One of the best tanking options in the Rift game comes from the Warrior class.
But before we go to a more detailed discussion or Rift Warrior Tank options, perhaps it's necessary to take stock of the real demands impressed upon a tank.
In any group scenario, the tank is the main defensive anchor for the team taking punishment so that others can be allowed to focus on specific tasks to improve the group's chances of success.
The Warrior, Rogue and Cleric soul classes all have the option to spec a primary tank but out of the three, the Warrior tank is typically the most preferred simply because it's a bad-ass, hard-nosed fighter with a penchant for enduring punishment.
The other soul classes, Rogue and mage, have only limited soul options with defensive tendencies but with Warriors, players have at least four souls to choose from to serve as anchor for a Rift Warrior Tank.
These anchors can either be the Paladin, Paragon, Void Knight and Warlord souls.
In most cases, the best primary Rift Warrior tanks are born from the Paladin soul.
The Paladin is equipped with a thick armor plating that easily deflects both physical and magic attacks allowing the Paladin to stand in the middle of the action and absorb all attacks without suffering any lasting damage.
Of course, there are other available options that are equally palatable such as using Void Knight as the main soul and picking the Paladin as an off-soul.
In this scenario, the Rift Warrior Tank is actually more comprehensive because the Void Knight has specific tanking perks that make it a must-try.
These perks include Powerful Countenance, Defender, and Ravenous which are all defensive boosts for the Rift Warrior tank in the middle of a mob frenzy.
The way to play a primary tank is simple.
Upon entering a dungeon or patrolling through an invasion, the primary tank issues a call known as a taunt to attract the attention of bloodthirsty monsters.
The rest of the group stands back and waits for the action to develop.
The group's primary healer should stand at the back of the primary tank providing healing whenever the health bar approaches a dangerous low.
From this position, monsters will gang on the primary tank, in most cases a Rift Warrior tank, unleashing hell on the character.
A properly designed defense will allow the character to stand there for minutes without as much as a scratch.
Members of the group can then start dealing damage either by close combat through ducking in and out of the primary tank to lash at unsuspecting monsters, or from a distance by using a Rogue character for melee and combo attacks.
The team will also require a secondary healer typically a Justicar from the Cleric class to funnel some of the attention away from the primary tank in the brief moments that the primary healer has to boost the character's health as well as a secondary healer to take care of the other team members who are ducking in and out of action.
The best groups will have a Bard for support chanting buffs and debuffs to turn the tide to the group's advantage.
Without the Rift Warrior tank in this scenario, monsters will easily attack the team members individually resulting into disarray.
The Rift Warrior tank is the glue that holds the team together allowing everyone to focus on their individual tasks without worrying about being attacked.
Leave it to the Rift Warrior tank to save the day so you can merrily attack the mob without worrying about your neck.