1.8 Warrior Tanking Guide & Information

[Nazalit]

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1.8 Warrior Tanking Guide & Information

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Contents

1. Introduction
2. The Art of Tanking
3. Mitigation & Stats
4. Consumables
5. Soul Tree's
6. Starting Up!
7. Current Party & Raid Content *NEW*
8. Caps
9. Planar Attunement
10. Builds & Macro's
11. Debuff Priority
12. Useful Links
13. Thanks

1. Introduction

Hi, and welcome!

I guess as its a introduction I should introduce myself, I'm Nazalit, born 2 days into the pre-release head-start event on the Cinderon shard (now a trial shard). I moved to Blightweald a few months later where a few friends and I merged into a guild called "Elysium", clearing all raiding content pre HK release.

After sometime there, I moved to Bloodiron were I found myself main tanking for a guild called "The Convicted". Clearing 10/11 HK before any nerfs were implemented and started on akylios progression. Unfortunately things took a turn for the worse and akylios wiped us irl. After taking a short break (5-6 months) I'm back and I cant find anything on these bloody forums, which lead me to this guide thingy I've made for everyones viewing pleasure.

I've designed it to be useful for everyone. New tanks, old tank, bad tank, good tanks and ofcourse TNAKS. Feedback is welcome and encouraged and I will try to answer any question anyone has, no matter how silly the question may be.

Note : All these [spoiler]'s look horrible but it was purely to save space and break it down abit as I hate seeing posts that are just one long wall of text.

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2. The Art of Tanking

This section focus's on a few of the key things that make us tanks & a little insight to how they work. It also touches on some things rarely discussed within the tanking circle.

Threat

Spoiler!

Threat is a kind of stat you gain while attacking a enemy, it is used to determine who that enemy is targeting and attacking. Physical damage, spell damage, healing and generally anyone doing anything while in combat with that enemy(s) will generate threat. When the enemy(s) has a target, that target (hopefully you, the tank) will have "Aggro" on the enemy. This is one of the jobs of the tank, to gain initial Aggro and maintain your threat levels to keep Aggro.

If you struggle with threat there are many +threat talents in almost all the tanking soul tree's that will help. If you are still having issues it can be down to a few reasons. the most common issues are dps that go all out crazy before you have initial Aggro established or you are using the wrong abilities/bad spec.

Taunting

Spoiler!

Taunting is the use of abilitys such as Sergeant's Order & Shield Throw. We also have AoE Taunts that can taunt up to 10 enemies within a short range.

The way taunts work it fairly simple. a Taunt will hit the target like any normal ability but makes the enemy attack you instead, this is called fixate and last 3 seconds. Taunts also generate you threat as well as the fixate, so your threat will be slightly higher than the enemies previous target (Aka, the other tank).

As of Patch 1.5, all travel time on Taunts was removed, so instead of Taunting then waiting for 2 seconds for it to hit then get Aggro, you can now Taunt and instantly have Aggro.

Taunts are subject to diminishing returns, and can only be used three times before an enemy becomes immune to future Taunts for 20 seconds from previous Taunts.

Pulling

Spoiler!

Pulling is the term for entering combat with the enemy(s) and gaining the initial threat on them. Pulling is a skill in itself and a very important one at that, understanding the enemy you are pulling is key for a successful pull E.g does he do ranged attacks, does he move, is there objects or abilities I need to avoid. The 3 main pulls you will be using as a tank are single target pulls, multi target pulls and LoS pulls (Lose of Sight).

Single target pulls are generally the easier of the 3, the one down side to single target is that your dps party/raid members will be focusing the single target down as soon as you enter combat. The ability to gain as much threat as possible from the first few hits is key, the last thing you want is a dps to pull Aggro from you as it means you are not doing you job correctly or the dps was trigger happy, in which case its their fault.

Multi target pulls can be both easy and difficult depending on the group of enemies you are pulling. If you pack consists of purely melee using enemies the pull will be very simple and they will be within your melee range so keeping aggro on them will be simple enough.

Packs with casters or packs that are widely spread can be difficult , using abilities such as Sergeant's Order can grab the caster enemy into melee range instantly so you can start gaining Threat. If the pack consists of more than 1 caster the general idea is to pull from 1st caster and get any melee mobs next to him, then Sergeant's Order or get another party/raid member to silence the 2nd cast to bring him to you.

LoS pulls are for when you need to move a pack or single target away from its current location but the enemy(s) do ranged attacks e.g casters. The Idea is to attack the enemy(s), usually from ranged, and then position yourself behind a object where the enemy(s) cannot see you. This means they will be forces to run to the object you are behind to try and get back into sight of you.

There are 2 main downfalls to this skill. 1st is your party, if you don't state you will be LoS pulling prior to doing it, the dps and healer will usually start attacking/healing and generate threat on the enemy(s). This is obviously bad because you are behind a object unable to attack and may course confusion and usually deaths within the party/raid.

The 2nd is the object you are hiding behind. Usually walls or solid objects of similar nature are pretty safe to use LoS pulls on but there are a few places that the enemy(s) will still be able to attack you even if you are behind something E.g Tree's, Box's. The best way to check if your unsure is for you to go behind the object, LoS of the enemy and see if you can attack the enemy with an ability as the same rule applies to us and them regarding attacking through objects.

Positioning

Spoiler!

There are a few simple rules regarding positioning of enemies and yourself when it comes down to multi target & single target fights.

First is don't have your back to the enemy, you cannot Block or Parry from behind and you will be endangering yourself by losing all that avoidance.

