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Don’t forget the Triton Barbarian...The Fish Tank if you will.

The best damage sponge tank is the NPC you bring with you from the nearest village

All of a sudden, at 20th level, the Circle of the Moon Druid becomes the ultimate HP tank because they now have unlimited wildshapes per day. Every time they get knocked out of animal form, BAM! They're back in animal form on their next action. And this form can be a CR 6, so that means 126 hp per round they can soak, plus blocking movement considerably from being size Huge, and additional healing from spell slots.

Be an unstoppable tank in 2steps 1. Be a level 20 circle of moon Druid 2. Keep shifting form every time you get knocked out

I'm pretty sure someone has already mentioned this but a cavalier bugbear with a polearm. You now have a threat range of 15ft. It's absolutely nuts.

Ok now have your cavalier ride a circle of the moon Druid who has sentinel

Really liked the way they analyzed all the different class builds instead of force feeding you the best tank the whole time. Its like you are finding it out with them.

So, with the Cavalier subclass you become a Dynasty Warriors character?

Love your work guys. You make the community a better place. Listening to you as I work on a board/card adventuring game that I want to market as a way to introduce your kids or friends who aren't exactly sure about or into the roleplay aspects to the VERY BASIC mechanics of a tabletop using a board/card game environment.

Here is the combo for you to be an unstoppable tank, stout halfling cavalier with mounted combatant on top of a half orc life domain cleric party member

Any mention of the hill dwarf getting that additional +1 HP at every level? Combine that with the tough feat and a good CON mod, your health skyrockets.

The whole video I was thinking Cavalier! I'm glad we came to same consensus! Usually I overlook something that you guys always manage to find but not this time! Cheers!

Omg I came back here 2 years later and there hair isn’t grey!

I did this with a half elf, and took warcaster and polearm master and two levels of warlock. Got repelling blast invocation, so I can choose to use eldritch blast as a reaction once they enter my reach, push them 10ft back and drop them to zero speed

Created a Halfling Barbarian and played him the first time last night. Had a blast with it. His motto is simply: "I drink and I hit things".

2 years on but once again you guys have given me the advice that I need

The way he said "you can attack all of them" at the 19:12 mark had me dying in laughter lol

The Eldritch Knight is probably one the tankiest of the fighter subclasses. Plate (with defensive fighting style)+shield+haste+shield spell=23(28) before magic item bonuses. Use booming blade and lightning lure to try to control enemy movement, and with warcaster you can cast as a reaction as well. Warcaster also means you are proficient (con is likely your second or third highest stat) and have advantage on concerntration saves to keep haste running Absorb elements and blade ward for damage reduction. I think the key is to pick up as many reaction/bonus action spells, like misty step, so that you can cast and attack effectively as often as possible.

Absloutely love the new camera angle boys!! Significantly ups the production value without hampering the classic Nerdarchy feel

I like your new camera setup guys. First video I've seen with the new clarity and the focus on individuals while speaking. Well done on the production values. :)

A fairly good tank is actually a Yuan-ti pureblood paladin; the charisma bonus to saves, as well as magic resistance giving them advantage on saves against magic offsets the slight penalty of no con or strength stat increases. Along with that, poison immunity is phenomenal to have on hand whenever it comes up. Taking tough at level 4 (if you don't need the ASI) as well makes for a wall of a snekman

Half-orc with 3 levels of Chainlock and Gift of the Ever-living ones -> avoid ko with 1 hp then get the most when an ally snap heals you. Another fun thing might be to have Orcish Fury-one attack upon using Relentless Endurance, when certain class abilities give temp hp for killing foes.

Your visual production quality just keeps getting better and better! There’s a lot of reflection on your glasses, though. Keep going fellas!

man... with you guys polished video releases, I almost feel like I have to take you seriously... ;-) Nerdarchy fan for life!

