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Hello! The people I meet in DF regularly have very strong opinions on whether I should be in Shield Oath or Sword Oath. They usually contradict.
Some stuff seems pretty obvious: Sword for OT DPS, Shield for initial hate grabs and tank swaps.
But, after that, it all seems to get fuzzy. Some healer's tell me to never leave Shield in light parties, others want me in Sword for nearly everything.
So, what is the "correct" methodology here?
Shield
> Damage is overwhelming without it
> Need aggro (for whatever reason)
Sword
> When the above doesn't apply.
This applies literally everywhere from 24mans to Savage Raiding.
There is no "correct" it's "whatever works based on your situation".
A lesser skilled healer would prefer you to stay in Shield Oath so their job is less difficult.
For the most part, leaving shield oath to go Sword is usually okay for bosses in dungeons, but is less adviseable when doing large pulls.
If you can stay alive and hold hate, then whatever you chose is fine
Stay in shield oath for trash pulls. Sword oath is for bosses, but only after doing your opener in shield oath, AND if the healer is comfortable.
Sometimes a healer is undergeared or incompetent, and in those cases it's acceptable to stay in shield oath for a whole boss fight. Otherwise, sword oath after opener all the way.
Like the above said, Sword Oath is great against bosses if you know how to manage your cooldowns and know how to keep your damage intake comfortable for your healers. Don't be afraid to use RoH as well if you feel you need the physical mitigation for whatever reason, also.
at lv50 - sword oath 24/7
at lv60 - shield oath when need to make hate, or to take big damage, or to manage the healing.
at lv60 - sword oath when you dont need the shield oath
Whatever the healer is comfortable with.
Cycle your CDs and keep your eyes on hate. As a healer I want you to be doing your maximum damage, while I do mine.
Shield Oath when it's more effecient (You don't have any CDs and are Mass pulling, since healers will out DPS you by miles.)
On bosses Sword Oath and let the Healers take care of you, so long as you continue to cycle your CDs, after you establish hate with Shield Oath like others have said.
If you have a good ninja, you don't even need to open with shield oath. :]
It's probably been said enough, but doesn't hurt to reinforce it.
- Shield Oath for Trash Pulls
- Sword Oath For Bosses
However, don't ignore your ROH combo when in Sword. At the very least you want to keep the Reduce target's strength by 5% bonus up.
At the end of the day, it's a judgement call. You need to gauge the competence of the rest of your party in order to determine if it is safe to be in Sword Oath. If your DPS is very low, and your added dmg isn't enough to make up the difference you'll likely run into TP issues from the extended fight. As a result, it may be better to stay in Shield and be the impenetrable brick wall while the Healer attempts to DPS.
If your healer is having trouble keeping you alive, then its best to just be in Shield to make things easier on them.
It should rely on your own comfort, and the comfort of your group, as well.
There are tanks out there who can very effectively tank entire Expert Roulette dungeons in their DPS stance, even doing massive pulls, and due to their skill, their healers don't even notice the difference. And then there are tanks out there who stay in their tank stance the entire time and only do small pulls.
Both kinds of tanks can get through their dungeons. One may take 5-10 minutes longer, but they'll still get through it.
As a tank, you have two main jobs: keep hate and survive. Everything else is secondary, and a matter of personal opinion, and group etiquette. Maximizing your DPS as a tank is a noble goal, and may make your runs faster--so long as you're still able to do your first two jobs. And with how encounters are formatted in this game, and with how tanks work, there are many ways that tanks can effectively switch into their DPS stances without sacrificing their performance as tanks.
Should you do it?
That's up to you and your group to decide.