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Hello everyone and welcome to the Tank Club
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If you've ever found yourself overwhelmed by the myriad of choices when selecting a
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tank race in the Elder Scrolls Online, you're not alone. It's one of the most frequently asked questions by beginners in the ESO tank community, and
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for good reason. With so many options, picking the perfect race for your tanking can be challenging
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But fear not fellow tanks, in this video we're diving deep into my top 3 favourite
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tank races for 2024. We'll explore the pros and cons of each choice, helping you make an informed decision
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for your next epic build. And before you ask, no, it's not going to include the Wood Elf, sorry to all the Bosma fans
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Inside this video I've also hidden a code for a pink torch bug that's redeemable for
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all servers and platforms on your account page of the ESO website, so make sure you
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pay attention to the video to see if you can find it. And also let us know in the comments below if you found it
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So grab your shield, don your armour and let's charge into the world of Tamriel to discover
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the best races for tanking in ESO this year. In regards to ESO race changes, nothing major has shifted recently
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The main updates include the addition of the new Scribing system which does provide various
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ways to improve sustain and easier access to resistance buffs. The Arcanist is also one of the newer classes that got introduced last year with Necrom
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which offers much greater freedom when it comes to race choice, adding more flexibility
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for tanks. In the grand scheme of things, race for a tank is much less critical than other roles
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For damage dealers for example, picking a specific race can slightly impact your DPS
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However, when it comes to tanking, there are no absolutely significant benefits tied to
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race choice. The options are nice to have and there are general best options but the key to successful
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tanking in ESO lies in your knowledge of tanking rather than the race you choose
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That being said, it's always beneficial to pick a race that does complement your tanking
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style and meets your specific needs as a player. While the race choice won't make or break your character, it can provide helpful advantages
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So the first race we're looking at is the Nord. The Nord remains a long term favourite for tanks in ESO and it's easy to see why
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One of the primary reasons is the rugged passive, granting a hefty 2600 increase in both spell
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and physical resistance. These resistances are crucial as they reduce your incoming damage but do remember that
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resistances are capped at 33100, anything beyond this cap is essentially wasted
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One key benefit of the Nords rugged passive is the freedom it provides in your build choices
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allowing for increased versatility. You won't need to rely as heavily on gear traits such as reinforced or nern honed, plus
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you gain more flexibility with your champion points, often not needing both resistance slotables
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In situations where you might need to wear medium armour, very niche situations, being
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a Nord makes this more feasible. By having these resistances as well, it will impact the amount of damage you're receiving
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which is mostly critical for damage over time effects and bleed damage because these things
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can't be mitigated by blocking but they can be reduced by resistances
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Other notable benefits include increased max health, max stamina and the extended duration
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of drinks. Additionally, one of the Nord passives grants 5 ultimate every 10 seconds when taking damage
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While this might sound impressive, it's essential to put it into perspective
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To gain what we might say a free aggressive horn, which is the most common ultimate that
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tanks will use, it does cost 250 ultimate. From this passive, it would take over 8 minutes and 50 procs to gain that free warhorn
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While the ultimate gain is a nice perk, the impact is somewhat marginal
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Now if you usually generate your ultimate once every 60 seconds and you're able to
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proc this passive on cooldown, this passive would help you to do a horn around 7 seconds faster
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When you look at it from that point of view, it does look a little bit more impressive. For an Arcanist tank, the Nord race is less crucial since reaching the resistance cap
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is already quite easy. However, choosing Nord still provides more freedom with your champion points
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For other classes, obtaining the resistance cap is more accessible than ever thanks to
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resolving vigor and the new scribing system both giving easy access to minor resolve
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Nevertheless, the ability to switch comfortably between different gear sets and champion points
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while still hitting the resistance cap makes Nord a solid choice. If you opt not to be a Nord, you might need to find these benefits elsewhere
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Using a defending one-handed weapon provides 1,638 resistances and incorporating reinforced gear can also help
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You'd likely need to slot the CP passives Bulwark and Fortified for most situations
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alongside using skills that grant both major and minor resolve. This resistance cap is crucial for tackling the latest veteran content, more so than older
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dungeons and trials. Nords are an excellent race option for long term progression
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While resistances are less critical in the early game content and the older trials and
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dungeons, if you plan on tanking the latest veteran content one day, choosing the Nord
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is your best bet for long term development. Another top notch race choice for a tank is the Imperial
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Known for their increased max health and stamina alongside a 6% cost reduction on all abilities
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Imperials provide a significant sustain boost. However, before you rush to choose the Imperial, consider that you have to buy this
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It requires 2,100 crowns to play as an Imperial. Thankfully, it's not essential for effective tanking, so this choice is entirely optional