DREAM - Dex Rules Everything Around Me. I don't know why but Dex saves are almost always a thing. Dex also makes you go sooner, which is critical in higher levels as some spell casters can lock down players or summon hordes. Last Dex adds to armor, and it is superior to Heavy Armor as usually heavy Armor has a ceiling. Where Dexteritie's Ceiling is usually higher. When I think tanks first thing that comes to mind is a stout balling monk. Man... it can take forever to hit that bugger. Also Stout halfling Cavalier allows you to take a medium mount, add a lance and that is ridiculous. Especially if you mount can also fly.

_I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO MAKE THIS BUILD ALL MONTH!_

Hey looks like your editing quality is taking a step up nice work. Its great when you guys talk to the audience as well as each other its just more engaging i find.

Love the Dark Sun box set in the background. Haven't played in it in forever but it was brutal and awesome.

Cavalier fighter is literally just the 4th Edition Fighter. It has all the mechanics built into it people hated about 4e fighter that made it feel like an actual tank.

This video needed more discussion of Fighter Battle Master maneuvers and their possible usage in tanking. EDIT: You guys are right, Cavalier is an optimum tank. I'd argue, though, that you still want to take the Sentinel feat. Sentinel works when the target takes the Disengage action, while nothing in the Cavalier description states that. In addition, Sentinel allows you to take a Reaction to hit an enemy that targets someone other than you. Cavalier gives in two different powers either a bonus action on the next turn or a "special reaction" that doesn't consume your Reaction. So, they are good complementary powers.

great episode guys, my favourite tank build is also a mono class, although isnt quite as sticky as your build. it is near unkillable from 11th level onwards. i use barbarian due to being able to shrug off half damage, having the largest hit die available(important for recovery). if magic items are available this build can heal 25(35 hp per die at 20) hp per hit die spent on short rest meaning your health bar can be refilled naturally two and a half times, due to durable, and periapt of wound closure. Taking average health from each die you end up with around 285 hp at level 20. instead of strength and con as my primary stats i use dex and con to ensure my ac is as high as it can naturally be(+10 until 20 where it becomes +12). i top this off with the defender, a +3 magical shield and a jade ring of resistance(psychic), meaning whilst raging the dm must go through around 570 hp assuming there is no healer support. At 11th level the barbarian gets an ability to get back up after making a dc 10 con save which increases by 5 per attempt, at the level you achieve this ability the first one is saved on a nat 1, as a half orc this gives you a second life on top of racial ability. if a paladin is in party as support tank, you can pass this save at least twice before rolling above a 1. combined with my rp aspect of contempt for the feeble attempts to grant the character a glorious death, most of the time i end up with many foes trying to hack me down. The class achieves 29 ac before 20 and 31 on 20. assuming the dm isn't customizing monsters to fight this one character and the party is down for spell support you can achieve ac 37 which means some of the most accurate monsters in the game can never hit you without crit, and you halve all damage taken whilst raging, feral instincts giving advantage on initiave with max dex, and rage is often up before the enemy gets to act in combat. i think i will test this cavalier tank though, seems sweet. also splashing 4 levels warlock pact of the chain into my build gives it even more durability as i chose celestial patron for non spell healing, pact of the chain for scouting and invocations voice of the chain master and gift of the old ones to max any healing you receive, it does come at a large price though, no cap stone other than maxing a stat or feat

This video was helpful. I'm getting ready to start on my second campaign and I'm switching my character to a druid, and since I've never played one, I'm trying to research as much as I can.

Just wanted to point out Wood Elves make dam good totem barbarians and make great tanks. The dex boost still helps unarmored AC and resisting charms is always epic for a tank. Not to mention needing half sleep let’s you roleplay the nightwatch while the party sleeps well. Plus 5 movement can really help ensure you get that attack chance to keep your rage up. There’s so much they offer! ;3

i just started DnD

Loving the higher quality camera and the makeover, guys!

I've never paid much attention to the Cavalier because I've never played a mounted combatant so this was a revelation. Thanks for the education.

