Returning with a simple question

[Darias]

It's been a roughly a year or so since I played Rift. ( I pre-ordered almost exactly when it was available).

Ive always enjoyed tanking, so naturally the warrior calling drew me in.

My first character ever was a reaver main, I dont remember the whole build. Back then, I didn't really look at the forums, but eventually started browsing them, i rarely post anywhere, I just like to read up.

Anyways, something I noticed is that certain builds are "required/ the only viable build" (38reaver comes to mind, at least from what Ive been reading for 1.8/1.9).

Now my question is, are the "viable" builds are the only ones that will work,despite the players skill? Or is it just the easiest/most effective?

The thing about rift is the number of possibilities will the souls, and I'm not a hardcore gamer, i just like to play from time to time, but after reading these topics, it seems like only certain builds are accepted.

Is it possible to tank without using said builds? Like some random assortment of just enjoyable souls?
Obviously they wouldn't be extremely stupid, but they'd be different, like a reaver/bm build or something to that effect?

[kode9]

Really depend on what you're doing

If you're running experts dungeons, tier 1 raids, open world, etc, play the builds you have fun with, as long as you do your job.

If you're aiming for the last HL content, then yes you'll have to take the most effective builds available.