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based on your character build preferences. And there are other sustain options that you can choose instead that won't cost you extra
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Delving into the details of the 6% cost reduction, it applies to all abilities, including those
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that cost stamina, magicka and even health. This reduction extends to your ultimate, blocking and dodge rolling
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It does truly cover everything. Cost reduction is highly beneficial because it allows you to cast abilities sooner and
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more often. This advantage grows with higher performance, as players who use skills frequently will
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see more significant benefits compared to tanks who primarily hold block and cast skills
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less often. However, with increased casting frequency comes the need for efficient resource regeneration
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You'll still face sustain issues if you can't back up the cost reductions with sufficient
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recovery and incoming resources. When we also consider the cost reduction on your ultimate, this reduces the cost of Aggressive
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Horn from 250 to 235, shaving off 15 ultimate points in cost
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If it usually takes you 60 seconds to generate your ultimate, playing as an Imperial allows
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you to cast your Warhorn approximately 3.5 seconds faster, though it's not quite as
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impactful as the Nords passive. The reduced cost on blocking, dodging, breaking free are nice perks that make this race attractive
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Extra block cost reduction means less focus is needed on things like bracing enchants
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sturdy gear, especially for those players who do block more often. The downside is that cost reduction suffers from diminishing returns very quickly
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The more you stack it, the less effective it becomes. Skills excel in situations where you frequently cast skills and utilize abilities from all
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of your resource pools. If your tank build uses only magicka skills, you won't benefit fully from the Imperials perks
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However, for builds mixing stamina, magicka and even health costing skills, especially
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ones where you have to cast them frequently like Stone Giant, the Imperial will definitely shine
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Alternatively, you can use jewellery with cost reduction enchants to replicate some
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of the Imperials benefit without actually playing as one. Finally we have the Redguard, another race that does focus on sustain
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My recommendation for this race is primarily due to the Adrenaline Rush passive which restores
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1005 stamina every 5 seconds when you deal damage. This combined with martial training which reduces the cost of weapon skills by 8%
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This race is especially beneficial for players who struggle with stamina sustain
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While it won't completely solve your sustain problems, which are often caused by overcasting
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skills and excessive blocking, it will alleviate some of the issues. To put it into perspective, 1005 stamina every 5 seconds totals 12,060 stamina over a minute
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All you have to do is ensure you deal damage to an enemy. You can do this by placing a magicka costing elemental blockade on the ground that will
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hit a boss for its entire 15 second duration. This will then trigger the Adrenaline Rush passive 3 times during its duration which
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will grant you 3015 stamina over that 15 seconds. Reducing the cost of weapon skills is another advantage
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You'll likely use skills such as pierce armour, elemental blockade and frost clench which
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will save you resources compared to other races using these skills. However, as you become more experienced at tanking, you might find this less useful as
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you improve your sustain management. You don't want to pay for a race change token later, so while the red guard will boost
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your stamina sustain in the short term, if you aim to tank ESO's harder content in
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the long run, it might be better to plan for that now to avoid paying for a race change
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later on. Alternative ways to improve stamina sustain include learning mechanics so that you can
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block less, focus on blocking heavy attacks and specific mechanics, and drop in block
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in between to gain more resources from your stamina recovery. You can also utilise foods that include recovery, potions which will give you recovery and resource
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boosts, alongside heavy attacking, always remembering to heavy after a heavy. When a boss does a heavy attack to you, block that, and then instantly follow it up with
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a heavy attack of your own. Harmony jewellery is also highly beneficial
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When you use this alongside synergies that are provided by group members, this can be
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a significant sustain boost. Overall, I consider the red guard a good choice for casual tanks, seeking an immediate improvement
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to stamina sustain. It's also suitable for arcanist tanks, as being a nord is less necessary due to their
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already high resistance potential. And with that, the decision is now up to you
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I haven't included any magicka orientated races because I find magicka significantly
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easier to sustain. High recovery stacking, the atronach munderstone, food and drinks that boost magicka recovery
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and jewellery enchants to give you more sustain as well, all make magicka sustain while blocking
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less impactful. You obviously can't generate stamina while blocking, but you can generate magicka while blocking
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Many players also favour the argonian, which is fine, but I feel it's more suited to beginner players
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However, that being said, it's also not very beginner friendly because it forces you to
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use potions on cooldown, the 45 second cooldown. And as a beginner player, this might not be something you remember to do, or maybe you
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don't like to do it. When you put this into comparison, a red guard is going to provide consistent sustain every
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five seconds. So what is your favourite tank race in ESL? I'd love to know, please let me know in the comments below
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Thank you to all of our YouTube members and Patreon subscribers for all your support, it's highly appreciated
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Thank you very much for watching and I'll see you next time. Bye bye for now