Second is knowing your enemy, being aware of abilities and possibly any objects that may be in your path thought the encounter and being ready to adjust to it appropriately. Also any other enemies that may be around or patrolling the area.

Third is Cleaves, generally most melee enemies cleave (hits more than 1 target in front of it), to avoid your melee dps taking damage from cleaves you will need to position the enemies with their back to your party/raid.

Fourth is being aware of your party/raids position, the last thing you want to do is move cleaving mobs into a large group of people and course unnecessary damage to them or killing them.

With all of these in mind you can judge for yourself where you should position yourself and the enemies that are aggro'd onto you to best suit the situation.

Backpeddling & Keyboard Turning

Spoiler!

Backpeddling is the term used for moving backwards using your keyboard (usually the "S" key). Backpeddling is generally frowned upon due to its slow movement compared to turning and running forwards (going backwards is ruffly half as fast as going forwards). Due to not being able to Block & Parry from behind, backpeddling is unavoidable for tanks at times but can be avoided at the same time.

Generally tanks use both keyboard turning/backpeddling and mouse turning together depending on the situation. An example of this is when a boss stops all melee attacks such as channeling a spell or turns to a party/raid member briefly to apply a debuff, provided the enemy is not using melee attacks during this time it is safe to turn your back but to be safe you will most likely want to be facing your enemy, which brings us to backpeddling.

Due to some enemies needing to be kited or moved and adding the fact we cannot Block or Parry from behind we will need to backpeddle and use the left (A) & right (D) keys to move it backwards and/or to the sides. The best example of this that I can think of is the Grugonin fight in Hammerknell, watch the tanks through the video and it will give you an idea of what we are trying to touch on here.

Be Loud, be Vocal

Spoiler!

Communication between the tank(s) and the raid is a key ingredient for a successful raid/party. A tank will usually be thinking ahead of himself on encounters, and example of this is Murdantix in Hammerknell where both tanks need to keep track of there debuff and taunt the boss off each other when the debuff is at a certain amount, usually stating that he is Taunting so the healers can switch target and the other tanks knows to move out. Later on in the fight circles will start to spawn on the floor, sometimes in melee and the tank will have to reposition the boss accordingly.

To reposition a boss effectively you will have to plan on where you are moving him and let your party/raid know when your moving him (preferably by vocal communication). If theres any party/raid member in the places you are planning to move the boss, you will have to communicate that the person needs to move aswell.

Overall voice communication for a tank in my opinion is a MUST, it is a invaluable tool to have in a raiding environment. You can pick up cheap mic's from many stores and they are usually plug and play.

In a raid you normally will find the most vocal people will be Raid Leader -> Assistant Raid Leader -> Tanks -> Everyone Else!

See Useful Links for popular voice communication software widely used within rift.

Taking The Good With The Bad

Spoiler!

Being a tank at times can be very easy and at other times very stressful. Each encounter you come across will be different, every pull will be different, every group you join will be different, you will need to adjust your play style to the situation a lot of the time. This is one of the reasons skilled tanks are highly regarded because of there ability to make a informed decision on how to pull, move, reposition and maximize their survivability at any given moment during a encounter.

On the other hand the tank can be subject to a lot of negative comments and feedback from other party/raid. This is down to there only being 1 or 2 tanks in a party/raid so we seem to get focus blamed for mistakes made (sometimes even when there was nothing we could do). For example, if a tank dies we usually blame the healers, not one single healer, but all 5-6 of them so the blame is shared. When a tank tries to re position and a number of party/raid member get killed the blame is purely on the tank (even though the melee should of been aware of possible movement).

This is another good reason for voice communications, to avoid blame being put on you when it isn't your fault because you will be physically telling everyone what you will be doing there for it is there responsibility to react to it.

Not A One Man Army

Spoiler!

Despite your appearance and rather large health pool, you are not immortal. You work with your party/raid and never against them. Yes it is widely regarded that tanks are the backbone of any good raid but what is a backbone without the rest of the body? All members of a party/raid bring value and should not be ignored, no one person is less or more valuable than the next person.

Debating who does more X or does more Y is pointless because without each other we wouldn't do anything. Different situations require different classes/roles to do different things so there is not way of measuring who does more or less of anything.

Confidence is good but be careful as over confidence will get you killed. Believe it or not but being confident as a tank will make you better, you will start to pull faster, understand your party/raids limitations and start doing things without even thinking about it.

Over confidence (arrogance) is the plague of MMO's. When someone starts to think they are more important than everyone else it usually leads onto conflicts within party/raids. In my opinion anyone that feels like telling everyone they are more valuable to the party/raid should be removed (no matter what their role is) without question, Thus making their value 0 because they are no longer in the party/raid.

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3. Mitigation & Stats

Passive Mitigation : Buffs or stats that grant a 100% chance at reducing damage, they do not avoid damage but only reduce it. An example of passive mitigation is your Armor, Reavers Binding of Death ability & your Resistance to spell magic damage.

Avoidance : Avoidance stats are Dodge, Parry, Chance to be Missed & Chance to Resist Magic Damage via Resistance. All of these abilities completely remove all incoming damage and the effect of the abilities but it generally has a low chance and can be unreliable at times.

Block : Block is in a league of its own. Its a chance like avoidance but only reduces the damage by its absorb amount like passive mitigation. Due to the high amount of block we can achieve through equipment & other means we usually have a lot of this. Its not until we start to reach the soft and/or hard cap for block (see Caps) that we will stop stacking it.

• You cannot Block or Parry attacks from behind
• You can Dodge attacks and be Missed by attacks from behind
• You can Dodge, Parry, and be Missed by Ranged attacks

See stat weights below.