Abjuration wizard multi class with the first level in Fighter in the defensive or tunnel fighter fighting style. Blade ward till you get armor of invulnerability. Buff out in con or get an item, master the shield spell and counter spell or a healing spell if you want at level 18 and spam it. +40 arcane ward hp at max and you regain 2 per turn when you cast shield spell. This is a fat +5 AC with heavy armor and magic items. Could cast mirror image on top of this if things really get bad or Haste to charge in and draw attention with +2 extra AC. As an abjuration wizard you get advantage to spell saves and resistance to spell damage later on. Cantrips like lighting lure will keep them around you so they can’t run away, and passing up the reaction spell for opportunity attacks could work nicely too, especially with war caster or sentinel feats. This one benefits from versatility with magic. Also has extreme anti magic capabilities late game. For melee combat, there are solid cantrips for harassment and powerful feats to benefit from. Also due to fighting in melee range the use of touch spells will be very useful. Using a weapon is still optional for this too with the many magic alternatives you’d have access to. Overall Getting hit will be tough and anything that comes through could be shrugged off once you get to spell mastery.

Half ork oath of ancients paladin. At lvl 15 you have relentless endurance, undying sentinel, and can cast death ward. The stack the way it's worded. So THREE times you can go down to one hp instead of being knocked out.your freaking Jason Voorhees.

Ooh, I like this camera setup; well done guys!

"Protect the Wizard, Protect the Cleric..." My Cleric with 25 AC: *Laughs in Immovable Object*

Barb bear totem/Druid of the moon. Rage while shape-shifted.

Path of zealot CAN NOT DIE... Literally at lvk 15 until you stop raging. At 20 you can never stop raging = invincibility. And like you said barbarian is one of the best leading up to those later levels too

Great video as usual guys. One request though. When you do these builds, you do them as an end-game character. There are usually between 17 and 20 levels built into the build, but it doesn't take into account the effectiveness of the progression from 1 to 20. I'd love to see some content where you build a character that is effective from start to finish, and isn't just built to be an epic end game beast. Game on, nerds! Excelsior!

I've played Cavalier so much and completely agree. Though my most recent campaign, I'm using a Human Alt with Battle Master Fighter. UA is approved so I took Interception. Martial Adept for starting feat, taking Bait and Switch with maneuvering strike. At lvl 3 those d6's go to d8's and I took goading strike, evasive maneuver, and rally. It's incredible at how tanky and protective of my allies I can play this PC.

Definitely underplayed Circle of the Moon druid here. At 2nd level, they can wild shape into a giant hyena which has 45 health twice, and they have 5 spell slots to heal, and depending on their modifiers, can usually self-heal 50+, which is over 95 health at level 2. at 5th level, they can use conjure animals which allows them to summon two giant hyena minions to tank 90 damage total. at 8th level, you can use conjure woodland beings, which allows you to summon up to 8 pixies, which can polymorph your party members into t-rex's which have 136 health each. at 10th level, you can wild shape into elementals, and the earth elemental has 126 health, and you can do that twice per long rest and at 20th level, you can wild shape infinitely at will, meaning you can for all realistic purposes, have endless hp.

Regarding Paladin I would suggest Conquest too. You have a different type of tank, where you gather a lot of enemies around you, use your fear aura and they cannot move from you. Great for massive crowd control.

Thanks for this video it was really great! I love playing tank characters so this was perfect for me.

Great Video Guys! I enjoyed every bit of it!

Hey! Abjuration and Bladesinger Wizards deserve some love as tanks. Maybe even Forge Clerics, Dragon Sorcerers, and Fiend Blade Warlocks too!

"Eldritch knight isn't a great tank" My half-orc Eldritch knight: *grunts menacingly*

You guys are the best, your information helps me alot. Thank you very much

Probably more of a secondary tank role but my monk very good/annoying for enemies to deal with. He’s level 7 total (monk 5, Wizard 2) he’s found some amazing +2 robes so his unarmoured AC is 20. He can cast the shield spell, and has the lucky feat because he is a human variant. With the lucky feat, possibly 25 AC with the shield spell and dodging as a bonus action by spending 1 ki point he is surprisingly resilient. 2 attacks per round plus fury of blows can put out a lot of damage. It is probably not optimal but it is a LOT of fun to play. It took me a while to realise how incredible the Dodge action is, and being able to do this as a bonus action is incredible.

