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Endgame Tank Guide
sergeantmahoff1
Posts: 138 Arc User
Table of Contents
1. Let's Get Started.
2. Kigatilik
3. Qwyjibo
4. Teleiosaurus
5. Eidolon
6. General Build Guidelines
7. Stats and Specs (WIP)
8. Advanced Section Part 1(WIP)
9. Advanced Section Part 2/Tips and Tricks.(WIP)
Another Friendly Reminder.
This is in fact a tank guide for endgame. Whoever told you otherwise? Everything is covered here. Literally everything.
Once Again, What This Will Provide:
-A guide to maximize your effectiveness as a player while tanking.
-Peace of mind for people who are under the belief tanking is scary.
-In depth concepts regarding specific attacks from cosmics. (May include other bosses later.)
Who This Guide is For:
-Those who deem tanking very difficult.
-Those who consider tanking a very scary experience.
-Anyone who thinks it's the end of their career if they die while tanking. (Something I'm sure we've all been through in any role.)
Let's Get Started!
The reason why I'm writing this guide is because recently, I've noticed a lack of tanks. While builds are important, mentality is too. So first, we'll talk about that. But first of all, let me start off by saying that this guide can actually equate to any role depending on how you feel about it. Remember, this won't be about builds or anything of that nature. With that said...
Mentality!
Mentality is honestly the most important thing to me when people tank. When I say mentality, I mean what they want to do while tanking. For example, when I tank, I want to keep the collective blood pressure of the healers down and offer enough threat gen to keep the boss from raising hell. On top of this, I want to not worry about any other tank in the vicinity with toxic motives. Which is where this part of the guide is important. To a lot of people tanking, threat supposedly means everything. It doesn't. That's probably really shocking to read, but let me elaborate. This does somewhat delve into builds, but bear with me. On top of challenge and threat mods, damage is the best way to get threat and aggro of a boss. I've seen some pretty crazy low amounts of HP because someone decided their defiant tank needed to be 500 con and 300 dex or something of that nature. While you can tank with this, it's not necessary, and actually cripples you to the point of always requiring a soak tank for Teleiosaurus or Qwyjibo and playing very cautiously at for example Kigatilik.
Now, if you were healing that, would you really want to? This player that attacks as often as they can (Attacking as often as you can is fine unless..) and taking unblocked damage in the process all for the sake of keeping aggro over other tanks is obviously not someone healers would appreciate in a cosmic setting. Knowing when to block is one thing, but knowing why is just as important. Remember, you don't just block to keep yourself alive, you do it to make your healer's job easier. That threat isn't going anywhere if you don't charge that haymaker fully while taking 10k damage from Qwyjibo. As a tank, you're quite literally everyone's protector. Would you feel safe if the person (or people) just wanted to flex and show off? Absolutely not. The idea that a lot of tanks do measure their aggro much like a certain part of their bodies is very real, and very dangerous. Don't be those tanks. Be the tank you would want protecting you. Block often, hit often. Block safely, hit safely. Keep your ego out of the equation. Or if it helps, keep it in! Do a good job, and people will remember you for how good a job you did tanking.
Additionally, aggression is another thing to worry about. While you may lose aggro to a DPS, it's not the end of the world. Sometime's its okay to let one person die rather than risking your own hide to get aggro off that one DPS. Remember, you lose your threat, its going to take a lot longer to get it back rather than letting someone else die so you can get boss aggro again. It's things like this that make decision making critical and how you can always do a good job. But how can you do a good job tanking? Let's proceed to section two.
Duty!
Yep, duty. As a tank, you're basically in charge. You need to know what you're doing, because what you're doing dictates what the boss is doing. This is critical in every single cosmic fight, some more than others. Think about that. As the main tank, you have all this power. You can singlehandedly decide, accidentally or not, if everyone lives or dies, or if the run's a success or not. Sounds like a lot of pressure right? The pressure is only there if you're not sure what you're doing. Below we will learn what will let you have that peace of mind to make good decisions and keep a fight in your favor.
Situational Awareness!
This part's kind of a no brainer, but it's also a bit of a sketchy topic considering there's a lot of things regarding cosmic encounters no one really knows about. For example. Did you know that the bar over Teleiosaurus' and her Hatchling's head is a 100% accurate (excluding their toxic spike attacks) representation of when debuffs and holds will be applied but NOT damage? It's things like this that can maximize your threat output and make your runs as a tank that much safer. This can mean anything from your baby tank at Teleiosaurus' HP, your heart placement at Qwyjibo, who's been tombed at Kigatilik, and so on. This is the kinda stuff that gets learned when you actually get into it, so this will be touched on more later.
It's okay!
No, really. It is. What is? Dying. Dying as a tank is okay. that cosmic isn't going anywhere. It might be a crushing experience for it to happen, but it's most certainly not the end of the world! You just have to get back up, and keep trying. No one's gonna hate you if you die. And if they do, and you're not being stubborn as to why, they're not worth your time. Period. And if you're reading this guide, chances are you're learning. So remind them of that. Practice makes perfect, and so does a positive environment! Block out all the negative thoughts and words, and focus on the task at hand. Otherwise, tanking's always going to feel hard.
Below are a bunch of key tactics and tricks to tanking the common 3 cosmics. Eidolon will come later once I feel confident enough and learn enough to write about him. My experience is 'simple enough', and I don't think that's fair to you all. Regardless, let's begin.
