Spar+t2 yellow cpt at once?

[NickSlaughter]

well, so some intro:
before my beloved LM friend left, i was starting to thinking about tanking in yellow for t2/endgame (cuz noone will like me as red). now i was studying more and thinking i can mix it up with Sparring (lot of ppl deserves punishment )
note: i am not skilled in yellow yet, i can miss some tricks just easily - any tips are welcomed and i will deal with them according to my situation

traits:
http://www.lotrottp.lotrostatus.com/l.php?c=2XF
blue: i like that mark, simply
red: i like the aspd, bleed and time of needs
yellow: (i will use FA LIs, other ones than for my Red build, but thinking about unimbued Emblem here)
tossed out Noble mark (i dont trust to it), In harm's way (i feel like i need decent geared ppl who will deal with it), Shrugs Blow Aside (i think i will get other Merrit Jewelry with tones of Crit def and its not getting over cap anyway, right? - or solve it with some Essence), i refuse to use Fellowship of the Shield (i never liked those or Brother's skills, except i like both here in yellow more)
Standard of Valour would be more handy as Ground targetted burgs, but i hope i will deal with that as its, same with 4/5 in Turning points (realy need pts for blue and red traits)

any intel welcomed, maybe i am wrong and i shouldnt try to multitask - ie use Gallant display for tanking... cuz no need for such bleed for t2, its there for Sparring


legacies:
Weapon:
Melee crit dmg, GW, Cpt aoe heal
Muster Courage Fear resist, Bleed dmg, Def. strike armour buff
7th? cutting strike/boe/battle hardened inc. dmg (dont have Crystals of remembrance)
--- here i can be wrong or no need for Crit dmg or GW at all, as it wouldnt do wonders - tips welcomed

Emblem (un imbued, cuz pulses):
Heal crit mag., Sure strike, Vocal heal
Bleed pulses, Shield of D., Last stand heal (even i dont like its change)
7th time of need


other thing is, how much resistance (if any), how much Inc healing should i have for tanking (willing to start with t2 like Sword halls and go up to Osgi t2)?

rest i can probably manage myself - discussion welcomed, shouts and trolls not :P

[Lunasa]

I do not spar, so my comments below are only for tanking PvE instances.

My selection of traits for tanking depends strongly on the group I run with. At the moment I have two tanking setups:

1) with a telling mark http://www.lotrottp.lotrostatus.com/l.php?c=2XK
2) with a rez http://www.lotrottp.lotrostatus.com/l.php?c=2XL

The 1st option I use in the boss fights where the telling mark would really make a difference. The second option is my default tanking setup because an instant rez is always handy. When you are tanking it is almost impossible to use a 4s induction so not having the Blood of Numenor trait is like not having a rez at all. I had these two builds combined into one when the Telling Mark legacy still existed. Since U16you have to take the Advantageous Attack trait to have the 10% Telling Mark and I can't afford having it and Blood of Numenor at the same time.

Noble Mark - I love it. With tanking gear I have 50k morale and the Noble Mark heals me for more than the Revealing one. But that's not why I use it. Noble Mark is a great tool for pulling or for grabbing agro from ranged mobs. It is always available, while the Battle Shout can be on cooldown. In most cases 10s into the fight I would replace the Noble Mark with Revealing or Telling - depending on my traits.

In Harm's Way - I love it. Of course, the skill is very situational so I will give a couple of examples where I use it:
a) At the start of a pull with >6 mobs. I know that some of them can go after the healer or dps, so I use In Harms Way to protect my fellows. If needed I would follow it with the Last Stand.
b) During the long fights where I have agro and no one else is taking any damage. Then I use this skill for the extra 20% damage reduction it gives.

Fellowship of the Shield - I can't imagine playing a captain without fellowship buffs. This is the nature of a captain. Many classes can hold agro and survive hits nowadays, captains are the only tanks who also buff their fellows, offheal and even rez - I am trying all tools available for improving the performance of other members in the group.

Critical defence: with golden epic battle jewelry, a new cloak and some LI titles I have about 55% crit defence. No essences or traits added. Now I do use the Shrug Blows Aside trait to get over 60% crit defence to give me some extra protection against devastate hits. It is not really needed.

