NA Espei's PvE Tanking Guardian

[Espei]

I do not claim to be an expert on the class. A lot of how I got here is from reading various guides and just playing the game. But I figured it would be nice to share my point of view on the class.

I rarely PvP and when I do it's just against my guild mates when the occasion rises. This build can be used for PvP and it fairs well enough from what little PvP I have done. I focus on the PvE aspect and most of my skill choices are geared towards SDN and being the main tank for my guild.

The build is pretty standard but I will go into how I use the skills and how I play as a tanker. Your play style will vary but should work for anyone.

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Physical Paladin (40 Cap)
Cleric 151/250, Paladin 226/250, Guardian 0/250

Guardian (50 Cap)
Cleric 151/312, Paladin 287/312, Guardian 50/312

The 50 build takes the option of dual ultimate into consideration therefore there is 10 SP saved

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Spoiler: Skill Explanations 

Roundhouse Kick / Holy Kick
The key to being a physical Paladin is to have at least the Superb Roundhouse Kick plate with -50% action speed. Ideally you will want Superb Holy Kick plate with -50% action speed (this one is generally cheaper too). With the two together you will double your damage output.

Block
Basic skill for being a tanker. Being able to block 9 hits is more than enough IMO.

Aura of Healing
Another basic skill for a Cleric that you should have to save your teammates and yourself.

Provoke
A very important skill for a tanker. Level 6 Provoke with Superb Provoke plate for duration will allow you to have permanent aggro on mobs. Especially important in later Nests.

Stance of Faith
To be honest I rarely use this skill but each person is different and it is still a useful skill so get it.

Armor Break
Great skill that breaks SA and lowers defense of the enemy. Not to mention great damage. Spam it when you can to help your physical based teammates to land harder hits. And also works well for your kicks too.

Elemental Aura
Increases fire and ice elemental damage as well as increase the defense against said elements. Very important for SDN and Arch Bishop.

Conviction Aura
Not important for Guadians as their attacks are physical. Crusaders would max this skill though.

Divine Punishment
There are people who want to max this but knowing that we will most likely get a nerf I see no point in putting points in it. The nerf will cap the damage reflection to 100% of your own damage and being tanks that doesn't amount for anything.

Iron Will
Another defensive skill which reduces damage taken. Important for a tank for obvious reasons but you can leave it at the level needed to get Heart of Glory.

Heart of Glory
Your ultimate. This is a buff that greatly increases your capabilities. It ignores any knock down skills making you invincible during the buff. Get a Superb plate for duration.

[Espei]

Spoiler: Suffix Recommendations 

Pre-40
Before level 40 you do not get the craft that makes you a tank so just get what maximizes your damage to help you kill faster.

Armour: Brutal
Main: Destructive
Off-hand: Destructive

40+
If you are going to tank Life-giving is a must. It has VIT bonus plus recovers % of your max HP when hit. Not to mention it has the shortest cool down out of all the crafts. The value also stacks with multiple pieces. Your helm is the only piece that cannot be Life-giving.

Head: Intellect (You can also craft Brutal but I use Intellect for the chance at reducing magic damage)
Body/Leg/Glove/Shoes: Life-giving
Main: Destructive or Life-giving
Off-hand: Destructive or Life-giving

Notes:
After some thought if you are going for SDN main tank role it may actually be more beneficial for you to opt for Life-giving weapon set. The stat bonus you get from crafting is the same. The only difference I found is either you go for roughly 2% heal per hit or 50% extra damage.

Update (13.02.12)
I've crafted my Apocalypse Mace for Life-giving (still looking for shield mats... T_T) and now I really do not lose HP when Nesting. I have yet to test it for Apocalypse Hell but even without the weapon craft I have been able to get out pretty much unscathed. The real test will be when we get SDN but so far I think it's a good choice for those going the full-support tank role.

Hidden Potential:
Strength
Vitality
HP

Spoiler: Enhancement / Skill Plates 

Enhancement Plates:
Must have enhancement crests. The remaining slots are whatever you like.

• Life-giving
• Health
• Sturdy
• Adorned
• Destructive
• Brutal

Skill Plates:

• Roundhouse Kick (-50% Action Speed)
• Holy Kick (-50% Action Speed) (Can be replaced with Armor Break or Iron Will)
• Heart of Glory (Duration)
• Provoke (Duration)

Spoiler: Accessories 

Try to get Epic grade accessories when you can as most of your damage will come from these but don't go all out until 40 to save yourself some money. 40+ is when your gear really starts to count.

Leveling:
Brutal Earring
Brutal Necklace
Destructive Ring (x2)

Nest/Tanking:
Vital Earring
Vital Necklace
Destructive Ring (x2)

Hidden Potentials:
Physical Damage (Rings)
Strength
Vitality
HP

[Espei]

In the process of editing and making it look pretty.

[Garganta]

This looks good, too bad I'm going Crusader.

[AeroSol]

I've always wondered why every pally I see uses Destructive / Magic Power / Intellect / Light on weapons, but never Life-Giving. I mean, it's 2% Heal per 10 seconds. Shed some light?

[Espei]

Healing per hit may be nice but I prefer to boost what little damage I do when possible so that I can keep my sanity when running regular dungeons (which is usually done solo).

When tanking I generally do not attack as much and when I do it's after casting Heart of Glory. I'm not looking to heal 2% every 10 seconds but would rather cause more damage during that time frame.

For those using Intellect, it's an 8 second debuff... that's much more helpful than healing a bit of HP. I feel that the armour heals more than enough for a bonus.

That's not to say you can't put Life-giving on your weapons. It's really more of a preference with these pieces I believe. On a side note I've read somewhere that the suffix effects from weapon does not stack with armour so... less reason to imo.

[Xiaozilu]

pretty happy to see such kind of detailed guide for us pallies. good job! I will try put together a guide for cruds sometime later this week if i got time.

[Espei]

Haha, thanks.

The world needs more tanks. >D And I noticed most of the guides out there just show you a build and it's like figure the rest out...

[KBSwing]

Holy !#@$#$.. Exactly what I was looking for.

I ust created a Cleric and he's a Tank Guardian to be with some PvP as well. Thanks a lot. Will be hijacking and asking questions on your thread from time to time. XD

[aquamarin]

Nice guide! A lot of what you thought is similar to mine, except I am slightly more leaning toward PvP (all that really means is putting leveling Sliding knee kick to lv 3, and getting counter attacks like divine ascension).

- I notice you put a lot of points on block (lv 8 at 40) is that really necessary? I have it on lv 4 and it serves its purpose fine enough. You can usually dodge after blocking anyway.

- I personally don't level stance of faith much either (just don't like it), but I've heard seen quite a few people telling you to max that... What's your reason for not doing that?

- Isn't provoke lv 4 + epic crest enough for permanent attention grabbing? I guess if you don't want to cast provoke every time it's done cooling down, you can level it more... but seems a bit unnecessary to me.

- What's your opinion on sturdy/adorned suffix? You may not have as much HP, but when factoring in defense/magic defense, your effective HP is still great with those suffixes.