Wilburs Weird tank builds, Fighter Edition.

wilbur626 · September 2021

Goal of the build :
To do what the Fighter does best ; Deal tons of damage both as Vanguard and Dreadnaught. I also wanted to be able to swap between a very solid tank and DPS loadout with minimal investment. This setup has been tested and found 100% viable for TOMM and HC VoS (Both loadouts).

Vanguard gear and stats :

Explanation of gear choices :
All gear choices made with the goal of maximising offensive stats and being able to swap to a DPS loadout without wasting time.
The offensive stats (power,combat advantage, crit and crit severity) all increase damage dealt, and damage dealt equals threat generated.

Helm is replaced with the Turban of the Shifting Sands for AoE fights.

Note that screenshots are made out of party, making Awareness stat show 6% lower than when in party.

Armor reinforced with Critical Strike kits, Neck/Belt/Rings with Awareness kits.

The Watcher set buffs all the important stats for this build for the entire duration of boss fights, making it best in slot. For adventure zones I run Mirage.

The Negation armor enchantment is extremely effecitve for dungeons/adventure zones, but should be swapped for Elven Battle or Eclipse for trials. Negation can be replaced with Fireburst enchantment for AoE fights for a very nice boost to AoE threat generation.

Bilethorn for a lot of damage ticks/threat generated over time (also keeps the stacks from Demogorgon's Wrath up). can of course be replaced by a debuff enchantment (more party damage). Lightning for AoE.

Gear enchantments :
Weapon/Offhand offensive slots : 1x Radiant, 1x Heart of Fire and 1x Tenebrous
Armor/Jewelry offensive slots : Assassin's
Armor Jewelry defensive slots : Assassin's

The Band of Air increases total damage dealt by 30%, making it best in slot for threat generation.

Vanguard companions, mounts and boons :

Explanation of companion and boons choices :

This setup is the best i found to maximise defensive and offensive stats.

I use Regis as a summoned companion for solo play, he is replaced with any buff/debuff companion in group conent (depending on companions in party)

Companion gear 2x Critical Strike stat with 2x offensive runestone slots + 1x Combat Advantage with 1 offensive and 1 defensive runestone slot.
The rank 1 - 4 campaign boons are spent on Power, Hit Points, Crit, Crit Sev, Movement speed. Maxing these will have you end up with a few (9) boon points you can slot wherever you want.

Collars in use : At-Will damage, Stamina Gain, Critical Severity, Movement Speed.

Insignia Bonuses :
2x Gladiator's Guile - Regal Dominance/Illuminated Dominance/Enlightened Fortitude
2x Warlord's Inspiration (AoE) Regal Dominance/Enlightened Fortitude/Regal Dominance
2x Combatant's Maneuver (Single Target) Regal Dominance/Illuminated Dominance/Regal Dominance
1x Victim's Preservation Crescent Dominance/Barbed Dominance/Barbed Dominance

Dreadnaught gear and stats :

Explanation of gear choices :
All gear choices made with the goal of maximising offensive stats and being able to step in as tank for 4 DPS +1 healer speedruns (!). Notice that the only difference from the Vanguard loadout is the boots.

Dreadnaught companions, mounts and boons :

Explanation of companion and boons choices :

Wolf and Wandering Scarecrow replaces Deep Crow Hatchling and Alpha Compy as the Dreadnaught gets more than enough power from forte.

Consumables used for both loadouts :

Explanation of consumables choices :
Vanguard has the belt item Awakened Forger's Box slotted, while Dreadnaught is using the Empowered Chain of Scales.

Vanguard powers and feats :

Dreadnaught powers and feats :

Single Target :

AoE :

wilbur626 · September 2021

For future additions

thomasisalone · October 2021

Interesting build idea! Any suggestions if you don't have a band of air yet?

