Tank With a Trick Up His Sleeve

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1 Tank With A Trick Up His Sleeve

Tank With A Trick Up His Sleeve

The basic fighter build is essentially a Tank. Lots of Endurance, Strength and Agility, lots of armor with high Def rating, and big weapons. Tank strategy is simple: Run into melee and hack and slash until they are all dead! This is a good fighter build and lots of people like it.

I have found two problems for the solo Tank, however. First is Fodder. It is a huge pain in the neck to have to chase 12 Orok Runts around and take a big swing at each one. The other is those floating things, like Whisker Shaman or Fade Lichlord. One swing, they float away. Chase them. One swing, they float away again. Dealing with six of them one at a time is also very frustrating!

Obviously, the answer is some sort of AoE (Area of Effect) or Ranged Attack skill. The only one that more or less does that which is available from the fighter trainer is Cleave. It will cut up some fodder that is surrounding you, but is of little use against the floating mobs, and of course has no range.

The answer is that the fighter needs a few mage skills, and to do that you need to invest in a little Intelligence. The easy way to do this is with jewelry. Two rings and an amulet with INT bonuses will give you enough mana to have a Trick or Two Up Your Sleeve to deal with those troublesome mobs.

Here is an effective tested build for a Tank With a Trick Up His Sleeve:

Skills

This is a good basic Tank build:

Gym Freak is the standard fighter Passive skill.	Way of the Roo is the other fighter Passive.
Butcher is a standby fighter skill and works very well against big nasty mobs. I use it on the left button.	Swivel Arm Action, either 1H or 2H depending on your weapon.
Retribution is a very useful skill for a Tank.	Soul Rend fits nicely with the Tank approach.
Resistance depends on the mobs you encounter but there should be space for at least one.

Now you can visit the mage and ranger trainers and add a few Tricks to it:

Shadow Lightning is the skill that will help you go after those "floating" mobs. It goes on the right button, unless you want to put Cleave or Soul Rend there.	Gaseous Blast is a good spell to take care of the bunches of annoying fodder.
Ring of Fire is another good one when you are surrounded.

Equipment

A Tank needs great armor. Crystal Plate is a standard for high Def and you should try for a full set, at least RARE or UNIQUE. Choose armor items with high END bonuses. Get a good weapon that gives AGI and STR bonuses for a high attack rating. Spend your points like a standard tank, on END, AGI and STR. Then get your INT bonuses from jewelry. You only need a few mana points if you use it carefully.

Strategy / Usage

So you are ready to go rumbling into action like a standard Tank. As soon as the mobs surround you, let off a Gaseous Blast or Ring of Fire just to get things going. Then you can start swinging your weapon(s) with Butcher and act like a fighter to take out the major big guys, using Soul Rend now and then. If you have balanced your mana correctly, when they are gone and nothing is left but fodder or floaters, you will have the mana available to start blasting them with Shadow Lightning. Even if your mana runs out you will have significantly weakened most mobs and a single swing of your weapon will finish the job.

Advantages

Now you can deal with the most annoying mobs to a fighter, quickly and easily, instead of swinging your weapon again and again to get one little guy each time.

Disadvantages

Of course, you have spent points or bonuses on INT instead of the fighter basics. But the few points invested in mana will pay big dividends in every battle.