Ashes of Creation Tank Guide

[@Nyce-Gaming]

Wanted to be very detailed for varying experience and knowledge levels. Hope you all enjoy, subscribe if you’re new. Written Guide: dogwatergaming.com/ashes-of-creation-beginners-tank-build/ Edits: Pulverize DOES have threat generation (I was thinking of tomahawk. Apologies) Remember skill choice and playstyle is YOUR CHOICE AND OPINION. Use this guide as a reference. Focus on the game logic, combat, threat logic etc and use skills as you like

[@apollyon23456]

Was just about to comment hahah

[@GrappLr]

I’ve had so many people asking me about Tank guides, that there are no good ones out there. I’ll be sending them to this vid next time they ask, good stuff Nyce (I hope LOL, I’ll watch it after this comment).

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@GrappLr thanks GrappLr !!!

[@Dr.Don.Cornelius]

You just responded to one of my messages regarding Tank guides, and I just found this guy! What are the odds.

[@TheNEPTY]

What a lad 🩵

[@TheHighborn]

Leaving a shameless plug here. I have made videos about all of the perk trees except the shortbow, if somebody is interested.

[@Dr.Don.Cornelius]

@@TheHighborn I'll check em out, thanks brother!

[@Dr.Don.Cornelius]

Brother, you're a legend. I can't find any good, up-to-date Tank content anywhere. Doing gods work, my man. Thank you.

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@Dr.Don.Cornelius 🥺 thank yooou. Kind words

[@CrixGuides]

Holy shit i'm so glad you posted this. I get so many tank questions in chat. I'll link this every time!

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@CrixGuides let’s goooo

[@jhedges8301]

As a fellow tank player, this is probably the most accurate guide I've seen. I'm also a fellow Lyneth Joeva resident. Good work on this! Alternate early game build for more solo oriented players: Same as yours until lvl 3, then you can start solo pulling 5-6 goblins at a time and blast through the first next few levels (adding a few more to the pull every time you level) if you respec to the 2 AoE versions of the + skills and charge, then shrug it off. Just ranged pull and run until in an arc until you get em piled up, run those 3 aoe skills and youve only got a bit of HP left to finish em all off. Shrug it off and repeat, ration up after the 2nd pull usually. Adding mitigation just makes it more efficient. I didn't need a group until 7 and was keeping pace with most people. Ended up with a full set of the medium armor and enough glint to buy copper weapons/shield, stock rations, and buy the 3 pc of heavy armor from the vendor. The exp drops off from the lionhold goblins at 7 and mobs at that level have too much HP to do huge pulls as safely/efficiently, so this is a good point to find other humans and respec again. I found I could do some big solo pulls again with this build once I got brass weapons at 10 (and with all those tasty mitigation skills), but a few 11s in the group and it gets real sketchy. I think with some better gear it has some good solo farming potential. Might be worth a look by some theory crafters that are smarter than me. Edit: I help my mage with chilled and fighters with bleed. Idk if bleed or wound is better for their DPS... you?

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@jhedges8301 sweet!!! I think chilled on a spell book then bleed on the one handed is good synergy. I’m gonna say bleed for now, but maybe I’ll know for sure after playing more fighter

[@Ides385]

I was asked to write a tank guide for my guild (for the new oct 8th crew mainly). I wrote it and refined it etc. You almost word for word repeated it. I agree with it very much. Just wish I had seen this before, would have saved me the time lol. One thing I didn't see mentioned in the weapon choice area. Sword's bleed and wound both benefit the fighter. Fighter's rupture does more burst damage based on the number of wound stacks, they also need at least one consistent bleed stack for rupture to turn bleed into hemorage and get of a huge lethal blow. So both can be useful for them. I was going to try out book/wand next weekend to synergize my mages damage. Looks like you beat me to the idea =]

[@Nyce-Gaming]

Thanks! and yea good point! The way chilled helps mages, bleeds can help fighter. Thats clutch

[@ToxicNubs]

