The Tank Role in ESO - What does a Tank do?

The tank in ESO is similar in purpose to tanks in other fantasy MMORPGs. If ESO is your first MMO or you are unfamiliar with this concept, the tank is a part of a traditional “trinity” of roles that often crops up in MMO PvE group play. This trinity is comprised of tanks, damage dealers, and healers. 

So what exactly does a tank do in ESO? At the most basic level, a tanks job is twofold: Grab and maintain the “aggro” of enemies (force them to attack you by using a taunt skill), and survive the damage done by the enemies that you taunted. Doing both of these things keeps the damage dealers and healers in your group safe from direct attacks from the enemies. 

Many bosses (and some trash enemies) in ESO do a lot of damage and can very quickly kill damage dealers or healers if they don't have a tank with them, because these roles are built with higher offensive stats (at the expense of armor and max health, among other things) to enable them to dish out high damage or healing numbers. 

As a beginner tank, you should focus primarily on keeping yourself and your team alive to start out. There are more jobs that tanks can do as they get more experienced and obtain a wealth of more powerful items, but we will touch on that stuff later in the guide.