Guide: Wrong way to make a tank
It’s mainly for High Kick which increases your strike damage.
As Peltasta and Rodelero, literally almost all your skills are strike type. High Kick just helps complement that.
With Hoplite c1 you get Finesta and… stabbing. Finestra Lv.5 sucks and Stabbing is probably the only useful one since it gives some magic defense but that’s really it.
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Well, he wanted to be a pure tank, he didnt really ask for any offensive options, thats why i was so baffled why a full tank would go rodelero c3, might aswell go dragoon or doppel.
I agree, personally people should be going Dragoon anyway lol.
Yeah these guys are not really giving goid advice. The only reason you go for Rod is slithering, nothing else sets it apart. The “nice” damage is a lie rod can not dps for anything, even with perfect rotation you will be outdone by other swords easily.
Slithering only has 10 secs and a cd that means a bit over a third of uptime. Not reliable for mobbing, and so so for bosses. Granted it us the only immunity option for magic that isn’t rngesus reliant.
Thus you can go rod2 and get the full benefit. Pel1 is really all you need.
Sword 1 pel 1 Rod2 leaving you able to take 2 in squire, or 2 in hoplite or 2 in xx for better performance of your rank 7 choice.
I personally like Shinobi for rank 7.
You can also do 1 hop 2 fencer for a truly tank role setup. Sword pel hop rod rod fen fen.
But w/e you choose the 2 circles of rod gimps your damage thus your hate controll. shrug
Pretty much.
That is because there is conflict in the meaning of the word “tank” for new and old players in Tree of Savior:
- “New” players usually come from other games where “tanking” means being a meat-shield, face-tanking, using defensive spells, things like that.
- “Old” players who have experience with Tree of Savior know that this is a different game and the meaning of “tanking” is much different.
In essence “tanking” in Tree of Savior means holding aggro. That is it, nothing else, no face-tanking, no protective/defensive spells, no lots of defense, nothing like that.
The better you can hold aggro in Tree of Savior, the better of a tank you are. This means knowing how to move to group mobs properly into the AoEs of your party members, or making the boss face in a way in which his attacks don’t reach others.
Also, every Swordsman has up to 3 times the HP of other classes, making them naturally tanky and the only real requirement they have to hold aggro is dealing a good amount of damage with their Provoke attribute, as well as using Swash Buckling from Peltasta to lure a large amount of mobs.
So, with Peltasta C1~C3 you cover level 5~15 of Swash Buckling, which is your main tool to hold aggro and being a “tank” in Tree of Savior. After that, all you need to care about is dealing the most amount of damage you can to help bring down the boss or mobs down faster.
Besides holding aggro, you can’t really protect anyone as a Swordsman, you don’t have a single skill that offers any type of protection to anyone at all. The majority of those types of skills are on the Cleric tree and they are the ones in charge of protecting the party.
Now, if you look past Peltasta then you will find that there is nothing else in the entire Swordsman tree that makes you “tanky” and hence why you see such a wide arrange of different builds when it comes to people suggesting them for this role.
Rodelero C2 has Slithering which makes you immune to magical damage (it doesn’t stop CC), but outside of that it doesn’t offer you anything else. If you search for posts from people who are currently playing Rodelero you will find that mosts of your skills don’t work on bosses and they don’t offer any real CC to deal with mobs in dungeons.
The CC role comes from the Wizard tree, as they have some of the most potent CC skills in the entire game and nothing in the entire Swordsman tree even comes close to that. Seriously, not even one bit close to it.
So the question lies in how useful is Slithering in the game as a “tank”. Well, the answer is that it is not required at all. I mean, just look at the people recommending “full tank” or “full CON” builds, even for “end-game” and Earth Tower, they recommend stuff like Squire C3.
Why are they recommending Squire C3 and not Rodelero C2? Makes you wonder, right?
If Slithering was even remotely necessary in the game, you would see everyone recommending Rodelero C2 and Slithering for a tank build, but in reality you find just a bunch of different build that never agree on it.
Then you have people recommending Rodelero C3, which only adds damage. Why?
Why are they suggesting you to get more damage when you can get even MORE damage from picking something like Fencer? While at the same time Fencer gives you Evasion and Block from it’s skills.
Or even better, why not make your job easier at holding aggro from multiple mobs by picking the best AoE skill which is Cyclone. You have the highest level of Swash Buckling to lure as many mobs as possible, but nothing on your entire kit to take advantage of it.
Or providing more “tanking” utility with Jolly Roger from Corsair, as well as the extra drops on items/silver from it. Or a better way to get more EXP through Double Pay Earn?
Or finally, since this game is not about face-tanking but about being “smart” and knowing how to move outside of the attacks of the bosses (“dodge”), or block just at the right time, etc. Why not pick Cataphract which gives you one of the best tools to do this effectively? (high movement speed).
And well, like you said. Hoplite can give you up to 30%+ Block with Finestra, which is another viable option when building a tank.
In the end, it doesn’t matter.
You can take Peltasta C1 and anything else and you will be a tank. You can take Peltasta C2/C3 and anything else, and you will still be a tank.
