Jump to content

Need help with tanking


Sqvirel

Recommended Posts

I know I made a similar post in the BM section, but I really need help/pointers on this one. How do I tank as a KFM? It's easy as a BM, you just stand there, keep the block up and occasionally attack to keep up aggro. With KFM... It's a whole another story.

 

I can hold my own solo, but in a party when there's a clusterf**k of stuff going around the boss I completely lose my head and just start mashing buttons, and the only thing I'm able to do is keep up Searing Palm combo. (the skill effects from other players are really distracting...)

 

I use fire tab cuz I read that it's better for people with high ping (mine's usually around 150-220). I'm lv 47 atm.

How should I spec my skills? What shields to get? What weapon path to follow? What accessories? What badges? (with my ping high damage is doubtful so I may as well make the toughest clog there is...)

Anyone can help me? Thanks to the bonus xp event and the skill revamp I've finally been able to get my KFM to work (after like 6 tries). I really like this class, I wanted to use it ever since the game released in EU, and I really want to make it work...

My pudge KFM hopes for help too ^^

2qd4qiw.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok I would say fire build will be the best for tanking anyway, so you are fine there.

 

That you can keep searing palm up is also good, box checked. ;)

 

Of course the most important part about tanking is reading up on the boss. You can check in the Hongmoon Training room, I have not looked to see how good it is for dungeon practice, but reading up on bosses with the guides by BnSacademy or freedomplays is a very very essential thing to do.

 

Now the remaining, generic stuff.

 

Tanking is mostly reactive, here are things to do by priority:

 

- Boss is under BD/DES grab --> use restraint skill 3

 

- WL has triggered SB --> use party blue buff, alternate comet strike and awakened searing palm. anicancel with LMB if you can for more damage. Important: use counter/Q/E to avoid boss CC and resume the 4RXR spam asap. Ignore boss non-CC attacks. If you are out of iframes use SS _backwards_ through the boss to stay in range.

 

- boss does nothing (long animation etc) --> tremor V plus tigerstrike spam 2-2-2-F-2-2-2-F

 

- boss attacks with an attack that you can counter --> counter plus iron shoulder then tigerstrike spam

 

- boss attacks with counter-piercing attack --> Use Q/E/SS then searing palm or chained mace plus bleed RMB

 

That's about it I think, the rest depends on the raid mechanic. ^_^

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks!

 

Does it matter how I set up my skills? This is my current setup. LMB cuz I often struggle with keeping up HP (but I don't really feel it that much) And I switch Tab when I'm in a party.

 

How about equipment? Does it make a difference what weapon path I use?

I think badges will make the biggest difference... Which ones to get?

For accessories I go with Pinnacle set, but I don't know what to go for after that.

 

For soulshields I always go with (in order):

level 46 > Moonwater Valor.

level 50 > Northern Critical

Full Yeti, from Avalanche Den.

1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 Asura, from Sogun's Lament. Keep 3, 5, and 7 of Yeti.

(Optional) 3, 5, and 7 Be Ido from Sundered Nexus, to replace Yeti.

3, 5, and 7 Oblivion, from Desolate Tomb, to replace Yeti/Be Ido.

1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 Ebondrake, from Ebondrake Citadel.

Then KFM SS set from MSP? IDK, I never made it that far...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For LMB your choice should not matter much, as you only use it to anicancel during burst. Both crit and focus should be no problem during that time, so this is much less important than for wind build.

 

Use chained mace for RMB ("COMBO"), that way you can use it much more often. Bosses usually require multiple CC, in the worst case your firestorm kick stun even interferes with the proper CC.

 

You must use "damage up" tiger strike, otherwise your damage output with fire will be very low.

 

For some bosses I use the damage up flurry, for lower cooldown, for some bosses I use the 2 second version, when I expect several rapid hits after another (like with Yeti).

 

Equipment: Go with Baleful unless you want to go for very a very specialized wind build (which I currently work on and first have to see if it's still viable after the Stratus patch). Galaxy can be an option for more survivability, but by now it's the more expensive path to use and is more suited for PvP. Raven would be the strongest weapon to go for for tanking of course.

