test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Forums > Home› Class Forums›
My 95% Tank Guardian Fighter build
cactusjackter
Member Posts: 287 Arc User
Figured I'd post this here to see what people think.
Ok, my aim as a Guardian Fighter is to be the best tank I can be. As such, my damage output is pretty minimal. I'm focussed on taking damage and staying alive.
Class & Abilites
Firstly, I picked a Human because I really wanted those extra Heroic points. For my class rolls, I went for the best Strength and Dexterity rolls I could get. The Constitution bonuses are already pretty high and will boosted elsewhere anyway. The concentration on Strength and Dex is to boost the Stamina regeneration (shield is up a lot), the Deflection chance and general damage resistences. At level 70, my ability scores look like this:
Powers and Feats
The Paragon Path isn't too important, but I went for Iron Vanguard as that gives access to Threatening Rush, which lets you close distance quickly and applies your Mark to anyone nearby (which lowers their damage resistance and increases your threat).
I use different loadouts for solo and group play, so here's the powers for each:
Solo Play
Crushing Surge
Threatening Rush
Lunging Strike
Griffon's Wrath
Enforced Threat / Anvil of Doom
Villain's Menace
Fighter's Recovery (not really needed in solo play, it's there just in case)
Combat Superiority
Guarded Assault
Group Play
Crushing Surge
Threatening Rush
Knight's Valor (substitute Lunging Strike in here if you have a Bubble OP in the party)
Into the Fray
Enforced Threat
Shield Talent
Guarded Assault
The Solo Play is obviously based on upping your usually low damage output so it doesn't take you 10 minutes to kill anything. Lunging Strike is there for mobility and to apply your Mark to groups of enemies. Griffon's Wrath has a number of charges and interrupts most enemy moves. Enforced Threat is there to deal a close AoE damage, or Anvil of Doom if you need to up your damage output further.
Combat Superiority is there to again raise your damage output. The second Class Feature is up to you. I use Guarded Assault as I tend to guard a lot when taking Heroics on solo.
The Group Play is about as unselfish as you can get. You won't be using your at-Wills much, though Threatening Rush can be useful for closing distance before those pesky GWFs and TRs and mess up your threat management. You'll probably never using Crushing Surge. Knight's Valor intercepts 50% of all damage your team mates take, which basically turns into very little once it passes through your Shield. Into the Fray you'll be popping as often as possible - it seriously boosts your team's movement speed and AP generation, gives them Temp HP (though this is negligible) and also increases their damage. Enfroced Threat is there to enforce threat, obviously.
As your shield will up as much as possible, Shield Talent is a fantastic choice. This will allow you to keep your shield up for pretty much every fight you get into. It's very rare will you be without a shield, especially as Into The Fray and Enforced Threat boost your shield regen whenever you fire them off. Guarded Assault reflects some of the damage you take back at the enemies, so you can't go wrong there.
And on to the Feats:
This was all pretty straight forward if you're a human (it becomes harder to choose without those extra Heroic points, though).
Heroic Feats
Action Surge 1/5 - I had a point left over so needed to put it somewhere to unlock the third row of Feats
Strength Focus 3/3 - 15% boost to stamina regen and DoT resistance.
Toughness 3/3 - 9& extra HP
Armor Specialization 3/3 - 15% efficiency boost to Armour Class and Defense
Potent Challenge 3/3 - Generate 15% more threat
Powerful Attack 5/5 - 10% more damage output. This is for solo play more than anything, but it also helps with Life Steal and threat.
Ubiquitous Shield 5/5 - 25% reduction to incoming Combat Advantage damage
Feats I didn't choose:
Shielded Resurgence - your defence and HP will already be enough that you don't need an extra 4% once every 30 seconds. Wasted points.
Distracting Shield - briefly reduces incoming damage by 5%. Doesn't matter, you can take the extra damage easily.
Grit - more temp HP, yet another tiny % increase. Just not needed.
Pin Down - you won't be using any knock down skills and, even if you were, who the hell wants an extra 0.3 seconds of proneness? Not worth it.
