Best class for tank role?

[NachtMystium]

If you HAD to choose one class that fits the role of Tank the best, what would you choose and why?

Class only, but race discussion is welcome also.

I voted Shadowknight for their superior hate acquiring abilities, but that's really my only reason since I'm not very experienced with tanks.

[Twilight-Sparkle]

Warrior. No contest. Highest mitigation possible.

The race is debateable, but my vote goes to Ogres, for Slam and immunity to frontal Stun (not to mention the insanely high Str/Sta), with Barbarians a close second.

[Alarti0001]

Warriors dont have hybrid xp penalties either!

[NachtMystium]

Excuse my ignorance, but never have played a tank and being someone who is interested in making one soon, I would assume wearing a shield over dual-wielding /Two- Handing would be the more efficient decision? Stricly for the purpose of Tanking?

[Twilight-Sparkle]

Excuse my ignorance, but never have played a tank and being someone who is interested in making one soon, I would assume wearing a shield over dual-wielding /Two- Handing would be the more efficient decision? Stricly for the purpose of Tanking?

Depends on the class. Hybrids get an AC cap without shields, and mostly generate their threat through spells, with taunt as a backup (the Paladin epic also gets around the AC cap). Warriors have no such cap on their AC, shield or not. Warriors HAVE to rely on taunt and their weapons for aggro, and it's limited until their weapons start procing at the higher levels.

So, for Paladins and Shadowknights, 1h/shield works best, until the Pally gets their epic. Warriors should be dual wielding or 2hing at all times.

[Splorf22]

Deleted my old post and trying again :D

So obviously for a raid target the answer is warrior. For an xp group things are different.

What you have to understand is that the P1999 playerbase is insanely well geared compared to live. An untwinked melee at 55 is still going to have full planar, RBG at worst and probably a Cloak of Flames, epic if rogue or monk, sky gear, Kunark armor pieces etc. And half the melees are twinks and have even better gear than this.

Therefore generally mitigation isn't a problem. The primary issues are threat, dps, and xp penalty. Warriors clearly win at dps (although its not huge) and xp penalty, so the question is whether the (essentially perfect) aggro of a paladin or SK combined with their utility (snaring runners, extra CC, etc) compensates. And this basically depends on the warrior's gear. Because warriors got screwed epic-wise compared to rogues and monks. It's very hard for a warrior dual wielding 9/20+14/28 with 130 dex to keep aggro off a Rogue with 15/25+10/18 or a monk with 9/16+17/28. In that case I think Paladins or SKs are probably better. On the other hand, if the warrior has epic/vp weapons then I think warriors are probably better.

TL;DR: Warriors are the most gear dependent class in everquest.

[Splorf22]

Excuse my ignorance, but never have played a tank and being someone who is interested in making one soon, I would assume wearing a shield over dual-wielding /Two- Handing would be the more efficient decision? Stricly for the purpose of Tanking?

If you do this you will not be tanking, the rogue or the shaman will.

[Twilight-Sparkle]

If you do this you will not be tanking, the rogue or the shaman will.

Paladins with Blind/Stun say hello.

[Ephirith]

Monk in almost every single non-raid situation.

-Mitigation roughly the same, maybe even higher, than a Paladin or Shadowknight.
-3x as much dps as a paladin or shadow knight
-Pulling ability, mend
-Agro is more than sufficient

You basically get both a tank and a dps.

Warriors are good too.

Also, it's worth mentioning that a Ranger can be a viable compromise between a Pal/SK type tank and a monk. You get a decent amount of DPS and excellent agro management/snap agro. Rangers are incredibly squishy but in some groups that won't be a problem anyway, and it may be worth the extra agro and DPS for quick killing.

[ArumTP]

Paladin.

Their gear is cheap and easily available, so they tend to be better geared than any given warrior. Spell argo works better than hope and pray for a proc argo. LoH is the ultimate o shit button. Lull pulling. Heals good as druid. O shit rez.

[Eccezan]

What is argo? I though it was "Aggro" ? But what do I know, I'm just a wizard.

[Bouncerr]

This post is pretty funny I lol'd irl but warrior is obviously superior in many ways, if you cant get aggro you suck, sk's and pals that pull aggro from a war in groups are ethier A) Dicks or B) Cant play their class right and / or like to do it on purpose. Let the war do his job and grab aggro before you go throwing crazy spells like stun or snare, same for you rogues, let the mob die atleast to 90 before going crazy with backstab.

