High skull tanking

[Ryan]

Hello all

Forgive the format – I wrote this in word then sent it to my phone to post as Im in work and are restricted as to what websites we can view.

A quick question about Auralocks tanking in Reaper 5 and upwards.

For the record, I’ve never ran higher than R5, so I lack any experience in high Skull Reapers hence this post.

We all know that Auralocks are quite Tanky, but they are not “tanks” in the traditional sense.

Im sure I read somewhere that some tanks are in the 300s for AC and PRR and have 4k plus HPs. Corazon cannot achieve those levels of AC and PRR so will get hit harder and more often.

On the other hand, a Lock can keep displacement up, has Shining Through and can Stanch when things go wrong, although I think of Stanch as a wipe saver as it effectively gimps the Lock if used more than a few times without shrining.

My question is, at how many Skulls can an Auralock effectively Tank?

I understand this is dependent on many things such as the quest, the healing source, the CC, the group dps and the Warlock involved and their skill, amp and ability to Intim, but it would be nice to get an idea.

I include intim because if I can’t get aggro in high skulls then it’s pointless me being there as Lock in US isn’t really cranking out much Dps and the place would probably be better filled with another class.

For info (if I remember correctly), Corazon in Unyielding Sentinel is sitting on about 260 PRR. If I gimp my ability to heal others then I can get around 3k HPs base, plus Tensers, plus 8 x Con Shining Though (I can’t exactly remember my Con but its in the 80’s, so approx another 650 HPs) and 5K plus Stanched. I cannot remember my AC, but it’s not great – definitely sub 200 and probably sub 150.

Any thoughts/ comments from people with high skull experience welcome.

Thanks.

Ryan

[Legend]

The devoted tanks are for quests like reaper Tempest Spine, Hound and a few others, you won’t be able to tank these so not worth comparing.

With those stats in a group with enough intim you could tank the higher levels of reaper (5+), more in Ravenloft as they do seem easier, for slavers you would need dedicated healer in group.

What you should do is play in Sharadi for extra dps and cc with nerve venom or even exalted if got high enough Charisma to test limits, there are also other sources of cc out there if got the gear slots spare such as LGS Radiance and Ice, also new battle axe from raid is nice, with some Filgs can really crank up your spell power.

But again so many variables for each quest such as if you fight multiple flaming skulls on high reaper you would more than likely get overwhelmed with damage, my warlock would fair better due to the 100+ fire resist from LGS sets, other quests with large groups of those plant mobs you would more than likely not need any healing.

At high level reaper the dps from aura becomes a lot less relevant, extra cc, temp hp aura and survivability are more important.

[Ryan]

Cheers for the reply Leg.

Some useful info to think about.

[Grugno]

Hi Ryan,

Warlocks can effectively Tank R10.
A pure Warlock lacks AC and saves, so a little splash is welcome.
Stanch is awesome, especially when you have 5000+ hp.

The last 3 days I played a warlock tank (did some ‘easy’ R10 as Memories, Grim, Tavern, Subversion…) and he performed well. The aura is a big big plus: you can proc Ender. Dark Discorporation is handy too.
I got 5-10 kills per quest, with 0 dps 🙂

Here my stats: https://imgur.com/a/31XoY

Gear setup was 5 pieces LGS Ender, Legendary Scales of Malice, Legendary Hardened Hide Helm, Legendary Planar Compass (for ghostly), Mysterious Cloak, Plateshard Belt and SL crafted and CC crafted items.
Weapon was triple positive LGS +150 devotion +50 hamp +70 hamp.
I used the ‘cosmetic’ version of Legendary Knight of the Shadows set (cosmetic goggles and cosmetic armor). They fixed it yesterday, so… XD

I hope this will be helpful.

[Ryan]

Hello Grug.

As Warlocks go I’d say yours is pretty Tanky ☺
Definately more Tanky than mine.

How well does he perform solo from a speed vs dps point of view as I often solo Mists quests for gear (plus Reaper XP) when no one else is about?

Im talking of the boss fights really as these are the what take the most time (unless I want to chug majors whilst running fully meta’d Arcane Pulse – which Im not happy to do)

Cheers

[Grugno]

Well… I can’t play solo. Definetly not a farm build.
As tank, my dps is really 0 (zero) and I have super low DCs XD
If you want to tank R10 you need to specialize, so the feat selection is different (ie Shield Deflection, Epic Reflexes…).
A R10 tank is almost useless in all non R10 content.

However, you can play a ‘tanky’ warlock in US and do some decent damage. I recently played a TOEE R5 with a pure auralock in US: lot of hp with Ender set, good damage and great CC. You can jump aroud and stay alive, but you can’t sustain hordes and nasty champs without CC.

These days, imho, EA is not more mandatory to achieve the needed DC. We have +20/+9 CHA items, reaper trees, sentient weapons, racial PLs, etc
Anyhow, Shiradi is still way better than US.

[Ryan]

I guessed your Dps would be low, but wasnt sure, as I dont have any LGS so didnt know if it offered some stellar spell power to make up for your class split and US stance.

I always run in Shiradi when soloing because like you say hopping about is a good way to avoid getting hit.

When grouping R4 then I tend to switch to US and timmy-turtle. I dont think Ive grouped above R4 yet.

I got my E Sapphire Sting on my first ever run in ToEE and have little inclination to ever go back in there 🙂

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