Looking for tanking advice.

I currently play DPS classes and the highest ive reached with them is 40-54. I am not experienced in any particular content and havent really spent much time in dungeons other than daily roulettes.

I love the idea of dark knight and the looks of its armour and weapons alongside the theme behind its skillset which makes me really want to play it. I havent got any experience really on any mmo about tanking. I tried it breifly on TERA and got told I was terrible so i didnt touch it again. I tanked a few H.Manor runs with a warrior on ffxiv and found it to be really enjoyable however I was wondering as the content gets higher level what types of roles and mechanics do tanks have to deal with? Is this game hard to learn tanking on? What types of things are tanks expected to be doing in raids and high end primals? I find primal fights more enjoyable than dungeons so that will be my main focus, how are the end game primals to tank? Just generally looking for advice

Tanking is one of the easiest things to do, hardest maybe to master.
I don't know what Stormblood changes will bring, but you should invest some time into Gladiator/Paladin. It's harder to start out as compared to Marauder/Warrior, but it has the essential skills you want to cross-class onto your desired Dark Knight.

As for your question as to what's expected of tanks, holding enmity on a boss or adds, and preparing for tank busters. Other than that, contributing to DPS is the majority of the time spent. Notable mechanics you'll have to get used to are tank swaps, which is something both the incoming and leaving tank need to do stuff for. You can't land a Circle of Scorn or Fell Cleave or something as you're trying to swap out, and you do need to have an emnity move prepped for snap aggro when swapping in.

Try the Hall of the Novice on the tank classes and start from there. Listen to the NPC, he's giving fairly good starter advice, and simply just get practice. The more you do it the more you can get used to it.

I can't speak to the end-game with first person hand, but I have watched some videos and done a lot of the lv 50 content as warrior and paladin. Tanking isn't really much more difficult than DPS. You manage your combos and cooldowns and dodge all the things. Both roles still have to know what's going to happen in a fight and plan for it. Both roles have to manage enmity somewhat, but that part is forgiving in FFXIV. The big difference difficulty-wise is tanks have to worry about positioning mobs relative to the party and deal with picking up adds sometimes... so a little more split attention is required, but not a ton. The scary party is that if you mess up, everyone will notice and it might wipe the group right away. DPS has more redundancy. At the very high end, that won't matter as much, since eventually every member is required to work near full potential regardless of role, but until then, DPS gets to be a lower stress role.

The tank has to do a lot. You need to hold enmity on most enemies. You need to position the enemies correctly. You need to manage your defenses to reduce healer load. You need to manage offensive skills to contribute to DPS (balanced against enmity generation). You need to provide what utility your job has to the group (debuffs, buffs, whatever). Some fights have gimmick mechanics that affect tanks... like tank busters, required tank swaps, required movement, adds, ect.

You don't have to do all that right away though. The game introduces mechanics at a moderate pace. If you do Hall of the Novice and then level-appropriate dungeons and trials as you level, then there isn't a steep learning curve. I'll say, Paladin has the least to manage as far as abilities. Warrior has a fair bit more. I've heard it said that dark knight has even more to fuss over than warrior, but I haven't tried it yet. Once you get into lv 30+ dungeons/trials, I'd recommend watching a video before hand to see what you're getting into, so you don't have to lead the party blind. You'll be setting the pace after all!

Personally, when I started tanking (in WoW) I was absolutely terrified. The game encouraged leveling to max level before starting dungeons, and then you're just thrown in the deep end. I'm glad I had friends mentor me through a few dungeons to get the hang of it. FFXIV encourages group content the whole way and gives a nice gentle learning curve, so there is no need to worry so much. I enjoy tanking and I'm happy I made the leap. Starting out FFXIV as a tank was definitely the right choice for me. Give it a try!

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Originally Posted by Mantra

I was wondering as the content gets higher level what types of roles and mechanics do tanks have to deal with?

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Since you're starting out as a tank leveling your main goal is to hold emnity (threat) and manage your CDs typically you wanna start out with Paladin to get Provoke lvl 22, Awareness lvl 34 and Convalescence lvl 10. Those Cross-class skills are essential for both War and Drk which is needed for higher level content, as for roles if you're a war you're usually the offtank and Pld/Drk are usually the preferred main tank for trials. All are used in current content but i'd suggest going paladin for the much needed cross-class skills, as for mechanics your usual tank busters, move out of stuff etc.

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Originally Posted by Mantra

Is this game hard to learn tanking on? What types of things are tanks expected to be doing in raids and high end primals?

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Tanking isn't hard at all to tank but being a great tank is really hard for a lot of people a great tank can really make your dungeon experience a truly magnificent one, learning what you can/can't do as a tank is the first step of being better. A good tank will use their threat combo and pull a lot but a stand out tank will cycle their cooldowns making the healers life a lot more easier, as well as assisting in DPS.

