Shield???

[RottenApple82]

I am a 27 brig, just finished Sailwind 25aa.In groups people have often wanted me to Tank or OT and claim that brigs can do this....so I was looking over our AA...is Stamina a popular Brig route? and should I be headed there next?Edit: I guess while on this line of questioning. I did 46481 in Agi, did I mess up by not maxing out walk to plank?...also...which Diety is the best compliment to a Brig?

[Leafkiller]

<p>Stamina...well, I suppose you could go stamina...you can always respec when you get higher level. You just don't see a lot of brigands with the tanking spec since it hurts your dps. Just save you silver for when you want to switch to something more usual (STR / AGI / INT in various configurations) for your higher level dps roles.</p><p> And Rallos is you god of choice unless you want all the other brigands laughing at you!</p>

[Dareena]

<p>Brigands "can" tank.  Having said that, a Brigand should only tank if they are specifically built to do that role.  This would mean being built around the Stamina tree, using a sheild, and specifically wearing tanking favorable gear.</p><p>Having said this, this type of Brigand or Swashbuckler is more of the exception to your standard Brigand.  We're a debuff and DPS class.  So while we can quasi-tank if we really wanted to...  Well why would we want to go against the grain of our class?  I know that some Brigands do tank and enjoy it.  Yet I've never personally gotten it's appeal.</p><p>However this tanking issue only comes up in Herioc territories.  I mainly soloed my Brigand up to 80th, so I'm used to locking down mobs and being hit.  At times, I was the tank while a couple of others grouped with me for some solo quests.  In that specific type of situation, a soloing designed Brigand can tank fine since they're really just soloing still (with added support).  Just don't hold me responsible if I don't have perfect group encounter aggro control...</p>

[Kaldrin]

The next time someone says that a brig can tank tell them that a wizzy can too... just not for long. You'd probably be better off to just leave the group than to group with a bunch of yokels who want you to do that.

[Slayer505]

<cite>Kaldrin@Befallen wrote:</cite><blockquote>The next time someone says that a brig can tank tell them that a wizzy can too... just not for long. You'd probably be better off to just leave the group than to group with a bunch of yokels who want you to do that. </blockquote><p>Brigands can tank if they're set up to.  I've tanked all the group instances except RE2 on my Brigand with no problem.  I've yet to try tanking RE2 with him but with the exception of the last two encounters I doubt I'd have any trouble.  The only other one that I had trouble with was VOES because of all the big encounters and the Brigand's lack of AE.  In fact, my Brigand has more avoidance, mit and health then a lot of fighters I see running around.</p><p>That said, the only reason I even set up with a tank spec on my Brigand is for easier soloing.  If a group wants a tank I'll just play my Berserker.  It's fun to tank on my Brigand every now and then though since it's so different from the Berserker, but on my Brigand I can't do things like pulling whole rooms in CoA and VOES.</p>

[Jida]

<cite>Kaldrin@Befallen wrote:</cite><blockquote>The next time someone says that a brig can tank tell them that a wizzy can too... just not for long. You'd probably be better off to just leave the group than to group with a bunch of yokels who want you to do that. </blockquote>I have more MIT and Avoidance as a brigand than most plate tanks that are not in raiding guilds.I run around with 56% mitigation and 63% avoidance in tanking spec (when i feel like having fun). And still do above 3k dps as the group tank.Granted, my gear is better than most (hence the high numbers), but a brigand can tank with teh right gear.At 27, i believe master crafted gear is the best you can have, and if you are asked to tank just have a mirror in your house with a tanking spec on it.<a href="http://eq2players.station.sony.com/characters/character_profile.vm?characterId=614304105" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Here's my gear at the moment</a>, and I do not have my tanking gear on.

[Kaldrin]

I'd be far more willing to believe I'm more average than you are. Avoidance 30%. Mit 40%. I don't raid either. In fact, I've only gone into one instance.

[Anfauglith]

Actualy,with same quality of gear and spells, thanks to our self mit buff and def stance that increase our mit a bit more than plate tank ones. My mitigation is about 1-2% away from theirs. Of course I got no mean to temporary boost it but still that's close enough for it to not matter at all in any non raid content.With the STA line I got about the same HP as pally/SK and my avoidance is that of a warrior with buckler.so overall a well specced briand will tank about as well as any other tank, with a bit weaker of ae aggro than some clases but not all fighters are good at it anyway.Tank specced Brigand are totaly on par with what other tanks do. (BTW plate tanks have problems tanking in mastercrafted gears and need to rely on the healer(s) abilities...so of course MC geared brig will too that's obvious)

[machseven]

<p>Level 59 Brigand here with 52% mit and 57% avoidance.  Mitigation is lower because I am 59 and about to get the next lot of gear, should bring mitigation back up to 56ish where I have been since about level 32 when I gathered all the stuff for MC armour. </p><p>I am willing to stand up for the Tanking Brig team.  We do quite well and are definitely worth going for if you solo, duo or trio.  I am in a Brig, Coercer and Inquis trio and I do well enough.  I dispute the argument that you should leave the group if they ask you tank... maybe you should just try it.  With all the stuns and backstabs and a couple of taunts... you might just like it and if you get good at it you can help spread the word.</p>

