Hello again everyone, welcome back to another article on Eternal Return. This time rather than a mechanic we want to talk about roles these characters can play. Now in Eternal Return, you can build anyone to do anything to varying degrees of success, however, there are a few builds per character that will always outshine others, and that is what we will be focusing on.
Let me bring you the top 5 best tanks in Eternal Return. Weighing their skills, stats, and overall survivability. This does not include augments as part of the consideration but we will still show the most efficient setups. Without further ado, let’s get to it.
10.Chiara
For a while this dark witch was played as a tank before the meta shifted to play her as more of an assassin. However, she still remains powerful as a tank due to building skill amp along with it. This is of course for a solo build as in duos or squads it is better for someone devoted to tanking.
Personally, I played Chiara as a tank before the meta changed to an assassin. I would rate her well enough that she can survive for a surprising amount of time but strictly going by survivability and tanking she barely squeezes into the tenth slot.
Build
Mistilteinn + Helm of Banneret + Amazoness Armor + Sheath of Shah Jahan + EOD Boots + Magazine.
This build goes from Cemetary > Hospital > Temple> Alley> Avenue
For skills you max T> R> E> W> Q
Augments
Havoc as a Main Augment, taking Vampiric Bloodline, along with Stopping power and Quench.
Fortification as a Sub Augment, taking Embolden, and Reinforced armor.
What makes it Tanky
- You have a lot of flat attack and skill damage reduction
- You heal often and have an in-built shield.
- By combining her natural skills and the items she has a lot of Omnisyphon
- Relatively high health in comparison to other characters in her role.
Just to top it off, this build is a little old but it has been updated to be able to keep up in the current meta. However, she is not the strongest anymore as skill amp has been nerfed. This directly hits her survivability as she does not heal as much anymore. Overall this heal tank is above average so I put her in the tenth slot.
9. Sua
The hammer-wielding book lover takes up the ninth slot as much like Chiara her tank build is not as popular anymore but at one point was menacing the solo queue.
Sua nowadays is built either as a spell caster with cooldown reduction and skill amplification or purely as a caster with high skill damage amp and bonuses. Given that her weapon is a hammer it gives her access to weapons with flat bonuses to her skill damage. However back then (and rarely now) you could build her as a tank that focuses purely on Survivability and attack damage.
I never played her this way, but I did my own less successful variation where she was a lifesteal and omnisyphon tank since she has natural CC immunity and high CC on enemies so long as you can buy time to cycle through your skills.
Build
Hammer of Thor + Rocker Jacket + Imperial Crown + Burnished Aegis + Glacial Shoes + Uchiwa
Skills you max T>R>Q>E>W but make sure you get a point into everything before beginning to max things out.
For augments you build
Havoc as your main augment taking Vampiric Bloodline along with Quench and Spirit Culling.
Then you get Fortification as your Sub Augment with Embolden and Cavalcade.
What makes it Tanky
- High bonuses to defense, HP, and Skill damage reduction
- Natural CC immunity (W)
- High CC value (2 stuns 1 knock-up)
- Weaves auto attacks for max value.
SO this build relies on timing your attacks so that you can keep the enemy locked down for as long as possible while also shielding yourself from debilitating CC skills and just tanking through other damaging skills. It plays like a rhythm game as someone with a good sense of timing can take away around 25-40% of the enemy's health before they can do something.
8. Adela
This Adela build used to be the only viable build for her until they inadvertently buffed her through buffing the caster items. It was a tanky build that also focused on skill amplification. That means that while you struggle to peel through all her armor and health she will whittle you away with her high damaging combos.
I don't play Adela because of a series of bad games all involving her and this build, it also doesn't help that when fighting her you have to maintain a high level of concentration to keep track of her skill cooldowns and chess pieces in play otherwise you could trap yourself in her board.
Better keep an eye out because she can easily put you into checkmate.
Build
Mistilteinn + EOD Suit + Imperial Burgonet + Straightjacket Sneakters + Uchiwa + Sheath of Shah Jahan
For skills you max R>Q>W>E>T
For augments
You take Havoc as a main with Frailty Infliction then get Quench and Stopping power.
Support is your Sub Augment with Thorn Shackles and Theia.
What makes it Tanky
- High health
- Gives time to set up chess pieces
- High Mobility to dodge stronger skills
- The longer the fight goes the more in her favor it is.
- Will outlast most people.