1. Let's Get Started.
2. Kigatilik
3. Qwyjibo
4. Teleiosaurus
5. Eidolon
6. General Build Guidelines
7. Stats and Specs (WIP)
8. Advanced Section Part 1(WIP)
9. Advanced Section Part 2/Tips and Tricks.(WIP)
Another Friendly Reminder.
This is in fact a tank guide for endgame. Whoever told you otherwise? Everything is covered here. Literally everything.
Once Again, What This Will Provide:
-A guide to maximize your effectiveness as a player while tanking.
-Peace of mind for people who are under the belief tanking is scary.
-In depth concepts regarding specific attacks from cosmics. (May include other bosses later.)
Who This Guide is For:
-Those who deem tanking very difficult.
-Those who consider tanking a very scary experience.
-Anyone who thinks it's the end of their career if they die while tanking. (Something I'm sure we've all been through in any role.)
Let's Get Started!
The reason why I'm writing this guide is because recently, I've noticed a lack of tanks. While builds are important, mentality is too. So first, we'll talk about that. But first of all, let me start off by saying that this guide can actually equate to any role depending on how you feel about it. Remember, this won't be about builds or anything of that nature. With that said...
Mentality!
Mentality is honestly the most important thing to me when people tank. When I say mentality, I mean what they want to do while tanking. For example, when I tank, I want to keep the collective blood pressure of the healers down and offer enough threat gen to keep the boss from raising hell. On top of this, I want to not worry about any other tank in the vicinity with toxic motives. Which is where this part of the guide is important. To a lot of people tanking, threat supposedly means everything. It doesn't. That's probably really shocking to read, but let me elaborate. This does somewhat delve into builds, but bear with me. On top of challenge and threat mods, damage is the best way to get threat and aggro of a boss. I've seen some pretty crazy low amounts of HP because someone decided their defiant tank needed to be 500 con and 300 dex or something of that nature. While you can tank with this, it's not necessary, and actually cripples you to the point of always requiring a soak tank for Teleiosaurus or Qwyjibo and playing very cautiously at for example Kigatilik.
Now, if you were healing that, would you really want to? This player that attacks as often as they can (Attacking as often as you can is fine unless..) and taking unblocked damage in the process all for the sake of keeping aggro over other tanks is obviously not someone healers would appreciate in a cosmic setting. Knowing when to block is one thing, but knowing why is just as important. Remember, you don't just block to keep yourself alive, you do it to make your healer's job easier. That threat isn't going anywhere if you don't charge that haymaker fully while taking 10k damage from Qwyjibo. As a tank, you're quite literally everyone's protector. Would you feel safe if the person (or people) just wanted to flex and show off? Absolutely not. The idea that a lot of tanks do measure their aggro much like a certain part of their bodies is very real, and very dangerous. Don't be those tanks. Be the tank you would want protecting you. Block often, hit often. Block safely, hit safely. Keep your ego out of the equation. Or if it helps, keep it in! Do a good job, and people will remember you for how good a job you did tanking.
Additionally, aggression is another thing to worry about. While you may lose aggro to a DPS, it's not the end of the world. Sometime's its okay to let one person die rather than risking your own hide to get aggro off that one DPS. Remember, you lose your threat, its going to take a lot longer to get it back rather than letting someone else die so you can get boss aggro again. It's things like this that make decision making critical and how you can always do a good job. But how can you do a good job tanking? Let's proceed to section two.
Duty!
Yep, duty. As a tank, you're basically in charge. You need to know what you're doing, because what you're doing dictates what the boss is doing. This is critical in every single cosmic fight, some more than others. Think about that. As the main tank, you have all this power. You can singlehandedly decide, accidentally or not, if everyone lives or dies, or if the run's a success or not. Sounds like a lot of pressure right? The pressure is only there if you're not sure what you're doing. Below we will learn what will let you have that peace of mind to make good decisions and keep a fight in your favor.
Situational Awareness!
This part's kind of a no brainer, but it's also a bit of a sketchy topic considering there's a lot of things regarding cosmic encounters no one really knows about. For example. Did you know that the bar over Teleiosaurus' and her Hatchling's head is a 100% accurate (excluding their toxic spike attacks) representation of when debuffs and holds will be applied but NOT damage? It's things like this that can maximize your threat output and make your runs as a tank that much safer. This can mean anything from your baby tank at Teleiosaurus' HP, your heart placement at Qwyjibo, who's been tombed at Kigatilik, and so on. This is the kinda stuff that gets learned when you actually get into it, so this will be touched on more later.
It's okay!
No, really. It is. What is? Dying. Dying as a tank is okay. that cosmic isn't going anywhere. It might be a crushing experience for it to happen, but it's most certainly not the end of the world! You just have to get back up, and keep trying. No one's gonna hate you if you die. And if they do, and you're not being stubborn as to why, they're not worth your time. Period. And if you're reading this guide, chances are you're learning. So remind them of that. Practice makes perfect, and so does a positive environment! Block out all the negative thoughts and words, and focus on the task at hand. Otherwise, tanking's always going to feel hard.
Below are a bunch of key tactics and tricks to tanking the common 3 cosmics. Eidolon will come later once I feel confident enough and learn enough to write about him. My experience is 'simple enough', and I don't think that's fair to you all. Regardless, let's begin.
