Role :
Melee blob guard, buffer/debuffer.
Goal :
Provide great buffs/debuffs, arguably the best at the moment. Resilience is not the best compared to some other tanks, but coupled with absorbs and -20% damage to enemies with a good uptime, it’s very good.
Stats :
Gear :
Helm : Sov Main
Shoulders : Sov Main
Body : Sov Main
Gloves : Sov Main
Belt : Sov Main
Boots : Sov Main
Cloak : Sov Main
Jewelry 1 : Genesis Everlasting Fragment
Jewelry 2 : Rough Gunbad Diamond
Jewelry 3 : Victorious Ring (with +6% block talisman, ideally would be the Triumphant one but I do not have it yet)
Jewelry 4 : Invader (or Sov Main)
Main Hand : Fortress Blade or Sentry’s Blade of Reverence
Off Hand : Sheildbearer’s Pavise of Reverence
Talismans : 5 Toughness/1 Initiative/2 Wounds
Professor Cake :
Jewelry 4 : Invader is the best in the vast majority of cases.
Sov is good when you have to catch up to a tunnel vision DPS (99% of them yes, I know), but I don’t like itemizing to make up for somebody else’s mistakes, if you get punted away they should see it, back off for 2sec and everything is fine again.
I know this will upset many people, but the speed proc is almost always used to “win more”, ie catching 1 or 2 more guys fleeing after the fight. “Win more” options are not bad, but usually not the best since what we want is to win and this almost never helps winning.
If you are the MA best friend, and guarding him most of the time, then do equip full Sov because even 2sec of him backing off will be bad for your wb effectiveness.
I’m not 100% sure about this one but it is what I use : No scenario weapon cause SM have more absorbs than other tanks, therefore armor is less used as a defensive stat, which means armor pen reduce is less good.
Tactics :
1 – Rugged
2 – Vaul’s Buffer
3 – Raking Talons
4 – Lingering Intimidation
Professor Cake :
Rugged : 160 stats is the equivalent of 6.67 talismans which is MASSIVE, toughness works very well when stacked high enough, do not underestimate it. It’s also the only stat that helps increasing absorbs effectiveness, and we have a pretty good amount of absorbs.
Vau’ls Buffer : More absorbs, that synergise with Rugged.
Raking Talons : -20% damage on the enemy blob is great, even the duration is very short. For selfish purpose, it also helps our absorbs to perform better.
Lingering Intimidation : a pure gem, that for some reason very few people use. Most say that IB’s “-20% crit” skill is very good, yet this one is -25% crit and -100 morale but noone use it. On a sov sorc, 25% crit is 40% more damage, it’s huge, do not underestimate it. Also works on healers so they heal less. One of the best tactics.
Renown :
- Wounds : A bit below 10k hp, but you’ll have either the WP wounds buff or your self buff, both putting you above 10k.
- Dodge Disrupt :
Deft Defender provides 18% D/D for 20renown points. 15% will be taken off due to Pierce Defense most of the time, so you are left with 3% from RR and some on your gear. Any competent rDPS will have more strikethrough than what you will have accounting for your gear +3% from RR.
Versus any competent people, you are paying 20Renown for nothing, you get ZERO value out of it (or very little accounting for Sov defensive proc).
Versus incompetent people, you don’t need dodge/disrupt anyways, you should win.
One more thing, with 37% base block +10% from sov proc and +45% on demand with Hold the Line you are already “immune” to ranged damage, and even when they do hit you, you have good armor (vs rSH) AND you reduce damage by 10% with Hardy Concession.
You also have absorb shields to prevent Sorceress crits. - Trivial Blows : To me, TB has one big upside, avoiding to be “one shotted”. Since as a very tough tank that should never happen to you, TB isn’t needed.
- Parry : Being on Order side we don’t have to fear Rampage and Parry is an amazing thing to have, better get it.
Masteries (need sov+2) :
This gives you :
– Access to all the Crowd Control you can have
– Whispering Winds which is one of your best buffs
– Crushing Advance, the +Block part doesn’t stack with Sovereign proc but the rest is amazing: an AoE interrupt is one of the best thing to have, and as a bonus you get a little armor boost.
– Good absorb shields for you and your party
– The Raking Talons tactic which is incredible, I prefer the Destro “counterpart” which is morale boost to have -50%/-75% damage ON DEMAND, but a -20% damage with a high uptime is the next best thing. Also makes you look good on the scoreboard (which means you’ll get more bags…).
Playstyle :
Usual defense tank in the blob, stay close to your guardee, ideally between him and the healer you think Destro will target next so you can guardswap faster.
Sadly the playstyle is much less fun now that the global cooldown is 1.5sec. Indeed, Dragon’s Talon duration is only 4sec, it takes between 3 and 4.5sec to complete a SM rotation depending on your Sudden Shift usage so it’s already impossible to maintain a 100% uptime on Raking Talon.
And everytime you do something out of your rotation you lose a fair bit of uptime. Shattering Enchantments, KD, punt, and more are now more punishing to use and can (and should) be done by other tanks.
Note on assisting :
It’s better not to assist anyone with a defensive SM (at least for a Raking Talon usage) and target a DPS/healer that is conveniently placed to maximize your damage debuff coverage.
Blade Enchants :
– Heaven’s Blade : bad, I never use it, and when I compare it with the BO “mirror” I’m almost disgusted.
– Phantom’s Blade : situational, if you read my swordmaster-problem entry you know why I’m only using it in city if I don’t have a Warrior Priest in the party.
– Nature’s Blade : good proc, lowers incoming damage, can boost outgoing damage, usually the best in city.
Cake’s Thoughts :
SM is a very good tank in city, helps reduce enemy’s damage pressure, shines when you have good CCer in your warband so you can concentrate on the protection part.
Some buffs really took a hit with their low duration compared with the GCD but all in all, this SM build is very solid.
Cake's Plan 