Can You Tank in Wayfinder?

Today, we are delving into the question of whether you can effectively tank in Wayfinder. It’s not a simple yes or no answer, so we’ll explore all the details and shed light on Wayfinder’s tanking mechanics.

Can You Tank in Wayfinder? Lets find out!

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Taunting Abilities

Wayfinder features various taunt abilities, including Wingrave’s Judgement, which is a hidden taunt not mentioned in the skill description. Silo possesses Proto-Clone, while Senja has Gain Favor. When one of these skills is employed, the word “Taunted” appears in purple text beside the enemy, and they exhibit a golden halo when aggroed towards you.

However, tanking through these taunt abilities isn’t foolproof. The taunts are short-lived, and their cooldowns are excessively long. For instance, Wingrave’s taunt lasts for 8 seconds but has a 30-second cooldown.

Moreover, the priority of taunts is flawed. Senja’s Gain Favor has the shortest cooldown, but it doesn’t effectively divert a boss’s attention. It often redirects back to the highest DPS. Silo’s Proto-Clone can also overshadow other taunts, making it the top priority even if Wingrave uses Judgement afterward. Proto-Clone isn’t consistently reliable.

Alternative Taunting Methods

Another approach to taunting involves Trickster Echo, which claims to “aggro up to 4 enemies.” It has a 20-second duration and cooldown, but it only triggers a 25% chance when dodging in combat. Unfortunately, Trickster Echo doesn’t fulfill its promise. It fails to aggro enemies when it activates, and there’s no visible indicator for enemies to target, unlike Silo’s Proto-Clone.

Utilizing Trickster Echo in conjunction with taunt skills could potentially make tanking viable in Wayfinder’s Season 1, but this remains unattainable unless taunts and Trickster Echo are fixed.

Aggro Management

Gaining and maintaining enemy aggro becomes easier if you have the highest DPS in your group. The game tends to prioritize threats toward the highest DPS player. As a designated “Tank,” you might not possess the necessary stats to maintain 100% aggro. In groups with low DPS, you may have a better chance of keeping enemy aggro, especially during add pulls.

Combat Mechanics

Wayfinder employs an active combat system where you can dodge and block attacks. Mechanics are typically clear-cut, with bosses telegraphing their attacks through various indicators like AoEs and channelled attacks. Players can anticipate these attacks by observing the ground, where AoEs appear and fill up before executing.

Blocking is a valuable defensive tool, especially against attacks with three purple lightning bolts above the enemy’s head. These attacks are blockable and can also be dodged. Blocking is reactive, and you don’t need to maintain it continuously. Stamina regenerates while blocking, ensuring sustain.

Defense Stats

Currently, physical and magic defense stats hold little significance in Wayfinder. For every 100 defense points, incoming damage reduces by just 1 point. Effective tanking relies on boosting Max Health and Resilience instead. Increased health enhances your staying power, while resilience, indicated by the golden bar above the health bar, depletes when you take unblocked damage. A higher resilience allows you to endure more damage by blocking significant attacks and taking smaller hits unblocked. Running out of stamina leaves you unable to block, and running out of resilience makes you vulnerable and susceptible to more damage.

Future of Tanking

With challenging content on the horizon, there’s a blueprint for tanking in Wayfinder. Raids and heroic end-game content are planned, indicating the need for improvements to accommodate tanks in the game’s future.

When tanking becomes fully integrated, Wingrave emerges as the strongest tanking option, especially for boss fights. He combines defensive benefits from Divine Aegis and Affinity perks with healing capabilities and group benefits.

Senja shines in expeditions with many adds and trash packs, thanks to her crowd control abilities. However, her lack of defense and self-healing outside of Showboating makes her less sturdy than Wingrave.

Conclusion

Currently, Wayfinder heavily favors damage output, making the need for tanks and healers almost non-existent. Mechanics can be managed through kiting, running, or ranged attacks. Boss mechanics are generally straightforward and can be handled without a dedicated tank.

Nevertheless, the inclusion of taunts in the game suggests that developers may be planning to make tanks essential for future content, including heroic and raid challenges. It’s likely that tanks will become a more integral part of the game in the next two seasons.