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Kigatilik
Let's start this off in chronological order. Phase one. The normal (and best) method to start phase 1, is by CCing the dogs and having them pulled one by one to the DPS to be defeated. There is the requirement of a stun or interrupt to do this by yourself. Although anyone with a stun or interrupt can aid you if need be. That being said, the reason for the stun/interrupt is because of the negative effects of the dog's howls. They not only apply a fear that stacks, but they also break CC in the process, which means everyone dies. So, in order to keep this from happening, critical timing on the interrupt or stun is key. Many times I hear people say 'do it when the dog is about to howl', but when is that? What constitutes 'about to'? To answer that question we need to look for visual cues. Unlike for example Gravitar, there's no bar over their heads to indicate when the debuff applies or CC break applies. There is however an uninterruptible animation that the dogs will always do when they are about to howl. On top of that, a wireframe will appear, but that won't tell you when they will howl. This animation is important because the dog will shake his head up and down twice. After the second time, there will be a third shake whilst howling. The third shake is when you want the stun to be applied, but the second shake is when you want to activate the stun.
The reason for this is because of activation time. There is no such thing as an instant stun. Every melee tap stun (Excluding crashing wave kick) has an activation time of .5 seconds. That means that .5 seconds after tapping the corresponding button of that ability, the damage and the debuff will apply. Knowing this can really maximize your ability to create a safe pull for your CCer and keep everyone alive. That is your job after all!
Once all the dogs are dead, running as far back as we can from the altar will keep you alive. Don't bother trying to round up the dogs unless your CCer asks you to. (Although it is a good idea to pull them all so they all die in the same place if they choose to do so.) Next up, we have two potential jobs to do. Aggroing Kigatilik so the CCer doesn't die while grabbing the dogs, or aggroing dogs for the CCer so they can mezz them. We'll start with the former because it's general, and has a lot of fundamentals that are required for other fights, since you engage as the tank. Something to take note of is that it doesn't matter what passive you have. It's always a good idea to start the fight off with your active defense (that isn't resurgence) on. Same goes for your active offense too to maximize your early threat gen and defense. Specifically for Kigatilik however, you can't just go up as soon as you see dogs being pulled. This can cause some serious aggro issues that might leave a lot of people dead. Instead, wait until the dogs are all stunned/slept/Psionically Accelerated(?) by the CCer. Once that's done, you're good to go up there. Simple enough, right?
For aggroing dogs for the CCer, there's a few things to note, and sadly we are delving into builds again. Anything that returns damage to the attacker is an absolute no no for this part. that means things like PRIMUS Spark Shield, Ebon Void, Fire Shield, just to name a few things. The reason for this is because dogs have a cone attack that works even after mezzed. The cone is a moderate damage resistance debuff that acts like a DoT. The DoT's damage can be deflected, and this is a known cause of bad Kigatilik runs where dogs break free often. Remember. Aggro with an ability that doesn't leave a DoT effect, do not any form of damage deflection, and just block. When you grab dog aggro, it's also a good idea to use your ADs and AOs too, so long as said AO does not involve any AoE damage.
For those tanks that don't get aggro, there are a few important things to note. Standing on the DPS = bad, however, taking damage from Kigatilik = also bad. The reason for that is because Kigatilik's damage on all but one of his attacks (the ice blast) doesn't split among tanks. What this means is that standing by the tank will do nothing but give healers more stress. But don't worry, that doesn't mean there's no place for other tanks on the altar! On either side of Kigatilik there's a safe zone right beside him. You will not take any damage, but not put (most) of the DPS in immediate danger. It also allows you to run up to soak the damage of he ice blast attack, which can also make a healer's life easier. The area you want to be standing is right next to the corner of Kigatilik's pedestal nearest to the DPS. That way, if you suddenly do take aggro, or the main tank dies, you're able to run right up with the least amount of potential casualties. That being said, you still run the risk of being hit by his frost breath however, and not standing by the tank means you're not a priority. Just things to remember when standing on the sides. You have to remember to block, and you have to remember you're not in the limelight for healing. Remember these things and you'll be doing your part, trust me.
On to actually tanking Kigatilik! When it comes to blocking attacks, Kigatilik is the most forgiving and easiest to do so with when it comes to his normal attacks. Most tanks go without blocking them unless their health suddenly becomes low. Usually however, there are only two attacks that usually require blocking; the ice blast, and frost breath. The ice blast is a soakable high damage AoE attack that can really chunk your health if you have low resistance. Even at 280% resistance one could still suffer 7k damage! You never want to not block this attack. However, it doesn't function the same as most charged attacks when it comes to being blocked. Panta's guide on blocking (found here ) explains why. For now I can say that blocking at the beginning of the charge doesn't reduce its damage much like Medusa's AoE in Teleios Ascendant. It stays the same no matter what. Frost breath is the same, and probably more devastating. It's the same high damage as his ice blast and needs to be blocked the same way his ice blast does. once you see his hands go down to knee level, you block.
Shocking, right? That last paragraph on actually tanking Kigatilik was very small. But as an added bonus, here's something you can do to make the healer's life a lot easier, and trust me they'll be grateful for it. After his HP is reduced to 1/3, the storm starts to get really nasty and scales with your max HP. This is unblockable, but Kigatilik is. Now depending on your threat generation, how many people die to him causing him to heal, and the cooperation of the other tanks, you can actually just block the rest of that 3rd of his HP. This not only guarantees you not dying as long as you healer is attentive, but it also means they can attend to you less, which means less DPS dying, and a faster ending to the run. This is optional of course and depends on the situation. Don't do it if it doesn't feel safe. (ex. You've had to block for long periods of time prior, tanks on the DPS side, etc.)
To recap:
-A stun/interrupt is needed to pull dogs at Kigatilik.
-Damage deflection when aggroing dogs for the CCer is bad.
-Start fights with your ADs/AOs activated.
