New-ish 50 Tank Tips

So I've been a career White Mage for the most part. I have most jobs leveled, or about there, but White Mage has been what I've spent the bulk of my time on.

Well, in the process of leveling those other jobs I completely fell in love with Warrior. I made it to 50 a little while ago and started casually getting some gear for it and now here I sit at i104.

Thing is, I really want to start focusing on my Warrior now, but I'm a bit apprehensive. I don't want to jump into content and be one of those tanks that I know as a White Mage make me want to pull my hair out.

So I ask you, the tanking community, what are some tips you wish you knew as a fresh 50 tank? What are some good things to practice on to get a feel for endgame tanking to prep for more substantial content? I'm not talking about running FCoB or anything like that, but eventually that'll probably be the goal.

As an aside, I'd like to run WoD with my Warrior in hopes of getting some quick gear, is 104 too low for this for anyone who's done it?

Any random advice is more than welcome, I want to use my Warrior a lot more, but I want to do it right.

As long as you understand tanking fundamentals, the rest is just details/specifics. :P

Get mobs, generate enmity, prevent others from getting eaten. Easy. Anywho... few things...

1) Heavy Strike + SkullSunder + Butchers Block = primary single target enmity generators, gives you your stacks too when in Defiance.
2) HS + Maim + Storms Path = super important on bosses and raid bosses. keep this debuff up 100% of the time.

Usual single boss rotation basically is HS + SS + BB into HS + M + SP and then rotate back and forth. You generate lots of enmity required to keep up, and constantly keep SP debuff up all the time. If you got Flash from GLD, thats also handy cuz it does a lot of enmity, BUT, it costs our MP instead of TP. So its perfect for Berserk pacifism debuff, or if your low on TP, or, just generally want to conserve some TP in AoE groups.

Got AoE? Oh YES we do! I usually prefer to open with either Overpower or Steel Cyclone (requires stacks), both are good. Usually 2-3 Ovepowers is sufficient to get that initial dump of enmity on the mobs. Afterwards, you can do single target combos, but by rotating through the mobs. Mob 1 = HS, Mob 2 = SS, Mob 3 = BB, Mob 2 = HS, Mob 3 = SS, Mob 1 = BB, etc. You switch it around to keep enmity up, but getting stacks too!

Also, you 100% need to level GLD to 22 or something to get Provoke. Don't even ATTEMPT anything w/o it. Also, the Anti-Crit from GLD, uh, Awareness, is really good. Also, need to level PUG, so you can get their Cross classes. gives you more defensives, and offensive CDs.

I could go on and on and on... but leave some room for others. :p

Thanks! I've got every cross class skill I'd need available to me, GLD is 36 so I have the skills I'd need there, and Monk is 46 so I have Mantra as well. Right now I keep Provoke, Convalescence, Flash, Awareness, and Mantra equipped, but I know a lot of people use Featherfoot, not sure what I'd sacrifice for that. I've done some 50 tanking, I've done my Trials Roulette a few times and HL Roulette, but I'd like to start doing more.

One thing I didn't even think of throwing out Flashes when stuck in Pacifism, thank you!

Any tips for WoD or should I wait until I'm a bit better geared?

id say drop awareness for internal release

I never ended up picking up Mantra, but I don't find it that valuable as I have a MNK in my static, so I chose Awareness over Mantra, but I use the same as you have listed. Sometimes swap in Featherfoot or the self-heal ability. Usually just swapping between Featherfoot and Internal. As for your ilvl, maybe 110 and hit up WoD. I wouldn't worry about it too much. 104 is generally pretty fine for majority of content.

WoD is very possible at ilvl104 as a tank. Hell, it can be done at i95+ if you really wanted to, though i recommend having an i110 weapon for threat generation issues. Just read up on mechanics beforehand and don't be that guy that gets killed by simple stuff.....

#1 advice: embrace the badass that the War is! Get yourself some strength accessories when you can.
Be careful to carry enough HP for the encounter! 104 is probably fine for WoD but probably with most/all fending accessories. 104 is probably not OK in full strength gear!

