Looking for a hybrid tank Hu/Fi build

[ews1114]

Recently I've been searching for a tank build with a small boost on damage
sadly most links i found are dead and there are so little results of it

I decided to maximize guard stance
not sure if i should max war cry
is absorption a good skill? should i max it if i max guard stance
should i max flash tech guard and automate?
im getting partizan and swordgear too,i use partizan more often though
ill get brave and wise stance on Fighter tree till level5 and max chase advance

sorry for the trouble to anyone willing to help, I appreciate it
post a skill build if you would like to,it'll really help
Thanks again. *Going off* (~._.)~
i made a dewman btw, but i dont care about the small stat difference

[UnLucky]

Well first of all, not going Fury Stance cuts your damage in half. Most players simply try to Just Guard everything to avoid damage altogether as opposed to reducing it assuming you do get hit.

With that out of the way, yes, Absorption is a good skill so long as you're running Guard Stance. Maxed War Cry lets you grab the attention of any nearby target the moment it is cast for its entire duration no matter how much damage/hate you have. If you're serious about tanking with pitiful damage, you'll need WC.

Guard Stance Up is crap. Maxed, it's only 10% Striking reduction (and 50 S-Def). Guard Stance itself reduces incoming Striking damage as well as the damage penalty by 1% per SP, and gives a lot more S-Def per point as well. If you want further damage reduction, Flash Guard gives 20% against Striking+Ranged for 10 SP, and 30% from Flash Tech Guard.

This would be more of a pure tanking Hunter build (http://ryuhiroshi.funpic.de/pso2/skillcalc.php?05gEb3Ikb3Ikb3Ikb3Ikb3Ikb3Ikb3Ik0lbk IkbjmxgDIdfcKfcB00000jebrbGAbnGFf2Nin0000ib000009b 00000ib000000lb000000lb00000f), but Rare Mastery could go into Sword Gear instead.

You could also try more of a hybrid build like this (http://ryuhiroshi.funpic.de/pso2/skillcalc.php?05gEb3Ikb3Ikb3Ikb3Ikb3Ikb3Ikb3Ik0lbk IqBqKcB2XIniklb00000jebrbGAbnGFf2Nin0000ib000009b0 0000ib000000lb000000lb00000f), taking more damage that works with Guard Stance and all weapon Gears, less total damage mitigation but with a very reliable failsafe (Iron Will). You could also drop something for Automate if you'd like.

[NeverDT]

75% isn't even close to "very reliable". Worse yet, IW does absolutely nothing to help you up if it does proc and you may as well get pasted by the next stray turret shot that comes your way. If you must have any skill for "tanking", it should be automate. Why?

Guard Stance overrides Fury Stance. FS is the main skill tree-based source of damage for HuFi and **Hu, so you don't really want to miss out on it. Yes I know people like tanking, and I used to too, but we'll get to that.

Iron Will doesn't have 100% proc and requires 5 points in a terrible, terrible skill (considering how slow many enemies move and how fast rangers or forces can kill them anyway).

Flash Guard requires you to get through the swamp that is the right side of the hunter skill tree and then spend 10 points per skill to actually get it to work consistently. If this were something more reasonable like 5 points, it might be vaguely worth considering, but it's not.

That leaves us with Automate. Automate requires maxing for 100% proc rate, but saves you the ponderous amount of time that dimates or trimates take to use and uses them as soon as you drop below 50% HP. In terms of not wasting points, which is kind of a big deal for hunter because of JA/FS bonuses, automate is your best choice if you adopt the "I plan to get hit" mentality. And some people do, and I'm okay with this, because that's what tanking is about; I just don't go along with that mentality in this game.

Also, Just Guard is not an option if you main hunter, it's pretty much a requirement. If you get good with JG, dodge, and mobility-based PAs you won't really need automate.

I might have some other things to add in later, but suffice it to say that being a tank is really underwhelming (if not useless or even counterproductive) in lategame content, and it really doesn't take that much to be durable.

[ews1114]

thank you for your replies both of you
i never planned to take IW though, not my type of skill to use :I
btw is it okay if i gave up automate and go for absorption instead?
ill reconsider taking warcry since you're right about mobs moving slow

[strikerhunter]

thank you for your replies both of you
i never planned to take IW though, not my type of skill to use :I
btw is it okay if i gave up automate and go for absorption instead?

Automate is an auto trigger skill whereas absorption is relies on you and others killing mobs.

It's your decision on whether it's okay or not, but I say keep Automate over Absorb.

[UnLucky]

Well Automate doesn't help you one bit if the attack can kill you. It's also more expensive to grab than Iron Will, even if you didn't want War Cry and you already had Sword Gear. And you can't take/pick up Monomates or the skill becomes less useful.

Either IW or AM are valid choices if you really want to sacrifice some damage, but if you like using WC at all then IW looks better in my eyes.

War Cry is mostly for bosses. Or rather, only for enemies that take longer than 30s to kill. It's nearly useless for mobbing since the target you use it on dies quickly anyway, and after the initial activation all you're getting is some increased Hate generation which probably still won't be enough to grab aggro. But you can keep aggro on a target indefinitely if you keep refreshing it.

Absorption is a totally different animal, though. It's not retaliatory at all, and won't work on bosses without adds. It's mostly to keep you topped up in the middle of a group of mobs, which Automate can do as well. Just the worst part about it is it requires Guard Stance be active.

[Blundy]

IW+Automate turns you into berserker, you're hilariously immortal. But the cost can add up if you're getting knocked around a lot.


Also i -think- guard stance actually only raises strike defense. It does lower R attack though (yours).

