ESO Warden Tank Introduction
The Warden Tank is a very nice option for Tanking in The Elder Scrolls Online. They have been built well for Tanking and they are well equipped for the job along with helping group members ability to survive. They improve survival by providing allies with Major Resolve via Frost Cloak which adds 5280 Resistances to anyone in range which is a huge 8.8% Damage Mitigation. Warden Tanks also have the Maturation passive which provides the Minor Toughness buff increasing allies Max Health by 10%, to maintain this as a Tank you need to use an AoE Heal such as Orb. Wardens also provide a range of other group buffs including added recovery with Enchanted Growth and also enemy debuffs including Minor Vulnerability with Fetcher Infection, Off Balance with Cliff Racer and AoE Major Breach with Deep Fissure. Other group support offered by the Warden Tank includes a heal to 1 ally with Polar Wind and a group synergy with Budding Seeds. When it comes to dealing with multiple enemies and crowd control, the Warden Tank is almost as well equipped as the DK Tank. The Warden Tank has Gripping Shards which is a really nice Tank ability as it is a 360 degree immobilise and snare which roots enemies in place. The damage caused by Gripping Shards and chance to apply the Chilled status effect are both scaled with Max Health which for a Warden Tank is obviously very nice. For pulling in enemies you can use Frozen Device which teleports the enemies to your location, and costs Magicka which is great. Frozen Device is best used in situations where you know where an enemy will spawn, and you can pre-place your Portals so that the enemy will teleport to you as soon as they walk into the Frozen Device. It can often be difficult to place this accurately, or on a focussed target mid-combat which is where it is sometimes better to use Sliver Leash from the Fighters Guild Skills are this Chain works a little quicker than Frozen Device. Other good things you might find with a Warden Tank include Shimmering Shield which is a huge Shield which can completely absorb some projectiles that you would usually need to block or they would kill you in 1 hit. Sustain is quite good for the Warden Tank and you also get a free Purge by using the Betty Netch. Self healing on a Warden Tank is extremely easy with Polar Wind which is a Burst Heal and a Heal over Time plus it will heals 1 nearby ally, all of this scales with Max Health meaning the healing from it can be huge especially when it crits.
A lot of groups usually opt for a Warden Healer, in this situation a lot of your group benefits become a little redundant. If you are using a Warden Tank in a group with a Warden Healer it would be a good idea to discuss who will use what abilities for the Buffs and Debuffs, if a Healer uses Frost Cloak then you can use Balance for example.
Overall the Warden Tank is an incredible option for Tanking, especially if you are a newer Tank and looking to assist in your own and your groups survival. Wardens Tanks are an all round good option for all content.
Strengths
- Fantastic group and survival buffs and other group utility.
- Able to completely absorb projectiles.
- Great self healing which also heals an ally.
- Decent sustain.
- Great at debuffing and AoE debuffing enemies.
- Crowd Control is good better than all other classes other than the DK.
Weaknesses
- Green Balance passives can be hard to make use of as a Main Tank.
- Lack of bar space due to needing to slot Frost Cloak and Blood Altar for group buffs.
- Magicka sustain usually ok but can suffer with a lack of Balance due to needing Frost Cloak.
- Frozen Device is a little slow and inaccurate compared with direct pull abilities.
- Warden Healers are quite common in most group, in this situation Warden Tanks become a bit redundant with their group support.
Group Buffs
- Minor Vulnerability via Fetcher Infection
- Major Resolve via Expansive Frost Cloak
- Minor Toughness via Maturation
- Minor Intellect & Minor Endurance via Enchanted Growth
- Group Synergy via Budding Seeds
- Additional group Heal via Polar Wind
- Off Balance via Screaming Cliff Racer
- AoE Major Breach via Deep Fissure
Skill Lines
Animal Companion
(Vital)
A passive Ultimate you would not use but will give you 12% Magicka Recovery from the Flourish passive by having this slotted.
(Situational)
This could be used in fights where you might play at range, you are able to apply Off Balance if you are 7+ metres away from an enemy. Subterranean Assault
(Optional)
An AoE Major Fracture skill you might use on add pulls. Deep Fissure
(Optional)
A skill you could possibly use in add pulls for AoE Major Breech. Fetcher Infection
(Vital)
A very important single target skill that causes Minor Vulnerability increasing the damage the target takes by 8% for 10s. Removes the need for sets such as Infallible Aether being used. Blue Betty
(Optional)
It’s a free skill so you can spam it for a free purge and it will always tick the first tick of resources so you can spam the skill for endless free resources, this one gives you back Magicka so if you are struggling for Magicka sustain and don’t have access to Balance then this is an option. Bull Netch
(Vital)
This is almost the same as the Blue Betty except you restore Stamina rather than Magicka. This is more likely the option to use for Tanking. You can keep the Netch running at all times and if you hit a situation where you are getting low on Stamina you just spam the free skill for an infinite amount of free Stamina. Deceptive Predator
(Optional)
You would use this for any situations where you either need a speed boost or you are taking a lot of AoE damage and this will reduce the damage you take from AoE’s. Bird of Prey
(Vital)
This skill is slotted on your bar when using Alkosh as the Minor Berserk buff gained by slotting this skill buffs the Alkosh armor shred. It’s also a really nice speed boost for moving through areas quickly.