Bleeds - I don't like spending trait points on bleed damage traits. Bleeds generate agro over time, but for a single target a threatening shout + grave wound are enough to keep agro anyway, and with AoE agro bleeds don't help. Instead I am relying quite a lot on healing agro and this is reflected in the legacies I choose (AoE healing and Battle-hardened outgoing healing on the weapon, multiple healing legacies on the imbued emblem). I do inform my healers that they should not heal me at the start of the fight. The major reason I made separate LIs for tanking is to slot there relics with partial avoidance, the choice of legacies is quite close to those on my dps sword and my healing emblem.


My main advice would be: go and try to tank. You may change your opinion about many skills and traits after that. I know captains who love tanking and have very different priorities in traits, legacies or essences. As long as you can do the job and enjoy it - it is all fine

[NickSlaughter]

2) with a rez ttp://www.lotrottp.lotrostatus.com/l.php?c=2XL

not working link

Noble Mark - I love it. With tanking gear I have 50k morale and the Noble Mark heals me for more than the Revealing one. But that's not why I use it. Noble Mark is a great tool for pulling or for grabbing agro from ranged mobs. It is always available, while the Battle Shout can be on cooldown. In most cases 10s into the fight I would replace the Noble Mark with Revealing or Telling - depending on my traits.

good point, i was reading it wrong... but i think i will have around 40k+ hps (imho 50k is overkill, waste of other essences slots or your healer is completly low)
so wondering how to test it, if its healing a lot if 40k total morale vs blue mark
i agree with that aggro use

In Harm's Way - Fellowship of the Shield - I can't imagine playing a captain without fellowship buffs. This is the nature of a captain. Many classes can hold agro and survive hits nowadays, captains are the only tanks who also buff their fellows, offheal and even rez - I am trying all tools available for improving the performance of other members in the group.

i gave up... i see your point, but exactly cuz many classes can hold aggro etc. nowdays, they play like ######s - many of them completly ignore my aura, many of them taunt mob/boss to nowhere or run themselves out of my Standard range... and many of them feel butthurt, if i notified them after
realy cant be bothered anymore and much more with those 2 traits - In Harms Way+FS of the shield - u dont deserve it and i dont wanna waste my time/induction and trait pts with that (also the duration of those Brother skills is short and for fs, has range and just 60%, realy NO atm.)

Critical defence: with golden epic battle jewelry, a new cloak and some LI titles I have about 55% crit defence. No essences or traits added. Now I do use the Shrug Blows Aside trait to get over 60% crit defence to give me some extra protection against devastate hits. It is not really needed.

i am at 47% as Red atm, using 2greater crit def ess and 3rd set Earing (rest i use 1st and 2nd sets = no crit def) - and i think i will more rather spare some essence slots than traits for Shrug atm. - so i think i will pass Shrug

Bleeds

its there mainly for sparring purpose

My main advice would be: go and try to tank. You may change your opinion about many skills and traits after that.

thats for sure, just i got some ideas, now i wish some intel, as its not cheapest to redo all LIs, or swap essences every week, if u are fresh player without treasure vault
thx for some tips, mainly the Mark ones

[Lunasa]

not working link

Fixed it.

As for sparring purpose, I hope someone can give you more hints. In PvE I do find it easier to solo tough mobs in Red spec with a revealing mark, I find that in yellow my dps is too low and the power consumption is just huge. No idea how that would work in Ettens, sure you will not die in Yellow, but would you be able to kill?

[NickSlaughter]

Fixed it.

