Can Rangers Tank Group Level Content?
 

Rangers tend to be the hot new topic.

They are a class with the taunt skill, but they use chain armor. Is it viable for a ranger to be a group tank (not raid obviously). At what point does their ability (if they have it) to tank taper off? How much is equipment a factor in the equation (warriors can tank old world up to 45 in bronze, does a ranger need to be elitely geared just to make the cut?).

What are some good gear/weapons for a low level ranger on a budget?

Any other advice would be welcome

It is possible to tank deep sebilis with a properly tuned group (slows and big heals). Overall, however, I think there's a falloff after 55, as xp mobs like to hit harder and fast. Honestly you'd have better luck leveling in plane of hate than normal kunark xp spots.

we used rangers as offtanks in kael, ntov, and ssra, so any groupable content is no problem for a well geared ranger. This was pre-pop. With pop gear we had a wizard tank AoW just for giggles.

Yep, they'll do fine for XP groups. It'll be worse than a plate tank, so you shouldn't ever want a ranger to do it, but they can.

I have tanked numerous groups in KC mainly with my ranger. It is pretty easy to do even without CC. Big heals are a must though. Rangers can slow with Swarmcaller which also doubles as a great aggro generator as well. With some fancy CC and Harmony rangers can single pull any outside zone or dungeon.

I keep hearing "big heals" in these statements, does this mean a Ranger requires a Cleric as healer if tanking in a group? Would a Shaman suffice(particularly with slow on the npc)? How well can a druid do in the situation?

if you have slow, shaman works fine.
I have tanked KC, Seb, CoM...
druid would be tricky, because then it becomes dependent on the proc of swarmcaller to slow.

By time Velious comes around the majority of priests have heals big enough to keep a ranger up, regardless of mob type. A torpor shaman can keep up a normally equipped ranger well enough to do named content up through Velious (Lodizal). It's not efficient, and that is the only reason why I said that rangers are not the best of tanks post-55 without big heals, but it can (and will) be done.

It's not a matter if they can tank it, it's a matter of if the healer can heal it. ;)

In a solid group with good dps and a healer who isn't an idiot you can destroy almost anything that doesn't two-shot a tank. Having the pseudo-tank with decent ac and hps is key too.

As you know healing is a factor of tanking efficiency. CH is a key of the more hps the better. Maintaining efficiency is the important thing once you get past the "can it be done?" question.

At least Ranger's can keep aggro with spells. Often that's where half your healer's mana goes...to the rogue...then the monk...then the wizard. Etc.

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

Real rangers tank dragons.