Intro

[color orange]Disclaimer: This build assumes full AMP and ability point acquisition through Elder Gems(EGs). THE GUIDE DOES NOT REUQIRE THEM TO FOLLOW IT. Look HERE for the build i'm currently using as i build towards the ultimate goal of this guide. Do NOT worry if you don't have the Elder Gem stuff. None of this build and guide hinges on it. It's just good to see where you're headed.[/color]

Hi, My name is Lore Master (Dominion on the Evindra server) and I've decided to help all those warriors out there who are struggling with their threat pick up their game while not sacrificing tankiness for DPS.

A bit about myself. I've been tanking in MMOs for over a decade and seen many shifts in the way tanks have to handle themselves. From the classic raiding days of EQ where my taunts would fail, i had to back into a corner to keep the raid behind the boss, and we had to pass off mobs between 5 man tank rotations when our defensive CDs were down to trying desperately to hold aggro as a bear (who really should have just rolled a Paladin) in vanilla WoW through Cataclysm to warping and porting around a battlefield picking up aggro as a Rogue tank in Rift.

WildStar warriors are massive meat shields with so much mitigation it takes a concerted effort to kill us. The problem has been that in order to get that beefy goodness, some warriors are convinced we have to sacrifice reliable threat. That is not true. In this guide i'm going to show you how to build a flexible load-out without touching the assault or hybrid assault trees at all. There is a lot of "Hidden Threat" in the warrior builds that I feel many warriors are overlooking.

By "Hidden Threat" I mean skills that can build you a lot of aggro that don't just scream it at you in the spell description.

Nothing gets through "The Wall"

TL;DR - I've tanked in a lot of games. I want to show you how to keep threat without sacrificing tankiness.

The

Lets start with our AMPs since we can't get all of our skills without first picking up our AMPs.
Lets first take a look at the primary tanking tree "Support". Here I'll review all the amps, even the ones we don't take.

[color red]Support T1[/color]
Overview
Obviously we will be taking all the points in T1 as they are all directly related to our tankiness or threat building capability. I don't think this needs much explaining.

AMPs
[color green]Deflect[/color]: Less hits taken (although subject to some RNG)
[color green]Deflect Critical Hit[/color]: Less spike damage (Also subject to RNG)(Forgo one point here if you don't have the EG points)
[color green]Support Power[/color]: the Primary statistic you want to prioritize above all others as a Tank.

Before you have all your EG AMP points you can sacrifice a point in one of the Deflect options simply due to it's RNG nature in order to get the initial lvl 50 build. The choice is up to you.


[color red]Support T2[/color]
Overview
These are all pretty useful AMPs for survivability and one for threat. We will be taking all of these except for Impenetrable because it feels much more situational and almost geared more toward PvP. 2 Interrupt armor on a one minute CD that you're likely to not hold for that specific moment seems suspect to me. If you REALLY wanted it you could forgo a point in either deflection and the whole S/U tree to get it though, but I wouldn't recommend it.

AMPs
[color green]Full Force[/color]: This is a no brainier. A 50% on-hit chance to boost your Threat 25% for 8sec? YES PLEASE!
[color green]MKII Battle Suit[/color]: You will be getting hit.... a LOT. getting free healing from keeping aggro is always a good thing.
[color green]Impenetrable[/color]: Meh, Skip this one. Maybe later in some raids there are situations you would have this, but save it for a situational LAS
[color green]Kinetic Buffer[/color]: This build uses so little of your Kinetic Energy (KE) that you will always be over 500. Bonus to all resistances is straight, non RNG, mitigation and directly increases your "Effective Hit Points" (eHP). This is a a no-brainier.
[color green]Full Defense[/color]: I'm less enthused about this. Deflection bonuses, while nice, are always subject to RNG. This is the only tanky AMP in this tier you could forgo for something (perhaps Health Sponge in S/U)


[color red]Support T3[/color]
Overview
This is the tier with one of your best "Hidden Threat" abilities. All of these skills are amazing for survivablity and controlling initial burst.

