[Omicron]

Originally posted by SixOfSpades: Volothamp's Comeuppance is such a strong proponent of the "Unyielding Bastion of Defense" style of Tanking because the guide is aimed at relative newbies. True, the very best Tank there is is a Wizard protected by PfMW, Spell Immunity, and PfME, but tell a newbie that "Mages make the best Tanks" and you'll have one hell of a lot of angry newbies. Overall, I prefer the "Fighter" Tank to the "Fighter/Mage" Tank, because it's just more useful. True, the Fighter/Mage is better against bosses, but for the other 95% of the game, I'd rather just toss Korgan into a steel cage full of Umber Hulks and let him back out when he's done. My current party is me (Archer), Korgan, Mazzy, Montaron, Valygar, and Keldorn. We haven't met anything yet that made us wish we could cast spells--if we're fighting a Mage or something, 1 or 2 Dispels from Keldorn and it's all over for Mr. Badguy. The entire party is a fire-and-forget weapon of terror, spearheaded by Korgan, with Montaron and Mazzy as Backup Tanks. Then again, I have an all-Wizard party led by a Gnomish Fighter/Illusionist, and it kicks almost as much butt, but it requires a lot more work on my part.

Overall, I prefer the Fighter/Mage to a Fighter tank, because its just more useful to toss him into a group of Umber Hulks and cast Death Spell/Cloudkill/Death Fog. Plus, he can kill everyone else he wants. Be him mage, cleric, lich, mindflayer. I'm seriously doubting that group of pure non casters can take on Kangaxx's defenders (from the tactics mod) on Insane. (Unless your not playing on insane/tactics). That gnome level 20 somethin Kensai has like a thaco of -15, Vorpal sword, 6 attacks per round... Try tanking HIM without spells.