How to Help Tanks in Dungeons 101.

Hey guys! I posted something over on the Lodestone because I wasn't able to make a thread here sooner, but essentially it contained a few basic tricks as to how to help tanks out. It was recommended that I post it here, and so without further ado, I hereby present to you basic tank-helping skills 101!

*Note: Please read the edit on the bottom. The summary of it is that this is only an effective and/or proper guide if you're under level 30. If you're above level 30, I strongly recommend looking into more in-depth guides regarding dungeon strategies and general rules.

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Hey everyone! I'd like to take a minute to quickly run through a basic guide of what you should be doing to help out a tank in dungeons so you aren't the guy who's making the dungeon harder than it has to be - if you're new to ARR or MMOs in general, I highly recommend you read this! Keeping in line with what I just said, this is largely focused at lower-level dungeons.

Let's start with something that's essential: Do your best to attack the target the tank is currently attacking. Tanks have Flash to make sure that any slip-ups or occasional AoE attacks you throw out don't get you killed, but our MP is limited! If we start to use Flash too much, we have to stop using Savage Blade and switch to Riot Blade to regenerate our MP, which means we're generating less enmity (threat) than if we were to use Savage Blade. If there's a large group of MoBs, throwing DoTs on all six or seven of them and spamming AoEs is bound to cause trouble! If you're having trouble targeting the monster the tank is attacking, it's completely acceptable to ask him to mark the targets in order of which you should be killing them.

Secondly - and this is for Arcanists/Summoners - but please don't use your Topaz Carbuncle. When I'm tanking three-four (and more) MoBs, I'm not looking at each individual MoB to make sure they're all looking at me. I check my enemy list. If it shows one (or more) of the MoBs isn't attacking me, then I have to check to make sure it isn't attacking any of you guys, make sure the Carbuncle doesn't die and/or the enmity goes to another player in the dungeon, etc - long story short: As a tank, I want all the MoBs on me. I'll be using moves to increase my defense and enmity, and the healer can worry about the rest. If you're doing damage, focus on doing damage.

Lastly, and this relates back to my first point, but please follow the order in which the targets are marked. If I target the MoBs, it's to make the dungeon easier for everyone. You're not a hero because you killed a dungeon MoB by yourself. All you do is make it that much harder for me or any other tank to keep its aggro. And if I have to switch to a MoB marked #3 while the MoB marked #1 is getting hammered by everyone else, you bet I'm going to lose its aggro. Please, please, PLEASE follow the order in which targets are marked.

Other than that, have fun! Ask questions if you have to. But if you follow those three basic steps, you're already yalms ahead of what's considered a bad party member.

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http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...53/blog/48278/

I've also started putting up videos of myself tanking - they're essentially videos of my first or second run in dungeons on ARR. I want to put up more, but with college and login restrictions, that's been a little difficult, so there's only two videos for now. But if you're just curious and/or want to check them out, any criticism you have would be appreciated. :) They're by no means professional, and not a commentary - you can find the videos here.

Happy dungeon crawling!

Edit: It seems some people are misinterpreting my post as a sort of basic guide for any dungeon. Let me be abundantly clear that it's not. There are many, many, many tactics, tricks, tips, and other general rules that can apply to running dungeons. At the end of the day, most if not all of them will make a dungeon run more efficient by some degree. This is not a guide to learning those tips and tricks at a lower level. This is not a guide for dungeons at level 50 - in fact, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone over 25 (30 at most) simply because there is a lot more to dungeons that needs to be examined at that point in the game. This is a guide for people who are level 15 or 18 and looking to do a dungeon like Satasha Seagrot or Copperbell Mines; this is a guide to encourage people who don't want to do a dungeon because they're afraid they'll goof up the run.

thank you very much

Marking is very usefull: but i had to do some research to find out more about it...

here is how:

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The tank doesn't always mark the target, but if you're ever a tank and/or want to mark a MoB for some reason, simply target them and right-click the target bar (the bar that displays their HP, etc) - you'll see an option "Mark". Click that, and you'll see a bunch of numbers. :)

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. thanks again for helping us. I understood most of the rest of what you posted. thanks again.

Hey I know marking is important, but sometimes I find players need to stop focus marking over their actual role. I was in a dungeon and the Healer kept trying to call the shots by marking every monster, but I he lost focus on healing me and with the little HP pool GLDs I died.

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Originally Posted by CrisGer

thanks again for helping us. I understood most of the rest of what you posted. thanks again.

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It's not a problem!

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I was in a dungeon and the Healer kept trying to call the shots by marking every monster, but I he lost focus on healing me and with the little HP pool GLDs I died.

