My goals in writing this guide to tanking are fairly simple. I'd like to share my experiences in playing multiple classes so that inexperienced or newer players can really discern what it means to be a ranger, versus a shadowknight, or other tank type.
 

CLASSES
 

I'll just be covering the six classes that use the 'step in and apply a beating' method of playing Everquest. First and foremost, you should realize that everyone in your team has the ability to contribute. Your abilities as a tank fall into three categories: pulling, taunting, and damaging/impairing. You might have other spells or skills that a team finds useful (i.e., healing, tracking, foraging, etc.) but you will find success or failure in how well you do your primary job. Failure to do any of these three will cause your team to hate you, disband, evac, or possibly die. I'll cover each in detail from the perspectives of each tanking class, ranking them.
 

- Tank class: Warrior

Pulling: C+. As a warrior you should have some sort of bow to pull with. While it does some initial damage, you have no abilities to slow or trick the monster. However, you have no reason to meditate so mise well be pulling another mobile experience point package.

Taunting: C-. While the warrior gets the 'taunt' skill, it really doesn't do jack to the monster's hate-list when you have spell casters nuking the crap out of the enemy, or healers casting spells for that matter. Your only hope is to cause enough damage quickly that combined with your 'taunt' skill it will be enough to leave an impression on the monster.

Damaging/Impairing: B. Once you get your executioner's axe you should be able to dish out some decent hits. It's also a tremendous advantage if you have selected a large race so that you can use slam instead of kick. Slam gets to stun and we all know how great it is to beat on a defenseless monster. Lastly, disarm is a great way to slow up those dagger/rapier/spear wielding NPCs.
 

- Tank class: Paladin

Pulling: D. Max archery of 75. No ensnares or nukes worth mentioning, and root sure isn't a pull spell.

Taunting: C. While you can heal yourself to make the monster hate you the most, this won't take it off of your poor druid while it screams like a barking dog.

Damaging/Impairing: D. No beat down races are available for the paladin, no kick or slam unless they use a 1h weapon (stop laughing), no nukes worth using. But hey, root can be semi-useful if you screwed up and failed as a puller. Stun is decent as well.

NOTE: Paladins are more suited to tiny teams where they are the healer and the tank. Also, paladins: Use your lay on hands. When confident your team is doing fine, and you can't die, (4 wizards with evac memmed) just use it when it's handy, it comes back ya know.
 

- Tank class: Ranger

Pulling: A. Snare is a great spell. It costs almost nothing, there's almost no reason to not ensnare everything you ever decide to kill (provided it will flee). Also, great bow usage. While pulling with ensnare you normally have time to lower the monster's ac with that fire spell from level 9 or stick an arrow in it's face.

Taunting: B. Again, snare is a good resource here. Then again, it'd better be good since damage won't be moving the monster onto any rangers I've ever met (well maybe Delbin but that's coz he's intimidating). It is not easy for a ranger to keep a monster on them although with ebony blades and a high dexterity it becomes simpler.

Damaging/Impairing: C+. Ranger races lack strength big-time. If you have to dual wield, go get +100 STR gear so that you hit for more than an average of 10. And don't rely solely on a cheesy special to do your damage. Most the time I meet a ranger with DEX of 130+ and a ykesha, the special fires 3-4x per hour. That's just sad, get some 2h skill until Verant decides that 1h weapons are allowed to deal damage. I will however give it up for your level 9 AC debuff. It's a lot more useful than most rangers give it credit for in the team of beat down.
 

- Tank class: Monk

Pulling: B+. Throwing stars are a must and if things get bad, you can just feign and save your whole team (although feign currently seems to do nothing, I'm having level 7 monsters see through it and I'm level 35). You can also break groups of NPCs in this style if you know what you're doing. No slowdown, however.

Taunting: B+. Monks have to rely on their damage dealing to get a monster's attention. Then again they hit like trucks. While their normal swings can't quite keep up with a good 2h weapon, the specialty kicks hit as hard as a 2h weapon's hit so they are over the top.

