Teach me how to WAR!

I'm a scholar with i88, have been doing coil regularly although haven't beat turn 5. I'm going to play WAR as a sub and I've been enjoying it so far, but once I hit level 32 I feel a bit overwhelmed by the combo it has to use to maximize its usefulness. How do you usually tank as a WAR? Might be hard to teach me cause I've been seeing the world in the eyes of a healer and it has only very few buttons to press..

The positioning? What skills to use, what cooldowns to keep up, when to use Berserk and whether Defiance must always be turned on? Do I have to always use Butcher's Block whenever possible, and keep maim up 100% of the time? What about fracture? I'm only level 32, so that's all I know about, would be great if you could tell me on the next few skills like Inner Beast, Holmgang, the Storm thingy, and give me examples of how to do.. let's say turn 1-4?

I always attempt to learn my class by running each dungeon at least once and I really hate FATE grinding, but so far my dungeons have been very easy and I don't think it's helping me much. I've never wiped my party though, so I guess I got the basics down, marking and stunning and facing them away from the party as such

I feel the same as you. WAR and MNK are the most difficult classes to play for me since they have more combos to fully unlock their potiential. If you are playing war I think what you need to do is to learn the fight then try to adjust your rotation based on your role in the fight. For example, if I am main tanking, I would focus on hate and defince rotations. If I am a dps I would focus on rotation to max my dps. Once you are experinced enough you can mix between rotation.

Pull with tomahawk.
If single target, do a HS>SS>BB combo, then alternate between storm's path/eye combos. To really get ahead you can use unchained on the pull.

AoE pulls, start with tom, Overpower, flash, and a steel cyclone.

Single or AoE, face the mobs away from the party. Except for the last boss of AK, don't do that.

With the changes to aggro, tanking is pretty mindless.

As a "beginner" (can't pass T4, haven't done any of the 2.1 content besides the HM dungeons and PS), I use the BB combo twice on single targets, then I try to keep Storm's path and storm's eye 100% of the time.

In a general way, I keep Storm's path 100% of the time, and Storm's eye whenever I can. Butcher's block is here to held you get a lead if DPs are coming close (shouldn't happen often. Pop some BB combo to keep yourself ahead).

for AoE pulls, 3* overpower is a nearly-guaranteed way to keep the hate for long enough to kill every monster around you if the dps are doing their job. In case of need, use HS+SS on one monster, then BB on an other, it should buy enough time to help the dps to focus.

Defiance should be on 100% of the time if you're MT. If you're the OT, you can let it down if you don't have to take back the hate repeatedly (T2 for example), and spam the storm's combos.

Berserk is a bit more complicated sometimes. I use it whenever it is possible when I OT, as better damages are always good, but when I MT I only use it on single target with unchained, to get a huge lead on hate so that I can perma-debuff the target when pacification turns off.

As main tank, you should focus on Butcher's block and Storm's path. If your hate lead is large enough, rotate in Storm's eye in place of Butcher's block. If you're off tanking, you're basically going to rotate Storm's eye and Storm's path to keep both debuffs up 100% of the time. Also, it is highly recommended to level a Paladin to at least 22 as well. You'll get Flash (AOE threat and your lone MP consuming ability) and provoke. Which is an absolute requirement for end game tanking. As far as defiance goes, if you're main tanking, it will be up all the time. As an off tank, you can turn it off for more DPS, but you have to be ready to turn it back on/provoke/Butcher's block/tomahawk in case the main tank goes down. If you're in a fight that requires tank swapping, leave it up as off tank to make things easier on the healer.

Also, you'll likely never need Berserk for single target threat, but, it's great for AOE tanking. Berserk (and vengeance if it's a big WP type pull), run in, flash, line em up, over power, flash, over power, then go into your single target rotation (either on your marked target or tab it around). Nothing will be pulled off of you ever this way. You can also use Steel Cyclone for AOE threat if it's up.

The last piece of advice, if you have a black mage with AOE sleep, it's always good to inform them to not use it until you finish your AOE rotation. Flash won't break it, but overpower/steel cyclone definitely will.

I'm also a SCH looking to take up WAR as my next job and tank option. This'll be the first tank I play in any MMO, so forgive my n00biness when I ask: what are these combos you guys speak of? I've about read WARs saying things like:

When this happens, I use my "burst dps combo"
When that happens, I use my "oh shit i need more hp" combo "

I know Heavy Swing > Skull Sunder is the beginning standard combo at low levels, but what are these "specific" situation combos people talk about? o_O

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Originally Posted by Swear_Bear

I'm also a SCH looking to take up WAR as my next job and tank option. This'll be the first tank I play in any MMO, so forgive my n00biness when I ask: what are these combos you guys speak of? I've about read WARs saying things like:

When this happens, I use my "burst dps combo"
When that happens, I use my "oh shit i need more hp" combo "

I know Heavy Swing > Skull Sunder is the beginning standard combo at low levels, but what are these "specific" situation combos people talk about? o_O

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Ignore the "when this, when that" thingies. Situationnal skills should remain situationnal.

