[GUIDE] Warrior: Skill Intensive Tanking

Another helpful tip for macros is /micon "Ability Name" It displays the cd timer similar to if you weren't using a macro. I find it useful since it visually tells me when the next line is going to be queued.

Example:

/micon "Skull Sunder"
/ac "Skull Sunder" <t>
/wait 2.5
/ac "Butcher's Block" <t>

I must be stupid because I can't seem to get the lines to work without using /wait. In an earlier post you mention due to the fact that both skull and butcher share the same gcd that they simultaneously become available thus can be executed at the same time but that cannot happen. You also mentioned the /aq macro but I can't seem to get it to work. Is it put after the /ac line? If you could give an example that would be appreciated since I'm more of a visual learner and still pretty new to macros. Idc about one button presses as I do love a good challenge, hence why I'm sticking with war to the end but real-estate on the PS3 is seriously lacking and I have to hotkey my actions wisely. But thanks to this guide I was able to free up 4 slots and reduce all main threat rotations to just 4 so I'm loving it atm.

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Originally Posted by Corkafish

It's not just a 10% crit rate buff, it's also a 15% extra healing received buff...

...you have to add a /wait 0.5. Otherwise, it will only activate Infuriate and miss the other actions entirely.

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Again, within 9 seconds after your DPS/Combo macro you're back at 9% healing increased in addition to the damage/heal/enmity that comes along with spamming it. We're turning the difference on a heal for 500 between 575 and 545- really not that huge of a difference considering the heal that comes from inner beast further padding the difference. Will it matter at the coils of Bahamut? Yes. Will it matter at Hardmode Ifrit? No. They need time to learn this on their own brudda.

Also the Burst macro I posted works just fine without waits, again you don't need to include a /wait because once infuriate is used the first time it becomes unavailable causing the macro logic to move on to the next ability or unchained in your example. You will spam that button repeatedly and the abilities will only fire in order regardless of putting in /wait.

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Originally Posted by Marxam

Another helpful tip for macros is /micon "Ability Name" It displays the cd timer similar to if you weren't using a macro. I find it useful since it visually tells me when the next line is going to be queued.

I must be stupid because I can't seem to get the lines to work without using /wait....

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An excellent point on /micon. You're also not stupid, macro logic merely forbids two abilities that share the same GCD from being fired simultaneously without being told to wait- the key is making it wait just long enough for the second ability to become available. The problem is it isn't sure-fire, you may skull sunder instead of butcher's block depending on lag and when you hit that button, so I personally don't like depending on macros I can't guarantee will do exactly what I want when I push the button.

And thank you, it's really nice to hear that my guide was able to help someone even if it's only just a bit.

An update on the /aq[on and /aq[off], it turns out it was nixed in beta 4 as the developers were content with keeping /wait and combining the line order of the macro with the priority feature of the action queue. So there you have it, my apologies for posting old/irrelevent data even if it was outside the guide.

A note on the burst macro as I keep getting questions, putting unchained before berserk ensures you use your wrath V ability as the animation CD tends to lag a bit for those on PS3 in some fights(graphics slow down game, you can still spam the button to ensure it goes off but why spam a macro that doesn't attack when you could be spamming heavy strike or massive hits combo to start your damage instead?).

Question on the marking macros. I was wondering is there a way to use a different marker if one is already active. I use a <mo> but because of that macro is bound to a mouse button I was wondering if there is any type of cycle or if statement usage that can be rigged up so i can mark a whole group as fast are I mark the first one.

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Originally Posted by Sakasa

Question on the marking macros. I was wondering is there a way to use a different marker if one is already active. I use a <mo> but because of that macro is bound to a mouse button I was wondering if there is any type of cycle or if statement usage that can be rigged up so i can mark a whole group as fast are I mark the first one.

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Why yes there is:
/mk attack <mo>
Marks whatever you're mousing over with an "attack" mark and will move to the next number until all are used.

/mk ignore <mo>
and
/mk bind <mo>
Follow the same mechanics as with attack- enjoy!

Edit* Note*** You can only have one mark type per macro, you can't hit one button to mark one type then mark a second type unless you want it to mark 1 attack then 1 bind then 2 attack then 2 bind and so on.

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Originally Posted by Exrage

Why yes there is:
/mk attack <mo>
Marks whatever you're mousing over with an "attack" mark and will move to the next number until all are used.