-Block ice blast and frost breath.
-Ice blast is the only attack that splits, so no need for other tanks to take all of his damage.
-Bring a sweater.
WARNING: Kigatilik is currently bugged and may face DPS instead of the tank. Just stay where you normally would tank him.
Qwyjibo is a boss that's easy on paper but more difficult in actual gameplay. The reason for this is because while his attacks are slow, they all need to be blocked. Every single one. You can choose not to at the risk of stressing your healers, but why bother? It's inefficient and unnecessary. Let's get started.
Engaging vs. Qwyjibo if you know where to start is possibly easier than engaging vs. Kigatilik. The image provided shows where the tank has to stand to put Qwyjibo in a good spot. The reason for this is because when hearts spawn, terrain can cause them to spawn in very unfortunate places that make it hard for your CCer to take care of them. Make sure Qwyjibo is always facing out to the ocean, and perpendicular to the hillside. In doing so, you insure the highest possible distance on hearts, so the DPS will be less likely to hit them.
Like I said earlier, every attack by Qwyjibo has to be blocked. Each punch can one shot most tanks who don't block, his fire breath is the equivalent of Kigatilik's, but with the added unblockable lava patches they add as well as the knock back to hit you into them. These patches can destroy your health if the fire breath doesn't. Just block everything he hits you with. Especially the fire balls he throws. The fire balls can be particularly nasty, which is why it's highly recommended to block walk back up to him after he knocks you back. The reason being, Qwyjibo is more likely to fireball you as a tank at a distance. The fire balls are like getting hit by a punch. the damage is soakable, but like the punch, it comes with a nasty DoT that can kill you if the initial blow hasn't yet. Something to note however is that Qwyjibo will always roar right after the lava patches have been placed, and even before that, a debuff showing when the lava patch will be placed, will appear in your debuff bar. The pattern goes like this if you are at a distance after the knockback. Knockback, lava patch debuff appears. 4 seconds pass, debuff disappears, patch appears, (something to keep in mind is that the debuff's duraion is the true depiction of when the patch is left on the ground. Just because you don't see the lava patch yet, doesn't mean it wasn't dropped! Always check the debuff timer to know when it's safe to drop a patch.) Qwyjibo roars, and THEN throws a fireball. If you are in his face while he roars, he will punch you instead unless he decides to open with fire breath.
Once hearts spawn, you basically maintain the same routine. However, there is a way to make life easier on yourself. Sometimes Qwyjibo likes to use his fire breath right before his knockback. This is bad for you because he will knock you back into the lava patch created by his fire breath. A way to prevent this is to turn Qwyjibo slightly to your right (I have to emphasize your right because healers and CC will usually be on your left.) after spawning a new heart. This will ensure that you have a safe place to be knocked back to and let you easily place the heart in the safe zone. Keep in mind however that you don't want to go overboard and have him facing somewhere crazy like right at courage. Just enough so you can easily place the heart without the risk of fire breath lava patches hurting you.
That wraps up Qwyjibo for now. While he is a bit harder to tank than Kigatilik, he's a lot more simple as you can see.
To recap:
-Position Qwyjibo so he’s facing the ocean
-Block every attack
-Lava patches have a debuff that shows when they will be dropped
-Being too far away means fireballs to the face.
-Turn him slightly so you can safely replace hearts in the same area
Everyone's most hated cosmics. Teleiosaurus is quite honestly my favorite as a tank. The reason being is the fun challenge and life or death feel you get tanking her. People seem to think she's the hardest cosmics, but to me, she's the easiest for a few reasons. That's just a personal opinion of course, but who knows, after reading these tips you might think so too.
Okay, starting the fight. Second verse, same as the first. Slap that AD and that AO, and its time to go go. But where do you start?
What you see here is usually where I start is where I usually start Teleiosaurus. There are other places to start, but I like this one because it avoids the elevated terrain which the baby tank can get stuck on with the baby. Starting a little further back or a little further forward is fine. Just not too far forward or too far back. Also, you run the risk of mama just charging you and attacking without stopping and pausing for some odd reason. Just be ready for it in case it happens by blocking when she walks up to you. Depending on the awareness of the healers, this isn't always a bad thing.
Again, second verse (kinda!) same as the first. Everything (kinda!) has to be blocked. The bites? Definitely. Radiation breath? YES. And I will get into that later. The paralyze? Definitely. The venomous spikes? You bet. Everything has to be blocked. But at the same time, not everything has to be blocked. This may sound confusing, but bear with me here. If you read Pantagruel's guide on blocking (I hope you did cause it's a good guide.) you know that blocking early at the start of an attack negates knock back, status effects (roots holds, DoTs, etc.), on hit effects of blocks, and if any effects on the target are subject to change when applied. In addition to that, blocking late determines how much damage you take, as well as stopping NPC roots and holds on you. With that in mind, we recognize that all of Teleiosaurus' charged wireframe attacks have 'nasty secondary effects'. Her stomp has a knockback, her roar has a hold, her spikes have a % health DoT, and her radiation breath shreds resistances (and potentially a few other things.). Before I get deeper into this part, I want you to disregard and ignore this information for radiation breath. You don't try any of this during radiation breath. This is only to be practiced for the wireframe attacks. That being said, here's why.
