Returning oldtime seeking GF respec tips - Solo/team tank

surf13 · April 2015

So after a couple years away I'm returning to Neverwinter and looking to rejig my human GF.

I ran both solo and group quests with this char and dabbled in a little PvP.

It'll mainly PvE with solo and group and at > lvl 52 (excess XP to spend so no exact number yet). As to PvP - yeah I'd like to do more PvP but it won't be his focus, so a build I can switch to decent PvP with gear might be fun if that's an option.

Regen and Life Steal were things I really enjoyed a couple years ago but I don't know how they fare now. Browsing builds in this forum it seems most GFs use them now.

I've seen a few builds on here that look like they'd appeal, but rather than preempt I thought I'd just ask...

What GF builds do folks think might suit me?

overdriver13 · April 2015

At the moment I don't think there is a really bad GF tree, it is a good class to jump into at the moment, especially at your level. Regen and lifesteal are pretty useless in mod 6.

Aside from that it is up to how you like to play- full on aggro tank, aggressive dps tank, party buff tank......I'm partial to IV Conq personally especially since at level 60+ you can dip pretty far into the protector tree.

surf13 · April 2015

Generally either an agg or DPS. Which is more popular with groups these days?

*Slurps up just a tiny bit of your soul... Almonds!*

rawlor9k · April 2015

PvE? Right now "surviving" is the name of the game. I wouldn't worry too much about it until we see what they might change around this Thursday. Supposedly it'll be a big patch.

overdriver13 · April 2015

rawlor9k wrote: »

PvE? Right now "surviving" is the name of the game. I wouldn't worry too much about it until we see what they might change around this Thursday. Supposedly it'll be a big patch.

Some of the very best tanks that I know (old and new) won't touch level 70 pve with a mile long stick at this point. You can't effectively tank anything that hits once for ten times your maximum hit points.

surf13 · April 2015

Ouch! Well let us hope they fix that this Thursday!

draekus · April 2015

I was going to post the same thing. Returning GF player here as well. So, basically there is no info? Even the internet returns no useful info on Mod 6 builds. Normally I would just tool around until I discovered it on my own but respecializing is so damned expensive in Neverwinter.

thestaggy · April 2015

Damage soaks and buff bots are what people are looking for.

It is true, all three paths work, but putting 5 - 15 points in to the Protector tree to eek out max survivability won't be a bad idea. You can easily reach the capstone feats in the Tactician and Conqueror trees while picking up some valuable defensive feats from the Protector tree.

As for why you don't see many new builds, particularly so few GF builds online;

1 - The new mod is still in its infancy and is in line for a potentially major patch tomorrow, so people are still learning/adapting and things may change.
2 - The GF class, along with the TR, has a history of being nerfed in to oblivion the minute it becomes a viable class. The result is GFs are hush about their builds.
3 - The other classes may be following the GF line and no longer willing to expose their dark secrets in order to avoid the dreaded nerfhammer.

rawlor9k · April 2015

The biggest issue is so many things are bugged or unbalanced that it is difficult to know what *works*. Apparently the pure (and maybe transcendent) negation armor enchantments are bugged and make you take more incoming damage. I've also seen a report that the cap for protector is bugged and only applies once (doesn't stack) so you only get -5% damage debuff instead of a max of -20%. The new passive Desperate Survival is bugged so only the initial 3% deflect is provided instead of the ranked up 5 or 6% it should provide, leaving it out of a deflect build. Constitution gives you essentially nothing of value at level 70 as your armor is your primary means of getting MaxHP, which you need to gain a survivability of 2-3 shots instead of just 1. Oh, and did I mentioned that shield (yes, your basic hold shift shield) is bugged? It doesn't always shield, even if your shield shows as up. Hits will get through as if your shield isn't there. Magic.

That's what I recall off the top of my head. And before we get into mob damage, which is insane in dungeons. If you use KV you will be dead.

I've found the only thing that 'works' right now for just T1's is having a decent healer & CW in your group. You really need both. Without the control you get hit too much and you don't have the necessary HP pool to soak up damage. Even then you need to turtle up and keep backup kiting to limit the incoming hits. Then you get to gamble with when to let down your shield to actually use a skill and risk a one shot.

