RIFT: Tank Build

TANKING

This spec is for tanking and is the SPEC I believe anyone wanting to become a tank should use to level up in dungeons. Again this is ONLY my personal opinion and not 100% right or wrong. This build with give you all you need to learn how to become a main tank.

ZAM: Warrior TANK VoidKnight/Paladin/Warlord
http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=0cghE.gc0qczc.EbMu0sVcz0z.xVz

Most tanks make the same mistake over and over. They believe that threat is ONLY generated by threat generating abilities. If that was true, then why do top DPS people take agro? As a tank we are given ADDITIONAL means of generating threat. But we have to also understand that how much damage we do also adds to a tanks threat. Now we are never going to be hitting the DPS meters with any numbers that compare to pure DPS. As a tank if you are doing 50 DPS and a rogue is hitting the meters at 1200, I don’t care how many times you hit a threat generating ability, the second u miss a button, that rogue is dead. So in order to ensure you have threat room, so to speak, you have to use your abilities to there maximum.

Also, there are no healing abilities in our trees that justify taking them, under ANY situation. The biggest single way for tanks in this spec to allow healing, is PALADIN’S REPRISAL, you can pull 10 trash mobs and stun them all for 3 seconds. That single stun allows a mass amount of heals on you while you take no damage and remove any of them from other members of the group. Don’t waste your talent points on a heal that does 100 when you are getting hit for 3k, the numbers DO NOT work out in your favor, EVER.

This build is high mitigation and mass AoE threat and mob control. This build will allow you to strip buffs off a mob when needed, cure curses, pick up lose mobs running away from you and allow you to pick up a mass amount of mobs all at once.

VOID KNIGHT - 23

Insatiable Hunger 5/5

Energy Retention 2/5

Ravenous Strength 3/3

Spell Sunder 1/1

Blood from a Stone 5/5

Spellbreaker 1/1

Ravenous Defense 3/3

Devourer 3/5

PALADIN – 32

Stalwart Shield 5/5

Defender 5/5

Aggressive Guardian 2/2

Small Arms Specialization 2/5

Hardened Will 3/3

Martial Shield 1/1

Unyielding Defense 5/5

Paladin’s Devotion 1/1

Vengeful Wrath 3/3

Balance of Power 3/3

Shield of the Chosen 1/1

Paladin’s Reprisal 1/1

WARLORD – 11

Power Countenance 5/5

Defensive Experience 5/5

Call of Battle 1/1

My macros are as follows: (they do not change for AoE or Single target encounters, there is NO need)

MAIN MACRO:

#show reckless strike

suppressmacrofailures

cast light's decree

cast aggressive block

cast ragestorm

cast sweeping strike

cast shield throw

cast reckless strike

cast disarming counterblow

cast retaliation

FINISHER:

#show spotter's order

suppressmacrofailures

cast call to battle

cast spotter's order

The following abilities are not macro’d and on my spell bar for needed use.

SHIELD THROW – I keep this down on my bar to use as a single target pull when needing to split a pull off another tank

SPELL SUNDER – removes buffs on mobs

SERGEANT’S ORDER – forces threat on tank and brings mob to you from up to 20meters away

PALADIN’S DEVOTION – removes all the control effects

SPELLBREAKER - removes 3 curses

PALADIN’S REPRISAL – single greatest ability we have as a tank IMO, read and understand its use

AIRBURST – AoE threat

PACK CONVERSION – rarely used but nice to have when u need to get pacts up fast

CATALYZE – if it has mana I use this after CALL of BATTLE to give myself 5% damage reduction

SHIELD CHARGE – you charge into the attack

FACE SLAM – interrupts the blue casting of all mobs

TOUCH of LIFE – 10 minute cd complete heal. I have heard tanks actually say if they have to us this the healer is bad. Really? Its one of our abilities if you die with it up its not the healer that is bad but you as a tank are bad for not using your abilities. What are you saving it for? So you don’t die? But you just died and wiped the group with it up!

OK now a few pulling tricks to help people out with the bigger pulls.

Your main macro has LIGHT”S DECREE in it. This ONE ability is your single most valuable pulling ability, period. Anyone that argues this can offer you NO useful information about tanking because they plain and simply don’t understand anything about threat.

If you have a group of say 3 mobs, one of them is a caster and the others are melee, meaning the others are going to run at you. You hit your macro which will throw your hammer at the mana mob, in turn doing damage to all of them, generating threat. Then you use SERGEANT’S ORDER on the same mob pulling it to you. At this point you use paladin’s reprisal or airburst and those mobs are yours and cant be taken away from you. Now you are spamming your main macro building attack points to burn finishers. Meters humpers won’t bother you anymore. If you have several mana mobs then instead of pulling one into you, use shield charge AFTER your hammer. Remember your hammer is one of your greatest abilities, use it and understand it completely. Now this just a helpful idea, using your personal play style can make this better or fix something you have been having problems with. MY WAY IS NOT 100% correct and ONLY this way can be used. Use this for what it is, a guide, foundation to help you grow into a main tank.