Damaging/Impairing: A. It's about all they can do, and they've been tuned to do it fairly well. They take the beating also, but hey, offense wins fights, and too much offense can compensate for lower defense at times.
 

- Tank class: Shadowknight

Pulling: A+. Low cost damage over time spells that also ensnare! Feign death. The ability to get your second dot in before the monster reaches the team so you can kick butt once it arrives, and cast vampiric embrace as well.

Taunting: A+. A lot of cheap casting cost taunt spells. Disease cloud, clinging darkness, when cast repeatedly alternating will steal monsters from any cleric or wizard. Harm touch seems to get some attention as well. Your damage dealing with a 2h weapon is also high enough to taunt at times if you decided to be a large race that can deal real damage.

Damaging/Impairing: B+. Monks can somewhat outdamage them, but other than a monk, no other melee class is going to take you to damage school. If you have a reaver your strength leech makes up for the 5 less offense you have than warriors and then some. Vampiric Embrace can be amazing, and disarm, slam, dots, and more can contribute to a quick wipe. Harm touch is a good panic button also. Just remember to use it from behind a monster as it regularly does more damage when used properly.
 

- Tank class: Rogue

Pulling: C. Throw a knife or something, not going to do significant damage. No great tricks or slowdown, but since they don't meditate, might as well do something.

Taunting: F. A rogue who has successfully taunted is a rogue who has wrecked his or her chance to deal decent damage. They use sad, sad weapons so that they can stab for high damage. It's almost like having a half wizard who uses no mana, at times.

Damaging/Impairing: B+. Disarm is handy versus piercing foes, and if instill doubt would ever get 'un-nerfed' I suppose it could have uses as well. Backstab is amazing damage, and the recent upgrade to it's minimum damage helped a lot. If you can play the role of secondary tank, rogue is nice, great with a shadowknight who can keep the monster on them throughout many stabs. Multiple rogues stabbing and alternating tanking is fair, I don't recommend it. Lastly, the serrated bone dirk (the dagger with engulfing darkness) is a great weapon. That weapon's special does a dot/ensnare spell that the shadowknight uses regularly. Very handy indeed.
 
 
 

Next, I'm going to cover the statistics of being a tank. There are many, many misconceptions about the stats importance for a tank, and what race or items you want to select. I've spent a lot of time asking level 35+ tanks all over the Karana server how they feel about certain stats. While a few deviate from the normal reply, the typical answers are overwhelmingly the same. Dexterity, AC, and Strength. Less than 5% of the individuals asked said that Agility was even a factor for them. I too have noticed agility being somewhat worthless. My parry, dodge, and riposte seem to increase minimally when my agility is boosted by a margin of 45-55 points. On the other hand, My max damage and frequency of hitting hard raises significantly with a 10 point boost. I notice this boost often, however, as my reaver currently leeches 23 points of strength.
 

RACES
 

A lot of races have bonuses other than stats. I'll mention them briefly, and if I leave out something you feel is important, well, bear it in mind when you create your next beat down machine. I am NOT including the following comparisons: Role-playing, Faction, Looking Cool in certain armor.
 

- Human. Pathetic stats. It doesn't get much harder to make a character out of. Then again, some tank classes are not able to select races with decent stats. Hey at least you get to walk into a variety of towns. Most people that select human do it because they make experience quickly. All it does for me is make me dislike teaming them since they decided their experience point rate was more important than their future team's ability to survive and prosper. While some argue well rounded is a bonus I disagree completely, polarization is the way to succeed.

- Half-Elf. See human above. Not a whole lot of difference. Again, even if you use your initial points to try and "fix up" this race, you just wind up with less than others. Again, some classes can't use good tank races so this might be what you're stuck with.

- Wood Elf. Ugh, what good is being able to wear good armor and have a nice agility when you are always encumbered and your agility goes to pot?

- Gnome. Ok stop laughing, they can be warriors, if you want a challenge, have at it.

- Halfling. Popular choice for rogues. The high DEX is decent but the STR is far too low.

