DK Tank?

Talyn

No, I don't ever go to the SOE forums, first off...

Ok, I've been in VG for roughly two weeks with my Dread Knight who just dinged 17 a few minutes ago. I rolled the DK because I wanted a main tank character but (without knowing anything whatsoever about VG's classes) the plain-jane warrior sounded boring since I've done that before in WoW. The DK was appealing because it's listed as a tank but also has "dark magic" spells, dots and debuffs which sounds fine by me, a little something to spice things up.

For you vets and/or those "in the know" is the DK actually a viable tank? I met a warrior friend who recently told me essentially warriors are the best at aggro management, especially groups. DK's are great one on one, not so much holding group aggro.

Once I get high level, are people going to skip over me as a DK in favor of a warrior? Should I just re-roll as a warrior now before I get too far in with the DK?

caldis

 

You'll have no problems.  This game is really forgiving.  If you are a defensive fighter you can tank no problem.  In fact in most cases you dont even really need a tank in a group if the remaining members are the right classes.  A tank makes it a lot easier but I've seen a monk take the place or a shaman or cleric.  As long as everyone else takes advantage of their abilities most content is do-able.

Zorgo

From what I have observed as a healer, DK's are very easy to keep alive (I don't know if this is because they are mitigating better or they are using their 'dark magic' to keep their hp up, but the aggro does seem to be spread around a little more to the auxilary dps when a dk is tanking. Paladins have great rescues so they tend to be able to re-assert aggro control faster than DK's or warriors, but they tend to spike a little more in damage. Warriors seem to be the middle between those. I think warriors are suppose to have the best overall mitigation, but I think DK's must have some way to account for it.

That's a long way of saying that DK's, War's and Pallies are all good tanks, just a little different in the details.

SilverPhenix

Originally posted by Zorgo


From what I have observed as a healer, DK's are very easy to keep alive (I don't know if this is because they are mitigating better or they are using their 'dark magic' to keep their hp up, but the aggro does seem to be spread around a little more to the auxilary dps when a dk is tanking. Paladins have great rescues so they tend to be able to re-assert aggro control faster than DK's or warriors, but they tend to spike a little more in damage. Warriors seem to be the middle between those. I think warriors are suppose to have the best overall mitigation, but I think DK's must have some way to account for it.
That's a long way of saying that DK's, War's and Pallies are all good tanks, just a little different in the details.

As a 27 DK I can say that you're probably referring to the way we can nibble health off our opponents. It's not exactly mitigation, but it's kinda works out the same in the end. As for aggro, I get the impression that "us" DK's are better at holding single-target aggro and the other two are better at holding area-aggro. It's annoying cause our Scythe-move will allow us to stay standing for a very long time against multiple opponents (in case of a bad pull), but in the meantime our team will be struggling cause we can't hold aggro on that many bad guys- at least that's the impression I get.

 

Not that I get bad pulls or anything.

 

*cough*

 

 

Thillian

Yes some places dont require tanks, that makes the versatility of the game. But plenty of dungeons need a tank and can't be done without. DK can tank very good, there are plenty of discussion who is best tank either warrior paladin or DK, but that really mostly depends on the player. Tanking requires heavy skill in this game. DK is best soloer with best DPS so should logically hold agro easier from those three. But he can't maybe mitigate that well as warrior or don't have that good auras and buffs as paladin.

Tonev

Originally posted by Thillian


Yes some places dont require tanks, that makes the versatility of the game. But plenty of dungeons need a tank and can't be done without. DK can tank very good, there are plenty of discussion who is best tank either warrior paladin or DK, but that really mostly depends on the player. Tanking requires heavy skill in this game. DK is best soloer with best DPS so should logically hold agro easier from those three. But he can't maybe mitigate that well as warrior or don't have that good auras and buffs as paladin.

I agree with you 100% of what you say, with something to add.

DKs initial melee damage is maybe a bit lower than Warriors all out melee damage but over time damage of the DK using life taps and and spells (backlash, word of doom etc) makes the DK the highest damaging defnsive tank out the three.

As far as Main tanking goes a Warrior is better at aggro management than a DK.

Talyn

The impression I'm getting is that warriors have both the highest DPS *and* the best mitigation and aggro management of the three? My warrior friend says I'll be getting some new abilities in a few levels, a self-heal and lifetap to suck away my opponent's health which will be great. He says basically the controversy is that warriors again do the most dps with the best mitigation but the DK and pally can keep themselves alive easier? Sound right to you guys? I did end up rolling a warrior on a different server so I'll get to see both sides of that eventually. If you guys are saying sometimes a "tank" isn't needed then hopefully (which has been the case so far with me) when one is needed, there's more than one in the group so being a DK won't be so bad.

DailyBuzz

It really boils down to the group you're in. No matter which defensive fighter class you play, if a Sorcerer or Ranger wants agro, they get agro. I recommend you surround yourself with folks who know how to manage their agro and you'll have no problems.

thamighty213

very true if the group is right then tank keepin agro its knowing when to time those nukes etc, being a ranger i was forced to learn my char not just play it we have to step into the fight late if we are gonna used ranged cos if we double crit of 1st attack here comes the agro

Murashu

I have played a WAR and a DRK both and I have to say I am very happy with my DRK's tanking abilities. The WAR is better for snap agro on multiple mobs and initial burst DPS but the DRK is better on longer single target fights. Plus the DRK is just much for fun

If you want an easy class that takes little skill to grab fast agro then you might want to roll a WAR. If you want play a class that can be just as valuable as any WAR but requires a little more skill then stick with the DRK.

treysmooth

Yeah I play a DK(lvl 41 atm) and you will have no problems tanking what so ever.  Once you get cull and some of the other abilities like shadow stepping you can keep yourself goin pretty well and with a good healer tanking is a breeze most the time.  I actually rolled a DK because of the debuff role as well fun to use and really adds to the tank.  Personally I find it to be the best tank I've played in any game as far as fun goes.

Enjoy