Spoiler!

1 Endurance = 11 Health Points (16.5 with Gift)
1 Strength = 1 Block Rating & 1 Parry Rating
1 Dexterity = 1 Dodge Rating
1 Armor = 0.00514% Physical Damage Reduction
1 Block = 0.04854% Chance
1 Block = 0.1369% Absorbed @ base but decreases Gradually (see Caps)
1 Dodge = 0.02369% Chance
1 Parry = 0.01618% Chance
1 Resistance = 0.1626% Damage Reduction @ base but decreases Gradually (see Caps)
1 Resistance = 0.10% Resist Chance

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4. Consumables

Endurance Vials - Heroic Enduring Vial or Mighty Enduring Vial
Endurance Food - Ember Steak, Feast of Efficacy or Gravemaker Steak
Healing Potions - Glorified Healing Potion or Mighty Healing Potion
Resistance Vials - Water, Fire, Earth, Air, Life & Death
Small Cool-down - Revitalization Seed
Shield - Razor Sharp Spikes or Earthen Shards (Tier 2 Earth PA)
Main Hand - Storm Glyph (Tier 2 Air PA), Blazing Rune or Exquisite Whetstone

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5. Soul Tree's

A brief look at the 4 main tanking tree's which give the "Gift" passive buff. Each tree gives the same amount of bonus and provided you have spent all your points in any of the tanking souls you will receive the maximum Gift buff. (50.16% HP increase, 19.5% Physical damage reduction & 25.08% non-physical damage reduction)

Warlord

Spoiler!

Primarily a support tree with utilities that can be handy in some situations. Due to the lack of mitigation & any useful buffs, debuffs or abilities beyond 20 points in the tree you wont be using this as your main soul tree unless it is required for certain boss mechanics E.g Rallying Command on heavy AoE damage.

Warlords main abilities are "Calls" & "Commands". These calls & commands will buff yourself and the raid/party. Here is a list with a little description.

Call to Battle - Increase party/raids spell power and attack power by X%
Call to Entrench - Reduces all damage taken by party/raid by 5%
Call to Regroup - Reduces generated threat of party/raid by 20%, increases your generation by X amount
Assault Command - Increases spell power and attack power of party/raid by 15%
Aid Command - Increases party/raid healing done by 15%, increases your healing received by X%
Rallying Command - Increases health & resists of party/raid by 25%

All commands give you and anyone effected by them a 5min debuff were they will not be able to receive the effects again for the duration of the debuff. Also note that Assault Command does NOT stack with flaring power. Using Battlefield Awareness buff will grant all your calls & commands threat to a maximum of 10 enemies within 10 meters, this makes warlord a very strong AoE soul tree as it is the only tree that gives you threat giving AoE finishers.

The last ability of interest is a AoE debuff, the only buff a tank can bring to a raid that no other class can. Cutting Distraction is a aura debuff that reduces the armor of all enemies by 5% within a large radius around you.

Reaver

Spoiler!

Reaver is based around its damage over time (DoT) abilities & self healing. It is currently recognized as the best mitigation tree at 38 points. This will be your main soul tree for single target bosss fights were max mitigation is needed, the down side to this soul tree is its lack of AoE damage as Plague Bringer will only increase the number of targets your DoT abilities hit by 5. The way around this is tab targeting and spamming your DoT abilities E.g Necrotic Wounds, Soul Sickness. Here is a list of the main abilities of Reaver.

Power From The Masses - When using abilities around party/raid members, you gain X% damage reduction
Enraged Essence - Aura party/raid buff, increases all damage done by 5%
Incite - AoE taunt, does not share cool-down with other AoE taunts
Plague Bringer - Makes DoT abilities hit a additional 5 enemies
Infestation - Reduces enemy damage done by 15% (when talented)
Soul Feast & Master of the Abyss - Self healing abilities

Reaver is the backbone of any passive mitigation orientated build due to Power From The Masses & Binding of Death. If you are looking to raid you will need a 38 Reaver build for most of the encounters or possibly if your a little under geared for experts. Be aware that the AoE threat is not great unless accompanied with a good AoE threat soul tree.

Paladin

Spoiler!

The paladin soul tree focus's on increasing block & the amount of damage a block will reduce. It also has a few handy abilities such as a instant full heal Touch of Life, a resurrection spell Life's Grace & a charge ability Shield Charge. Heres a list of other useful abilities.

Touch of Life - Instantly heals you for your total health, does not trigger GCD.
Shield of the Hero - Increases your hit by 5% of your current total & increases block by 5%
Light's Decree - AoE pulling ability for 5 enemies, damage original target to trigger its effect on other enemies.
Impassable Guard - The strongest cool-down vs physical damage.

Not only does the Paladin soul tree focus on block in its talent points but you also gain additional block from Aggressive Block & has numerous abilities that you can use when you block, such as Retaliation & Paladin's Reprisal. AoE threat can be a issue sometimes but with Balance of Power generating threat as enemies hit you and Sweeping Strike hitting 10 enemies making it much easier to control enemies that Reaver.

Void Knight

Spoiler!

The void Knight soul tree focus's around pacts, these pacts are gained by attacking , behind hit or being healed. You can also change attack points into pacts by using Pact Conversion. Depending on talents each pact will buff your str (block) and reduce non-magicall damage taken, you can also spend pacts on abilitys such as Fusion of Flesh & Rift Shield. here are a few other Void Knight abilities of interest.