Not even the people who advocate for “full CON” builds can agree on one particular build. And this is because the game gives you many tools to choose from to build your character and there is no one “true” way to build a “tank” character.
If you want my personal opinion, I believe this is one of the best Peltasta C3 build:
Which you could change to Doppel->Dragoon instead of Fencer too, if you want to use spears. And Squire can be used instead of Corsair for full PvE.
I also think that without Peltasta C3 (maybe even with), Cataphract C3 makes one of the best classes for tanking in this game.
While it is also possible to build a high CON Hoplite C3 with A LOT of block on it.
To be honest, you could be tanking with any of these builds and you wouldn’t feel any difference besides the skills that you have on your bar.
So tl;dr: Yes, they are all equally good, as long as you have Peltasta C1+ on your build.
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You say things much kinder than I do.
If you actually read you’d see that he’s looking for a tank build not a off tank dps. Also Rode 3 gives a new strike debuff that adds damage to the party members that use strike skills. Quite worth it.
Shinobi knight? He’s looking for a REAL tank. Not some twisted dps tank non sense.
Cata 3… as a tank is useless. Having a cata 3 dps Dragoon myself I can assure you that on a tank perspective it’s not worth it at all. Yes you’ll get your sprint buff and yes you’ll get the mount but you’ll have to switch in between 2 H spear and sword and shield and also what’s the point on being fast when your team won’t follow up with your speed? Just so that you can arrive at the mobs first and afk “C”? No no no. For a tank Cata 3 is not a good choice.
As for squire… that’s a big no considering the person’s objectives.
As for those refusing to understand why Rode 3… do you guys even know the rodelero skills or are you sheeps blindly reading the main stream non sense that rode only good skill is Slithering? Anyway… considering you didn’t understand OP post, which means to me you didn’t even bother reading the first paragraph which is quite sad, your opinions make no sense whatsoever as it’s not what he’s looking for.
As for Cathexis… the reason people go Rode instead of Fencer is because Rodelero provides buffs that lets everyone in the group do more damage while fencer only adds to “your” damage.
Again I feel like people didn’t read OP’s goal… anyway now he has enough info to decide. Regardless of our own opinions on the matter he should play something he enjoys playing.
As for Cathexis… the reason people go Rode instead of Fencer is because Rodelero provides buffs that lets everyone in the group do more damage while fencer only adds to “your” damage.
Let’s not forget that they only buff strike-type damage. Few classes have strike-type skill damage. I can only think of all the shield skills from the swordsman line, 2 skills on highlander, 1 on doppel, and 1 on fencer. I know clerics have some strike damage skills from pally and monk…or just auto attacks with using a blunt weapon as a swordsman or cleric 
Actually Slithering gives piercing damage bonus for the entire group… same issue tho 
Actually Slithering gives piercing damage bonus for the entire group… same issue tho
it does? I thought it was strike damage. Maybe tosbase is just outdated then cause
You serious? Rod 3 is worthwhile for a Strike buff?
Also your other statements show you have no experience with tanking. Do you even understand how bad afk C tanking is? really every mention of afk C tanking as a viable strat just cements that you do not understand tanking.
not that cathexis needs defending but Cata3 speed is WAY more beneficial than rod3 strike buff…
You can gather mobs easier, avoid area damage, think rgg circular AOE ground pound, in the event that you do not want to swap to shield and time C then you can easily run out with the speed buff, Trees apples are another that speed helps with avoidance, especially because they can break C.
In regards to Shinobi read the post or not shrug
Actually yes and no, the description of the skill does say strike dmg but once it is applied to the boss, if you move your mouse to the actual debuff it says pierce and not strike… really confusing…
Well let’s agree to disagree and leave it at that instead of trying to argue while we’ll never agree on anything. Cata 3 isn’t made to be anything other than DPS. It’s just not just based on its very kit… Is it viable? Of course it is but not as a pure CON tank. You’d be missing out on so much of its potential…
Also, let me say that while Cathexis made quite good points and topics, it doesn’t make him an expert on the matter either. He talks from personal experience based on his own trials and errors. Nothing more, nothing else and it doesn’t mean that what he says is wrong, but it also doesn’t mean that every single word that he writes is the fact. Same applies to me and I’m only speaking about personal views and experience.
That said- Afk C is useless yes. A good tank doesn’t just taunt then C, there are timings, you can easily press C when needed alone in order to block hits when they do occur. I’m not talking about aggroing 21 mobs then just pressing C of course that’s the normal thing to do I’m talking about boss fighting. Pelt 3s have to apply armor break- Rodeleros 3 other debuffs that do help your party yes and any slight help is good to take regardless of what you’re implying.
Choosing 3 ranks only to get 1 useful tank skill is stupid. It just is and you’re losing on so much just for that extra speed… I just don’t see what good it is for considering that the OP only wants a pure CON Tank and doesn’t care about damage.
