[Swordmaster] Frontline Tank Builds

[Madcatmech]

WW is powerful if you play with people that:

a) get a 5 second prior notice before you activate WW
b) know you have the ability slotted
c) know what rotations or abilities to spam whilst it is up

A build for RvR could be:

http://www.ror.builders/career/sword-ma ... ,2864,2876

Mind you: playing a tanky SnB SM WW spambot is the most boring way to play Warhammer Online! Also bubbles suck since they take into consideration only toughness? no resistance/armor and enemy attacks deal full 100% against them even if challenged.

[Collateral]

That's the build I use and it's decent. Ofc you need to be on comms to make ww most effective. I proposed other builds for people that join pug wbs, which are often very poorly optimized and you probably won't have much use of ww.

And whether it' boring or not, that's on people to decide. Someone has to hold the front line after all If you want super interesting gameplay (i.e. pushing a lot of buttons I guess), playing a tank inside a wb is not for you.

[Shing]

Mind you: playing a tanky SnB SM WW spambot is the most boring way to play Warhammer Online! Also bubbles suck since they take into consideration only toughness? no resistance/armor and enemy attacks deal full 100% against them even if challenged.

Another problem with bubbles you bring up. Its not as bad as I thought it would be as you can still parry/disrupt a lot, but getting hit still hurts. In smaller group settings they can be plenty tanky enough to withstand a lot, had 12 destro beating on me today and hardly noticed (got lucky with two great healers though). Just it falls apart with higher numbers, or smarter players in small scale. Being able to target a teammate would be interesting.

It may be a future balance proposal but I haven't put enough thought into how to change it so they are fully balanced.

I guess I don't like how the class has been pigeonholed into a dps role as doing otherwise is a disservice given lack of buffs in large scale, and crowd control in smaller fights. If how long I stuck with my AM is any indication, I may never give up on SM outside of organized play.

[anarchypark]

SnB vs 2h = HtL vs WoDS
= grp buff vs self buff.
and range avoid buff vs melee+range.

I see SM's selfish buffs as tools for vanguard role.
I run high toughness, avoidance and WoDS, plus
RR45 - max futile strike.
RR65 - max reflex.
rest - deft defender. or melee crit.
you can survive longer ,have more time to look around and witness flow of battle from start to end.
eventually you'll get the ability to see key moment of 'when', 'where'.

individual skills come next.
guard, snare, challenge, buff, debuff, simple use at right moment.

enemies will try to ignore you.
throw urself at thier way.
tanky tank need attitude of 'kill me first' .

tank tactics :
Impeccable Reactions. - 5sec bonus parry
Isha's Protection. - selfish heal buff
Vaul's Buffer. ( vaul 11 ) - 3sec bonus shield
Blessing of Heaven ( hoeth 11 ) - tiny heal
Great Weapon Mastery ( khaine 11 ) - 5% additional parry
I found Perfect Defenses, Calming Winds have little up time. you have to change stance constantly. no time to stay at perfect.
shields and tiny heals : synergy with toughness.
long life = many shields+tiny heals = less sustain dmg

SM tank skills :
viewtopic.php?f=76&t=21733
addition : Protection of Hoeth - it's 50ft grp shield.
Aethyric Armor is too fragile against shatter.

you can go tanky stat + GWM + ED build. mainly doing tank job, add assist dmg when it's free to dmg.
WW has more use in premade. in pug/solo you can still spam shatter enchant. buffer/debuffer.

you don't have to play guard/ww bot. it's only 1/3 of what SM tank do. staying in guard range require teamwork, responsive for both tank and guardee. don't be a bot.
2/3 is supporting: CC,buff/debuff. 3/3 is assisting: if you're at enemy backline hitting healer alone, find new target for guard/assist. probably your backline is melting, need ur help.

stance mechanic is good way to practice what u should do at certain moment.

[Shing]

Spoiler:

SnB vs 2h = HtL vs WoDS
= grp buff vs self buff.
and range avoid buff vs melee+range.

I see SM's selfish buffs as tools for vanguard role.
I run high toughness, avoidance and WoDS, plus
RR45 - max futile strike.
RR65 - max reflex.
rest - deft defender. or melee crit.
you can survive longer ,have more time to look around and witness flow of battle from start to end.
eventually you'll get the ability to see key moment of 'when', 'where'.

individual skills come next.
guard, snare, challenge, buff, debuff, simple use at right moment.

enemies will try to ignore you.
throw urself at thier way.
tanky tank need attitude of 'kill me first' .

tank tactics :
Impeccable Reactions. - 5sec bonus parry
Isha's Protection. - selfish heal buff
Vaul's Buffer. ( vaul 11 ) - 3sec bonus shield
Blessing of Heaven ( hoeth 11 ) - tiny heal
Great Weapon Mastery ( khaine 11 ) - 5% additional parry
I found Perfect Defenses, Calming Winds have little up time. you have to change stance constantly. no time to stay at perfect.
shields and tiny heals : synergy with toughness.
long life = many shields+tiny heals = less sustain dmg

SM tank skills :
viewtopic.php?f=76&t=21733
addition : Protection of Hoeth - it's 50ft grp shield.
Aethyric Armor is too fragile against shatter.

you can go tanky stat + GWM + ED build. mainly doing tank job, add assist dmg when it's free to dmg.
WW has more use in premade. in pug/solo you can still spam shatter enchant. buffer/debuffer.

you don't have to play guard/ww bot. it's only 1/3 of what SM tank do. staying in guard range require teamwork, responsive for both tank and guardee. don't be a bot.
2/3 is supporting: CC,buff/debuff. 3/3 is assisting: if you're at enemy backline hitting healer alone, find new target for guard/assist. probably your backline is melting, need ur help.

stance mechanic is good way to practice what u should do at certain moment.

Some great stuff here. I'll add it to the first post when I can.

[Shalktonin]

I think HTL is my favorite skill in the game tbh. I like the bubbles as it provides something the other tanks don't have and going off the normal defensive tactics/abilities, other 2 tanks > SM. But like you mentioned I have my doubts about em. My suspicion is they are effective, to a point. Whereas stacking block+disrupt tactics leads to sturdiness regardless of the pressure.

not sure what you mean by bubbles but IB has its own "bubble" in the brotherhood line.

[Shing]

Yeah I was referring to absorb skills like that. I meant how SM has more of them. Shouldn't of said others don't have them.