Fusion of Flesh - powerful cool-down for non-physical damage
Singularity - 35% damage reduction to all damage taken
Rift Summon - Summons your target enemy to you
Spell Sunder - Removes 3 enemy buffs and you receive pacts if successful

Void Knight is a utility heavy tree, with a self cleanse Spellbreaker, purge Spell Sunder, AoE silence Shock Burst and 2 strong cool-downs. Its mitigation is about average compared with the other soul tree's and suffers heavy on the AoE threat. This tree is primarily used for its purge and cool-down on certain encounters.

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6. Starting Up!

This section will mainly focus on helping achieve gear levels, hints & tips and general advice to progress into higher tier levels faster.
If you are looking for a BiS list you can find it here and in the Useful Links section.

Ding! 50!

Spoiler!

As soon as you hit level 50 there will be an abundance of gear from Vendors, Crafter's, Experts & Rifts to choose from. The planarite vendor's are a good place to start, also Crafter's if you have any materials laying around. You can also equip a Crystal ones you have 2 or more of the same type of armor which helps boost your health pool.

Expert runs will be your main source of gear though, and running them will help define your tanking skills so I highly recommend you at least do your daily expert, not only for the daily bonus but to learn your class/skills as well. Your main focus right now is to gear up for the next tier of dungeon or raid and completing at-least a half decent core.

Source Machine's / Sigil's

Spoiler!

Vendor's in both main cities sell the 6 slot cores in exchange for planarite. In the same area there are other vendors who will sell you Lesser & Greater Essence which are fairly affordable now with the new essence out. Also jumping into a Daily Raid Rift (DRR) party might get you a few free Lesser Essence to tide you by.

Ideally you will want to save up for the BiS lessers then moving onto your full resists cores (Water/Fire/Life/Death/Earth/Air) after, fortunately due to nerf's across Tier 1 & Tier 2 content most tanks don't even need the resist cores anymore, specially if your using the correct builds (see Builds & Macro's). The main resist core's I would recommend you getting after or during getting your BiS core is Water & Fire for Hammerknell & Infernal Dawn.

Avoid all Great Essence unless totally needed. Lesser Essence (straight stats) are far better for you than some really bad proc that has a 2min internal cool-down. The only Greater Essence that might have a place is Reinforced Planar Lens if you are under the Toughness Cap but by using it you probably don't have the right gear for the tier in the first place.

Ready To Raid?

Spoiler!

Got your Toughness & Hit Cap for Tier 1 raids? (See Caps) Got your consumables? (see Consumables )....yes?...good, your ready to rock and roll.

!!!WAIT!!!

We almost forget THE most important thing of all, knowing your enemy! Knowing the tactics for the encounters before running into a raid is a massive help, specially for tanks. The last thing you want is to say you can tank something, fail miserably and get booted out of the group or the group disbands completely.

As the tank you are the member of the group that has to grab the bull by the horns and lead the group to success. Unfortunately as the tank when something does go wrong (whether it be your fault or just RNG) you will at some stage get the blame. Provided you learn from your mistakes and/or you can brush a little harsh criticism off your shoulders you will bounce back just find.

There are many sites with written and video guides all over the Internet. A personal favorite of mine and widely used by rift raiders is Rift Strats, there are also many videos on youtube (including a couple of me /flex). Also due to high gear levels of some members in raids you may be use different tactics to the written/video guides or guilds use slightly different methods, if you are unsure of the tactic's you will be using just ask your raid leader.

I know its hard to ask "what do I do" in front of 19 other people (even more so for a tank) but trust me, it less embarrassing than wiping the raid and everyone being angry at you or laughing at you.

So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.

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7. Current Party & Raid Content

Everything has been put into order of difficulty (Easiest to Hardest). For guides on each encounter I suggest Rift Strats, the official forums & youtube.

Normals

- Level Range Requirement -

Spoiler!

• The Realm of the Fae (RotF) 15-22
• The Iron Tombs (IT) 17-24
• Darkening Deeps (DD) 21-28
• The Deepstike Mines (DM) 24-31
• Foul Crusade (FC) 28-37
• Kings Breach (KB) 38-42
• Runic Descent (RD) 38-47
• The Fall of Lantern Hook (LH) 42-47
• Abyssal Precipice (AP) 48-50
• Charmer's Caldera (CC) 48-50
• Caduceus Rise (CR) 48-50

Experts

- 120 Hit & 100 Toughness Requirement -

Spoiler!

• Kings Breach (KB)
• Foul Crusade (FC)
• The Fall of Lantern Hook (LH)
• Runic Descent (RD)
• The Iron Tombs (IT)
• The Realm of the Fae (RF)
• Abyssal Precipice (AP)
• Charmer's Caldera (CC)
• The Deepstike Mines (DM)
• Darkening Deeps (DD)
• Caduceus Rise (CR)
• Upper Caduceus Rise (UCR)

Tier 1 Content

- 220 Hit & 150 Toughness Requirement -

Spoiler!

Raid Rifts -

• Growth of the Aelfwar (Life RR)
• Terror of Undeath (Death RR)
• Golden King's (Earth RR)
• Drakith Hatchery (Fire RR)
• Winds of Chaos (Air RR)
• Hunger of the Deep (Water RR)

Master Modes -

• Master Darkening Deeps (MDD)
• Master Caduceus Rise (MCR)

10man -

• Drowned Halls (DH)

- Assault Commander Jorb
- Joloral Ragetide
- Isskal
- Hydriss

• Gilded Prophecy (GP)

- Anrak the Foul
- Gruuloth
- Thalguur
- Uruluuk

20man -

• Greenscale's Blight (GB)

- Duke Letareus
- Infiltrator Johlen
- Oracle Aleria
- Prince Hylas
- Lord Greenscale

• River of Souls (RoS)

- Dark Focus
- Warmaster Galenir
- Plutonus
- Herald Gaurath
- Alsbeth the Discordant

Tier 2 Content

- 320 hit & 200 Toughness Requirement -

Spoiler!

