The way the killer Instinct and the killer effects bonus from Nukumi gausape works is like this:
Killer effects cap at 50%
This is severely reduced on NM's by 2/3 just because
Bst can pretty easily get to 40~45% but capping at 50 usually requires the 10~12% killer effects food.
Nukumi Gausape works like founders. Or I prefer to say founder's body works like Nukumi Gausape, because Ferine/Nukumi came first.
1/2 of the Killer effects damage will be reduced while Gausape is worn.
So at most it can be 25% damage reduction. However, as stated earlier, this is multiplicative with Damage reduction, so it becomes only 12.5% if you are capped at 50% dt already.
(The cap for players if 50%, the cap for pets is 87.5%. Players need a separate category to exceed 50% which is rare, but bst has one)
Futhermore Killer Instinct has the exact same effect multiplied again at 15%
This means with capped killer effects, Killer Instinct, and Nukumi Gausape +1 it is possible to get about 67% Damage Reduction.
It is also possible to get up to around +37% damage dealt.
This would be with 50% intimidation rate on normal mobs and only about 16% intimidation rate on NM's
Its been mentioned, but there are alot defensive layers that can be stacked here on bst.
Damage Reduction 50% is very easy for master to achieve now.
Malignance set. this is DT, Acc, STP, EVA, Meva all rolled together.
Shields: I tend to Prefer Adapa shield for the reprisal effect and higher block rate though Bulwark and Beatific are also great options.
The new defensive abilities from Zealous Snort and Crab ready moves have been recently mentioned.
Which means def + and stoneskin
OR Counter, and MDB 25
In this post I've added information for Killer Effects and Killer Instinct, which are situational, but more broadly than the killer effects of other jobs.
The Remaining Challenge for tanking is Enmity managment. We can make a pretty good Enmity+ set, BUT our native enmity tools are almost non-existent.
Bst is Almost completely Dependant upon Support jobs for Enmity.
Our native tools are pretty much Feral Howl and Charm. Feral Howl is unsuitable because it is a 5 min timer and charm unsuitable because it cannot be used while having a pet.
/blu is a great option with many AoE spells.
/run also an option but probably difficult to keep rotation up
Mp management is a challenge with either of these support jobs
/dnc and /nin are well worn paths, but only /dnc has some enmity tools with Waltz's and Animated Flourish.
I've even tried /brd but it was very cumbersome
I see more advantage to /whm or /sch than /pld honestly, but maybe I should revisit this.