Tank Mechanics

Hi guys,

I'm new to FFXIV, some friends finally talked me into playing about 2 months ago. Before I started playing I was thinking about going a tank as I enjoyed it in WoW but decided to go Black Mage first and ended up switching halfway through to a monk and finished the 2.0 story line.

My FC finally talked me into trying a tank so I decided to give it a shot but I had a couple questions:

What are common tanking mechanics in IV other than "move out of the giant orange thing on the ground"

Is there anywhere I can read up on on fights that has something like a tanking quick reference that would tell you when to use cool down or where to tank mobs etc.

Thanks!

1 Know when big attacks are in coming
2 positioning, especially if targets cleaves

There are many threads in the tank forums that go over tank mechanics.
Checkout the link below and read through the thread. Also note the post in it on the first page that links to other tank advice threads. Reading through those should give you a general idea.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...irst-time-tank

As for specific fights and content, you can usually find guides on youtube that go over the mechanics.

keep shit grouped up tightly, aim shit away from party
dodge shit, pop cooldowns when needed
go dps stance and contribute to damage if it wont strain healer

Agro first, damage second.
(Edit: This should possibly read "Agro first, staying alive second, damage third". Healers cover the 2nd part much of the time though, but if you do need cooldowns then defense before offense)

How to engage multiple enemies. Hint: Flash, Overpower, Steel Cyclone, Circle of Scorn. Tomahawk/Shield Lob are good sometimes but not others.

How to engage enemies spawning while already fighting others. Hint: find out which abilities generate the most agro from a single hit.

Provoke does not do what a lot of people think it does. It gives you [current highest person's hate +1]. And you will need Provoke, even if you're a Warrior.


Tanking is actually really fun. There is a bit of a learning curve, especially if you want to be good. But nothing too much and having done it in other games means you know a bit of what to expect already.

The principles are pretty much the same as in WOW, so if you came from tanking there you will already know the basics.... It will just be about learning the abilities your tanking class has to his or her disposal... There are plenty of information regarding ability usage, rotation and stat prio here on the forums for both tank jobs so that shouldn't be very difficult to dig up....

As for fights, your best bet is to watch quick mini tank guides on YouTube... These vary from 5-10min and basically gives you a heads up on tanking specific mechanics in any given dungeon/trial/whatever... I can personally recommend MTQcapture's videos as they are very good and strait to the point...

Also if you already have a lvl 50 melee character you probably already know some of the dungeons, you'll just be on the other side of the mobs, but mechanics are basically the same... The mini guides are really only if you are doing things for the first time and to keep you from running in blind... Most likely doing this as a tank will wipe the raid/dungeon/whatever unless you have FC members/friends that guide you through stuff...

Thanks for all the responses guys! Very helpful

Also a help on migitation on bossfights mainly - If you see a castbar a CD will be pretty helpful ;)

One thing I can suggest that most new tanks are never taught:

If you look at your party list while you fight, there are little white bars under each member's class/job icon and a number or "A". These represent the current Emnity built by each member on the mob. As the main tank, you should always have a full bar and the "A" showing that you are the primary target of that mob.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mawgg

My FC finally talked me into trying a tank so I decided to give it a shot but I had a couple questions:

What are common tanking mechanics in IV other than "move out of the giant orange thing on the ground"

Is there anywhere I can read up on on fights that has something like a tanking quick reference that would tell you when to use cool down or where to tank mobs etc.

Thanks!

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The fact that you're asking this stuff means you're gonna be better than at least half of the tanks in DF.

There's a lot of good advice in this thread already about general stuff. ^^

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mawgg

What are common tanking mechanics in IV other than "move out of the giant orange thing on the ground"

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Standing in front of the boss and watching the rest of your team die while they learn how to do actual mechanics since tanks have very few.