Tanking on Ps3

Hi guys, I recently started getting back into the game following the new patch. Before that however, I was having a hard time tanking. So much so that I decided that it was impossible to tank on the Ps3 so I chose to become a MNK instead. But something changed, I chose gladiator for a reason. I love the idea of being a Paladin, thats why I decided to come back to gladiator once more. But I want to be good and have fun with it and not have the anxiety of being criticized for simple mistakes! That's why im asking if someone could give me some tips or how they layout skills on the Ps3 so I could be better and have fun with being a Tank again. Honestly any sort of advise would be greatly appreciated! :D

Hey brizdun I used to tank on ps3 till I got my ps4 but I set up my skill pages for tanks with offense moves and combos on one page w defense and cdon another page so the only problemi get is when I'm hitting r1 to fast and cycling though skills to fast and much. But for pally put your RoH combo like r1+O-X-square so its all together

O also if your like me I switch use both tanks warr more then pally but I would put moves like flash and tomahawk/shield lob in same piece so you don't confuse yourself I put hawk/lob r1+d-pad up then flash r1+ d-pad right there for I pull mobs then flash easy

I don't play on PS3, but I can tell you that these are the abilities you'll want the most immediate access to: Fast Blade, Savage Blade, Rage of Halone, Shield Lob, Fight or Flight, Shield Oath, Sword Oath, Provoke, Spirits Within, and Circle of Scorn. FB/SB/RoH should be the easiest to access, as Anubis mentioned, then Provoke/Shield Lob/Fight or Flight should all be near eachother, along with SW and CoS. Shield Oath and Sword Oath are your Tank stance and DPS stance respectively, so being able to switch between the two will be important at end game. Cooldowns should fill the rest of the slots, along with Cover and Stoneskin. Not actually sure how much room the PS3 hotbar has as there are a lot of abilities, but most PS3 players I know find it intuitive after awhile, so try not to stress if things seem hard right away. It all comes down to muscle memory. Good luck!

E: Forgot about Flash. Probably a pretty high priority similar to your RoH combo as it is your only GCD AOE move. Riot Blade should probably be somewhere as well... man, PLD is really simple to play but you never realize how many buttons you use on the regular until you have to map 'em all out.

I Tank on PS4, and did on Ps3 before it, on both Warrior and Paladin. I don't have a problem, and actually have two slots left on war. But a few more repeats on Paladin.

So starting with R3 Set on Hotbar 1
Triangle - Shield Lob/Tomahawk
Circle - Fast Blade/Heavy Swing
Square - Savage Blade/Skull Sunder
X - Rage of Halone/Butcher's Block
Up - Spirits Within/Steel Cyclone
Right - Stoneskin (*Macro /ac "stoneskin" <tt>)/Inner Beast
Left - Circle of Scorn/Overpower
Down -Shield Bash/Brutal Swing

L3
Triangle - Rampart/Convalescence
Circle - Sentinel/Vengeance
Square - Foresight/Foresight
X - Awareness/Awareness or Second Wind

Up - Convalescence/Thrill of Battle
Right - Flash/Flash
Left - Provoke/Provoke
Down - Bulwark/Infuriate

Hot Bar 2

R3

Triangle - Mercy Stroke/Storm's Path
Circle - Fast Blade/Heavy Swing
Square - Riot Blade/Maim
X - Fracture/Storm's Eye

Up - Spirits Within/Mercy Stroke
Right - Shield Swipe/Infuriate
Left - Rage of Halone/Bloodbath
Down - Shield Bash/Brutal Swing

L3

Triangle - Cover (*Macro /ac "cover" <tt>)/Internal Release
Circle - Hallowed Ground/Holmgang
Square - Fight or Flight/Berserk
X - Bloodbath/Fracture
Up - Shield Oath/Misc
Right - Tempered Will/Misc
Left - Provoke/Provoke
Down - Sword Oath/Defiance

I'm not sure what exactly you are having problems with. It doesn't sound like your problem is skill selection, but rather target selection and cycling.

You can change the target cycle attributes in character customization. That will probably make a big difference.

As for tanking, it's easy.

War - Tomhawk, wait for it... OVERPOWER, maybe twice, then go through combos, then Overpower. Or if multiple mobs, Berserk/Internal Release/Bloodbath/Vengeance w/ Overpower SPAM till tp runs out.

Pld - Shield Lob, wait for it.... FLASH, maybe twice, Circle of Scorn, Go through combos, flash between combo sets.

One thing people oft times forget is you can switch targets to finish you combo. Particularly on Paladin (though patch may have made it less so) It was important for me to start a combo (Fast Blade/Savage Blade) one one target, then finish the combo (Rage of Halone) on a second target... and doing that switching targets and tossing flash out. To better spread hate. But kinda depends if your DPS is doing AOE or Single Target. Marking never goes out of style, except that you may get to a point that your generating enough hate to not need worry about it.

Wow, all these posts are very helpful, and what sort of configuration should I do for my targeting, because I do have a problem with that as well. I fixed a few things in the options but I feel like I could add more. (Sorry for the late reply, I had to go to school and didn't get to check the post lol)

I was a long time PS3 Player and PLD works perfectly with the controller. Here is a pic of my PC layout but if you just look at the cross bars almost everything fits:

http://beast40.com/FFXIV/PLD/kaiser.png


The Macro on L2+Down goes through the F1-F5 abilities in that order.

F8-F11 Are L2+R2 Square,Triangle,Circle,Square
8,9,Poison Pots, STR pots are L2+R2 Up,Down,Left,Right

Everything else would have to be cycled to get to. Even on PC I really only use my keyboard to micro manage during Coil.

This is perfect! But one more question, the cross skill Stoneskin, how soon should I get it, because I assume it's pretty important?