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Massively goes to WAR: An overview of Tanking careers for Destruction

Kyle Horner
Contributor
Updated ·4 min read


Meat shield. Damage sponge. Brick house? You know them as tanks, we know them as bipedal beefnauts. The players who wade through the battlefield wearing nothing but the heaviest of heavy metals. In Warhammer Online, the side of Destruction has two tanks to pick from and both of them are very angry individuals. Maybe it's because of all that trauma that they're constantly taking to the head. Then again, they could just be crazy. You'd have to be, to want people to beat on you constantly. Either way, we've got the skinny on the Greenskin Black Orc and Chaos Chosen.



All classes in Warhammer Online use Action Points(AP). Most abilities drain AP when used, but each class also has a special mechanic that allows them to do their own special thing.

Greenskin Black Orc


When starting our look into this class, we asked an actual Black Orc how their mechanic works, here's the answer we received:

"You wonna know wot a Black Orc plan is all about, 'uh? Da Black Orc got da best of da best plans when it comes ta battle. You start wiv no plan, den you move ta phase two, da gud plan: Hit im! Afta dat you movin' ta da best plan: Hit im again, 'arda! If da enemy is still standin' up, you eitha a weaklin' or you need ta restart da plan."

After the explanation, we apparently gave the Black Orc a funny look. It didn't like that and choose to scream at us like a semi-truck before chasing us for an hour or so until finally losing interest. We survived the ordeal with only minor emotional scarring. So, yeah. That's the gist of the Black Orc mechanic, though. Your abilities lead into each other and many of the more useful abilities are only functional with a 'gud plan' or 'da best plan' ready to go. You can easily see which plan you have by glancing at your on-screen indicator, which changes drastically depending on the current plan. Thankfully, key abilities like your root and taunt are not a part of this system. So don't worry about being screwed when you need them the most. One nice ability that all tanks have in Warhammer Online allows them to designate an ally and split all damage and hate with them so long as they're within 30 feet.

The Black Orc is a solid traditional Tank with some great flavor and a nice mechanical twist via plans. There's a lot of tweakability, just like with many of the other classes in the game.

"Oi, dere you is!"

Oh cr- !

Black Orc Mastery paths

  • Path of Da' Brawler
    You'z gud at stabbin' things.

  • Path of Da' Toughest
    You'z gud at survivability. Mor' killin' later!

  • Path of Da' Boss
    You'z gud at da group support, cause everyone 'as some killin' ta do.


Chaos Chosen


Dressed in plate armor from head to toe and wielding massive weaponry, a Chosen is blessed by the Raven Lord Tzeentch with the ability to channel the power of Chaos through his body. These powers manifest themselves as terrible, vile auras that burst forth with power and linger until the Chosen decides to remove them. While the animations for the Chosen are a good, the big draw is all the huge, evil armor you get to wear throughout your time spent playing. You don't start off covered in sweet, sweet plate armor, but it doesn't take you very long to get there. Oh, let's not forget about the really nasty, vicious looking weapons you'll get use use, too.

The Chosen is slightly similar to a paladin-type, yet has its own brand of Tzeentchy flavor. Chaos aura abilities work a bit differently than you'd expect. For starters, many of them first debuff enemies around you and then buff your nearby allies afterwards. There's also one that causes magical attacks to backlash and also harm the caster for a certain amount of damage. So it's not all buffing and debuffing area of effects. Another important difference is that Chosen are able to switch their auras on the fly. The old aura will linger for 12 seconds, allowing it to stack with whatever new aura you've switched to for a short time. There's really no reason not to switch your auras when you think you should, it happens instantly.

If you're looking for a Tank that can take on either melee or magical opponents while still being a big meaty shield, then the Chosen is a good choice. It also doesn't hurt that auras are really useful, either.

Chosen Mastery paths

  • Path of Dread
    Focuses on offense.

  • Path of Corruption
    Focuses on counters and defense.

  • Path of Discord
    Focuses on magical attacks and disruptions.

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Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out all of our previous Warhammer Online features, and don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!