Also, why not run spiked vambraces instead of the wristguards of precipitation? It takes 1 second in a ST fight to get 4% damage buff (1.5s for 5%) as with cleave/brazen slash as the weapon enchantment also proccs a stack. This is enough time to build up stacks to benefit, and you'd get a slightly higher dps than with the wristguards as a tank (you're going to get hit after all!). It's a small amount of extra dps.

wilbur626 · October 2021

thomasisalone said:
Interesting build idea! Any suggestions if you don't have a band of air yet?

Also, why not run spiked vambraces instead of the wristguards of precipitation? It takes 1 second in a ST fight to get 4% damage buff (1.5s for 5%) as with cleave/brazen slash as the weapon enchantment also proccs a stack. This is enough time to build up stacks to benefit, and you'd get a slightly higher dps than with the wristguards as a tank (you're going to get hit after all!). It's a small amount of extra dps.

Any ring that has crit severity/ combat advantage stats could be used until you get the ring of air.
Swapping out the Wristguards of Precipitation would have me end up with 7500 less power, meaning the Spiked Vambraces would not make up for the damage loss.

dread4moor · December 2021

Glad to see there are still tank fighter experts in my old game, Wilbur. Keep up the good work.

thomasisalone · January 2022

I've been working on my own DPS-tank also with the aim of avoiding needing to change gear. It's been fun to do, and I've loved popping on the DPS table in organised 50k+ RTQ's, and being competitive with dps in RADQ. It's going to need some changes following the enchant rework. It's very similar to @wilbur626 's build but with these changes:
- Lionheart weapons - I've not had time to farm Watcher again, although Watcher is a better choice. I might try out mirage though as the clones use an aoe at-will if I remember correctly, and they're getting an IL boost in M22.
- I use Shield Throw with the Feat instead of Knee Breaker. With the feat, not only is Shield Throw the best threat generator, it's also the highest dps power.
- Usually (read: if I remember!) I slot Bull Charge and Cleave for AOE fights. With the Cleaving Bull Feat it's a really nice buff to Cleave's damage. With this set up I've not generally needed Enforced Threat for aggro as things are dying pretty quickly.
- Neverwinter Knight instead of Baby Deepcrow in the companion passive.
- Wasteland Wander's, Crag's Scalar Gauntlets, and Lion's Guard Helm are my gear choices. The extra awareness from Crag's is nice and it's quicker to get the 5% extra power vs Wristguard's of Precipitation buff. Wasteland's is always up and extra 5% CA while Slip's need to proc; admittedly Slip's will proc pretty often on a tank and the buff is nice. Lion's Guard Helm is always up vs Skyblazer; for ST Skyblazer is better, but we're looking at builds in which we don't need to change gear.

Bronzewood has been my go-to weapon enchant. Keeping up the demo stacks is pretty easy, and the raid-wide debuff is very nice when it happens with arti calls. Elven Battle is my amour enchant; my "serious" tank uses it and r14 amour enchants are very expensive!

In the next mod, I'll be switching to an augment. I plan on using Polar Bear Cub as my comp, and swap from the VoS chest piece to Weathered Wood for some extra defence (5% has gone missing for me and I'm not sure where!). When I get the new "Ribcage" (the accuracy + CA chest piece) I'll probably be using that as my chest. I'm still debating on the combat enchant to use - on the one hand, Frostburn is a good debuff for more survivability (+10% damage resistance), but then Poison Thorn does more damage. Looking forward to hear what people are recommending!

rey007 · January 2022

Thanks for this guide. I main a OP and the gameplay always felt clunky compared to my GF Alt. I'm thinking of transitioning in Mod 22 and this would help a ton.

dread4moor · March 2022

wilbur626 said:
For future additions

Player since Mod 1 and fan of Wilbur the tank guru for years.
Glad to see the scientific metagame scientists at "Imaginary" are still employing tank heroes like Wilbur.
Love your work. Keep it up. Tank Love.
The Took

Wilburs Weird tank builds, Fighter Edition.

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