SS always does the most (physical) spike damage, but overall, i think VE out damages it in time. in the previous job manifesto, SE stated that they wanted VE to rival pld in tanking abilities, or something close to that. it doesn't have the self healing, but it will have pdt, better defense, an ok shield block rate, shield bash, provoke/flash, and weapon skills that increase its enmity. overall VE's tanking abilities are pretty decent, as they need to be.. since each pet job that isnt drg, uses one of its pets to tank things on occasion.