Weapon Mastery - now this will be contentious. Used to increase your Critical Chance by 3%. I have no interest in dishing out Crits, it would take too much away from the defensive part of your game to be worth it.
Paragon Feats
This is pretty much all in the Protector Paragon tree. It's all about keeping you alive as much as possible.
Plate Agility 5/5 - extra 5% Deflection chance
Shield Defense 5/5 - extra 5 points in Armor Class
Unshakable Line 5/5 - Boosts your stamina regen based on the number of people close to you
Devoted Protector 5/5 - 5% extra Deflection chance when blocking attacks
Shieldmaster 5/5 - Slows down Stamina drain by 10%
Brawling Warrior 5/5 - increases Damage Resistance by 5% from Knight's Valor and 10% extra threat and damage from Enforced Threat
Balanced Shield Fighter 5/5 - 15% extra damage from At-Wills
Iron Guard 1/1 - 5% reduction to enemy damage when you attack them, up to 20% total.
And your final 5 points goes into the Tactician tree:
Fight On 5/5 - reduces your Encounter cooldown by 10%
Pretty sure all of those are self-explanatory, so I'll concentrate on the ones I didn't pick:
Armor of Bahamut - your stamina will almost never be low enough for the damage reduction to kick in
Improved Reaction - you won't need to use Ferocious Reaction power, which it boosts
Overwhelming Impact - you won't be using either of the powers this boosts
Boons
Sharandar
Dark Fey Warder: +400 Defense
Fey Elusiveness: +400 Deflect
Elven Haste: 3% speed increase to Action Point gain
Elven Tranquillity: chance to heal 20,000 HP every time you are hit
Fey Thistle: 3000 damage output whenever you deflect an attack
I chose Fey Thistle over the others as I will be using a lot of Deflection so this will be a nice addition. Elven Resolve would increase Stamina regeneration, but you've already boosted that loads previously anyway. Elvish Fury can seriously up your power so that's also a good choice. Redcap Brew increases healing potions, but you'll never be using those anyway.
Dread Ring
Reliquary Keeper's Strength: +250 Power and 250 Movement (the alternative is Crit, which we won't need)
Evoker's Thirst: +400 Life Steal
Illusion Shimmer: +3% Deflection Chance
Enraged Regrowth: Chance to heal for 20,000 HP when you take damage and briefly increases your defense by 4000 points
Endless Consumption: Health gained through Life Steal has a chance to triple
Icewind Dale
Weathering the Storm: +400 AoE Resistence
Appreciation of Warmth: +400 Incoming Healing bonus
Rapid Thaw: +400 Recovery
Cold Shoulder: chance to reduce incoming damage by 2000 when hit
Avalanche: Deal 15,000 in AoE damage every 20th hit you take
Tyranny of Dragons
Dragon's Claws: +400 Power (the other gives 1,600 HP which just isn't worth it)
Dragon's Shadow: +400 Deflect
Dragonscale Defense: +400 Defense
Dragon's Greed: +400 Life Steal
Dragon's Thirst 3/3: +5% Life Steal chance
Ok, my aim as a Guardian Fighter is to be the best tank I can be. As such, my damage output is pretty minimal. I'm focussed on taking damage and staying alive.
Class & Abilites
Firstly, I picked a Human because I really wanted those extra Heroic points. For my class rolls, I went for the best Strength and Dexterity rolls I could get. The Constitution bonuses are already pretty high and will boosted elsewhere anyway. The concentration on Strength and Dex is to boost the Stamina regeneration (shield is up a lot), the Deflection chance and general damage resistences. At level 70, my ability scores look like this:
Powers and Feats
The Paragon Path isn't too important, but I went for Iron Vanguard as that gives access to Threatening Rush, which lets you close distance quickly and applies your Mark to anyone nearby (which lowers their damage resistance and increases your threat).