AMPs
[color green]Fortify[/color]: This is a great skill for surviving the inital burst of Boss mobs. Usually your healer hasn't started blasting at you yet so you can use the extra armor while you build up your initial threat. Also if you happen to have a medic healer this buff will be on you more often then not. Also synergizes well with shield restore Gadgets.
[color green]Bolstering Strike[/color]: One of our best "Hidden Threat" skills. I will explain further in the skills section.
[color green]To the Pain[/color]: I've yet to really experience this AMP since i don't have the EGs to warrant an anti-death mechanic 6-point AMP yet, but from experience in other games, anything that lets you avoid "Instant Kill" mechanics is vital. (and it's a Princess Bride reference.... come on!)(Forgo this if you don't have the EG points)


[color blue]Utility T1[/color]
Overview
Here Is where you'll start the path to another great "Hidden Threat" skill. I'm only going to go through the skills you will actually get instead of all of them

AMPs
[color green]Cooldowns[/color]: This is really the only worthwhile T1 skill in this tree. Lower cooldowns = more threat generation and more survivability. Too useful to pass up for situational needs like CC Resilience And Dash Regen.


[color blue]Utility T2[/color]
Overview
We will take Two Skills here to get to T3 You have One obvious choice and then Two decent options seeing as how the other two are very weak in comparison.

AMPs
[color green]Unyielding[/color]: This is a no brainier. Never being dazed again means never being slowed from being hit while dashing. For any events that require any amount of kiting you need this to avoid telegraphs.
[color green]Kinetic Drive[/color]: Since you are often in a mobile state the last thing you want is to lose your buffs from having >500 KE. Continuously building KE while kiting will keep you topped off and it synergizes well with Unyielding. Should you not feel this way [color green]Bust Out[/color] is an okay alternative.

[color blue]Utility T3[/color]
Overview
POWER LINK!

AMPs
[color green]Power Link[/color]: Not only is it the best overall group DPS buff in the game it also is a massive threat boost to you. I will explain further in the Abilities section. If you're playing a warrior, and ignoring Power Link, you're playing your warrior wrong. Period. End of story.


[color purple]S/U T1[/color]
Overview
After a full build you'll have 3 throw away points. You can loose a point in a T1 Support skill and grab another T2 skill or you can spend them here.

AMPs
[color green]Maximum Shield Capacity[/color]: boost to your Max Shields? Sure. Why not. It increases you eHP and it will allow you to keep your T3 Fortify up longer. Win-Win.(Forgo These if you don't have the EG points)

Abilities

[color green]Primary Load-Out[/color]
Overview
This is the Load-Out I've been using while doing veteran Dungeons and Adventures and it's working very solid for me. I'll discuss alternate builds after.

T8: This is your builder. You spam it always. I don't level it for the T4 ability and i don't level it for the T8 ability. They are nice bonuses, but I skill it up for the bonus damage. At the end of the day I want the skill i'm spamming the most doing the most damage because of it's 130% threat mod ... every rank is a direct Threat Per Second (TPS) increase.

T4: I carry this to help re-position trash mobs and because it is an Interrupt Armor(IA) break. I skill it up to T4 so it has two charges ... this actually allows for a lot of interrupting flexibility in dungeons. You can reliably interrupt a skill from any mob with 2 IA all on your own with this + . Don't forget it is also a root!

T1: Your most basic and reliable interrupt. It's stun duration is longer then 's root duration so this should always be the skill you actually cause your CC with. is more useful fro breaking the initial armor.

T1: A TRUE taunt. This will allow you to quickly take mobs back from people dragging them to you or if adds have wandered into the fight. I experimented with going to T8 on it for the threat, but found that i didn't want to spam it on CD. I always ended up holding it for emergencies. Holding it till you're about to do a Threat rotation will grab and hold mobs to you easily.

T4: The best hidden threat skill we have. Warriors forget that healing creates threat. so does Shield restoring. I've read anywhere from .25:1 to 1:1 Restore:Threat ratios. On a short CD this skill is a great survivability tool coupled with persistent threat generation. I skill it up to T4 for the bonus shield regen. This is a personal preference and could easily be put elsewhere if you're holding threat adequately already. Spam this on CD!

T4: I made this discovery by accident, but this here is how you will keep threat form the most aggressive Espers and Stalkers. T4 of this is a [color red]100% must have[/color]. At first it doesn't seem like much, but when you start a fight off with this and mobs start to group, you have essentially doubled your threat build. When the fields overlap and are both ticking on mobs your threat skyrockets. Single target threat has never been an issue, but with multiple fields affecting multiple mobs this is great. It's a ranged so you can pull with it to start threat generation before the mobs even get to you. Spam this on CD or right after an .