Anyway, saying that I have no experience just because I’m against the 24/7 afk C means you didn’t completely read my post. Not to mention that I mentioned it in regard to the Cata 3 speed and the party indeed being unable to follow. The cata speed is good under certain distances and on short distances its speed as far as tanking is considered is not that big a deal especially when most tanks who put their points in CON end up with 50-60 stamina…perhaps even more.
Anyway, as I said let’s agree to disagree and as for shinobi… a shinobi without damage is nothing.
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Why go for rod3 instead of rod2? The Slithering skills duration stays the same no matter how high you make it. Considering full tank that is.
I may be wrong but wouldnt it be better to pick instead of rod3, rod2 with a squire1 or cath1??
Just a thought, i may be wrong and i’m not a tank but i’m interested in these builds.
Anyone who can tell me why this would be totally wrong or why this may be good for pure tank purpose as @Arccai wants.
Hello, ive seen many builds so far …
and the most effective one ive seen in the 240+ was
SW>Pelt3>Hop2>Dragoon .
this guy build I mention was just insane. Consider the massive increase on the block he got from finestra and mixing the other things.
Along using the buff from gae bulg suprisingly easy and uptime almost all time.
I was really impressed. I suggest looking into it.
I am myself tanking everything up to these levels with my aias shield…
but i’m (Pelt>Barb3>Doppel>Dragoon).
but not sure it will be as great for the ET.
and I don’t know why everyone mention even squire… you can’t use repair inside indoors and dungeons, only town and fields…
so… for ET you can forget it’s any usefull… at the moment I only see squires as an AFK character.
I went Rode 3 because Sq 1 isn’t really good for a rank 7 considering that most will go squire 3 and be taken prior to Sq 1s and 2s… I liked Rodelero because of the additional damage I could get from the skill upgrades and for the additional striking debuff which really helps in PvE (especially when alone as having no point in STR makes things especially long…) but also because it gives the group when they are using strikes, additional damage and no matter how small the damage I’m always eager to help out. Cata 1 gives really nothing 1 rank besides a speed buff. Everyone will always tell you to go Cata 3 or not go cata at all… Rush is the only “worth” skill in the cata tree with the speed buff. The rest of the skills do not scale well…
Rode and Squires are the best bets right now because of their utility while every single other class is more DPS oriented rather than utility…
I also think that going Hoplite and Dragoon is a waste of time considering that you’ll have basically no point in STR and only the minimum in DEX. OP wants a full CON build and Hoplite and Dragoon won’t really give more damage than a Squire3 or Rodelero 3… if anything the Rodelero will do more damage than the Hoplite/goon only because of his passives that are incredibly powerful when mixed with certain group member skills…
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hoplite is waste of time if going con ?
finestra is by % and will scale with CON… don’t talk out of no experience.
dragoon is waste ? again % defense to your party and yourself for 15sec ?
hidden(misguide info on description) Gae bulg buff make all your party hit X2 attacks for 7.5sec that almost no one mention ?
rodelero for damage ? is this a joke ? why would a tank look for damage with 0 party utility ? slithering for dodging magic is a joke and not really usefull.
squire - again, can’t use in dungeons, and indoors… unless you gonna grind in fields for hours which NEVER happen. squire won’t be any good use.
for Cata - speed is not needed for tanking. you have to hold target in place while your party DPS it.
you say “best this best that” but give no good reason behind the word.
Gae bulg? I have it on my pvp character and it’s not at all worth it. Not only is the skill bug as it doesn’t always land on the target when the spear lands right on the boss, but the benefit from it is questionable as well. Show me statistics on this because from personal tries it was a waste of money to purchase these useless attributes…
As for Finestra… I don’t really see how it will give you more damage. Your damage will still be capped considering nothing will be in STR- you might do more crits, even tho if Finestra is on you should already be having quite many but low damage crits are the same as high damage skills with no STR…
You obviously also know nothing about Rodelero, Slithering gives a strike/pierce debuff (we’ll know which one it is once the translation will b done accurately), Rodelero has 2 CC, more pvp oriented I’ll give it to you, an armor break much like the Pelt though it doesn’t work on bosses. It has an attribute changer skill that works on bosses although I’m not sure in what capacity. It has another strike debuff. Rodelero entire class is utility oriented. I don’t understand what you mean by it’s not?
I mean, by your post you’re implying that Dragoon is more party utlity oriented than either squire or Rodelero (for your info Squires can be used in Earth Tower - and it shows you didn’t do any research but base your knowledge on limited information). Anyway- Rodeleros have 3 more party utility skills than Dragoon. So… yeah…I don’t see your point.
Dragoon offers alot more damage than some Strike niche, unless youre going to party with alot of classes that deals strike damage.
That actually will depend on who is in the party with you considering the attribute passives. Overall perhaps but then Dragoon relies entirely on STR. I’m skeptical and I’m not sure the difference would be so high…
Anyway I think we can all agree on one thing- personally I chose rodelero because it’s my style of combat and I just like it. The same with my pvp char, I love the cata 3 speed rush mixed with the swordsman stun.
Point is- play what you like and let’s be real here… so long as you go CON, and have pelt 3, if you have repair tools you can easily be a ET tank. Pelt 3 is a must- The rest is up to you and what you like most.