A Discussion on Tanks
I have heard a number of things about Intrepid's approach to tanks and tanking. I would like to throw some ideas out.
PvE, PvP, PvX.
Let's start with PvE. Most are familiar with the concept. Meat shield. High health, armor, taunts enemies. That might be it for some. I think that should be only the beginning. I propose tanks be the masters of buffs and debuffs. Maybe this could be in the form of shouts for ally buffs and martial prowess in the form of debuffing the enemy.
Examples some community members I talk to on discord suggested is 'Anchor Howl' an ability from Log Horizon that makes an enemy have to attack the caster, or take double damage.
Crippling, Bleeding, Weakness, Cowardice, Breach, and a few other debilitating debuffs can really make a tank valuable for fighting dangerous opponents while having its own class and role identity.
PvP
I have thought of a few approaches for this. Such lwts talks build and mechanics.
A tank being used against players can still be treated as the biggest threat considering party comprization.
Fly trap-One approach where they are not competing as a DPS is what I call 'Field Control.' ESO had a lot of tools for this. AOEs like caltrops and elemental wall using a frost staff cut movement considerably, leesh as a pull allowed tanks to grab. In a way, they are a 'harassing' build, but their job is to grab players, cripple their ability to move, and make it easier for the DPSs to pick them off.
Totem Tank- Dealer of blessings and curses. Why not have mechanics that makes you want to avoid direct confrontation with a tank? Crippling blows might cut portions of your health, bleeding cut, hamstrung legs to slow your movement, and perhaps depending on their weapon, attacks that ignore your defense. They might not dish out the highest numbers. But they can be no less nasty.
Reflective Tanks- Once upon a time their was a tank build in ESO that made gankers and bombers rage. You think you were going to hit them from the shadows with with a one hit K.O attack or quick succession of attacks... And then you drop dead. You killed yourself when you look at your death recap. The tank reflected your attack back at you.
These tanks are a gimmick. They were great as a middle finger to gankers who wanted to farm PvEers doing quests. However they were still susceptible to seige and restro staves. Or ultis.
But, they were nerfed out of existence. I was thinking this would be a great build to deal with high damage burst DPSs that are hard to uproot from their PK farms.
Thorn Tank- Simple. Hit them, take damage. They do too, but they just have to outlast you. I was thinking they could have an 'aura of thorns' or such, allowing them to inflict Damage Over Time that prevents you from healing, or at least debilitates your ability to heal.
The Wall- In ESO, we call these 'Troll Tanks.' You can kill them. But sometimes it takes 3-8 players to actually do it. Or seige. Which they aren't waiting around for. These are the guys who make the DPS centric meta rage. They are great for going up to a point, securing it, grabbing an item, or burning siege engines to ashes. Practically immortal and some will hit you with the force of a wet noodles while most are about average DPS. But nevertheless they are the tankiest of tanks.
A few of these work fine for PvX situations, in my mind anyways. But I wanted to hear what you all think?
