Rangers capable of tanking in tight situations?

[Jingleson]

Seeing their decent HP/Stamina return and overall pool, their defensive skill caps (albeit a bit lower), the ability to wear chain and SOME plate, and their buffs/taunts/decent DPS output for aggro, does that mean Rangers can tank in place of a Paladin/SK/Warrior as a Main/Off? Or are they simply not viable for either role?

I'm asking because I read the guide on the wiki and it says that Rangers are less hardy than other hybrids, but they still get decent defensive skills and reasonable armor/HP, and I'd like to be able to take up the job later and help my teammates anyway that I can, even if that means laying down my life so my buddies can escape. I want to master every facet of this class so that I can play it to its potential and be able to offer advice on it to other players. I basically want to be the Ele/Elderan of Rangers.

[pharmakos]

yeah rangers can tank okayish. long periods of tanking from them is going to really drain healer mana though.

[Malone88]

They do fine as tanks with decent gear and slowed mobs.
Champs at holding aggro with Flame Lick/Snare.

[lecompte]

Ranger's can tank fine with a slow (so can anything else...). I'd say that in power group, ranger's are superior tanks because of their increased dps and ability to snare -- that said, monks are better yet though they may have issues with agro. In a 60 group with Torpor, they are especially solid. Spent a lot of time duo-ing Djarn's camp.

[Rufio]

I have been lvling up, currently 38. I can say my experience when I am in Dungeon groups I usually end up tanking. The idea is to itemize according to how you plan on playing. If your the only member taking damage it actually allows your healer to keep sufficient mana. The only time I see mana strains are when your pulls don't go correctly; pathing is especially fun sometimes in EQ lol.

[Cyph]

Hi Rufio :) I think Rangers can tank fine in groups, depending on what support is available. Obviously you'll be more squishy so you're going to drain the healer(s) mana, but this shouldn't be manageable especially if they have clarity. Also, as you pointed out, it is when things go pear shaped that it becomes nasty.

[Swish]

If you've got a fast dps group with clarity 1 or 2 for the cleric then rangers make fine tanks and shouldn't be shunned like they are currently :p

As a cleric I still prefer a plate tank, but situationally there's nothing wrong with rangers.

EDIT: ...and they'll thrive in Velious when the hybrid penalty is removed.

[DrKvothe]

Thought only the penalty to the group was being removed in velious? Could easily be wrong on that.

http://wiki.project1999.com/Swarmcaller

Fun ranger tanking weapon. You don't need to be as worried about swing threat when you're shooting spells between swings. This thing procs a pretty strong slow that can really reduce the damage you take. Very good for duo/trio where you might not have slow but don't want to share exp with another player to get a plate tank or slow casting class.

[Swish]

Either way, the min/maxers who refuse to group with hybrids on the grounds that they're slowing the XP rate down will be more welcoming of their ranger pals :)

[Nogdar]

As long as you don't leave your party, in a pinch, rangers make fine group tanks IMO.

[Aaron]

Thought only the penalty to the group was being removed in velious? Could easily be wrong on that.

http://wiki.project1999.com/Swarmcaller

Fun ranger tanking weapon. You don't need to be as worried about swing threat when you're shooting spells between swings. This thing procs a pretty strong slow that can really reduce the damage you take. Very good for duo/trio where you might not have slow but don't want to share exp with another player to get a plate tank or slow casting class.

The hybrid penalty is removed altogether in Velious.

[lecompte]

All said: Rangers can be ideal tanks if your group is made with that in mind. Ranger + sham + enc (pet) + enc/dps + dps + cleric and your group will tear through mobs incrediably fast. Ranger's in groups have something to prove (or I do) and I made groups that devestated content -- only issue was having enough mobs to pull. Half the time I would pull and tank. When the mob got to 30% I would just snare and run and get the next thing. All about pushing the limit :). Always a blast with a couple of enchanters to just pull four or five mobs at once and sort out the details later.

[DrKvothe]

Good to know, Aaron.

Another note, in a shaman, ranger, monk trio in CoM things ran extremely smoothly. Having a high dps tank other than your monk allows the monk to actually loot without much worry and increases pulling rate. I'm sure the exp was much faster than it would have been in the classic monk/shm duo.

[pasi]

Rangers and monks make fine tanks on regular exp mobs.

You're really only going to start running into issues on mobs that are either difficult or impossible to slow (anyone can tank slowed exp mobs alright).

Warrior superiority is mostly for the above mentioned mobs. A lot of that will depend on the level of your slower and tank relative to mobs, but the specific examples where a ranger tank won't suffice are pretty limited. The only exp-camp named immediately coming to mind is Emperor Chottal.