New tank looking for tips.

I'm at lvl 32, but I'm looking for tips on tanking as a paladin

It's gonna stink for a while. Level 40 is when you get Shield Oath, but a strong DPS can pull right off you in the early stages if you're not ready for it. With that out of the way...

- Fight or Flight from the get-go is worth it. More damage, more enmity generated, more of a lead on those crit-happy or Raging Strikes popping dps that start off without holding back. (It's also why some offtanks can still steal hate from a tank with the enmity buff on--the damage difference adds up.)
- Flash never stops being useful, and it's not uncommon to use a few times in a row until you unlock Circle of Scorn to help with the AoE enmity generation.
- Fight or Flight and Rampart both typically will last through the first mob of any pull, and be off cooldown in time for either the next pull or the one after that, depending on your dps' strength.
- Foresight, Bloodbath, and Stoneskin are insanely useful. Cure is pleasant. Fracture is debatable.
- Until you get Shield Oath, marking targets is still probably a high priority to keep your DPS on the right targets. (Even after Shield Oath, it's a good practice until you're overgeared for the run.)

cure on pld only gets worse the higher level you go
stone skin is always a great choice though
especially in fights where your healer is inexperienced or bad at dodging

Cure may fall off, but can be the difference between life or death when stoneskin just barely won't be, and healers are otherwise occupied. It's saved me in Titan during stomps, Ifrit with both healers down (combined with a BLM physick spam) and in <redacted, new story content> on a Dark IV cast. Best advice is "Don't assume it's your job to heal with it unless you're the only one who can", I think.

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Originally Posted by KikoriL

Ifrit hm with both healers down (combined with a BLM physick spam)

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at that point its just carrying, cure at level 50 on pld is extremely weak

Funnest carry of my life, though.

1. Pick up Stoneskin, Bloodbath, Foresight, and Mercy Stroke as a must. 2. You're new, and you're going to hate level 30-40 since SE seemed to derp it up when deciding on when to give Shield Oath and Sword Oath... they really should have been switched. 3. 40-50 will make you smile as a PLD, but as a fresh 50, you're going to be in for a huge disappointment. Many DPS are already pushing ilvl 130, you're going to be coming in with 55-60, meaning they will almost certainly steal agro from you, probably continue to do so until you get to ilvl 100 or so. If you already have a high ilvl level 50 class, I highly suggest farming Soldiery for your Tank before you hit 50, so you're ready with some good gear. If you don't have a 50 yet, I actually suggest leveling one first, preferably a healer. Getting a party as a lower ilvl healer with an already well geared tank will mean your entire party will have an easier time than if you were tanking with a low ilvl tank. Further, it is a great idea to get into the mind of your healer as a tank and be able to understand their limits, their capabilities, and their tactics so you can be a better tank. I suggest leveling WHM first, since as a PLD, you're going to need Stoneskin. I consider healing as a sort of "Trial by Fire" for tanking. You'll learn your tactics for tanking from seasoned tanks and know what you shouldn't do from the bad ones, so that when you step into those shoes, you can be respectful to your healer and not make the same mistakes that infuriated you as a healer.

I sound like a hypocrite, since I didn't do healing first myself because I leveled with my partner who was a healer. I did go back and pick up healing of course, and all the other classes for that matter. But I always strongly urge tanks to do so, to walk a few miles in the shoes of those who have to keep them alive. It will make you appreciate your healer a lot more. Always make sure to take care of them, use your cooldowns, give them a break when they really need it.

AOE: Flash -> Flash -> FB -> SB -> switch targets -> RoH -> [Flash] -> cycle FB>SB>RoH rotation on any mobs that you're losing aggro on. Mark mobs 1-3, will make things a lot easier.

Single target: pop FoF before you pull -> Shield Lob -> RoH combo x infinity. If adds pop, Flash them (fastest aggro generation with 0 TP cost) unless you have a loaded SB/RoH and there's one add that spawned.

Stoneskin is situational at best until you get to 50, but as others said you should get it anyway as it'll be very valuable at end game.

Try your hardest not to die and to make your healer's life as easy as you can.

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Originally Posted by Ceodore

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I do have a lvl 50 SMN/SCH, so I've been trying to get i100 for my tank once I get it to lvl 50. Kikoril was saying that Stoneskin is good for a tank. Wouldn't you get interrupted the moment you start casting or does it take more damage before interrupting a tanks casting.

You can be interrupted, but you use it when the boss isn't attacking you. Easiest time to do this is when you're dodging an AOE that the boss is casting, because the boss won't attack while doing that. Also remember that you can cast it on other party members who you know will be targeted by a high damage attack.

