget Tanks all together.
There are 100s if not 1000s all ready wanting a Raid Tank spot and limited Tank spots to go around and alot of thoose waiting inline for their chance are very good tanks.
You will find it very very hard to get into a Raid Guild with a fighter, any fighter.
Besides from that don't role a Monk or a Bruiser, its pointless.
Don't roll a Zerker nobody wants more than they already have.
Xanrn is mostly correct.
Shadownight's are over powered right now. They are a plate tank on the evil side. They are a spell/melee cllass with life taps and have a few damage over time spells. They have a good amount of area of effect spells/.combat arts. Right now because of their being over powered then can fill a few rolls. Main tank for groups. Off tanks for groups and raids. and can run as a dps class. They are the evil crusader, where Paladin is the good side crusader.
I just always found shadow nights to be fun.... Even when they were the weakest tank. I found them challenging to play and so enjoyed them.
While there are quite a few tanks looking for raid spots. I am pretty sure you should be able to find a guild that can use your serveices.
So again have fun.
SKs are not even close to being Overpowered as in stands they have just started to become on par with other tanks.
Paladins at end game can be a raid MT. Guards are a traditional tank type. Duel wielding wont help them as much as you might think they do have some skills to take hate from others and they until the very end game have the most 'oh sh*t" type skills. Paladins who try and heal a lot during a fight and tank will find they run low on power fast or they lose dps. Amends as it stands wont remain what it is now after the fighter changes are completed.
Zerkers, rather GOOD zerkers are in short supply. Poorly played ones are common and most guilds rarely want to take a chance on a tank. I spent all night Tuesday reteaching a zerker how to play his class because he got very bad info from another zerker. Guilds are generally over filled with tanks or brawlers wanting to DPS.
Question you need to be asking yourself is Do you want to be a DPS/AE tank or do you want to be a more traditional MeatShield? DPS tanks being Zerkers and SKs. Meatshield types being Guards and Paladins.
You are trying to fill a roll in a specific group so joining a guild may not matter as much to you until the end game. One thing to remember in EQ2 if you dont like your class you can betray to the mirror. SK could become a Paladin Guard can be a Zerker. This does require you to change your city alignment.
This is not to say that a guard and paladin cant put up some decent DPS numbers. SKs and Zerkers are just built more towards the offensive end of the tanking spectrum.
I have been raid tanking in EQ2 for a long time and the most common thing I see happening is solo players never grouping getting to 80 with few AA and wanting to join a raid guild and tank. You will have a huge advantage over them. My best advice would be take it slow build your AA, learn your class, learn your groups classes, learn what everyone does, positioning etc of mobs and how to move them. When it comes time you will be lvl 80 tank that people want to group/raid with.
-samous