Looking for a Suitable Enemy

So I'm attempting to do some experimentation regarding the current tanking paradigm, regarding the notion that doing more damage means taking less damage, and I'm looking for a suitable enemy to use for testing.

I attempted an initial run of this the other night in Azys Lla with the Chimera mobs there, but while equipped with my 210 Esoteric set, my 200 Eso sword and shield, and my ~200 accessories (fending, slaying, none, a combination maximizing parry and offense, and a set maximizing defense and HP while forsaking as much parry as possible), the mobs did not last long enough, and did not have a high enough accuracy stat to generate reliable numbers (even across 60 kills, I as a Paladin had a ~20% dodge rate). The test setup only had me using Fast Blade, because the target was still dying too fast to get results.

What I'm looking for is an enemy that I will be able to kill relatively easily at that gear level, but that will be able to hit me at least 95% of the time, and that has minimal channeled AoE, and doesn't use status effects. I'd prefer to have a mob like this in the open world, but also realize I may have to go to an instance for it (I'd prefer to do this test alone, because asking three folks to watch me kill trash solo and die for a couple hours is something I wouldn't want to impose on anyone).

So, does anyone have any ideas?

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Originally Posted by Jpec07

So, does anyone have any ideas?

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Some of the HW B Rank Hunt Marks might last a decent amount of time. I've not killed most of them so I'm not sure how they are with AoEs and the like, though.

Beyond that your best bet is going to be an instance of some kind. The mobs in Arboretum have fairly high health pools (most particularly the morbols, though they have a ground AoE).

Your best bet might be the B rank hunt mobs since they have a lot more hp, it will just be harder to test since you will have to spend the time looking for them.

Why not undersize yourself into something like Cape Westwind or something?

undersize Chimera

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Originally Posted by Jpec07

.....(fending, slaying, none, a combination maximizing parry and offense, and a set maximizing defense and HP while forsaking as much parry as possible

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First - I get what you are trying to accomplish and what you are wanting to work up as proof with numbers. I encourage you on this endeavour and wish you luck.

I take problem in the portion quoted, but placed in bold. People seem to think that maximizing defense means having more HP. I have the exact same amount of defense whether I roll out STR accessories or VIT accessories. This means that "generic cleave" will hit me for the same amount of damage regardless of my right side life choices. One extreme allows me to kill the enemy faster, the other extreme allows me to absorb more damage.

Now that this is off my chest, here are some numbers I have worked up that may assist you:

***Moving to left side items for defensive purposes, the biggest question mark tanks have with today’s gear, stem from the ESO+ (210) chest and legs vs. the Void Ark pieces. Each ESO+ piece is 32 more defense over the VA counterpart (64 for both). Now for math:

My DRK has the 210 head, hands waist and feet (eso) with the VA chest and legs. My total defense sits presently at 2113. I would move to 2145 with one more 210 piece and 2177 for both. The % increase on my total defense is 1.5% (2113/2145) and 3% (2113/2177). Foresight is a known 20% increase to physical defense, which has been previously mathed out to equal 8% in incoming damage reduced. The damage reduction from 210 gear (vs 200) is 6.5 times less powerful than foresight.
-For every hit you take of 1000 damage – Foresight would mitigate 80 points, (1000 x .08)
-ESO+ chest and legs would mitigate approximately 12 damage for every 1000 received, over the VA pieces.

The HP difference to consider is 20 VIT or 380-400 more HP (ish) for both pieces, half of that for just 1.

The VA chest piece is anywhere from 1 to 1.5 relative strength stronger (Dervy stat weights) for PLD/DRK in comparison to the 210 ESO+ chest piece (ESO is an accuracy/parry build). This difference on offensive capabilities is quite small, and I am not sure on the math of what 1 strength exactly means in terms of dps. Of course the defensive difference is about 6 mitigated damage for every 1000 taken, plus 190 HP, which is also quite small of a difference. Clearly the winner is whichever piece you think fits your glamour better. IMO, if you have one, you don’t need to make an effort to get the other. The difference for WAR is approximately 10 relative strength in favor of the ESO+ piece (build has skill speed).

The VA legs are a different story. AND WE HAVE SEEN THIS SONG BEFORE (world of darkness chest, I am looking at you). The legs are what I call a “perfect build” which has all secondary stats in the two most valuable stats (presently crit/det) AND in the order of most valuable secondary, then next most valuable secondary. For PLD, the VA legs are a relative 4 strength higher than the eso+. For DRK, the VA it is roughly 2 strength difference (using the WAR weights- but I think DRK weights will end up somewhere between pld and war) in favor of the VA legs. The WAR eso+ legs are accuracy/parry build and the result is that the relative strength difference is 13 strength, in favor of the VA pants.

TL;DR The split between the damage output and the mitigation/hp is closer to a tie for the chest, and leans toward favoring the VA legs. (Depending on the stat weights for DRK, this could be considered closer to a tie)

The question left for you to answer Jpec, (or anyone really) is how much is 1 strength worth in terms of dps? (or 5/10 str). Quite frankly, the HP value that you get from an upgraded piece is somewhat diminished by the fact that the present “HP soft cap” can be obtained with left side only gear, but I do think it does still hold some value.

I do think you are going to run into a situation with too many variables complicating the results of your testing, but open world B ranks are likely your best bet, unless you can sweet talk 3 friends and then go run ex roulettes with them standing around doing nothing in a boss fight…