Am I missing something? Hold the line still uses up your reaction doesn't it? You can still only make 1 reaction per round. Wouldn't you need to take tunnel fighter to make it more viable?

My DM allows just about any homebrew in his games because of the sheer diversity of characters that allows. In a campaign that finished recently, he mashed together 3 or 4 campaign modules that started with giants attacking cities, only for it to be a powergrab by larger political entities causing upheaval for their own gain but accidentally releasing a Lich which tried to bring a Great Old One into the Prime Plane. In this campaign, I played a rather weak Barbarian, Rog. With 4 Int and 18 Str, as a Grey Orc, he was the ugliest, stupid and maybe the most endearing character of the Party. By the end of the Campaign, he'd landed the killing blow on the Vonindod (an encounter we were meant to run from) and after that, proceeded to do the most damage and tank the best out of any party member. Whilst raging, he was resistant to all but psychic damage and gained up to 25 temporary hitpoints at the beginning of his turn. He wore nothing but the too-short loincloth he began the campaign with and an adamantine shield he had tore from a giant statue in the last session of the game. Rog, Slayer of the Vonindod, when given the choice of joining his friends in Elysium until they were needed again in the future, chose instead to tread into the Demonic Planes, to fight back the darkness and give his Fwenz a little more breathing space. Rog, Slayer of the Vonindod, Feefbarian supreme, took his domesticated pig to hell, and became the DnD equivalent of the Doomslayer.

Very cool video and you've made me consider different builds I wouldn't have. Thanks! One trouble, though.... RAW, the Cavalier build has a rather ugly flaw in it. The Warding Maneuver and Unwavering Mark features only work if the target is within 5' of the Cavalier and NOT when they are in melee range (i.e. - reach doesn't factor into it). As such, PAM doesn't synergize with those class features nearly as well as you (or I) would hope. Also, as has been pointed out below, Hold the Line vs. Sentinel...Sentinel goes off when the monster ENTERS your reach and Hold the Line only if they move _while_ in your reach. All in all, pretty awesome video. Thanks again.

Them beards are looking nice. Looks like yall got a better camera than last I saw lol. Thanks for the work!

The problem with 5e is that nothing stacks. It's really frustrating. At least we should be able to add unnarmored def bonus to natural armor, like from the tortle.

Could you help me with a build I have in mind. I want to try to make sumo wrestler monk based on E. Honda from the street fighter games. Sounds like alot of fun to play

I think this slightly unusual build has some good potential as an aggro drawing type tank. Ancestral Guardian Barbarian 6/ Oath of Ancients Paladin 7/ Battlemaster 7. I was thinking of using a Symic Hybrid. Taking the option that gives a plus one to armor class at 6th level. Take the Dueling and Protection Fighting Styles. You can dump strength and just use a Rapier with your Shield. And you'll still be able to do good damage with the Paladin Smites and the Dueling fighting style. Add in the Spirit Shield & a handful of Battle Master maneuvers and I think this could be a very effective Tank.

I'm going to be honest, I usually strongly disagree with the style of play they talk about but I always keep watching. But now with the upgraded production and upon watching some more videos I'm really starting to come around. I hope I continue to enjoy their content

Warforged (Unearthed Arcana) Forge domain Cleric with a dip into Fighter (Defense Fighting Style) gives you around +5 to your Armor Class. Take the Tough feat and Heavy Armor Master.

gnome under-rated for a tank race for advantage on those magical saves that target wisdom/charisma/intelligence imo. Tank not useful if its cc'd from the fight, so a raging barb gnome would have advantage on str, dex, int, cha, and int saves(vs different sources of course)

I'm personally a huge fan of the paladin of conquest/ hexblade warlock tank build granted that build is in requierment of the GM's approval.

