Get your Rocks off -- Earth Guide

america ps, so youre safe for now. haha

the first page or two of this guide explains pretty well how earth works now. its going to change for the better though whenever gy37 comes out though.

With the update, there will be some new things, like the second breakout. So some of the stuff is going to change. But it's an exciting time to be an Earth tank.

Double check over Bigs notes on the first page because some of our tooltips are outdated (tank tooltips specifically aftershocks)

Learn how dmgA works and always maintain your 50% absorption with Jack Hammer or Upheaval. On live it currently takes one aftershock to reach 50%dmgA so initial cast of either JH or Upheaval + 1 aftershock = 50%dmgA. If you decide to use Crystal/Brick make sure you always have Damage Shift up (you'll notice a dust cloud around you and your pet you may have to zoom in to see) also recast DS when zoning from area to area. (this will change once the update drops and you will need Brick to pet tank the devs decided to make a clear distinction with the pets if you decide to run with Crystal you will need JH or Upheaval after the update to buff yourself).

Immunities always farm immunity + recast powers to either taunt or buff yourself between windows of counters or when the boss/adds stop attacking you. If you get countered Gemstone Shield will taunt for you same as Damage Shift.

Boss positioning this is what separates a lot of rookie tanks from vet tanks most bosses have AoE splash damage affects so turn them away from the group your melee DPS will love you forever.

Always pan your camera/watch mini map to catch any stragglers/spawned adds or adds/mobs aggro'd accidentally by your teammates. Also keep an eye on their health bars this will pretty much tell you someone is taking too much damage and probably aggro'd a mob or just being a turd soaking up damage.

Always experiment on what you feel comfortable with because everyone tanks differently/specs differently I normally run a damage tank build w/DPS trinks + crits innates and the occasional Flex Sodas for you this may or may not work so always experiment and eventually you'll develop your own style of tanking.

I personally Tank with DPS/Speed in mind I don't like being in raids/alerts forever so I aggro everything and try to be the first in every single room before anyone else to get a head start on grouping mobs. Also pay attention to your DPS power types Mental/Gadgets tend to burn 1-2 targets faster than mobs so take that into consideration to prioritize targets.

I let them die lol

Made the switch the other night, had a play as a DPS last night and so far so good.

Not so fussed on Reinforce though....I can suspend disbelief when Ms F pulls dual pistols or a bow out of thin air for WM combos, but not so much her doing that when she's got Hulk hands on. Seriously, how would one pull a trigger or draw a bow with massive boxing gloves on?

I'm curious about WM....does anybody tank with it? I'm leaning towards the staff as my tank weapon, and am not that fussed on the WM combos - much like the Hulk hands, the animation doesn't work for me. In a round about way, I guess I'm wondering if not using WM has any impact on tanking?

I usually get interrupted out of my WM combo which is 2H into Flurry shot. I will use it sometimes in TD and get a stun out of it.

I use 1H or Brawling for Tank mainly I didn't like how lame the Staff WM melee combo's are and it's my favorite weapon :/

Anywho with 1H I use the stunning swipe WM and the focus blast WM if I need to block break dual flurry WM for the trash adds that can be CC'd for 3+ seconds or If see a boss feint into a BB.

Brawling I use doom spin mastery it's really great for CC + power regen and of course enhanced shuriken WM if I need to BB an add/boss.

For PvP MA WM is pretty good the tap hold (can't remember name) is good for interrupts + more damage and the 2 tap hold hold is good as well if your opponent is slow on reaction.

Bow is pretty solid too if you like bows it combos into smokebomb which is aoe stun it also has an aoe interrupt with the tap range hold melee similar to HBs

You do realize that there is no such thing as 'Damage Shift' after the update, correct? DS will be automatic with Brick in tank mode but there will not be a DS available in DPS mode.

• Damage Shift
  • This ability has been removed and is no longer available. The functionality of this ability is now applied automatically when using Summon Brick Golem while in the Tank role.

Until the GU is actually live, DS has to be manually cast....so the information given is good. No point in Clutch telling me not to worry about DS 'cause it will be automatic in a week or five...

That is why I pointed it out. Would hate to have a person set up a rotation based upon something that suddenly becomes obsolete in a week... or five...

I also did state that would change once the update drops as well, so for the time being it's valid.

You do realize most guys skip words when reading, right... some occasionally skip entire sentences. That's my defense and I'm sticking to it.

Is there a TL;DR?

My DPS loadout currently is PB, Entomb, Crystal, Fortify Golem, Totem, Reinforce. Loving it so far. I even specced HLS for solo stuff and have one PP left for an extra iconic.

https://forums.station.sony.com/dcuo/index.php?threads/a-guide-to-everything-earth.207137/

Nice side effect to jackhammer.

If you find yourself with trolls unfamiliar with a&b last boss with good timing you can juggle them before they can ever charge up sinestro.

You have to use 5 or 6 aftershocks to get the cool down right so it costs a little extra power and it works better if you wait to juggle them until they are just about to charge him up to give your cool down timer but it is entirely possible

Just starting a Earth character, and so far I'm loving it because you can approximate super-strength with it. I'm wondering: can you stick to the powers that mimic super-strength like Localized Tremor and be effective, or do you eventually have to start using visually Earth-Wizard looking stuff to effectively perform your role as Tank or DPS?

you can use aftershock tanking to approximate a super strength tank. DPS will probably need some of the "earth wizard" powers to be effective

Sweet! I like tanking best anyway.