PvE Tank Build

Overview#

Welcome to our classic standard tank build, focusing on the powerful duo of the Sword and Shield combined with the War Hammer. This guide is designed for those who are ready to take on the role of the indomitable frontline protector. Our aim is to help you craft a tank that isn’t just about soaking up damage; it’s about being the foundation upon which the rest of your group can be built upon.

We’ll explore the essentials of building an effective tank, choosing the right gear, mastering your ability rotations, and understanding the tactical nuances that elevate your gameplay. Whether you’re a new player or looking to refine your tanking build, we’ve got you covered.

If you want the super quick TL&DR:

Gear#

Import on NW-Buddy

Azoth Crystal Helm

MAG Heavy

• Enchanted ward: -4% damage from light and heavy attacks.
• Refreshing: Reduce max cooldowns by 4.01%.
• Health: +2.4% max health.

Void Darkplate

MAG Heavy

• Dark Reinforced: Your armor is increased by 20%.
• Enchanted Ward: -4% damage from light and heavy attacks.
• Physical Aversion: Receive 4.5% less damage from ranged, physical attacks.
• Health: +2.4% max health.

Mythril Plate Gloves

STR Heavy

• Enchanted ward: -4% damage from light and heavy attacks.
• Sundering Shockwave: Shockwave inflicts Rend, reducing the target's armor by 10.45% for 10s.
• Health: +2.4% max health.

Azoth Crystal Greaves

MAG Heavy

• Enchanted ward: -4% damage from light and heavy attacks.
• Refreshing: Reduce max cooldowns by 4.01%.
• Health: +2.4% max health.

Azoth Crystal Sabatons

MAG Heavy

• Enchanted ward: -4% damage from light and heavy attacks.
• Refreshing: Reduce max cooldowns by 4.01%.
• Health: +2.4% max health.

Mythril Amulet

STR Amulet

• Void Protection: Receive 14.99% less Void damage.
• Empowered: Empower you apply lasts 33.91% longer.
• Health: +7% max health.

Privateer's Heirloom

STR Ring

• Leeching: +6.99% critical chance.
• Slash Damage: +9.55% outgoing healing efficiency.
• Hearty: +10% max Stamina.

Woodgrain Earring

MAG Earring

• Regenerating: +0.52% Health every second.
• Despised: Generate 159.09% more threat.
• Forifying Toast: On Potion Drink: Gain 10% Empower for 8s (10s cooldown).

The Butcher

MAG Sword

• Hemorrhage: Bleeds lasts 33% longer (Works on both weapons).
• Jagged Whirls: Whirling Blade inflicts bleed, dealing 10% weapon damage for 6s.
• Empowering Whirling Blade: When 3 or more enemies are within its radius while performing a Whirling Blade attack, gain 52.4% base damage.
• Keenly Jagged: Inflicts Bleed on critical hit, dealing 10% weapon damage per second for 6s (7s cooldown).

Willpower

STR War Hammer

• Thwarting Strikes: +6.99% damage while you have active Grit.
• Refreshing Move: Light and Heavy attacks reduce your active weapon cooldowns by 2.5% (0.2s cooldown).
• Sundering Clearout: Clear Out inflicts Rend, reducing the target's armor by 25.02% for 7s.

Mythril Tower Shield

• Shield Defense: 5% damage reduction.
• Enchanted ward: -4% damage from light and heavy attacks.
• Fortifying Shield Rush: After hitting a target with Shield Rush, gain Fortify, increasing armor by 35% for 6s.
• Void Shield Ward: Receive 14.99% less Void damage.

Perk Choices#

The first required perk to get is always going to be Enchanted Ward. The reason for this is that thanks to the amazing work of Ginie at nw-buddy we know the majority of the attacks mobs do are counted as either a light or heavy attack and very few are counted as ranged + magical which is what is required for Elemental Aversion to apply.

The second perk we look for is health. Being a tank we obviously want to be able to take a few hits to the face without going down and health helps with that.