[zerkerANGST]

<p>I played my brigand from level 32 - 52 on nagafen with a tank build. I played with a small group of people that varied depending on when we were playing, and while we had a guardian, he was not always on. It turned out that even when the guardian was on, I was a more capable tank. My avoidance, block, mit, and dps was all higher than the guardians, and I even had some single target rescue skills, as well as 2 taunts.</p><p>A brigand as a tank also has more stuns and roots, which makes him more capable of stopping your healer from getting hit in the face. Stunning a mob and throwing some back stab CA's will tear aggro away from anything, even a tank.</p><p>The main problem with the brigand tank, is they aren't very good in pvp. In solo pvp against other melee classess they are amazing, but against casters and healers not so much. You sacrifice about half of your potential DPS by using a round shield and spending your AA points on the stamina tree. You also do not have the tools to hold aggro on yourself in a pvp encounter like a plate wearing fighter does. In group pvp, the tanking brigand was the worst set up possible, you can't fill in any role very well. Your DPS isn't enough to remove key players from the battle field and your taunts and aggro abilities can't force opponents to target you.</p><p>But if you aren't playing on a pvp server, the tanking brigand spec is not only viable but a lot of fun. I have seen people go STA / INT and get the feign death skill, which is amazing for dungeon exploring and assisting a group. Brigands with the right spec and right gear are capable of taking a small group of people to just about anywhere, and they aren't dependant on much of anything.</p><p>You even get the gear and potions to make it so you don't really need a healer. You can equip the healing potions with debuff potions that make the mobs hit you softer. You can equip gear with ward procs to assist in protecting yourself, and with your stuns, roots and snares you are able to control a fight. You can literally be a 1 man team as a brigand, and can be a very valuable asset to a small group above and beyond just DPS and debuffs. The brigand class is the most versatile class in the game, at least in this respect.</p>

[Anfauglith]

<p>I'm lvl 80...but I tested tank spec lately and I was surprized to realize I had even a bit more mit than the pally of my guild, same HP, and almost same avoidance (our gears quality is nearly the same)...so yeah brigands can definitly tank heroic stuff. I played a guardian for 3 years as a main so I didn't had any problem to play a brig tank. But it's something to know that playing as a dps and playing as a tank is a very different experience and requires practice.</p>

[Jarlomandius]

<p>I'm a 77 brig with so/so gear (mostly 72 MC and a few other pieces).  I was doing some guild grouping this weekend in Plane of Sky stuff and we couldn't find a tank so I figured I would give it a go.  I already have a tank build for solo'ing and such so I just plopped that AA spec and had no problems tanking this easier stuff.  As already mentioned my HP/Mit/avoid weren't far off from my 80 SK who has a few TSO armors already.</p><p>Lemme load up eq2 and get the numbers in Merc stance with a standard 72 MC sheild.</p><p>Ok at 77 I have 52% mit and 51.7% avoidance and 8012 HP.  Not awesome but good enough for easier dungeons.  I don't want to be tanking KC or the TSO stuff or anything <img src="/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Chuluinn]

<p>Re this tank build, I note you go stam in the AAs but what would you be looking for in your armour and weapons please?</p>

[Lethe5683]

<p>I'll I know is my swashy can tank anything just fine without a shield.  I'm fairly certain that won't be true in most of T8 though.</p>

[Lethe5683]

<p><cite>Kaldrin@Befallen wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>The next time someone says that a brig can tank tell them that a wizzy can too... just not for long. You'd probably be better off to just leave the group than to group with a bunch of yokels who want you to do that.</blockquote><p>That's rediculous.  Almost any class can tank pre T8.  My asssassin tanked everything besides RE2 and the harder TSO zones.  My coercer tanked many groups in the 50s.</p>

[Dunce123]

<p>Brigs can tank just fine in T8 TSO.</p><p>I tank for groups every 3 days or so. 2 healers and i can tank Deep Forge and Sicon of Ice</p><p>Have tanked almost all RoK zones without issue. Can do most with 1 Defiler healing. </p><p>Key is to make sure you get nice shield and good defense AA build. And with the new hate metor things go alot better when you have high dps classes in your groups.</p><p>Found i can tank on my bring alot better then  monk/braw unless they have very very good gear.</p>

[tooloose]

<p>We can tank and hold agro quite well, we just have to be on a limited range of mobs and a particular group make up.</p><p>We need single target mobs, we can AE to pickup additional mobs but we could lose agro on those mobs to our group AE classes or even healers if the fight goes on a while. Also, the mobs need to be medium health and dammage tops. We can take a beating but our mitigation and lack of dammage absorption mean the healer is going to be taxed. LS,EF tsos we can tank well, but if you start getting in to the harder zones, there is no way. The ROK zones we can tank easily and even duo with furies.</p><p>But in the end, just because something can be done, doesn't mean it should be done. You should roll a tank if you want to tank, a [Removed for Content] plate tank is going to be as good as a decently geared brig at holding agro and taking a beating.</p>