Evasion And Hit Cancellation Tanks (Patreon)

Recently there was a Reddit post from one of the more enthusiastic new players talking about an evasion build he had hit upon.  I really do enjoy these posts because they show that there are other members of the community also looking to try and push the boundaries and find new things.  The post is here; unfortunately he's gone and edited his original build, which was unrefined, but even his new one is still rough around the edges.  

But, it's a great launching point for discussing what makes for a good tank build and investigating what you can do when you start to build patchwork sets (non-hybrid, non-mono sets).  So we'll open up with the build he has posted up now and discuss that before refining it further.

(This is the 1.0 version of the Screaming Bracers, I don't have the updated version yet.)

This is a core only build and the aim here is to stack as many evasion gaining gear pieces as possible.  This set has a total of +4 evasion from gear alone but there are some problems with it.  For a starter offensively all you have is fist and tooth or a leather shield, means you're basically going to be almost useless in combat outside of being a dedicated meat shield.  Additionally Bird Bread is a very situational gear card, the helm and greaves are massively dependant on you being insane without any personal insanity gain and your body protection is pretty bad.  

On top of that the Body should be one of the two most heavily armored locations for any tank build because the body is twice as likely to be hit than anywhere else (head is also important because of how lethal head hits are).  So the question really is, is it worth +1 evasion at the cost of having such a low body armor?  Now the answer might be yes, except there is a body piece in the core game that is so much better than any other defensive body piece that there is no real reason to touch the Rawhide Vest in a build like this.

Hello second best defensive item in the core set.  It's the Phoenix Plackart!

Ignoring hits is an amazing ability, while evasion is essentially a way of ignoring a hit, each point of evasion is basically a 10% chance of ignoring.  Now Evasion stacks with blocks and ignores, but in my opinion 3 evasion + 1 ignore + block is better than 4 evasion + block.  Especially because there are diminishing returns on evasion due to not all monsters having a 2+ chance of hitting all the time.

Given that, what can we do with the Phoenix Placart?  Well if we stick with core game items only, the following build emerges.

This build has 3 evasion, 2 Block and a lot more flexibility in it's construction.  We can put any weapon we want into the grid and the only requirement is that one of our two filler items has to be a red left.  The armor situation is also very good, with between 5 and 7 armor in all locations (without shield specialisation).  There are problems with maintaining Insanity again, but that is one of those issues that remains in the core game.  You can help your insanity somewhat with stone noses, but it's not ideal.

When we move into expansion land though, there is an item that will help immensely. Surprisingly it's from the Silk armor, and it's probably the most useful and interesting part of that armor set.  The Silk Boots.

As you can see now, you can spend survival in order to keep yourself insane and maintain the placart.  In addition the build has a slot free for a utility/support item and it's cheaper to construct than the above version.  The Juggernaut Blade is there because of it's synergy with the Phoenix Helm, but you can fit any weapon into this build as long as you have an item with a Left Red to activate the Placart.

We can refine this even further if we add in the Sunstalker Expansion. Here's a full Trapper Build.

The Cycloid Scale Hood is probably the best non-monster grease item for gaining evasion.  When you Dash you gain an additional evasion, and you can even play silly tricks with the turn order to move, dash during your act and then dash when the monster targets you in order to get a total of +3 evasion.  Other things which are neat include how it interacts with cumbersome.  

You could swap out the Sky Harpoon and Hook in the above build and use a bone club if you wanted, once you are in position it'll be phenomenal. (Bone Club works well in all the builds that require a left red).

However, there is another, undisputed king of these types of builds if you include expansions, and it's Rolling Armor.  I've talked about these cracking builds before but before we go, lets look at it again because it's worth admiring how powerful this build can be.

(Calcified Juggernaut Blade has highest synergy, but there are loads of other possible weapons).

This is a pure Grand/Shield tank of the highest order.  Without Shield Mastery this incredible powerhouse has a total of 11 armor on all locations except the body which has 15! It also has resistance to knockdown (set bonus), the Placart (which can be worn because Rolling Armor doesn't take up locations), Block 2 and Ripple Pattern (30% chance of ignoring a hit.)  So while the armor set only provides +2 evasion it has such an insane amount of durability.  It's hard to make this entire set and the calcification process takes time also, so it's well balanced.

It is also worth noting that rolling armor without the Placart can be worn by Leyline Walkers without compromising their evasion. So you could have 5+ evasion on a well armored tank without even considering what Survival of the Fittest does for you.

Next time you want to build a tank, consider the Phoenix Placart!

(Note: there is a really good Phoenix/Lantern patchwork armor build you can construct if you're looking for a core game hybrid set.)