[480] tank advice for a main pc with full party of story companions

[IndiraLightfoot]

I keep changing my mind about what kind of character I will use for my first playthrough of PoE.

 

At the moment, I have my eyes set on a tank. I haven't decided on weapons and even class yet, but I need an excellent tank.

 

What attributes do I need to max, assuming I'll use armour to tank?

 

Sensuki said that Plate is the best armour for a tank, compared to brigandine mail, etc.

 

Will interrupt be useful? Which defences are best for a pc in the midst of battle?

 

Which skills and abilities (general ones) should I pick?

 

Obviosuly, each kind of class has a number of tank-enhancing abilities and/or spells as well.

 

Thx in advance!

[Sensuki]

You will find unique suits of armor in the game that you will wear for their magical properties. There is at least one suit of plate armor in the game that has a really overpowered property at the moment, and you'll never want to wear anything else on your tank

 

edit: looks like they read my bug report and balanced it.

Edited March 15, 2015 by Sensuki

[Tartantyco]

I would simply advise you not to overthink this. Just jump into the game, choose the stats that you think look good, and start playing. Thinking about all kinds of stats and min/maxing stuff just drains the fun out of games.

 

Get an unspoiled first playthrough of the game.

[gkathellar]

A fighter or paladin with heavy armor and a shield are the obvious choices. Beyond that, Resolve, Perception, and Constitution should cover most of your needs.

[Odd Hermit]

I used an Orlan, got 21 perception(white that wends background) and 19 resolve. Perception and resolve give deflection and that's mainly what you need to reduce damage taken, on top of DR. Paladins have good base defenses as well. And they can get a DR modal, although you may prefer the accuracy one for buffing the rest of your party.

 

Stack mainly deflection stuff. Biggest early gain is from Weapon and Shield style. I used a Hatchet as a weapon for another +5, even though it does pitiful damage.

 

I wore plate enchanted with Resolve and Perception for more deflection. Perception also gives interrupt, which is a free bonus w/your deflection, but interrupts aren't a big deal anymore so don't worry about it.

 

The next best attribute is Intellect, to have your modal affect your party at decent range, particularly if you chose the accuracy buff. It also improves a few Paladin specific abilities.

 

You'll have to decide just how much you want to forgo damage output from there. You can comfortably drop might to 2 and be fine 'cause you're not going to deal great damage no matter what, and just dump your excess into constitution.

 

For skills, it doesn't matter that much. With lore you can use scrolls and I'd bet it will make a good PC skill for dialogue. Survival improves your consumable durations, which could be handy too. Some stealth is nice on all characters IMO, and some athletics. The beta isn't very demanding on skills though and it's hard to judge best skill spreads yet.

 

-

 

Fighter built in a similar way can also make a good tank. Chanters can work too but you're a little more spread out there for attribute needs. I personally don't care for Monk for a number of reasons, but some people like them as well.

Edited March 15, 2015 by Odd Hermit

[Sensuki]

Currently I don't find the interrupt bonus from Perception (or Interrupting Blows) useful.

[Odd Hermit]

Currently I don't find the interrupt bonus from Perception (or Interrupting Blows) useful.

 

It's just a bonus. It's not something you'd aim for or try to make active use of, but you already want high perception and resolve for deflection. Occasionally interrupting stuff does reduce damage taken as well. I wouldn't take interrupting blows though.

Edited March 15, 2015 by Odd Hermit

[IndiraLightfoot]

And now for the really difficult question: a good tank and a good accuracy/dps'er as well?

 

Is there some race/class combo in that sweet spot Goldilocks zone, which do both pretty well, even good?

Edited March 15, 2015 by IndiraLightfoot

[Odd Hermit]

I've taken a screenshot of the distance away from a 20 int paladin(18 w/a +2 enchant) you can be and receive the aura bonus:

 

http://i.imgur.com/fB1xqpJ.jpg

 

As you can see it's still quite short. So I'd factor that into whether or not you'd choose +Accuracy(best for group) over +DR(best for tank). If you have a melee heavy party I'd go for accuracy, but if you've got more ranged that're spread out to avoid AoE and whatnot it might not be worth micro-ing them to maintain aura benefit to you.