it's always cool when you find something and realize its amazing, and then see that other people are coming to the same conclusion. It PROBABLY also means that whoever designed the class built something that was basically broken. That said, this pick is clearly built around the idea of facing large numbers of enemies in confined spaces. While he has some really consistent and adaptable skills for fighting on open ground (like being able to charge attack and deal double damage), the biggest skills are focused elsewhere. All that is to say that, any of the tanks recommended would potentially be 'the best', it just depends on the campaign your in, and the kinds of fights your DM is running... The paladin is always a great choice though just because (imo) he has the best all-around versatility for tanking in just about any situation. But if your campaign seems to involve lots of army battles, or swarming enemies in dungeons, that cavalier's skill set is going to be magnificent!

Okay but what about the best lvl10 tank? Still the Cavalier?

you forgot the warforged as a racial choice you can easily get 21 AC at level 1 and because proficiency bonus is added it only gets better

The elderitch knight makes a wonderful tank! Heavy armor, shield spell, and booming blade? All that at level three!

If you're considering multiclass builds for this, you can list everything below a Bear Totem Barbarian/Circle of the Moon Druid. Access to 2 giant sacks of temp hp with resistance to everything but psychic. Plus size increases make you a literal wall.

Didn't you forget the Hill Dwarf? +2 Con AND +1HP/lvl!

Hill dwarf surely a great pick for a tank, +2 con and 1 hit point per level

The other strong thing about circle of the moon druid is that if they multiclass one level into monk they have an even better AC when in wild shape. Plus, if you do go down, you revert back to your original form which can transform again. Or, just go to lvl 20 and have infinite wild shapes and just keep swapping to a high hp creature, go down, swap again. Because you don’t actually incur any damage in wild shape

Bugbear is the best race for when you are doing a polearm build with a Cavalier fighter because using a reach weapon you would get a reach of 15ft meaning at level 18 and polearm master anything that moves within 15ft of you will get hit. Or if you wanted to use a shield with said character you could use a spear and shield and still have the same 10ft reach as a full sized polearm. I know I am not the only person to mention this, but it's true.

It's shocking to see Dave with color in his beard

TORTLE TANK ..... Barbarian bear totem 4, Monk 5, and rest in moon druid. Hell even add Tempest or War Cleric 1 for the hell of it.

Tortle Barbarian would still get bonus AC from Constitution, giving you a possible +5 on top of the already high base 17. This plus a +3 shield and you are already at a massive 27 AC, which means you are invulnerable to pretty much anything below CR 5 (unless they crit). If you multiclass to Cleric, you can add Shield of Faith for +2 AC and Warding Bond for +1 (if your friend is a Cleric). 30 AC! Then add some magic items such as Defender, and Cloak and Ring of Protection for a maximum AC of 35! Apart from epic level enemies nothing can touch you, and even if they do you take half damage while raging (and if you're a Bear Totem Warrior you have resistance to all but psychic damage).

