Beginner Tank Build

Build Name

Beginner Tank Build

Intro

Dragon Knight Tank Build for Beginners

Build Objectives

Tanking

Main Focus

PvE, Normal mode Group Dungeons

Race – Secondary

Argonian

Why Choose This Race?

Imperials get 12% more health, 10% more stamina, and have chance to heal every time they use a melee attack, it doesn’t get any better for tanking.

Argonians get back 12% of their max health, stamina, and magicka every time they drink a potion, that is the single greatest sustain passive in the game, they also get 9% more health, and a 5% bonus to healing done and received, which is a nice boost to self healing.

While the above two races are technically the “best” races for tanking, the practical reality is that any race can be effective at tanking. Unlike DPS or healing you can’t evaluate a tank’s performance in numbers, either you succeed or fail, there is no grey area in between. So you want too min/max go ahead and pick from the races above, otherwise feel free to pick any race you want, it will do just fine.

Attribute Points Redistribution Explained

This point distribution is merely a starting point, the goal is to have right around 30k health with your food buff on, put enough points into health to reach that and put everything else into stamina.

It may seem counter intuitive but you actually gain more survivability as a tank putting points into stamina than you do health, the reason for this is because a tank’s survivability is directly linked to their sustain rather than their health and your sustain increases as your stamina pool increases.

The Warrior

The Mage

The Thief

Armor

*Use Sturdy for CP160 through CP300, begin replacing sturdy pieces with divines as you put points into Shadow Ward.

Night’s Silence and Hist Bark are craftable and Akaviri Dragonguard is a BoE overland set, buy it from guild traders or farm for it in Eastmarch. Jewelry drop from dolmens, boots and belt drop from delve bosses, look for “of the dragon” pieces.

Jewels

Weapons

Front Bar

Back Bar

Nirnhoned is better if you can afford it, if not Reinforced will work just fine.

Active Skills

Passive Skills

Mundus Stones

The Atronach

Rotation

Primary bar is your single target/boss bar, back bar is your trash pull/heal bar.

Rotation is quite simple, for boss fights buff with hardened armor and then use a rotation of pierce armor, heroic slash, igneous shield, 3 to 4 light attacks, and then repeat, reapply hardened armor as needed. If you’re taking a lot of damage from magic projectiles(like fireballs) you can cast Absorb Magic as needed. If you need to heal swap to your back bar and use Green Dragon Blood.

For trash pulls gather up mobs with Cinder Storm and then lock them in place with Choking Talons, use Unrelenting Grip to pull in pesky ranged enemies. Reapply Talons as needed and light attack to build ultimate for boss fights. If you need to heal during a trash pull use Draw Essence, unless you’re dangerously low on health then use Green Dragon Blood followed with Draw Essence.

Ultimates

While you’re getting used to tanking, use Magma Shell exclusively, it is effectively 10 seconds of God Mode, use it every time its a available during boss fights, it will make surviving fights much easier. Once you’re more confident you can begin using Standard of Might in boss fights and keep Magma Shell as an emergency “Oh $*%^” button.

Damage Tips

Tank does not do much damage.

Survivability Tips

There is no shame in just holding block through a fight if you feel like you’re taking too much damage or not getting enough heals. You can regenerate Stamina while blocking by spamming Igneous Shield until you’re out of magicka.

Also use your ultimate the moment it becomes available during boss fights, as a Dragon Knight you regain health, stamina, and magicka every time you pop an ultimate.

Get into the habit of clicking synergies every time you see them, you get ultimate for simply clicking on a synergy, plus as you progress into more advanced tanking builds you will gain passives that restore health, stamina, and magicka for clicking synergies.

Any Other Tips

Download the addon “Tank”. It gives you a count down timer in the middle of your reticle showing how much time you have left on your taunt. If using Tank, instead of “3 or 4 light attacks” in the boss rotation, simply light attack until your taunt is at 5 seconds then repeat the rotation.