Armor problems

Agreeing upon the fact that AoB (balthazar) is generally bad in PvE, i have come upon a problem in the low 70 armor level given to dervs. In normal mode this is not a problem whatsoever as i run a full set of windwalkers 24/7 but in hard mode i've noticed that even with 4 enchants on and the +100 armor buff that i die a bit more often while tanking.

I run lyssa of course to deal around 100 average dmg to foes, and IAS buffs sucha s drunken master and heart of holy fury, but recently have been running the PvE +armor skills such as armor of the great dwarf and I am Unstoppable.

Have any others had trouble in HM? (or not trouble really, just solutions to the derv "tank" armor problem?)

P.S. and i do realize dervs dont tank very well, i just rush-spike the hell out of mobs and as a side note i do run sabway for heroes and hero/hench everything. i did try ursanway and it doesnt work too terribly well by itself.

and please DONT TELL ME TO PULL SLOWLY OR STOP TANK/SPIKING as i am fully aware of those options as is

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1. If tanking is killing you, why are you tanking?
2. If you're dying with +100 armor, either you, or the person in charge of keeping you alive, is an idiot. Given that AI can be overridden, PEBKAC is a probable cause.
3. What's your health like?
4. +armor skills are useless if you've got "Save Yourselves!" on you, since they don't stack beyond +25 anyway, and if a skill grants higher than that, only the highest counts.
5. I suggest you reflect on everything that has happened so far. If you don't, you've not really learned from the experience, so whatever we say isn't going to help you. Help yourself by learning where you've gone wrong, where the team has gone wrong and learn how to fix those problems.

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Word from the wise - replace the word "tanking" with "body blocking" and you'll draw less off topic criticism.

On topic:
You were on the right track before you added GDA and IAU. 70 Armour is all you need, the skills you need to stay alive are on your monks bar, not yours.
[skill]shield of absorption[/skill][skill]protective spirit[/skill][skill]spirit bond[/skill]
Stand on the corner and unload with your scythe on all the red dots you've got banked up while leaving the protection up to the protectors.

yes i should replace the word tanking, it is not really what i'm doing, but for lack of a better word there it is.

I am currently running 1 superior runes, full windwalker armor, and a minor and major vigor rune to compensate with vitae runes to boot. I tend to run in and "body block" first which may be the problem, but deal around 100 or so per hit at an increased rate. And taking sabway relieves me of the opportunity to take a real monk.

And just as a sidenote is there any other "team hero build" similar to sabway that works well? (other than those listed in the hero build directory as ive tried those already)

Or i should rephrase my tanking idea, perhaps there is a way to "stay alive" while doing lots of damage, is what im looking for, similar to the idea of assasins having >100% crit strikes with crit defense up all the time

In NM, you can get away with a superior rune, but in HM I wouldn't do that.
I stick with minors all the time.
While Sabway's direct healing is great it lacks protection (even if you're running MM/Prot hybrid), thus I'd take a Prot hench to keep body-blocker alive.
And btw, in HM Lyssa isn't that great - harder to get the +damage bonus, because of foes' faster skill activation time. Melandru/WS damage dash out all way long!

do the smart mvoe and get a friend who has the IMBAgon clear team as well<_<

ya it really works makes HM for me a joke

Have the warrior bodyblock, and you run in and clean up the mob. Splinter Scythe?

If you don't have a good warrior, your next best option is to bring a prot monk.

well there is armor ignoring dmg too, in HM the armor ignoring dmg hits for more. plus, its HM, everything hits for more and has better skills so just gotta be more cautious til you get better at it.

The answer to all of your problems will be clear if you PvP more...

PvP is the answer to every problem... lol.

All jokes aside, the problem is your health. You said you are running one superior rune and one major rune. That is not going to fly. Run all minors and you will see a drastic difference. I really doubt that this has anything to do with tactics on your end, just your armor pieces. you need to have 600+ hp in order to say anything is the monk's fault. Afterall, they gotta have time to prot you... Pre-protting is HELL in hardmode PvE.

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