Raiding Tanks

I am curious as to what other job do you run to help out your raids? Is there a job that a tank should have as a necessity? For those times where only one tank is needed.

Thank You!

All tanks should level a melee dps simply so they understand fights from their point of view, so they know how important things like positioning or not moving/spinning mobs are. There are a lot of tanks who do not consider that stuff.

For one tank fights with your static, what DPS you have really should depend on your group's composition. Ideally you want to go with a class you don't already have.

Depends on your group, it is a static? great thrash it out and fill in the gap, one of our tanks (me) is a WHM and the other is a Bard. It works for us, but who knows your group better then you all.

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Originally Posted by BadRNG

All tanks should level a melee dps simply so they understand fights from their point of view, so they know how important things like positioning or not moving/spinning mobs are. There are a lot of tanks who do not consider that stuff.

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While this seems logical, it is actually not what "all tanks should level". In fact the opposite, if a tank is going to go a DPS route, they should level a ranged. This is because all raids thus far can be completed generally easier with a stacked ranged composition. It is correct a tank will attune better to a melee class in general, but that won't matter if 4/4 spots are ranged ones. In general, most groups take one token melee, and that is all they want. So in a raid group that needs a fill in for a spot, or simply one tanking a fight, a ranged DPS would be a far more logical thing to have as a secondary. Which one is up to the OP. BRD or BLM probably.

You don't have to level a melee DPS to understand that a melee DPS doesn't want you moving mobs around a lot. However, it is helpful to know every role as a tank, and if your only way of doing that is actual leveling of that role then that's what you should do.

Anyway, if you're going to level anything, make sure it's a DPS. There likely won't be any 1 tank 3 heals content (even T2 enrage can be done with 2 healers as long as they're well geared) so it's better to have a nicely geared DPS to contribute when the fight only requires 1 tank / 2 heals. Just make absolute certain your group has a solid loot distribution system, because you won't be able to roll Need on any tank items that drop in that content.

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All tanks should level a melee dps..*snip*

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why? easy answer, my next class, goin`the ilvl90 Route is a Heal, maybe SCH, maybe WHM.

Its ok to say, that each tank needs a SubClass but he/she should! choose that class alone.

malee or range DPS or heal will work , it will give you team more choice.

I WAR for our grp and DRG is my go-to DPS class. Very handy.

I lvled MNK, and SCH, both of whom have seen some mileage in raids and primals. I have DRG but haven't used it much yet. I suppose any secondary (or tertiary) would be useful in its own way, but I went for a balance between what our FC could use and pure enjoyment (melee is fun, SCH is slick).

I am pretty much 99.9975% Paladin. It's what I do; it's what I *live* for. But I'm leveling CNJ/WHM because heck, why not, since I had to get to L34 anyway for Stoneskin, and I like being a support class.

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Originally Posted by Ire

For those times where only one tank is needed.

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I'm curious to know which raid needs only 1 tank. T2 enrage ? I can see only that. And even with that turn, my static did it with 4 healers 2 tanks 2 dps. We started the enrage with 2 tank 3 healers and 3 dps (I had no lv50 dps at that time) and now we use 1 tank and 2 healers, with me alterning iL81 bard and iL66 drg depending on how many bards we have...

to put it simple, changing job is NOT necessary

I think I am the main tank, so i don't get asked to switch to DPS class for anything

I think Noel has a better selection of classes for that sort of thing, but I could always play MNK if we needed it.

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Originally Posted by Ire

I am curious as to what other job do you run to help out your raids? Is there a job that a tank should have as a necessity? For those times where only one tank is needed.

Thank You!

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I don't have a static, but I pug turns 1 and 2 every week (I haven't done turns 4 and 5 yet, mainly because most groups want experience and I've been too lazy to start a learning group). Since I also have a WHM, I'll normally tank turn 1 and then offer to be the third healer in turn 2. I'll also asked the turn 2 tank if he'll greed with me for tank gear and I in turn forego any need roles for healing gear to make it fair. Which obviously mean a healer item has dropped in turn 2 for the last 3 weeks, haha. I lost the only tank drops to a healer that ninja greeded after everyone agreed that only the MT and I would greed on tank drops....

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Originally Posted by Kuwagami

I'm curious to know which raid needs only 1 tank.

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You can solo tank every turn of Coil, as well as Garuda EX and Titan EX. So... a lot of the hardest content you don't need 2 tanks. :P Of course it's gear dependent on your tank and healers, as well as a partial amount on your DPS (though you'll have more of them with just one tank).

I'm a warrior 99% of the time and I normally use my DRG as my 1% melee DPS. However, I do like what Traek is saying about being ranged. Maybe I need to gear up my BRD...

If you are a PLD and have already leveled CNJ to 34 for stoneskin and MRD to 26 for Mercy Stroke but haven't leveled anything else then I think the most logical answer would be to take Arcanist to 50.

You could level WHM from 34-50, but you'll want to level ACN to 34 for Eye for an eye and THM to 26 for Swiftcast. And that leaves you grinding out 76 levels to end up with just a Tank and a Healer class at 50.
If you level ACN to 50 and THM to 26 instead (and archer to 4, but that takes so little time it can be ignored), then suddenly for the same amount of EXP earned you have a Tank, a Healer, AND a ranged DD class at 50.



*however it looks like you already have BRD at 50?
Being able to swap to BRD should already handle the vast majority of situations where you want to swap a tank out for another class.
It's almost always better to take an extra DD than an extra healer in those single tank situations.

So in your specific situation, I wouldn't worry about leveling anything else unless you just hate BRD or really find yourself enjoying another class.

I main WAR and it's i90. I made DRG second cause jump. However, I alt SCH for raids. I use SMN when I'm bored, but thinking of gearing it more for ranged happy fights.