- Dwarf. For the non-evil races, it has some of the better combat stats. If you HAVE to have faction, I guess dwarf or barbarian are your two choices.

- Barbarian. Like an ogre but with less stats, but hey, you get to wear a kilt and walk into places like Rivervale unmolested.

- Troll. Amazing. Triple regen actually allows you to solo and not have downtimes. While not having an ogre's STR, it has higher DEX and it's STR can be taken fairly high also. Rather large exp tax, but I firmly believe that you get what you pay for. I'd bet 95% of level 50 humans would demote themselves to level 46 to become a troll and fix their stats.

- Ogre. Mighty, ton of hit points. While it doesn't regen like a troll, if you're always teamed due to being so powerful, chances are a cleric will be healing you anyway. If only they could have somewhat higher DEX it'd have no true comparison.
 

It seems that for some reason the game was created with the idea that if you use a powerful race, your faction stinks. That's perfectly fine by me, As I can carry 190 pounds, I have enough food, plat, drink, toys, specialty items, and trade items in 8 backpacks to last me a long time. I don't bother to even visit town save once a week (real time) unless it's time to go spell-shopping. I would also like to say that if the game gets to the point where a race with horrible stats, can eventually run around the outer plains and get enough amazing equipment to get 200s in all their stats, then race selection won't matter at all. I personally know human wizards who laugh at the thought of erudin as they already have items giving them 200 INT, and thus erudin is useless to them. It'd be harder for tanks as you have more than one important number to worry about.
 

ITEMS
 

The first thing I'd like to point out is how to decide if a weapon is worth buying, camping, and using. The amazing weapons in the game seem to be the powerful 2h slashers with ratios of 1damage to 1.5 delay. This is, of course, outer planar, and it's much more realistic to try and find something with a ratio of 1:2 until you become a plane-hopper. If you decide to try and use 2 weapons, you need to make sure that their ratio is about 1:3. This is because you should get 3 hits while the non-dual-wielders are getting 2. The delay seems to be fairly balanced between quick and slower weapons so what your delay seems to be at the end isn't all that important. Higher level spell casters ignore damage and are really only interrupted by moving or being bashed out of spellcasting, so once you reach level 30-35 you can not worry about using 2 quick weapons to knock a gnoll shaman out of his next root spell. I recommend trying to obtain the following weapons, the items I list are all obtainable with platinum, so once you're level 30 there's really no excuse for not having them, here goes:
 

- Warrior: Executioner's Axe. A 25/50 beating that will occasionally quicken your attack. At level 35 you are hitting for a max of about 82-84, provided your stats are nice. They sell for approx 2000 plat, and higher level chars in Lower Guk just give them away.

- Paladin: Ghoulbane or Soulfire. They both have decent ratios, although Ghoulbane will allow you to bash as well, and wear a shield to raise your wisdom with. Paladins seem to be almost more spellcaster than beat-machine, so experiment, Soulfire is also a real pain in the ass to get. Ghoulbane drops in Upper Guk, a team of level 30s can go harvest them.

- Ranger: 2 Ebony blades. 7/24 I believe with a root special. The root special is actually sort of annoying as you'd rather use ensnare, but hey, that's the price for a decent ratio. I'd list a 2h slasher but there are not an abundance of weapons for ranger in that fashion, seems they are brainwashed to using 1h.

- Monk: Ok just kidding.

- Shadowknight: A Dark Reaver. 20/42 provides light and Steal Strength. Note: this is not your level 9 spell, Siphon Strength. This is an upgrade version that leeches 22 STR at level 30, and goes up from there. Very powerful, at level 35 you'll be hitting for around 72 if your stats are nice.

- Rogue: Serrated Bone dirk, and another weapon (bloodclaw?) with a different special hit that still has decent ratio (1:3.5 or nicer). Engulfing darkness is about 80-100 damage and it snares as well, great weapon.
 

Whatever weapon you decide is best for you, keep all your skills up, you never know what will be available tomorrow…
 

The other items you can obtain with platinum that are worth retrieving are listed below and sorted by the level of your character. Compare and contrast, there are many ways to choose what to use.
 