Raid Rifts -

• Dragon's Gold (T2 Earth RR)
• Enkindled Sprite (T2 Fire RR)

10man -

• Rise of the Phoenix (RotP)

- Ereandorn
- Beruhast
- Gnereal Silgen
- Hight Priest Arakhurn

20man -

• Hammerknell (HK)

- Murdantix
- Soulrender Zilas
- Vladmal Prime
- Matron Zamira
- Sicaron
- Rune King Molinar
- Estrode
- Grugonim
- Inquisitor Garau
- Inwar Darktide
- Lord Jornaru and Akylios

Tier 3 Content

- 420 Hit & 250 Toughness Requirement -

Spoiler!

20man -

• Infernal Dawn (ID)

- Warboss Drak
- Ituziel
- Ember Conclave
- Maklamos the scryer
- Rusila Dreadblade
- Laethys
- Maelforge's Eggs
- Maelforge

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8. Caps

Hit & Toughness caps are fairly simple, in order to not miss a target at a certain tier level you will need the tier hit cap. In order to reduce the critical hit of a certain tier level to its normal damage (100%) you will need the tier toughness cap. Going above these caps will have no effect.

Block chance works a little differently. Ones you have the soft cap (includes raid buffs, not talents, abilities & self buffs) your block will suffer Diminishing Returns (DR). DR means you wont gain as much block from 1 point as you did prior to the soft cap. even though you will be losing out on block due to the soft cap it is still widely recognized that block is still the most desired stat until you have hit the Absorb hard cap (70%). Hard cap is self explanatory, you will not gain anything by going beyond it.

Block Absorb decreases per point of block by 0.00135% for every 1% absorb gained. this is ruff math but its either slightly lower or slightly higher but very close to the true value.

Resistance also works the same way as Block Absorb by decreasing the value when you get more. I have not narrowed down the number but it is so small it will not be a problem.

See caps below.

Spoiler!

Hit Cap
Experts - 120
Tier 1 - 220
Tier 2 - 320
Tier 3 - 420

Hit caps might not sound like a big deal but it is. Its fairly easy to obtain through gear & runes if needed. We also have talents in the Paladin tree if needed, but recommended not to use unless absolutely needed.

Toughness
Experts - 100
Tier 1 - 150
Tier 2 - 200
Tier 3 - 250

You do not need to go over these amounts. Higher toughness than the tier recommended does not further decrease the critical hits, it will remain the same amount as a normal hit.

Example:
Tier 3 boss crit hits for +500% damage, you have tier 3 cap (250, -500%), crit hit does normal damage.
Tier 3 boss crit hits for +500% damage, you have over tier 3 cap (272, -544%), crit hit does normal damage.

Block Chance
Soft Cap - 45%
Hard Cap - 60%

Block Absorb
Soft Cap - 60%
Hard Cap - 70%

It is recommended you keep stacking block as your main avoidance stat until you hit the absorb hard cap. Remember, the hard caps only applies to % gained from rating (gear & raid buffs), not +% bonuses (talents, self buffs & abilities)

Parry
Soft Cap - None
Hard Cap - 20%

Dodge
Soft Cap - None
Hard Cap - 40%

*Disclaimer* : Exact numbers many not be correct but as far I know as of this post 25/04/2012 they are correct or there abouts.


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9. Planar Attunement

Planar Attunement is an alternative advancement system introduced in Patch 1.5. Activated when a player reaches level 50, players earn experience points by questing, killing mobs and completing quests.

Each element currently has 2 tiers that are usable, you cannot open the 2nd tier until the 1st is complete. Although not 100% necessary, PA levels can be handy in end game raiding due to stat boosts and resistance increases. Each grid in a element provides +15 stats & 6 resistance. Here is a break down of what each tier provides for us as tanks if fully completed.

See Below.

Spoiler!

Earth = 30 Endurance + 12 Earth Resistance
Life = 30 Endurance + 12 Life Resistance
Fire = 30 Strength + 12 Fire Resistance
Death = 30 Strength + 12 Death Resistance
Water = 30 Dexterity + 12 Water Resistance
Air = 30 Dexterity + 12 Air Resistance

Total :

60 Endurance - 660 Health Points (990 with Gift)
60 Strength - 60 Block, 60 Parry ( 2.9124% block chance, 0.9708% Parry chance)
60 Dexterity - 60 Dodge ( 1.4214% dodge chance)
12 Resistance - 1.9512% Damage reduction @ base, 1.20% Resist Chance

Tier 2 Air & Death also give special abilities that are great for tanks. Storm Glyph in the air tier will give you +30 strength on your main-hand & Vampiric Essence from death will give you a small self heal (they do not stack). Here is my suggested path of Planar Attunement levels.

Air (till Storm Glyph) -> Earth -> Life -> Fire -> Death -> Air (Finish) -> Water

The reason I suggest Air first is because the avoidance you gain from the Dexterity & Strength from Storm Glyph will out way the 16 Endurance you would gain from putting the points into a Endurance element
(16 Dexterity + 30 Strength Vs 16 Endurance)

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10. Builds & Macro's

Here are some of the most common builds you will see in 1.8 so far. Each build has a purpose and excels in its main purpose above all other builds, which is why we use them (Duh!). there are many other builds you can use but these 4 are recommended for pure tanks.

