Hello fellow Arcadians! I’ve been an active player on this server for the past few years, and I've been playing as a tank for the last 1-2 years. I decided to create a knight/druid guide to help new players or those struggling with playing as a tank. Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not claiming to be the best tank on the server or even a very good tank player. Like most players, I can make mistakes. However, having played as a tank on this server for a while, I have gained some experience. What I'll share in this guide are my personal opinions. If I am wrong about something or mention anything incorrectly, please feel free to correct me.
Alright, let's dive into the guide...
In this game, there are many tank classes you can play. Each tank class has its own advantages and disadvantages. Some tank classes can generate high aggro, while others may generate less. Additionally, some tank classes are very defensive and can protect the team, while others debuff targets, making it easier for DPS players to eliminate them. Each tank class has its unique playstyle. In this guide, I’ll be focusing on one of the most popular tank classes: the knight/druid.
Why Should You Play Knight/Druid?
The Knight/Druid class has several appealing advantages. Let me explain them to you in bullet points:
- The Knight/Druid is a very durable tank class. Your HP and Physical Defense are always very high with this class.
- Even when the healer stops healing you, the Knight/Druid can survive for a long time because you can heal yourself and the entire team, and you can continuously give yourself high amounts of shields.
- Thanks to the Holy Flank elite skill, whenever you give yourself a shield, you and all raid members around you gain 5% Physical Attack and 5% Magic Attack.
- The Holy Shield skill not only makes you immune to physical and magical damage but also makes all raid members around you immune as well.
- With the Potent Blessing elite skill, you and all raid members receive 12% more healing.
- The highest aggro-generating skill, Truth Shield Bash, has only a 15-second cooldown!
What Are the Disadvantages of This Class?
- The aggro generation of this class can be lower than some other knight classes because it doesn't have an elite skill that provides extra physical damage like some other knight classes do.
- If you miss with your high aggro-generating skills, you can't generate aggro with just Holy Strike. The damage of Holy Strike is often not enough to gain aggro. You need to use Whirlwind Shield, Earth Cleave, or Truth Shield Bash to gain aggro.
- You can’t debuff your target to make them take more damage.
Now, Let’s Move on to Playing Knight/Druid...
What Buffs Should We Choose?
- House Maid Buff: The buff I always choose from the house maid is the one that gives 6% HP. This is because all knight classes with the item set skill "Traces of the Cross Sword" provide a shield to nearby raid members. The higher your HP, the higher the shield they receive.
- Guild Castle: This is not up for debate. Get all the buffs at their highest value from the Guild Castle. 6% Defense, 6% Attack Power, and 6% HP are always useful for a tank.
- Zodiac Pet Buffs: Zodiac Pet Buffs can vary based on your preference. I choose the All Attributes buffs because they give me both Defense and HP. However, you can choose the HP-giving Zodiac Pet Buffs if you want to provide higher shields to your team.
- Aura Buff: I personally choose stamina because it increases my HP and gives me a bit of defense. However, you can choose the one that gives maximum HP as well.
What Foods and Potions Should We Use?
Here are the foods and potions I personally use:
1 - Hero Potion : Increases all your attributes by 20%.
2 - Atlas Special Pie : Increases your maximum HP by 15%.
3 - Soulmate Mixed Dessert : It gives you 7% Str, Dex, and 3% Physical Attack Power and 3% Critical Physical Damage.
4 - Featured Cuisine Delicacy : Increases all your attributes by 4%
5 - Aged Realgar Wine : Increases your Physical and Magic Attack Power by 30%, thus slightly increasing your aggro.
6 - Jungle Dinosaur Leg : Provides 17% Physical Damage, which is very important. Your aggro significantly increases. Physical Damage is more important than Physical Attack for aggro.
7 - Egg Rice Dumplings : Increases your Physical and Magic Defense values by 30%. This is very important as you will take much more damage without it.
8 - Transformation Potion :This can vary based on your preference. Some people use the transformation potion that gives 20% STR and 20% STA. Others use the one that gives 20% WIS and 20% STA for the Knight/Druid's Earth Cleave skill to do more damage (because Earth Cleave scales with wisdom).