 

Badges: For fire build, I would say the one reducing comet strike cooldown by 10 seconds on every searing palm is best.

 

After pinnacle you should just go to the higher heroic dungeons for the legendary accessories (Oath necklace etc). The Spire will then hold the next better round of accessories. The new PvP accessory set will not help well with tanking, as bosses are rarely under CC. Elementary accessories can be an option, though.

 

Unless you go for skill boosts, soulshields do not do much for you in tanking but raise crit stats. Damage output is still one of the biggest factors so you keep aggro and beat enrage timers. So your path sounds pretty ok, full MSP is definitely also an option and by now also much easier to obtain with celestial peaches. Raven tower SS is best, though, by a very big margin.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is awesome help, thank you very much ^^

 

One last question though, regarding weapon: you say use Baleful, yet on the Equipment Upgrade Path all I see is Seraph forking to Raven/Riftwalk, and Galaxy on the side. I never made it to choosing the path for a weapon, so what am I missing? Is Baleful a different weapon evolution path from the Ivorymoon weapon I got after finishing act 3?

 

Edit: As for HM points, should I just pump all into defense?

Edit 2: My bad, apparently the game set the Seraph as a default. Now that I made it to the choice I can see I need a Dark Stone to upgrade to Baleful. Sorry for the confusion ^^;

Edit 3:  On a side note, what gems would be best to put in weapon?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad you found the drop down option. ^_^

 

By the way the Comet strike damage boost on Ivorymoon is so good, you might want to wait until you have enough materials to reach stage 4 or 5 on Seraph / Baleful before you make the transition.


HM points, my recommendation for tanking is:

 

Defense 10 --> Attack 10 + Defense 10 --> Defense 20 + Attack 10
--> Attack 20 + Defense 20 (this is at HM 8)
--> Defense 50 + Attack 10
--> Attack or defense 50 + other 20 (this is at HM 14)

 

Going for Attack 20 during HM 10 to 13 is valid too, if you have trouble holding aggro. Put spare points into Attack, not into defense.


Gems, roughly in order of priority:

 

Diamond (attack power)
Ruby (chance for X guaranteed criticals)
Amethyst (drain)
Peridot (for vitality bonus)

 

For tanking, all other gems are just nice-to-haves:

 

Aquamarine (for a little extra AP and drain)
Topas (drain on CC opponent)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I have mained KFM (as a tank) since the game was released here in NA/EU. I only play as a tank, and even if there's a BM in the party I will always fight them for aggro (unless it would result in a wipe for the party, like BT). The reason I do this is because most other 'tanks' in bns have no idea what tanking really means. All they really do is hold aggro, and that's it. Real tanks don't spam Q/E all over the place, real tanks control the boss and keep them facing in one direction as much as possible. Easily doable if you try. That said, let's get into facts about KFM.

First and foremost, I have always tested both builds every time our class gets a new change or a badge, and I can tell you without a doubt, Wind is by far suited for tanking. Fire sucks. And as far as dps goes for the two, Wind has been top dawg since it's buff when DT came out. If anyone tells you otherwise, they have never really tried wind, or they suck balls at it. What makes wind so much better (especially for tanking) is how fast your skills go off with animation canceling. It's very easy to sneak in lots of dps in between boss attacks, fire build cannot do this very well. Also, wind is far better at holding aggro, after the recent Threat addition to Comet Strike. Not only does Wind Comet have a higher base damage, it also can be used twice before put on cooldown. Paired with Primal Force, and you can hold aggro fairly easily. Especially during BB.

 

And as far as gear goes, DO NOT get Seraph. It's terrible for KFM, even with fire. I have never seen a kfm with Seraph do decent dps. Save your mats up and shoot right for Stage 4 Baleful. And try not to take advice from Fire build mains, most of them don't really know how to play kfm very well.

