I'm looking to replay Deadfire with a coastal aumaua tanky-melee, what would you choose? Marauder, Crusader, Swashbuckler, I think some combination of barb-fighter-rogue-pala, maybe monk has some good synergy as well, but not sure. Fury shaper, Streetfighter, Unbroken or Devoted, Goldpact knight would by my choices. Want to use either sword+board, propably with a bashing shield, maybe a 2h like Whispers?

As a main tank I really like Streetfighter/Unbroken or -/Devoted.

Devoted is nice with swords as main weapon, especially the Gladiator Sword which already has +1 PEN (when fully enchanted) and is perfect for a sword & board build which is obviously nice for a tanky setup because it also provides extra defense and a bit of additonal dmg. With additonal +2 PEN from the Devoted you will have very few "no PEN" issues - if if there are you can switch to your fist + shield (take Monastic Unarmed Training).

Unbroken is great if you go for clubs (namely Kapana Taga) as main weapon and if you have party members who can terrify enemies. The club+modal lowers the Will defense by 25 points, making is a lot easier to terrify enemies. Terfifies enemies disengage randomly and then catch the nasty disengagment attacks for the Unbroken/Streetfighter (higher Sneak Attack, higher PEN, Deathblows potentially - all unlocked by Persistant Distraction). Alternatively Unbroken/Trickster can do all that by himself and doesn't need another party member with terrify and be even tanker - but will lose quite a bit of offensive outpout (lower speed and supstancially lower Sneak Attack while flanked).

The main reason is that a Streetfighter/Devoted or Unbroken Swashbuckler can tank at least a good as Edér as a Swashbuckler (which is absolutely suffcient on PotD difficulty) but will have a significantly higher damamge out put. This makes playing a tank a lot less "boring".

Once you get flanked - as it's common for a main tank - your streetfighter passive unlocks immediately, giving you +50% Sneak Attack damage and -50% recovery time. Even with a weapon & shield setup this is serious melee damage output by itself. Add Riposte for the occasional free attack and also Mob Stance (more speed and free attack when killing foes) this tank becomes a decent werecking machine while not giving up much tankyness (if any).

I played a Streetfigther/Devoted themed as a "gladiator" as main tank with Bronlar's Phalanx and the Gladiator Sword (and later the Contendor's Armor and helm - those just for aesthetic reasons) and had a great time. I really like large shields on main tanks because the modal + Adept Evasion makes them pretty much impervious to AoE attacks - even if they come from my own guys. ;)

Other good tank combos are:

• Paladin/Chanter (most prolific maybe Kind Wayfarer/Troubadour - needs attention towards additional engagement slots though)

• Unbroken/Trickster (as I said)

• Unbroken/Furyshaper (Fear Ward + disengagement)

• Paladin/Forbidden Fist (I particulary like Steel Garrote Paladin: enfeeblement + life drain)

• Shieldbearer/Trickster

• any Paladin/Fighter (Goldpact/Unbroken can have insane AR)

• any Paladin/non-Berserker Barbarian (engagement via Barbaric Shout)

• Tactician/Priest of Wael (if flanked -> becomes confused -> is now able to cast Withdraw as auto-hit on enemies to remove them from the fight for a long time)

• any Paladin/Wizard (except maybe the wizard subclasses you cannot cast Illusions, can be extremely tanky early on but needs additonal engagement if not Shieldbearer)

• any Fighter/Wizard

• Fighter or Paladin/Stalker

• Stalker/Ancient (lots of bodies: Sporelings + Animal companions - who help tanking)

• Lifegiver (Bear)/Goldpact (Gilded Enmity + Bear's hide grants very high AR with 0 recovery + lots of healing - needs more enagement though. Later great "aura-like" AoE dmg while tanking dmg via Sacred Immolation + Nature's Terror)

And lots more... ;)

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by Boeroer

can you use bashing shields on devoted? like https://pillarsofeternity.fandom.com/wiki/Magran%27s_Blessing or https://pillarsofeternity.fandom.com/wiki/The_Best_Defense

23 minutes ago, Faraleth said:

can you use bashing shields on devoted? like https://pillarsofeternity.fandom.com/wiki/Magran%27s_Blessing or https://pillarsofeternity.fandom.com/wiki/The_Best_Defense

No :( only that mond shield if you take unarmed training.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by Okkes