This is just a guess, but are they DPS spec'd toons that play as tanks? Or are they just ***hole tanks? LOL. Been seeing this phrase alot lately. Edited October 2, 2017 by doohickeyexpress

I think I've just figured it out- is it Tank spec'd with DPS gear?

I think I've just figured it out- is it Tank spec'd with DPS gear?

 

Yes. Usually a PvP thing. If I tank pve I run tank spec and gear.

Not only that they are Tanks with DPS gear, they also have the potential to deal same/more damage than the DPS specs themselves(Noticed more times that this actually happens).

 

So yeah, Jugg tank with dps gear, somehow, is the way to go :|

Edited October 3, 2017 by memerobot

is it Tank spec'd with DPS gear?

I always viewed skanking as using high health versions of mods and enhancements. It's most commonly done with tanks and dps stats, but you can skank any build. Same thing with stanking, trading power for defense (or using tank armorings on a dps spec).

 

For a skank tank specifically, it's using Advanced Lethal Mod 54B and Advanced Discipline Enhancement 54 in lieu of Advanced Lethal Mod 54 and Advanced Adept Enhancement 54.

 

Not only that they are Tanks with DPS gear, they also have the potential to deal same/more damage than the DPS specs themselves(Noticed more times that this actually happens).

They can generate some comparable AOE. Crushing Blow hits hard enough to account for Vengeful Slam and Shatter's dot, more or less, which is the bulk of Vengeance's AOE. Likewise Rage's Smash with procs. There also isn't much to fill in between Crushing Blow, and Sweeping Strikes applies trauma in Immortal, so they'll pick up some extra AOE damage there as well.

 

But based on my own periodic chances to benchmark myself against one of Harbinger's better skanks, Vengeance is still considerably higher DPS.

Edited October 4, 2017 by Ansultares

They can generate some comparable AOE. Crushing Blow hits hard enough to account for Vengeful Slam and Shatter's dot, more or less, which is the bulk of Vengeance's AOE. Likewise Rage's Smash with procs. There also isn't much to fill in between Crushing Blow, and Sweeping Strikes applies trauma in Immortal, so they'll pick up some extra AOE damage there as well.

 

But based on my own periodic chances to benchmark myself against one of Harbinger's better skanks, Vengeance is still considerably higher DPS.

 

Yes, presuming you can live long enough to get damage off vigi has substantially more damage and far and away better killing power.

 

Skanking has the advantage of sheer survival. I PvP with like 148k health and as you said guardian slash is a beast of an aoe. The people who skank and then play like it's dps are simply doing it wrong. The purpose of any tank in PvP is to mitigate damage to your team and be as big a nuisance as possible. Even with damage numbers, it's usually aoe fluff that's not really killing much.

 

In short, vigi has the damage advantage (as it obviously should being a dps spec), but poor survivability; skanking has the survivability at the sacrifice of killing power.id run tank gear if it felt like it did anything for me.

 

They can generate some comparable AOE. Crushing Blow hits hard enough to account for Vengeful Slam and Shatter's dot, more or less, which is the bulk of Vengeance's AOE. Likewise Rage's Smash with procs. There also isn't much to fill in between Crushing Blow, and Sweeping Strikes applies trauma in Immortal, so they'll pick up some extra AOE damage there as well.

 

But based on my own periodic chances to benchmark myself against one of Harbinger's better skanks, Vengeance is still considerably higher DPS.

 

 

"Generate some comparable AOE". Don't forget that the aoe can hit between +30k easily and reaching 43k(Can confirm this **** :| ) and that's just the attack in combination with the retaliation(I suppose it is that. If its crushing blow alone, don't nerf it, really)

Edited October 8, 2017 by memerobot

As a Darkness Tank I have two sets of gear I use.

 

Both sets share the same armor value, which is around 42%, but differ considerably in durability.

 

The tanking set has 130k health, but offers me 40% defense as well as a 60/50 shield (with ward up).

The skank tank set actually has more health, at 142k, but only offers 27% def with a terrible 40/30 shield (with ward).

 

When it comes to damage the second set has 50% crit, 75% crit damage and sees me pulling off a 13k assassinates or a 10k channelled bolt while the tanking set is lucky to hit 10k, and only has about a 23% crit chance.

 

I still share 3 pieces between sets, my earpiece and implants, because while dead my DPS is 0 but overall when running casual content I don't need to pull out my tanking gear (crisis on umbara is a little risky in skank tank gear on the train). Still, when it comes to PVP the 50% crit rate is so much nicer for trying to be useful!

"Generate some comparable AOE". Don't forget that the aoe can hit between +30k easily and reaching 43k(Can confirm this **** :| ) and that's just the attack in combination with the retaliation(I suppose it is that. If its crushing blow alone, don't nerf it, really)

 

While you will never find me denying guardian slash and it's unparalled aoe, I do find it necessary to point out that riposte is only a single target ability. It is not affecting by the warding call proc to guardian slash, but is enabled for use on one target by a guardian slash. I personally feel that a nerf here is unwarranted, however, because of the effect it would have on pve. I do not run crit or alacrity in Pve when tanking and for PvP I sacrifice power for endurance because my goal is to contribute the most to my teams chances of being victorious.

 

As a Darkness Tank I have two sets of gear I use.

The tanking set has 130k health, but offers me 40% defense as well as a 60/50 shield (with ward up).

The skank tank set actually has more health, at 142k, but only offers 27% def with a terrible 40/30 shield (with ward).

 

I too have a skank set and a tanking set for my guardians. My tank set sounds similar to yours. Offhand I only remember it's around 130k health.

 

My skank set runs high endurance dps everything, including a shield using dps b mod and enhancement. It is about 148k endurance. The only time I run this set is for PvP. The high health helps with burst damage (which is everywhere in PvP), while running my tank gear did not do anything of note to my mitigation.

 

And therein is the fundamental problem people have with skanking and it's solution. The damage is high for the survivability if you gear similarly to me (or swap health for power as many do). The solution is to somehow make tank gear useful because then tanks would run tank gear. I also recommend buffing guardian dps defensives as the squishiness is arguably one of the reasons dps guardians went skank.

Edited October 8, 2017 by KendraP

Yes, presuming you can live long enough to get damage off vigi has substantially more damage and far and away better killing power.

 

Skanking has the advantage of sheer survival. I PvP with like 148k health and as you said guardian slash is a beast of an aoe. The people who skank and then play like it's dps are simply doing it wrong. The purpose of any tank in PvP is to mitigate damage to your team and be as big a nuisance as possible. Even with damage numbers, it's usually aoe fluff that's not really killing much.

 

In short, vigi has the damage advantage (as it obviously should being a dps spec), but poor survivability; skanking has the survivability at the sacrifice of killing power.id run tank gear if it felt like it did anything for me.

 

Would you be willing to give a base build for what you're talking about? I'd really be fascinated to try this out myself.

Would you be willing to give a base build for what you're talking about? I'd really be fascinated to try this out myself.

 

I can tell you what I do, certainly. Exact numbers would have to come from later when I'm at my computer. Do keep in mind I only skank in PvP. For FP/ops/other PvE the defensive stats actually do help tanks.