Tanking as a WAR is a lot of little questions to constantly ask, with a priority order

1) Is my hate far enough above the dps/healers ?
Y => go to 2)
N => use the hate combo : Heavy Swing, Skull Sunder, Butcher's block

2) is the damage debuff up ?
Y => go to 3)
N => use HS, Maim, Storm's path (bonus hp regen, but not worth mentionning)

3) is the resist debuff on ?
Y=> nothing more to do, hit whatever you like
N=> use HS, Maim, Storm's Eye

In a real fight (single target), you'll have to use BB combo, then SP, then it will be up to your sense of what is needed : hate, damage or DR. (consider that more damage dealt results in more hate generated, it can help sometimes)

in AoE fights, 3-4 overpower guarantee to hold threat if you mark the targets to focus. It's also guarantedd if both dps do AoEs (throw some flashes if you start to lose the packs)

in a general way :

Hate building > Damage reduction > Damage

It's been my observation as a paladin working with a warrior that three of his Defiance Overpowers will override my Shield Oath Rage of Halone Combo (e.g. Turn 4, Spinnerok while he AoE establishes enmity on spiders).

In my observation, Infuriate to Unchained is great at the beginning to build a massive amount of enmity, be it Overpower x3 or one Butcher's Block combo, before going into rotating Storm's Path for mitigation and Storm's Eye.

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Originally Posted by Fiosha_Maureiba

In my observation, Infuriate to Unchained is great at the beginning to build a massive amount of enmity, be it Overpower x3 or one Butcher's Block combo, before going into rotating Storm's Path for mitigation and Storm's Eye.

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In my personal experience, I've found it best to actually open up with HS>SS(Vengeance)>BB>HS>Maim>SE>HS(Unchained)>SS(Berserk)>BB(Internal Release) and then move into either a BB>SE>BB rotation (if there is a PLD around that's going to be spamming RoH and forcing me to generate more enmity to maintain aggro) or SP>SE>BB rotation (if there isn't another tank around that's going to generate enough enmity to actually force me to maximize my own enmity generation). Infuriate>Unchained as an direct opener has always perturbed me because it "wastes" the additional benefits of using all of the WAR multipliers at the same time. I tend to use Infuriate only to get an SC or IB immediately after the use of any of the entire suite of Wrath abilities before I've generated any Wrath stacks via attacks (so it's sometimes IB>HS>IB when I need 10-11 seconds of increased DR or IB>Unchained when I'm ready to drop the bomb with the entire DPS CD suite at once).

He's talking about learning WAR, not tanking coil. Im just trying to get him through a WP.

Its not rocket science. Use your abillities to generate threat, self heal and dps.

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Originally Posted by Kuwagami

Ignore the "when this, when that" thingies. Situationnal skills should remain situationnal.

Tanking as a WAR is a lot of little questions to constantly ask, with a priority order

1) Is my hate far enough above the dps/healers ?
Y => go to 2)
N => use the hate combo : Heavy Swing, Skull Sunder, Butcher's block

2) is the damage debuff up ?
Y => go to 3)
N => use HS, Maim, Storm's path (bonus hp regen, but not worth mentionning)

3) is the resist debuff on ?
Y=> nothing more to do, hit whatever you like
N=> use HS, Maim, Storm's Eye

In a real fight (single target), you'll have to use BB combo, then SP, then it will be up to your sense of what is needed : hate, damage or DR. (consider that more damage dealt results in more hate generated, it can help sometimes)

in AoE fights, 3-4 overpower guarantee to hold threat if you mark the targets to focus. It's also guarantedd if both dps do AoEs (throw some flashes if you start to lose the packs)

in a general way :

Hate building > Damage reduction > Damage

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Excellent post and very similar to my style as well. I'm going to piggy back on this and offer the following suggestions/tips.

After you have done your opening BB and SP combos, you'll have Maim buff up, you way want to use Heavy Swing (Internal Release), Skull Sunder (Berserk or Unchained), Butcher's Block.

I do this at the start of each Single Target fight to get SO AHEAD on threat, that I can do SP and SE combos from then on with 100% up time.

I will only go back to BB combo if the DPS or Healers are within 10-15% behind me in threat. By Building such a great threat lead, you're two other combos that offer a buff/debuff are kept on 100% of the time. It usually will go 1 SP for every 2 SE, since SP has 20 second duration on debuff. But priority is SP over SE.

