Tanking in a perfect world

[turtlestoys]

Ok, lets try to no over complicate this...

 

In terms of HM+, equally geared guardian/shadow..

 

Who would end up with better damage reduction/ HP /aoe threat generation?

 

I'm looking for factual reasons, not opinions.

Edited November 1, 2013 by turtlestoys

[Icebergy]

Given equal gear and skill, the shadow would have the better of all three, the only problem is that they are currently more spiky, but they already take less damage overall...and they are getting buffed in 2.5 Edited November 1, 2013 by Icebergy

[Vodamin]

Shadow. Just a fact, not an opinion.

[turtlestoys]

Thanks all,

 

PHEW!!! Man am I ever glad I rolled that tank a shadow, I just hit 55 2 days ago..

[branmakmuffin]

I'm looking for factual reasons, not opinions.

Not sure if serious.

[Nempo]

Personal execution?

 

In aoe threat? Shadow. The fact a shadow can hit a 15m aoe centered on a target and not themselves gives them a huge advantage here.

In single target threat? Guard (though in the last 30% the shadow wins out thanks to the execute) however a shadow should have no trouble still.

 

Raw HP? Guard and not by much given that you can mod gear out how you want...wearing the same mods...guards have a few more natural endurance.

 

Why do people take guards? For the defensives they have being more reliable and the higher physical damage reduction. Shadows have far better force/tech damage reduction and are the low tank on the pack in physical damage reduction. 2.5 is going to try and make them on par in physical damage reduction but it is going to kill their self heal with the technique which is truly sad as that is somethign that sets them apart in PvP as far as the tanks go.

[Tsillah]

I've seen calculations in another thread where it was clear that the assassin tank can take more damage than a juggernaut, but as stated the juggernaut can handle spikes a bit better.

 

Aoe threat is for the assassin as well, as you have more aoe skills also at range, one of which actually generates additional threat.

 

Still, in a perfect world, the dps wouldn't be idiots so you wouldn't need additional aoe taunt to begin with. The new ability for juggernauts however to reflect damage is quite awesome though....the only thing I really miss is a stance where the juggernaut cannot be knocked down for x seconds. That would really make juggernauts, well, juggernauts...

[Rafaman]

Ok. The fact is that Shadows have better overall mitigation because of Harnessed Shadows self heals. But unfortunately they suffer from higher fluctuations of spike damage which can in higher level Ops, especially NiM, be a problem. Ops Bosses at that difficulty tend to have huge spike damage attacks that can one shot a Shadow on occasion.

 

The upcoming buff or a Shadow Tank will eliminate that issue buy upping their armor mitigation by 20%. They will lose their self heal but will gain a huge armor buff especially with a revamp of Harnessed Shadows. The number crunchers estimate empirically that Shadows will be the best tank in the game.

 

As for AOE threat, the Shadow tank is the best in game. Aside from AOE taunt, Shadows have great threat from Slow Time and Force Breach. Force Breach if used correctly can help manage a group quite effective because it has good range. Slow Time has decent range but does not impact sleeping mobs.

 

Guardians, at this moment are the better over all tank because of their heavy armor. Their mitigation and cool downs combined with their armor make their damage intake more consistent over time. While they don't have great AOE threat, for Ops they are ideal because AOE threat is not as important, generally speaking, as a fight mechanic.