Question for Starter Tanking set for Level 50?

**Akashin** · 10-25-2010, 11:53 PM

I cant afford the top end tanking gear for level 50 so I wanted to ask what would you use as a starter set. Should I go with the Battleforged or Rageborne set?

Battleforged Plate of Destiny Req: Level 50, 158 Str 8 Str, 3% Dodge, 4% Hit, 1 H/s, 78 Armor
Battleforged Helmet of Destiny Req: Level 50, 158 Str 8 Str, 3% Dodge, 4% Hit, 1 H/s, 26 Armor

Rageborn Plate of Destiny Req: Level 50, 158 Str 8 Str, 3% Dodge, 4% Hit, 10 Health, 1 H/s, 74 Armor
Rageborn Helmet of Destiny Req: Level 50, 157 Str 8 Str, 3% Dodge, 4% Hit, 5 Health, 1 H/s, 1 Damage, 23 Armor

I was able to save up and buy the Force Kite Shield of the Rift

Any thoughts from the vets would be appreciated.

**Cascade** · 10-25-2010, 11:56 PM

Go with rageborn and Force kiteshield

**Royce** · 10-26-2010, 12:20 AM

Here's the thing, the Destiny pinks are kinda weak (need to be improved) and to be honest, I would say the purple Templar's (2 H/s) or green Tenacity (20 health) pieces are actually a bit better. Between Battleforged and Rageborn, I prefer Battleforged.

**Akashin** · 10-26-2010, 12:51 AM

Thanks for the advice. I actually do have a level 50 Templar chest piece and Battleforge helmet.

Maybe Ill start with that and see what else drops. I also have the Level 50 Thoth Helm for mana regen so I would build a clearing set and boss tank set.

**Ellyidol** · 10-26-2010, 06:02 AM

I'd suggest the still classic thoth/isis combo. Or if you wanna use the new gear, add at least one thoth in there.

**Nebbor** · 10-26-2010, 11:43 AM

That was my question as well. How is the 3 Isis - 1 thoth set compared to the rift set? I don't have the rift yet, but the isis/thoth is great at regen and greatly increases dodge. Is this worth giving up for the rift, which just adds more base armor but no dodge/regen? Would it be smart to have both? The isis/thoth for running the dungeons without having to worry about regen/pots, and then the rift set for boss fights for the overall armor increase? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

**Royce** · 10-26-2010, 12:06 PM

Full Isis and Thoth would be a terrible idea IMO just because you'd lose so much armor and damage. There are no good level 50 Thoth or Isis weapons (best I've seen is the Level 50 Isis Spear), and of course level 50 Isis/Thoth is also very hard to find. So I definitely recommend against using any Isis Thoth weapon in AO3.
For armor, I made a comparison of level 45 Thoth to level 50 rift gear in terms of armor difference here:

Originally Posted by Royce

Comparing level 45 Thoth gear (50s are super rare and don't drop any more) to level 50 rift, here are the armor differences:
Overlord Rift Helm (higher armor than Jacobs) - Thoth helm = 22 armor
Rift Plate - Thoth Plate = 22 armor
Rift Shield - Thoth Buckler = 12 armor

So for Level 45 Isis gear, the differences would be 19, 19, 9, and for level 50 Thoth or Isis the differences are smaller but still substantial (level 50 Isis and Thoth armor is only a bit better than 45). So for instance a level 50 Thoth plate is still 15 less armor than power armor, etc. You can look all the stats up yourself in Yanis' threads. What I do is have a second set for more regen with a Thoth Buckler and Isis Plate, then switch to my Other/Rift set (don't have all the rift yet).

**Akashin** · 10-26-2010, 03:36 PM

Thanks for the input.

Based on additional reading that Ive done it doesn't appear that we have optimum gear for tanking some of the AO3 bosses and need to rely on Elixirs more than equipment for tanking the higher level bosses. I used to tank in WOW and had different sets of gear for different encounters. I am looking at maintaining a mana and health regen set for zone clearing and a boss tanking set.

Also, I am still not up to speed on the game mechanics. How much of a difference does armor make in damage mitigation? In Royce's example how much is the 56 additional armor really get you? The tanking elixir is expensive at 1500 gold per boss but it doubles the armor amount.

Overlord Rift Helm (higher armor than Jacobs) - Thoth helm = 22 armor
Rift Plate - Thoth Plate = 22 armor
Rift Shield - Thoth Buckler = 12 armor

Currently what I am seeing (based on posts) is that elixirs are a must (even EricGenz's farming group spends 15k per run). I can understand using elixirs to give you an edge when you are learning an encounter and gearing up. To have to rely on elixirs to clear a dungeon on a regular basis seems to me to be excessive.

Note: In WOW, elixirs last an hour and don't expire upon death which is a cost effective means for using elixirs. To have to use a tanking elixir which costs 1500 gold (5 minute duration) per boss encounter (with several bosses needing them in AO3) seems to be an excessive burden for a tank. Right now I am waiting on doing AO3 clears until I hit level 50 as I can't afford the cost.

**Royce** · 10-26-2010, 04:08 PM

The need for elixers is one of the most controversial aspects of AO3. Honestly, with a really good group with two or so mages and good tanking, you can get by without them but people will die. It's doable though. My current assumption is that 1 armor mitigates 1 damage in PvE, so higher armor is a pretty big deal. Though no one really knows since PvP is the only way to do controlled testing. In PvP, it seems like 1 armor mitigates 5/8 of a point of damage, but that ratio is likely part of what they tweaked with PvP damage a while back.

**TwinkTastical** · 10-27-2010, 04:35 PM

Originally Posted by Royce

Full Isis and Thoth would be a terrible idea IMO just because you'd lose so much armor and damage. There are no good level 50 Thoth or Isis weapons (best I've seen is the Level 50 Isis Spear), and of course level 50 Isis/Thoth is also very hard to find. So I definitely recommend against using any Isis Thoth weapon in AO3.
For armor, I made a comparison of level 45 Thoth to level 50 rift gear in terms of armor difference here:

So for Level 45 Isis gear, the differences would be 19, 19, 9, and for level 50 Thoth or Isis the differences are smaller but still substantial (level 50 Isis and Thoth armor is only a bit better than 45). So for instance a level 50 Thoth plate is still 15 less armor than power armor, etc. You can look all the stats up yourself in Yanis' threads. What I do is have a second set for more regen with a Thoth Buckler and Isis Plate, then switch to my Other/Rift set (don't have all the rift yet).

Were not incorporating dodge now, are we?