Lastly, I have macroed Convalescence, Featherfoot and Fracture to one macro. Hitting the macro once, uses first ability. Since that ability is now on cooldown, hitting the macro again, activate second, etc etc. I try to rotate these three abilities in every encounter to have some form of damage mitigation up or healing buff to make my damage intake less spikey.

As for Thrill of Battle, Holmgang and Vengeance, those are your "oh shit buttons" or used when you know you're going to take huge damage (Trash mobs on WP speed run, or boss mechanics like MB).

As for Inner Beast, this is an AMAZING ability that needs to be used PROACTIVELY. For example, you would use this ability right before Mountain Buster on Titan or anytime you know you're taking huge predictable damage. It's also great reactively, but the 20% damage reduction for 6 seconds scream "situtational." The heal component is nice but nothing you should plan around. Lastly, because your priority is to keep SP debuff on boss up all the time (10% damage reduction) your situational use of Inner Beast becomes even more powerful since you're coupling it with the SP debuff.

My 2 cents. (3 cents since it was longer than anticipated).

Edit: I didn't include Awareness as cross class ability because before 2.1, it prevented you from getting critical heals as well as critical hits. For that reason and because I don't know if they've changed it, I do not use Awareness as a cross class ability.

WAR is very "learn by doing". The only things you need to know are really basic, like keeping Storm's Path/Eye up, opening a boss battle with Infuriate -> Unchained, popping Berserk + Bloodbath when spamming Overpower, etc etc. There's a lot of situational uses for all your abilities and you just need to react in those situations with the correct ability. Just remember to have fun and learn as you go~

Also, Macro Bloodbath and Mercy Stroke to Heavy swing.

Two abilities you don't need to think about. They will automaticaly be used when you spam heavy swing when the situation arises. I think of Bloodbath healing as a form of steady damage mitigation through predictable health regen. So i try ot have it up 100% of the time it comes off cooldown, hence why it's macroed to heavy swing.

Also, Inner Beast and Steel Cyclone are off the global cooldown. You can use them and not lose your combo chain.

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Originally Posted by Zell

Also, Inner Beast and Steel Cyclone are off the global cooldown. You can use them and not lose your combo chain.

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That last part is correct. The first part is not. But how I wish it were true....

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Originally Posted by Quor

That last part is correct. The first part is not. But how I wish it were true....

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And it totally should be. Only SE knows why its not..if they even do.
It was true pre 2.1 and even more so now since it has a 6sec DR CD on it...

WAR from day 1 Tips.

1. First Priority is always Threat. If you can't hold threat your party will most likely wipe on bosses or even trash mobs. That said, never ever pull with provoke unless your confident in your threat management skills. Provoke should be save for those oh sh*t moments to pull off healers/dps or to swap with other tank in specific fights.

2. Stun ( Brutal Swing ) can be used for more than just stunning. It is a good tool to use to lock down stunable mobs that DPS pull off. Most DPS/healer first reaction is to run away from you when a mob starts attacking them. If you stun the mob, they cant move, giving you time to use your threat combo. Provoke + Tomahawk should get you threat back most the time, but if it doesnt, stun it. If your a Threat Managing Boss and never lose threat, then feel free to weave brutal swing whenever its up for extra DPS. You could also use Holmgang to do this too but only if you know you wont need it in the next 3mins.

3. Have a plan of attack before you start the battle. Think about which moves will best suit the fight, which mob to take down first, etc... Also, Learn how to Mark Targets, espcially in dungeons you never experienced before, its important you and dps are on the same sheet. It makes things run much smoother.

4. Learn to Prioritize Your Moves. This piggy backs off point 3. WAR uses combos to maximize on their potential so its good to prioritize your moves. For example: " I know I'm going to get hard in this fight, probably best to use Inner Beast instead unchained and Storm Path over Storm Eye". Or "This fight is a DPS check I should prolly use Unchained+ Storm Eye + Berserk + Internal Release asap". Or "Well this is a weak mobs AOE fight but Unchained isnt up, guess I'll use Steel Cyclone > Infuriate > Steel Steel Cyclone". With practice, this will become 2nd nature.

You will be much better WAR if you know what your going to do before you do it instead of just reacting. Most fights are scripted so if your ready for things before they happen, you will look so bad ass making the mobs your B.

5. Learn to capitalize on Abilities + Combos that best fit the situation . Some moves are good on their own, But Godly when combined with other skills.

