While preparing for being able to run Floor 7 as a Tank I realized there aren't really a whole lot of Guides on how to play them as a Tank. Especially if you are looking at the recent changes to the Tank Class which made it turn from a completely useless Class for your team to a Key for keeping your team alive.
This Guide is meant as a help for newcomers to Catacombs Floor 7 as a Tank early on and focuses on building a reliable Tank Setup for as cheap as possible, learning your main roles/tasks during the F7 Boss Fight and what you definitely should do or not do during the different phases.
I made the post quite extensive to clear every possible question there might be to tips I give. If you still have any questions left unanswered, ask them down below. If this post helps you, every positive reaction is helpful so more people can come across this Guide.
Part 1: Building a Tank - Setup
To be able to run Floor 7 reliably for a somewhat cheap setup you will first have to unlock access to Goldor's Armor, the Tank Version of Wither Armor. This means, to be able to run it you will first have to be carried for F7 completion by some more experienced players. F7 Carries cost between 3-5 Million Coins each, which is a neccessary investment and will be worth it overall.
Another thing that will be neccessary is reaching Zombie Slayer Level 7 to be able to use the Reaper Mask. There is no discussion about this item, it is absolutely neccessary if you want to even have a chance of surviving any Phase of the Floor 7 Boss Fight or even the Dungeon before it.
If you find a cheap Reaper Mask with 5 Stars on the ah go for it. Undead Essence isn't hard to collect but I personally prefer using it on the Essence Shop for extra Boss Luck.
The last expensive part of your equipment is your pet. At this point of the Game only one pet is really going to cut it for you: The legendary Blue Whale Pet. It is the ideal pet as its last two perks drastically improve your EHP. +20% max HP and extra defense for every 20 HP adds up very quickly inside Dungeons and will allow you to survive the Boss Fight even without a Healer.
I personally tried running F7 with other Pets like Rock, Epic Griffin and Legendary Wither Skeleton. Surviving the Boss Fight was not possible with them at all and I threw multiple runs trying to avoid having to buy a Legendary Blue Whale Pet. It is a Fishing Pet, which makes it very annoying to Level Up normally. The easiest way to level it is definitely using a Mining Exp Boost and leveling it using the Dwarven Mines and Crystal Hollows for Mining Exp.
Last but not least you will also need a good Sword. And while the Necromancer Sword seems the best Tank Sword prior to Astraea, I strongly recommend skipping it and instead going for a Livid Dagger. The Livid Dagger is ideal for Tanks, as it gives you guaranteed Crit Chance, high Crit Damage and maximum Attack Speed. All three of this perks allow you to invest into defense as much as you can while still having reliable damage output right from the start on and good Health Recovery via Syphon.
I personally recommend using Swarm as the Livid Dagger's Ultimate Enchant and either Withered or Fabled as the Reforge. Do not use Dirty as the Reforge, as Ferocity hits do not trigger Syphon anymore and the Livid Dagger's 100% Attack Speed will completely nullify the +20% Attack Speed Dirty grants you.
Finally, there are some additional items that aren't worth talking too much over but which I personally always have in my Hotbar during the entire Dungeon Run. Those being:
- Power Orb (Manaflux+): Reliable Regeneration and beautiful synergy with the Reaper Mask. No reason to not plant them as much as you can, you won't use your Mana otherwise anyways.
- Ornate Zombie Sword/ Florid Zombie Sword: Emergency burst healing if you end up in a sticky situation. Reaper Mask again increases the amount it heals. With good blessings the 5 Charges can restore around 7-9k HP in a matter of seconds. Plus, being independent from a Healers Wish Ability is always nice.
- Aspect of the End: Tanks lack mobility. Won't help you in the Boss Fight, as teleporting is disabled in Necron's Factory.
- Earth Shard: I don't see this being used that often, but I don't understand why. Holding it grants you extra defense, which increases the effectiveness of your Seismic Waves (which are your best source of damage easily). The Legendary Variant is very cheap to get of ah as well. It also allows you to use Smite and Ender Slayer for bonus damage to Undeads and Fels, so no reason to not go for it as your way of using Seismic Wave. Use Bulky Reforge for maximum Seismic Wave Damage output.
The recommended Armor Setup for F7 is:
- Giant Reaper Mask
- Perfect/Giant Necromancer Lord Chestplate
- Giant Goldor's Leggings
- Giant Goldor's Boots
Your Armor should at least be fully 4 starred and have all 40 Hot Potato Books applied, G5P5Rejuv5 enchanted and should probably utilize the Ultimate Enchant Last Stand.
Edit: Apparently Last Stand is currently bugged and doesn't give you nearly as much Defense as it should, but considering your other options are either completely useless (Bank, No Pain No Gain), kinda situational (Wisdom: Good for Mage-Tank Hybrids but otherwise doesn't do a whole lot for you) or not really worth their price (Legion: very expensive for its effects and you will literally never be able to utilize it fully inside a Dungeon)... Last Stand overall probably is your best option early on if you want to utilize an Ultimate Enchant. But it is definitely not a must-have.
If you have the money, use a Goldor's Chestplate over the Necromancer Lord Chestplate, but it is definitely not a neccessary investment. While another -10% Damage taken from Withers is nice and all, the stat difference isn't large enough to justify the cost.
Eventually you will switch to Goldor's Chestplate, but early on a maxed out Necro Lord CP will serve you very well.
Overall I also recommend being at least Catacombs Level 26-27 to start grinding F7 seriously to maximize your chances of surviving every time. You really want to get every bit of stat boost you can get, especially early on.