Hi nyce. Im going to try my absolute best to keep this criticism / feedback nice, constructive, and uplifting. But, this is not my nature typically. So if it offends.... i did my best. This guide is...pretty bad. I give you big credit for highlighting the abilities and giving people time to see the skills. I really like the "this thing leads into this thing" mentions. That is very helpful to a lot of people i am sure of it. I like your cheerfulness describing these things. I respect the time and effort into attempting to put a guide out for people. However, onto some negative things of which there are a LOT. For starters, there are more or less three different ways to build a tank. The correct one for you of these three builds depends on the content you are doing. You have a pvp build, a single or double target threat / mitigation build, and a mass aoe threat build. None of which your build is correct for. To begin with, telling people not to take inciting strikes in their first 5 skills while claiming those first five are set in stone.... completely wrong. dead wrong. inciting strikes is a huge aggro generator in an aoe fashion on a quick cooldown. To not even include it 10 skills in is downright disinformation. Ward over refreshing followthrough, even with bless, even with not spec'ing into improvied block skill on left side for mana regen is.... well.. i guess its a choice. One no one should ever make. Vengeance is so bad, even after the rework, that in all honesty it shouldnt even be on your bar in case you accidentally click it. Its a net loss all the way around. I know you dont want to hear this, but, i think you should take this video down until you spend a bit more time talking to tanks higher level with more grinding experience than yourself. I think you will find after the next weekend or two, if you actively test out other builds from other people, that this guide is severely lacking. This is not going to setup new nov 8th people for success. Its going to cripple them and hurt their grinding groups.

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@ToxicNubs interesting feedback. Appreciated. As far as inciting strikes I think this is a good take of yours. It’s a VERY good skill but felt I’ve held aggro without it. However it’s among the best and safest threat generators for sure! Sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy the video. If Your comment was trying to be nice and uplifting I’d hate to hear your raw thoughts, but fair. I’m glad others enjoyed it. It’s ok to have different opinions and playstyles. In fact I mention that everyone should try all the skills and use whichever ones they want to use for their build and playstyle. There’s constructive criticism but I think it’s ok for us to have different approaches and takes on this awesome archetype And yea vengeance still feels bad after the rework but is a decent courage spender/threat generator. It still needs work but worth mentioning as it’s your first skill, a courage spender, and can even be cast while low on manna as free dps and threat generation whilst helping sustain mana Thanks Nubs!

[@KatoNamus]

Thank you, it was so Nyce of you to share your tanking insights

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@KatoNamus thank ya thank ya 😏

[@diggles27]

Old school EverQuest and classic WoW player here with an interest in learning more about Ashes of Creation.. Haven't bought the game but really enjoying your video and it's very well edited.

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@diggles27 thank you!!! Truly appreciated it’s been well worth the time even in an early alpha phase

[@diggles27]

@Nyce-Gaming Hoping to see a class guide for every single class in game, haha.

[@voxtrium]

Now that's a good deep dive on tankin! Better than my video haha well done!

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@voxtrium thank you! tried to be super detailed for all experience levels

[@anaximanderification]

I am thoroughly disappointed you didn't go two-hand sword and disregard any notion of safety. 10/10 guide would recommend.

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@anaximanderification lol may have to do 2h for the ppl if I find a powerful one

[@bludelflink]

Great information, thanks for putting this together, and see you in Verra this weekend!

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@bludelflink thank you! See you in Verra !

[@krayte5120]

Man I think you glossed over just how ridiculous fortify is. At a 45s cooldown, with max courage used its 20 seconds duration, so almost a 50% uptime of 40% damage reduction... insane is an understatement. When it goes down, you can trip with bellowing strike, intercept - reflect trip, then Indomitable spirit for 15s of the 30% health and increased health from heals, and block again at the end of it and fortify again for another 20 seconds of 40% damage reduction. It's literally 65 seconds of absurd mitigations that ends with a 20 second downtime where you communicate with healer that you'll need increased heals / stamina blocking before repeating the cycle of being godmode. Can't have a tank guide without including the optimal tankiness rotation man xD

[@shlomoyosefian9896]

As a novice tank I was eagerly waiting for something like that. Thanks!

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@shlomoyosefian9896 glad you enjoyed

[@Yushaodo]

great work dude!

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@Yushaodo thank you!