T1: This is an amazing skill. An AoE direct 21% dmg mitigation buff at T1?! This is amazing. T4 offers additional RNG based tankiness and the healing at T8 is underwhelming as is the tier scaling. This is a One-Point wonder. You can spam it on CD but hold on to it if you know a large amount of unavoidable damage is coming.

T4: The best DPS buff in the game. At T4 it's a 23% damage bonus. to all party members within 10m and 20.5% to those up to 20m away. Holy. Cow. Now, I mentioned earlier that this is a GREAT "Hidden Threat" boost. How is that you're wondering. Sounds like it's going to make it harder to hold threat by giving my DPS more dmg. Well it applies to you too. While they are increasing at a 1:1 TPS:DPS boost you are increasing at 3:1 due to the 200% bonus threat on your innate tank stance. Add this on to the threat bonus on or dmg and you're seeing 4.3:1 (one of which is full on overlapping AoE). The one thing to be careful of is if you have another Warrior in your group. Since this has no AP or SP scaling it's entirely based on Tier. If his is higher then yours be sure to cast yours AFTER his or you will overwrite the superior buff. This doesn't have smart targeting. (Use T2 prior to getting the EG points)


[color green]Situational Abilities[/color]
Overview
Stuff on this list Are things you can swap in (usually for either or if you feel like your team doesn't need all that IA breaking power.

Skills
: Some fights you just need a CC break. I get that.
: Sometimes you just need to be Cleansed.
: Coupled with you can mitigate through just about anything for 3 seconds
:VERY RNG dependent. I don't include it in basic Threat generation because it has a flaw. If you've lost aggro you're not getting hit. If you're not getting hit, you're not deflecting. If you're not deflecting, this ability is dead weight. Has some synergy with (but I find that a WORTHLESS ability)
: Some fights you need a gap closer. Okay. Done.
: just a hunch that warriors may have to use this for something specific at some point

[color green]"Make a Case for" Abilities[/color]
Overview
Stuff here are abilites you could make cases for or against, but in general i wouldn't try to use them unless there was a very specific reason why
Skills
: There is something about this skill I don't like but i'm not sure what it is. It can be useful for burst DPS if your team has a lot of Tech dmg, but i'm not sure i'd want to take t to T4 and my aggro is fine without it
: Maybe on very heavy fights. Not really useful if you have Medic healing. I could see it being used in certain situations though.
: see above
: see above

[color green]Don't Bother Abilities[/color]
Overview
This is basically the list of trash.
Skills
Everything in the Assault list. Except maybe . Its range is longer then and is a CC break at T4. that might be useful.
: worthless unless there's some reason you'd have to add even more AoE mitigation to teammates.
: PvP skill

Tips

Rotation
It's pretty simple since you basically never run out of KE with this setup.

- Open with . If you have someone targeted in it's telegraph it was always hit.
- Spam and on CD.
- Cast on CD
- If there are no other warriors cast on CD.

General Tips
- Don't fidget. There's no reason to be constantly moving. Your healer will hate it, and it lowers group DPS by constantly forcing the damage dealers to readjust their positioning. Once you have the mobs in place, stand still and move to avoid telegraphs.
- Dash BACKWARDS. It prevents the mob for turning unnecessarily.
- Dash out then back in. This keeps the adjustments a healer has to make to a minimum.
- Hold your dashes till the last second. This will let you come back to your tanking point quickly.
- Mark yourself. Hey look guys! I'm over here!
- Try to hold your aggro rotation ( -> -> ) if you know you're about to cast . It makes for a huge bust in snap aggro when coupled with your innate active.

FAQ

As I get questions I'll flesh this out!

Closing

I hope you enjoyed this guide! Feel free to ask any questions in the comments or shoot me a tell in game (Lore Master, Dominion, on Evindra) and I'll be more then happy to answer them.

I really hope this guide helps my warrior brethren the way it has helped me. I feel so much more beefy and capable of doing my job in Veteran Adventures and dungeons right now, and i have a feeling that this AMP set will serve me well in raids with some LAS modifications.

Thank you for reading this! Now get out there and kick some Space Cowboy ass, Cupcakes!