I use different loadouts for solo and group play, so here's the powers for each:
Solo Play
Crushing Surge
Threatening Rush
Lunging Strike
Griffon's Wrath
Enforced Threat / Anvil of Doom
Villain's Menace
Fighter's Recovery (not really needed in solo play, it's there just in case)
Combat Superiority
Guarded Assault
Group Play
Crushing Surge
Threatening Rush
Knight's Valor (substitute Lunging Strike in here if you have a Bubble OP in the party)
Into the Fray
Enforced Threat
Shield Talent
Guarded Assault
The Solo Play is obviously based on upping your usually low damage output so it doesn't take you 10 minutes to kill anything. Lunging Strike is there for mobility and to apply your Mark to groups of enemies. Griffon's Wrath has a number of charges and interrupts most enemy moves. Enforced Threat is there to deal a close AoE damage, or Anvil of Doom if you need to up your damage output further.
Combat Superiority is there to again raise your damage output. The second Class Feature is up to you. I use Guarded Assault as I tend to guard a lot when taking Heroics on solo.
The Group Play is about as unselfish as you can get. You won't be using your at-Wills much, though Threatening Rush can be useful for closing distance before those pesky GWFs and TRs and mess up your threat management. You'll probably never using Crushing Surge. Knight's Valor intercepts 50% of all damage your team mates take, which basically turns into very little once it passes through your Shield. Into the Fray you'll be popping as often as possible - it seriously boosts your team's movement speed and AP generation, gives them Temp HP (though this is negligible) and also increases their damage. Enfroced Threat is there to enforce threat, obviously.
As your shield will up as much as possible, Shield Talent is a fantastic choice. This will allow you to keep your shield up for pretty much every fight you get into. It's very rare will you be without a shield, especially as Into The Fray and Enforced Threat boost your shield regen whenever you fire them off. Guarded Assault reflects some of the damage you take back at the enemies, so you can't go wrong there.
And on to the Feats:
This was all pretty straight forward if you're a human (it becomes harder to choose without those extra Heroic points, though).
Heroic Feats
Action Surge 1/5 - I had a point left over so needed to put it somewhere to unlock the third row of Feats
Strength Focus 3/3 - 15% boost to stamina regen and DoT resistance.
Toughness 3/3 - 9& extra HP
Armor Specialization 3/3 - 15% efficiency boost to Armour Class and Defense
Potent Challenge 3/3 - Generate 15% more threat
Powerful Attack 5/5 - 10% more damage output. This is for solo play more than anything, but it also helps with Life Steal and threat.
Ubiquitous Shield 5/5 - 25% reduction to incoming Combat Advantage damage
Feats I didn't choose:
Shielded Resurgence - your defence and HP will already be enough that you don't need an extra 4% once every 30 seconds. Wasted points.
Distracting Shield - briefly reduces incoming damage by 5%. Doesn't matter, you can take the extra damage easily.
Grit - more temp HP, yet another tiny % increase. Just not needed.
Pin Down - you won't be using any knock down skills and, even if you were, who the hell wants an extra 0.3 seconds of proneness? Not worth it.
Weapon Mastery - now this will be contentious. Used to increase your Critical Chance by 3%. I have no interest in dishing out Crits, it would take too much away from the defensive part of your game to be worth it.
Paragon Feats
This is pretty much all in the Protector Paragon tree. It's all about keeping you alive as much as possible.
Plate Agility 5/5 - extra 5% Deflection chance
Shield Defense 5/5 - extra 5 points in Armor Class
Unshakable Line 5/5 - Boosts your stamina regen based on the number of people close to you
Devoted Protector 5/5 - 5% extra Deflection chance when blocking attacks
Shieldmaster 5/5 - Slows down Stamina drain by 10%
Brawling Warrior 5/5 - increases Damage Resistance by 5% from Knight's Valor and 10% extra threat and damage from Enforced Threat
Balanced Shield Fighter 5/5 - 15% extra damage from At-Wills
Iron Guard 1/1 - 5% reduction to enemy damage when you attack them, up to 20% total.
