Tanking

[BrokenGlass.9356]

Can thief tank in raid content? 

 

If so how?

 

(Usual preface with strange questions like this: if your answer is, "no. Play meta." Then save us all the time and energy and just hit the back button on your browser. We can assume that "If it's possible at all, then I'll go find a group who will let me try it on my own time, without messing up your shiny meta speed runs.")

[Venport.3925]

lots of dodging, usually, but you'll def have a lot less to work with than comparable tanks

[BrokenGlass.9356]

51 minutes ago, Venport.3925 said:

lots of dodging, usually, but you'll def have a lot less to work with than comparable tanks

 

Is that to say, daredevil only?

 

And can Specter overcome it by soaking damage through high health and self healing?

[kash.9213]

Just now, BrokenGlass.9356 said:

 

Is that to say, daredevil only?

 

And can Specter overcome it by soaking damage through high health and self healing?

I don't play raids or encounters like that unless it's once maybe for story stuff so I wouldn't know. 

Spending most of my time lately on one of my Specter templates In WvW, I tune into body language and try to feel the map breath in general and will get an idea of what damage we can eat because we'll have to eat some of it, and what I'll need to stagger out heals and barrier for. It's a whole sequence just to stealth your group even so you have think and feel ahead a little.

I don't like hitting everything off cooldown, but in Raids you'd probably be expected to for stretches, which can make it hard to "tank" through a phase or whatever when it counts.

I haven't played DrD much for a long time, but I'd probably take Shadow Arts or maybe Acro with it right now and try to sustain at least a light replenishment of resource pools, depending on what I need to stagger out consistently the most.

You can tank stuff, but what kind of aggro and focused damage can you hold on to for a minute regularly and what's the payoff for your group?

[Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497]

Tanks generally just have a small bit of toughness for old content. Or just use a mechanic in the newer content and go full glass.

 

Thief can tank. And it has been done before with raids. Generally, abusing dodges. If blinds and interrupts could be used then thief would actually be a very good tank. But as it stands, literally anything else is probably better and requires far less effort.

[BrokenGlass.9356]

2 hours ago, Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497 said:

Tanks generally just have a small bit of toughness for old content. Or just use a mechanic in the newer content and go full glass.

 

Thief can tank. And it has been done before with raids. Generally, abusing dodges. If blinds and interrupts could be used then thief would actually be a very good tank. But as it stands, literally anything else is probably better and requires far less effort.

 

 

So, the long and the short of it seems to be: "You can tank with thief... but it's not good at it compared to classes with block spam. And you will have to type a short novel to anyone and everyone you raid with about what it is and why you do it, so that the world doesn't end in a salty rain of meta tears.”

 

Sad. I had just been starting to get a nice looking build made up in the Ole skill calculator.

[kash.9213]

5 hours ago, BrokenGlass.9356 said:

 

 

So, the long and the short of it seems to be: "You can tank with thief... but it's not good at it compared to classes with block spam. And you will have to type a short novel to anyone and everyone you raid with about what it is and why you do it, so that the world doesn't end in a salty rain of meta tears.”

 

Sad. I had just been starting to get a nice looking build made up in the Ole skill calculator.

Do it anyway. You'll probably tank most stuff for a group well enough outside of speed kills. 

Raid type of encounters in games in general will threaten a tank with add waves and gimmicks between boss slaps, so you might gas out sometimes unless you can craft a couple of go-to sequences for sustaining and for flash tanking through their big cooldowns. I usually feel most secure through a big drive by punishing it right away with modifiers like life leech or whatever popping off of area interrupts and using other Control to lock down or scatter over that lane, then sniping a key support to make a composition scramble to catch up. Bonus if I can group barrier or group weaken or something through it. 

You can only really do that with adds in an encounter I guess but I feel like both heals on shadowsteps or having an extra dodge or endurance regen should be enough connective tissue around your sequences for most stuff. Some stuff you might be banging your head against the wall, you also have to hold and live through aggro if you want to turn targets or move a fight around. All it takes is like two things that can dismantle part of you real quick and your pretty much done unless your all super alert, but even then, you might have some threshold issues. Should be fun figuring it out either way.

Edited November 10, 2022 by kash.9213