Omen, Blackguard, Promise of Power, or something else? What are the best traits?
A vote here for Timekeeper’s Hand, which drops from the Leviathan in Mines.
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if only talking about named drops, then either Deeproot or Timekeepers hand, but i believe blackguard has refreshing move as well, so that would be best for now.
But BISsy sword combos (depending on needs, would be):
Refreshing Move, Enchanted + Bane (one for each mob type)
Refreshing Move, Hated + Bane
Refreshing Move, Trenchant Rend, Bane
Refreshing Move, Trenchant Rend, Hated (all purpose one)
DMT
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Is Refreshing move + trenchant recovery + enchanted rollable?
No it’s either trench or enchanted but not both
Either way recovery over rend any day. Hardly run in a party that isnt overflowing with rend. Plagued crits would be great for many situations as well.
Deeproot and Timekeepers Hand are the go-to starter weapons for tanks.
However, BiS is Bane, Refreshing Move, and one other perk.
I personally use Enchanted and pair it with a Sturdy, Refreshing, Keenly Empowered shield when Tanking.
I use Omen, but depends on the tanking style you have.
If you go full CON, timekeepers works fine.
There is only one place for 500 Con, and that’s War. In PvE, going above 200 Con severely hampers a Heavy Tanks ability to hold agro, even with Hated or Despised.
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That depends a lot on your build and playstyle. It is not universally true.
I use timekeeper’s hand, it’s pretty good and it has all the things I need.
It is universally true.
There’s no reason for a PvE tank to ever go above 200 Con.
The only tanks that will argue that are the tanks who don’t know what they don’t know.
Is Refreshing Move on sword stackable with shield?
Like using Tempered Disruption from Overseer Levy or Priscilla’s Shield from Nereid?
No.
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Absolutely, unequivocally, false. The only people who say that > 200 con severely hampers a heavy tank’s ability to hold agro don’t know what they don’t know.
That’s a different argument than your original statement, though, isn’t it?
I suspect this is what you originally meant. But it’s not what you originally said.
Time keepers hand is the go to IMO.
I’ve had this debate before as I used to think hated was needed. However hitting crits increases threat aswell as doing more dmg.
I have used trenchant rend and trenchant recovery on the sword and both are not needed. Most groups run a spear and a VG and they always run sacred for the tank.
Anything that increases threat whilst increasing dmg is what you want so ideally it’s refreshing move, bane and keen.
Refreshing move, thwarting and keen would be just under this and then the tekeepers hand perks would be 3rd best IMO.
Refreshing Move, Bane, and Enchanted > Keen.
@herbert7890 and my previous comments are the best responses; DMT is considered the best heavy tank in the game, and I pioneered light tanking in the game.
We’ve both done a lot of testing with dozens of different sword setups to arrive at the conclusions that we’ve provided.
I, myself, have about 30 swords leveled to 625 that I’ve used for various testing.
In regards to Keen as a perk on a sword, I don’t recommend it due to lucksafe protection on Crits. SnS users will have 13% CHC before any other crit modifiers, due to the 10% passive, and you have a high probability of critting once every 3 hits. If you place Keen on your sword, you’ll have 25% base crit, and have a high probability of critting every other hit.
You need to decide whether having a 1/3 or 1/2 probability is better than a base damage increase of a perk such as enchanted. I would argue Enchanted > Keen.
Lucksafe means: 13% crit, each noncrit adds 13% to your crit multiplier until it resets. On the 3rd hit, you have 39% crit, so a high probability. I crit very often on the 2nd or 3rd hit at 13% base.
At 25% base, it adds 25% for each noncrit, so the second strike would have a 50% crit chance, so a high probability.
I still wouldn’t risk Keen as you could have bad luck and not crit, and regardless, for each swing that doesn’t crit, you deal 10% less damage and generate 10% less threat, and some dps trail the tank and would have to risk a threat pull or backing off.
Also, 13% crit chance and Enchanted means for a slightly-lower crit probability, you’ll deal 10% more damage from your light/heavies and crits will be 10% stronger. Depending on your build, you’ll use light/heavy attacks as the majority of your damage.
And you never want dps to have to hold threat or back off.
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Your statements are incorrect, although perhaps they apply to your particular brand of light armor, low con, paladin tanking (see, I went and mentioned it for you so you don’t have to 
).
I’ve never had an issue with holding aggro when I was running 250 con. Even speed running with big DPS, I wasn’t losing aggro to them or the healer. Between Carnelian gem, 3 taunts and playing an attacking style, I keep my threat high enough that enemies focus on me. Toughest part of aggro management is when you have range pinging bosses as you run up to them (like they should do when it’s hellfire) and then watching the boss run right past you straight to them. But even then, it’s not hard to get yourself back on top of the threat list.
As far as a PvE tank never needing to run more than 200 con, there are plenty of times when it’s perfectly acceptable:
- Learning to tank, or just learning a new dungeon mechanics.
- When you have a crappy healer who puts Sacred Ground down in the wrong place, or not at all
- If you don’t have a full set of Ward gear
- When you would rather run Leadership than Defensive Formation
- Bad DPS composition or just a low damage group
You have to remember, we’re not all speed running M10s in premade groups. And heavy armor dodge doesn’t actually create any separation, so sometimes that extra con gives you the confidence to play more aggressively.
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You are running 3 taunts. That’s a major loss of damage and potential mitigation. Needing to run 3 taunts is a direct sign that you don’t have a good rotation. You’re better off running mitigation abilities that allow you to do more damage, which will increase group dps and also let the healer contribute to damage.
DPS in groups that depend on the tank taunting to maintain agro always have to pull their punches and can never go all out, and the Tanks in those groups get hit harder than Light Tanks, because they’re sacrificing damage mitigation abilities for those extra taunts, which may be why you need to stack your con so high. You’ll also deal significantly-less damage, and then your healer will also be dealing significantly-less damage, because they’ll need to give you their undivided attention.
By no means is your method of tanking optimal. No one likes playing with a tank that hides behind their shield and just taunts. Tanks should prioritize methods of maintaining mitigation cap while also dealing as much damage as they can.
Even without any ward, there’s no content in the game that you need more than 200 con for if you are an experienced or a skilled tank. Especially if you’re in heavy.
Keen is demonstrably worse than Enchanted. If you crit every 2nd swing without Enchanted, you average 115% damage (1.3 crit modifier). If you crit every 3rd swing, and have Enchanted, you’re average 121% damage per swing.
However, Thwarting Strikes would be actual BiS in place of Enchanted, since it’s more damage and would apply to abilities, along with light and heavy attacks. Assuming 300 STR, of course.
Thwarting Strikes + Bane + Refreshing Move
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