Choosing my first tank

I've played around a bit in the early levels of GLD, MRD and DRK, and all 3 tanks have things about them I like, whether it be DRK's mana sustain, GLD's smooth damage intake, or Warrior's fantasy of running up and axe-ing someone in the face.

Can some tank mains try and weigh in on which of the 3 would be easiest to get adjusted to the tank role in FF XIV in particular?

Go with whichever one you like, no matter what to get adjusted to anything it's best to go in as what you like the most. Play as all 3, why not. The only way to really get used to tanking is to tank, so go wild. Worst case scenario, you've got multiple classes leveled higher and different perspectives.

I'm not a tank main in any capacity, but I'm a big proponent of playing what you want. A lot of people say to play Paladin before playing Dark Knight, but I leveled Dark Knight first because it's what I wanted to play and I enjoy it. (They said the same thing about Astro and playing White Mage but I also didn't care lol)

But also, as someone who was terrified of Tanking (I played BLM through MSQ) it's actually not as difficult as it seems. As long as you can hold aggro, point the boss away from the group, and use mitigation tools during Tank busters, you'll be fine.

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Originally Posted by Stellafreyja

it's actually not as difficult as it seems. As long as you can hold aggro, point the boss away from the group, and use mitigation tools during Tank busters, you'll be fine.

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Yup. I ran Dzemael Darkhold with a tank that never used a single combo action, only flash and shield lob. We got through just fine, even though they should have known better with most classes capped. It's only in endgame raids with enrage timers that tanks actually 100% NEED to have plenty of damage. Tanks upping their DPS certainly speeds dungeons along though.

I have been rotating the tank jobs ever since I started playing back in December. Of the three Paladin is usually considered the easiest for beginners: they have all skills available in either tank or dps stance (DRK and WAR lock or switch out some of their abilities depending on the stance), powerful cool downs, a more reliable dps rotation and good party utility. However, Warrior has excellent personal mitigation cool-downs and overall highest damage output of the three but that extra dps comes in the form of a ten second burst window that you have to line up your skills properly for. Dark Knight is currently considered the weakest of the three in terms of dps and utility but that is subject to change with incoming patches. However, Dark Knight is extremely good at tearing through dungeons thanks to its powerful AoE tool kit (though Warrior also has a potent AoE tool kit, Paladin's is somewhat lackluster).

Bottom line is this: all three are viable in any content in the game. All Three are not that difficult to play effectively. Play whichever one you like the most.

As a paladin main I would highly recommend Warrior to anyone looking to get into tanking. It is the most strait forward and almost a hybrid DPS in my opinion. Dark knight is just strange and Paladin has a lot of utility stuff to keep track of to really shine. With warrior you just have to worry about pounding everything's face in and decide when to push the do extra damage buttons.

If you want to know which story lines are best. Dark knight was really good up through ARR but is kinda meh so far but has potential in HW. I've heard SB goes back to ARR quality though. (yes I know technically 30-50 isn't ARR for DRK)

Paladin was a little weak starting out but HW and SB were decent.

Warriors story bored me in ARR and HW

Story wise DRK has the best story and is currently my main despite its current shortcomings in the SB.

PLD is my second favorite due to its pure tank and how its utility outshines all other tanks with its ability to heal, and shield allies along with Hallowed ground which allows you to cheese mechanics.

WAR is a pure beast of a tank and has top damage output with IMO some of the best cooldowns out of the tanks.


Your best bet would be to try them all out and find out which one best defines your character

Thanks for all the helpful advice everyone. I decided to go with Gladiator/Paladin, since it was the one I leveled the least so far, so a friend and I could level together doing dungeons. I'll let you all know how it goes!