The wire frame attacks all behave the same. Nasty secondary effect with damage. You start blocking early, you take the damage, you don't take the nasty secondary effect. This goes as deep as not needing to actually block the damage, because you 'blocked' the secondary effect. Sounds confusing, but it's a lot more simple than you think. Here's how and why. The bar over Teleiosaurus' head during the wireframe attacks is actually an indicator for the nasty secondary effect. Not the damage itself. This is amazing, because it means that you can stop blocking after the bar disappears. The nasty secondary effect will have no effect on you if you do this, and the damage from the attack itself is something a tank can easily handle. There is however an issue with venomous spikes. The debuff indicator over mama's head is a bit off compared to her hatchlings. You actually have to block about .75 seconds longer than the bar appears for otherwise you will get molecular decay on you. Other than that however, for her knockback and hold, it's perfectly safe to stop blocking after the bar disappears. It's important to know this because there are times when mama will just constantly hit you with wireframes, and people think it's impossible to attack in between. But, if you stop blocking after the bar disappears, that's more than enough time for, say, a fully charged haymaker. It also gives you time to pop ADs or devices if the need calls for it.
Radiation breath is a different kind of animal all together. Not only does this not have a loading bar, there's not really much of a signal for when to start blocking. Safest route to take is to immediately start blocking once you see the tell. There will be six ticks of damage. Once the six ticks are gone, you can start attacking again. Ignore the animation. Six ticks, you're safe guaranteed.
Lastly, to reflect on the situational awareness in the first part of this guide, the main tank needs to be 100% aware of the baby as well as the mom. Baby can mess you up if you don't pay attention to it, and it's attacks are just weaker versions of the mother's. You don't need to block its green wireframe attack, just every other special attack.
This part is going to be focused on the baby tank.
So basically, you sit there, and you block with baby aggroing you. Sounds simple right? Well, that's because it's not. Depending on whether or not you have PRIMUS spark shield, baby tanking can be a bit frustrating. With it, all you do is block after you get her aggro. Easy right? If you don't, you actually do have to keep applying challenge, otherwise someone might actually get her threat aggro due to your threat gen being too low. On top of this, how you position the baby is key too. You always want her to the left of and behind mama, otherwise you're in the DPS which isn't okay. Behind her directly can be fine, but this is in relation to where I like to start. So, where I have a marker placed below is where you want to hold baby.
Baby's tail is always going to be faced to the ocean while his face will be slightly pushed into mountain.You NEVER take baby beyond the hill west of mama. She will become frenzied and kill anything and everything in sight.
There's a number of ways to aggro baby to get him to follow you, but that's powerset dependent. Use your PBAoE or AoE for this. If using an AoE, go behind mom and shoot it through her. Be prepared to block tail swipes. It's the most guaranteed way to keep him from breathing on the DPS, and lets you keep mama targeted to see her tells.
To recap:
-Always block raditation breath. Always.
-All nasty secondary effects can be negated by blocking while the bar is over Teleiosaurus’ head excluding the green wireframe which takes .75 seconds longer
-Pulling baby too far away frenzies mama and kills everyone
-Block every attack.
That about concludes it for the big three. I'll be happy to answer any questions.
**DISCLAIMER**
This section is focused on a cosmic that can't be easily solo tanked without your best gear. The idea that the healer will always save you needs to be removed from your mind, as this fight has mechanics in place to make you realize that no healer will save you in some scenarios. That being said, even with a soak tank, this fight can become very deadly very fast. I ask that while you are able to read this guide, make sure you have full dist/justice with R7s first before attempting to tank Eidolon. Eidolon is **NOT** like the other cosmics. It takes a lot to be able to do anything during his fight, CCing, tanking, DPS, healing all need to be R7/above with good gear, and tanking is most certainly no different. With that said, let's begin.
Okay so to start off, make sure you read Kamokami's tips for giant monsters first, as that guide does a good job of explaining what goes on in this fight, as it does with the others. The thing about this guide is that I'll be going over what I personally do as a tank as I have with the past three sections to give an idea of what's up with this fight.
Starting off this fight is pretty straight forward but pretty risky like 30% of the time. Reason being is becaus it starts off like every other fight. Tank goes in with AD/AO popped and aggros the boss. But the issue with Eidolon is, his aggro range is much larger than any other boss. so much so that by the time you're within 100 feet, he's already prepping an attack for you.
(Make sure you have typed /camdist 150 and the camera stays where it should. Trust me, seeing his hands is important!)
What you see here is where I normally start. The back right corner of the citadel. I start here because depending on what he starts with, going down the middle can get people killed, which you don't want because the only people who should be following you on the engage are healers. Engage your travel power and block run up the right side of the citadel with your AD/AO/whatever defenses you have up. Once you're safe to, land a challenge on him. He can start with any three of his main attacks, being shadow blast, a move that if not blocked can one shot even the tankiest tank, ebon ruin, same as shadow blast, but has a BAM! tell and comes out faster, and lastly, his laser. The laser is a blessing in disguise for initiating if you have a spark shield. It'll do a lot of damage to you, but that means more damage back to him, which means you have a much safer time building aggro, rather than waiting for the other two attacks to hit.
Once you've engaged him, it should look something like this.
*Ahem.* with a boss in your face obviously. Eidolon won't move unless you're outside of his attack range. He will however dance around you a little with tiny awkward movements, so be careful of that. speaking of being careful, each 3rd of HP introduces and removes attacks he is able to do. The three I mentioned earlier will always be there, but for his 1st third of HP, he'll do two things. I don't much care for the names, so we'll use simple name like hurt pools for the purple AoEs on the ground, and PG portals for the portals that spawn the mini portal guardians. The hurt pools spawn on player locations, and for some odd reason the tank tends to get them often. When one spawns under you, move. The damage isn't kill potential through block, but it is when coupled with Eidolon's other attacks. If the position of the hurt pools makes it harder or awkward to attack him, don't. Any DPS that out aggros you will die, and that's much better than risking your aggro as a result. Just wait for the portals to go away, and wail on him after.