The fallowing is a bit of a book; sorry about that. I ran across cavalier myself a few days ago. The basic build I came up with was 18 Levels in Cav fighter and 2 in Rogue for the extra mobility. Being able to bonus action dash means you can get on top of someone or prevent them from getting away pretty easily. For your fighting stance, if you take tunnel fighter (if your dm allows it) you can get 2 opportunity attack reactions on every other characters turn. If that's not acceptable, take defense or Great Weapon Fighting. For feats I took Sentinel, Polearm Master, Mobile, Magic initiate and then maxed out my strength with ability point buys. I took sentinel because you're still going to want the main feature at lower level, and at later levels it's still good because it allows you to keep creatures from getting away via disengage. The reasons to take Polearm Master are pretty obvious for the same reasons you mentioned (stopping them in their tracks at a range of 10 ft.) Mobile gives you speed but also allows you to disengage without using an action (or bonus action in the case of my build) because they can't opportunity attack you after you've hit them. So you can still do a bunch of damage to them on your turn and then move out to 10ft so they can't hit you back on their turn, nor can they leave since you have sentinel preventing them from disengaging. And finally I took magic initiate because I wanted to stack on a ton of damage with an on hit spell. With Booming blade, you can do something like a potential of 270 dmg on each of the first two rounds of combat; 6(4d8 + 1d10 + str.) Assuming they move during their turn, which they'll have to do if they want to get up from being prone, on the first 2 rounds of combat you'll likely kill them outright. This is also not including potential dmg from your opportunity attacks which you could do with Green-Flame Blade for an extra 3d8 on each opportunity attack. I would have taken spell sniper for this feat instead (since that would allow you to double the range of booming blade / green-flame blade out to 10ft, right where your polearm reach is at), but you need to be able to cast one spell before you can take that feat. I personally took Mountain dwarf for the race for this, however your choice of half orc is obviously a good one. Another good option would be the human variant, so you could actually take spell sniper and allow you a full 3 cantrips. You could pick up both the spells I mentioned, plus a ranged cantrip like firebolt so you have some ranged options as well. All told, it's an extremely mean build. It still has some weaknesses in teams of ranged defense, which is good, because if it didn't it would have to be nerfed. Here's an example of what the character might look like at L20 ddb.ac/characters/4494293/ggYGUC with appropriate gear.

Nerdarchy: "at 18th level, you are the bane of low hit point minions you can kill with one attack, and you control a 10 ft radius!" 5th level cleric: "Spirit guardians has a 15 ft radius, and I can't miss"

I like kobalds They do good for storytelling

Old comment here, but the concept of a "tank" is very conditional to how your DM approaches combat. I've been playing since the 80's, and I've never made intelligent opponents target frontline ranks just because they are there. Bull Rush and Overrun were used often back in my 3.5 days. Polearm Master+Sentinel is a great package for actually forcing your opponents to deal with the front rank. It comes with a high opportunity cost though, so only a few race/class combinations really pursue it.

I am running an Oath of Vengeance Dragonborn Paladin with Shield and Defense. I am very happy with him!!!!!

I'm just going Eldritch Knight with mirror image

Or just you know give a bugbear a pole arm and the fighter cavalier class

My favorite tank I ever played was an 3 armorer artificer/xAbjuration wizard and booming blade for primary damage. 22 ac, so many exttra hp, disadvantage for not attacking you it is obscene, especially against opposing mages at higher levels, Heavy armor master, tough and warcaster were all great late additions

Totem warrior taking 3 and 6 bear/14 pact of the blade fiend lock. Take either vhuman or horc build has a power dip but still stout af in your first 3 levels of lock but then after that it really takes off.Had a flametongue greatsword and gauntlets of ogre power till 11 and wrecked shit with it.Take GWM and Sentinel then crank your cha up and take life drinker whenever you can.On kill you get a BA attack and temp hp equal to Cha mod and lock level. Playing this build vhuman style in a west marches style game and its tons of fun.Other invocations to consider are devils sight, agonizing blast, eld smite,improved pact wep.Feats are gonna be GWM, Sentinel, Tough and then cha bumps the rest of the time.Items to look for are gonna be Amulet of Health, Decent magic wep although Flametongue Greatsword is preferred till legendary stuff and then you wanna look at Gurts Greataxe, Rod of the pact keeper or Illusionist Bracers for your last attuned item and I am still struggling on which i want although I am currently using RotPK +3.Other wish list items are gonna be Adamantine Halfplate, Boots of Elvenkind,Cloak of the manta ray, scrolls of fireball and potions. Vhuman abilities at level 1 should look somthing like 16,14,14,8,9,13 assuming 27 point buy taking str and con or dex as your racial bumps.

i feel like Samurai has a good tank build too

Bugbear would have also been a solid choice for that extra 5ft of reach. Also I'd throw in 1-2 levels of mystic for iron durability and giant growth

Yogscast's Lightfall campaign actually had a Moon Circle Druid as their tank once she got Direbear...and backup DPS/ temporary mount back when she still regularly used Direwolf.