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Hm, odd. I personally don't think the healer should be marking the targets - the tank should be doing that, if anyone (DDs [DPS] would also work), but the healer should be worrying about the party, not the MoBs. The MoBs are the job of the tank/DDs. :)

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Originally Posted by Sheer

If you're having trouble targeting the monster the tank is attacking, it's completely acceptable to ask him to mark the targets in order of which you should be killing them.

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Or as I tell every PT that I join, assist me by following the "alphabet" thats listed after every monsters' name. Usually you'll go through 3 sets of the alphabet before finishing the dungeon but as long as one knows the alphabet {honestly its rather sad how many don't seem too though...le sigh} then it shouldn't be an issue. The only exception to this rule is if there is a mage or 'other' mob that does more damage, and should be put down first, but again thats rare and not really needed, because if every mob is on the tank, then the healer only has to focus on keeping me alive and should have plenty of MP as long as said tank is using all their +def abilities...

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Originally Posted by Sheer

When I'm tanking three-four (and more) MoBs, I'm not looking at each individual MoB to make sure they're all looking at me. I check my enemy list.

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You need to up your tanking skill then, cause you should be looking at thrice ~ the mobs, the mob list and the aggro meters on the party list. If everyone follows the tank by assisting us and going by letter, then there should very rarely be the need to pull mobs off other PT members. {At least I have no issue holding 4+ mobs without them ever leaving my side, if everyone else is doing what is needed}

I do concur that Topaz Carbuncle is never needed when I'm tanking, it just messes with the hate meter! Use Emerald for more DPS instead!

Thanks again Sheer San. Ok Khalus San, can you please explain the alphabet reference? Are you saying each enemy spawned is given a alpha numerical rating, from A-Z and can be targeted in turn based on that? When did my first Dungeon as a tank, the Live Help page started spamming in the middle of the screen and I had to talk to the team instead of reading it..i had to turn it off before reading all of its pages so it was NOT saved into the log of such help menus and I have not been able to find it anywhere online. So i missed some of the instructions. I did my best and we made it thru, but any tips such as your nice ones it would help a lot to detail what you are saying. thanks again.

As a DPS I'm shocked at how little anyone uses marks. I generally take it upon myself to mark the tanks current target for them. They have enough to worry about. I'm prerty sure you can go into the a signs tab and drag a hotkey to your bar for quicker marking too. Lets face it some people don't have a decade of mmo experience under their belt so explaining something or doing it yourself goes a long way.

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Originally Posted by CrisGer

Ok Khalus San, can you please explain the alphabet reference? Are you saying each enemy spawned is given a alpha numerical rating, from A-Z

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After the name of every mob is a letter, starting with A and following through the entire alphabet til it repeats. In most dungeons you'll go through the alphabet 3 times. Just tell everyone to assist the tank by following the alphabet. Mob group one will be A, B & C, the next group of mobs are D, E, F, etc etc etc! Don't need additional marks when they already are, however, as I said earlier there are exceptions to the order killed based on type of mob.

Advanced marking could certainly be helpful in harder instances later in the game or to keep track of a tank during fates, or whatnot, but just standard trash in dungeons thus far its never needed!

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Originally Posted by Khalus

You need to up your tanking skill then, cause you should be looking at thrice ~ the mobs, the mob list and the aggro meters on the party list. If everyone follows the tank by assisting us and going by letter, then there should very rarely be the need to pull mobs off other PT members.

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I was using an arbitrary number - the underlying point was that it's easier to quickly check the MoBs in the UI elements (enemy list, aggro meters) than it is to actually see them all around me. :p

Again, this was more aimed at lower level dungeons. For example, using your alphabet rule may prove much more efficient in certain scenarios than going through and marking the targets, but for people who are new to dungeons, it's much easier to see a giant "1" over the MoBs head.

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Thanks again Sheer San.

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No problem! :)

So I had thought this would be obvious, but I guess there are people who maybe don't notice it's a thing; but I played tank for the very first time in an MMO (minus minor WAR and NIN sub job leveling in XI) during one of the early Beta phases when they made GLA available. What I noticed as I got to around Toto-Rak, was that if I marked my current target and was good about switching targets as the mob was about to die, the runs became a lot smoother and most (but not all...) DPS figure it out and "attack the one with the big X above its head!".

For those that don't know, there are Marks that you can use to mark targets. The really cool thing, however, is that (like with the Emotes list) you can literally click the mark you want to use and drag it to your hotbar where you can then keybind it for fast and efficient mob targeting. I've found you really only need the one mark and using it to mark only your current target is enough. As a bonus, the big target itself can actually be clicked to allow easier manual targeting (at least for PC players) when you are trying target a mob inside a big pack of them. I'm sure an /assist command (which I don't know off the top of my head) would work similarly.

I now play with a friend who plays WAR and I play SCH. He marks targets as well. It's something all tanks (or at least SOMEONE in the group, but preferably the tank) should be doing.