/mk ignore <mo>
and
/mk bind <mo>
Follow the same mechanics as with attack- enjoy!

Edit* Note*** You can only have one mark type per macro, you can't hit one button to mark one type then mark a second type unless you want it to mark 1 attack then 1 bind then 2 attack then 2 bind and so on.

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Cool thx I will test it next dungeon run. You wouldnt happen to know what happens if you double click the macro would it just assign them the next number in que? Just wondering if I should make a demark macro as well since I use my ctrl and shift mouse clicks for potions and such so i have a free button.

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Originally Posted by Sakasa

Cool thx I will test it next dungeon run. You wouldnt happen to know what happens if you double click the macro would it just assign them the next number in que? Just wondering if I should make a demark macro as well since I use my ctrl and shift mouse clicks for potions and such so i have a free button.

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Yup, multiple clicks of the button put the next number in sequence.

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Originally Posted by Exrage

Yup, multiple clicks of the button put the next number in sequence.

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Test it in a dungeon run.
When I tried that on my MDR , it did indeed mark the first five foes with Attack1 - Attack5 markers... but even after killing them, I couldn't mark any more foes afterwards.
I had to redo my macros inside the dungeon and resort to specifying "/mk attack1 <t>" etc.

It does seem to work in the field (once foes die you can mark other foes again) just not in dungeons.

my god man stop these noob guides for warriors you make it worse the more you talk. dont use dont use Macro learn to weave in a cd when you need in your combo chains, this makes you play like a mouse clicker... god man no wonder we get so many new warrior noob tanks out there that loose agro and on top of not knowing what happens when the healer cant keep up with the damage they take...

Uh no, Odesvin,

Macro's are great. And stop trolling WAR threads and make your own since you're so smarter than the rest of us.

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Originally Posted by Maelwys

It does seem to work in the field (once foes die you can mark other foes again) just not in dungeons.

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Hmm, a very interesting development. I'll do a bit of further research and see what I can find out.

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Originally Posted by Ondesvin

my god man stop these noob guides for warriors you make it worse the more you talk. dont use dont use Macro learn to weave in a cd when you need in your combo chains, this makes you play like a mouse clicker...

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English may not be your native language but the fact my macros don't feature /wait commands demonstrates my understanding that spamming macro buttons are faster than predetermined timers regardless of how much tweaking you implement- what's hilarious is the fact I test everything with both a mouse/keyboard and a PS3 controller in my computer and shift/ctrl/alt modifiers for my 4 buttons, but I guess the number of macros I posted hasn't eluded to this either oh master warrior.

So tell you what chief, there's already a 2.0 to my guide floating around so why not make a 3.0 and tell us how it's done? Oh better yet, since you got the understanding my data or macros are incorrect why not post some stats and help correct them if they're so awful?

A couple of guys have mentioned that the macro glitches after it's first use so they can't use it as an AOE macro, and again why I don't have a regular AOE macro. The reasons are two fold:

First- the Boss AOE macro was intended for clutch AOE fights like Garuda where she spawns a ton of plumes that offer a 5 second window for grouped AOE damage before taking off. If you time it right you will get off the steel cyclone and an overpower before they all split up. The flash is a fail-safe for when you use it in any other situation. The final Marlboro boss in Aurum Vale does a similar add spawn where the macro comes into play that can prevent a pug group from wiping and maximizing your DPS during the fight.

Second- AOE macro would be pointless as you want to flash when MP becomes available/during sleeps and you want to overpower once or twice as when used with bloodbath can further help your self-heal to further buff the increased damage of tanking multiple mobs until the sleep comes. So the short version is AOE is *always* situational requiring one ability to be used over another and in some cases one ability not used at all.

So a common question I'm getting and have been discussing is over Storm's Path with the common complaint being it's lack of damage/enmity/healing. The damage is the same as Storm's Eye, and the heals you can expect are about 150-200 with a group and maim/storm's eye up on your target. Critting raises it to 300-400 for a heal, with unchained/berserk putting the heal at roughly 300-400 and 500-700 on a crit.