[NeverDT]

I can count on two hands the number of attacks that will kill you in one hit (~800 HP) and half of them are so hilariously easy to dodge or block that you shouldn't be getting hit by them anyway. Even then, with affixed ragne units you may very well have >1000 HP anyway. I do, although I wish I didn't.

Between Absorption requiring GS, and the fact that it's very limited in usefulness against bosses (and even solo, because of the low damage you'll have due to using GS over FS) I wouldn't bother with it. I didn't mention Absorption earlier because my hunter trees were set some time before that skill was even in the game.

[Zenobia]

That's the thing about affixing HP on your units you only need it if you get hit a lot....as HP in this game is another form of defense.

[ews1114]

i guess ill go with the build everyone chooses..i always try to get hp on my units after all...currently wearing units that made my hp went up to 550 and im lvl30 :p thanks everyone

[Maninbluejumpsuit]

If I had to pick a 'tanking' ability, I'd be apart of the automate club over iron will. Also, a skill tree that emphasizes damage with something to keep you alive is better than having a 'tank build with a small boost of damage' mostly because of automate halfline alone effectively making a huge extension on your total HP, and fury stance is too strong to ever really consider taking it off for the sake of guard stance. Automate halfline alone should be enough to make you extremely durable as long as you don't:

1: get one shot from 50% or more of your hp
2: get your arse kicked while lagging
3: take multi hits faster than automate can trigger (eg: quartz dragon's rain of doom)
4: carry monomates

Despite this list, it's the most reliable cheat-death-effect.

http://ryuhiroshi.funpic.de/pso2/skillcalc.php?05gAb3Ikb3Ikb3Ikb3Ikb3Ikb3Ikb3Ik0lbI nqnGDbn4QI2cAcAfGA000006ebHoGAboGKIbcA00007b000009 b00000ib000000lb000000lb00000f

6 points leftover. 4 can be used for just guard. Last two could be a combination weapon gears, an extra few % damage, or war cry if that's your preference.

[Xaelouse]

automate is great on super-armor attacks. That includes the majority of wired lance PAs and overend on sword

[UnLucky]

Also i -think- guard stance actually only raises strike defense. It does lower R attack though (yours).
Oh right, it was the other way around. Reduces both outgoing damage types while only protecting you from Striking.

[loool]

I'm making a Tank of Te/Hu. Instead of S-ATK, I'll use T-ATK. So far the result is kind of disappointing. Techer just suck at Tech without Fo.

Here is my skill tree. It might get you an idea what are trying to build.

http://ryuhiroshi.funpic.de/pso2/skillcalc.php?05eAb3Ikb3Ikb3Ikb3Ikb3Ikb3Ikb3Ikjdt9 bkI4OjkkGDIdfJkfdn00000lb000009b000009b00000ib0000 00j4O6cFHXHSlh00007b00000f

[Babbit55]

While i understand you plan on going Hu/Fi as a tank though would a better plan be Hu/Te for the better buffs (and damage reduction on Deband) along with the ability to heal, so a Paladin if you will.

[Pillan]

I have been playing around with tanking on Hunter for a little while now. My recommendation is to grab sword gear. Sword gear is around 2x damage to swords when it is at 3 charges, so grab that to make up for the lack of fully investing in Fury. I was satisfied with the Flash Guard route and found that Flash Guard 2 is just overkill. My recommendation is to just max Flash Guard 1, Flash Tech Guard, grab Sword Gear, grab Just Guard, and throw the rest into Fury. Fighter has more than enough points to net you the Step Attack and Just Reversal.

That said, combined with a strike resist armor, you will be taking nearly half the damage of everyone else wearing vardha sets even with Fury Stance on.

[gigawuts]

For a tank build braver might be better with JR Cover, but it means sacrificing the better damage from the stances (which is pretty vital if you're gutting your fury damage).

[Pillan]

I would not bother with Just Reversal Cover since half the sword arts are immune to knockdown anyway. But I assume anyone going a defense route is specializing in swords. 20% HP for a skill I never want to have to use in the first place feels like a waste of 5 points.

[gigawuts]

If we're going to be splitting hairs and talking about not having to use skills, why even discuss tanking in the first place?

In the real game even sword users get knocked down.

<- sword user, gets knocked down

[Pillan]

Oh, I agree with you there, which is why I mentioned grabbing Just Reversal from the subclass. It is just the "is 20% worth 5 points when I am using a weapon that gets knocked down significantly less than everything else?" where I disagree.

[gigawuts]

Honestly, that might have been true about a year ago, but swords get knocked down more than wired lances nowadays (which really are the better boss tusslers these days due to better guard canceling, range on normals, mobility on PAs, precision on PAs, and more options for ways and locations to deal damage with PAs [i.e. other spin functioning like deadly archer - damage at a distance for breaking parts]).

After the addition of cerberus dance's and wild round's ability to guard cancel, plus the ability to guard cancel sooner during normal attacks than swords can, swords stopped being the go-to boss weapon for a lot of people I know. They've really fallen behind. The only things swords seem to have going for themselves anymore are just over end and sonic arrow. That's it. Everything else they have is outpaced by other weapons. Yeah, swords can hit hard, sure, but wired lances can hit hard too and they can do it with more finesse.

Swords will spend more time stepping towards the target, have less range on normal attacks for PP refilling, have a longer delay to guard cancel normal attacks (more likely to be knocked down during them), and the attacks really just haven't been brought up to pace with the rest of the game.

I don't have guilty break, so I can't comment on it, but I doubt it fills in the gaps of everything I just mentioned.

[Pillan]

Yes, Guilty Break is my best friend and it makes a huge difference on the primary issues you just mentioned.