Trouble with Aggro

On my other character, I play as a tank. More specifically, I play as a PLD. My rotation is

Shield Lob
Flash
Circle of Scorn
3 combo set
Flash
3 combo set

I have trouble maintaining aggro, still, with this rotation. A lot of this comes from the DPS not attacking the same target I'm attacking, but when I play DPS and do this, most tanks are able to still keep aggro. Is there anything I can do to hold aggro better?

Boss aggro? If it's a single target, I generally don't bother flashing (unless the creature is susceptible to blind)
Fight or Flight
Shield Lob
Circle of Scorn + Rage of Halone
Sprits Within + Fast Blade
Savage Blade
Rage of Halone

At this point, see what threat is, and if you're solid at this point, throw in a Fast/Riot/Goring Blade

Still ok on threat? Toss in a Royal Authority just before Fight or Flight runs out, and dont forget to get that second Circle of Scorn in before Fight or Flight runs out.

At this point, alternate between using Rage of Halone combo -> Goring Blade combo -> Rage or Royal, depending on how things are going -> Again, rage or royal -> Goring Blade Combo

Hopefully this helps, it's just a modified version of what I used since day 1, and that worked after I came back to the game after a 13 month break.

If aoe tanking? Do a flash every other global. During your flashing, cycle through your targets carefully and identify which you are at risk of losing, and give them extra attention.

Also, mark the targets. No one does this anymore, makes me super sad :(

Depends on character level, item level, and whether or not you're playing with friends or duty finder mutants. If your item level is low, then something you might wish to consider is just emptying your mana bar with flash and using your riot blade combo to regen. It's pretty strong AOE threat even if the lack of damage will bore you to tears after a while.

Might I suggest the following modification of your GCD AoE rotation?

Shield Lob
Flash (Applies Blind for 12 sec)
Flash (does not replace Blind)
Goring Blade Combo on a target
Flash (Applies Blind for 6 sec)
Flash (does not replace Blind)
Goring Blade Combo on a target that does not have the DoT
Flash (Applies Blind for 3 sec)
Goring Blade/Royal Authority/Rage of Halone until all targets are dead.

Pop Circle of Scorn and Spirits Within on cool down.
Use Fight or Flight once you start heavily on your Melee Rotations. Popping it before a pull or during Flash causes you to lose up time to no effect.

Interesting that your aoe rotation utilizes Goring Blade Kakita (Nice to see you btw, we're in the same tank LS)

I like the rotation, but I personally use the old Flash -> Fast -> Flash -> Riot -> Repeat (peppering in sheltron) primarily out of habit (from not having a cap for the riot blade combo for so long) but also because I find I won't usually get a full duration bleed because things die quickly. Once you're down to 3 mobs do you still use this? I personally use an alternating Rage of Halone and play a little game where I try to keep all three mobs debuffed while putting up at least 1 pacification or stun per Halone combo.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Seshayn

Interesting that your aoe rotation utilizes Goring Blade Kakita (Nice to see you btw, we're in the same tank LS)

I like the rotation, but I personally use the old Flash -> Fast -> Flash -> Riot -> Repeat (peppering in sheltron) primarily out of habit (from not having a cap for the riot blade combo for so long) but also because I find I won't usually get a full duration bleed because things die quickly. Once you're down to 3 mobs do you still use this? I personally use an alternating Rage of Halone and play a little game where I try to keep all three mobs debuffed while putting up at least 1 pacification or stun per Halone combo.

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^ This. You good aggro much better if you don't just rely on flash and CoS :) all the tanks I have seen have aggro trouble because they only use enmity combo on one mob.

The people above gave great rotations, so I don't have much to offer there.

The only thing I wanted to mention is better gear and marking targets. You should never be more than 10 levels below in gear pre-50, and try to always gear up big time after 50. A lot of people don't understand how important gear stats are for holding enmity (and taking hits). It might be worth even taking several STR accessories in place of VIT to deal more damage.

As far as marking targets, that's pretty simple. You can place number indicators over mobs (I do this every trash pull in dungeons), so your team knows what to target, and in what order. This should ease the pain of DPS all attacking different targets significantly. Beyond that, the combos listed above are pretty solid.

As a PLD, flash into riot blade isn't obselete esp if there are more than 5 enemies hitting you. One tip i share whenever i encounter those types of dps is to cycle my enmity ws to each.... That is savage blade on 1, then switch to the other then halone. Make sure you keep on using flash, riot and cos in between. Oh and shield swipe. If it's a trgger happy BLM/SMN, then it's just flash, riot and cos. Little to no room to cycle single target enmity moves.

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Originally Posted by rawker

As a PLD, flash into riot blade isn't obselete esp if there are more than 5 enemies hitting you. One tip i share whenever i encounter those types of dps is to cycle my enmity ws to each.... That is savage blade on 1, then switch to the other then halone. Make sure you keep on using flash, riot and cos in between. Oh and shield swipe. If it's a trgger happy BLM/SMN, then it's just flash, riot and cos. Little to no room to cycle single target enmity moves.

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EXACTLY THIS! Be prepared to flash like a sex offender if you are in a party with lots of aoe dps!

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Originally Posted by Julienne

On my other character, I play as a tank. More specifically, I play as a PLD. My rotation is

Shield Lob
Flash
Circle of Scorn
3 combo set
Flash
3 combo set

I have trouble maintaining aggro, still, with this rotation. A lot of this comes from the DPS not attacking the same target I'm attacking, but when I play DPS and do this, most tanks are able to still keep aggro. Is there anything I can do to hold aggro better?

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I find that the easiest way to maintain hate on multiple mobs is to continuously rotate through them. This works regardless of what tank you use.

My general rule of thumb for mutiple mobs is:

Shield Lob > Circle of Scorn > Flash > Flash <--- this locks initial hate.

Position

Then I rotate though the mobs with Tab and use my enmity combo. Keeping an eye on the ones I have the least enmity on. I rarely focus on one mob, because odds are the dps won't be attacking what I am attacking.

I use circle of scorn whenever its up, and throw a flash at intervals to maintain hate.