2h tank possible

[Draugkir]

I couldn't agree more about the melee clerics being boring, I tried it after hearing that they were pretty good.... Couldn't do it.

they nice till 25 or so tho.. but then.. y boring

[Kierono10]

Eh?!

http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=0c...0o.E0Mu0sis0rz

The vindicator part definitely, but I wouldn't bother going into Champion since none of those talents help for tanking, except for the extra threat you'd make from the extra damage. Would be more useful to go into Warlord, since you're going to want as much mitigation from talents as possible to make up for the Armour loss of not having a Shield.

[Kink]

Don't get me wrong, but if I would be a healer, and see a tank charging in without a shield (50% less armor or something, thus way more damage taken), I would simply refuse to heal.

Shield gives you 50% armour more, therore it contributes 33% of your total armour. its about 9% less melee damage, but then the guy with the 2hander could have talents reducing all damage by 10% and the guy with the shield may not (if he is RB spec for example). Plus, what if your only warrior is a champion, poor little fella is gonna charge in and explode =(.

[isidiel]

Shield gives you 50% armour more, therore it contributes 33% of your total armour. its about 9% less melee damage, but then the guy with the 2hander could have talents reducing all damage by 10% and the guy with the shield may not (if he is RB spec for example). Plus, what if your only warrior is a champion, poor little fella is gonna charge in and explode =(.

is not just 9% less melee, is 9% + another 20-30% from block (when you block ofc) that can be eventually upgraded by another 20% with pally buffs... but the point is that this 9% dmg reduction + block is there for pretty much every build and, as there is not any specific 2h tanking skill, a 2h tank is always worse than a shield tank using the same build

[Stokesey]

You can try: http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=1c...zkVfk.xG0x0cMM

It only utilizes 2 souls for talents and the 3rd for the passive abilities (Battlefield Distraction, 5% chance for the mob to miss, Warlord). It relies on minimizing the dmg you receive to keep the 20% Death dmg buff up from Entropic Embrace (which increases the dmg of Soul Sickness and Creeping Death which increases the healing received from Soul Feast+Soul Devourer, paired with Rift Fury (+37.4% Dmg on non physical abilities (Riftblade)), which in turn gives a nice healing buffer so your healers shouldnt stress to much about the damage you do receive. Hate to say it and compare between MMO's but it should play much like a similar themed class from the 800lbs gorilla in the MMORPG clubhouse

Quick Summary of perks:

16%-25% Physical Dmg Reduction (15% Passive, +1-10% based on ability use)
-Imbued Armor (5% Dmg Reduction, Reaver)
-Avatar of Water (10% Dmg Reduction /w Improve Avatar, Riftblade)
-Power from the Masses (1% Dmg reduction per target when using an AoE ability, upto 10%, Reaver)

25%-34% Spell Dmg Reduction (24% Passive, +1-10% based on ability use)
-Imbued Armor (5% Dmg Reduction, Reaver)
-Avatar of Water (10% Dmg Reduction /w Improve Avatar, Riftblade)
-Crest Mastery (9% Spell Dmg Reduction, Reaver)
-Power from the Masses (1% Dmg reduction per target when using an AoE ability, upto 10%, Reaver)

6% Parry (Passive)
-Elemental Deflection (6% Parry, Riftblade)

+20% Dmg Reduction when below 30% health (Passive)
-Power in the Blood (Reaver)

+20.24% Maximum Health (Passive)
-Gift of the Reaver (0.46% per point spent in Reaver Tree, Reaver)

Thats just in mitigation. If you include all the buffs giving increased non-physical dmg which further feeds your healing received from Soul Feast/Devour you are getting a pretty decent amount of EH (Effective Health).

It's really going to boil down to your playstyle and your healers and your skill level and gear. Theres a couple more builds that could work in theory, but then again every potential buld is in theory considering we havent seen end game content yet. So just play what works for you and find a good guild of friends to play with so you will enjoy the game that much more.

[Shieldy]

hmm i didnt even think that rift fury would modify your death damage but i dont see why not, that doesnt look half bad. im gonna try and see what i can pull off with a reaver heavy build and go from there.

[Kierstad]

I'm not at all sure about that. They have a few talents related directly to block percentage.

That aside if you really don't want a shield, the warrior pvp soul (vindicator) seems to have a talent that allows you to block without it.

The Art of Defense: You can block without having a shield equipped.

Now granted you'd need to put 15 points into a pvp soul and at least five of those are useless in pve situations but if it works you could try something like this.

http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=1c...EzqthukVfk.V0M

To me Art of Defense seems more like something thrown in for an Off-Tank Raid build. Seriously, with the way that current armor and damage mitigation works, and the fact that you don't get any Toughness rated gear until 50, tanking with out a shield on any serious content is not a good idea.
You might be able to survive elite trash, and maybe a sub-boss or two. But when you get into content that finally has some serious AI scripting, where you really need reactionary block abilities and the additional armor from a shield...I just don't see it working out so well.

Perhaps if you got to the point where your armor rating and toughness were high enough you didn't need to rely on str and block, it might work, but my gut instinct tells me to stay away.

On the other hand, if you are looking at tanking lower level content (say doing Fall of Lantern Hook at lvl 50) it might be doable with a main healer and off healer in the group.

[Lotusfreek]

Justicar (cleric tank) can be a 2h tank. You lose 3% damage reduction without a shield, but gain more threat. I would love to see a 2h warrior tank work though. Would be cool.