Meant to post in the tank forums:

 

Getting my VG geared up for tanking. I've been trying to look for some cheap augments with high endurance. People are telling me not to bother and waste time, but rather get the defensive ones with defense or shield values.

 

Normally I would agree 100%, and I plan on going down that route. But at the moment to even get into an ops PuG group, you have to have a certain amount of health. If the majority of folks have more health than you, then they don't generally trust their tank. So that's why I'm aiming to get some augments with more health so that I get closer to the 40k health mark.

 

Is there anything wrong with that for now? I'll switch over to the more expensive and higher grade defensive augments once I get a decent set, but for now all I'm really worried about is my ops raid health shown to the group. Is there a better way to convince people you can do the job of tanking or off tanking in a 16 man ops run?

Yup, it's sad but that how it is. I once had my guardian tank, with full arkanian set, fully auge'd get kicked from TfB sm because it was "too low".

In any case, the blue fortitude augments should do the trick. Those are cheap. Or should be lol. Also, in order to boost hp, get rid of the nice bulwark/bastion or sturdiness/immunity stuff and get the comm gear enhancements. Those are heavy endurance too

Meant to post in the tank forums:

 

Getting my VG geared up for tanking. I've been trying to look for some cheap augments with high endurance. People are telling me not to bother and waste time, but rather get the defensive ones with defense or shield values.

 

Normally I would agree 100%, and I plan on going down that route. But at the moment to even get into an ops PuG group, you have to have a certain amount of health. If the majority of folks have more health than you, then they don't generally trust their tank. So that's why I'm aiming to get some augments with more health so that I get closer to the 40k health mark.

 

Is there anything wrong with that for now? I'll switch over to the more expensive and higher grade defensive augments once I get a decent set, but for now all I'm really worried about is my ops raid health shown to the group. Is there a better way to convince people you can do the job of tanking or off tanking in a 16 man ops run?

 

If that is indeed the case, there are a lot of people who have absolutely no clue what they're talking about. But this is the internet...

 

But to fully answer your question, the reason most people, myself included, would disagree with fortitude is because of the impact it has on your healers. While the endurance gives them more room, you're also taking more incoming damage. Go with the defensive augments, even at a lower gear level, so you aren't screwing yourself for higher end content. Health has nothing to do with the overall outcome of tanking, other than more health = more space for healers to do what they need to.

 

To be frank, if healers are having an issue keeping you alive with appropriate stat allocation, the issue isn't with you. Although, more recently, I have seen a lot of tanks rolling higher endurance in the current NiM content, but at that gear level, you can afford to with the amount of stats coming out of DF and DM gear levels.

Well atm I'm sitting at 36.6k unbuffed, or around 38k+ with stim on. I've seen people scoff at a below 40k tank or off tank in some ops. There seems to be this magical barrier around 40k that means you're a serious tank or not. Unfortunately, for folks who want to tank but are still gearing up, it's hard to hit that number without "fudging" it a bit.

 

It's not even HM's I'm talking about, its 16m Story modes. I've run them plenty on my dps and healers, but people don't notice as much if you aren't rocking the top dps the first time. I've even gone on ops healing when I was level 54, and we cleared them no problem. But the second some tank has below 40k health, they start to worry about his/her ability to tank.

 

So for now it seems like I'm gonna appease that itch. Get to 40k health and then start to sub out more defensive mods/enhancements and augments later. I doubt the OP healers we generally get would notice a difference. I've even ran as dps in the beginning to collect some tanking gear no one wanted.

Well atm I'm sitting at 36.6k unbuffed, or around 38k+ with stim on. I've seen people scoff at a below 40k tank or off tank in some ops. There seems to be this magical barrier around 40k that means you're a serious tank or not. Unfortunately, for folks who want to tank but are still gearing up, it's hard to hit that number without "fudging" it a bit.

 

It's not even HM's I'm talking about, its 16m Story modes. I've run them plenty on my dps and healers, but people don't notice as much if you aren't rocking the top dps the first time. I've even gone on ops healing when I was level 54, and we cleared them no problem. But the second some tank has below 40k health, they start to worry about his/her ability to tank.

 

So for now it seems like I'm gonna appease that itch. Get to 40k health and then start to sub out more defensive mods/enhancements and augments later. I doubt the OP healers we generally get would notice a difference. I've even ran as dps in the beginning to collect some tanking gear no one wanted.

 

Health is very deceiving on tanks. My groups I run, even pugs, tend to stay away from higher health tanks. Would much rather see a lower health tank with better mitigation than higher health with worse. But, that all boils down to the person running the group. Wish you luck though.