 

When tanking, keep in mind that our new Avenging Fist has an iframe, this makes it great when you have Hongmoon Elbow smash. You can block a first hit, and use avenging fist to follow up. This actually works better than the buff you get from a successful Counter. Also, Pivot Kick resists most ccs. It's hard to use at the right time, but very helpful if you want to just face tank an attack that you'd normally have to block or avoid. Try to avoid using Q/E as much as possible, as a tank it's your job to keep boss's predictable. If you're spamming Q/E, you melee dps won't be able to tell when a surprise attack is coming. Simply put, you put the effort into keeping the boss under control, and your team will kill it much faster. They won't have to worry about dodging at random times. 

As for rotations, they are far more complicated than Fire, but once you take the time to master them you will always have high dps (provided bosses aren't slapping you around).

Before I begin though, one of the most important things to know about Wind KFM is proper searing palm management. Searing Palm should be thought more of as a buff, because the damage it does is not very high. Most people have no idea how to use it properly and spam it like there is no tomorrow. Simply wrong. The more frequently you use Palm, the less your overall dps will be.
 

Proper palm use goes like this, Fight starts > Rush to stage 2 asap > Wait till stage 2 has about 7 sec or less > Apply Stage 3 > Wait till stage 3 has about 5 sec or less > Apply Stage 4. If done correctly--combined with iframes/iron shoulders/pivot kicks/Avenging Fists for resets--by the time stage 4 ends Searing Palm's overall cd will have ended and you can proceed to rushing stage 2 and repeating.

 

As far as rotations go, Wind KFM isn't always about 2rf or RF spam. Your rotation changes depending on the situation you are in, your build, your team, and the boss you are facing. 

 

For Example,

My normal starting rotation for most low tier dungeons is as follows - 1 > Rmb > X (stage 1 palm) > 2rf > F > 2(anicancel) > 4 > 4 > F > 4 > X (Stage 2) > V (Tremor) > Tab (BB) > then 4 > RF > 4 > RF > 4 (till BB ends) > X (Roaring Tiger) > X > (Stage 3) > Then 2rf spam in between blocks/Iron shoulder > X (stage 4) > RF spam till stage 4 ends. Try not to forget to keep using Comet Strikes in between BB as well. Just remember, without Skyrift Mystic badge, it's easiest and faster to get your Comet off after a Pivot Kick. So Smite > Pivot Kick > Comet > Cyclone > Comet (F > 2 > 4 > 4 > F > 4) This is really great practice in general, but even better when you have primal force, to make full use of it. 

Now if there's a wl in the pt, and you know they are good at popping SB early, you don't want to waste your Searing Palm. So your starter will look like this - Tab (Flying Slam) > 2RF > F > 2 (anicancel) > 4 > 4 > F > 4 > V (Tremor) > Tab (BB). This combo will put you in sync with most good WLS, you'll be able to drop Tremor right before SB (Which is what you want), and pop BB right when SB goes off. 


Now this part is very important, if you don't have Skyrift, Comet is a huge waste of Dps during sb, even with a perfect rotation. Just pretend you don't even have a 4 while SB is up (without Skyrift ofc). A perfect SB rotation goes like this - X (Awakened Searing Palm) > RF spam (until SB has 7 sec left) > X (Awakened Palm) > RF Spam (Until SB has 1 second left) > X (awakened palm) one last time > RF Spam for 10 more seconds. The only reason you want to use searing palm during SB is for the 10 sec buff it grants Cyclone Kick (In short, boosts it's damage and allows it to be used freely) If done correctly, your dps will be sky high. 

 

As for Soul Badges, I would strongly recommend Primal Force, or Holy Fire (bugged atm, doesn't work with Tremor's 20% crit damage, but still a great badge). Most will recommend Magnum cause Shiro or AALaguna does. Sure, it's an option, but it's mostly worthless to any kfm who uses searing Palm properly. The best boosts to your DPS will be Primal Force or Holy Fire. Later on you can combine the two, or combine Primal Force with Transcendence (Probably the better option).

Below is a video I did on some of the badges. Quality isn't that great (too lazy to reupload), but I left a detailed pros/cons and tips in the description. Happy Trails. Oh and my average ping is 130 - 160.
 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...