The problem most have with storm's path is that in order for it to be even worth using you must have maim/storm's eye active, which due to the roughly 7 second combo time and storm's eye 15 second run-time you really can't fit a good main combo in there, and using it with your burst combo means you won't be doing as much damage/enmity as you would have to swap it with your main combo, effectively reducing the damage/enmity done by about 30%-45% before pacification. Most use Second Wind in place of it simply because you get all the healing without any of the 7 second buildup.

In short, as with most abilities it's a very situational choice compared to the storm's eye and butcher's block combos, and to make matters worse it combos off maim, so often times you'll be firing it in place of storm's eye and then having to waste additional damage/enmity swapping a main combo for a late DPS one. You're better off investing in Second Wind and replacing it as the "oh shit" heal instead of using a 7 second combo that screws your storm's eye bonus.

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Originally Posted by Exrage

In short, as with most abilities it's a very situational choice compared to the storm's eye and butcher's block combos, and to make matters worse it combos off maim, so often times you'll be firing it in place of storm's eye and then having to waste additional damage/enmity swapping a main combo for a late DPS one. You're better off investing in Second Wind and replacing it as the "oh shit" heal instead of using a 7 second combo that screws your storm's eye bonus.

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On that note Butcher's Block and Storm's eye have an animation lock that will prevent even off GCD from activating. This is very import when you are waiting for cast bar move to stun but you don't want to just sit there and auto attack. So using Storm's Path is more effective then just repeating heavy > skull and heavy > maim waiting for the stun.

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Originally Posted by Exrage

Hmm, a very interesting development. I'll do a bit of further research and see what I can find out.

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Yeah I get the same thing i believe it is due to monster never truely leaving the instance que as they don't respawn they exist in some fashion until the instance is closed or restarted (persists through loading screens). You can reassign them manually again with the list and that will reset them for use with the macro (Only resets the specific ones used not all of them) so I believe it is a bug. And since /mk off doesnt clear all marks mae just the specific target don't think there is another way to fix it inside dungeons.

As it continually keeps being brought up I'll say it again: Your choice of Second Wind, Mantra, or Inner Release are all based on the boss fight and your group's composition. If you have no monk/someone else with Mantra substituting Second Wind or Provoke is just fine in most cases.

If you're using the duty finder for Titan (God help you) or OTing the Coils Inner Release to up your DPS would be preferable over self-healing as you won't be taking anything significant enough to rate it.

This being said remember: You're a tank. Self Healing helps when you're main tanking and that extra 600 heal right before you get smacked and the scholar's still midcast.

Note: Stacking Vitality in your crafted 50 gear you blew over a million gil on does NOT make you Titan or BC ready. Completely blew my mind today, I know some guys need to be carried but there's a limit.

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Originally Posted by Exrage

Note: Stacking Vitality in your crafted 50 gear you blew over a million gil on does NOT make you Titan or BC ready. Completely blew my mind today, I know some guys need to be carried but there's a limit.

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Hey, I've been stuck on Titan HM for... well... weeks now. I could legit use some Warrior advice.

When I MT it, I feel like I'm doing well for what the class can do, and the healers don't seem strained to keep me up personally (everyone else is another story). But I notice that if we pass heart, it's almost always an immediate wipe there. Is there something I could be doing to help out? I'm usually one of the last to die (I self-heal through a lot of Turmult's damage and I time IB near perfectly with Mt. Buster).

When I "OT" it, I try to be a psuedo-DPS, but I'm not sure I'm really contributing. Any tips there?

guessing your stat points went to 30/30 STR Exrage?

i did mine all in VIT since thats what i was told but if i get decent dps in garuda i have to spam enmity combo to first jump and cant slide maim in untill DD go fight first group of feathers
i find tanking it on PLD way easier with 30/30 VIT stacked but ive been farming axe for my WAR

i have full the DL for pld/war + all VIT acc and hero's VIT ring but have been sticking with AK STR ring in 2nd slot on WAR, it helps.. a lot

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Originally Posted by Chained_Icarus

Hey, I've been stuck on Titan HM for... well... weeks now. I could legit use some Warrior advice.

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Titan Hard Mode is probably the most frustrating fight in FFXIV as a warrior for a lot of reasons, most notable is the pure and simple fact that until AFTER the heart phase there's literally nothing you can do to help as the rest of them are forced to dodge *everything* or die.