And your final 5 points goes into the Tactician tree:
Fight On 5/5 - reduces your Encounter cooldown by 10%
Pretty sure all of those are self-explanatory, so I'll concentrate on the ones I didn't pick:
Armor of Bahamut - your stamina will almost never be low enough for the damage reduction to kick in
Improved Reaction - you won't need to use Ferocious Reaction power, which it boosts
Overwhelming Impact - you won't be using either of the powers this boosts
Boons
Sharandar
Dark Fey Warder: +400 Defense
Fey Elusiveness: +400 Deflect
Elven Haste: 3% speed increase to Action Point gain
Elven Tranquillity: chance to heal 20,000 HP every time you are hit
Fey Thistle: 3000 damage output whenever you deflect an attack
I chose Fey Thistle over the others as I will be using a lot of Deflection so this will be a nice addition. Elven Resolve would increase Stamina regeneration, but you've already boosted that loads previously anyway. Elvish Fury can seriously up your power so that's also a good choice. Redcap Brew increases healing potions, but you'll never be using those anyway.
Dread Ring
Reliquary Keeper's Strength: +250 Power and 250 Movement (the alternative is Crit, which we won't need)
Evoker's Thirst: +400 Life Steal
Illusion Shimmer: +3% Deflection Chance
Enraged Regrowth: Chance to heal for 20,000 HP when you take damage and briefly increases your defense by 4000 points
Endless Consumption: Health gained through Life Steal has a chance to triple
Icewind Dale
Weathering the Storm: +400 AoE Resistence
Appreciation of Warmth: +400 Incoming Healing bonus
Rapid Thaw: +400 Recovery
Cold Shoulder: chance to reduce incoming damage by 2000 when hit
Avalanche: Deal 15,000 in AoE damage every 20th hit you take
Tyranny of Dragons
Dragon's Claws: +400 Power (the other gives 1,600 HP which just isn't worth it)
Dragon's Shadow: +400 Deflect
Dragonscale Defense: +400 Defense
Dragon's Greed: +400 Life Steal
Dragon's Thirst 3/3: +5% Life Steal chance
0
Comments
The majority of this will be based on defense, but I have also made some choices based on the Armor Pen they give in order to reach 40% resistance ignored for solo play and Life Steal. You don't need to hit 60% for the bosses, your job is to keep its attention, not hurt it.
Head: Elemental Elven Ward Helm
Chest: Elemental Elven Assault Breastplate
Arms: Dragonflight Ward Gauntlets
Legs: Fadeless Walkers
Those last two are from Strongholds (the Walkers come from the Giants Heroic Event. They give you the usual boosts you'd expect, but flips between giving you Power and Life Steal based on your HP).
Main Hand: Elemental Fire Longsword (boosts Crushing Surge)
Off-Hand: Elemental Fire Shield (boosts Shield Talent and Guard Gain)
These two are better for tanking than the "more powerful" Strongholds artifact weapons, which waste points on Critical Strike.
Neck: Greater Cloak of the Seldarine
Ring: Personalised Adamant Ring of Recovery
Ring: Personalised Adamant Ring of Recovery
Waist: Greater Belt of the Seldarine
Shirt: Defender's Gemmed Exquisite Elemental Chainmail
Trousers: Warrior's Gemmed Exquisite Elemental Chausses
As you can guess, I've gone for the Seldarine set (including the artifact) as it gives +2 Con, +2 Dex, +6 AC and heals for 2% HP whenever you take a hit bigger than 10% HP.
Enchantments
These are the enchantments I have slotted in to my various items:
Utility Slots: Dragon's Hoard Enchantments (can't beat free refining stones)
Defense Slots: Cruel (+ Defense and Deflect)
Offense Slots: Cruel (+ Power and Recovery) (Note: You may need to put a Dark Enchantment here or there to up your armour pen if you haven't hit 40% resistence ignored, though I did this using my companion instead).
