(PS4) How does a OP generate threat?

valkos

Hi guys

I'm a new player who has levelled both a GF and OP to level 30. While I like them both I was going to level the OP to level 70 as I enjoy the auras and general class idea.

The bit of help I'm looking for is, how does the OP generate enough threat at lv 70 in pve tanking?, is it through dos?. I can clearly see at lv 30 the GF clearly has threat and improved threat but does divine call really have enough threat at high level to keep mobs on you?. I'm hoping to hear this is the case as I'm enjoying the OP but wouldn't lie to think I'd have trouble at lv 70.

armadeonx

Threat is generated by 'threatening behaviour' i.e. attacking an enemy or healing your allies.

Each enemy npc has a threat table that ranks your team (from 1 to 5) based on damage it receives and/or the strength of healing affecting those it's attacking. If two DPS attack it, it'll work out who hit it hardest and attack that player. Obviously most tanks won't hit as hard as a DPS so they have a mechanic that increases their threat relative to their dps to compensate.

In the case of the Paladin we have a x5 threat multiplier. That means you need to hit the enemies for at least 20% of the value of the highest dps'er in your group. Bear in mind that GWF's have a mark that increases their threat so you also need to overcome this.

The main difference between a GF and an OP is the way they tank. A GF will mark the target(s), hit a couple of encounters (sufficient threat generated) then shield up and take the incoming attacks. An OP has to do the opposite. They have to spec for decent DPS output and actually attack the enemies. Instead of relying on their shield for defence, they rely on high temp health which is generated by striking with TW and as the skill works by providing you with 3x your damage (with TW) in temp health, obviously the harder you hit with it, the more temp health you generate. As such speccing for DPS will increase both your survivability and threat generation.

If you are having trouble with threat I would recommend a Lightning weapon enchantment as the chains create extra threat against multiple targets. You can go with a Dread but you'd also need high crit chance and this is more single target (good for bosses/solo enemies but not as effective on groups).

You should have a fast attacking companion and as you're in the middle of the fight, I'd recommend a ranged striker such as the Fire Archon as I've personally found that melee attackers die constantly in boss fights due to being too close to them. Equip them with bonding runestones to boost your stats and get them to focus on power, recovery & defence (or crit if you go with Dread).

Lastly, you need to make sure your Resistance Ignored is maxed at -60%. Resistance Ignored is increased by Armor Penetration and works like this:

Your enemy has a DR stat (Damage Reduction). This negates incoming damage dealt to it.
RI (Resistance Ignored) counters the enemy's DR stat, so attacking an enemy with 50% DR when you have 25% RI will mean you are ignoring half of their defence. As enemies have a max of 60% DR you need to get your RI to just over -60% to ensure you are hitting them with 100% effectiveness. The more an enemy can ignore your damage, the less threat you create on their table.

valkos

Hi Armadeonx

Thanks very much for the detailed answer, I learned a lot from it. So far I'm just using drops from quests/mobs but I've been specify for defence and deflection thinking they'd be good for a tank, I never thought of building DPS build as it'll boost HP. I'll also start using armour penetration, I'll need to look and see what my general stats are.

Your feedback had given me the confidence to continuing to level my OP which I enjoy. I've been reading about the changes in mod 10, do you think OP's will be needed more than GF'svad into the fray had been toned down?.

armadeonx

On the upcoming changes, GF's still tend to have the advantage with 'attractiveness' to groups due to the (now) flat 30% DPS boost. For a Pally to get close to that they have to have very high power and a good HP stat for aura of courage.

SVA and FBI groups actually like to have a GF, OP and Buff DC as it covers most of the bases for buffing and survivability (a buff MoF CW is also good for this). The GF and OP together make an excellent combination for both survivability and damage buffing.

Note: most of your power will come from good bonding stones on your companion but don't stack HP on them as it doesn't transfer to you, but defence does. E.g. my 3.6k pally currently goes from 24k power to over 70k in combat with 3 rank 11 bondings.

I also have a 2.7k GF who is still new and running campaign boons but I find it's down to a preference of play style. I prefer an attacking tank rather than the 'buff & hide' style of the GF so I'm sticking with that.

We still have a class balance coming at some point and I hope they put some real thought into it. There's a decent opportunity for the devs to put something back into the class after taking so much out over the last few months.

trzebiat

@armadeonx Did they just recently fix Aura of Courage to work as stated in the tooltip?

armadeonx

I don't believe they've made any changes/fixes to it recently, there's not anything in the patch notes.

I suspect they want to see how recent changes impact overall class performance before making other changes, including fixing bugs.

mercedesman

I use a Dread Warrior as summoned companion and use oath strike as my at-will. With this and the recent agro changes we got I now get complaints from fellow GF's when running FBI and mSVA that I steal their agro.