Max Mitigation With Warlord 4set
38 Reaver / 20 Warlord / 8 Paladin

Spoiler!

This build is widely used and has been the max mitigation spec for the last 2 patch's (1.7 & 1.8). Using the finisher with 3 attack points each time you will keep a 100% up time on your warlord 4 set crystal (+3% damage reduction) therefor making this slightly better than the 38 reaver / 28 Void Knight/ 0 Paladin build. If you do not have any other class putting up the physical damage taken debuff (see debuffs) you can put Spotters Order in for Dire Blow in your finisher.

Threat is not a usually a issue but single target (depending on your dps) can sometimes be troublesome when pulling. Intercept is a invaluable tool that should not be over looked, along with Infestation which is your only damage reducing cool-down (-15% damage done by target).

Single Target & AoE Builder

#show Soul Sickness
suppressmacrofailures
cast Plague Bringer
cast Soul Sickness
cast Cyclone Strike
cast Promise of Steel
cast Blood Fever
cast Necrotic Wounds

Finisher

#show Call to Entrench
suppressmacrofailures
cast Call to Entrench
cast Call to Battle
cast Dire Blow
cast Retaliation

Max Mitigation Without Warlord 4set
38 Reaver / 28 Viod Knight / 0 Paladin

Spoiler!

The 2nd highest mitigation spec, or highest if you do not have the 4set tier 2 warlord crystal. This build is a must for all tanks even with the 4set crystal due to its purge which the 38 Reaver / 20 warlord / 8 Paladin build does not have.

Threat should not be a issue ones you have the DoT's rolling but on pulls it sometimes can be. You can also use Discharge as a single target puller on bosses at range if you are struggling to generate the initial threat.

Single Target

#show Pacifying Strike
suppressmacrofailures
cast Plague Bringer
cast Soul Sickness
cast Aggressive Block
cast Cyclone Strike
cast Tempest
cast Ragestorm
cast Pacifying Strike
cast Necrotic Wounds

AoE Builder

#show Blood Fever
suppressmacrofailures
cast Plague Bringer
cast Soul Sickness
cast Cyclone Strike
cast Tempest
cast Ragestorm
cast Blood Fever
cast Pact Conversion
cast Necrotic Wounds

Single Target & AoE Finisher

#show Pact Conversion
suppressmacrofailures
cast Pact Conversion

Heavy CD Build
44 Reaver / 22 Warlord / 0 Void Knight

Spoiler!

Rarely used unless absolutely needed for its heavy -35% damage taken reduction. Recommended to only use this build if you are getting one-shot by a boss by a single ability and the normal damage is more than heal-able/avoidable. Optionally you can drop 2 points out of Warlord and change Void Knight to Paladin for the extra block but I prefer the passive damage reduction.

Single Target & AoE Builder

#show Blood Fever
suppressmacrofailures
cast Plague Bringer
cast Soul Sickness
cast Promise of Steel
cast Cyclone Strike
cast Blood Fever
cast Necrotic Wounds

Single Target & AoE Finisher

#show Call to Entrench
suppressmacrofailures
cast Call to Entrench
cast Call to Battle
cast Dire Blow

Note : This build does not have a interrupt

Trash & Experts AoE Build
26 void Knight / 20 Warlord / 20 Paladin

Spoiler!

Title says its all. This spec is widely used as a Expert & trash build due to its overwhelming amount of AoE threat. I have also used this build for many bosses as the passive mitigation is still OK with decent equipment but not optimal. All your AoE abilities Generate huge threat and hit up to 10 enemies making this insane for mass pulling and speed runs, a couple hits from your builder followed by a finisher and the enemy is glued to you for life.

Single Target Builder

#show Reckless Strike
suppressmacrofailures
cast Aggressive Block
cast Tempest
cast Promise of Steel
cast Reckless Strike
cast Disarming Counterblow
cast Retaliation

AoE Builder

#show Promise of Steel
suppressmacrofailures
cast Tempest
cast Ragestorm
cast Sweeping Strike
cast Promise of Steel
cast Aggressive Block
cast Disarming Counterblow
cast Retaliation

Single & AoE Finisher

#show Call to Entrench
suppressmacrofailures
cast Call to Entrench
cast Call to Battle
cast Righteous Blow
cast Disarming Counterblow
cast Retaliation

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


11. Debuff Priority

All player debuffs have been assigned priorities within their stacking groups. Less powerful debuffs should no longer overwrite the more powerful ones within each category - the order below does not indicate overwrite priority within a group.

See Below

Spoiler!

ATTACK POWER DEBUFF 1
- Druid: Trickster Spirit
- Riftstalker: Rift Disturbance
- Saboteur: Debilitating Trap
- Paladin: Pacifying Strike

ATTACK POWER DEBUFF 2
- Archon: Waning Power
- Necromancer: Looming Demise

SPELL POWER DEBUFF 1
- Riftstalker: Rift Disturbance
- Saboteur: Debilitating Trap
- Paladin: Pacifying Strike

SPELL POWER DEBUFF 2
- Archon: Waning Power
- Necromancer: Looming Demise

ARMOR DEBUFF
- Marksman: Lightning Fury
- Ranger: Piercing Shot
- Saboteur: Splinter Charge
- Champion: Mark of Inevitability
- Warlord: Leader’s Mark
- Reaver: Ravaging Strike

PHYSICAL DAMAGE TAKEN DEBUFF 1
- Archon: Illuminate
- Chloromancer: Wild Growth
- Bard: Coda of Jeopardy
- Warlord: Spotter's Order