[@MalvainVerra]

Great video as always Nyce! Since New world making great content

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@MalvainVerra thank you Mal!!!

[@TyboGames]

the only person i will listen to about this class. good stuff nyce

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@TyboGames ayyyye thank you!

[@imu4869]

Great video! im a forever tank in any game that i play, Cant wait to get in AoC

[@Nyce-Gaming]

It feels satisfying

[@ZenPaladin]

Tanks for the guide!

[@outdoorsnevada4138]

excellent video and beginner guide for alpha 2

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@outdoorsnevada4138

[@pennyfirestone]

This was fantastic - I need you to make a Cleric one.

[@Galkus]

At 7:25, what do you mean by "lack increased threat generation"? Both Desolate and Pulverize have the 300% modifier. Wondering what I've missed.

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@Galkus apologies! Yea for some reason I was already thinking ahead about tomahawk 😞 tho I don’t take it early on because the 2 point investment but it’s realllly good especially for PvP Apologies

[@Galkus]

All good brother, I legitimately thought I missed something or the ashescodex was incorrect. 😂

[@Ludullu]

I've been soloing tank, and that Pulverize ability is THE MOST SATISFYING THING EVER. It's just a massive dunk on tripped targets. Feels sooooo good

[@Nyce-Gaming]

It’s glorious

[@Cimarb]

I am very happy they went with a "guard" and taunt that makes the enemy do less damage if not attacking you in pvp. That sounds just like how Juggernaut was in SWTOR. Only thing I actually dislike about this whole archetype is that you seem locked to a shield build. It would be nice to have a more offensive threat build like the blood deathknight in WoW, or an evasion type build (maybe the thief augment version?). It may actually work out like that, but I hate being locked into a sword-n-board build when there are so many other options for all other archetypes.

[@Nyce-Gaming]

I get that. You can do the a two handed weapon however. Will just have less block chance but more damage of course 👀

[@Cimarb]

@ I am really hoping we get some more info on the augment system soon. I want to play a Tulnar paladin using death magic to drain life for more sustain, and then focus on drain tanking with a 2-hander or dual wield even.

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@ im so happy that cleric is one of the first augments / secondary classes we getting. Definitely gonna go tank-cleric or tank-fighter

[@Cimarb]

@@Nyce-Gaming Same, but hoping that the death magic part of their augment system is as good as it sounds. I would not mind healing myself each hit, but would rather drain tank lol

[@sticqeno288]

Great video, brother.

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@sticqeno288 🫡 thanks!!!

[@charleswalker5849]

As a lv25 tank my experience was flag the sheild 2h great sword an longbow that with alot of agro realy dishes the damage good solo build as well as group build i mean there no point needing a sheild if your in a group that heals a buffs you worked great for me an once you start enchanting your gear weopens your pretty much a juggernaut i mean if use want to use a sheild an be a defensive tank thats upto your playstlye as always love the content have a goodday

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@charleswalker5849 yea for sure. 2h tank super viable. The added block chance is super valuable to me tho. Both work well. Thank you

[@Srixun]

Hey I know one of those guys! great video!

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@Srixun thanks Srixun!!!

[@trentVNN]

This guy got wrecked

[@Srixun]

@trenttucker3254 Still a load of fun. Syndicate is good people. Even if their name is Trent. 😜

[@trentVNN]

@ bruh 💀 Why all the Trent hate. Yall just jealous 🐰

[@StevenBurke-hy8ty]

This has inspired my class choice, when game is released I may roll a support argent, I can use the bow maybe and make use of tanks support tools augmented with the bard to be durable self sustaining and bring support tools to the group not many will think of such as using aegis on the tank to absorb damage having shake it off and passive bard healing with my ranged playstyle to stay healthy. Seems like a great pve class idea, maybe not so much good for pvp lol

[@Zaby1775]

You briefly talked about Wall but from testing on live and PTR, Wall does not currently work. Do you have any clips of Wall actually working as intended?

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@Zaby1775 I tried to discuss as currently intended, but yea it feels bugged. Quite sure it should be a physical object people can’t just walk through

[@KINGGNARfrfr]

Great video! 🎉

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@KINGGNARfrfr 🫡 thanks!!!