Now what I mean by assisting in DPS leads to your next question in raids and high end primals tank will get a threat lead (either from their threat combo or ninja with their threat up ability Shadewalker) and drop their tank stance to gain more DPS. It's to ensure you're beating the boss before enrage or skipping mechanics is what end game raiders like to do as healers and tanks both support in DPS in end game raids.

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Originally Posted by Mantra

I find primal fights more enjoyable than dungeons so that will be my main focus, how are the end game primals to tank? Just generally looking for advice

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Most of the end game fights revolve around 2 tanks with varied tank swaps or 1 tank tanking one thing while the other stands in something there's so many varied fights like Sephirot extreme for example where it's very complicated. Basically there's different adds to tank, both tanks have to soak a tank while dodging mechanics all while not being thrown off the side, as well as popping defensive cool downs to survive it's hectic but fun, and then there's a fight called Sophia extreme where the tanks have to actively taunt (provoke) off each other or the other will die due to a debuff from the boss. That's why provoke is a very necessary skill if you want to do end game raiding/primals as they all have some kind of tank swap and it's needed say if your MT goes down and you need threat ASAP.

Lastly, your progression for being a good tank comes down to:

1) Threat
2) Positioning
3) Managing Cool downs
4) Mechanics
5) DPS

If you can do all 5 of those successfully and practice I have no doubt that you'll be a great tank, work on threat and own that once you have that think to yourself "what CDs have great synergy together, and what how can I cycle them?". Consider your melee DPS or ranged such as black mages who are turrets know where to move mobs, how to clump them together, how to keep running and pulling to keep greased lightning stacks or aethertrail stacks for summoner, it really helps your group. Next is avoiding mechanics so you don't take any dmg and your party doesn't either, after mechanics is "what can I bring to the table dmg wise?".

Once you've gotten and practiced those 4 you can work in your DPS as a tank whether you be a sturdy paladin, edgey dark knight or brutal warrior you will be DPSing in endgame primals and raids. Don't be nervous and good luck out there!

I'd love to give some general advice, but seeing as how your profile says you're on Goblin, there's myself and a few other of us in the Novice Network there that can give you more immediate and specific help if you need it. If you're not a sproutling or Returner status anymore though, I can keep an eye out for you and set you up with the right people if you'd like. I don't really think I can give you in-game names though here through the Forums.


That out of the way, the most general learning steps I can give would be..

1) Learn how to establish, manage, and keep aggro/enmity/hate/whatever word you wanna use. It's your primary focus as a tank, and being able to manage it is the best/easiest way to push your ability later on. Enmity is a fickle mistress early on. it smooths out later on. up until 30 (or 40 on PLD), it's just "Overpower/Unleash/Flash all the things!" But this opens up once you get your tankin' stance

2) Learn basic positioning. All 3 melee jobs have positional damage bonuses. keep the mobs' butts turned to evenryone and dont spin around. Once you're done pulling what you're gonna pull, glue your feet to the ground. only move to dodge AoEs. If you can, it really REALLY helps to ball up all the mobs together, this lets your BLMs, SMNs, and BRDs nuke all the guys from orbit! Overall, just make sure the bad guys and bosses are BETWEEN you and everyone else.

3) Learn how and when to use your cooldowns. Using the right cooldowns in the right situations puts a huge load off your healers and is usually the #1 difference between the speed running big boys and the squishy red puddles on the ground. Something like Shadowskin on DRK is very useful to use on a huge pull and is far better used at the beginning than when everything is already dead. that sort of thing. You generally never want to use 2 cooldowns together. There are a few that pair up well, but safe those specific things 'till later!

Once you have those 3 down pat and comfortable is when you can start asking the fun questions that are more advanced. Like how often you can stance dance and when. How much can you get away with pulling at once. How much damage you can push out.

If you are facing a dungeon or trial that you haven't done before or don't feel confident about, try running it with your FC buddies to learn. Sometimes random pug people can be impatient and unforgiving. Reading a strategy guide to prepare can help, too. In endgame dps and healing become harder and it's a more even difficulty between the roles.

Well, someone recently posted this tanking 101 video on the FFXIV reddit. But maybe you already have that down...

Higher level, tank swapping is the most obvious to master (Getting provoke is not optional). And having a CD rotation for tank busters if you want to do that sort of content. Practice picking up adds, etc. For dungeons... mostly the same, just bigger pulls for AoE and using CDs to live through those.

And... know the fights. Picking up adds is easier if you know where they spawn, etc. Knowing the bosses rotation lets you plan CDs/mitigation around the big hits or high incoming damage phases.

Once you've got those down, you can then work on maximizing your DPS output which usually involves some stance management (Not sure about DRK specifically here).