Best 1hander melee weap for pally tank and Eder tank...

[Cacophonix]

Greetings folks. I picked up White march and proceeded to play what the forum describes as a slightly OP combo, I have a Moon God Pally with the accuracy god, and I am also using Eder as tank. I have a Moon God Cypher, and a Wood elf ranged rogue. I also have Aloth and Durance. 

 

So the ranged in the back wearing some armor and my pally is lvl 3 in chain and Eder is in his custom scale. 

 

What weapons?

 

The pally has the pally buckler and was using a hatchet but I wanted to at least hit a bit so enemies will be less likely (they still will) disengage and go for others. Eder is using the Flail Gauns Share but feel its just not hitting it. 

 

For tanks  in this case what single handed weapon would you equip and why?

 

I followed the pally build but mine is a bit more rounded as I am enjoying the dialog with having some perception.  My pallys resolve is 18, Might is 14, Con is 13.  I can always respec I suppose. 

 

I am also wondering if I should keep both tanks with Estocs as secondary in case I need to crank out some dmg, what are your thoughts on this?

 

Thanks again!

[hilfazer]

Hatchet - gives deflection and that's what tank needs.

 

Any weapon with +accuracy - will make knock down land better.

[pi2repsion]

Two good tank 1-handers are  Shatterstar (shop in Copperlane) and Measured Restraint (Endless paths level 2). Both give +1 Engagement. Shattarstar is a war hammer that does  extra damage on crits, Measured Restraint is a rapier (for +5 accuracy) and starts out with Accuracy 3 (+12) enchant.

[Cacophonix]

Two good tank 1-handers are  Shatterstar (shop in Copperlane) and Measured Restraint (Endless paths level 2). Both give +1 Engagement. Shattarstar is a war hammer that does  extra damage on crits, Measured Restraint is a rapier (for +5 accuracy) and starts out with Accuracy 3 (+12) enchant.

 

GREAT, thank you very much. 

 

I was using a hatchet on the Pally tank. I see some posts stating that 'DEFENDER' on Eder is not very good. Why and what would be better if I spend the $ to respec him?

[AndreaColombo]

When you get to Twin Elms, you can get Sheathed in Autumn which is a Superb sword with +1 Engagement as well. Very good for a tank and looks good to boot.

[Torm51]

Hatchet - gives deflection and that's what tank needs.

 

Any weapon with +accuracy - will make knock down land better.

I am of the personal opinion that that is a pre 2.0 thought process for tanks.  You cannot stack deflection sky high anymore because of Perception change to Accuracy.  You will never get a deflection above 170 (for PoTD) now without buffs and its temporary.  Also the AI is much more inclined to shoot for your back line.  If you are a hatchet wielding meatbag with no offense to speak of you are useless when this happens.  I now build my tanks for very good defense but with the capability and talents to Alpha the living hell out of something when its either attacking my back lines or CCed. 

 

As a Paladin Fanatic I like carrying Shatterstar and a Greatsword for when I lose a enemy and it is attacking a softy.  My back line focuses the offending enemy cc it and my tank takes part in alpha striking with flames of devotion and annihilating the offender (single target crits higher then 60 at level 6 from a tank is good).  One thing I hated about my Paladin tanks pre 2.0 is that if I lost engagement on something there was very little I could do cause he was worthless offensively.  I was like a fly when I was not engaged.

Edited September 14, 2015 by Torm51

[KDubya]

I always try to stick in my weapon group. Estocs are great if you are taking the Adventurer focus, not as good if you are taking a different focus. I like accuracy so I always pick a focus. On a Fighter I grab the specialization and mastery as well.

 

Sabres do well for Eder as he starts with Ruffian and most have him go weapon and shield. He does pretty well with taking mainly offensive talents like Savage Attack and Vulnerable Strike along with Weapon and Shield Style. Don't take Defender, re-spec if you need to.

 

In general having Vulnerable Strikes pays off in most cases. It is especially needed with fast weapons.

[hilfazer]

 

Hatchet - gives deflection and that's what tank needs.

 

Any weapon with +accuracy - will make knock down land better.

I am of the personal opinion that that is a pre 2.0 thought process for tanks.  You cannot stack deflection sky high anymore because of Perception change to Accuracy.  You will never get a deflection above 170 (for PoTD) now without buffs and its temporary.  Also the AI is much more inclined to shoot for your back line.  If you are a hatchet wielding meatbag with no offense to speak of you are useless when this happens.  I now build my tanks for very good defense but with the capability and talents to Alpha the living hell out of something when its either attacking my back lines or CCed. 

 

As a Paladin Fanatic I like carrying Shatterstar and a Greatsword for when I lose a enemy and it is attacking a softy.  My back line focuses the offending enemy cc it and my tank takes part in alpha striking with flames of devotion and annihilating the offender (single target crits higher then 60 at level 6 from a tank is good).  One thing I hated about my Paladin tanks pre 2.0 is that if I lost engagement on something there was very little I could do cause he was worthless offensively.  I was like a fly when I was not engaged.

 

 

Then we don't need 'tanks' but balanced frontliners. Are we obliged to use MMO terminology on these boards or what?

[Torm51]

 

 

Hatchet - gives deflection and that's what tank needs.

 

Any weapon with +accuracy - will make knock down land better.

I am of the personal opinion that that is a pre 2.0 thought process for tanks.  You cannot stack deflection sky high anymore because of Perception change to Accuracy.  You will never get a deflection above 170 (for PoTD) now without buffs and its temporary.  Also the AI is much more inclined to shoot for your back line.  If you are a hatchet wielding meatbag with no offense to speak of you are useless when this happens.  I now build my tanks for very good defense but with the capability and talents to Alpha the living hell out of something when its either attacking my back lines or CCed. 

