Question: How do you tank?

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Originally Posted by Foxkid

Sorry for the double post, is tank stance gained in warrior/lv 30 only or..?

And tried myself in palace a moment ago, couldn't have gone worse in terms of losing all the aggro and forgetting which attacks generate aggro and which don't :') or the dragoon was just doing that much more damage that tomahawk didn't mean jack to anything q-q

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Tomahawk can't do much alone to secure agro at all, as soon as you use it to pull the target and have it in range pass to overpower spam or butcher's block combo if is a single target, steel cyclone is nice for 2 targets or more too.

remember use berserk that makes every skill being a crit-direct hit and apply storm's buff/debuff if you can, more damage more agro, but you should be fine with tomahawk - overpower spam on palace and try to check you skill set before get in just to at least have a general idea of what are you doing ^^.

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Originally Posted by Foxkid

Shikasu: I should consider attempting alliance raids as a tank, but boy am I scared of doing that plus mechanics....

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Tanking alliance raids isn't hard. Most difficulty comes from the other twenty-three people doing things they shouldn't.

Using a recent Dun Scaith run as an example which I only ended up MTing because the person who tried to MT couldn't hold hate against me despite my being in Darkside, outside of rotating cooldowns, you do what you would do as a DPS. Don't get blown off, don't be in the middle for the insta-kill tornado thing and so on for the first boss.

Second boss depends on where people drop things on whether or not that will make your life difficult or not.

Literally who cares about Proto-Ultima.

Third boss, be in the center for meteors, off tank should grab the add and both it and the boss should be kept apart.

Diabolos is basically nothing with most of that fights difficulty coming in his second form which follows every second or so auto attack with a tankbuster and DRK at sixty has a horribly lacking defensive kit. Also one healer in my alliance was DCing a lot and the other was half out to lunch. Like the previous boss, be in the center for meteors.

And I tanked that whole run exclusively in DPS stance which does come with being over a hundred item levels above the content (my alliance also had a NIN which helped), but I've done the same in Rabanastre where you won't even see a number of mechanics at this point. DRK also has stupid high aggro generation.

Not that I'd reccomend going into any content as a tank and go exclusively in DPS stance without sufficient gear and confidence in your abilities. Or if you're a PLD because PLD's aggro generation is weak in comparison.

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Originally Posted by Foxkid

Sorry for the double post, is tank stance gained in warrior/lv 30 only or..?

And tried myself in palace a moment ago, couldn't have gone worse in terms of losing all the aggro and forgetting which attacks generate aggro and which don't :') or the dragoon was just doing that much more damage that tomahawk didn't mean jack to anything q-q

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I would HIGHLY advise against using Deep Dungeons to level your first tank. Mobs in PotD and HoH don't really even need to be tanked, just burned down. Everything dies too fast to even learn anything anyway, as almost any job.

I would exclusively level by running your highest level dungeons, and roulettes. Your queue times as a tank are going to be pretty fast anyway, and you might be able to get an FC member in board to level a class up alongside you. This will give you experience in things that matter most, like positioning and threat generation, as well as slowly giving you access to your kit instead of starting at 60.

I'd honestly say Squadron Dungeons are a good place to start when it comes to tanking. None of the having to deal with randoms, but it does have plenty of flaws like Squadron AI being jank and the squaddies being basically invincible.

But you do at least get some dungeon experience before going in and having to deal with real people.

I tank as a PLD cause it's braindead easy. That being said... on PULLS:

I sometimes pull a group with Provoke as opposed to Lob because it has a further range and it's off GCD and I can Flash right away.

I never double Flash to start a pull. More specifically I Flash as the Blind debuff from each Flash falls off. After they're immune, I'll Flash as needed.

I rotate my 1-2-3 aggro combo. I'll 1-2 one mob and then 3 another. I do that throughout a pull as needed.

I don't pair defensive buffs unless things are looking dire. Otherwise I only pop one at a time.

If Scorn is coming off CD and the pull is almost done, I'll save it for the next pull (so I can Lob right into Scorn)

That's just some of the small things i do. Oh, and NEVER pull a group, stop, AND THEN move to the next. Be decisive.

Good luck.

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Originally Posted by kashi11

I would HIGHLY advise against using Deep Dungeons to level your first tank. Mobs in PotD and HoH don't really even need to be tanked, just burned down. Everything dies too fast to even learn anything anyway, as almost any job.

I would exclusively level by running your highest level dungeons, and roulettes. Your queue times as a tank are going to be pretty fast anyway, and you might be able to get an FC member in board to level a class up alongside you. This will give you experience in things that matter most, like positioning and threat generation, as well as slowly giving you access to your kit instead of starting at 60.

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I think I can get comfortable with positioning (allies > enemies > me), but I'm highly nervous on my own survivability cause since my only "damage reduction" right now is Rampart and Thrill of Battle, and still working on getting tank gear up (all the dungeons I've passed on tank gear are starting to bite me).

Just running Tam-Tara Deepcroft later last night had me taking stupid amounts of damage like I was basically wearing standard dps armor despite having the best gear I could use at the time (the novice gear), and the conjurer in it seeming a little timid himself had me feeling even more nervous and out of place during any pulls dealing with more than 3 or 4 enemies at a time (and yes, I was making a lot of use of overpower and skull sunder, though I still lost aggro every once in a while when I started ignoring a target a little too long to help focus down whoever the DPs were smacking).

The boss fight in it went fine enough though, but I had to fight my instinct to run off and attack the imps when they spawned in just to break their tethers, so I had that internal battle of other mechanics that I now need to ignore or else everyone suffers from it. (is that a normal thing or just something that passes by over time?)

I'm a petty casual so I'll keep this simple.

Have some chill electronic music in the background
Be polite
Keep Tank Stance up (as needed)
Rampart/Sentinel etc if needed
Shirk any DPS that thinks they set the base.

So Rampart is a cool down of sorts then? Cause I don't see (I'm assuming its defiance for warriors), partially considering I haven't done that job quest yet.

Sentinel for heavy incoming damage and shirk to redirect aggro (during tankswaps)? I hear the talk all the time, kinda different to have to use it yourself in practice though.

Yes Rampart is a defensive cooldown. Used for tank busters and large pulls.
Defiance does not reduce damage. But will help you generate enmity.

Shirk is done AFTER your tank-bro provokes the boss off you. Before and it's a waste.

I thought tank stance was reduced damage plus a threat bonus? So the jobs just eat raw hits and only use cooldowns when swarming or against tank busters?

As for shirk (not there yet but lv 25 now), that better held to a target macro or just targeting your mt and doing it manually?