First up his talent tree needs a slight rework. The level 20 options are not very useful at all for a character who is meant to be tanking for the group. This might not be a big deal at lower difficulties but once you get to champion and beyond any Ironbreaker who is running around trying to get kills to give him temp health is hurting his team. There should be a level 20 talent that gives temp health based off attacks blocked or enemies knocked prone. REWARD players who actually do their job and protect their allies.
Following on from this Ironbreaker needs access to a boss taunt much sooner than level 25. It makes no sense at all that he wouldnāt have this as a natural part of the ability, or at the very least a level 10/15 option. Itās frustrating and pointless being a tank and watching a boss literally run through you to target your squishy allies even while your taunt is active and your are bashing away with your weapon. Itās only 10 seconds which, if you get a hoard at the same time is a fraction of a boss fight. Please give us the ability to protect our team, do our job and fulfill our role from level 1. It makes sense, isnāt OP at all and would encourage more players to try Ironbreaker.
Another neat way to support tanking in the game is to reflect how helpful the role is in the scoreboard. Iāve finished matches as Bardin with insanely low damage taken, but that isnāt marked as a top score (stupidly the highest damage is the one marked). This should be reversed. While weāre on the subject add in āEnemies knocked proneā and āenemy attacks blockedā as a scoreboard stat.
The final thing I want to say about Ironbreaker is that it would be great is the Vermintide 2 community showed a bit more understanding in PUG groups towards this short assed life saver. We spent entire matches protecting you, knocking whole groups over for easy kills for you, reviving you while bosses beat the stuffing out of us and ignoring kills so we can keep everyone safe. Iām sorry to say but the vast majority of groups I play with donāt understand how tricky this is. They routinely rush ahead, leaving me stranded at the back of a hoard, ignoring the fact Iāve just kept every single flanking enemy off them and I canāt kill big groups like they can.
Please spare a thought for your much abused Tank. Thanks gang
This may not be a reply youāre going to want to hear, but IB job isnāt to just put their shield up and āblockā the horde. Youāre a mob grinder. Which is why you get access to several extremely potent grinding options (1h/2h hammer, Grudgeraker, Flamethrower (and to a lesser extent) pistols. Your pushblock is useful for situations you donāt see coming and to help resurrect an ally and make sure they donāt get downed immediately again.
Bardinās that ātank the hordeā are the least desirable thing on Legend. You grind the horde with either your ranged option(s) or your weapon to create a safe space for your allies while they assist with horde and do picks on problematic specials that like to spawn. You taunt during situations that can kill like a patrol or a bad combination of specials. While you taunt youāre still trying to grind a horde.
As for bosses. The boss taunt works as like a carrot. But learning how to hold aggro without it will likely go quite a bit further. Namely learning how to avoid knockback attacks that generally drop agro. Itās actually a lot less one size fits all that you might think it is. Namely because when youāre taunting the boss (which will often be on the tail of a horde in Legend) youāre pulling the horde too, which can make things go really bad really quickly depending on what youāre fighting.
White health is extremely useful. I can make it through an entire Legend run without healing once, thus allowing my teammates more healing items to use amongst themselves. Because of my ability to remain strong through most worst case scenarios we have a higher chance of getting to the end in a particularly nasty Legend run.
IB through the flamethrower alone is extremely potent at grinding hordes and can make getting hordes in bad spots in a map like Athel something that doesnāt just immediately end your legend run if thereās also a shield rat or special or two chasing behind that horde as well.
These are just my own opinions based on a large number of hours as IB, most of which were in Legend. However as these are my opinions, donāt take any of this as absolute in any way.
Agree with Rumeht. Jumped on IB yesterday after spending most of my time on the Slayer, so far in Champion it feels I can contribute best with helping to kills stuff asap while watching my teams back and helping tough situation with my ultimate.
I found temp health very useful as a single horde + drake cannon can fill your health all back up while natural bond slowly turns it into green. Also 2H axe feels great, good cleave and very helpful against tough enemies, have to try it on Legend though.
bam, if only there were more players such as yourself who relied on their wits and survival skills and what they bring to the team, rather than come to the forums and complain about class imbalance - normally due to a lack of skill. thumbs up.
Yes, IB is in need of some tweaks. So is every other career. At the moment, though, IB is, in my opinion, one of the better balanced careers. While there are still some Talents that feel unviable or no-choice, most have at least some utility. He can work well with several different weapons and combinations, unlike, say, Shade who seems to need Glaive or Dual Daggers to work well.
And yes, Ironbreaker isnāt supposed to stand around as a plug unless his taunt is active. Often enough, not completely even then. Heās supposed to create for others the opportunities to kill enemies, and while doing that (safely), get a few hits in himself. Push, push-strike, shield bash and the occasional normal strike are your friends. If you have a few moments before a wave, charge up that Drakegun, and prepare to switch back to melee. Youāre as active a part of the team as anyone else.
Oh, and while I hold Oi! Wazzok! to be the worst of his lv25 Talents, it still has its place there. It isnāt meant to be used all the time. If you pick that, you draw the aggro when your friendās in trouble and your damage just isnāt enough to draw the aggro. Itās a fallback, and other options should be tried first.
Meh. Feels like my text is confusing even to myself. May need to clarify later.
I think you are bringing too many misconceptions about what ātankingā means in this game versus other games. āTankingā in this game concerns being on the front line of hordes. When it comes to bosses and other high health/damage enemies, EVERYONE needs to know how to properly dodge and block incoming damage and patterns. There is no crutch for a single person being able to shoulder that responsibility solely. The taunt ability is meant to be a nice beneficial extra ability for pitched situations, not what IB Bardin and the team rely on.
I agree with most of what the people have said here in response, although the suggestion of changing the scoreboard priority to least damage instead of most damage is still a good one if you ask me. Itās less so pointing fingers at poor participants/unlucky moments and more towards luckiest/fittest of the bunch.
Then again thatās not the topic at hand, but I will add that Iāve seen some bardins come by that -only ever- block a hallway with their shield and taunt and then justā¦ stand there, surrounded, most of the time, waiting for someone to come and kill everything. Which is nice and all but when Iām already holding a different chokepoint on my own you canāt expect me to come running to peel them off of you either.
A good āātankāā in this game is a good teamplayer, they see the gaps, they see the enemies winding up an attack on an unsuspecting ally and they help keep the overall āādamage takenāā low rather than just their own by providing the team with their expertise and awareness. Even if that means being the invisible hand at times. The best teamplayers are often the ones you notice the least, for better and worse, as sour as it can feel. They just donāt stand out since they do their part, people will notice you when youāre not there more often than when you are if youāre a good supporting/carrying/aware player.
Thanks gang