4 best Tank builds in Throne and Liberty

Tanks in Throne and Liberty are the linchpin of the current meta. These durable classes provide crucial team-wide defensive buffs while keeping the enemy away, so the rest of the party can do their jobs uninterrupted. Outside PvE, Tanks are arguably the strongest in Guild battles and Conflicted field bosses where keeping enemy pressure in check is of utmost importance.

Tanks in Throne and Liberty come in different flavors. Some are more DPS-oriented, while other builds are more suited to keep the boss preoccupied. This all comes down to one's choice of weapons in Throne and Liberty. Most standard Tanks use a Sword&Shield for their multiple defensive skills and high aggro generation. Thus, the secondary weapon defines the second role of a Tank, whether it is healing support or DPS.

Here are the four best Tank builds in Throne and Liberty. Like our previous list of DPS builds, these are not tiered in any format and should be played according to preference.

4 best Tank builds in Throne and Liberty

1) Sword&Shield / Wand

Blocking Fury Attacks is an easy way to boost your hp gain (Image via NCSoft || YouTube/@WilstormGaming)

Starting off the list is the premiere Tank build of the current meta. SnS/Wand's entire kit keeps your party safe and draws the enemy away from them. Skills like Shield Throw, Provoking Roar, Chain Hook, and Shield Strike keep generating aggro, while Blessed Barrier, Stalwart Bastion, Invincible Wall, and Counter Barrier keep you and your party fortified.

Passive skills like Saint's Oath and Selfless Soul will boost your party's healing effectiveness. At the same time, Gerad's Patience, Impenetrable, Devotion, and Emptiness will contribute towards personal safety. What this build lacks in offense, it makes up with Time for Punishment boosting your party's damage. Moreover, if your healer gets overwhelmed, this build can bring Clay's Salvation and Swift Healing to balance the scales.

2) Sword&Shield / Greatsword

Unfortunately, Greatswords cannot create explosions (Image via NCSoft || YouTube/@WilstormGaming)

If you want to play a bruiser that refuses to leave the melee, the Sns / Greatsword build might be tailor-made for your tastes. Aside from the usual SnS skills previously discussed, Greatsword brings heavy-hitting combos that greatly exploit crowd-controlled enemies. Willbreaker and Devastating Tornado keep enemies in an AoE under pressure and weaken them simultaneously. Moreover, DaVinci's Courage will boost your health and increase the damage ceiling of your other skills.

Robust Constitution and Victor's Morale will keep you alive and sustain your resources, while Vital Force will directly boost your offenses based on your HP increment. Indomitable Armor is a chance-based stackable skill, and at maximum stacks greatly boosts your defenses. SnS / Greatsword's kit allows players to witness excellent performance in both PvE and PvP.

3) Sword&Shield / Longbow

Despite being a tank, this is an effective DPS kit (Image via NCSoft || YouTube/@Yatsunagaming)

Shifting a bit into the ranged category again, it's time for the Longbow to shine. The longbow is currently used as a DPS weapon, but its diverse skillset allows it to bring team-wide buffs. Longbow's party-wide buff includes the Deadly Marker skill for cooldown reductions per critical hit, resource regen from Nature's Blessing and Healing Touch, as well as debuff cleanses via Nature's Blessing and Purifying Touch.

Passives like Earth's Blessing and Distorted Sanctuary help sustain the player and bolster the recovery of other party members. Rapidfire Stance is also an optional passive, that indirectly boosts the DPS if the Tank stands still for at least 2 seconds. Devoted Shield is stronger in PvP than in PvE, as the countless weakened effects will keep proccing the shield.

4) Sword&Shield / Dual Daggers

SnS / Dagger is excellent for multi-target scenarios (Image via NCSoft || YouTube/@owlergaming)

The SnS / Dagger combo is for those who prefer to dish out damage while tanking it. An extremely high-octane build filled with high-damage bursts and low cooldowns for spamming defensive skills, this combo is best played in a group with a dedicated healer. Apart from the standard SnS skills, these tanks mainly focus on keeping uptime on Inject Venom's Thundercloud debuff.

It's much better to invest in damage evasion alongside damage resistance when playing this build. Dual Dagger's passives weaken enemies so your party does extra damage. Shadow Walker also boosts your defenses after using movement skills like Shield Rush, Shadow Strike, and Cleaving Moonlight. Vampiric Strike offers a massive 30% damage leech which massively helps sustain, while Phantom Smokescreen offers 100% damage evasion for 3 seconds for your whole party, negating high pressure in both game modes.

Why the Staff and Crossbow aren't a good choice for Tanking builds?

First and foremost, this guide is based on the principle of Tanks that focus on damage mitigation and aggro generation. Hence, all of the builds mentioned above have the Sword&Shield in common, because it is the best weapon set to perform both tasks consistently. The secondary weapons provide either direct support with skills or passively boost the defensive and restorative capabilities of the player and their party.

Staff and Crossbow are two weapons with very few passive and active skills that properly benefit team defense or damage amplification. The staff's only active team-oriented skill is High Focus, which reduces cooldown for the whole party. While this is a DPS boost in all party compositions, running a pure DPS rather than a hybrid Tank is much better. The situation might change when Archbosses and T2 gear becomes available, with their unique talents making even more build options available.

Check out our other articles on Throne and Liberty:

Edited by Shraman Mitra