- Newbie levels. Get yourself to level 9 and hoard your platinum. Buy banded or bronze armor whenever you can until you're at least wearing something on each slot. Try and find a level 30+ friend to guide you and answer your questions and perhaps, donate you a plat here or there. Wear anything you loot, and spend a few plat on rings and earrings so that you at least have something in those slots, I recommend using the strength jewelry at that point. If near blackburrow, get the shoulders from the commander and the 3 strength collar from the elites.

- Levels 10-20. Complete your set of bronze or banded or cured silk. Get a semi decent weapon. If using 2h slash, buy a Shiny Brass Halberd(SBH 16/48) or a Bone Bladed Claymore(BBC 17/45) for around 100 plat. They're decent and will keep you hitting hard until you can get a Blackened Iron Bastard Sword(BIBS 20/47) for around 350-400 plat. Obtain items that give decent ac and stats, here's a list with decent price and location: Lizardscale Cloak(200 cazicthule), Barbed Armplates(30 befallen), Grotesque Mask(35-50 runnyeye), Snakeskin Gloves(15 splitpaw but hurry), Blackened Iron Crown(150 crushbone), Thick Leather Apron(25 unrest), Bloodstained Mantle(60 unrest), upgrade your jewelry to silver fire emeralds, electrum sapphires, and silver sapphire, pay no more than 150-175 each.

- Levels 21-30. Deck yourself out in plat jewelry. Plat fire emerald, either plat saph neck or gold black pearl neck, elec sap earrings, and plat ruby veil, it's only money, and less items seem to be easy to buy, most people want to just 'trade' their crap into something nicer. Here's some items to work on obtaining. Whether you buddy up to a level 50, camp some dangerous zones, or pay outrageously for them, either way get: Executioner's hood, Quest specific items (a note: read the pages and do your quests, the items you get are better than the fabled rubicite and most level 50s wiping what you want for your quests will just let you loot what you need to complete a quest, if not, bribe them to let you do it), Crested Spaulders, Dwarven Workboots, DarkMail Gauntlets, and more…

- 31+ Platinum is fairly worthless now, visit lower guk and obtain a variety of spellcaster junk to trade them and pry your nicer items from their hands. Really work on leveling and making 46. Get into a strong guild or make one yourself so that you will be able to go visit my pal, Cazic or his sidekick Innoruuk.
 

When you hit level 30 or so, and your old armor is sitting in the bank, think about the newbies, the potential guildmates, teammates, and friends they are. I've caught up to some of the people that told me which stats to pick out when I made my favorite character and now we team and have fun. I just drop bronze, platinum, fine steel weapons and other misc goodies on them, someday they'll grow to appreciate it.
 

FINAL ANALYSIS
 

For the most part, later on in the game you will team of one of two things: experience or items. Most teams won't be making both at a reasonable pace, other than coincidental drops in a decent experience place. The spell casters of Norrath are not looking for a person to run around in circles screaming for heals or spirit of the wolf. They are not seeking someone to sit around until fully healed. They are trying to find level-headed people who are capable of taunting, dying, and walking so that they can blow up, disable, and destroy monsters worth nice experience points or loot. Really learn your role, and don't try something amusing at the expense of your team's demise. Once you hit level 30, things that are green to you, in a group, could reasonably kill you. This is something spell casters have to worry about from level 5. Learn how to interact with them and supply as much damage as possible while making it easy on them. We're the tanks, we're the walls of expendable meat, we're the damage-absorbing maniacs that have to let the monsters of Norrath beat on us, learn to enjoy it, and make the most of everything you have been given in your class. And if you find out that what you're doing really stinks, try something else.
 

I apologize if your opinions contrast or completely contradict what I've said above. The statements I made were taken mainly from what other people have told me in teams. It's a great thing to be known as the best puller to hit a zone in a month, or the tank who doesn't let clerics get hit even with 5 active brutal monsters while chain-healing. I've had great success with the information above, I hope you do as well.
 

Mekor da troll.