So I'm all looking at the Pali auras, and it turns out Concentration gives you a chance for an uninteruptable attack (not that I plan to be dead set on using it, but it just got me thinking).
The main principles of a tanker, IMHO, are these:
1. Dealing as much damage as you can behind a single attack.
2. Never getting hit.
3. When you get hit, not caring.
If I see a tanker (uswest) it's usually a Barb, or a Werebear with Oak Sage. Supposing I would make a tanker paladin, what aura would I use?
Concentrate seems like a front runner, but something like Defiance would be nice. At slvl 20, defiance gives above 300% armor bonus. Correct me if I'm wrong, one of you IAFBILAML people, but this means that if you have 1k defense, you will have 4k with defiance.
Anybody have a suggested skill plan?
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The pally is certainly an excellent choice for a tank character; however, I've found that concentrating on resists and blocking is a better choice for a tank in 1.10 than defence.
Despite the changes to defence and enemy AR, defence is still a second rate method of avoiding hits. Defence can be ignored, defence is hampered by the clvl/mlvl penalty, and defence requires a heavy investment in strength, equipment and skill points to be truly worthwhile. 75% blocking is easy for a pally to obtain and frees up skill points, equipment slots, and stat points for more offensive options.
Of course, given the right equipment, one can have the best of both worlds. Equip HoZ, guardian angel, and whatever other elite equipment rounds off your needs (max resists, life/mana leech, hit recovery, etc) and in most cases, you will have a very respectable DR without specifically trying. Hire a defiance merc and watch that DR skyrocket.
Oh, and you were correct about defiance (+300% defiance on a 1k defence = 4k defence).
gekko
"Life is sacred and you are not its steward. You have stewardship over it but you don't own it. You're making a choice to go through this, it's not just happening to you. You're inviting it, and in some ways delighting in it. It's not accidental or coincidental. You're choosing it. You have to realize you've made choices."
-Michael Ventura, "Letters@3AM"
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05-25-2004, 06:37 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-25-2004, 06:39 PM by Chesspiece_face.)
This ties in pretty much with your other thread on Zealots. My zealot can tank pretty much anything in hell.
20 zeal
20 holy shield
20 defiance
20 fanaticism
with my equipment this setup can easily punch my defense into the 6 digits. that's not something to shake a stick at. the main thing you need to look at when trying to make a Tanker isn't what skills you want to use, but what items you have (or can obtain.) Guardian Angel is perfect for this character. I have mine uped and with an UM. HoZ is obvious. Also UM. you could also go for a DR set-up with Storm Shield etc. I think the HoZ offers more though so i went that way and got some DR from Crown of the Ages and String of Ears. I used Baraner's star until i hit 82 then switched to Stormlash. I still swicth to Baraner's occasionally when soloing if my chance to hit is lower than i like with the Stromlash.
I mainly use the Fanaticism aura. Defiance is purely for the synergy with Holy Shield.
The second choice you would have is what merc to use. I was using a Holy Freeze merc, but i've come to the conclusion i don't like them at all. So i'm now in the process of lvling up a Blessed Aim merc. another choice would be Defiance merc so you would get a defense bonus on top of the crazy 600%+ that holy shield offers.
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Quote:with my equipment this setup can easily punch my defense into the 6 digit
Make that 5, will you?
Another thing that goes sweet with a tanker is an Exile. Yes, it is rare and expensive, but we're talking defense, no? 30k is 30k, no matter what anyone says. (Then again, all them smiters will laugh at you and your sad little block, as well... life's never easy.)
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LOL, holy hell! i just read my post again. Insomnia sucks people. My previous post took about a paragraph of thought and mangled it into a mess.
Ok here are the facts. My normal defense on that character with Holy Shield and Defiance on is around 45k. This is with +6 to combat skills from equipment and +8 to defensive auras. I have another 5 combat skill charms that i can use. (i usually only use 3 unless i know the fight is going to be rough.) With all of them on my defense is boosted by about 1200+%. I haven't looked at this char for awhile, but the defense is in the mid-upper 3000's without the boosts. When i play with my friends Concentrate Barb my defense gets boosted by an additional 340ish%. This pumps my defense up to around 60k. (i think that is where i got that 6 from... who knows) ATM i'm using a Mara's for my amulet but i've been looking for a high def Metalgrid. Does anyone who is good with these things know if i would benifit more from the +def from metalgrid more than the +2 skills from Mara's. I'm thinking that the metalgrid will add more in the end.
Needless to say I have 75% block and that amount of defense is a serious eyebrow raiser. I've had a lot of luck with rune drops so it has helped me pay for the equipment required. but even without the upgrades, etc. it would be fairly easy to get a defense of over 30-35k on a character like this.
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STONE. 'nuff said.
The trouble with defense is, that a lof of enemies ignore it. Most notably urdars and Minions of Destruction, who use the smite skill (if I am not completelly wrong again, as usual).
Ah well. I'll still give my enchantress a stone :)
