Brigand "tanking" advice

[Valahr]

<p>Hey all.  I'm duoing a Brigand with my wife's Warden, so I'm going to be doing a fair bit of "tanking" when we fight more difficult named mobs and the like.  I'm mainly looking for just how much of a difference it will make if I go down the sta line and slap on a shield vs. doing a more traditional dps/dual wield build.  Will we be able to tackle noticeably more difficult mobs if I spec into the tanking AA's or will it just be slightly easier for her to heal while killing slower?  Thanks for any advice.</p>

[Geothe]

<p>Go Sta line just for the HPs (ie, 4-10 Sta).</p><p>If possible run VP for Druushk kills and grab a Claw of Khalen (5% Riposte) weapon.Kill trash mobs in Shard of Hate and get a Recoiling Wrist Guard (wrist piece with 3% Riposte on it).And adorn your neck with an Adornmnet of Avoidance (3% Riposte).</p><p>You shouldn't really need to use a shield for any content, but if stuff is hitting you a lot even with that gear, toss one on for those fights only... but DPS will go down the tank.</p>

[Turb]

<p>I remember in Tier 7 using sword and board when soloing harder stuff on my briggy, in particular multiple mob encounters, making sure to get my back to a corner to avoid being struck from the rear where block doesn't apply.     But for single target mobs you should probably focus on your stuns to control the mob, unless it's hitting you really hard.</p><p>It's easier to get more physical mit now by taking the +physical mitigation character traits (about 800 mit in total iirc) and also any rogue/brigand/TSO AAs that boost STA/mit.   </p><p>I think the VP claw is a 3 sec delay which I wouldn't personally like to use, I'd rather stick with a 4 sec delay.    But I guess you won't have a lot of haste unless you use gear that procs +haste.   The new str/agi imbued rings aren't too bad for that.   </p><p>The good news is a warden's Instinct buff boosts your melee skills a lot so you might find you still get a good hitrate in defensive stance - you'd need to experiment with that though, maybe get some +weaponry adorns to help.    You'll kill slower as you suggest, but it will be safer.</p><p>Getting items that proc +heal and stuns will help a lot.   The Tribunal diety cloak has a decent stun proc on it for example, and a miracle that absorbs 20% damage for 10 minutes.   I haven't noticed much T9 gear that procs stuns though.</p><p>Also choose AAs to boost stuns/durations, e.g. Tenure, and cheap shot AA.    Get Walk the Plank AA.  Make sure your CA chain spreads your stun and stunlock attacks out so you don't waste them.</p><p>Power won't be an issue for the warden if they get their epic, but you might want to get some items like the Mark of Anxhfen (sp?) from the RE2 Standards collection to proc more power.     There are 3 or 4 nice items a warden can get that transfer a ton of power to the target - I think the effect to look for is Mana Leak.    There's an ear from a KJ questline in Jiinsk iirc, also a faction item in T8, one from a drop in Chelsith, and a fourth I can't remember off hand, sorry.    Can check my warden later.</p><p>Good luck <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Valahr]

<p>Thanks for the advice guys.  Loving the brig so far <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Dareena]

<p>I'd also suggest that you look into the various AA abilities in the TSO AA tab.  The Scout line lets you add a permanent +Mitigation value onto your Defensive Stance.  You can also upgrade its skill and +% Armor Effectiveness in the Rogue line.</p><p>Normally I'm not the biggest fan of these choices.  But if you're going to be duoing with a Warden and plan on trying to use your Defensive Stance a lot, these are some really nice choices.  Even my own Brigand main is planning on picking those up in the near future for my Heroic / Raid / BG spec.  I find that I'm often the relic holder in the Klak scenerio, which makes the defensive benefits rather attractive.  Also it's my observation that your average scout runs around the BGs in ther Offensive Stance / Song, so you can often still hit them while defensive.  They're also nice when you're hunting after mage classes in the BG since you can usually still hit them while in defensive.</p>