Best Gear set up for "Round up"

[kiitz]

Hello Everyone,

Just want to first say, I've read close to every post on this forum and appreciate all the insight and strategy you have all contributed.

I have a lvl 55 tank bear with full hate and full bodyguard. I recently found out the joys of the "round up" in stronghold and its probably the most fun I've had playing a tank bear. I am currently switching to my bodyguard set for when I do the round ups (1st room, corridor, back room) and using a combination of all the cooldowns and HP pots to get back alive. I find I still have to use at least 3-4 pots, sometimes many more if my character gets "stuck" in position with the game resetting my position when I get hit.

My question is - what is the best gear set up to wear for maximum defensive stats for doing these round-ups? I noticed Royal Sewers only has a helm and chest. I assume those would be used. What about sword and shield? Fury Fighters? Would fully fury fighters be better? Another mix?

I would like to work on building up toward a good gear set for doing this and I wanted to get some input on where to start and what to work toward.

Thanks for the help!
Kiitz (IGN Kiitz)

[Echelong]

Pots
blah blah blah /10 char

[kiitz]

Pots
blah blah blah /10 char

Okay, besides using a tanking or speed pot, any other recommendations?

[Echelong]

Lol I meant spamm health pots not an elixir. Well joke aside the highest dodge one would be best fury is excellent and so is sewer gear with fury shield and sword. Expensive though

[kiitz]

Lol, okay I see. Yeah, I spam health pots when I need to. Started with 1000 of them in the morning and down to about 250 today. I played quite a bit yesterday though.

I just wasn't sure if I should get better gear to alleviate the pressure, or if its going to be like that regardless. If you could choose, would you go full fury or Royal Sewer + Fury Shield + Sword?

I definitely don't have enough to get it all yet, but if I know what i'm shooting for, then I can at least keep my eye out for pricing on the CS. Thanks!

[Echelong]

Well for tanking sewer is the best one because of 8 dodge but no m/s and it has no bonus. I am positive that devs will add a bonus to the sewer sets and put 1h weapons and shield. If you want the bonus now then fury the one for you. Also try mixing purples, greens and oranges. Sometimes greens are better than purple and for tanking all you need is high dodge, armor and h/s the rest is secondary been hit and m/s. Check out Ellyidols threads on the Warriors section he is far better for this.

[kiitz]

Okay, thanks a bunch. Yeah, I've spent a lot of time in that thread looking at the different gear. I'll probably start with the Royal sewers because I don't think I'll be getting the FF shield or sword anytime soon. Appreciate the help!

[Sky../]

Hey kiitz good to see you here. Don't know if you remember playing with my bear (hanibaz). He's hibernating though. Been stuck at lvl 42. Since we last played.

[Moogerfooger]

I use a Royal Sewer Helm and Plate, and for max tank use a Bodyguard Shield and Sword. With certain rings you can push your armor to 180

There may be even tank-ier swords and shields that might be a couple of armor higher.

[neko]

Lol, okay I see. Yeah, I spam health pots when I need to. Started with 1000 of them in the morning and down to about 250 today. I played quite a bit yesterday though.

I just wasn't sure if I should get better gear to alleviate the pressure, or if its going to be like that regardless. If you could choose, would you go full fury or Royal Sewer + Fury Shield + Sword?

I definitely don't have enough to get it all yet, but if I know what i'm shooting for, then I can at least keep my eye out for pricing on the CS. Thanks!

Hey Kiitz,

It was fun playing a few rounds with you yesterday (as Corrvus). I've played in many good and epically bad "roundups" and the ones that seem to be most successful at it is when they pot up with a tank and speed elixir, equipment notwithstanding.

In the end, I hope you find your equipment as drops!

[Ellyidol]

Definitely a trend nowadays, most PUGs I'm in have them even slightly.

IMO, if you want the tankiest setup, Royal + Fury pieces no doubt. Royal has the best tank stats but there are only 2. Fury comes next. The most tank gear, but not the most cost efficient.

[kiitz]

Sky../ (Hannibaz) - Oh man. I'm glad you posted here. I kept wondering, where is Hannibaz? I told my gf (Kiittz) that I thought maybe you quit At least now I can add your main and hopefully get in some more runs with you in the future.

Neko (Corrvus) - Yeah, I enjoyed those runs a lot as well. Thanks for running with me since I wasn't even lvl 55 then even. Looking to get more runs in with you as well whenever you need a willing tank!

