Tank - Leveling Build
- Good for Group Play
- Difficult to kill
- Good Utility
- Low Range
- Low damage
Overview
With the Tank being the heart of any party in Ashes of Creation, this build focuses on tanking large groups of mobs and is much needed in all leveling parties. And while it might struggle with solo leveling and playing alone when compared to other classes, however, this build aims to make it so solo leveling isn't too difficult either. The Tank excels at group PVE content and that is the preferred method of leveling if you plan to play a Tank.
Skills
Equipment
Weapons
Stamina
As a Tank, you rely a whole lot on your blocking and that for investing points into 
Sustained Guard is an obvious choices to reduce stamina drain while blocking (default key E). Adding 
Mental Fortification is also helpful, as it lowers the chance of being crowd-controlled (CC’d) while blocking, which can be situationally useful. However, the most important node you want to unlock as soon as possible remains the 
Empowered Guard as it greatly improves your blocking efficiency.
Once you've unlocked the right side of the Stamina tree, start unlocking the rest with 
Escape Velocity to boost your movement speed while sprinting in combat (default key C). This becomes especially important later in the game, allowing you to kite mobs while waiting for cooldowns or to escape dangerous situations entirely if needed.
Next, invest in Recuperation Training and Evasive Maneuver to improve your evasion rate while dodging. This also unlocks 
Springstep, which significantly enhances mobility by increasing the distance you can roll.
Rotations
- This is your bread and butter AOE rotation that the Tank uses while leveling, particularly useful when luring and AOE farming lower or equal level mobs by yourself.
- Pull the mobs using the auto-attacks before positioning them directly in front of you. Use
Shield Assault to gain Courage and then follow up with 
Vengeance to deal damage not only to the first mob you hit but also the mobs nearby. Continue the rotation by using 
Inciting Strikes then use 
Desolate and 
Tomahawk to deal extra AOE damage. Finish off the rotation with 
Slam if needed. Depending on mob health, you can also use Vengeance throughout the rotation to fill in and deal extra damage or to finish off the targets.
Reflect: Use this whenever the mob channels a hard hitting skill, allowing you to survive where otherwise you could easily die. Once you've gotten Refreshing Reflect, this will also restore your mana, acting as a great way to regain mana.
Aegis: Use this when in group after you make a pull and group mobs together if you lose aggro and party members take the aggro from you and take damage, this will redirect the damage to you and often save your party members from death.
Fortify: Use this only when you have a good amount of Courage stacks. Usually before pulling a big group of mobs.
Wall: Be careful when using this skill as it puts up a shield and can make it awkward for allies.