I don't think OP is wondering about what is best from an optimal stats point of view. For pugs, is all about size. Your stats, your mitigation are irrelevant if you are too far from 40k. Hell, even some guilds will require arkanian or superior to even sign up for sm ops.

Yes, this is seems to be the general mentality--I remember doing S&V SM a few weeks ago on my Sin tank (don't play on her much, but still had full arkanian, courtesy of my much better geared shadow) with around 36-37k health. Then the other sin comes, 46k health (accuracy in his implants, etc.), and the rest of the group is awestruck: "Wow, a pro tank" and "Wow, look at his health". Couldn't hold aggro though . Needless to say I was not impressed!

I do see a lot of tanks with health in the mid 30s accepted into story mode pug groups, but there are usually some concerned comments. I would much rather heal a tank who has 35k health but good defensive stats, than a tank with 46k health who is stacking endurance. I do notice how people are geared; I'm always inspecting players' gear and achievements to fill up the downtime until the ops starts (this is also a good chance to alert the ops leader that several people have never run the ops before and explanations of fights will be required). I'd be very concerned if I saw a tank who had only managed to reach the "magic" 40k by stacking fortitude augments, and it would make me wonder if he knew how to play his class. I did SnV a while ago with a vanguard tank who had over 42k health, but on inspection, a good third of his gear was strength!

Just get you a couple pieces of high endo gear to boost your health, then right before the first pull...swap them out. Then...when you don't wipe they will never notice.

I have shown in other forums that a vanguard tank who gets full Endurance Armoring ----

 

Advanced Supercommando Armoring 34

Mods ---- Advanced Weighted Mod 34B

Enhancements ---- Advanced Vigilant Mod 34

Augments ---- Advanced Fortitude Augment 28

 

gets you these stats with using the Fortitude Stim and using Commando Barrel 34......and someone to make Dread Forged Supercommando's Device For Ear and 2x Dread Forged Supercommando's MK-X Pakage and having Dread Forged Relics of the Fortunate Redoubt and Reactive Warding.... also made.

 

This will give you the stats

--Health of 51422.8

---Armor rating is 10765.4

---Damage Reduction is 52.47%

--- Defense Chance of 15.06%

---Shield Chance of 39.24%

---Absorb of 39.35%

 

Then Switch out to 36's for each piece as you get.....and get the Dread Masters Supercommando Device and 2 Dread Master Supercommando Mk-V package as well as Dread Master Relics of Fortunate Redoubt and Reactive Warding... to finish up end gaming gear and your stats increase too

 

This will give you the stats

--Health of 54576.4

---Armor rating is 11120.4

---Damage Reduction is 53.27%

--- Defense Chance of 16.19%

---Shield Chance of 40.45%

---Absorb of 39.33%

 

 

 

Endurance stacking done right... WINS! if you are able to do it... and you sacrifice nothing.....

I have shown in other forums that a vanguard tank who gets full Endurance Armoring ----

 

Advanced Supercommando Armoring 34

Mods ---- Advanced Weighted Mod 34B

Enhancements ---- Advanced Vigilant Mod 34

Augments ---- Advanced Fortitude Augment 28

 

gets you these stats with using the Fortitude Stim and using Commando Barrel 34......and someone to make Dread Forged Supercommando's Device For Ear and 2x Dread Forged Supercommando's MK-X Pakage and having Dread Forged Relics of the Fortunate Redoubt and Reactive Warding.... also made.

 

This will give you the stats

--Health of 51422.8

---Armor rating is 10765.4

---Damage Reduction is 52.47%

--- Defense Chance of 15.06%

---Shield Chance of 39.24%

---Absorb of 39.35%

 

Then Switch out to 36's for each piece as you get.....and get the Dread Masters Supercommando Device and 2 Dread Master Supercommando Mk-V package as well as Dread Master Relics of Fortunate Redoubt and Reactive Warding... to finish up end gaming gear and your stats increase too

 

This will give you the stats

--Health of 54576.4

---Armor rating is 11120.4

---Damage Reduction is 53.27%

--- Defense Chance of 16.19%

---Shield Chance of 40.45%

---Absorb of 39.33%

 

 

 

Endurance stacking done right... WINS! if you are able to do it... and you sacrifice nothing.....

 

If you're gonna endurance stack, get the +3% endurance talent!

 

52.7k hp > 51.4k hp

~57k hp > 54.5k hp

That was with the endurance talent... at least when I used askmr robot..... either way,..... its still amazing build....