Titan will Mountain Buster you for roughly 4K-4.5K, Rock Smash for an additional 1.5-2K, then regular attack for a final 750-900, which completely overwhelms a full HP tank unless YOU anticipate the attacks and clutch your DPS combo with a well timed Inner Beast/Second Wind heal as a buffer for the healer's cast time. But if the healer doesn't have you topped off after the shatter, as most go into panic mode trying to heal everyone else, the 2-2.5K self heal won't be enough to survive the second rock smash which is where most tanks new to the fight fail.

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Originally Posted by Chained_Icarus

When I "OT" it, I try to be a psuedo-DPS, but I'm not sure I'm really contributing. Any tips there?

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Titan requires 150+ DPS minimum for all members assuming you use the LB2 method, which even in our tanking set + Ifrit or Garuda weapon is easily accomplished. Some warriors use crafted materia melded items to boost their STR or augment their rings/neck/earrings with Peltist AK gear for the additional edge on damage. This being said, compared to an actual DPS class in equivalent gear you won't be able to compare if they know what they're doing so most stick with a single tank.

If you're looking for a way to carry your team, merely survive the heart phase with a healer/tank combo that knows the transition. Your self-healing prowess in the 5th phase will make you one of the *only* DPS alive until the healer manages the LB3 mass raise to hurry the end of the fight.

when I'm tanking HM Titan, I save Featherfoot for MB and make sure I have full stack of Wrath.

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Originally Posted by krazyrs

i have to spam enmity combo to first jump and cant slide maim in untill DD go fight first group of feathers

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I swap between the two in order to continue to test not just which stats are "most beneficial" for each gear combo (Full/half AF2, Full/half Darklight, Full/half AK, Crafted 50 and any 50+ warrior axe) as I see where specific clutches and stat requirements per each fight make anything noticeable occur. This being said, I favor more STR to VIT even MT in the Coils.

As to being "required to spam enmity" I've never had this problem- using what I refer to as the "main" combo at the start, followed by a maim/eye or "dps" combo afterward, then another main combo (AF+1 groups typically) or immediately rock the "burst macro" for unchained/berserk/inner release smash with an inner beast to infuriate, then maybe another main combo before smashing inner beast just before pacification- and never worry about aggro again.

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Originally Posted by Chained_Icarus

Hey, I've been stuck on Titan HM for... well... weeks now. I could legit use some Warrior advice.

When I MT it, I feel like I'm doing well for what the class can do, and the healers don't seem strained to keep me up personally (everyone else is another story). But I notice that if we pass heart, it's almost always an immediate wipe there. Is there something I could be doing to help out? I'm usually one of the last to die (I self-heal through a lot of Turmult's damage and I time IB near perfectly with Mt. Buster).

When I "OT" it, I try to be a psuedo-DPS, but I'm not sure I'm really contributing. Any tips there?

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Remember, when you are playing OT to a PLD MT, it's not just your DPS you're bringing to the raid. You're also boosting the PLD damage (and threat) by 11% from the storm's eye debuff (provided you keep it up near 100%).

And you are much less *squishy* than other DPS since you've got extra HP, better base defense, and access to better defensive moves (than a DPS class), so that's less to worry about for your healers.

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Originally Posted by LunaChild

when I'm tanking HM Titan, I save Featherfoot for MB and make sure I have full stack of Wrath.

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A very good tactic.

Typically as tanks go they will use foresight for one, featherfoot (especially with blind, requires a DPS to cast for a warrior) for another, then Thrill of Battle with Convalescence so they can repeat the rotation in whichever order they choose for each mountain buster as the 5th phase drones on. The trick as Luna mentioned is holding your full stack of wrath and then smashing Inner Beast as SOON as mountain buster goes off for a buffer while your healer finishes their cast to counter the ROCK SMASH that comes immediately afterward.

Once you have the rhythm down it's fairly simple and requires you to dance out of "Wrath of the Land" and stand between bombs until the LB3 finishes building to either smash the boss or raise everybody who can add another minute or two of solid DPS before crushing Titan.

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Originally Posted by Giantbane

Remember, when you are playing OT to a PLD MT, it's not just your DPS you're bringing to the raid. You're also boosting the PLD damage (and threat) by 11% from the storm's eye debuff (provided you keep it up near 100%).

And you are much less *squishy* than other DPS since you've got extra HP, better base defense, and access to better defensive moves (than a DPS class), so that's less to worry about for your healers.

