Skills Stoneman

Stoneman Skills

The Stoneman Defender is Forsaken World's unbreakable tank — forcing enemies to attack him, soaking blows that would shatter anyone else, and wrapping his party in shields and protective auras. Be the rock your group is built around.

Overview

The Stoneman Defender is Forsaken World's immovable wall — the dedicated tank who plants himself between the enemy and his friends and simply refuses to fall. Where other classes chase damage, the Defender chases control of the fight: forcing enemies to swing at him, soaking blows that would shatter anyone else, and wrapping his party in shields and protective auras. If you want to be the rock a group is built around, this is your class.

Defenders trade flashy burst for something more valuable in a real fight: certainty. When a Stoneman holds the line, the line holds.

Why Play a Defender?

The ultimate aggro magnet — taunts that force enemies to attack you, so squishier allies can do their work in peace.
Outrageous survivability — defense buffs, an emergency damage-immunity button, and a deep health pool.
Real party protection — sacrifice your own health to shield an ally, hand out group defense, and run battlefield-wide auras.
Earth-shaking control — area slows, roots, stuns and disarms that lock down a whole pack.
Always wanted — every dungeon and raid group needs a tank, and a good Stoneman never sits in queue.

Class Identity — The Wall

The Defender is built around three jobs, and he does all three at once:

Threat — make the enemy attack you and nobody else.
Mitigation — take those attacks and barely flinch.
Protection — extend your toughness outward to the whole party.

The offensive theme is Earth — crushing smashes, ground-splitting cleaves, and landslides that bury a crowd — with a touch of Light for his holier finishers. You won't top the damage charts, and you won't want to. Your scoreboard is whether your group is still standing.

Core Mechanic: Fury

The Defender runs on Fury, a resource that builds as the fight goes on. Adopt your battle-stance and every blow you take feeds your Fury; land hits and it climbs further. Spend it on your big Earth and Light strikes to convert a long, grinding fight into bursts of stuns, disarms and heavy damage. The longer the Defender stands and trades, the more dangerous he becomes — which is exactly the fight a tank wants.

Holding Aggro

Your most important job: make sure the enemy is hitting you. These are the tools that nail their attention to you and keep it there.

Taunt — your signature single-target threat tool. It forces the enemy to attack you and even drags hiding, stealthed foes out into the open. The cornerstone of every pull.

Hard Smash — your bread-and-butter Earth strike. Cheap, reliable damage that builds threat (and Fury) with every swing.

Schism — a ground-splitting cleave that strikes a cluster of enemies at once and slows them, grabbing aggro on a whole pack.

Counter Strike — a punishing Earth counter that answers an attacker blow for blow.

Earth & Fury — Control and Damage

When your Fury is built, unleash it. These strikes turn a defensive grind into stuns, disarms and lockdowns that decide the fight.

Force of Fury — your Fury-dump nuke. Pours all your built-up Fury into one Earth strike with a strong chance to stun the target — the more Fury, the harder it hits and the more likely the stun.

Wrath of Light — a Light-infused Fury finisher that can disarm the enemy and rips any rider off their mount. Brutal against weapon-users.

Landslide — the ground erupts, ensnaring a whole crowd of enemies and slowing them. Your premier area lockdown for gathering and holding a pack.

Earthen Penance — an Earth strike that chains the target down and blunts their critical hits, taking the bite out of a dangerous attacker.

Standing Firm — Self-Defense

This is what makes a Defender a Defender. Layer these and you become almost impossible to bring down.

Rocky Protection — your panic button. For a few seconds you become immune to all damage — and you can fire it even while stunned or controlled. The skill that turns certain death into a shrug.

Tenacious Armor — hardens your hide for a big boost to your Defense.

Fortitude — swells your maximum Health, deepening the pool every tank lives on.

Land Protection — a standing passive that raises your elemental resistances, rounding out your defenses against magic as well as steel.

Protecting Your Party

A great tank doesn't just survive — he keeps everyone else alive too.

Loyal Guardian — the Defender's heart. Rush to an ally and pour your own health into a shield around them, soaking the damage meant for them. The ultimate "not on my watch" save.

