Best non-knight off tank?

Discussion in 'The Newbie Zone' started by Kraygore, Mar 31, 2021.

  1. Kraygore New Member

    Mainly just playing group content with family and friends. Prefer melee but not feeling the my SK. What would make a good off-tank for non raid content?

    Ranger?

    Beserker?

    Beastlord?

    Thanks for helping a returning noob.

    PS: friends are playing shaman, bard, monk
  2. Elyssanda Bardbrain

    Ranger or BL are both good with a Bard and Shaman in the group.. I dragged a Monk friend through TBM as my tank..
  3. Kraygore New Member

    What makes the ranger better at mitigation than the zerker?

    Does the Beastlord take dmg or is it the pet?
  4. Skuz I am become Wrath, the Destroyer of Worlds.

    Ranger/Monk/Beastlord can off-tank a fair bit better than a zerker, the Ranger has taunt & some high aggro abilities, can equip a shield & has weaponshield for solid pinch-tanking while Monk & Beast can equip a few shields they rarely ever do but block helps and they have decent defensive stuff.

    Only reason you would choose a Zerk to tank is if you want stuff to die really fast and the mobs aren't hitting too hard since their riposte damage can be pretty nuts.
    Kraygore likes this.
  5. Kraygore New Member

    Awesome, thanks for the help.

    Lastly, is it safe to say the zerker is much more 1 dimensional in game play? They kill fast but have fer few buttons to press?
  6. minimind The Village Idiot

    Preach it. A zerk that's quick to hit Uncanny Resilience (AA), Blood Sustenance (AA), Blood Sustenance (BP clicky), stun, Battle Leap (another stun chance), and keeping Reflexive Retaliation (combat ability) up can take a decent amount of hits for a while, but our strength is definitely in making that "for a while" as short as possible. ;)

    And we're not too good to intentionally holding aggro. We don't have many tools there.
    Skuz and Elyssanda like this.
  7. Kraygore New Member

    Are the zerkers easier/less apm than Rangers? Seems like they don't have a lot of button to mash?
  8. Elyssanda Bardbrain

    Really sounds like you wanna play a zerker. Go for it, play what makes you happy. Just don't expect to be a tank. 2 people who actively play berzerkers have told you it won't work long term.

    and as far as low button mashing.. if you are below .. I'd say level 90, you won't have all of the AA abilities that are coming up.. bards at low levels are nearly set it and forget it as far as button mashing.. but higher you get, more AA you get more buttons to mash. I would think that is the same across the board. (I don't KNOW this, as my zerker is only level 62)
    minimind and Kraygore like this.
  9. Skuz I am become Wrath, the Destroyer of Worlds.

    At lower levels absolutely yes, though they get a few more things than most other melee (zerker's snare is really nice with it being instant cast).

    But that changes as the game advances and by the time you get to the 100+ level range zerkers along with every other class that was previously low APM is no longer low APM as they have a lot of abilities to use - and if you aren't already using a "spam-bar + Keybind" &/or plenty of macro-keyed social-buttons by then you are going to have a whole lot of hot-bars with stuff on them.
    minimind and Kraygore like this.
  10. Tatanka Joe Schmo

    Just reading the title of the thread, and nothing else..... warrior! ;)
    Lilybeme and Skuz like this.
  11. Deux Corpse Connoisseur

    Rangers are the best non-Knight/War offtank as their corpses are the choice of necros everywhere to use as pets
    code-zero, Elyssanda and Lilybeme like this.
  12. Kraygore New Member

    :0

    Ranger seems like the best off-tank though. Think I'll do that
  13. Annastasya Augur

    If you insist on a melee class that is not a Knight (paladin or shadowknight) then i would say your choices in order of best to worst are:

    Bard - Bards have the tools to crowd control a good number of mobs without taking significant damage, while also bringing a lot of enhancements to any group.

    Warrior - is the purest of tank classes and can take incredible punishment and maintain aggro, even from a swarm of mobs for a good bit of time without help. They will eventually need heals however, and are arguably the *most* gear dependent class.

    Beastlord - They have slows for a critical debuff, and their pets are quite beefy. If prepared for the duty, a well played beastlord can hold off a second mob in most situations without much trouble at all. Not indefinitely, but as long as the rest of the group is handling the main target, then it may as well be.

    Ranger- Rangers can take hits respectably well, and as mentioned can use shields and have some defensive discs/abilities that work well in the short term. They also have several tools to keep a mob at a distance with snares and roots, thus making the enemy harmless unless it's a caster, or a summoning mob that's been damaged.

    Monk - Monks are certainly better at taking hits or dodging/blocking them than any of the caster or priest classes, but compared to the tank classes or the pets of the major pet classes, they fall behind, and tend to take the widest range of damage rolls.

    Rogues and Berserkers can riposte or disc kill adds pretty reliably fast, but they are both glass cannon type classes and cannot take much punishment at all.

    Of course if you're not dead set on a melee class, Enchanters, Mages, Necromancers and in some cases Druids make better offtanks than the classes mentioned here.
    code-zero likes this.
  14. Elyssanda Bardbrain

    there's a bard already in the group..
    warrior wasn't in his preferred list..
    so that puts Bl and Ranger up
  15. Roxas MM Augur

    a beastlord can off tank with his pet forever, especially in the group game. quite easy as well. just send pet in, keep an eye on the pet window so you cast a pet heal in time, and kill the main assists mob at ease.
    with some attention, the group healer doesn't even have to keep an eye on the pet.
    so a beastlord with his pet is by far the best offtank you will find as a melee class and it keeps adding the most damage to the group as well while offtanking.
  16. Karanthal Augur

    Your SK is the best option to add to that trio as I'm sure you know already which is why you already have one. I'd have to go with BST as well as the next best option, a pet tank with mitigation AAs can survive quite a lot of punishment if you really dont want one of the recognised tank classes.

    You will have to work harder for the same results, but challenge can be fun.
  17. p2aa Augur

    What is the level of the mobs a warrior can tank without external help ? With what self healing tool ? They will need heals eventually ? On current group content, a warrior is unable to survive any fight without external healing (maybe once every 15 min when burning DPS discs on a trash mob and praying you kill him before he kills you lol).
  18. quakedragon Augur

    I would think bard would be the best tank after warrior paladin shadowknight, they wear plate armor so they have higher AC than the other options.
  19. Elyssanda Bardbrain

    rangers off tank better than bards by far.. and they have heals, taunt, and others we don't get.
    Skuz likes this.
  20. Elyssanda Bardbrain