Guard or Zerk?

[Conquerer4]

Hey,

Im new the world of tanking but i have experience in the game as a 70 Warden, 70 Swashie, and 70 Conjuror. I was looking to start a new alt and i wanted to start a class that is the total opposite of healing, casting, and sneaking.....tank....(which is only type ive never tried)

 

i want to be able to do above average damage but be able to hold my grounds versing heroics....i also want to be able to solo when i want but still be main tank in groups.....what would the best of the two classes be for me? Berserker or Guardian?

 

i would appreciate your opinions on this topic and look forward to reading them

 

Burrita- 70 Warden

Spawnz-70 Swashbuckler

Arguleon- 70 Conjuror

[Daghammerskold]

i want to be able to do above average damagetanks, and especially warriors, do below average damage, kinda by definition. But of the 2 zerkers do more damage. but be able to hold my grounds versing heroics....either does that at least as well as any class in the game.i also want to be able to solo when i wantI think zerkers solo a bit betterbut still be main tank in groups....either does that at least as well as any class in the game.what would the best of the two classes be for me? Berserker or Guardian?based on the above 4 criteria, berserker.That said I will go a little more in depth.  I am facing the same question.  So I decided to roll both.  I already took the zerker to 30 and now I have my guardian half-way there.I have played mostly scouts and the zerker felt more natural right off the bat but I wanted to give the guardian a fair chance.I thought soloing would be an issue for me but in practice I found myself always in groups.  I start groups when I want one, if you don't like doing that the zerker will give you more ability to solo while waiting for someone else to get a group going.In a group they are almost identical, almost all CAs are more or less the same, just slightly different flavor. Zerker buffs health regen, guard increases health pool, stuff like that.The only thing that I see so far (from spell lists) that give the guardian an edge as a tank is that in place of Berserk (haste and dps buff proc) guardian buffs defense. And perhaps more important guardians get the Allay line (group friend hate reducer) to keep your over-active caster friends standing longer.I had a lot of fun leveling my berserker but right now I think I am going to stay with the guardian for my new main. Playing both at least into tier 2 is probably the only way to really get the feel of which is right for you

[Wabit]

zerker is the way you should go, zerker dps is way better than guards...  heroics it don't matter who tanks really, all 6 classes take about the same damage...  soloing well zerker is faster just cause of the dps they have...

you might wanna consider SK or a brawler too, they are way better at soloing, do nice dps, and can tank heroics with ease...

[Terron]

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Daghammerskold wrote:The only thing that I see so far (from spell lists) that give the guardian an edge as a tank is that in place of Berserk (haste and dps buff proc) guardian buffs defense. And perhaps more important guardians get the Allay line (group friend hate reducer) to keep your over-active caster friends standing longer.

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That's about it for guardian advantages until level 52 when we get reinforcement.

[Makkaio]

It completely depends on how you set up your traits, AAs and equipment.  I'm not getting into the long, boring details here.  But I solo my guard a lot better than a couple of my zerker buddies.  And I haven't compromised my ability to tank for groups.

[Razorbak]

Both tank well but the main difference i have seen is the the zerker gives up a little in defensive abilities and gains a little on offensive.  And at the end game levels for big raids, guardians seem to be a little more prefered then a zerk.

[Aar]

For an alt, Zerker is almost always the better choice.  More dps means faster levelling and more fun.   Zerkers buff the groups attack skills a lot more than a guardian, and put out more damage themselves.  Also, its not until 52+ that guardians start to excell in survivability (tower of stone can be huge as a tool to keep you alive the next couple of rounds).  Even at the high end, many guilds run with a zerker main tank because gear and player skill make more of a difference than the zerker vs guard debate, and zerkers tend to be able to hold agro better due to their increased dps.You may also consider a brawler.   Leather is so much cheaper to buy than metal based armors.  From my experience, you can pick up a full suit of mastercrafted armor and weapons / have it made cheaper than the cost of a couple pieces of platemail.