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Originally Posted by Bigcat9715

I'm at lvl 32, but I'm looking for tips on tanking as a paladin

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The biggest problem with baby paladins and AOE tanking, is that they're really stingy with flash. Two flashes and rotating through the enemy list with the halone combo won't cut it in any dungeon where you can't use shield oath, especially if you prefer not to mark. To borrow a bit from the acting philosophy of Tug Speedman, if you want to have a good time with your pally at early levels, you need to go 'full retard.' By that, I mean total commitment. Use flash until your mana bar is empty then alternate between one riot blade combo and one flash per GCD until only one enemy is left, then just use your riot blade combo until your mana bar is full again. Stick to that, and it's doubtful you'll ever get something peeled off you.

Do not be afraid to use your cooldowns. I cannot stress this enough: DO NOT. Be AFRAID. To USE your cooldowns! We aren't warriors that have a massive pool of HP to absorb damage with. We have a shield and a bunch of defensive cooldowns at the cost of that health. USE THEM. 90sec-180sec means you're able to use them every fight/every other fight. No, don't save them "for emergencies." because we have a skill for that, it's called Hallowed Ground. 10 second invulnrability. This is even more important before you have shield oath. Rampart: 20% less damage taken. Sentinel: 40% less damage taken. Convalescence: 30% more HP gained from curative effects. Bulwark: +60% chance to block. USE THEM! Shield Oath will give you an innate 20% less damage taken. What does that mean? Rampart: 40% less damage taken. Sentinel: 60% less damage taken. Bulwark: up to 40% damage blocked (PLUS THE 20% LESS TAKEN FROM SHIELD OATH).

This is the biggest issue I see with paladins: They don't use their cooldowns. This isn't an other MMO where you should ONLY use cooldowns against a boss (and even then I rarely, if ever, see paladins use their cooldowns against bosses). Use them. All the time. Love them. Then when you're leveling a healer silently curse all the paladin tanks that are taking so much unnecessary damage because they aren't using cooldowns.

If you're on the PS4 and lack the buttons to hold all these cooldowns: Macros are your friend. Set up macros for your offensive cooldowns so they cycle through. Defensive cooldowns, utility cooldowns. You just put 8+ cooldowns on three buttons.

And for the love of god, face your enemies so you can actually block and parry their attacks!

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Originally Posted by PinnyAerani

If you're on the PS4 and lack the buttons to hold all these cooldowns: Macros are your friend. Set up macros for your offensive cooldowns so they cycle through. Defensive cooldowns, utility cooldowns. You just put 8+ cooldowns on three buttons.

And for the love of god, face your enemies so you can actually block and parry their attacks!

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god no dont make that many macros
use extended hotbar and youll have more than enough space for pld

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Originally Posted by aisustrong

god no dont make that many macros
use extended hotbar and youll have more than enough space for pld

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I ended up going with her advice a little. What I did was put 2 defense buff together depending on the recast timer, so whenever I need a buff I press it once for the first buff then press it and for the second. Rampart with Convalescence, foresight with awareness, etc. The macros I did truly helped alot, plus Shield Oath truly makes a difference.

I think marking target and rotate combos through enemies are equivalent things. In my opinion, its enough to do just one of those things.

I prefer to rotate Halone combo: Some dps will aoe enemies, others, such like bards, will begin to swap dot all enemies. For that reason, I prefer to let dps do what they supposedly know how to do.

But, in some dungeons, it's better to take down a specific enemy quickly, so don't forget to yell in party chat "Guys, kill X enemy first", and then, you spam your 2x flash in mobs, then help to bring that enemy down.

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Fight or flight. 90 sec cd, 30 sec duration, 30% more power. More power = more enmity. Use it. Seriously, use it!

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Don't eat aoes. If you can avoid a aoe, avoid it. ( brayflox boss will be your first "trial" on this ).
If you have problems avoiding aoes (lag issues or something else), let your healer aware of it, so he can focus you.

But, after avoiding a aoe, return to your original position. Why? See below.

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Don't move enemies too much. Melees are positional dependents. Make their lifes easier.

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If you can, stay against a wall. Like: Wall | You | boss. Of course, be aware of circular aoes. Be double sure to have space to avoid them.
Plus, don't let enemies facing your whole team. Hold aggro and turn enemies around. If enemies do a cone or linear aoe, your team will not need to avoid it.

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Someone above said it already, but this is important, so I will say it again.
Face your enemies. Block only procs if you are facing your enemy.

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Just some very newbies tips and basic knowledge, I know, but hope that helps.
World need more tanks. :)

It may be best to put some of your bonus attribute points in to some str till you get shield oath also once you get to the high item levels if you mainly use just tank gear its best to put most of your bonus into str it can help alot.