This build used to give people PTSD playing the game but now it is much more manageable as to be at the same level of oppression she had to sacrifice a lot of the tank stats she used to get. Why not give it a shot if you feel lucky?
7. Xiukai
Our Lovable chef returns in another list as the first of the full tanks, While he does have a lot of max HP he does not have many other stats. Pairing that with an extremely weak early game tends to make him an easy target for most players.
This kind of build is either extremely tanky and pain to fight or really easy to defeat with no in-between. While he does gain stats independently from levels and items it is difficult to achieve in a lobby where people will kill you for your food. More so in duos and squads.
Let's see what he’s cooking up.
Build
Blazing Lance + EOD suit + Imperial Burgonet + Burnished Aegis + White Rhinos + Schrodinger’s Box
Skills you max T> E> R> W> Q
For Augments, you go Support as your main taking Amplification Drone then get Thorn Shackles and Assembly.
For your Sub Augment, you go Havoc with Stopping Power and Quench.
What makes it Tanky
- Naturally gains Max HP
- Build gets a lot of HP, Defense, and Skill Amp
- Skills scale off Max HP
- Has a lot of slows, and a knock-up
- Has a defense reduction skill
He honestly would make it higher on the list if he could get to the late game more often, but with the changes made in duos and squads, it is hard to stay relevant if everyone bullies you for your food. Assuming you can navigate through that though he turns into a beast.
6. Li Dai Lin
Just as a Heads up, this build is a glove build rather than the more damaging nunchaku build. It has a lot more emphasis on defense and auto-attacking rather than throwing your skills to do damage.
This build has a tight timing but not as tight as Xiukai, she moves much faster than the chef and can duel people early on so long as you manage her W bar well. I put her right below Leon because she lacks wide hitting CC when it comes to duo or Squads but her single target lockdown is next to none.
Build
Divine Fist + Crusader Armor + DIadem + Plasma Arc + Feather Boots + Jolly Roger
Skills you go T>R>Q>E>W
Augments you go Fortification as your main with Ironclad, then take Steadfast and Cavalcade.
Following that, you take Havoc with Stopping power and Quench
What makes it Tanky
- Focused on Max HP and Defense
- Basically meant to trade in a head-to-head fight.
- Fast and hits hard but not with her skills
- High single target CC
- Makes it easier to manage her passive
All in all, as a solo Li Dailin is really strong. She can basically beat anyone in a 1 vs 1 fight if she lands all of her skills on them. Following that she can fight people to the death using auto attacks. With her silence, slow, and stun she can make sure that the enemy will never escape her.
5. Leon
Resident Surfer Leon is fast, has slows, and a lot of AOE CC meant to keep a team in place while still dishing a respectable amount of damage. While there are builds that are more focused on damage, those do not do as well as the straight tank build as this buys Leon enough time to splash all of his pools all over an area to absolutely destroy an enemy team.
I honestly only ever use Leon in duo and squads because his AOE CC is incredibly good if there is someone else to follow up on it, otherwise, the play style in solo is very different than what I am used to. He is tanky with his inbuilt shield and has a good amount of CC and damage so long as you can time the skills well enough.
Surfs Up
Build
Divine Fist + Crusader Armor + DIadem + Plasma Arc + Feather Boots + Jolly Roger
Skills you max T>R>W>Q>E
For Augments, you go Support taking Healing Factor as your main along with Thorn Shackles and Assembly.
For Sub Augment you take Havoc with Stopping Power and Quench
What makes it Tanky
- Strong Shield
- Increased stats while standing on water
- Knock up and displacement skills
- True damage
This man relies on surviving for a long time to keep adding more puddles of water for him to dive into and strengthen himself with. You could say he is like Aquaman if you took away the power to control sea creatures.
4. Nicky
Nicky is the kind of character that you think would be a tank and end up being a bruiser. However, she can still be built tank if you pair her with some cooldown reduction. You want to keep using her skills as much as possible since she even has a CC immunity parry build-in.
Personally, it takes some getting used to managing her rage bar. But aside from that, she is honestly really powerful, she has a good amount of single target CC and it pairs with her high single target damage. In a team fight when she picks out 1 person it basically signals who to kill first.
Have you seen what skin she got??
Build
Buddha’s Palm + High Priest Robes + Imperial Crown + Burnished Aegis + Tachyon Brace + White Crane Fan
Skills you max R>W>Q>E>T
For Augments, you take Havoc with Vampiric Bloodline, as your main then take Quench and Stopping power.
