Board Thread:Dark Souls III/@comment-28661852-20160730180356/@comment-4511886-20160804064952

Tanks are still viable, it's just that heavy armor generally isn't.

You can still get pretty beefy with just some basic armor, and stacking Vigor helps immensly. I have 18 Vigor and the Sellsword Set on my current character, and I can still take a much harder beating than a similar build in the previous games could. I haven't felt this safe without a greatshield or DWGR since Demon's Souls, which I do for a similar reason.

The issue really comes down to one thing: poise. As long as poise isn't a factor, it will be impossible to actually make heavy armor balanced. Too much damage absorption would be overpowered, but too little puts it in its current state. Adding poise would put it like it was in DaS, where it isn't ridiculous, but still quite strong.