Tank guides for all 3 jobs?

Hey everyone,

So after I gear up my Samurai, I want to get back to tanking (did so in ARR and HW).

Deciding between all 3, so I'm open to anything.

I figure I will mess around with all 3 in POTD (even though, it's lvl60 only, I can at least get SOME kind of idea as to how each of the jobs now plays).

A couple of questions:

1) Does anyone have any links to some good guides (that contain rotations) for each of the three jobs? (For both MT and OT).

2) I am a DPS at heart, so I was wondering what the DPS was looking like when comparing all three jobs? I understand different situations can produce different numbers. Just looking for generality here.

Note: I will PRIMARILY be tanking simply in regular raids and dungeons as I plan on taking a dps role if I decide to do Savage content.

Thank you, everyone! Any help you can provide would be much appreciated :)!

Well, a lot of the guides have become outdated with the release of Stormblood. So many things have changed. Not mention your combos become completely different when you reach level 70 with Warrior, level 68 with Paladin, and Dark Knight... is a mess. LOL

If you're looking at the damage you're able to do between the tanks, it's a close race at the moment with Warrior probably coming out on top by a little bit. However, to do high damage with Warrior you have to push yourself very hard compared to Paladins and Dark Knights.

At the end of the day, you should just stick with the one you feel is most fun. The one with the coolest skills and animations and playstyle. For example, if you like helping out your party, Paladin is the way to go. Personally I chose Warrior cuz their attack abilities look bad-ass.

Thanks!!

One last question: For the guides I have been able to find for all 3, seems like you really jump out of Grit and Shield Oath once threat is established for both DRK and PLD respectively.

WAR obviously goes back and forth because of Inner Beast and such.

Is this true? Seems like the tanking stances are not used AS much anymore in dungeons.

Hmm... you are right about Paladin and Dark Knight, but the same is true about Warrior too. The only difference is that a Warrior's tank stance doesn't reduce damage, so it's pointless to switch to Defiance just to tank an incoming blow that you think might kill you, unless you have Inner Beast ready.

However, if you realize you're taking heavy damage, and will continue to take heavy damage for the next couple of seconds, you should consider switching to Defiance to make sure your healer is able to keep up. Unlike Grit and Shield Oath, Defiance only works when you're at full HP or when you get healed. It's a bit hard to explain.

But no, you shouldn't switch to Defiance just to use Inner Beast for the damage. It's much more worth it to cast Fell Cleave, and at lower levels it's not worth turning off Defiance unless you aren't tanking.

In dungeons, you can try turning off your tank stance in a couple of situations, but most of the time it will be risky if you're doing big pulls. It'll depend on the healer you're with. With some healers, if you turn it off, you'll probably just end up dead. lol

I leveled all my tanks to 60 so i could get rid of all the lower level gear, saves you space. Afterwards im running PLD trough SB dungeons untill i hit 70 and then WAR and DRK, along the way you get your abilities and stuff. Following guides is never a good idea, move your skills around, find what your comfortable with. As a tank you have to keep an open mind, what would you want the tank to do if you were dpsing or healing? Packing mobs togheter helps alot when aoeing, hitting them with AoE's and running in circles untill they are nicely packed for dps to aoe them down. As for stance dancing, i shut my tanking stance off once i got aggro on the boss, most of the damage can be healed easilly if the dps and healer knows the mechanics of the fight.

Its highly recommended to go slow for the first time to learn the mechanics of dungeons, finding all the spots you can move behind walls, to pull ranged mobs closer. I lost threat a few times while running dungeons and those were mostly due to newbie RDM's and other ranged jobs who start hitting mobs while your pulling.