Macros are bad on almost everything in this game. use the L2>R2 / R2>L2 double hold to get an addition 16 slots. It takes a little getting used to but its great once you can do it.

I leveled my PLD after maining MNK for a while, and now it's my main. Like everyone says, Lv 30 ~ 40 were a nightmare. Heck, with a trigger Happy Ninja and Black Mage, you'll likely lose aggro even at iLv 100.

What I've learned is that at Lv50, attack cooldowns are the key to holding aggro.

As a PLD you have several aggro gaining actions, but note that most of them share cooldown time: the halone combo, flash and shield lob. You can't do them one after another.

On the other hand, Circle of Scorn and Spirits Within have each their separate cooldowns, so you can do them right before or after any of the actions noted above.

So for the initial pull I normally use

Shield lob > ( cooldown while enemies get in range ) > Flash > Circle of Scorn > Spirits Within on my "main" target > Flash ( cooldown ends while you do Circle of Scorn & Spirits Within )

This normally buys me enough time to see what the DPS are doing and react accordingly.

Just some things that came to mind:

1. DPS like to see a$$es, so turn the mobs around and give them a good gander.

2.The indicators on the floor coming outta the mobs faces...they will turn into hurt if you don't get out of the way....on that note...YOU CAN RUN THROUGH MOBS. I hate seeing tanks back up, side step, try to run away/out of AoE's. You are right there, just run through.

3. Stun things. Take that shield and bash that mo fo's face. Aside from stunning, they don't like it.

4. Be mindful of your DPS, positionals sukk at times ( see 1).

5. Communicate with your party. If you wanna be all ballz gung ho and grab an entire room, make sure you say so.

6. Be nice. Sometimes it's nice to do low level roulettes and run the whole dung for lowbies.

7. Laugh and learn from your mistakes. Sword oath on Speed Run pulls is the best.... :-/

I too was a MNK until I decided-foolishly-to try Paladin. I was enjoying myself until I became a fresh 50 trying to do dungeons for tomes. Now there are people who are ilvl 9001 and I am ilvl 54. There is no such thing as maintaining hate. I've tried your combo, tried doing the 123 combo on separate mobs (learned that little trick long ago and it used to work) I go OOM trying to flash things and still end up losing hate and turn into just being a crappy dps that just lets the BLM tank because no matter what I can't get hate back. How is someone supposed to learn to tank when you're outgeared so damn badly?

Telling people, "hey I'm a fresh 50, my I'm ilvl54 if you pull it off me I can't get it off you", does nothing. Marking does nothing to quell the aoe mindset players have, and I don't even want to think about going into an 8 man like this.

There are supposed to be sync restrictions for some dungs now, the high level ones I believe. That can help. Running those for the ancient drops to turn to i90 gear will help. Just have to get through them.

There has been said good advice already. As you level up you need to go getting better gear, especially the weapon. Weapon damage is very important to get aggro. Try to get as much green or pink gear as possible, and if not, High Quality crafted grey (which is as good as the aetherial.) Flash at least 3 times if there are 3 or more mobs. If many mobs flash until no mp then riot blade combo then flash.

When I got more practice I noticed I flashed much more than when I was leveling up. Rage of Halone combo and rotate as others say.

Hallowed ground when you get it is for emergencies, but use it if necessary, don't forget about it because you never ever use it saving it for an emergency that never comes. I use hallowed ground much more now than I did as a fresh player.

At low level places the DPS and healer also have responsibility to not steal aggro, not pull early, attack the mob the tank is attacking etc. It is very easy to steal aggro in low levels from a tank, a DPS (and healer too) has to concentrate too in not stealing aggro. Many people at that level is learning and don't always do what they should. You can ask nicely if somebody systematically attacks the wrong mob or does AoE attacks or regen before you have grabbed the mobs well. Marking helps a lot.

Once you reach level 50 you need to gear up as fast as possible. It is easy now but in some places if you are undergeared you can have problems even with the ilvl110 sync, if you are much lower ilvl. In 2.5 Crystal Tower has a lot of players again since there is a weekly quest. CT drops ilvl 80 gear and has no weekly limit, a great place to gear up and reach ilvl 70 to go to ST. The main story roulette gives a lot of tomes to buy gear too and the oher tank can main tank.

