Tanking

So I'm new to the game and have been doing most of my quests with henchmen. It's been fairly smooth, but I don't really understand how tanking works in this game. I would assume the more damage/healing you do = more threat, but from what I've experienced, the mobs just run wild attacking whoever they want, namely the healer. My character is a Mo/Me and I prefer a smiting build, so I usually roll the Warrior and the Healer henchmen. I use Ctrl+O to have the henches run in first and pick up inital aggro but the ranged mobs seem to ignore them and just focus on me or the healer. A lot of the time there will be a melee mob chasing after the healer and I've tried to pull it off by dpsing it but it doesn't look like that does anything. /confused

There is pretty much no tanking in this game. Mobs act much more like a human player would. They depending on the creature attack, lowest armor, lowest health, hgihest damage output, highest healing, straight for the monks, etc. as far as I know, but it also contains a bit of randomness and who they see first. Lots of people are unaware of this and act ask for tanks in PuGs and play warrior with lots of +armor skills and heals, this is not the effective way to play. Warriors should be hgih damage pressure dealers with high armor because they run in first and fight in the front lines. Warriors or any melee is not necessary and I often play without them.

By the way, smiting is very inneffective. If you like flat out damage dealing, make an elementalist. Stick to healing or protecting on a monk.

Ah, thanks for the info. Guess I'll just have to adapt to that system. Oh, and I do enjoy healing. In every mmo I've played I've used a healing class. Whenever I group with real players I redistribute my points to a Healing Prayers build. I just like being able to refund my points on a whim and do some damage with henches =P

I myself think that tanking does exist and if done well, does help a lot.

The "art" of tanking isn't just running into a crowd, but you also have to read that crowd and controle it, witch is hard for hench/hero's.
Also don't be to hasty to follow the tank. Let him attack while you stay back. If you move to soon to close you will indeed be the prime target.

Tanking is indeed an "art" - to gather and hold agro while your mid and back lines do the damage and support. The thing about tanking is that you don't "need" to do major damage - the tank should be there to keep the mob occupied so defense is priority (as opposed to a pressure damage dealing warrior who is not there to tank, but to distract and wreak havoc in "their" back-lines!). It is best left to a human player as it takes micro management to have a hero tank correctly, and henchies are useless at it as they don't have the same controls so will go after which ever foe is targeted by the player in control.

A tank does not necessarily have to be a warrior either, my monk and necro tank very well in duo runs - you just need the defense skills. As a smiting monk playing with hero and henchies - with careful flagging and control of the rest of your party, YOU can tank for your group. But they don't "get it" as far as agro ranges etc are concerned lol. So the foe will break agro from you and still go after them.

While playing through the game with my monk - just with hero and hench - I didn't bother with the niceties of tanking etc - I set the monks to "Run from the bugger - he's got a great big sword!" mode - and that keeps their warriors busy running in circles while I finish off their back line! It is sometimes very funny to watch Dunkoro running around in circles with 3 warriors on his tail while we pick off their monks . The nice thing about being a human monk is that the foes will target your AI monks first leaving you free to do some healing as well as smiting.

And a smiting monk CAN do some major damage - don't let people tell you different. My brave little smiter has finished Prophesies and Factions and is almost done with NF.

Fight Well
Friday

lol i'll tell my guildies that cleared the UW with me tanking that theres no such thing

There is such thing as tanking but hench/heros can't do it only players as hench feel the need to kite from AoE even with monks focusing everything on them and doing so they open a path to the casters
Just because your tanking doesn't mean you can't do some major damage. On our UW run i had Sliver Armor and Gladiators Defense and in a big mob the screen is full of pretty yellow "-27"'s and "-29"'s which is good as your dealing damage while stoping the foes reaching casters

On other areas that don't really need tanks i switch to whats needed, Star Bursts always nice, Crip build if there casters kite alot and so on

I see lots of warriors stood in towns were tanks are pretty useless yelling "Tank LFP"

Most of this info is useless as you are a monk and only asked if your hench would tank but it's my analysis of tanking and that it's good to be adaptive not just try and run one build throught the game

Basically.... What you need to know abaout tanking is that in 99% of PvE, it's a complete waste of time.
For the most part, by the time the tank has gathered aggro and balled up the enemy in general PvE situations, a pack of fire eles could have easily wiped out the mob already.

Indeed, the most useful thing for warriors to do is run into the enemy mob first to take initial aggro - and the first wave of nasty spells - then proceed to kill stuff with a full out offensive build.
Leave tanking for elite missions.

Tanking is used alot in game, i myself am a warrior, what i do basically is keep the hench and hero outside my aggro range i run in pick aggro then use the skills i have to keep my self alive, i also have skills that i can help my hench with,

once there all hitting me i bring in the hench by this time the aggro is all on me then i mostly Nuke and SS and there dead

i use this alot in Vanq's is very easy, use the walls and body block as much as possible

Viper

As soon as a monster is aggroed, it will attack the target with the least amount of health and armor it sees. Therefore, if you're tanking, you will want to make sure that the only thing the monster sees is the tank.

What's paramount is having the tank outside of everyone else's aggro bubble while gathering the enemies--they will continue to scan for new targets until they stop moving. Once all of the enemies have stopped and are beating on your tank, only then should the rest of the party move in.

Kakumei has it right, but even after the tank ( being whichever class) gets the aggro and they ball up on him/her , that doesn't mean they will stick on him/her, sometimes a few of them will break of and go for someone else.