Examples:

Storm Path + Inner Beast = Great for Predictable Big Hit Mitigation

Foresight+Bloodbath+Featherfoot+ Unchained + Berserk Overpower Spam = Great for AoE Trash Pulls

Storm Path +Vengeance+ Inner Beast + Infuriate (wait 6) > Inner Beast = Haha, Silly mob that tickled. (Note dont do this for bosses, spread out your mitigation)

Thrill of Battle + Convalescence + Mega Potion of Vitality(Cheap since 2.1) = 1 Hard to Kill Mofo

Unchained+Berserk+Internal Release+ BB Combo = Catch Me if you Can (Huge Threat Buffer).

Internal Release + Berserk + Maim + Storm Eye+ Butcher's Block/Inner Beast = {1000+ Crits ?} { Do you Need it ?}, {Yes Please}!!!

6. MACRO, MACRO, MACRO . Learn to use them, makes WAR life so much easier.

Hope this helped

Thanks for all the replies! After some tanking on Qarn I realized how hard life as a tank is. Need to watch aggro, need to damage.. need to interrupt and place monsters' AOE away from party.. But is it really just situational? So far my perception has been that I have to keep all CDs up (for example, maim) while tanking and keeping an eye on interrupts as well. How "perfect" am I required to do stuff? Must I keep all my offensive CDs on while tanking or as long as the threat holds it is alright? Won't people be disappointed at my damage output if I forgot a maim here and there?

Another thing, which macros would definitely make your life easier?

your job is to tank. Forget the dps, there are plenty to do this job for you. Just do things in order : threat, mitigation, damage.

You're not required to be perfect. If you hold hate, you're golden. If you ease your healer's job, you're the one I want to heal. If above that all, you manage to give a little extra to dps, fights go quicker and everyone loves it. But still, your job is to hold hate, and mitigate as much as possible in between. Extras are extras.

as for the macros, you can still make 3 for the combos, with the /wait 2.5, but it isn't necessary. Most CDs being situationnals, I don't use them at all, and instead I pop the CDs whenever they are useful.

Hi, I am just now learning to tank as a marauder. I am only level 24, and here is what I've learned so far:

Macros:

/macroicon "heavy swing"
/ac "heavy swing"
/wait 2.5
/ac "skull sunder"

This macro attacks with heavy swing, then AUTOMATICALLY attacks with skull sunder 2.5 seconds later. You can cancel skull sunder and hit target with Maim by simply pressing the maim hotkey when the GCD is reset (before the macro hits with skull sunder).
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/macroicon "bloodbath"
/ac "Bloodbath" <t>
/ac "Foresight" <t>

*** This gives you a great buff string for tight spots in fights.

/macroicon "tomahawk"
/marking attack1
/ac "tomahawk"

This marks your first target and attacks it with tomahawk.

TACTICS

I go in with tomahawk, then (while I am MRD) Straight Shot for increased crit (while at the same time I run through the mobs and jump+mouse turn so all mobs are facing away from party), then Overpower, then Heavy Swing, then Maim, then Fracture, then heavy swing macro.

While a lot of emnity building will be situational, and my strategy assumes people will pay attention and not try to destroy my efforts, this strategy is working quite well for me.

The number one thing I think you need to remember as a tank is don't be afraid to speak up. Protect your healer. Defend your healer. Most of the time, things go wrong because of DPS. Sorry, guys, it's true. Y'all get trigger happy and start attacking chandeliers on the ceiling and generally don't pay too much attention. I say this as a healer main, DPS 2nd class, and now tank. It's not always true, but generally.

You control the run. Yeah, we all work as a team, but the tank has to manage a lot and be on his/her feet when something goes wrong. Don't be afraid to lead that party to success. And ALWAYS be helpful. If you see something someone could do a little better (or correctly), feel free and politely offer them your view. It's up to them to take it or leave it.

My first few runs were scary. I simply told the party I was learning to tank and to please be patient. Mostly, people have been good about it. Then I got to a point where I felt comfortable doing chain pulls. I simply watch my healer's mana and any party chat, and just go with the flow.

One thing's for sure: while I have always gotten steady commendations in my BRD/WHM roles in parties, I keep getting sets of 3 as a tank. So, there's that.

Happy tanking!!!!

PS: I think going to tank from a healer is highly valuable. Don't underestimate your sharp skills of anticipation and party watching. I can almost always tell when I am healing a tank whose main or leveling sub is a healer. I can almost always tell when I am dealing with a tank who has never healed a day in their life, too.

I will have more info when I level up more. I don't know about the level 32 combo yet. Hopefully this system will help to address some of that, and hopefully I can work out some solutions to the staggering number of buttons a WAR has to deal with.

