Best tank class

[olimikrig]

The Amulet of Ilmater is from the item upgrade mod, and I'm fairly certain that it doesn't grant immunity to level drain.

[pplr]

Thanks for the further explanations.

[Blades of Vanatar]

Originally Posted by sarevok66

HAHA when i say i soloed the whole game it means i killed EVERY F*G BODY with my berserker:
- the guys with celestial fury (which i also beat with my solo assassin believe me or not)
- ALL of the dragons (i had a hard time only against Draconis and Abazigal)
- kangaxx the demi-liche and all the other liches

and the same goes with my solo monk!!

soloing is even easier than with a 6 member party because your solo hero will be of higher level and you don't need to keep track of everybody

I even beat Sarevok in BG1 with a solo fighter and later on with a solo thief

With potions of Magic Protection, I guess that could be done, but now your making me want to try that! Fighter/Mage would be nice for that fight, Stoneskin, Blur and Mirror Image with a great AC, Hasted, magic resistance flowing, guess you could beat that one. Talk about a Glory battle!.With a Berserker, that is a pretty nice feat! Good job Sarevok.

[sarevok66]

thank you, Blades

BTW a high level monk is even tougher than a berseker of same lvl, these two are the best tanks ever

[T2Bruno]

The only thing I've soloed was a cleric/thief (little T3V1 was born and my computer died so I only got to the underdark ... I may have to reinstall and continue that game). Once you get up in level none of the fights are particularly difficult -- except the rune assassins. From some reason those damn rune assassins at the bottom of the tanner's place just tore me up every time. Irenicus' dungeon can be a bit challenging at times.

Having a high level cleric makes all undead encounter much easier (even Kangaxx and the twisted rune) -- I waltzed through the entire shadow/temple area without being touched, all the shadows exploded before they got close (you have to be careful around the ghosts). Between various invisibility items and sanctuary the slavers compound in the temple district was not difficult. I also found out a dragon can be killed with a simple trap -- after casting harm (it doesn't work every time).

It gets easier with ToB installed -- even boring at times as your character get too powerful for anyone to battle.

[Scythesong Immortal]

Scythesong, I don't think I've used the mage's summon planar spell/ability in order to get a tank in a long time. I've come to view a planar's spells as too worthwhile in a tight battle to use him as a tank or cannon fodder. Ogres and so on can serve as a distraction though and elementals (especially princes-though you don't get them via a mage) can put in a bit of fight.... M. swords work quite well though.

Agreed. Wasn't referring to Daevas and Planetars in particular. Just meant that with some creativity + the right spells + "good" wild surges, the Wild Mage has the best pontential in helping you deal with not having an actual "tank" character.

[Lark]

What's the best tank class depends on how you define tank. There was a very interesting thread about this topic some time ago with excellent posts by thetruth, one of which I like to cite:

Originally Posted by thetruth

First of all, the best/ideal Tank for me is the character who can resist in the frontline as long as needed,resisting all the enemies attacks and allowing the rest of your party to fight undisturbed if possible.For me his main purpose is the defence.


Best Defence can be attained (in order of importance) with :

1) The ability to avoid completely Physical dmg (Stoneskins,Mirror Image,PfMW).

Here the Arcane spell casters are advantaged.Better if they can be effective offensively too, so Berserker-Mage (13-28.His rage,shield of Harmony and other spells will render him immune to every spell) OR the F/M are the best choices IMHO.
Followed by the Bard,F/M/C,F/M/T etc.


Unfortunately R/C or F/D have only their ironskins and moreover they can't protect them from dispelling effects.But both are the best choices after the arcane spellcasters.


2) Resistance to Physical dmg.

It is difficult to obtain high physical resistance early in the game.Although classes that can have high p.res. later are : Ranger/Cleric, Fighter/Cleric or even the C/T,F/T and of course the Barbarian.

With the R/C being the best choice,since he can have on top of that his ironskins + C.Commands and D.Ward for immunity to many spells.

3) Low AC.

Fighter types can have low AC in the game with their equipment.But the character who can do it better is the Swashbuckler (he can reach even -24 AC at high levels).

[...]

Best regards,
Lark

[Pseudospawn]

Ah memories.

I've said it before and i'll say it again; any class which can cast 'protection from magical weapons' wins as a tank.

[pplr]

Originally Posted by Scythesong Immortal

Agreed. Wasn't referring to Daevas and Planetars in particular. Just meant that with some creativity + the right spells + "good" wild surges, the Wild Mage has the best pontential in helping you deal with not having an actual "tank" character.

Ok, it seems your point has been proven with some of the following comments.

[Scythesong Immortal]

That someone would make a first post using an aged account just to quote an old, particular post doesn't seem very suspicious. Nope, not one bit.

Ok, it seems your point has been proven with some of the following comments.

I actually wanted to clarify, but I wasn't sure which approach to take.
To be precise, the Wild Mage just has Nahal's Reckless Dweomer, so each of his level 1 spells can be converted into any other buffing/summoning/debuff spell in your spell book(even if you can't actually cast them yet). More stoneskins, pfmw, mirror images, mordenkainen's, etc. Debuffing potential is the only factor not mentioned in thetruth's post, but it's not always effective anyway.
The Wild Mage also has wild surges. "Good" wild surges include such effects as no-save, area effect and the refresh effect (you gain back all your memorized spells). You can imagine what these effects can do for some spells. The bad surges can be crippling, but at higher levels the "good" wild surges will trigger more often.

[pplr]

Wild mages can be fun to use.

[Taluntain]

This is the SoA-only forum, so unless the OP has ToB installed (and we need to move the thread), ToB discussion is out.

[pplr]

Sorry, that had slipped my mind.

[virtualsri]

Originally Posted by Blades of Vanatar

You beat the battle against the Slavers for Celestial Fury with just a soloed Berserker? I would love to see that! For me, it's always the toughest battle, probaably because I tackle it too early.

I've taken them out with my kentheif solo, but i seriously doubt a berserker doing it....

[virtualsri]

kenmage with stone skin on can be tank and meat blender at the same time.