Note: Its kind of funny, but it makes sense that the good players I meet in game also are on the forums. Its those people who come to the forums to seek out information to improve that are usually the better players.

Also, I went with a Royal Sewers Chest off the CS for about $470k. Also swapped in a lvl 55 fury helm that I had in my stash... Bodyguard sword and shield. Will be watching the CS and saving money for reasonably priced FF sword and shield and possibly Royal Sewers Helm. Also picked up an Acrobat's Fine Golden Band for the extra 2% dodge and 8 armor. Current stats for round up tanking: 32% Dodge, 177 Armor. Regular tanking (hideout) i'm still just using full Hate.

[kiitz]

Definitely a trend nowadays, most PUGs I'm in have them even slightly.

IMO, if you want the tankiest setup, Royal + Fury pieces no doubt. Royal has the best tank stats but there are only 2. Fury comes next. The most tank gear, but not the most cost efficient.

Thanks - thats what I'm going for now. Lol, definitely not the most cost efficient... don't have the close to 2 mil to burn on the sword and shield.

Btw, i'm a big fan of your video/guides, Ellyidol. I basically just use your tanking technique I've seen in your video/guides.

[Sky../]

Cool. I will mostly be on my pally (traigomuerte) since i still have 75k to go to get to lvl 56.

Btw, i just noticed, we're practically neighbors. I'm also from LA

[Ellyidol]

Thanks - thats what I'm going for now. Lol, definitely not the most cost efficient... don't have the close to 2 mil to burn on the sword and shield.

Btw, i'm a big fan of your video/guides, Ellyidol. I basically just use your tanking technique I've seen in your video/guides.

Thanks!

I hope I have time for more, as I enjoy making them too

If your going for semi cost efficient, I use :

Royal Helm
Rooter Sword
Royal Plate
Cleaner Shield

Gives me decent crit/dodge/armour, and I still get that MS from Rooter's.

If you want very cost efficient, just replace the Royal pieces with Plungers.

[WhoIsThis]

Personally, I wonder if the gear even has to be that tanky. True, every mob is going to gang up on you, but it's only the ranged ones that will do a lot of damage.

More important is when the enemy faces the rest of the group. You've got to keep the aggro off of everyone - especially the int mages as best you can.

[Physiologic]

I was in a party today with a bear that was "rounding up" at Stronghold...he died about 5-6 times trying to round up before he quit my party Not sure if that was due to questionable gear or questionable skill though (forgot to see his equips).

[WhoIsThis]

I was in a party today with a bear that was "rounding up" at Stronghold...he died about 5-6 times trying to round up before he quit my party Not sure if that was due to questionable gear or questionable skill though (forgot to see his equips).

Skill will have a lot to do with this. You need an experienced bear. Most bear that try this will fail a couple of times (at least the ones who had the guts to admit this to me). Eventually, they'll become experienced enough to handle it.

Then, when the party faces the mob, the team must be well experienced too. If there are members who die regularly facing 5 bandit boys - well here are 20-30 of them at once! It is very critical that at least one int mage survive to nuke. I've seen many mages die. I haven't had enough experience with this, but I have survived a few encounters. The trick is to hold your health pot down in between spell recharges. Expect to burn up about 4-8 health pots to clear up the area. Acceptable IMO.

Birds should try to hold their spells until the targets are all bunched - ever see cruel blast hit 8+ targets at once? Also remember to cast thorn wall of the mage's lightning. Don't repulse either - it pushes the intended targets away from the mages nuke. Only repulse stragglers and try to push them towards the mage's nuke.

[Ellyidol]

Personally, I wonder if the gear even has to be that tanky. True, every mob is going to gang up on you, but it's only the ranged ones that will do a lot of damage.

More important is when the enemy faces the rest of the group. You've got to keep the aggro off of everyone - especially the int mages as best you can.

True, the mobs aren't THAT hard to tank anyway. I don't really know what other stat, aside from tank stats, help with rounding up though. Hit maybe? For beckon/taunt/hell scream?

[WhoIsThis]

True, the mobs aren't THAT hard to tank anyway. I don't really know what other stat, aside from tank stats, help with rounding up though. Hit maybe? For beckon/taunt/hell scream?

I was opting more for an attack bear just running around and picking everyone up then letting the group have it. The attack bear is far more likely to pick up some aggro. This will probably be a half dex and half str bear something tanky, but reasonably high in DPS - high enough to keep aggro after the mage nukes. The entire mob usually takes 2-3 volleys to kill.