Let me tell you what from my own experience you should be expected to do, and what somes player will expect things from you but which you can't/shouldn't do. As well as the difference betwin WAR & PLD

You did well to ask for advices, but I believe you did in the wrong place :3 as most people here will say "You should do that" instead of "You could do that."
1st, you're a WAR and not a PLD, there is a difference betwin both jobs, and if you are asked by random players (from DF or PUG) to adapt to their PLD friend gameplay, you have a right to tell them off.

Before I start to give you some advices I would like to describe the abilities one by one and give you some examples of situation where you can use them for a full effect.

Here are you tools to make/keep hate:

Defiance, when you are tanking it should alway be up, it increase your HP by 25% & drop your damage potencial by 25% "I know it sucks, but you're here to tank anyway." It also apply a full time bonus of 20% potency added to the cures you receive. The hate you generate is also increased dramaticaly.
In other words, there is no reason to not use it when tanking.

Overpower, while it seems incredibly weak (it is) its very usefull to take aggro on multiple target, this attack is also the 1st that will require you to place your mobs well, as it is conal. Be aware tho, its eating lots of TP when used.

Butcher Block combo, is the one with the higest damage potency & hate generation, before 2.1 it was used the most to be efficient, since 2.1 they increased hate generation with Defiance so people use it less. However you're free to use it more then you were told by others people if you want to have an optimal hate generation or if you want to deal more damage.

Storm Eye combo, is good when you have a PLD in the party as it will drop the resistance to slashing on its target by 10%, its also the combo next to Butcher block hate generation wise.

Storm Path Combo generate less enmity than the 2 others and give a debuff on its target, which will deal 10% less damage. Use it in solo, in situation where the 10% less damage can be life saver, or in endgame where you need to share hate.

Exemple: BC-turn 2, where you need to split stacks, you use SP as it will ease your PLD a little & not generate a big amount of enimity, our enmity generation being higer then a PLD in most situation, if you use butcher block the sphere will turn back on you instantly.

Steel cyclone, is for me one of the reason I started WAR, to see the dude in the CS charge the Garlemald soldiers & throw them away like piece of **** was amazing! /back-on-topic: It is very usefull because of its hate generation & doesn't really require any placement, you go in the middle, you pop it & you enjoy. Only cons, you will need 5 stacks of wrath.

Flash, is a cross class ability from GLD, costing alot of MP (251 @ Lv50) which make it unreliable (you will use it 3 time before getting drunk with ethers.) It is still usefull and can be on your barre. Being a cross class skill it wont apply blind when used by WARs. Its a 360° ability btw, which mean you use it in the middle of mob w/o requiring placement, alike SC.

Tomahawk, is used to pull, it cost alot of TP and doesn't generate as much enmity as others skills, use it once or twice if needed but don't abuse it unless you pull multiple targets.

Provoke, is another cross class ability from GLD, if you played FFXI you know the name of this ability, however FFXI provoke & FFXIV provoke are different. In FFXIV you use it when you lose hate directly to another player (DD or Healer) but using it on its own isn't enough as it will boost your enmity to the target temporarily (something like 1~2 sec.)

Basicaly when you use it you need/have to do a combo on the target to establish/re-establish your enmity. A good example again is when you share enmity with another tank in T2, when the other tank have 3 stack, you use provoke & do Butcher Block to make an instant max enmity generation. when you will have 3 stack the other tank will/should do the same.

Survival Tools:

Foresight, is the 1st one you get, it will raise your defense by 20% for a short period of time. I am not gonna tell you when you can use it as it may cause lots of disagreement here.

Inner Beast, will make reasonable damage, heal you for the exact same amount & will give you a buff reducing the damage you take. I personaly use it whenever its available on anything hitting hard.

Vengeance, will give you a counter-attack/ripost effect & give you a -30% Physical Damage Taken unlike foresight. Again, as I don't want to make/create a debate i'll let you figure out when to use it.

Convalescence, is again a cross class ability & is a must have. Increasing the cure potency received by a fair amount as well, its worth macroing with a /p & a <se.10> to say "Hey healer I used convalescence! Heal me now!" I personaly use it in "oh-****" situation, coupled with Foresight & Thrill of battle in the same macro. I say personaly because it is covinient to use that way for my own gameplay. Its not the way to go in 100% of the situations.

Thrill of Battle, is amazing from my point of view, increasing your max HP by 20% & heal you for the amount increase, it is also very usefull in "Ohsnap" situations, where it can save your life (Mountain buster/Death Sentance) come to mind, basicaly the more HP you get & the more its effective.

Bloodbath, give you back 25% HP back from an attack, needless to say that this skill is poor on its own, but it can be interesting if you macro it with either Vengence, internal release or Berserk, you chose!

