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It feels to me many believe a tank is just there to just hold aggro. You can do alot of dmg using a 2H sword or axe and bleed without using to many credited hps to make you to easy to knock over. Using 2H sword or axe with bleed you often see 500+ hps per tick on bigger bosses plus the wep dmg. Tho not quite nuker numbers you are doing signifigant dmg while using far less stats then a nuker. Considering that a decent set of HA and a good wep puts your adjusted parry (your parry + the HA and weps parry + you and - adversary) at well over 300 makes it a viable if not prefered option to 1H and sheilds.

Kil, it's just about definitions.
What you have described is a melee fighter rather than a tank - the same kind of setup you'd use for a melee rush at OPs.

However in a situation with a boss and several guards the slower hitrate of a damage dealing 2h weapon would not allow you to keep all aggro unto yourself...

Hmm, putting my own ignorance of non-sword 1H weapons on display, does Circular Attack work with spears? I have tried it with a 1H sword, but it doesn't seem to have the reach it needs to hit opponents from the range they can hit you. Would spears have the reach to pull that off?

That said, you can tank with anything; I have even participated in boss kills that were tanked with ranged weapons. All of the marauder boss kills I've participated in were tanked with 2H weaopns, very effectively. Each weapon type has its advantages and disadvantages, and different styles to use, and different situations of when to use it. A big advantage of the 1H weapons, though, is the fact that you can carry a shield for extra parry and damage mitigation.

I can't stress enough the fact that the tank's responsibility isn't to inflict damage, it's to stay alive and to hold the attention of the target(s). You exist to prevent the targets from hitting the rest of the group. (Healers exist to keep you alive and keep the Nukers topped off. Nukers exist to inflict massive damage and emergency heals). High damage output isn't necessary from a tank, it's only a bonus -- the last thing you try to increase, and the first thing you lose when times are tight.

Pick a weapon you like. Any weapon. You'll be able to tank with it, and be able to do that effectively. Master one weapon type first, to get the master-level abilities, before trying to pick up multiple weapons for multiple situations. Many people pick 2H weapons because of the increased damage capabilities they offer. I picked 2H axe just because we had some in the GH.

(Casters, what Tanks want you to know is to give them a moment to firmly grab the aggro before hitting them with a big heal that they don't even need yet or unleashing the fury of the elements on some random target that followed the tank. Often, it's better for the tank to die if he pulled too many than to try to heal him and wipe the whole group. Usually, if a tank just pulled, and you see a face full of aggro, it's your own fault)

Ideally ya can fit ya axe and pike in ya bag and bounce back and forth between roles .... when its time to tank, nothing like a pike for holding multiple aggro.....ya also take less damage.

[quote=Jamarcel]1. What's a good tanking build?
quote]

If you want a pure tank/ meat shield then a staff and shield, which will give you about 320+ parry.
With those stats you are able run into the aggro boss spawns ( vorkoo , tyrakoo) taunt the boss, kite until adds
fall off then pull the boss back to your group, handy for prime roots :)

The aggro table in ryzom is not like most common mmo's, a tank cant generate threat, its just taunt and keep hitting with any skill {even default attack} and use your taunt is off cool down.

Trying to dps while tanking is nubish as because you waste stats and make it harded for healers to keep you up, where as default attack uses no stats.