Destruction tanks

[Secondbrother]

Hello all,

Pretty new player to the server, and I had a few questions about the three tank classes. After having played the DoK for a little, I decided I wanted to play as a tank and see how it was. My questions are pretty general; are there any main differences between the three classes? Do they each serve a niche purpose, or are they all more or less interchangeable in their effectiveness? I'm leaning towards either a Chosen or a Blackguard, but I wanted to see what the community had to say regarding the three.

Thanks!

*edit: Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, or if this is something that has been covered. I did a brief search for the topic but didn't really see anything. Thanks again.

[tazdingo]

BG is better at really specializing on either damage or survivability, whereas chosen is a better all rounder with great group support

BG is one of the hardest classes to play effectively, whereas chosen is relatively simple. however, chosen is due a mechanic rework soon which may change this

both are great and it really depends on whether you wanna focus on small scale or large scale, but i would say that you can never really go wrong playing a chosen as a beginner

[marisco]

New players will probably be overwhelmed with BG since there are too many buttons and too many buffs/debuffs to track. It's like playing a piano. But if you enjoy that sort of gameplay it IS really rewarding to pull if off.

Chosen on the other hand is generally considered the easiest, safest and most begginer-friendly tank on destro so if you wanna learn the ropes of being a tank that's usually the way to go. In my opinion, however, the class is kinda boring in its current state.

Edit: As tazdingo said, Chosen will go through to a mechanic rework soon, so the gameplay will probably change at least a little. Keep that in mind.

[Secondbrother]

Interesting! Thanks for the info! So how does the BO compare, using the same criteria?

[tazdingo]

BO is a very offensive tank, don't play one expecting to turtle. they work very well when paired with a dps because of their damage and CC, and can offer some of the best group buffs in the game. pretty easy to play, but low survivability compared to other tanks

i think 2H BO's can be straight up quasi-dps with recent changes, they really seem like full on off-tanks at this point. there exists a large scale defensive spec but it's mostly used for the morale pump and group buffs than personal survival, which remains woeful

[Secondbrother]

Thanks again for taking the time. Now I'm intrigued by the BO, especially since the Chosen is about to undergo a re-work.

[Telperien]

I remember BOs from live holding 10+ order on them. Has anything changed? Was it a 100 rr gear? Was thinking about rolling one, because its one of last classes I never played before.

[zabis]

If you played DAOC, BO is like a Savage in they way that opening skills lead to other skills that are more powerful. As has been said, BO is the offensive tank of the 3. Chosen (currently) is the easiest to play. You set your aura's and then mainly focus on swapping your guard to the low-health player in your group. BG is definitely the hardest of the 3 to play. I've played a BG to 100 on live and 75 on this server. I can say that once you master the BG, you will never want to play another tank class again in your life.

[Arteker616]

I remember BOs from live holding 10+ order on them. Has anything changed? Was it a 100 rr gear? Was thinking about rolling one, because its one of last classes I never played before.

black ork underwent alot of nerfs on live , alot of them did affect his survivality, u can still see videos of rr 100 borks pulverizing bad players with way less gear and abusing screaming cat bugged gear . on ror the bork mainline and most succesfull spec, namely the bruiser spec( sb build speced for dmg while holding some degree of hardines ) got nuked , currently due to changes and nerfs black orc has become even weaker it was compared to how it started on ror falling big time behind the bg and the chosen,there is some specs for warband play wich mostly turn you into a corporeal aoe debuffer for sorcs (nothing a dps zealot actualy cannot do better ).
My personal advice would be try out a bg wich despite being complicated is a wonderfull tank with alot of very good builds supporting either 2hander or sb or a chosen because even with the career-aura system rework it still can work either as 2hander tank or sb .
Black orc status as 2hander is just behind choppa on lethality , u will die alot and u will have alot of troubles if u wanna actualy try to help with guard since it will melt u, and while u can still guard with defensive sb spec its the ultimate boredom since u will lack alot of cc and for most part ur buffs are useles due to pots or static buffs .

[soliticks]

Hello all,

Pretty new player to the server, and I had a few questions about the three tank classes. After having played the DoK for a little, I decided I wanted to play as a tank and see how it was. My questions are pretty general; are there any main differences between the three classes? Do they each serve a niche purpose, or are they all more or less interchangeable in their effectiveness? I'm leaning towards either a Chosen or a Blackguard, but I wanted to see what the community had to say regarding the three.

Thanks!

*edit: Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, or if this is something that has been covered. I did a brief search for the topic but didn't really see anything. Thanks again.

Hey there, welcome to the server firstly. For starters, rest assured that ALL destruction tanks are "tanky". Heavy armor favors Destruction far more than order due to factional class differences. Order Mdps: White Lion, Slayer, Witch Hunter, Wrath Warrior Priest, and Shadow Warrior are all heavily mitigated by armor.

As for the differences between the three, I'll just give you my experience both facing and playing them:

Blackguard: This class has the potential to become the tankiest of tanks. You can reach 900 Toughness with a 2h, dps gear, and all strength talismans. It's the only tank class that can do so. A sword and board bg is more like a castle than a tank. You're able to push into nearly anything with few worries. Depending on whether you go 2h or snb, the BG has the most powerful knockback in the entire game and the longest knockdown as well. Its weakness is the lack of group buffs. You are basically able to buff one friend of your choosing. You do have some significant debuffs though. The 2h BG also has some serious damage potential as well.

Chosen: This can be seen as the "staple" tank. There are literally no situations where having a Chosen in the group would not be ideal, if not a standard. The reason is their buffs. You will be able to choose three auras that have a 100% uptime with no extra effort on your part. These auras also generally debuffs enemies passively as well. It is also the second "tankiest" class among the three. Honestly, it's pretty close to the BG in terms of survivability, if geared for it.

Black Orc: Arguably, they can be the most offensive tank in the entire game on certain targets. You'll see videos of 4000 crits from 2h Black Orcs out there. Mechanically similar to the Swordmaster, this class provides some buffs and debuffs for the group. Even as a snb tank, you can still dish out some respectable damage compared to other tanks with similar setups. You are the only tank with an armor debuff baked into your rotation. Everything about the class supports being a little more offensive than the other two. This isn't to say that the Black Orc can't be tanky, but from my experience, people often play them for their offensive capabilities. This can lead to some very squishy BO's.

Whatever you choose, I wouldn't say any Destro tanks are superior or inferior to another. It's just a matter of what kind of playstyle you enjoy. Just remember to always Guard and Challenge. If you're not, playing an mdps would provide much more for your group. See you in game!