Armor Enhancement: Briartwine, to deflect and deal damage
Weapon Enhancement: Lifedrinker, to increase Life Steal chance
Artifacts
Main: Sigil of the Guardian (increases Defense, Deflection and AoR resist while activating it is like having a second shield up)
Others:
Oghma's Token of Free Movement (+ Defense, Deflection, Control Resist)
Eye of Lathander (+ Defense, Life Steal, Incoming Healing)
Emblem of the Seldarine (+ Defense, Life Steal, Companion Influence)
These are all based on keeping me alive. You could easily main Oghma's or the Eye for their effects as well, whichever you prefer. I did intend on using the eye, but the casting time on the revive is so long you may as well walk over there and pick them up yourself.
Companions
Acolyte of Kelemvor (Legendary)
Bonus: +5% Incoming Healing
Powers: Boosts damage reduction by 10% every 4 seconds, Boosts Life Steal every 7 seconds based on her level and Life Steal
Runestones: 3x Perfect Bonding Runestone for Companion's Gift
Gear:
Restoring Icon of Parrying (+ Deflection, Life Steal) and offensive Cruel Enchantment (I know nothing about Icons and this is the best I could find...)
2x Personalised Adamant Ring of Piercing (to help hit the 40% resistance ignored I mentioned earlier) with Offensive Cruel and Defensive Dark enchantments (to increase life steal to boost her powers).
Other Companions (all Epic)
Pseudodragon (20% chance to increase Guard instead of decrease it when attacking)
Phase Spider (25% reduction to incoming Combat Advantage damage)
Blacksmith (25% chance to reflect 10% of incoming damage. If this hits the same target 4 times, it triples the damage output)
Dancing Shield (+2% Deflection Chance)*
*I've had a real hard time picking a fifth companion. I finally settled on this until i find something better.
Conclusion
So yeah, that's about it. Hopefully this makes sense to everyone. If not, please give me some feedback and comments and I'll explain further. I'm also looking for any suggestions to improve this build further, so I'm all ears. Thanks for reading.
Thanks for taking the time to make that as it seems good GF guides are few and far between.
Basically it's designed to intercept 50% of all team damage, absorb it into the shield and then deflect it back at enemies. At the same time I'm buffing the team as frequently as possible with damage resistance and movement speed and generating as much threat as possible.
In short, I'm trying to get most of the enemies to attack me, but also allow my team to survive when I can't grab all of the aggro. The good thing is that it also absorbs AoE and DoT damage from them. I don't do much damage at all - maybe 10m on epic Lostmauth, 30m on eCC etc. But the point is that the team stays alive to do way more damage without having to worry so much about dodging attacks of their own etc.
Indy - XB1 & PS4 - GF
xeV Indy - PS4 - TR
Nde - XB1 - HR
GT: its indy time
PSN: itsindytime
Twitch: indygoinlive
The Kanye West of Neverwinter
If we had more free respecs I'd definitely try switching around to see the effect, but as long as I keep my team alive then I'm doing what I'm meant to be doing - you don't need to worry about them doing extra damage as you can keep them alive long enough to make up for any damage they might gain.
Prot cap stone - 20% dmg is mainly for teamates keepin bosses from 1 shotting the teammates
This is my view point
Tacticion
-"possibly" shave 2 seconds on a fight
-"possibly" cause wipe
Protector
-Guaranteed to finish the fight
I pick the sure thing, Exspecialy cause i enjoy PuGing.
My guild has downed all 4 dragons several times and have yet to see any pieces come from there or anywhere else
Band of Loathing
Ring
Not class specific
+788 Critical Strike
Offense Slot
Drops from No Sympathy HE
Equipping two Bands of Loathing:
+200 Critical Strike
-1000 Defense
Discord and Discontent
Gloves
Not class specific
Can switch between +1418 Power and +1900 Defense, every 10 seconds.