Holmgang, is from my point of view a defensive skill in every situation, some WARs will tell you to not bother with it and its where I will allow myself to be critical and say that they are bad WARs, nothing more.
Before 2.1 it would bind you & the target, very usefull against Chirada (Garuda HM) & the Pudding Boss of WP (would save a life.)
Since 2.1, it will pull back the target to you and for its duration you're bound but invincible. Note that even if the target resist its effect you will still receive the invincible buff. (tested on KB in CT.)

Featherfoots, is a cross class coming from pugilist, while 15% evasion bonus seems minor but its very nice to have especialy in things like WP where you run with alot of monsters on your back. Alike Bloodbath, macro it with something else (Foresight?) to save space on your barre & increase the effect or unlike Bloodbath you can use it on its own, I personaly dont.

Mantra: My PUG being only Lv15 I don't know, but it seems to be decent.

Offensive skills, yes we've got a few. A shame that their duration is so low.

Berserk: Will increase your attack by 50%, but will give you a pacification debuff when it wear off. A way to use it is to put Storm Eye damage debuff on your target, then use Berserk and go for Butcher Block. <-- this is a simple example.

Now using it with defiance down or Unchained up: You can go for your storm eye combo again, then use your macro combining Berserk/Internal Release/Unchained if Defiance is up, no unchained if defiance is down & you chain with Butcher block.

Note; Inner Beast damage potency isn't affected by Defiance, the same goes for steel cyclone. I have some fun with SC during WP when i'm at the stairs leading to the Tomberry King, I pop these macros and go for rampage.

Note (2): I use a /p in the macro to remind the party about the pacification.

Unchained, use it when you plan to do damage while you're under Defiance, but be aware the effect is short (remain 20 secs.)

Internal Release, will give you 10% more chance of making crit damage, its self explanatory. (I personaly macro it with berserk and use said macro depending the situation.)

Mercy Stroke, is good in my book but you will rarely use it if you fight a boss on its own, because the DDs will want to take it down asap and in most case they will LB it near the end, so its more or less you call.

General talk:

Now for the global talk about WARs, most people will say that you "should" put 30 VIT in your stats allocation, allow me to say that you "should" do what feel the most confortable to you betwin VIT & STR.

I personaly have 20 VIT & 10 STR (for now), and I am looking to try to make a 30 STR to test it. STR will increase your damages and your parry % depending the cap you reach, this being said its better to look into STR when you start wearing a reasonable amount of allagan/AF Myths gears.

As an AF1/DL wearer its safer to look into VIT for now I guess.

Your tanking style will resolve more about spongeing damage with a big amount of HPs and will couple some damage mitigation (Inner beat/Storm Path/Foresight/Vengeance.) You will sometime be asked to drop Defiance to try and do some damages and to avoid taking hate (this happen when you DF titan/ifrit/Garuda HM as example,) a Top Tier WAR will have 6200+ HPs without defiance, don't be ashamed if you reach the 5500 as a secondary job.

If you ever try to speed run make sure to wear at least full DL with a relic normal or +1/equivalent, test with WP first, take 2 packs of mobs (the 1st 2 tomberys, the 2 birds and the beetles.) This is a good test.

If you can manage it & stay alive (assuming your healer know what he is doing as well) then you can start to look into it deeper.

Thanks, that was comprehensive! I actually read the entire thing.. I just recently finished ifrit xm with my healer and man, it was very intense on the tanks. Someday maybe I'll get there and try it out as a tank.. I feel that healers have it good cause they don't die often. I'm now thinking of good builds for war, but probably I'd lean more no defensive as I'm going the 30 vit path. Tanks be tanking! Although, having a main stat as a secondary is good fun. I think I want to weigh vit and str equally when gearing up with slightly more leaning towards vit but getting as much str as possible.

With trash pull with tomahawk, then overpower and main combo( HS->SK->BB) using flash after SK. After this continue to rotate main combo between enemies(and use overpower sometimes), checking sometimes the enmity bar. And yes, try to keep up maim always, it's a huge dmg/enmity buff, so why not using it? Cooldown wise, Foresight and Bloodbath have a short recast time (90 secs) but they aren't that strong(especcialy Foresight), use them with trash to mitigate a little bit of damage and recover some HP. Cast Berserk (possibly with Bloodbath, but use Bloodbath first, then wait 10 secs and use Berserk, so you will not waste 5 seconds of Bloodbath with pacification). Use the stun too, it gives you 5 seconds of reduced damage(a stunned enemie can't obv attack), so it's quite useful. About Defiance, use it ALWAYS, you can only switch it off with when you are finishing a weak enemy, so you can kill it faster.