(Vital)
Each time a Animal Companion skill ends you’ll get a heal. Since you would be using Fetcher Infection in every fight you’ll always get a small heal when that ends. Savage Beast
(Vital)
Just cast Netch every 8 seconds for some extra Ultimate or you’ll get this anyway if you are maintain Fetcher Infection. Flourish
(Vital)
You want to always have this passive active on the front bar at least if not both bars if that is possible, 12% extra recovery is a lot to miss if you don’t slot an Animal Companion ability. Advanced Species
(Unnecessary)
Will boost the damage your Fetcher Infection does.
Green Balance
(Optional)
Could be slotted to provide an emergency group heal along with Ultimate back if you heal a few people under 50% Health. It would have almost no negative impact to use this if you heal 5 people under 50% Health you would get the cost of the Ultimate back, but in general you would not use this over Aggressive Horn.
(Optional)
You would cast this at your group for the buffs Minor Intellect and Minor Endurance and it will also give a heal. Budding Seeds
(Situational)
You would use this as a Tank to give the other Tank in your group a Synergy for Alkosh, it also gives a heal but the main reason to use it is the Synergy. Leeching Vines
(Vital)
Applies to you or the lowest health target in front of you and it will tick Minor Lifesteal every second for 10 seconds which for most groups is not really very useful since they will use Blood Altar however this would be use to proc your passives such as Accelerated Growth. It’s a decent way to help maintain Stamina as you spend Magicka to cast the skill and then get Magicka and Stamina every second from Natures Gift passive. It’s also a decent Heal over Time.
(Vital)
You can use this passive to force yourself to gain Major Mending by casting Leeching Vines as soon as you need the Major Mending and you are under 40% Health and then your other sources of healing will be boosted also. Nature's Gift
(Vital)
You gain Magicka and Stamina every second so if you have the slot available for Leeching Vines use that to proc this passive and help boost your sustain if you need it. Emerald Moss
(Vital)
A small boost to your healing with Green Balance abilities for each one you have slotted. Maturation
(Vital)
One of the Wardens main group buffs, the easiest way to maintain this is by using Blood Altar and that will help keep the Health buff on the whole group for the duration of fights.
Winter’s Embrace
(Optional)
A skill that gives Major Protection, worth having the skill available because you might get asked to use it in some high damage raid executes to help your group survive. Also gives you a Max Magicka buff when you use it as well as doing damage and reducing enemy movement speed.
(Vital)
One of the Wardens main group buffs. This more or less gives your whole group Major Resolve and reduces the damage they take so you want to keep this as active as possible. It has a 28 metre range so this is the preferred morph if you are using it for the group utility. Ice Fortress
(Unnecessary)
This is the more selfish morph, it still gives the group buff but has such a small range its not a viable way to put Major Resolve on the whole group for the majority of situations. You gain Minor Protection when you cast this which will reduce your damage taken but you can obtain this by using Ransack or slotting Temporal Guard so it’s a little unnecessary. Gripping Shards
(Vital)
This is the Wardens immobilising skill that also reduces movement speed and can proc the Chilled effect, its actually a decent Tank damage ability also, since the damage scales with your Max Health. Polar Wind
(Vital)
A really nice burst heal that also heals one other person and it scales from your Max Health so its a pretty big heal. The heal can crit and also be boosted by other modifiers such as Major Mending from your Green Balance passives so it can turn into a huge heal in the correct situation. You also get a small Heal over time and it does a little bit of damage. Shimmering Shield
(Vital)
This is a great skill for any situation where you take projectile damage. It’s such a huge shield that you don’t even need to block when you have this active as it will eat up the whole projectile damage and the shield can be hit up to 3 times. If that wasn’t strong enough you also gain back a lot of Magicka each time you absorb a projectile and gain Major Heroism which really can boost your Ultimate gain a lot to gain back your Horns really fast. Frozen Device
(Situational)
This is the Wardens version of a chain, it can be really great if used correctly but a often its not completely viable because it can be slow and inaccurate compared to Silver Leash. If you are in a fight where the adds are moving to a particular location or you know where they spawn then this is when this ability is amazing. You can pre-place 3 Frozen Devices on the ground in the locations you know the adds will be. The devices will stay on the ground for 30 seconds or until they get used so if you know where adds spawn, you place the Device and when the add walks onto it they teleport straight to you and become Major Maimed also.
(Vital)
The main use for Tanks to apply the chilled effect is to snare and immobilise enemies, this is great for 4-person content but not that useful on bosses and elite targets as it doesn’t effect them. Frozen Armor
(Vital)
You will always have some Winters Embrace skills slotted so this will just increase your resistances which are worth taking as a Tank. Icy Aura
(Vital)
Really useful passive for any fights where there might be snares and it will reduce their effectiveness. Piercing Cold
(Unnecessary)
Increases your damage, you can use it if you want.
Find out about the other Tank Classes in ESO and more Warden information on our YouTube channel.