WAR tanking efficiency theory

[Crimess]

I know by now everyone is blaming the WAR that needs a fix and bashing on YoshiP for stating "people just don't know how to play WAR", but what, if is true?

Think about it, by now everyone thinks that WAR is a Main Tanking class for end game content and that also VIT should be his primary stat of attribution, because STR is useless and is not good for anything else besides an extra 1%~2% parry.

But, what if we actually have doing it wrong?

(1/2)

[Crimess]

Here's my take:

If you have played as a WAR for a long time, you should know by now that the skills that the WAR have are self-healing skills and that his class is a survival class with the extra dps.

What if instead of stacking all this accesories with VIT, we go for something else like STR, Skill speed, Crit Hit, ACC, Dex. (not sure if acc is any good for war).

Wouldn't it benefit the WAR class more and make it more efficient at tanking?? Like on selfhealing, doing more damage for that extra % of self healing while faster cool downs with Skill speed wouldn't that also help on mitigation more than just stacking VIT?

Has anyone tried this?


(2/2)

[Blazn]

Unfortunately the gear warriors can use and need on don't stack those stats they stack vit and parry

[Takiwaki]

Its been done, doesnt work..

[HiirNoivl]

Yes, I have tried VIT stacking and I recommend a more balanced number between VIT and STR. Skill speed, I studied and it takes way too much skill speed to make an appreciable difference and I don't recommend it as a primary or even secondary stat. Crit Rate Materia and accessories I highly recommend. WAR gets a substantial boost to all the Crit Rate you put on your gear. So my current build that I'm really happy with is a balanced amount of VIT and STR and substantial amounts of Crit (which depending on my gear set teeters between 409 and 446 crit). Interestingly, I also get Accuracy and Skill Speed on the same gear that I use so those stats just "come with".

The rest of becoming a WAR tank is leveling GLA and PGL for your cross class abilities and learning how to use your abilities in the best way.

To see an example of my tanking as WAR you can see it here http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/character/175326/blog/252659/

So long as things stay civil I will leave the video open for comments.

[Kenji1134]

In point of fact, there are bosses who will rip off about 70-80% of your health using a special attack followed immediately by an autoattack. This % range is on a tank with 30 points in vit, and pretty much stacking as much vit as possible on their gear... so pretty much the regular tanking pieces.
If you start stacking str and det and general dps stats instead of tanking stats, then sure, you'll do more dps in CM and AK... but Titan will simply wreck you, and Coil will just roll over laughing and not even open the door for ya.

No amount of self healing is going to save you from a oneshot. That said, if you are absolutely confident in your ability to survive a massive hit + autoattack, at the highest variance of the two combined... then sure, throw on some more str and put out more threat or dps.
But there's a reason why tanks in almost all mmos have preferred stacking health and flat mitigation/defense over avoidance and self healing mods. Health and Mit are always there and always active, at endgame, hoping to block/parry/dodge, or hoping that the next hit wont kill you so you can pop your amazing 1/4 hp heal attack... just wont cut it... You may squeeze by once, twice... but 5-10-20 times... good luck.

[HiirNoivl]

I do Titan with no problems. Trying to frighten people into poor builds does not help anyone. Stoneskin and Sacred Soil will prevent any boss from "ripping" 80% of your HP in any case.

Garuda isn't exactly a good fight to compel people to take your build seriously. Titan HM would have to be the bare minimum, but really showing you tanking Caduceus in Turn 1 would be ideal. Titan HM has the busters which hit for a lot but are predictable and he is busy doing other things afterwards so you have breathing room to heal back up. Caduceus hits like a truck and frequently Hoodswipes for high damage so if you're build was able to sustain through that (ie. not just your healers being awesome) it would go a long way in convincing people.

Some people will never be convinced. The best I can do is educate folks. If you're still convinced that WAR cannot effectively tank Titan or Caddie then there's nothing I can do for you because it's already been shown multiple times to be fine and effective and not really that hard.

If you watch the video, you'll see the screen hang. That's not your computer, its mine. Recording fights on my PC does this and I can't get it to stop. They tell me that it's an issue with the way my computer stores the videos and it's a shame but I can't change it.

This screen hang issue will spell a wipe in Titan or Caddie fights.

Thanks for understanding.

Fortunately, my tactics don't really change in either of those fights.

Kenji1134 - Going full VIT wouldn't make sense I'm currently tanking Titan and I know the amount of damage that he does to me, but going full VIT seems only good for PLD as a WAR I would be just a flan with lots of HP to just to keep getting wack by him. I still haven't done Coil.

HiirNoivl build seems more reasonable with the distribution of the stats. Just having DL and AF2 gear with no slots seems really dumb to me to be honest and I feel that WAR don't have a really take on the accessories from the myth and phil store. Probably 2.1 would sort things out with more equipment drop on the other instances and been able to stack them with materia.

Darklight is fine. Darksteel is better. You can get Crit Rate from materia on Accessories and food. you don't have to stack Crit to the heavens to be effective. But you will be more effective the more you can squeeze it in. However, the real test of a WAR tank is your "additional skills" and how well you use them.

[Crimess]

Kenji1134 - Going full VIT wouldn't make sense I'm currently tanking Titan and I know the amount of damage that he does to me, but going full VIT seems only good for PLD as a WAR I would be just a flan with lots of HP to just to keep getting wack by him. I still haven't done Coil.

HiirNoivl build seems more reasonable with the distribution of the stats. Just having DL and AF2 gear with no slots seems really dumb to me to be honest and I feel that WAR don't have a really take on the accessories from the myth and phil store. Probably 2.1 would sort things out with more equipment drop on the other instances and been able to stack them with materia.

[Onisake]

Has anyone tried this?

It's been tried.

You're forgetting something fundamental.

Better gear it intended to make you better. it raises the bar of your potential.

gear does not make you good.

If you need gear to make the class viable: there is something wrong with it.

[CurlyBruce]

To see an example of my tanking as WAR you can see it here http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...6/blog/252659/

Garuda isn't exactly a good fight to compel people to take your build seriously. Titan HM would have to be the bare minimum, but really showing you tanking Caduceus in Turn 1 would be ideal. Titan HM has the busters which hit for a lot but are predictable and he is busy doing other things afterwards so you have breathing room to heal back up. Caduceus hits like a truck and frequently Hoodswipes for high damage so if you're build was able to sustain through that (ie. not just your healers being awesome) it would go a long way in convincing people. Remember it's not about whether WAR is capable of completing the content, it's about efficiency/safety versus bringing a second PLD.