Fracture is quite good, it's like a 300 potency hit, but actually i use it very rarely, you can use it for an extra DPS, but yeah, it's not necessary. Never use skills without combo (SK BB etc.), avoid/stun aoes, mark enemies, comunicate with people and stuff like this.
This is tanking before 33. After you have important skills as Inner Beast, Storm's path, vengeance and infuriate. IB heals you for 100% of damage, so if you hit or 300 you will recover 300, it's not that much, but yeah, quite useful. The important thing about IB is the 20% damage reduction for 6 seconds, that's a HUGE buff, it will be your main mitigation skill. Use it before big hits, or immediately if there aren't big hits.

You recover your 5 wrath stack in 17-19 secs, so theoretically you have 20% damage mitigation for 6 seconds every 18 secs, so roughly you have a 20% mitigation for 1/3 of your time passed as a war, obv if you don't use overpower, flash etc. Then, storm's path, absorbs 50% of damage, and that's a shit, you will recover more or less 100-120 HP, BUT the enemy will deal 10% less damage for 20 secs, and that's a lot, the enemy you are fighting should have always that debuff on, especially if it's a boss. Vengenace, delivers an attack with a potency of bla bla bla, it's not that much, can be "good" with bloodbath for extra HP (more or less 15 HP per hit, WOW), but yeah, it's not special for that, it's special for a huge 30% of mitigation, it's a "oh shit" moment CD, and it's very good, also it gives you one wrath stack, so you can pop IB faster.

Finally, Infuriate, it's good if you must use an IB but haven't enough wrath stacks, or to "extend" 20% mitigation duration(use IB->use infuriate->wait 6 secs->use IB). Then there are "minor" skills like Storm's eye(10% slashing resistance, good for boosting your dps), steel cyclone(moderate aoe damage, useful if you must use overpower/flash but don't have enough TP/MP), Thrill of battle(good for moderate auto heal or for preparing before a big hit, makes Stoneskin and Lustrate more powerfull, tell that to your healers), Holmgang(a big hit is coming and you know that you haven't enough HP? Use this, and then convalescence) and Unchained( dps boost, good for enmity and autoheal with bloodbath).
So yeah, that should be everything you must know about tanking, sorry for bad english and welcome to the warrior side >:D

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Originally Posted by Richiealvian

Thanks, that was comprehensive! I actually read the entire thing..

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I am sorry for the long post, I love my WAR & I am passionate about it so I did not know how to explain the thing to you with shorter phrase. :3 I use to mock Kitru for his wall of texts, I did not do better on this one..

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Originally Posted by Richiealvian

I just recently finished ifrit xm with my healer and man, it was very intense on the tanks. Someday maybe I'll get there and try it out as a tank..

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I personaly think its good to do that kind of event on your main job because of the stats, especialy when you have an important role such as healer or tank, but you're right to try and you have all of my /cheer here.

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Originally Posted by Richiealvian

I feel that healers have it good cause they don't die often.

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Talking about healers, the fact you level a tank now is very valuable for your main job, it will give you a different approach on the healer job. you will see things that can be annoying for a tank, situation like when the healer cast regen on you before you pull, or when they cast stoneskin while you pull, both things get the aggro back to the healer & get him killed in most case. It will improve your skills overall.

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Originally Posted by Richiealvian

I'm now thinking of good builds for war, but probably I'd lean more no defensive as I'm going the 30 vit path.

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Quite simply, start with Darklight or "Armor of Light" from CT if you can, I know that DL is ugly but it will give you more accuracy than Armor of Light. Accuracy is important for a tank, DL legs giving you 43, yours may have to be capped around 460-470 to start with.

The stats you may look into to start with are

VIT > STR
Accu > Parry > Crit > Det <-- You may need to ask other WARs around because again this is my personal choice.

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Originally Posted by Richiealvian

I think I want to weigh vit and str equally when gearing up with slightly more leaning towards vit but getting as much str as possible.

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When you start gearing iLv70-80 its the way to go. However when you go for iL90 (Myths & Allagan) you will have more flexibility (1stly because you will use Feets & head slot where DL doesn't.) The increase in VIT and STR will be slightly superior from the gears at this point, as well as the global defense. One big loss you will notice as soon as you change from iLv70 to iLv80+ is the drop in accuracy from DL pants, AF2 or Allagan doesn't matter at this point because both wont give you any accuracy.

You will hardly be able to match STR & VIT equaly because of the VIT bonus traits from MRD. Now (from a personal opinion again) If you plan to take over BC on WAR, you may need to focus on having at least 8k+ HP with Defiance on 1st (include use of food), once you reached that number of HP with enough accuracy then you can look into filling the lack of STR. Be aware tho, I think the cap of efficiency for STR (attack/parry% increase) are 405 & 445 (Can anyone confirm/give the accurate number please?)

Last thing, the weapon, if you have acces to Dual Haken go for it.

