Project Gorgon Tanking Guide
Tanking is not only possible in Project Gorgon, it is a fundamental role in group dungeons and later-game content.
However, Project Gorgon offers a very different take on tanking compared to traditional MMORPGs, making it one of the most interesting games to play as a Tank once you understand how it works.
Instead of relying heavily on stat spreadsheets, rigid rotations, or mathematically perfect builds, Project Gorgon focuses on skill choice, synergy, and smart use of gear modifiers. Tanking is less about chasing a single “best stat” and more about understanding which skills keep you alive, which help you control enemies, and how to strengthen those skills through gear.
This design gives tanks a huge amount of freedom, but it also means the role isn’t immediately obvious to new players.
How Tanking Works in Project Gorgon
Project Gorgon does not use a traditional class system. Instead, you combine two combat skills at a time and equip six abilities from each, creating a 12-skill active loadout.
Combat skills include familiar options such as:
- Shield
- Staff
- Unarmed
- Sword
But also far more unconventional ones such as:
- Cow
- Deer
- Pig
This system makes Project Gorgon one of the most unique MMORPGs available, and tanking is one of the best ways to fully experience those quirks. You aren’t just a defensive wall, you’re actively shaping how fights play out through positioning, control, and smart ability use.
Levelling vs Endgame Tanking (Important to Understand)
One thing to be very clear about:
Tank builds can feel weak or awkward for a large portion of the levelling experience.
This is because:
- Tank builds are designed for group content
- Solo play heavily favours damage-focused setups
- Early content rarely needs a tank
For much of the game, especially below level 80, tanking can feel unnecessary or inefficient compared to DPS builds. This often leads players to believe tanking “doesn’t exist” in Project Gorgon which simply isn’t true.
Once you reach higher-level dungeons and organised group content, tanks become:
- Highly sought after
- Actively required
- One of the rarest and most valuable roles in the game
If you invest the time into a proper tank build, you will absolutely find groups that need you.
Core Tanking Playstyles in Project Gorgon
While many combinations can work situationally, three tanking setups have emerged as the most reliable and widely used options for group content:
- 🛡️ Staff & Shield: Accessible, fairly basic, good self healing and excellent for learning dungeon tanking fundamentals
- ❄️ Ice Magic & Shield: Requires more setup but offers good fight control, recovery and mitigation.
- 🐄 Cow & Unarmed: A unique but powerful tanking option, with taunts, AoE damage and strong mitigation
All three playstyles provide:
- Strong damage mitigation
- Aggro maintenance tools
The main differences lie in unlock difficulty, playstyle complexity, and how quickly they become viable.
Unlocking Tank Skills (What to Expect)
Each tanking setup has different entry requirements:
- Staff requires completing a quest to unlock
- Ice Magic has multiple prerequisites, such as reaching level 25 in Fire Magic or Rabbit, plus quest completion
- Cow requires completing several quests, unlocking a dungeon, navigating it successfully, and being cursed to gain the beast form
Because of this, Staff & Shield is usually the easiest tank setup to begin with, while Ice and Cow builds tend to be longer-term investments.
Tank Aggro & Threat Explained
Maintaining aggro as a tank in Project Gorgon is one of the more demanding parts of the role.
Threat is primarily generated through:
- Damage dealt
- Abilities with built-in taunt effects
- Taunt-enhancing gear mods
- Buffs from consumables (such as beers)
Taunt works as a multiplier on your damage, effectively making the enemy believe you dealt more damage than you actually did. This means tanks are constantly balancing two competing needs:
- Dealing enough damage to stay ahead of DPS players
- Building enough mitigation to survive incoming damage
This can be challenging, as most tank gear focuses on survivability rather than raw damage. Smart use of taunt abilities, correct rotations, and supplemental taunt from consumables are essential to keeping enemies focused on you.
Armor
Armor is one of the most important defensive systems in Project Gorgon and plays a major role in how effective you are as a tank.
Alongside Health, your character has a physical armor bar (shown in yellow). This armor directly affects how much damage you mitigate when hit.
Every 25 points of armor provides 1 point of damage mitigation. As you take damage in combat, your armor is gradually depleted. As this bar empties, your mitigation drops and you begin to take significantly more damage.
Because of this, tanking in Project Gorgon isn’t just about having high armor, it’s about maintaining mitigation over time and stacking additional defensive effects to compensate as armor depletes.
Damage Mitigation & Equipment Types
As a tank, it’s especially important to think about what type of damage you’re taking.
Different enemies deal different kinds of damage, and stacking the correct mitigation for the content you’re running can make a huge difference. This is why tanks often feel dramatically stronger or weaker depending on the dungeon or enemy type they’re facing.
Your gear also provides benefits based on the type of armour you wear: Cloth, Leather, Metal or Organic.
When you equip three or more pieces of the same armour type, you gain an additional bonus tied to that armour category.
For tanks:
- Metal armour is the most common choice due to its strong defensive bonuses
- Leather armour can also be useful, particularly if you are tanking without a dedicated healer and want more flexibility or sustain
Mixing armour types can be viable.
Mods - The Real Power of Tank Gear
Mods are effects applied to gear that change, enhance, or add new functionality to your build. These can modify skills, add defensive effects, or improve threat generation. There are a huge number of mods available in Project Gorgon.
For tanks, mods generally fall into three key categories:
- Mitigation mods: reducing incoming damage or improving survivability
- Taunt and threat mods: helping you maintain enemy attention
- Sustain mods: supporting power usage, self healing and long fights
Mods are absolutely essential for tanking. A well-modded tank will feel dramatically stronger..
Is Tanking Worth It in Project Gorgon?
If you enjoy:
- Group content
- Playing a high-responsibility role
- Controlling the pace of combat
- Being genuinely needed by other players
Then tanking in Project Gorgon is absolutely worth it, especially in the later stages of the game.
Next: Project Gorgon Tank Builds
This guide is designed to explain how tanking works and what to expect as a tank in Project Gorgon.
In the next guides, we’ll break down the three strongest tank builds in detail:
- Staff & Shield Tank Build
- Ice Magic & Shield Tank Build
- Cow & Unarmed Tank Build
Each build guide will cover:
- Best skills
- Most useful equipment
- Must-have mods