[@Zn0nimus]

How are you looking at gearing? Is heavy armor worth it despite the low magic resist?

[@Nyce-Gaming]

Definitely worth. Heavy, constitution, evasion, block chance, lifesteal. your friends (armor too of course)

[@erismo2138]

19:30 I don't think Chill stacks--that's why the DURATION increases with multiple applications rather than STACK SIZE, and why additional applications can create Freeze. Just doing a sanity check, why would they make Chill (50%) and Snare (25%) both move debuffs with Chill 2x stronger AND give it Freeze chance? What would be the point of Snare? Also for what it's worth I've had 7 Snare stacks on Gravehider Creepers and Grems (fast melee creatures) and I can barely tell the difference (nor can I get away). That should be 175% reduction or divided by 2.75. So something is not right. Although they had some issues with the Spiders being too fast, so maybe it's just those mobs and not all mobs with Snare. Point being that between those two I would still take Chill all other things being equal.

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@erismo2138 yea that’s what I meant by stack. Multiple people in group will increase the duration and potential for that frozen status effect. Not necessarily increasing potency, apologies I could’ve said that better. And yea I truly don’t get the logic between chilled and snared 😆 it’s why I prefer spellbook over short bow. Tho with the current bug I’m applying both

[@apollyon23456]

I would say, while playstyle is more important person to person, i would not sleep on the threat retention of taking the aoe version of tremoring. Combined with the aoe pulverize, and its passive upgrade, you guarantee an auto crit on all mobs arounds you, really making value out of that 200% and 300% threat bonus, as the more damage you do, the more threat you produce. Plenty of other classes have access to hard ccs, and in a group sometimes its better to delegate that out and really focus on threat retention.

[@obiwanjakobi2724]

The Elden Ring music has me sold lol

[@GS-el8ll]

yo nyce what do you think of the very name 'tank' surely we need a proper name rather than this metagame role as a name, feels really scuffed to me thanks for putting this together the archtype feels very underrepresented at the moment

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@GS-el8ll I’m known for passionately disliking it. It’s not a good name nor cool nor immersive. Imagine something being called healer archetype but not healer 😩 I’d much prefer guardian, protector, or anything else

[@trentVNN]

@@Nyce-Gaming GUARDIAN

[@brimstonevalar6053]

Well is not gonna remain tank after you pick secon archetype

[@kevincoleson1381]

Fantastic video sir thank you

[@Nyce-Gaming]

Thank you for watching!!!

[@WildFyreAshes]

as always quality goodies, but this one definitely was a plus. Im not saying that because i was in it, but because we all need that Tank low down! Time to get more 8v8 and 4v4 a 1vX's in now! side not. where my name at the end? lol been here since Voices of Vera Ep8 aaaaaaand I dont see it anymore ~_^

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@WildFyreAshes thank youuuu!!! And that’s weird let me refresh my list. Sometimes it’s very outdated depending on certain factors

[@WildFyreAshes]

@@Nyce-Gaming no stress, its my duty to have that hawkeye *ranger pun*

[@gaulcore]

great guide, ty

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@gaulcore thank you!

[@Raasshaad]

Firsttttt eso community take over ashesssss

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@Raasshaad let’s goooooo

[@renezamorajr910]

Hell ya I’m torn between tank and healer but since ima be a mostly solo player cuz I have no friends lol I might have to play tank or range

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@renezamorajr910 Clerics seem very solo friendly. Self healing capability huge in this game

[@dannyklose6952]

Go Cleric. I'm soloing with my Cleric with ease. You don't kill as fast as a DPS of cause, but you have no down time. The Cleric even have a passive that consumes devine power instead of mana and later on can buff it's own weap to give back mana. With the book weapon, you can get even more mana back, through weapon combo. I hardly loose any mana and can keep myself alive with heals. + you can find groups... but clerics are everywhere at the moment 😅

[@gaulcore]

Tank is great solo, just make sure you have plenty of rations. And it might be the best archetype for finding friends as well! There are plenty of groups looking for a tank!