For anything more difficult than that, I'll point you to good advice from crixus in another thread:

crixus8000 wrote: »

As a gf I always run with steel defence and fighters recovery slotted while in pve. Giving 6 seconds immunity when maxed and if your tact build or have ways of getting fast ap then you can be almost impossible to kill. Most situations in pve give you much ap while blocking now since enemies hit so hard so steel defence is one of the guardian fighters best survivability powers when mixed with fighters recovery.

Also if your team is in a really tough fight you can put enchanced mark on to gain a lot of aggro and mixed with enforced threat you should have most enemies aiming for you. Mix enforced threat with iron warrior and into the frey gives you insane threat generation, a decent team buff, keeps your team alive and gives you almost perminant guard since them 3 powers give you stamina gain.

So yeah... hopefully tomorrow will bring something good. Maybe something in the way of mob balance and sanity. Trash mobs shouldn't be dealing 40-50k hits or more, and it would be nice if more of our skills and features would reliably work.

overdriver13 · April 2015

draekus wrote: »

I was going to post the same thing. Returning GF player here as well. So, basically there is no info? Even the internet returns no useful info on Mod 6 builds. Normally I would just tool around until I discovered it on my own but respecializing is so damned expensive in Neverwinter.

You do get a free respec with mod 6. I think a good suggestion is to just que pvp while you grind the new areas for lvl 70 and see how things shake out in terms of what they will do with the class, and what builds people come up with.

kemi1984 · April 2015

Hi there,

I'm writing from a position of returning player. Having not played for a whole year, missed 2 modules. I joined the game one day before Mod6 was launched.

So we're past the 23rd patch - at least read all the changes.

There's nothing about mob dmg so we can safely assume they will still hit hard. Stacking HP is the only viable option. I'm also trying to get some decent deflect which "might" do some good together with defensive tanking companions.

I always played IV GF, and it was my main since I remember. I refused to took the 2nd path as it felt a bit lackluster - taken from GWF which is terribly lazy.
But just looking at our ways to get AP, and using Fighters Recovery mixed with Steel Defense makes me wonder...

To be honest I'm yet to try Enforced Threat with Enchanced Mark - this should generate a ton of threat which will probably kill me in miliseconds lol.
I agree that using KV is a suicide. Had a friend using it in Kessels with a full blown defensive build - he died like 20 times...wasn't pretty.
To add to it, it didn't give us any good, we still died many times before we actually beat the boss.

From what I've noticed our shield is a bit more durable? I mean we're still unable to block 100% of the dmg - which imo is a good thing.
But some time back I thought it was made of a wet paper - broke so much faster, or maybe I'm mistaken ?
I did always play as a full Conq, so Trample the Fallen and Combat Superiority never left my bars. Maybe it's more durable because of Shield Talent? I don't remember it gave us so much in the past.

Neverwinter will never be a game like Dragon Age Inqusition. Where a TANK is an immortal wall of doom.
We need a team of players to perform our role. Since regen an LS was nerfed HARD, we need CW to control, DC to heal and a TR/HR to use his CC abilities to make a whole team viable in dungeons which are the sole of end game content.

The grind is terrible....but the game is still kinda enjoyable so good luck with coming back! Always nice to see an old timer playing again

thestaggy · April 2015

kemi1984 wrote: »

To be honest I'm yet to try Enforced Threat with Enchanced Mark - this should generate a ton of threat which will probably kill my in miliseconds lol.
I agree that using KV is a suicide. had a friend using it in Kessels with a full blown defensive build - he died like 20 times...wasn't pretty.
To add to it, it didn't give us any good we still died many times before we actually beat the boss.

From what I've noticed our shield is a bit more durable? I mean we're still unable to block 100% of the dmg - which imo is a good thing.
But some time back I thought it was made of a wet paper - broke so much faster, or maybe I'm mistaken ?
I did always play as a full Conq, so Trample the Fallen and Combat Superiority never left my bars.

Shield is a lot better in terms of its duration, but it is still very buggy.

