Ranged Tank...

I practically never play Tank but not for the reason many might assume. I also never play Sam, Nin, Mnk, or Drg. I simply don't like melee classes at all. That got me thinking about the idea of a ranged/caster Tank just for the hell of it and whether it would work for something lik Puppetmaster. Simple lore explanation being that the aetheric bond to control the puppet goes both ways and so you suffer the damage of your puppet while the puppet would obviously have abilities and defenses that a human might not.

Honestly not something at all that I'm saying they should make, just a random thought that I felt was interesting and could make a very different kind of tank. Of course I know their would be all sorts of potential problems (positioning comes to mind right off the bat) and it's not something I would ever expect but I was curious, do you think a "ranged tank" of some sort would be plausible and if so how would you think to make it work?

It might work but then it would more of a pet tank then an actual ranged tank, which would work like how SMN would control Titan to tank for them and sometimes was used in ARR with a team full of dps and one healer with Titan as the Tank. Ranged tanking in general wouldn't work since mobs like to run at you and attack at melee range, which would defeat the purpose of a ranged tank. A ranged OT could work and provide heavy support but it being in the MT roll or dungeon tank could be problematic.

Tanks main role is to position the boss for max uptime for dps and also to face mob away from party so that they dont get cleaved.

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Originally Posted by Phileas

Tanks main role is to position the boss for max uptime for dps and also to face mob away from party so that they dont get cleaved.

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A ranged tank would be difficult to do these things from far away....

I dont think we need a ranged tank just for the sake of the diversity in the role.

Like I said, not something I think SHOULD exist, just a topic an idea I felt was interesting to consider.

well I at one point did have an idea for puppetmaster as a range tank using duel crossbows which would be used lore wise as the vertical and horizontal control bars.

gameplay wise is where the problem comes in, as youd need a way to be able to control the puppet when you need to move, best i could come up with was a way for the puppet master to take over the puppet directly, maybe make your character for a brief period of time act as the pet so you dont get hit a floor aoe when you need to reposition the puppet.

i also did have an idea that the puppets health could be the players mp and you could give puppet master mp switch as an ability to swap your puppets and the players health.

but these are ideas and im not sure overall you could or should for that matter make a ranged tank.

Puppet master like tank would be a nightmare for healers. Puppet would eat all aoes all the time.

Would kinda work with a decoy mechanic. But to do that? Youd still have to implement a means to zip back/trade places to position the boss from time to time. Or the decoy could simply pop up behind the boss and do attacks from there, but it still be a bit easier to just have it melee Im thinking.

I don't think it's plausible. The concept of tanking from range would not work due to the fact that the enemy would still need to be within melee range to hit you. If a class such as Puppetmaster was implemented, you'd still have a melee element to look after in the form of a puppet.

To me, a more plausible solution would be to be offered more ranged skills as a tank, potentially a higher potency one in order to maintain some damage during melee ranged aoes.