Protection of Strength — bolster the Defense of your whole party within range, toughening everyone for the fight ahead.

Gale Force — wreathe your group in wind for a burst of party movement speed — for repositioning, chasing, or escaping together.

Battlefield Auras

Auras are persistent fields that benefit everyone around you. You run one at a time — pick the one your group needs most.

Asylum Aura — a protective field that reduces the damage taken by nearby allies. The go-to aura when the group is under heavy fire.

Recovery Aura — boosts the healing your allies receive and helps them recover health, making your healers' job far easier.

Retaliation Aura — turns the group into a hedgehog: when a nearby ally is struck, the aura reflects damage back at the attacker.

Mental Focus — your tank stance. With it active, every hit you take builds Fury, fueling the whole Earth-and-Light engine above. Keep it up.

Recommended Focus

The Defender is straightforward, but a few priorities make you a great tank rather than just a sturdy one:

Open with threat, not damage. Lead with Taunt on your main target and Schism to grab a pack, then settle into your rotation. Aggro first, always.
Keep your stance up. Mental Focus is what powers your Fury — never fight without it.
Bank Fury, then spend it. Build with Hard Smash, then dump into Force of Fury or Wrath of Light when a stun or disarm matters most.
Save Rocky Protection for the spike. Don't waste your immunity early — hold it for the moment the big hit is coming.
Watch your party's health, not just your own. Loyal Guardian on a focused ally is often worth more than any amount of your own damage.

How to Play

PvE (Dungeons & Raids)

Pre-buff: Mental Focus stance on, Protection of Strength on the group, and your chosen aura running.
Pull with Taunt on the priority target; sweep Schism and Landslide across the pack to lock threat on everything.
Keep aggro with Hard Smash while Fury builds, dumping into Force of Fury for stuns.
Pop Rocky Protection through dangerous boss casts, and shield a struggling ally with Loyal Guardian.
Swap your aura to Asylum Aura for heavy AoE phases or Recovery Aura to ease your healers.

PvP

Stack defenses — Tenacious Armor, Fortitude — and stance up before you engage.
Lock down a key enemy with Taunt, then Force of Fury for the stun and Wrath of Light to disarm them.
Use Landslide to root and scatter a focus-fire group, and Earthen Penance to defang their crit-heavy attacker.
Peel for allies with Loyal Guardian and Retaliation Aura, turning the enemy's damage back on them.
When you're focused, Rocky Protection rides out the burst — then you simply keep standing.

Awakening

At the high end, Defenders unlock Awakening, choosing a path of Light or Darkness that adds powerful upgraded forms of the class's signature abilities. It's a late-game system that lets you specialize your tank toward your preferred style — something to look forward to as you grow.

Pros & Cons

Strengths

The best survivability in the game — defenses, immunity, and a huge health pool
Forced taunts give true control of enemy aggro
Deep party protection: shields, group defense, and auras
Strong area control with roots, slows, stuns and disarms

Weaknesses

Low personal damage — you protect, you don't carry the kill
Relies on building Fury, so you're strongest a few seconds into a fight
Cooldown discipline matters — wasting Rocky Protection or Loyal Guardian early hurts
Most powerful in a group; solo, fights are safe but slow

FAQ

Q: Is the Defender hard to play? A: It's one of the most beginner-friendly roles — your job is clear (hold aggro, stay alive, protect the group) and your survivability gives you room to learn. Mastery comes from cooldown timing, not twitch reflexes.

Q: Can a Defender solo PvE? A: Yes. You'll kill slowly, but your defenses and self-buffs mean you're in very little danger while grinding.

Q: Which aura should I run? A: It depends on the fight. Asylum Aura for heavy incoming damage, Recovery Aura to support your healers, Retaliation Aura to punish attackers. You can only run one at a time, so read the situation.

Q: What's my single most important skill? A: Taunt. A tank that can't control aggro isn't tanking. After that, Rocky Protection (your life-saver) and Loyal Guardian (your ally-saver).