[@trentVNN]

2:25 HOLY 🧑‍🍳 🔥. I cooked here

[@Nyce-Gaming]

The Tank transition of the Gods

[@trentVNN]

@ going to save that as a preset for every time you say pull 🤣

[@6thchance995]

Are tanks any good in PVP? Will they have a place?

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@6thchance995 very good in PvP and provide a lot of support via mitigation and cc. Also the taunt skill described in this video is super useful to reduce opponent damage to your allies by 30%

[@TheHighborn]

I'm 100% sure self heal isn't bugged, but taunt sure is. I straight up can't use taunt for shit. Btw tremoring shout into upgrades desolate it's going to almost delete mobs that are not elite. Edit: if you're not using a mace, you're doing it wrong. 25% cast time increase to enemies in itself does worth it

[@SimpleBiscuit]

Do bard next!

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@SimpleBiscuit oh this is tempting! Bard looks soo fun

[@Tilley53]

Wait, you can find a spell book with physical power? 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@Tilley53 yup! Available at a vendor near a farm I think north of lionhold? It’s near the place where you get health and mana salves :) but yea apparently there’s hybrid weapons and I bet this is better with crafting

[@Tilley53]

@Nyce-Gaming oooooohhhhh that's sick!! So that's why Intrepid mentioned spellswords for mages 🤔 at first myself and the community thought mages would have to build hybrid, but if there are swords with magical power too, you can have some fun builds 🤔 also I'm thinking about something like a cleric tank could be interesting with mitigation from armor and self healing could maybe be a thing? 🤔🤔

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@ definitely possible I bet depending on the content. Even more so whenever phase 3 gets here with secondary augments

[@modex20]

The meta will be to drop Grit for increased dps. Healers adjust.

[@jeremymerkt3982]

Where is the "but the graphics though" bros?

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@jeremymerkt3982

[@bahamut458]

any one doing the lord's work like this for Clerics?

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@bahamut458 I’ll be on the lookout for one! I know a couple CCs rolled Cleric. I know Narc did, so hopefully he does one

[@mymiflying]

I am playing tank in AoC. Yes, in dungeons tank is perfect. But its absolutely impossible to grind solo. Worst solo grind class.

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@mymiflying agreed!!! THEEEEE worst solo

[@altriustv]

Ah, so this is why you haven't streamed that much last weekend. hmm

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@altriustv yea I went into the lab lol. A lot of grinding, testing, number crunching, and video stuff haha. Next stream should feel different

[@SpaceTimeDroste]

i hope they change the name of the Tank class lol it's weird to have the role name as the class

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@SpaceTimeDroste pleeeeease. I’m willing to start a petition

[@Yianni-GR]

I don't think disable evasion, evasion and accuracy is even working

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@Yianni-GR I feel that. Some stats and mechanics seem to be not be consistent or actually working but I could be wrong

[@GS-el8ll]

tank sorely needs more debuff synergy with other classes aswell

[@MrMorrigan1989]

anything

[@Frothmeister]

Desolate is AOE 300% threat

[@Nyce-Gaming]

Yea I was thinking of tomahawk when I was talking about this skill. Didnt notice til i uploaded., apologies

[@thisistheway2918]

Its gona be out 2033

[@DaniDaDevil]

The guide is good bro but mine is better. Create a tank realize the class is in shambles. Reroll fighter

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@DaniDaDevil this is the guide the people really needed

[@nrf82]

I am sorry but the combat and the visuals look just as clunky as New World, but with worst art style. Is this is the hope of mmos?

[@jamesn3122]

They need to rename this archetype. Tank is a garbage name

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@jamesn3122 PREACH

[@Altarknight]

Ay..ah.. well you made a guide ye? But sorry for asking but for who ? Who paid 275 dollies for a game what is not even out yet? And even if will be out that time I will be on pension , and kids now days need a degree to understand this game am I right? Only one character type have 30 spells , and as I know is there 80 character types . Hmmm. Ye . Can't wait to see a upgrade version of FFIV .

[@DangG3r]

i wnaa play tank pure dps / 2 hand and no shie;ld ... this game dont know if it have those kind of free of choice anyway

[@Nyce-Gaming]

@@DangG3r you do! Can go 2h for your melee. I’ve seen some do it 🙂