Tank Gearing help!

[Valkoria]

Anyone who was serious about ScoB when it was serious progression would know that there were some hard dps checks in nearly every fight. Want to know why so many groups couldn't progress in turn 9? Because most groups couldn't push 47% before the third heavens fall. Want to know why t8 felt so hard unless you solo tanked? Remember those times when you'd get a bulb in the center after a hornet? etc.

You'd be surprised how much damage a tank can deal if you are good and have a good attitude about your role, you're not just there to sit and absorb damage. Parry scales extremely poorly and doesn't really improve your EHP all that much.

PS: The word some people are looking for is Effective Health Pool, Mitigation effects it, but having more HP is NOT Mitigation. Mitigation is something that reduces damage taken (rampart/vengeance or armor/parry), Self Regeneration and HP are things that effect your EHP.

[Donjo]

Anyone who was serious about ScoB when it was serious progression would know that there were some hard dps checks in nearly every fight. Want to know why so many groups couldn't progress in turn 9? Because most groups couldn't push 47% before the third heavens fall. Want to know why t8 felt so hard unless you solo tanked? Remember those times when you'd get a bulb in the center after a hornet? etc.

You'd be surprised how much damage a tank can deal if you are good and have a good attitude about your role, you're not just there to sit and absorb damage. Parry scales extremely poorly and doesn't really improve your EHP all that much.

PS: The word some people are looking for is Effective Health Pool, Mitigation effects it, but having more HP is NOT Mitigation. Mitigation is something that reduces damage taken (rampart/vengeance or armor/parry), Self Regeneration and HP are things that effect your EHP.

The highest I've heard of a Tank dealing in their tanking stance is 150 DPS, less than half of what any DPS class should be doling out anywhere in the Second Coil. The returns from maximizing Strength while still remaining survivable are very low and likely will not save the day in any instance where a significant DPS loss is garnered from the DPS itself. It's absolutely true that "every point counts", but it's probably best to get DPS damage up before Tank damage. Plus, if you really want to do more damage while stacking Vit, invest in weapons early and often and bring some Strength Potions along.

However, an Off Tank specced entirely into Strength(30 bonus, all STR accessories) can push 300 outside of a tanking stance and that is not insignificant at all, especially if that Off Tank is a Paladin benefiting from Storm's Eye(Or Path, whichever one reduces slashing resistance). This would actually work on Turn 8 because when the Off Tank should be tanking something, it's never for very long. I hear that Turn 9 might be the same way. However, we've been talking about the benefits of a Main Tank dealing more damage and whether or not it's worth trying to push past that damage debuff to get fight altering results.

Regarding Parry, I really don't think it's a stat that's meant to increase overall EHP in any significant way. It's a chance to mitigate individual attacks at the whim of RNGesus. It's kind of an "oh, nice!" whenever it happens, especially if you parry a powerful attack. I don't look at the "Oh, this 44 Parry only reduced the damage I took over that fight by 0.5%", I look at "Whew, I parried that Rotoswipe during the big moment and now the healers can get me up faster." It merely eases the burden at times, and I hope I'm not the only one who lets out a happy sigh when a big hit gets parried or blocked.

Regarding your comment on health: Did you just completely ignore how I quoted verbatim a dictionary definition of the word "mitigation" and clearly explained how the mere existence of a health pool could satisfy it? Health is the first and last line of defense for mitigation. "Effective" health is merely the approximate amount of damage that must be dealt to you at any given time in order to overcome it. If an attack does not hit harder than your current Effective Health, it has been successfully mitigated. As I stated before, to mitigate something is to reduce the severity of it, and the "severity" of an attack is measured in two separate ways:

1. The amount of damage it does(ie. a 500 damage attack is less severe than a 4000 damage attack). This is straightforward, and reducing this number is the common sole definition of mitigation in the eyes of players.
2. How badly you're off following the attack, or the percentage of health you now have remaining(ie. an attack that deals 15% of your current health is less severe than one that deals 75% of your health). A 500 Damage attack is less severe if you have 7000 health than if you have 1000. Therefore, the mere possession of a larger health pool reduces the severity of all attacks and thus mitigates them.

Cooldowns, Blocks, Parries, and Shields all reduce severity by affecting the first point. You can call this "Active" Mitigation, as it usually requires player input in the midst of battle to take advantage of it. Raw health reduces severity by affecting the second point. You can call this "Passive" Mitigation, as it provides mitigation simply by existing. When put together, they make a tank a tank.