9 - Potion : Maid's Justiciar Brew :
Increases Physical Defense and your total aggro by 5%. You can obtain this potion from the house maid.
Instance Gameplay Tactics
First, let's understand our skills. Knowing what each skill does is crucial to avoid problems while tanking.
These buffs should always be active:
: Increases Physical Defense by 60%. Very important.
: Every time you deal damage to your enemies, their attack power is reduced by 8% for 10 seconds. This debuff can stack up to 4 times, reducing their attack power by 32%.
: Increases the healing received by all raid members by 12%.
: Increases stamina and healing received by 16.8%, making it harder for you to die as your health and defense values increase, and you receive more healing.
: Increases your aggro by 135% and continuously regenerates mana.
Skills to use in instances:
AOE (Area of Effect) damage skill. Use it for generating aggro.
AOE damage skill. Use it for generating aggro.
Single-target damage skill. Use it for generating aggro.
If this skill hits a target, it deals damage to all nearby enemies every second for the next 12 seconds. Use it continuously for aggro!
Deals damage to nearby enemies. Use it for generating aggro.
Pulls all nearby enemies to you and increases your total aggro by 15% for 15 seconds. Use this if you lose aggro on mobs or if you want to increase your aggro by 15%.
Immobilizes nearby mobs. If you use Earth Cleave after this skill, nearby mobs are stunned for 2 seconds.
Single-target damage skill. Use it for generating aggro.
Increases your aggro on the target by 5% and acts like a taunt. Do not use this on mobs. After generating some aggro on a boss, use this every 2 seconds to significantly increase your aggro on the boss.
This skill quickly moves you towards your target and stuns it for 10.4 seconds. Do not use this for aggro! It generates almost no aggro. Use it to stun/interrupt the target or quickly reach it.
Do not use this for aggro! It generates almost no aggro. Use it to pull a distant target to you or to interrupt an enemy's skill.
This is a Guild Title skill. Use it to reduce the defense of your target/targets when you have pulled a large number of mobs or are fighting a boss, so the DPS players in your team can deal more damage.
How Much Aggro Do Your Skills Generate?
Very High Aggro:
High Aggro:
Low Aggro:
How to Generate Aggro When Doing Big Pulls and Attacking Bosses in Instances?
Let's start with the buffs you should use. When you are doing big pulls or attacking bosses, the DPS players in your team will also burst, increasing their aggro due to higher damage output. To generate enough aggro, you also need to burst.
Reduces all incoming damage by 50%. This prevents you from dying easily when taking damage from mobs or bosses.
Increases your Parry Rate by 54.5%, reducing the amount of damage you take from enemy auto-attacks.
or
These potions increase your attack speed, thus increasing your aggro.
Use this to reduce the damage you take and heal yourself.
Significantly increases your damage, and thus your aggro.
Temporarily increases your maximum HP.
Significantly increases your movement speed and reduces the damage you take.
Makes you and all raid members immune for 5 seconds. Do not waste this. Use it to protect your team or prevent mobs from stunning/slowing you. If you are in a tough spot, you can use it for yourself.
Now that we've learned how to burst, let's learn how to do a big pull.
Big Pull:
When doing a big pull, first hit the mobs with or
After using one, use the other skill. Use
to generate more aggro on the mobs every second. After using
, if all your AOE skills are on cooldown, keep using
. When all mobs are near you, start using your AOE skills again and use
to reduce the mobs' defense.
Do not waste unnecessarily. If you see a single mob isolated from others, use this skill on it. There is no point in wasting AOE skills on just one mob. However, if this skill is on cooldown, you will have to use your AOE skills.
Skills to Use When Attacking Bosses:
After bursting, when attacking a boss, first use because it generates the most aggro!
Then, use these two skills
Keep generating aggro with
Finally, if all these skills are on cooldown, use and after generating some aggro, use
every 2 seconds.
Thank you all for reading my Knight/Druid guide. If you find my ideas incorrect, please feel free to correct me. You can share your own ideas and questions. I wish you all happy tanking.