For Sub Augment take Support’s Thorn Shackles and Assembly
What makes it Tanky
- Inbuilt Parry that maxes her rage
- Lot of movement for a tank so she sticky
- High Single target CC that all do high damage.
- Builds HP and cooldown to keep spamming that parry.
- Skills gain an empowered charge when full rage (basically has 5 skills, not 4)
She is a weird character as her ultimate can only be cast when enraged but you can only cast the empowered version of her skill while enraged as well. So it is a management game of getting hit, getting angry, and cracking back as hard as you can. She is honestly insanely fun to play.
3. Jan
The top three and taking up the bronze slot is the man who can either make or break a team Jan. This pro kickboxer was quite hype on release and was nerfed shortly afterward. Now in the new season, he has a respectable place as a duelist who can potentially even go 1 vs 2 or 1 vs 3 if the right conditions are set.
I personally play him when we want a comeback character. He is the kind of character that when the played right has that highlight reel potential as a lot of his abilities require precise aim and micro-movements to get around enemy skills and position yourself in an optimal spot.
Who wants to get in the ring with this champ?
Build
Divine Fist + Amazoness Armor + DIadem + Sword Stopper + Feather Boots + Magazine
Skills you max T> E>Q>W> R
For Augments, you go Support taking Healing Factor as your main along with Thorn Shackles and Assembly.
For Sub Augment you take Havoc with Spirit Culling and Quench
What makes it Tanky
- In-Built Healing
- High CC
- Has an Arena that buffs him and slows enemies
- Inbuilt Cooldown Reduction
- Good damage
All in all this guy is really strong at locking people down. Once you understand his kit you will learn the opportune moment to use your enhanced skills as you keep beating down on your enemies to give yourself more cooldown reduction. It's a reduce reuse and recycle kind of fighting style.
2. Hyunwoo
Taking up the second spot and honestly interchangeable with the first slot depending on playstyle is Hyunwoo. This kid is the definition of anime's main character. He has an AoE slow, a stun, a movement impairment immunity skill, and a giant windup punch. He is so insanely good at sticking to targets that the only way to avoid him is to not get hit in the first place.
Personally, he is strong, immune to roots and slows, and has a stun on top of his dash. So if he picks the right place to fight he turns from a nuisance to a potential one-shot killer. His ultimate does massive damage even for a tank, and while building tank due to his W he can proc a lot of percentage-based damage.
1 vs 1 me bro.
Build
Divine Fist + Butler’s Suit + Mohawk Headgear + Plasma Arc + Feather Boots + Music Box
Skills you max R>E>T>Q>W
Augments you go Fortification taking Diamond shard along with Embolden and Cavalcade
For Sub Augment take Support’s Thorn Shackles and Assembly
What makes it Tanky
- Inbuilt defense buff and Weak CC immunity
- Resets cooldown on that defense buff often
- Good CC to set up for massive damage ult
- Not necessary to build damage due to percent-based damages.
- Can focus on purely tank stats
He is a straight-up traditional tank, he excels in long-term fights but if he gets the drop on someone in an alleyway expect to either flee or die because in tight spaces this man will absolutely destroy anyone.
1. Magnus
The Biker man takes the top spot but he could be exchanged with Hyunwoo depending on your playstyle. He has a lot of CC and slows, can catch up to anyone with his ultimate, and does increased damage against enemies with slows or stuns on them. Unlike Hyunwoo he has a lot more skill shots and angled abilities that will CC if landed but also just plainly do damage.
He needs to build more damage than Hyunwoo but has a passive that literally makes him harder to kill the closer to death he is. While it does not always matter if he is getting executed by a high power skill or ultimate it does matter when skills are all on cooldown and you are trading for your life.
Come and fight me.
Build
Fang Mace + Commander’s Armor + Imperial Crown + Draupnir + EOD Boots + White Crane Fan
Skills you max R>W>E>T>Q
For Augments you go Fortification taking Diamond shard along with Steadfast and Dulled Blades
For Sub Augment take Havoc’s Stopping power and Quench
What makes it Tanky
- Inbuilt defense buffs
- All of his skills Slow and some Stun
- Increased damage vs slowed enemies
- If ult is up no one can escape him.
- CC Immunity
I like this playstyle more than Hyunwoo just because it feels more rewarding to land all of those skill shots and you feel more manly because you have full CC immunity rather than Hyunwoo’s weak CC immunity. Pair that with a lot of slows and you make a recipe for a solid win in teams.