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Exactly, and a very good point. You're a self-healing monster that can take a ton of hits and be left unattended compared to the glass cannons that die in a single weight of the land or tumult by the 5th phase- ANY DPS at this point is a blessing, and one a warrior easily provides in lieu of our STR and DPS raising stats that benefit the raid as a whole rather than simple matters of raw DPS alone.

Fracture and if you're main tanking Vengeance are important to keep up as much as possible (for vengeance as soon as it becomes available unless you're using it to quickly clutch a Wrath V for DPS/healing purposes) as they further increase your damage and therefore enmity.

Just because the attack doesn't do a large amount instantly do NOT overlook the benefits of a damage tick every second/boss attack in favor of a "main" enmity combo.

Mantra is a useful ability, yes, and one that can definitely help the raid in clutch AOE healing fights like just about every hard mode and beyond boss fight. Just remember that it doesn't stack with any other bonus to group healing.

A question, I'm a noob MRD (just hit 25 last night). I've found some good success when tanking multiple mobs by using Maim > Bloodbath and then tabbing through the pack of mobs and Fracturing each one before using a few Overpowers as a self heal technique if I'm taking a lot of dmg on a pull. Will this strategy continue to be effective as I level up and progress through WAR? Or should I skip the Fracturing and just go straight into Overpower spam?

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Originally Posted by Hagbard

Will this strategy continue to be effective as I level up and progress through WAR? Or should I skip the Fracturing and just go straight into Overpower spam?

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A good question, when you hit 30- in order to unlock your warrior crystal you have to level paladin to 15. Now the cool thing is when you hit 12 on the paladin you get a nice cross-class ability called "flash." What's so cool about it is it does all the threat of an overpower without requiring *any* TP. This makes it your go-to "fluff" enmity for group pulls as the DPS will get to the point of not being able to swap much off the group's main target for the fracture spam. An excellent use of the skill, make no mistake and I'm glad you've come around to using it as such- but after you hit 30 and 15 on gladiator you can accomplish the same effect enmity wise with a single flash.

What about haymaker? It seems that would go nicely with featherfoot. And it hits for a ton.

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Originally Posted by curespoge

What about haymaker? It seems that would go nicely with featherfoot. And it hits for a ton.

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While the additional DPS is always a nice thought, what cross class skill would you give up for it? Inner release raises your already nice crit rate, provoke will instantly put you at the top of the aggro should MT go down/someone pull unintended, Second Wind is that clutch self-heal, Flash is the AOE that uses MP to let you build up TP during longer fights, and Featherfoot increases the dodge rate. You can custom build a more DPS warrior, but it's important to remember that at the end of the day you're a tank and your DPS will not be as high as legitimate DPS classes.

As it's been kicked around some more allow me to elaborate on your stat choice: Stack VIT or stack STR?

Simply put, stacking VIT will gimp your enmity gain and damage for the lower levels, as well as during your initial 50s from Titan and AK on down. The Titan fight is the first real DPS check of the game and therefore the ideal is to be STR heavy going into it.

The REAL stat argument is after this point, during the 3rd and 4th turn of the Coils where every stat matters in regard to your tanking damage. Keep this in mind as you level as stat reallocation is simple.

In case it isn't apparent many are questioning why I don't "just write that in the guide" when I'm answering questions or during discussions over mechanics. Simply put: this is a guide, and nothing more.

Most players starting their journey with a game, particularly an MMO, see what everyone else is doing and tend to apply that to what they're doing whenever they realize they're not doing something correctly. This is merely a starting point for them to safely expand off of- not copy my gear, stats, and rotations expecting to clear Turn 4 and attempt the 5th consistently as that deprives them the value of "experience" in favor of forever being "carried."

Given the recent instability with a lot of FCs due to the free server transfers (available until Tuesday!) it's a common question on how a warrior can work on their timing when it comes to their Wrath V stacks and expected heals when they either PUG frequently or their group is too small to produce consistent DPS for percentage based attacks (like Ifrit's 75,50,25 "tank smack combo") or responding to timed abilities (Titan's Mountainbuster).

My advice is to start with a single healer and learn their healing rotations. Simply knowing what ability should come and timing a simple inner beast/infuriate/inner beast will sync the both of you and make those pesky "I take too much damage" moments a thing of the past.