PHYSICAL DAMAGE TAKEN DEBUFF 2
- Shaman: Vengeance of the Piercing Cold
- Archon: Ashen Defense
- Bard: Coda of Cowardice

MAGIC DAMAGE TAKEN DEBUFF 1
- Inquisitor: Clinging Spirit
- Justicar: Censure
- Warlock: Neddra's Torture
- Saboteur: Embers Charge

MAGIC DAMAGE TAKEN DEBUFF 2
- Inquisitor: Spiritual Deficiency
- Archon: Crumbling Resistance
- Elementalist: Exposure
- Bard: Coda of Distress

INCREASED CASTING TIME DEBUFF
- Cabalist: Nebulous Haze
- Archon: Lingering Dust
- Dominator: Accelerated Decay

INCREASED CRITICAL HIT DEBUFF
- Sentinel: Luminous Gaze
- Assassin: Lethal Poison
- Champion: Mark of Extermination

REDUCED HIT CHANCE DEBUFF
- Ranger: Dire Wolf Howl
- Warlord: Battlefield Distraction
- Reaver: Blood Fever

CASTING COST INCREASE DEBUFF
- Dominator: Transference
- Druid: Slothful Spirit

STRENGTH AND DEXTERITY DEBUFF
- Archon: Pillaging Stone

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


12. Useful Links

• MealRain's Lvl 50 Warrior Tank and DPS BiS sheet (Ver 1.8.2 beta) - Click Here
• BlackholeX's Macro & commands Thread - Click Here
• Rift Junkies, Official Fan Site - Click Here
• Rift Zam, Rift Database - Click here
• Rift Zam, Planar Attunement - Click here
• Rift Zam, Soul Tree Builder - Click here
• Bluedots, More Guides - Click Here
• Rift Strats, Encounter Guides - Click Here
• Rift Strats, Raiding Progression Rankings - Click Here
• Curse, Addons - Click here
• Ventrillo, Voice Communication - Click Here
• Teamspeak, Voice Communication - Click Here
• Mumble, Voice Communication - Click Here

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


13. Thanks

Small section to thank select people or groups of people I may of linked to or possibly got some of the information from that I've used in this post (all of it found on public forums of course).

Trion for Rift
Voodoo for Rift Strats & Rift Progression
Rift Zam for database, PA builder & Soul Tree Builder
Radak for being Radak
MealRain for BiS Tank & Dps Spreadsheet
And everyone else I should of mention but can't think of atm

Many Thanks

Nazalit

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


---> Take Me To The Top <---

[Nazalit]

Updates - Dates & reason for edit -

• 27/04/12 - Fixed a few spelling errors, updated Endurance stats to include the Gift buff & fixed the macro's for the "Heavy CD Build".
• 27/04/12 - Added more information on Planar Attunement (Storm Glyph & recommend leveling)
• 27/04/12 - Added "Current Party & Raid Content" section. Also fixed a few broken links

[xTension]

Question to your "Heavy CD Build":
How can you use all these Void Knight abilities with 0 Points in this Soul? Maybe your posted macros are for another specc?

[Nazalit]

Question to your "Heavy CD Build":
How can you use all these Void Knight abilities with 0 Points in this Soul? Maybe your posted macros are for another specc?

Correct, I have thank you for noticing. I will change them when I can edit the post.

[Nazalit]

Original Macros are wrong, here is the updated version

Heavy CD Build
44 Reaver / 22 Warlord / 0 Void Knight

Spoiler!

Rarely used unless absolutely needed for its heavy -35% damage taken reduction. Recommended to only use this build if you are getting one-shot by a boss by a single ability and the normal damage is more than heal-able/avoidable. Optionally you can drop 2 points out of Warlord and change Void Knight to Paladin for the extra block but I prefer the passive damage reduction.

Single Target & AoE Builder

#show Blood Fever
suppressmacrofailures
cast Plague Bringer
cast Soul Sickness
cast Promise of Steel
cast Cyclone Strike
cast Blood Fever
cast Necrotic Wounds

Single Target & AoE Finisher

#show Call to Entrench
suppressmacrofailures
cast Call to Entrench
cast Call to Battle
cast Dire Blow

[Sebb]

Very nice guide. Just a couple of corrections for you:

Fusion of the Flesh is only useful for non-physical abilities.
A (better) heavy CD build is 44VK/16WL/8PL. This gives you TOL, Singularity, and Fusion of the Flesh. Only recommended if taking magical damage to proc FOF heals. Use with WL crystal or VK crystal depending on the fight.

If you are taking sustained magical damage, 44VK allows you to rotate through Singularity/HC/Singularity/FOF for 40-45s timers. With TOL for that OH CRAP moment.

Also, re: taunts. I cannot stress this enough. Taunts generate no aggro. You never said they did, but it's worth putting in the guide. Taunts put you at the top of the threat table. So if there is a person with 5 threat, you have 6 now. If there is a person with 5,000,000 - you now have 5,000,001. For this reason, you should never ever use a taunt at the start of a fight unless you absolutely have to (High Priest is a good example).

[Nazalit]

Very nice guide. Just a couple of corrections for you:

Fusion of the Flesh is only useful for non-physical abilities.
A (better) heavy CD build is 44VK/16WL/8PL. This gives you TOL, Singularity, and Fusion of the Flesh. Only recommended if taking magical damage to proc FOF heals. Use with WL crystal or VK crystal depending on the fight.