Utility Slot
Overload Slot
Drops from Bickering Beholders HE
Fadeless Walkers
Feet
Not class specific
+1418 Power when over 50% HP
+1418 Life Steal when under 50% HP
+9520 HP
+482 Defense
Utility Slot
Drops from Giants Among the Dead HE
Orcish Companion's Collar
Neck
Companion Only
+521 Power
+438 Regeneration
Defense Slot
Overload Slot
Drops from any Epic Orc HE
Orcish Companion's Knot
Sword Knot
Companion Only
+521 Power
+348 Regeneration
Defense Slot
Overload Slot
Drops from any Epic Orc HE
Orcish Companion's Ring
Ring
Companion Only
+521 Power
+348 Regeneration
Defense Slot
Overload Slot
Drops from any Epic Orc HE
Hopin account bound, alot easier to get great success on DPSer
And anymore info on Gloves Discord and Discontent would amazing!
Like all stats, and can i optionaly switch defense and power stat?
The Gloves change automatically, you have no control over it
I'd be tempted by them if they had any other powers as well, but I can't give up the other stats normal gloves give you.
Thanks man, got them last night after about 4 beholder encounters
It's not needed when playing with a well organised group, but in bad groups and pug groups it's essential imo.
I should probably have two sets and switch between them for the different groups, but it's just too much work.
Closing in on 100% dmg boost from ITF alone. Makes bad groups decent and good groups amazing.
Funny thing is they never know why they are hitting like a truck, they just think they are awesome lol
It may be because there are so many bad tanks out there giving the rest of us a bad name, and I'm sure part of it is that even an average bubble paladin can do a decent job of keeping the bubble up. Saying that, I also run a perma-bubble Pally and it's great fun. Still prefer my tank though.
Im getting close to cracking 200% dmg boost to single targets, and plenty of room to grow.
I think its funny, i did Devo and Burning guidance and beat ToTs with another Devo. Its a bad alt, i was at 1900 had to fluff to get in lol
Thanks again for lifesteal tips!
How does Steel Defence work? From what I've read it basically boosts your Damage Resistance for about 5 seconds after using a daily. I'm not convinced that would be worth giving up my Guarded Assault for, which reflects 20% of all incoming damage (with a cap of about 2000 damage). It doesn't sound like much, but I can kill things just by standing there and letting them hit me
Steel defense gives 6 seconds immune to damage, with offhand perk, you also get 10% DR bonus for 5 seconds after immune ends.
Im not much for dealing any damage to enemies besides threat gain and lifesteal procs(think you said guarded assassult procs lifesteal) so i prefer to top out DR cap as often as possible to take 20% of dmg.
I think it works. When I run with my Pally on eLol, the top DPS guys I play with tends to get around 100m damage, but when I run with my GF he gets 130m-ish.
If you can keep your shield up near permanently (which you easily can with Shield Talent, ITF and Enforced Threat) then you're always at the DR cap of 80% anyway. My shield only drops long enough to trigger one move at a time (I usually rotate between ITF, Enforced Threat, Mark and, when it's ready, my Emblem of the Seldarine). It's possible to die if you time the shield drop wrong and take a hit at the same time as others do, but that's only a problem against bosses (and the occasional group of phase spiders) where you can easily learn their attacks to know when to do it.
So your ITF boost dmg 46.5% then
My defense procs upto 33000 with companion . So not even counting AC, thats 82.5%. Add in my AC (think thats like 20%) and im over 100% DR. So ITF boosting 100%+ dmg.
Armor Class and defense itself are only modifiers to ITF
@ shield, if your at DR cap without it, you take 20% damage, then we only take 4% of the attack.
AC is already part of your damage resistance. At 12,000 defence I have 30% resistance - my 43 AC adds a further 16.5% to give the total 46.5%. Damage resistance is also capped at 80% and can not go higher, no matter what you do.
Can go over and still give dmg boosts over 100%
I use a non-augment companion, only real way to get good defense from companions, all the ioun stones jipp you.
http://mmominds.com/2015/11/04/xbox-mod-7-tanking-like-a-rockstar-gf-swordmaster/
Check out my guide, need to update it though, all info viable still of course.
If you have Line ill send pic of DR