I thinks thats all I can say~ but again, don't take that for granted as it is my personal experiences, others WARs around may have different experiences to share with you and they may have better ideas/macro than me.

Anyway, if you have any other question feel free to ask and i'll glady answer. :)

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Originally Posted by Gandora

Foresight, is the 1st one you get, it will drop the damage taken by 20% for a short period of time. I am not gonna tell you when you can use it as it may cause lots of disagreement here.

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Unfortunately it doesn't work in that way. Foresight increase your defense by 20%, and nope, that's not like 20% of damage mitigation, it's more or less 5%, so yeah, it's not that good

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Originally Posted by Riyos

Unfortunately it doesn't work in that way. Foresight increase your defense by 20%, and nope, that's not like 20% of damage mitigation, it's more or less 5%, so yeah, it's not that good

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Made a mistake because I was thinking of vengence when typing, thanks for the correction! I'll edit now

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Originally Posted by Gandora

Storm Eye combo, is good when you have a PLD in the party as it will also increase their damage by 10%, this combo drop the resistance to slashing on its target, its also the combo next to Butcher block hate generation wise.

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A 10% Slashing resitance reduction is NOT Equal to a 10% Dmg increase. 10% less Reduction is about 1-3% more Damage

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Originally Posted by Electrowitch

A 10% Slashing resitance reduction is NOT Equal to a 10% Dmg increase. 10% less Reduction is about 1-3% more Damage

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No.
Its more around 11% actually.
You can test this through simple observation of your numbers and math.

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Originally Posted by Electrowitch

A 10% Slashing resitance reduction is NOT Equal to a 10% Dmg increase. 10% less Reduction is about 1-3% more Damage

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Fixed, ty.

Anyone has anything constructive to add on top of everything that was written?

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Originally Posted by Gandora

Fixed, ty.

Anyone has anything constructive to add on top of everything that was written?

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Electrowitch was incorrect Gandora.
The slash resistance debuff applied by WAR increases your damage for slashing attacks by about 11%.
Slash resistance debuff is multiplicative to the maim buff, so there is no error in the numbers.
So you were fine with your initial statement.

Number time

butcher block combo'd with maim buff only: 313
Butcher block combo'd with maim buff + SE debuff: 355

355/313= 13%

Compensation for the fact that there is a damage range for attacks, this falls in line with the 11% damage buff that would result fromt he debuff

1/.9= 1.11 = 11% more damage to the target

Thanks for the confirmation Leiron. I did put the in game description so no one will come to argue about what it does or doesn't do.

I thougth I was clear when I asked if anyone has anything constructive to add, as 2 people came to pick on the mistake(s) I did/may have done instead of trying to help the OP.

I wrote my main advice on SP with the Acid bolt from FFXI in mind, which drop a target DEF & increase the damage. Seemed similar enough to me, guess Electrowitch didn't play XI xD.

She's probably thinking something similar to a game like RIFT.
Where abilities that pierce elemental resistance, take 10% away from the actual points rather than the resistance directly.
So if 200 s 20% elemental resistance.
10% elemental piercing would b

200 - 20 = 180 = 18% elemental resistance for the ability.
Which would be a 2% or so increase.
FFXIV and FFXI dont do that thankfully

Hey guys, so I was wondering about builds now, I've finally reached 50 and want to try some level 50 dungeons. Now thinking about gearing up, would it be wise to sacrifice 25 vit 20 parry for 45 str 45 dex 40 deter? (want to use all gryphons with deter/vit/parry melded to it)

Also Gandora, its probably best to specify that str is increasing the Parry % dmg reduction and not % of the parry rate. Ppl might mistake that.
Other then that your post was very good and very informative.

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Originally Posted by Richiealvian

Hey guys, so I was wondering about builds now, I've finally reached 50 and want to try some level 50 dungeons. Now thinking about gearing up, would it be wise to sacrifice 25 vit 20 parry for 45 str 45 dex 40 deter? (want to use all gryphons with deter/vit/parry melded to it)

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Gryphonskin is fine for everything that isn't Twintania. Keep a set of Allagan/Hero's jewellery as well though, cos sometimes the healers need help, and you will eventually want to tank Twintania.

As for the melds, would 10 vit/9parry/9crit/(remaining deter or acc) be better or would 10vit/12parry/(remaining deter or acc) be better for those accessories? How significant is umm, 45 crit compared to let's say 10 deter or 15 parry? Assuming I'm rolling around with all other level 90 gears (aside from the accessories)?

Crit isn't that good for WAR since we naturally get a crit chance buff from Defiance. You want to meld for VIT, parry, and (if it's not already at cap) determination. If DET is at cap, go for crit. 10vit/12parry/x is best.