Yuan ti Oath of the Ancients 8 Hex Blade Pact 4. By lv 12 you can have 21 AC, and while your health might not be as high, your saves are amazing. This is really important as one spell could shut you down. (Not to mention Adv on saves vs magic, and resistance to magic damage along with immunity to poison) Plus you can still deal a ton of damage ( +9 to hit with melee or range) which will draw attention to you. You have versatility with spells. Str 15 Save +7 Dex 12 Save +6 Con 14 Save +7 Int 10 Save +5 Wis 10 Save +9 Cha 20 Save +14. The biggest down side to this build is low HP, but great saves and high AC along with high damage output will allow you stay alive while drawing attention off other party members.

I liked your final choices but I think the bugbear with the added reach might work out better and even extend that 5 by 5 you spoke about

You said “A thief” ...that’s old school...

Been waiting for this one

my most successful tank was actually a Hill Dwarf Life-domain Cleric. they get the ability to use Heavy armour, and don't get any penalties if they don't have the strength requirement to wear it, they get an additional 1 HP per level, they have resistance to poison damage, and have proficiency to CHA and WIS saves, which are the most disruptive spells for tanking/healing. the strategy I used for this tank was to take the War Caster feat and keep Spirit Guardians up during combat. all of my enemies have 1/2 movement speed through the aura (15 ft around me), and take damage if they enter or start their turn in it. you then use your action on subsequent turns to either dodge or heal (depending on if anyone needs healing). your bonus action could also be used for spiritual weapon, if you want to dish out some extra damage. for extra tanky-ness, you can take toughness, Dwarven Fortitude (for the turns you Dodge), and Shield Master and/or Resilient to help with Dex Saving Throws. Personally, I'd take Warcaster, Toughness, Shield Master, Resilient, and Squat Nimbleness, both for the increased movement speed, as well as the advantage on escape attempts. (EDIT) this was built using Adventure's League as a guideline, which means not being able to use Unearthed Arcana, where there are more useful things to use.

they look so young and it only been a year

btw my last party did this. Had a fighter who had all the heavy setup plus battlemaster, a cleric who went HEAVILY into healing/remove debuffs/status effects, and a Wizard who was heavily into Abjuration and Transmutation. You will have an incredibly hard time defeating those three because the fighter will control all the enemies to AGRO him, the cleric will be cleansing him of any debuff's or status's and healing him for absurd HP. And the Wizard will be buffing him with utility spells. It's a very powerful combo that I had lots of fun making up dungeons and fights for. And when we had a fourth player, they had the versatility to choose whatever class they want because the party felt so secure in being able to handle a lot of situations.

Holy moly I didn't recognize Nerdarchist Dave with his brown beard. Really got used to looking at him with his white beard.

would the alert feat be useful for a tank?

I need to find a new game, got an idea for a heavy armor barbarian tank. High AC, half all non psychic damage from rage, then -3 physical damage from heavy armor master or whatever that feat is. Sure might not be the bestest ever tank but I like it.

2 things: 1. The best tank for just absorbing as much damage as you can is a 20th level circle of the moon druid. Each turn they can refresh their pool of almost 150 hit points they get from transforming into a cyclops/young white dragon/earth elemental/anything with a ton of hit points. So unless they are dealt 250+ damage in a single round of combat, they'll never go down. 2. Remember that cavalier with a 5x5 zone of death where no one can pass through? Well, if that cavalier just so happens to be a bugbear, that zone increases to 7x7.

Not the tankiest but something that I have had fun with being tankier than it probably has any reason being is a Pact of the Blade, Hexblade Warlock multiclassed with Rogue Swashbuckler with the Defensive Duelist and Dual Wield feats. Toss on the Eldritch invocation of Devil's sight, take two rapiers, top off with the Spell Darkness. Cast Darkness on the opponent and then go to town on them with a base AC of 17 + proficiency bonus + 1 for the dual wielding with disadvantage on them and advantage for you (which gets really cruel with hex curse). Then you have uncanny dodge which halves damage taken and armor of hexes which gives you a 50% chance of dodging damage dealt (once I think)