If you are taking sustained magical damage, 44VK allows you to rotate through Singularity/HC/Singularity/FOF for 40-45s timers. With TOL for that OH CRAP moment.

Correct on the Fusion of Flesh description in the Void Knight section, there may be a few of these 4am brain farts in the guide and I apologies if this misleads anyone.
I like the idea and i can definitely see the build work in a heavy non-physical encounter. Lacks a lot of passive damage reduction though due to no Reaver. If the admins ever let me edit the OP I will add this build in, thank you

[batou079]

Great guide. I am loving the layout of it!!!!111one!!111 (OCD about guides, i write a ton of em for my guild)

Should help new tanks a lot, as well as a great reminder/reference thread for veterans alike.
Nice job!

[wayne62682]

Thanks for this guide. Being a fresh 50 tank still gearing up for Experts I found this information very useful; every other guide seems to recommend the straight 38 RV/20 WL/8 PL build as the "one build to rule them all", is it worth looking at another build you have listed (the 38 Reaver / 28 Void Knight / 0 Paladin) since I don't have a Warlord 4pc? Again I ask only because your guide seems to be the only non-obsolete guide that recommends something other than the 38 RV/20 WL/8 PL build as being viable to use, so it threw me for a bit of a loop.

[xTension]

A (better) heavy CD build is 44VK/16WL/8PL.

This actually sums to: 44+16+8 = 68. 2 Points to much.
I Like the idea of the 44 RV / 22 War / 0 Whatever, because you can change the 0 point soul for Void Knight (Magic heavy fights) or Paladin (10% Block). It's a pity to not have ToL, but it's not possible if we also want to remain the 4peace Warlord Bonus at all times.

Also, when i enter the specc in Rains Tank Gear Tab, the 44 RV / 22 War Mitigation is not that bad. It's better then 44 VK / 22 War, but worse than 38 RV. But it has the 35% dmg reduce.

One question on the side:
Such a specc is usefull for tanking Murdantix alone, Garau because of the beam and maybe for the 2. Boss of ID? Some advice/comments would be really nice, because me and my guild will do our first steps in ID in the next days and i want to be prepared.

[Nazalit]

Thanks for this guide. Being a fresh 50 tank still gearing up for Experts I found this information very useful; every other guide seems to recommend the straight 38 RV/20 WL/8 PL build as the "one build to rule them all", is it worth looking at another build you have listed (the 38 Reaver / 28 Void Knight / 0 Paladin) since I don't have a Warlord 4pc? Again I ask only because your guide seems to be the only non-obsolete guide that recommends something other than the 38 RV/20 WL/8 PL build as being viable to use, so it threw me for a bit of a loop.

Yes, if you haven't got the 4 set hammerknell warlord crystal bonus your best mitigation build is the 38rv/28vk/0pala. You can find the vendor that sells the hammerknell crystals & gear at Reclaimer's Hold in Moonshade Highlands. Remember you will need the hammerknell gear to unlock the crystals bonus.

This actually sums to: 44+16+8 = 68. 2 Points to much.
I Like the idea of the 44 RV / 22 War / 0 Whatever, because you can change the 0 point soul for Void Knight (Magic heavy fights) or Paladin (10% Block). It's a pity to not have ToL, but it's not possible if we also want to remain the 4peace Warlord Bonus at all times.

Also, when i enter the specc in Rains Tank Gear Tab, the 44 RV / 22 War Mitigation is not that bad. It's better then 44 VK / 22 War, but worse than 38 RV. But it has the 35% dmg reduce.

One question on the side:
Such a specc is usefull for tanking Murdantix alone, Garau because of the beam and maybe for the 2. Boss of ID? Some advice/comments would be really nice, because me and my guild will do our first steps in ID in the next days and i want to be prepared.

it is 2 points to many, good catch. I might still be able to make a build with the general idea of having all them non physical CD's you can rotate but might reqiure some work.

I have no experience with ID atm as im playing casually for the time being but from what i hear the usual 38rv/20w/8pala build is enough for both the first bosses but i have heard of people using the 44rv/22wl/0vk build for ituziel aswell.

[Sebb]

This actually sums to: 44+16+8 = 68. 2 Points to much.
I Like the idea of the 44 RV / 22 War / 0 Whatever, because you can change the 0 point soul for Void Knight (Magic heavy fights) or Paladin (10% Block). It's a pity to not have ToL, but it's not possible if we also want to remain the 4peace Warlord Bonus at all times.

Also, when i enter the specc in Rains Tank Gear Tab, the 44 RV / 22 War Mitigation is not that bad. It's better then 44 VK / 22 War, but worse than 38 RV. But it has the 35% dmg reduce.

One question on the side:
Such a specc is usefull for tanking Murdantix alone, Garau because of the beam and maybe for the 2. Boss of ID? Some advice/comments would be really nice, because me and my guild will do our first steps in ID in the next days and i want to be prepared.

My fail

I usually run 44VK/22WL.

[Nazalit]

My fail

I usually run 44VK/22WL.

this makes more sense lol

[MealRain]

Raid down time. Interested to see what it contains. I'll look over it tonight or tomorrow morning and throw my 2 cents in.

[Nazalit]

The Endurance stats in "Mitigation & stats" & "Planar Attunement" sections are not including the 50.12% health increase from the Gift buffs acquired from the 4 tanking souls. I will round the numbers as 0.12% is hardly worth accounting for.

Example

1 Endurance = 11 Health Poionts (No Gift, No Points Spent)
1 Endruance = 16.5 Health Points (With Gift, 66 Points Spent)

I will make this clearer once I can edit the post.