Part 2 - The Strategy
Floor 7 as a whole isn't too different to Floor 6 prior to the Boss Fight. Everything just hits a bit harder and takes a few more hits to kill. The scariest thing, as usual, are Frozen Adventurers, which I overall recommend using Castle of Stone on if you run into one of them without a Berserk, Mage or Archer at your side. If you are able to reliably take on their F6 counterparts, F7 shouldn't be a much bigger issue for you.
However, the Boss Fight is much more difficult than Floor 6 and requires you to play your cards correctly if you want to allow your team to beat Necron. You as a Tank are especially important in Phase 1 and 2. Screwing up in these phases can easily cost your team the win.
Try to prepare by getting as many Revive Stones as you can in your inventory by raiding Fairy Room before the Boss Fight. Even if you have a Healer, you want to be able to control where you respawn and not get teleported randomly across the room to the Healer when getting revived. And if there isn't a Healer... well you should be the one in charge of Revive Stones anyways! You are the Tank.
Phase 1 immediately requires you to go face to face to Necron and distract him to allow your teammates to Parkour up a Pillar, grab a Crystal and progress to Phase 2. Try to stand close to Necron as he does his Boss Speech at the start and then get a Wall behind your back. Necron is safely tankable in Phase 1 and he and his Army of Wither Skeletons are effectively just Terracotta Phase on Crack but you should be more than fine if you keep an eye on your Health Bar, have your Power Orb set up and in general just do your job of being a Tank.
DO NOT - I repeat - DO NOT USE CASTLE OF STONE WITHIN PHASE 1. You 100% need it for the very start of Phase 2 and you can't afford having it on cooldown for a long time. If you can't tank Phase 1, it simply means you aren't ready for F7 yet and should go back to grinding F6 until you reach a higher Catacombs Level.
You should keep Necron distracted close to the Conveyor Belt in the back of the room. As soon as you see the text "The Energy Laser is Charging up!" all over your screen immediately make your way on top of the conveyor belt and lure Necron in its middle so he gets caught in the Red Laser Beam. Your Teammates will then try their best to damage Necron enough that the Fight progresses to Phase 2. Your damage will most likely not matter too much, so use the time to ensure you have all neccessary things ready.
Definitely make sure that you have plenty of Spirit Leaps in your Hotbar, as those are the only reliable way for you to escape the Pits of Lava you will find all over the Boss Area in Phases 2,3 and 4. More to that later.
When the Boss Fight progresses to Phase 2 you will get automatically sent to a big open area with tons of Wither Skeletons awaiting you and your Teammates. Shortly before the first of your Team hits the ground, use Castle of Stone. If you do not use Castle of Stone, you will get absolutely deleted by the insane amount of damage awaiting you. Phase 2 is the easiest Phase to die in but also the one you can least afford dying in.
In Phase 2 your role again is staying alive and distracting Necron and his Army of Withermancers while your Teammates take care of clearing the sides of the room. You want to guide Necron to the Pillars in the corners of the Middle Platform so your Teammates can use panels at the corners of the room to sent the big pillars crushing down on him and damage him. There are 3 intact pillars, those being Blue (or Purple as most players refer to it), Yellow and Green and 1 already crushed Pillar, Red. The general order of pillars is Blue > Yellow > Green, which means you will first guide Necron to Blue, then to Yellow, then to Green.
Absolutely make sure to do your job right here and keep Necron at the Pillars so your Teammates can crush him as quick as possible. Avoid falling into the Lava as much as you can, as Tanks do not bounce in Lava as all other classes due to the Class Passive of Permanent Knockback Resistance interfering with it and blocking most of the Bounces. In some cases you will bounce regardless and are able to recover yourself back on the middle Platform, but this is very unreliable so simply try your best to not fall into and die to the Lava Pits.
Whenever Necron is crushed by the first Pillar he becomes enraged. This makes him a lot scarier to face and for the first time turns him into a very serious threat for you, as he gains much higher attack damage and his Frenzy Aura close to him absolutely shreds even the tankiest tank. Keep in mind, Castle of Stone is still on Cooldown at this point of time. Try to not get caught in his Frenzy Aura if you can and immediately try to lure him towards the Yellow Pillar to get him crushed again. If your Team deals enough damage in the first two crush phases, Pillar 3 can be completely skipped and the Boss Fight will immediately progress to Phase 3. You will not get automatically sent to the Boss Area of Phase 3 and have to manually enter through the Red Pillar. Make sure to not miss Phase 3 has started, that's how I threw my first good F7 Run.
Phase 3 is the most chill phase for you as a Tank. You should only make sure to again, not drop into Lava (for the same reasons I mentioned previously). Try to complete every task you can comfortably reach but don't risk too much and get yourself stuck in the Lava Lakes. If you still fall in, try to Spirit Leap out as fast as possible.
Phase 4 then is the final battle with Necron in which you again will have to use Castle of Stone right at the start. Use it immediately after hitting solid ground, place your Power Orb and do all you can to tank the damage Necron deals to you and your Teammates until he leaves for the Middle Platform. Once he is there, try to help your Team with some Chip Damage from Bows or a Mage Weapon if you have any on you.
Well. That's it basically. If you manage to do your job, don't die and have good enough teammates you should be able to beat Necron as a Tank using this strategy. Obviously all a matter of training, getting used to it and figuring it all out yourself.
I hope this Guide was able to help you if you are a Newcomer to Floor 7 and want to complete it as a Tank. 