 

As a Paladin Fanatic I like carrying Shatterstar and a Greatsword for when I lose a enemy and it is attacking a softy.  My back line focuses the offending enemy cc it and my tank takes part in alpha striking with flames of devotion and annihilating the offender (single target crits higher then 60 at level 6 from a tank is good).  One thing I hated about my Paladin tanks pre 2.0 is that if I lost engagement on something there was very little I could do cause he was worthless offensively.  I was like a fly when I was not engaged.

 

 

Then we don't need 'tanks' but balanced frontliners. Are we obliged to use MMO terminology on these boards or what?

 

Ya good point.

[rheingold]

Mm pretty sure the term "tank" predates MMO's by some way?

[Cacophonix]

This is a VERY helpful thread. I did indeed take defender and Ill just spend the cash and get him 'respecd' out of it. I keep my Pally Moon godlike PC, and Edder up front. My pally seems to be better at keeping mobs and taking dmg than Eder.

 

Ill go seek out those weapons. I am saving my mats to get enhants on the weapons.

 

 

OOOOO big BIG question. 

 

Did they fix the speed enchant on HOLDWALL the Arbalest in the first town? I have read it does nothing but is suppose to make it fire a bit faster. 

 

Any word on this?

[Vorad]

Two good tank 1-handers are  Shatterstar (shop in Copperlane) and Measured Restraint (Endless paths level 2). Both give +1 Engagement. Shattarstar is a war hammer that does  extra damage on crits, Measured Restraint is a rapier (for +5 accuracy) and starts out with Accuracy 3 (+12) enchant.

After personally having used them both, I like Measured Restraint a bit better because your attacks are more frequent and more accurate which in the end gives you more hits landing on target so less chance for them breaking engagement in any case you should be using aoe cc from your casters as soon as the front-line is in place. There is as mentioned also Sheathed in Autumn but it's a bit slower than Measured Restraint. Mainly the reason why these 3 weapons are considered good for "tanking" or defensive fighters if people don't like the term is because they give you +1 engagement slot so you don't have to spend a talent point in hold the line. Hatchets are nice overall but it's 5 deflection vs +1 engagement and I think most of us would agree that on a defensive front-liner the extra engagement would pay off most of times loosing 5 deflection overall it's not that much of a deal.

[AndreaColombo]

Did they fix the speed enchant on HOLDWALL the Arbalest in the first town? I have read it does nothing but is suppose to make it fire a bit faster. 

 

Any word on this?

 

It was fixed in 2.0 but 2.01 broke it again *sigh*

 

Hopefully 2.02 will fix it again.

[Ymarsakar]

There's less reason to stack deflection because PotD doesn't give normal enemies 90-110 accuracy, except for White March high level content.

 

Stacking deflection was primarily popular because it was difficult to get through Potd in the 1.02 runs without running out of health and downed tanks, without that deflection.

 

Now for most of the crit path in Pillars, 60-80 deflection is fine. 100 for bosses. Slightly more for 11+ high level content stuff in White March.

 

The old tank term in Pillars meant a meat shield with like 10% of norm offensive potential. Now tanks are more like the military term, something with a big gun that fires slowly but still needs support from the party/infantry. While still providing a shield against the enemy. It serves the same role still more or less.

 

Also the monk dps tank is pretty fun to play along with the paladin. Just thought I'd throw that out there for people that get bored with the paladin's lack of dps.

 

As for weapons shatter star + small shield and pike/greatsword combo works well, depending on situation. I tried experimenting with the fighter using a two handed sword or dual wielding, but I think Eder's stats are not quite good enough for that. His talents probably need to be respecialized for offense, not deflection too.

Edited September 14, 2015 by Ymarsakar

[wanderon]

Mm pretty sure the term "tank" predates MMO's by some way?

 

Yeah there was Tank McNamara. 

[Teioh_White]

Pally's are the only class I'd go pure tank for, as they really can't do much worthwhile damage. Flames is fairly garbage for damage, Sworn enemy is way to limited (should be like marked prey, 1/encounter), and the rest is support. Luckily enough, they're really the only class that can work pure tank as well, due to Defenses in this game getting increasing returns on investment, and pally's get a good bit more than anyone else.

 

As for weapons, I agree with the Shatterstar or Measured restraint. Drain weapons aren't good on pally tanks, as they aren't doing the damage (great on monk and barb tanks though), and engagements are still useful on most mob types. Sure, some mobs just ignore them, but that's not really a gamewide design, just specific extremely annoying creature types. The rest of the time, the mobs seem to dutifully pile up to flanking+engage limit on my frontliners.

 

And Shatterstar's nice in that the times they do break engagement (generally  when they're engaed to the tank, but the tank isn't physically between them and a squishy), it'll has a chance of a solid smack. But hatchets are fine, too, and I normally do use a hatchet on my Pld if I have two other off tanks up there with him, as that's enough engaments to go around. Once you hit 13, the big chunk of damage for Pld will come from their AoE burn+heal, making it sorta pointless what weapon you're using.

[Ymarsakar]

I think I remember the good old hatchet/shield combo, had to use it to get past Caed Nua on PotD. They had something like 80-90 deflection after they cast their drain spells. Party was level 2, Kana was level 3, skipped every content from the other areas.

 

That was some pretty hard engagements. 

[Tennisgolfboll]

Sabre. Purgatory in twin elms.

 

Good choice with paladin and moon. I understand why he tanks better than eder. Silvertide and faith and convic+reputation is a great combo

 

I suggest looking at the build i posted in the other thread

Edited September 14, 2015 by Tennisgolfboll