Even though you are a Conqueror, in a dungeon run I'd drop Trample the Fallen and Combat Superiority in favour of Guarded Assault and Shield Talent. Guarded Assault was buffed a few mods ago so it does a good amount of reflective damage when you block attacks. I'd also slot at least Guarded Assault in PVP. It is the one passive that never leaves my bar.

From my experience you don't actually need Enhanced Mark if you are using Enforced Threat, Iron Warrior and Knight's Valor in any combination. Maybe a Paladin will change that as they can also generate massive aggro, but I am yet to be in a party with a Paladin.

kemi1984 · April 2015

These are some good tips, thank you kind sir

I've played with a OP, and quite honestly felt a bit like a younger brother. Guy was freaking HUGE (the dragon race thingy) he had an incredible heal aura which healed me for 30-40k a tick - that was amazing...I'm almost tempted to try and roll a Paladin...no nooo must resist the Devil !:D

As for the Conq. I choose this one only to get to 70 and to grind my *** of these crazy Vigils to get the MH (still I'm not soo sure it was worth the grind...I mean I almost cried my eyes out when I saw I need to get through 3x16 Vigils in Spinward, Dear God !!).

Now I will probably experiment with mix of Tactician and Protector to be more durable - I don't care about the dmg, I want to TANK, I want to take hits, and at the same time it would be nice to not drop like a fly in seconds

I appreciate your advice staggy, nice to see some GF's posting stuff on these forums again.

PS.

Wait...what!?

" You don't need to grind Spinward Rise for your Elemental artifact main hand if you have some AD lying around. You can craft it via the Tyranny of Dragon's campaign screen."

I mean...how, why did I not noticed that earlier

thestaggy · April 2015

I too was tempted to try a OP, but the grind has put me off, especially the 60 - 70 grind and the end game gearing process. If I do roll another character it will be a full-blown Protector GF. I'll probably start as a Conqueror to speed up the leveling and complete as many PVP quests as I can, then respec to Protector.

On my main GF I've gone back to Tactician with 15 points in the Protector tree, but I am geared towards PVP and the Tactician has a formidable amount of battlefield control. With feated Lunging Strike and Anvil of Doom along with FLS, Griffon's Wrath, Knee Breaker and Bull Charge, a Tactican has a vast array of interrupts, stuns, slows and prones at its disposal.

As for not dropping like a fly, that's extremely difficult to avoid. I've read about GFs dying inside the DCs various buffs and shields from one hit.

And yes, I done 8 quests in Spinward Rise then discovered that I can just craft the weapon. Never went back to Spinward once I realised that.

kemi1984 · April 2015

Can you please check your PM box?

query523 · April 2015

I tend to move back and forth between gaurded assault and ferocious reaction depending on the ammount of incoming DPS I expect to encounter and the ability (or availability) of healers. Evenon a Conq going one in to Protector for 5% deflect is worth it. Actually there probably is not a build where it is not worth it.

tantivetyrell · April 2015

I don't like what GF's have become for endgame dungeons, theres no creativity left in how you can play. Having shield up the entire time, and using encounters which increase your stamina. It's dreadfully boring. Shield up, stab stab, walk backwards ENCOUNTER, shield up stab stab. Can't go anywhere without a shield up.

I got bored of it so much, I leveled up 2 more characters to 60, and another to 70.

kemi1984 · April 2015

It may be, long have passed the days when you can go to a dungeon run with a cardboard shield and just happily whack away.
I was playing around on preview (in WOD) with different build and such - it feels satisfying when you can aggro a big pack of mobs and keep trolling them with dailies & stuff like Iron Warrior

.

Of course - and sadly - it's much harder to do it in dungeons/skirmishes. But than again if you have your rotation going, and have a potent healer with you - you can tank quite efficiently.

Unfortunately, once you go full protector or tactican your DPS is just not there.

BUT !!! tweaking around you can still go Conqueror + a point here and there to be able to do dailies and go dungeon delving w/o being killed in seconds and do your job as a part of the team.

Returning oldtime seeking GF respec tips - Solo/team tank

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