For our choice of armor artifact we have chosen to go with Void Darkplate. The reason for this is that it gives us a lot of extra armor meaning we can take more hits.

For the earring we need to have despised as a required perk. Regenerating is nice for a little bit more passive aggro. Fortifying toast is a nice third perk. You could also swap Fortifying Toast for Purifying Toast in Ice or Nature weeks and also in Tempest for the portals.

Sword & Shield#

We’ve chosen to go with The Butcher for our weapon artifact because it runs a good balance between doing damage and generating a lot of threat. The constant bleeds also help charge our heartrune faster.

As always for a tank we’ll be using a carnelian in our sword. It is okay to put it in an elemental runeglass e.g. void/fire/nature.

Note that you can golden scarab craft the shields at a lower gearscore because it doesn’t affect your overall gearscore. The way that I have found it to be most efficient, I used the following:

• Mythril ingots
• Prismatic planks
• Prismatic leather
• Fortifying Shield Rush
• {Damage Type} Shield Ward

Using the above with the full weaponsmith set (including earring) and weaponsmith food you should be able to achieve 690 GS (695GS with MD fort) and have roughly a 1 in 5 chance of getting the BiS shield for each damage type by rolling Enchanted Ward.

War Hammer#

For the War Hammer we have chosen to go with Willpower and add Sundering Clearout to it for the massive rend. Thwarting will almost always active when we’re using our abilities but we’ve got the 300 CON Attribute Threshold Bonus (ATB) that provides grit anyway. Refreshing move is just there to give us a little more cooldown reduction (CDR) so we can spam our abilities and keep the mobs knocked down.

We should be running a Carnelian in the WH too, again with the runeglass being optional.

Gems#

For M3’s specifically you should always be using the mutation specific gem as per the table below. This also applies to the protection on your amuleta nd shield. You should have 77.5% protection from the mutation element. While there is a 50% cap, gems and the amulet/shield protection will actually let you exceed this cap.

Heartrunes#

The heartrune choice is very straightfoward for the standard tank, you either take the default stalwart stoneform or you take the cunning stoneform.

Stoneform#

Stoneform is a fantastic heartrune for tanking. Giving you more armour as well as immunity to any CC debuffs.

Cunning Heartrune of Stoneform

Stoneform: Harden yourself with layers of stone, cleansing all crowd control debuffs and granting immunity to both stagger and crowd control debuffs for 5s.

• Forifying Form: Gain Fortify on activation, increasing armor by 10% for 5s.
• Hardened Form: Gain an additional 10% armor for 5s per hit taken (+30% max).

Stalwart Heartrune of Stoneform

Default Choice

Stoneform: Harden yourself with layers of stone, cleansing all crowd control debuffs and granting immunity to both stagger and crowd control debuffs for 5s.

• Fortifying Form: Gain Fortify on activation, increasing armor by 10% for 5s.
• Mending Form: Heal for 75% Heartrune damage per second while active. Reduce outgoing damage by 20%.

Stats#

The stats are very straightforward. We want 300 CON for the grit and survivability and 300+ STR for the damage. Put all of your magnify points into CON if you have managed to get your STR pieces. As you become more familiar with the build you will find that if you are sticking on the hammer more for clumps that you could even drop some con since the WH abilities have so much grit.

Weapon Builds#

Ability Usage#

For the Sword and Shield your rotation should look like:

• Pretaunt (before HP bar shows) bosses with Defenders Resolve.
• Shield Rush for the armor.
• Whirling Blade.

For the War Hammer your rotation will generally be:

• Shockwave.
• Clearout.
• 2 Light attacks.
• Wrecking Ball.
• 2-3 Light Attacks or until your CDs are back up.

Summary#

Our guide lays out the blueprint for a steadfast tank build that can tackle any expedition. Your feedback is invaluable to us, so don’t hesitate to drop your thoughts either on Discord or shoot me an email at feedback 5con.club . Whether it’s a thumbs up or suggestions for improvement, I’m all ears!

Changelog#