The thing about his first third of HP is that its very important to build aggro now, so the rest of the fight isn't a hassle later. What I mean by this is that Eidolon has a lot of times where you simply can't attack him. Lasers, pillars (which we will get into later.) and red orbs (Again, later!) all kind of inhibit you possible aggro output. The first third, despite hurt pools being a hassle, is the best time to build aggro as much as you can because a lot of the more brutal attacks come much later. Once you finish off that first third of HP however, come the red phase. now the first red phase is a blessing for a well defensed tank, because while the DPS go for the orbs, you can stay back and wail on him as much as you want! Free threat! However, there's a reason for this. Due to how orb spawing works, Eidolon must be moved where the spawns are closest Which is why when red orb phase ends (and you warn everyone at the beginning of the red orb phase.. Trust me, you should.) you go here.
This area has some of the tightest orb spawning on the map. It's the northwest corner of the citadel. A few things to be weary of when moving him here.
-DO NOT move too quickly. Healers have to be able to keep up with you while using their heals.
-Stay blocking until he's in position. As long as he's at a distance, you're in a weaker position.
-He won't move if he's using shadow blast or ebon ruin. He will if he's using shadow's embrace however.
-Purple wireframe AoE is a blessing in disguise. All the DPS will leave him alone which gives you time to get comfortable with him.
That all being said, hurt pools no longer spawn. This is good since your wiggle room has become a lot less abundant. What isn't good however is that green orbs will start spawning after every shadow eruption (or big purple wireframe AoE.)
The AoE won't hurt you, nor will the orbs damage. What will hurt you is the heal debuff. If an orb explodes, everyone gets a healing debuff. Basically, Eidolon gains hard mode. This is of course on the DPS to make sure this doesn't happen, and you have no way of preventing this. The healing debuff stacks for however many orbs explode. Depending on the healer, one orb is fine blowing up for you. 2? Your healer is probably dead. 3? You may as well just wipe. For the entire time green orbs are up, you block. Try to cycle your ADs to be up when green orbs are. This'll make a healers life a lot easier in case they need to block the green orb damage. Scratch their back, get yours scratched too.
Around 1/3 HP is when the rain of destruction begins. Purple pillars! This section is more theory than actual law and I'll explain why. There's been many explanations on how to avoid these things given peoples ideas on how they work. I'll give mine. These pillars work in that they act as a charge. Everyone has the same charge time, and if you're caught in it during the activation period, running outside of it will still kill you, kinda how powers work for you. Now, I'm not sure if this is how it works, but if I'm right, you have about 2.5-3 seconds to get out of it before it damages you. The damage is unblockable. DO NOT expect to be healed through these.
Once the you get to the final 3rd of HP, then comes the more abundant pillars and the three green orbs/red orbs. This part's quick, because it basically takes all o what you learned above and reapplies it here. However, move with your team for red orbs. They'll hurt more now that there's 3, and you wanna stay healed. The healers will follow the DPS, and so should you.
I'm not going to recap this boss because I feel like it should be somewhat of a mastery test. If you could solo tank all the other three bosses, you should be able to read this and take on Eidolon with this knowledge. Good luck.
This probably should've been covered first, but I suck at planning. (Or maybe I just expected to do this part with anyone that asked. Silly me, right?)
So, now we get into builds. Yay! I'm not gonna overload your mind with information such as formulae and what not, hence why these are General guidelines. I'm gonna keep it simple so we don't get confused. With that, let's begin.
GEAR
Kay so. After its buff, Distinguished is better than Justice for tanks.
BUT.
The difference is so very hard to notice. I'll be frank in saying it doesn't matter which one you farm for. What does matter is the mods. Generally speaking, I prefer as much health as possible with as much cost efficiency and defense as possible with mandatory triple confronts. I'll work in HP+ if I can, but I favor defense over it. So more often than not my secondaries will carry the HP+ while my primary has the defense. I never have full secondaries with damage. You only need one and here's why.
Assuming you do have max rank confront mods, you'll out aggro any DPS even if you didn't have any damage statted.
So with this in mind, why would you sacrifice any extra health that could be used for staying alive just cause you want to do a little more damage? Believe me when I say the damage gain won't matter much at all. You aren't DPS. You're built to take hits. I've tanked cosmics on max con in the past and didn't lose aggro once. It was the most comfortable experience too. Don't make your life harder by making all your secondaries damage. At most, only two secondaries should be damage, and that's if you're running a focus form.
Different tanks require different things. Defiant tanks and Invulnerability tanks can use a lot of con but don't need it, dodge tanks don't require a lot of con but can use it (if you're willing to sacrifice the damage.) and that's all I'm talking about passive wise. Reason being that those are the only passives worth mentioning in the current meta. Regen's good for OTing but we're not talking about that. Congress of Selves isn't a real tanking passive, and PFF is just awful, so, we're focusing on the three earlier mentioned passives, and then moving onto making a tank out of any powerset! And don't worry, once the general guidelines are done, figuring out said builds will be a piece of cake, promise. I do want to note however that said builds will be pretty bare. They're just guidelines for what's optimal in that set, and that set alone. you can mix and match how you like, but adv wise, what's there HAS to be there.