The relic quest up to Zenith is quick, it's ilvl 90. The ilvl 110 weapon obtained with Syrcus Tower drop Unidentified Allagan Tomestone and tomes (and upgraded wiht Sands of Time) is great, get one as soon as you can. As soon as you are ilvl 70 go to Syrcus Tower, there are other tanks who will be main tank. ST drops ilvl100 gear with no weekly limit, great, plus the Sands and Oils to upgrade gear and the mentioned UAT. It might be you can get the ilvl110 weapon quickly and then do the relic quest for fun or completion. I always do it up to Zenith with all the alt classes, it takes only a couple of days only now and it's like part of the main story.

I forgot to say that until you reach level 50 the daily low level and guildhest roulettes help a lot to level up. Also do your class and job quests each 5 levels. I usually try to gear up before the class and job quests. If you see you need just a bit more exp to be able to go to a higher dungeon, FATEs are practical to level up. They are good too to get the chocobo weekly achievements. You can't use the chocobo to fight while you wait the queue for a dungeon. A higher dungeon will give much more exp and if you do the roulette you get more reward the higher your highest available dungeon is, even if you have to fight a lower one.

A note on Hallowed ground. It is an amazing threat tool. Pull a large group, Brayflox HM first pull to log as an example. Once you get to the log, pop HG. Flash>CoS>Flash then start on your Riot Blade combo while weaving in flashes. When HG wears, pop CD's as neccesary. The secs you get from HG is gold for holding the mobs and establishing a good threat lead, gives heals a chance to catch up from your long pull, and lets DPS go batsh*t crazy frontloading their DPS bursts.

Just my 2g

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Originally Posted by Aamalthea

I too was a MNK until I decided-foolishly-to try Paladin. I was enjoying myself until I became a fresh 50 trying to do dungeons for tomes. Now there are people who are ilvl 9001 and I am ilvl 54. There is no such thing as maintaining hate. I've tried your combo, tried doing the 123 combo on separate mobs (learned that little trick long ago and it used to work) I go OOM trying to flash things and still end up losing hate and turn into just being a crappy dps that just lets the BLM tank because no matter what I can't get hate back. How is someone supposed to learn to tank when you're outgeared so damn badly?

Telling people, "hey I'm a fresh 50, my I'm ilvl54 if you pull it off me I can't get it off you", does nothing. Marking does nothing to quell the aoe mindset players have, and I don't even want to think about going into an 8 man like this.

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Ha ha! I'm experiencing a bit of that myself now. This is the super happy fun-fun period in MMOs of gearing your tank for hard mode dungeons and raid content, while being a fresh max level. Here's the bad news: YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT DPS RIPPING OFF YOU. You just can't, they outgear you and they're gonna get that aggro. Just take your lumps and do the best you can.

Here's the good news: AS A TANK, YOU GEAR UP QUICKLY. It doesn't take long at all. Might have a little something to do with those queue times. Just grit your teeth, and keep going back for more, and you'll be loaded with welfare epics before you know it.

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Originally Posted by Galgarion

Ha ha! I'm experiencing a bit of that myself now. This is the super happy fun-fun period in MMOs of gearing your tank for hard mode dungeons and raid content, while being a fresh max level. Here's the bad news: YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT DPS RIPPING OFF YOU. You just can't, they outgear you and they're gonna get that aggro. Just take your lumps and do the best you can.

Here's the good news: AS A TANK, YOU GEAR UP QUICKLY. It doesn't take long at all. Might have a little something to do with those queue times. Just grit your teeth, and keep going back for more, and you'll be loaded with welfare epics before you know it.

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Does Squeenix even know about this and have plans to change anything when dark knight comes out? I can't even imagine people enjoying themselves with fresh 50s and having a desire to do so if it's like this. I had planned on leveling a dk but now I don't even know.

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Originally Posted by Aamalthea

Does Squeenix even know about this and have plans to change anything when dark knight comes out? I can't even imagine people enjoying themselves with fresh 50s and having a desire to do so if it's like this. I had planned on leveling a dk but now I don't even know.

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well its only an issue if its your first tank(hell really even just first 50)
after that, gearing up is pretty easy with tomes

On that note, what was or has anything been confirmed as to what the stat will be for DRK? I would imagine those that enhance evasion and parry, DEX is it, although there is no evasion enhancing stat atm. If this is the case, I do not see our current tanks sharing gear with the new tank. SO a whole new gear set will be needed. Do we consider the time it will take to cap out both soldiery and poetics in a timely fasion for the drop of Heavensward, ensuring that as soon as we drop the currency on the 110-120/130 gear we can build up another weeks worth to finish our purchase. Also going to need to save up carboncoats/twines and oils/sands.

OR...

Do you even bother with that since the new gear that will come with quest rewards (going from 50-60) would most likely be better than what we could get with the tomes? Guess we would need a starting point, then fill in the gaps and replace as necessary.

It will be interesting to see.