Hi All - I am running a three box of ranger (57) / beasty (51)/ enchanter (48) + Mercs , using the ranger as my main and the group tank. The ranger will be on hold at 59 to AA while the rest of the gang catches up and I am wondering what the tank should be going forward. I guess the options are tank merc, beast pet, beastlord or ranger. I am thinking the ranger will not do so hot once they are all the same level and I am taking on some harder mobs. Thanks for the feedback!
With comparable gear, the ranger should be slightly better than the beastlord as a tank, not that either class is a real tank class. However, the beastlord would likely be easier to box as the tank, since the ranger can be used as ranged dps. Pet tanking means no meleeing for the melee. Merc tanking is an option. My suggestion is just to try various configurations and see what works best for you in different situations.
i would say merc tanking would work/be best at those levels, later on and higher up in the levels when you can AA out the bst's pet more it could do a fairly well job of tanking, ive had the level 93 pet tank t4 named mobs in RoF (last 20-25% of them anyway when tank merc has dropped)
For leveling purposes, the Ranger will do just fine until level 85 - specifically in House of Thule zones. That's where the tanking party ends for Rangers. Even with the work I put into getting all the best Heroic Agility and Dex augs I've been a wet noodle since.
Ok thanks everyone. Sounds like I will keep the ranger going for a while. I like the idea of keeping the beastlord and ranger meleeing, will an apprentice tank merc get torn up in the 80's? I am FTP at the moment, but will probably go gold with the ranger once I start reaching some higher levels. Also, will I have any trouble landing slows with the bst or chanter later (70+)? The enchanter slow is making my life pretty easy at the moment.
You shouldn't have any issue landing slows with the enchanter- magic based slow, and you always have unresistable magic debuff (tash) around. When you get higher, if necessary, you can also use arcane disjunction aura stacked with tash, and a robe click as well for more magic debuffing. If it can be slowed, they can do it.
It should be noticed that with the way defensive calculations and defense (the skill) scaling works is intended to make ranger weaker. They were originally a light tank, or in concept thought of that way. However, with the way block works currently and the AC caps beastlord almost always sees better returns in flat out effective mitigation. Mercs will work the best, one or two healers until you have j5 + tank and possibly 1 dps if you don't need the healing from a second healing merc. until your characters are geared and AA'd, defensive AA's + Parry/Dodge/Rip/Block mods + AC + HP all have a major impact on deciding who can tank. It's hard to distinguish without accounting for all factors. Keep in mind mercs scale the best when they enter a new 'era' or level gap for expansions. Things like 66/71/76/81 so on and so forth. Because they scale to the expansion that level was for, minus Underfoot.
You can tank with either the Ranger or the Beastlord but neither will ever be very good at it. As you are three boxing this offers you some flexibility regarding what combination of Mercs you use. This could for example be a balanced Merc set (Warrior, Cleric, Wizard) or the 'safety first' combo (Warrior, Cleric, Cleric). Eventually the Beastlord pet will be the best tank available to you full stop. In challenging circumstances (a hard hitting named or a bad pull where the tank Merc dies for example) the Ranger can do range damage as can the Beastlord while letting the pet tank. This will buy you the vital seconds to get the Enchanter into crowd control mode. If you're enjoying the game and can afford it I recommend going Gold for the Ranger and the Beastlord as this gives you access to much better gear, more AAs and two decent Mercs. The apprentice Mercs are never better than mediocre and getting one or two J5 Mercs makes a game changing difference to what you'll be able to do.
The Beastlord will be the best Tank or the Beastlord's Warder, Beastlord's have a really fast reuse defensive disc and block that puts them miles ahead plus much better agro.
Ranger by far. The small defensive difference is nothing compared to the agro control a ranger has. Beastlords lack direct agro abilities unlike rangers
As far as group geared toons go, it will be beast pet, tank merc, ranger, beast for tanking. With the pet and merc being far better than the other two.
Hi all - thank you for the feedback. I think it makes the most sense to stick with my Ranger as the main tank (for XP situations) and start working on tanking with the warder for named mobs. I agree that the beastlord is probably better from a pure mitigation standpoint, though I am going to keep pulling with the Ranger (harmony + snare is a nice combo), and with him pulling i might as well lock aggro and tank as well. With the innate proc spells, taunt, and the large aggro coming from snare it is pretty easy to keep mobs focused on the Ranger. I am not sure what i would use on the beastlord to hold / steal aggro - plus the added step of the BL picking up mobs off the ranger pull is un-needed complexity in the three box. If I go gold I will re-visit the tank merc, but as it is now, my ranger with CA & CS 3 is outperforming the tank merc by miles.