 

Personally I think it's too small, but maybe they don't want it to conveniently affect your whole party. But with 20 int you'd think you'd get a little more distance than that.

 

And now for the really difficult question: a good tank and a good accuracy/dps'er as well?

 

Is there some race/class combo in that sweet spot Goldilocks zone, which do both pretty well, even good?

 

Fighter IMO. You can't use them in the same way as a purely defensive built tank though, have to support more with other characters and be on top of crowd control. And/or have more melee to split up the damage on the front line.

Edited March 15, 2015 by Odd Hermit

[Sensuki]

Yeah it's funny how now that the progression has opened up the Fighter isn't really the best tank anymore.

Edited March 15, 2015 by Sensuki

[Voss]

I would simply advise you not to overthink this. Just jump into the game, choose the stats that you think look good, and start playing. Thinking about all kinds of stats and min/maxing stuff just drains the fun out of games.

 

Get an unspoiled first playthrough of the game.

for you perhaps. Personally I find dying repeatedly because of poorly explained mechanics a lot less fun. I want my character to be effective, not a bumbling buffoon, and from an RP perspective, I'd expect the character wants to survive, not take up a calling they are particularly bad at, with fatal results.

 

But then understanding how things work doesn't strike me as spoiling the story in any way whatsoever.

[gkathellar]

 

I would simply advise you not to overthink this. Just jump into the game, choose the stats that you think look good, and start playing. Thinking about all kinds of stats and min/maxing stuff just drains the fun out of games.

 

Get an unspoiled first playthrough of the game.

for you perhaps. Personally I find dying repeatedly because of poorly explained mechanics a lot less fun. I want my character to be effective, not a bumbling buffoon, and from an RP perspective, I'd expect the character wants to survive, not take up a calling they are particularly bad at, with fatal results.

 

But then understanding how things work doesn't strike me as spoiling the story in any way whatsoever.

 

 

While I agree with your second premise, my general feeling from the BB is that the first doesn't really apply. You can get along acceptably with unoptimized stats.

[Tartantyco]

It doesn't spoil the story, Voss. It spoils the experience. If it's a numbers game from the start, it's a numbers game to the finish.

[gkathellar]

If it's a numbers game from the start, it's a numbers game to the finish.

 

... and?

[Voss]

It doesn't spoil the story, Voss. It spoils the experience. If it's a numbers game from the start, it's a numbers game to the finish.

It is a numbers game from start to finish. All RPGs are, and holding the illusion that they aren't is pretty baffling to me.  Pure math on the mechanical end.   Well, except for crap like Dragon Age Inquisition, where you just plug talents in at level up and the game won't let you see the back end, but its easy mode start to finish so whatever.  But then DAI is an interactive story that forces you along a couple 'Choose Our Own Adventure' paths, rather than an RPG, so doesn't really count for much.

 

Most decent RPGs have complex character creation systems that are very easy to screw up.  PoE has the additional burden of being counter-intuitive and actively working against common assumptions for the genre.  The attributes, for example, aren't.  They're increments for various percentage modifiers.  You don't really have intellect, you have a duration/AoE increment counter.  The game concept is entirely separate from the natural language idea.  Which leads to results like improving Con at all for squishy characters is actively stupid, because you gain very little from it.  In most RPGs, the opposite is true, since a Con increase improves their survivability immensely.

 

 

Look, if I'm right, I'll enjoy it more because my character will be effective.

If you're right it doesn't matter anyway because the game is hugbox that won't let you fail at character creation.

If we're both wrong, we'll both have to start of from scratch with new characters built off a better understanding of the system. Which requires analysis of the numbers game, which I am already doing.

 

I literally can't lose here, and you lose most of the time, except with a very unlikely premise being true. 

And your assumptions of what I will enjoy have no basis in reality whatsoever.  Being competent or skilled will never spoil my experience of anything.  Being ignorant? Does. 

Edited March 15, 2015 by Voss

[Odd Hermit]

Vague mechanics and imbalances usually make me more likely to dig into the numbers aspect of a game, not less, personally. The less information they give the more I just end up spending time trying to figure out what exactly I'm getting when I take X talent or Y spell. A game where everything is spelled out clearly ends up more immersive because you don't have to dig around trying to find out what something really does. The numbers then just fade into the background.