DEFIANCE
Okay so! Defiance. So after the might update, Defiance is kinda eh. I mean it's literally just stacking defense. It scales with superstats now instead of just con so you get maybe, 1%? 2% more? Woo? It lost its energy return which sucks considering the energy return passive they made to compensate is weak on a tank. It's not bad now, it's just not great. Nothing really sets it apart from invuln except it has more resistance at max stacks. That's really about it.
Statting doesn't really matter as much with it, just go full con anyway but yeah, it's not really super important like it used to be. You might need to get rec or end statted somewhere, maybe.
INVULNERABILITY
The passive that makes any OT a god, but can also work for MTs. This passive is a bit more flexible than defiance in that i can be used any number of ways without requiring con. But as a trade off, it actually needs a energy return which isn't a big deal. Frankly, this passive is kind of simple and doesn't require a whole lot of explanation. You can build it how you would defiance, or do whatever you want. Though personal preference says to build around it how you would defiance. If you need to mod for your energy stat, go for it. You won't lose much if you put rec or end in a secondary. Another lovely thing about Invuln is how useful it is for DoTs and other small amounts of damage. Blocking with its flat damage reduction can reduce a lot of incoming damage if its a small enough amount. Otherwise defiance will actually mitigate more due to it just having a higher percentage of resistance in general.
LIGHTNING REFLEXES
So after maining a dodge tank for a few years now I can say I overhyped the complexities, kek. Just go full dexterity in gear and make sure you have a Justice/Distinguished/Virtuous defense of elusiveness.
And yes I will take full credit for them being added to the game YOU'RE WELCOME. No, you don't need high HP, 8k is fine, and no, avoidance stacking is irrelevant. Trust me. Just don't bother. Just find a way to stack lithe, get parry w/ adv, at least all R7 dex mods and R5s in secondaries, as well as R7 lucky gems in your elusiveness BP, and you'll be set.BLOCK REPLACERS
Required, recommended, and R3'd. The only time you don't R3 is if you're a dodge tank using parry. Otherwise, no exceptions. Block resistance is on a different level of mitigation from your damage resistance and passive resistance. This means it gets no DR, or at least little to no DR. This means blocking is your best defense. I'm gonna keep this part short and sweet like I did with the passives, but even more so as this will take the least amount of explanation.
While you can take any block and it work well, not every block is necessarily useful or good for you as others. For example, fire tanks can use fire shield, but they lose their ability to pull dogs for CCers, and can easily wake up anything CCers put to sleep with it. The point of blocking first and foremost is defense. Secondary effects are nice, but not necessary. So lets go through the block replacers TL;DR style.
>Electric Shield - Not good. Wakes up targets.
>Fire Shield - Second verse same as the first.
>Force Shield - After the defiance nerf, the value of this advantage has went up. But, so has the cost.
>Wind Barrier - Can be fun on mobs that are CCed.
>Ice Shield - Like Wind Barrier, though it doesn't damage nearby mobs and applies chill, which can be useful.
>Energy Shield - One of the best blocks in the game right now. It would be my go to if not for its visuals.
>Laser Deflection - Can be alright. Doesn't offer much in utility, but good for theme at least?
>Telekinetic Shield - Since ranged damage is mainly energy and melee is mainly physical, this is PERFECT for main tanks.
>Guard - Good adv makes a good block.
>Stone shroud - Eh.
>Retaliation - Same as Guard, just without a sword.
>Ebon Void - Returning damage dealt is okay for threat but not the best. If you can afford the adv, go for it.
>Antagonize - It's aight.
>Voodoo Doll - Deals damage back to attackers. That's about it.
>Eldritch shield - The opposite of Telekinetic shield. Adv isn't worth it, but it can be good for off tanks.
>Parry - Absolute must with adv on dodge tanks.
>Fluidity - NO. PERMISSION NOT GRANTED.
CHALLENGE
Okay look. I'll be honest. This post is running out of space and I'm not sure how much is left. All you need to know about challenge is you need one for a targeted attack like haymaker, and one for an attack that doesn't require a target like iron cyclone. Yes, ultimates with challenge advs are worth it, no, not all of them are depending on your build. And yes, all three stack with each other, but no two of the same type of challenge can be stacked by the same player. If you want a more advanced explanation, I'd be happy to post later if asked. But for now, this concludes this post.
This section is really best used with the above section. You'll be able to make a build pretty easily with the guidelines given below. Also if you haven't already, checkout Kamokami's DPS build guide here. Specifically the section on the most damaging powers in each set. These powers aren't just the best for DPS, but best for tanking too. Some more than others of course, but testing is a part of building after all. Below is a list of stat and spec setups that generally work for a wide variety of tanks, just to get you started. Swap out rec with end or int depending on what you're doing and have fun. (So it's been a while and this section is outdated. Still useful tho. Just swap everything that says Vindicator with Protector and take Fortified Gear, Bulwark, Debilitating Strikes, and Defensive Expertise. If you want something a bit more fun, drop defensive expertise and take unrelenting. Resolute can also be nice but its not really necessary. Beacon of Hope is better in my opinion.)