[FightGame]

I'm having lots of fun with my zerker.  Although I know alot about a guardian, I've never played one, so I really shouldn't compare.  But I do know this...using the right gear with as much mitigation and attributes (str-agi-sta-wis) as possible but also with the highest resist (heat, cold, poison, etc) for whatever type fight you're up against, along with adept3 or master spells, and most importantly: knowing your character and doing what you have to at the right time - is what makes or breaks a tank.  It's the people that don't have the proper gear, upgraded spells, and knowledge of the game that gives the guard or zerker a bad name and this is why people start thinking one class is better than the other.

If the guard and zerker are equally equipped, all spells upgraded, both know their toon and the zone well, can both hold aggro, then it's a toss up.  Then people should look at guard vs zerker and what buffs or whatever they bring to the group.

All too often I see people saying one class is better than the other, or that one class was able to do something that the other could not.  What they failed to look at was the things I listed above, like mitigation, spells, knowledge, etc.  Or maybe one of the classes had a different group make-up when they were able to do (or not do) something that the other did (or did not do).  Had nothing to do with zerk vs guard.  Example:  a friend asked me to come finish the HOF zone for their group...because the pick-up guardian kept dieing and could't hold aggro.  I went, and on the way in, I passed the guard.  He had all crafted, and a couple dropped treasured pieces of gear.  Mitigation was about 4000, and other attributes were rather low.  I went in, and we finished no problem.  A few people in the group started the whole guard vs zerker thing and how guards can't hold aggro.  I could've just been like...ya zerks are better...but I didn't.  I was honest and quickly poited out that they picked up a more casual player that didn't have upgrades.  Also pointed out that if the healers don't cure trauma ASAP in there, it doesn't matter who's tanking it.  Not to mention the plain old bad luck factor.  If a MT has a couple taunts resisted and loses aggro, people may think they can't hold aggro, when in reality, even with master spells they can get resisted.  If they happen to have this happen twice in a row (which is quite possible) people will surely think they are the wrong tank. 

Message Edited by FightGame on 07-05-2006 03:45 PM

[BetaMaster]

I play a lvl 70 guardian and a real life friend of mine plays a lvl 70 zerker.  We are both raid tanks so we have our stuff pretty much upgraded with comprable gear.  There are times when we let him tank on raids for fun and he does a decent job but sometimes runs into problems keeping the aggro on him.

 

He played my character once when the guild was doing a raid that I needed an update in but I couldn't make it online and the next day he told me, "No wonder you guys keep aggro so well, you have so many more taunts than I do!"

 

Guardians do have an array of taunt spells but the zerker flavor is a bit different.  Zerkers acquire hate thru dmg and taunts while guardians lack on the dmg and rely straight thru their taunting ability (not saying guardian dps is useless.... just saying it's less)

 

The main thing that he realized while playing my character is the difference in the guard/zerker Hold the Line series.  On a guardian, hold the line is a 50% chance to proc when hit, and zerker is a 20%chance.  This allows guardians to hold aggro better over time, but the zerker's ability to do burst dmg/aggro is better than a guards, they are better at grabbing aggro.

 

So the styles..... Zerker = dmg tank that is good at grabbing aggro, Guard = defensive tank that is good at keeping aggro.  At lvl 52, guardians get reinforcement which is a HUGE!!!! spell for us, it allows us to climb the hate list to gain aggro well, and after that our HTL will keep it for us (for the most part), zerkers get a big area taunt which is great in times when people pull random adds or if you decide to pull 2 or more groups of mobs.

 

Both tanks have their uses, Guardians tend to stand out more as far as a raid tank, but zerkers can be a bit more fun.  Always remember tho, EQ2 is a Roleplaying game and every class has it's own role that it can fill.  No class is purely better than another... there are just situations when certain classes excell.

 

~Abomidable Level 70 Ogre Guardian~

~~~~~Lords of the Triple Moons~~~~~

~~~~~~~~Ex-Ardent Legion~~~~~~~~

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~~Firebolt Level 70 Erudite Warlock~~

~~~~~Lords of the Triple Moons~~~~~