Runetanking

Nothing astonishing here, but when I was in my 40s, tanking mobs with DS
on while my pet beat their backs up, I was mocked and told that would
end soon.

Here I am, 71, and still using the same scheme, admittedly on LB mobs
now, but it continues to be a viable plan.

How?

Well, first off, my pet (the 71 one, mind you, not something out of
date) has pretty poor tanking abilities.

I, on the other hand, have a secret weapon: Rune. This absorbs damage,
around 2K worth, the mob hits me but doesn't get thru till it wears off.
I could rune my pet, but the spell which runes others costs a peridot
to cast, this would be a pretty expensive plan. Self rune, though,
just costs mana. When it wears off, I cast it again, so its like having
a 2K heal handy.

Slowed and crippled (Fractured Consciousness), the mobs aren't at their
best, so the rune lasts a while.

Meanwhile, they are hitting me, so they're eating my 64 point DS (35
worn, plus Feedback's 11, plus Fire Elemental illusion for 18 more. I
could drink a VI potion and make that 81 instead... if they were hitting
my pet, best I could do would be 11 DS.


My melee DPS isn't great, but it adds a bit... meanwhile, by allowing my
pet the back of the mob, his DPS goes up by an estimated 15% due to
avoiding parry/dodge/riposte

In all, mobs die about twice as fast this way as when I let my pet tank
them by himself, and I get skillups in defense/dodge.

I can kill faster using various charm schemes, and certainly do much
better in groups than soloing like this... but it is a viable plan, and
a lazy one, allowing me to browse the web or write up reports here on AGE

Materials, 71 enchanter tank, Test