Strength primary Tank (For Dex form) - Freeform
Super Stats
Level 6: Strength (Primary)
Level 10: Constitution (Secondary)
Level 15: Dexterity (Secondary)
Specializations
Strength: Physical Peak (3/3)
Strength: Aggression (2/2)
Strength: Brutality (2/2)
Strength: Juggernaut (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Elusive (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Mastery: Strength Mastery (1/1)
Dex Primary Tank (For Dodge) - Freeform
Super Stats
Level 6: Dexterity (Primary)
Level 10: Constitution (Secondary)
Level 15: Recovery (Secondary)
Specializations
Dexterity: Gear Utilization (3/3)
Dexterity: Brush It Off (2/2)
Dexterity: Evasion (2/2)
Dexterity: Quick Reflexes (3/3)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Elusive (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Mastery: Dexterity Mastery (1/1)
Con Primary Tank (For Dex Form/Dodge) - Freeform
Super Stats
Level 6: Constitution (Primary)
Level 10: Dexterity (Secondary)
Level 15: Recovery (Secondary)
Specializations
Constitution: Tough (3/3)
Constitution: Resilient (2/2)
Constitution: Deflection (3/3)
Constitution: Adrenaline Rush (2/2)
Protector: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Protector: Beacon of Hope (2/3)
Protector: Bulwark (2/2)
Protector: Resolute (3/3)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Elusive (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Mastery: Constitution Mastery (1/1)
Ego Primary Tank (Ego Form) - Freeform
Super Stats
Level 6: Ego (Primary)
Level 10: Constitution (Secondary)
Level 15: Recovery (Secondary)
Specializations
Ego: Force of Will (2/2)
Ego: Insight (3/3)
Ego: Aggression (2/2)
Ego: Follow Through (3/3)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Elusive (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Mastery: Ego Mastery (1/1)
Strength Primary Tank (Strength form) - Freeform
Super Stats
Level 6: Strength (Primary)
Level 10: Constitution (Secondary)
Level 15: Recovery (Secondary)
Specializations
Strength: Physical Peak (3/3)
Strength: Aggression (2/2)
Strength: Brutality (2/2)
Strength: Juggernaut (3/3)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Elusive (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: Focused Strikes (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Mastery: Strength Mastery (1/1)
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
1. Reliability
2. Controlling the fight....to extent it can be controlled.
But most of all it's about reliability. The best tanks do their job even while missing soak tanks, auras, and the best healers because they can survive and hold aggro without them.
No one's death is as consequential as that of the Main Tank. If a Healer dies they can usually self-rez in time to be back in the fight. DPS dying might result in a missed check, but that's generally not a big deal. A Main Tank dying? .....they lose all the threat they built up, even if they are rezzed, and it takes a lot of deaths...missed checks...etc....before they get aggro back. That is if we don't wipe entirely.
So my advice to up and coming Main Tanks? Don't die. Don't rely on auras because you won't always get them. Don't rely on having the best healers because you won't always get them. Rely on yourself and don't die. Get enough HP and resistance so you can afford a mistake here and there without dying.
A great no-pressure way to practice is to be a soak tank and hit the boss in between blocks. Learn the fights so you can become an expert at blocking at the right time.
Put enough toughness into your character to give yourself the luxury to really observe the fight without constantly worrying about getting squished. As you learn the rotation and make less mistakes you'll naturally be able to be more aggressive both with your gear and the amount of blocking you do.
Think of the gear and build of your tank as a difficulty setting. Set it to easy mode and go for maximum toughness, learn the fight....then get more aggressive and work your way toward super hard mode. Do. Not. Die. Or you will not learn.
PARSER USAGE GUIDE: click here for an easy how-to ٩(๑･ิᴗ･ิ)۶٩(･ิᴗ･ิ๑)۶
Spectre beats Eido in an SG run: VIDEO HERE
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
The "am good enough do the job" tanks with decent heals and some soak are totally great and welcome. Yes.
PARSER USAGE GUIDE: click here for an easy how-to ٩(๑･ิᴗ･ิ)۶٩(･ิᴗ･ิ๑)۶
Spectre beats Eido in an SG run: VIDEO HERE
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
I just want to ensure Aggro of Cosmics to go right-tank side.
If you are a melee tank and want to take it even higher than that get the OV Slicer gloves as well as the 2x Confronts.
The rest is all about knowing the rotation and when you can get a hit in. To really max things out make sure that you have secondary challenge and primary challenge on the boss at all times. But don't spam your secondary challenge power much more than once every 10 secs or you will lose too much damage (and threat) from not hitting your primary attack power enough.
PARSER USAGE GUIDE: click here for an easy how-to ٩(๑･ิᴗ･ิ)۶٩(･ิᴗ･ิ๑)۶
Spectre beats Eido in an SG run: VIDEO HERE
Kigatilik's breath weapon is a cone with a wide base. The basic way a cone in shaped in CO is that that you draw two circles (one at the emission point, the other at the end of the cone) perpendicular to the direction of the cone, and anything between those two circles gets hit.
This matters because, if the cone is tilted, the circles are also tilted. If the cone is tilted down, the lower edge of the origin circle is behind the emission point, and how far behind depends on the amount of tilt. This is how Kigatilik's breath weapon hits people behind him (and the same for things like destroids).
Ideally, you would fly at the height of his emissions point (not sure where it is, probably head or chest) and it wouldn't hit behind him at all. Since you can't fly at Kiga, next best is to stand as far back as practical; melee can still stand at the back edge of the platform and hit him (going further back may cause line of sight issues for healers or people shooting a tomb on the tank).
Epic Stronghold
Block timing explained
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
Similar to the final boss in TA. The lance rain is centered on the Tank so if they stay as far back as possible then it wont hit the DPS behind the boss.
PARSER USAGE GUIDE: click here for an easy how-to ٩(๑･ิᴗ･ิ)۶٩(･ิᴗ･ิ๑)۶
Spectre beats Eido in an SG run: VIDEO HERE