#2 Continue badassery: Learn the unchained/zerk boss pull: Basically start by infuriating, throw your tomahawk. Hit the boss with heavy swing. Pop unchained. Skullsunder. Pop Berserk. Butcher's Block. Then do a storm's eye combo, Then another BB combo and finish with the inner beast you built up just before you gat pacified. (You could also start with the Storm's Eye combo and then do two BB combos, this is better but you don't have as much enmity at the very beginning.)

I don't think there's a single 4-man boss I'd use the path combo on. None of them really do threatening damage, keep Eye up and get it done faster.
There are really only two times where awareness is of great use - Shiva's bow phase and the big AOE in T11.
Mantra and Second wind are both exceedingly meh. Featherfoot doesn't help in FCoB since the bosses won't miss.
Internal Release, Convalescence, and Provoke should always be on your bar. Right now I keep awareness and flash as the other two. Flash helps a lot with doing larger pulls since you don't need a target selected.

I've only seen 1 person mention Flash so far. It has more uses than a lot of people realize I think:

- Gather groups of enemies. Requires no TP (more Overpowers later) and you don't waste Steel Cyclone (hits more targets later).
- Circle area effect, instead of cone shape like Overpower. Sometimes the circle is just more convenient.
- Requires no target -> good for snap agro where every fraction of second counts.
- Use it during Pacification after Berserk.
- Use it after blowing all your TP on Overpowers.

Usually my cross-class line-up is Flash/Provoke/Convalescence/Internal Release/Second Wind. There are times when take off Flash or Second Wind to get Awareness.

First thing you should realize, though, is that due to the way warrior works, you'll need to first decide which off combo is appropriate for each boss, first and foremost. If you feel you could use the extra mitigation for whatever reason, whether because your taking a lot if damage, or spike damage is coming up, feel free to cycle in Storm's path, since it heals you for half the damage dealt, and cuts down on incoming damage, raid wide. On the other hand, if the boss's attacks are barely tickling you? You may wish to use Storms eye, and end the encounter sooner. Ultimately, what should decide which combo you use is your party make up, and both you and your healers ability to handle the incoming damage. When it comes to cross class skills, the one that's mandatory is Provoke at all times. When it comes to the others, I personally prefer second wind, convalesence, Mantra, and either flash or awareness. When it comes to end game, I feel featherfoot is close to useless.

Like mentioned earlier when it come to the combos, they're used when it is suited except for when you're off-tanking where you just keep both buffs up. Storms path is quite useful in situations where heavy damage is incoming, like T11s high damaging aoe and T12s revelation. If the off-tank is a paladin always keep up storms eye except for when storms path is used as it's a damage and aggro increase. But if there's an off-tank warrior that's applying both buffs, Heavy Swing + Maim not following up with Storms Eye/Path but starting with the BB combo instead generates more aggro.

As for WoD running in I104 should be no problem, except maybe for the last boss, try avoid main-tanking that one as it hits like a truck.

When pulling starting with Infuriate->Tomahawk->Unchained->Heavy Swing->Berserk->Skull Sunder->IR->BB leads to a huge aggro lead, also if possible try getting your skill speed to 420 to get in the 9th hit in berserk.

As for cross-class skills, pretty much what people said, Provoke is a must with flash and convalesence being quite useful, IR is also a recommendation for more aggro generation. The last one can be picked to fit the fight. Also whatever you do don't cross-class triangulate, I did that when I was fooling around with it and ended up running around with it for weeks, including FCoB.

Warrior all in all is a class that requires knowing the fight quite a bit as we got less passive mitigation so knowing when to save wrath and use IB is needed.

Best cc you can have imo is:

1) Internal Release (must have)
2) Convalescence (must have)
3) Mantra/Second Wind (mantra good if no monk in party, second wind for massive heals. Its possible to heal 4k+ when you IB x2 + SW in berserk + IR)
4) Awareness/Flash (Flash is good when starting out but once you understand the class and are comfortable w/o it I'd drop it for Awareness as some content now has high crit rates like bow stance Shiva)
5) Provoke (only needed in end game for tank swaps)

This is just my choice, but I've been war since 2.0 launch and I can tank w/o Flash no and have become a lot more aggressive in my pulls. Also you can build a lot of aggro if you go Unchained + Berserk/Bloodbath + Overpower + Vengeance for massive aggro and self heals.