With yak procs though it isnt even a issue for me, I find monks pulling aggro more than anything mostly due to them hitting the mob first like I said and not FDing for tank to get aggro. All about who you play with I guess.

[Swish]

SKs, quickest threat generated if you've got an overpull on your hands without CC and mobs gouging out the cleric's eyeballs from heal aggro.

Just dot away with low cost spells and they're putty in your hands. Obviously a knowledgable healer can ghetto CC with root, but for the first 10-15 seconds you want them all on the tank instead of running loose.

Paladins aren't far behind, but they aren't SKs ;)

[Arrisard]

Depends on the class. Hybrids get an AC cap without shields, and mostly generate their threat through spells, with taunt as a backup (the Paladin epic also gets around the AC cap). Warriors have no such cap on their AC, shield or not. Warriors HAVE to rely on taunt and their weapons for aggro, and it's limited until their weapons start procing at the higher levels.

So, for Paladins and Shadowknights, 1h/shield works best, until the Pally gets their epic. Warriors should be dual wielding or 2hing at all times.

I am very interested to know where you came across the information in regards to softcap'd AC, as I have always been under the impression that it was based on armor archetype and that gains after that softcap were what are dependent on individual class tables. Plate wearers, including warriors, share the same AC softcap, as do leather, chain, and cloth with each other in their respective archetypes.

Taunt isn't a "back up" system for hybrids, it gets used appropriately alongside with spell-generated hate as they are simply not a replacement for each other.

[webrunner5]

A big fat ugly Ogre Warrior is a Cleric's dream with good gear. End of story. If you can keep them in Berzerker mode grab your ass damage wise. Hot damn.

[DeathByCactus]

Monk in almost every single non-raid situation.

-Mitigation roughly the same, maybe even higher, than a Paladin or Shadowknight.
-3x as much dps as a paladin or shadow knight
-Pulling ability, mend
-Agro is more than sufficient

You basically get both a tank and a dps.

Warriors are good too.

Also, it's worth mentioning that a Ranger can be a viable compromise between a Pal/SK type tank and a monk. You get a decent amount of DPS and excellent agro management/snap agro. Rangers are incredibly squishy but in some groups that won't be a problem anyway, and it may be worth the extra agro and DPS for quick killing.

Meh, get back to pulling.

[RahlaeRuffian]

My warrior is 55 and I still think paladins and shadow knights are better at holding agro. I would rather a paladin or shadow knight tank in a group. However, I've seen paladins and shadow knights tank raid mobs too but ultimately warriors are better when it comes to tanking those end game bosses.

If you roll a warrior don't expect your taunt to work until the 40's.

[Nogdar]

I'm surprised by those claims. I have a lvl 9 warrior and taunt seems to work wonders.. Not that I pretend knowing more about wars than you do from the pathetic height of lvl 9 vs 55, just surprised. I guess aggro is good because I have a decent weap and that's it then.. (kylong war dagger).

Also, I do agree on the other hand that pulling yourself makes a world of difference in the aggro climbing!

[RahlaeRuffian]

Yeah, as a warrior you will have to rely on dps most of the time to get agro at the lower levels. I used Staff of Battle for agro and it always did much better than 1 handers, just because the damage output was so much higher.

[sedrie.bellamie]

ranger

[Reptak]

Experience groups - SK and to a lesser extent Paly
Raids - Warrior

While monks are on the side of OP, their lower ability to mitigate makes it more difficult to gauge the damage they take. Also less HP. So harder to time and not as efficient for CHs.

Warrior disciplines are really what make them better tanks than SKs. And when disciplines are needed, there just is no substitute.

[Llaile]

Bard.

[zanderklocke]

Bard.

I like this guy.

[Peekae]

From a min max Damage mitigation standpoint warrior.

In a small group situation Hybrids offer more options/utility

[pharmakos]

i play a warrior. that said, though, what class is best depends on the situation. the game is designed so that warriors make the best raid tanks. paladins and shadow knights are better at snap agro though, and they tend to function better for random pickup groups... say its late at night and you can't find a healer for your pickup group? then a paladin or an SK is probably a better choice. it all depends though.

[Llaile]

Bards are better at snap aggro.

[dankzilla]

Bards are better at snap aggro.

Real manly man bards like to tank Emperor Chottal. Mez and pray.

[Llaile]

I've tanked Chottal on my bard.

[Pint]

The answer is paladin, why is the poll wrong?