Efficiency of Melee Ranger and Tank help

[dbarbarian14]

After a few days of theory crafting, and help from this forum, I decided to forgo my attemps to play Monk as I feel I was handicapping myself by geting used to Swift Strikes mechanics, and hence any recovery speed from any other class would feel inferior. (https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/103950-shadowdancervotary-full-party-build-help/?hl=paladin).

 

I am considering building a Stalker(ranger)/Kindwayfarer(paladin) or Paladin/Trickster(rogue).  But I am finding myself in the same place. My "tank" doesn't seem to get the attention from the enemies and I am the one getting the brunt of the attacks, even when I wait a few seconds to position myself behind the target to flank. The enemy just turns around on the first hit and starts hitting my watcher.

 

Anyone has any tips on how to make the tank actually tank? 

Note: I am using Eder as a Swashbuckler tank.

 

Edited July 23, 2018 by dbarbarian14

[grayrest]

All the melee martial classes have some way to speed up their actions:

 

* Monk - Swift Strikes

* Barbarian - Fury

* Rogue - Streetfighter (gimmicky)

* Fighter - Mob Stance (I usually stack with Reckless Brigandine, gimmicky)

 

The amounts are generally similar at around 30% except for streetfighter, which is 50.

 

 

> The enemy just turns around on the first hit and starts hitting my watcher.

 

There is no hard aggro mechanic in this game. The AI will re-evaluate targets after every action and switch to its best target in range. You can generally keep enemies on your tank and not attacking your backline (quarterstaff/pike melee, ranged) using the engagement mechanic but there's nothing to keep them from turning and attacking a melee target. If you wait for targets to become engaged and attack from the side, you can ensure your softer melee will only need to get hit by one enemy at a time but all melee needs to be able to take a hit.

 

It can be somewhat difficult to get engagement slots early. For Eder, you can get one by using a shield. At level 4 you get stances and the defensive stance gives you three. If you get a spear and take the weapon specialization, that's another. There's a passive called Hold the Line in the fighter tree that I usually take at level 9 for another. Finally, Persistent Distraction in the Rogue tree at level 10 is one of the best passives in the game and that's one. I like two weapons and cleaving/mob stance and think 3 slots is enough so I go hold the line, persistent distraction, spear modal on Eder and if he gets the Reckless Brigandine that's a fourth.

 

Edit: A Paladin/Stalker will likely have issues with damage output. Paladin only gets FoD for damage and Ranger gets accuracy, Driving Flight, and Twinned Shot (which multi-class doesn't have) for damage. It winds up adding up to a decent amount and rangers can put out respectable damage with a good ranged weapon but no damage boost and no attack speed means the combination is lower damage by default. You might be able to use a pair of pistols with the modal for attack speed and come out okay but I haven't tried it.

Edited July 23, 2018 by grayrest

[dbarbarian14]

Ok, so no hard agro. That explains why I am being targeted extremely fast.  And yeah I am trying to avoid that "sweet" candy flavor of the monk super fast unarmed attacks, and that's why I made a Ranger (stalker) / Paladin (kind wayfarer - to heal pet on FoDs).  Might post the build as I have it so far, but I feel managing agro a hard thing. Maybe its just how I am used to agro in other games.  And I got to think of this game more into the DnD rules, where there is really no tank, just penalizing targets for not focusing on the "tank" mentality.

 

Thank you for your reply Grayrest