Once you've got your starter gear sorted, you can start working toward long-term goals. Focus on running Hive of the Gorgon and Trial of the Devourer—these endgame activities offer some of the best items in the game, and some drops can’t be obtained any other way. Also look for mutated Barnakles and Dynasty - these expeditions drop your key artifacts and running mutated Glacial Tarn can drop good set of enchanted ward+refreshing heavy gear if you looking for something 675-700 gearscore.

Gear

• Hoplite gear is good enough to use as your main tanking PvE set. You can upgrade it by adding Refreshing and weapon perks.

• Another option would be crafted gear with Slash/Thrust/Strike Conditioning perks instead of Health, but it’s usually not worth it. In most cases, you're tanky enough to survive without stacking 4x Conditioning perks. However, if you want, you can drop Refreshing and upgrade Hoplite with a couple of Conditioning perks for more situational defense.

• Run mutated Barnakles to get Void Drakplate chest artifact

• Run mutated Dynasty to get The Butcher sword

• Run mutated Depth to get Lost Stopwatch amulet

• Run mutated Ennead to get The Wall shield

• Wit and Relentless artifacts you can get from mutated reward caches of any difficulty

Weapon

• For your sword, I recommend using The Butcher in combination with a round shield. Alternatively, you can go with Wit if you’re looking for more survivability. There’s even a scenario where you might use Relentless shield to help protect your teammates. In that case, Wit could help recover your armor and reduce AI damage taken. You can experiment by lowering your Constitution to 100 or even trying to play without any Con at all. But remember: consistency over damage. If you find yourself constantly dodging and repositioning because you can’t handle mob pressure, it’s better to go back to higher Con and hold your ground while your DPS clears the pack.

• Sundering stacks on a War Hammer or a sword could be a valuable, though expensive, addition to your build. For example, a War Hammer can apply up to 96% Rend in M1 (which is 48% in M2 and 29% in M3), which is helpful in lowering enemy defenses.

Jewelry

• You can use the Hoplite amulet instead of a crafted Fortified + Health + Protection combo.

• Lost Stopwatch upgraded with Fortify, paired with the Wit or The Butchet swords using normal gems instead carnelians could be good option

• Make sure your earring has the Despised perk.

Armor Perks

Stick to the main principles:

• 4x–5x Enchanted Ward (depends on what boots you can find, craft, or buy)

• 4x Refreshing

• Upgrade remaining slots with weapon perks

• Vital Synergy is expensive but very strong for tanking and works well in both PvE and PvP. I usually avoid recommending expensive perks in gear guides, but it wouldn’t be a mistake to upgrade your Darkplate gear with it. Just save it for the final upgrade step.