As for sparring purpose, I hope someone can give you more hints. In PvE I do find it easier to solo tough mobs in Red spec with a revealing mark, I find that in yellow my dps is too low and the power consumption is just huge. No idea how that would work in Ettens, sure you will not die in Yellow, but would you be able to kill?

working, now i see many ppl dont like Stun from Terrifying Bellow - indeed i like it as i dont use many aoes (or this one, so on CD after and i dislike PA = i dont cancel my stuns myself)
indeed i like it for sparring, to get me some time to rebuff, heal, etc.

not bothered with Ettens, i am not vip anymore and i dont feel like this game deserves more money from my pocket for ###### contest (exactly Ettens...)

about Revealing mark, or overally PvE and marks... i use those only in case of ie DA exercises, when pulling 2groups togheter, clearing trash with standard+Routing cry at once and keep it swiftly against cpts with minimal risk/time to recover
or sometimes against ie Sign Half trolls, means mobs with 40k+ hps - otherwise its waste of time, the induction etc., i can just trash them quicker
i use Telling mark just against Sammy or BB bosses, just cuz some weird habbit (normaly its more effective to spam only Shame and Standard anyway and u will get them before the buffs are gone easily) - imho its like... too much time wasted with those inductions against easy contest

which is similar about why i fail in Sparring as red... too long till i can devasted them, overbuff myself - thats reason to go Yellow, less skills, chains, buffs = less time needed to start kicking... and much more higher survival

funny is, how ppl understimate or dont know cpts - i will make notes, how many ppl will fail spar with me just cuz Last Stand
even, i have to admit here that i went yellow just mainly cuz low annoying kinnies trying to spar me like... i go stealth and one hit kill backstab or LM with their zoo skill - nothing to do with that as red and close combat char isnt big win aswell

[Lunasa]

working, now i see many ppl dont like Stun from Terrifying Bellow - indeed i like it as i dont use many aoes (or this one, so on CD after and i dislike PA = i dont cancel my stuns myself)
indeed i like it for sparring, to get me some time to rebuff, heal, etc.

It is a very nice trait and I have all 3 ranks of it in my solo dps build. Just not for tanking when I am in a group. It happens that most of the time I ran 3mans with a yellow traited LM who can do an exceptional damage against stunned targets. If I stun mobs around me, and LM may not always react fast enough to use it for his benefit. And later the mobs will get stun immunity. In this case I prefer to let LM all the stunning himself and keep just one point in Terrifying Bellow as an AoE interrupt When I happen to be in a group with no cc, I may retrait... I retrait really often, yes, it is costly, but I just like too many traits and it is not possible to have all of them all the time.

i use Telling mark just against Sammy or BB bosses, just cuz some weird habbit (normaly its more effective to spam only Shame and Standard anyway and u will get them before the buffs are gone easily) - imho its like... too much time wasted with those inductions against easy contest

which is similar about why i fail in Sparring as red... too long till i can devasted them, overbuff myself - thats reason to go Yellow, less skills, chains, buffs = less time needed to start kicking... and much more higher survival

funny is, how ppl understimate or dont know cpts - i will make notes, how many ppl will fail spar with me just cuz Last Stand
even, i have to admit here that i went yellow just mainly cuz low annoying kinnies trying to spar me like... i go stealth and one hit kill backstab or LM with their zoo skill - nothing to do with that as red and close combat char isnt big win aswell

i use Telling mark just against Sammy or BB bosses, just cuz some weird habbit (normaly its more effective to spam only Shame and Standard anyway and u will get them before the buffs are gone easily) - imho its like... too much time wasted with those inductions against easy contest

As I mentioned earlier, I like buffing fellows. Yes, quite often I would spend all time buffing and can barely make any big hits myself. For me the main rewards are the happy exclamations of those champs and hunters, huge dps numbers they link with CombatAnalysis plugin and a lot of thankful tells I get for well timed buffs. A Telling Mark can (and should) be placed before the fight starts. When I know the fight will be short (those BB bosses are a good example) I use Time of Need and Routing Cry (attack speed buff for champs if they are around) also before the first attack, then in various order To Arms, Oathbreakers, Standard of War and one sure strike for Relentless buff... only then if the mob is still alive I may start my dps rotation. If I do want to land big hits myself, I log my hunter

When I am tanking, I have a similar attitude and use To Arms often for a dps boost rather than for self defense. Yes it is only 15% more damage for your shield brother, but it is more than any other tank would give, so I use this skill. Captain buffs is THE reason why I prefer to tank on a captain and not on my guardian which is fully geared as well.