Limit Break and Tanks

We're in a battle. It's a boss. He's got a huge group of circles on the ground where he's gonna smack us with AOEs. Limit Break has been lit for about 30 seconds. " Why NOT use it I say to myself? It's near the end of the fight. The LB goes off and the cool shields of stone drop like hammers BOOM. Then shortly later the boss dies.

And then the same Lancer that's been refusing to pick up adds says to me before he hits exit " TANKS NEVER LB " without explaining why.

So what's the answer? Should a Tank NOT use LB?

Tanks should always use LBs when DPS are not going to use the LB. It's a harsh reminder that they're not doing their job properly. That DRG there just didn't want to face the fact that he failed at hitting the WIN button.

DPS should use the limit break unless the healer needs to get an 8-man group on its feet with a LB3. Tank LB should only be used in certain situations (like saving a fail group when Cloud of Darkness absorbed too many clouds) or otherwise to remind the DPS they actually have a LB button.

It all depends on when you LB'd. Like how much HP the boss had left.

DPS will often wait until the bosses HP is low enough before LB'ing, or just low enough to where the LB will finish them off instantly. If you LB before that, you took the LB away from the DPS basically, who could have ended the fight sooner.

Just gotta accept that the tank LB is garbage outside of when it's forced like T13 use to be, or in rare cases like the bad groups on the cloud of darkness. Simply telling a DPS to LB in party chat would serve it better, and if they still don't, guess you get to see your cool tank LB because the DPS aren't paying any attention.

The way this game works kind of determines that, unfortunately, there really is no point to the tank LB. It saves the healer a very small amount of MP, and that's pretty much the end of it outside of a very very specific handful of situations that are almost impossible to plan for. I've kind of wished LBs were individual for a long time now; that way the tank LB would be a helpful boon during a high damage phase rather than a griefing tool.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kumori_Kumo

The way this game works kind of determines that, unfortunately, there really is no point to the tank LB. It saves the healer a very small amount of MP, and that's pretty much the end of it outside of a very very specific handful of situations that are almost impossible to plan for. I've kind of wished LBs were individual for a long time now; that way the tank LB would be a helpful boon during a high damage phase rather than a griefing tool.

---

pvp got this at least.


tank lb is used as an "oh shit" button, or when it's needed for a high damage boss ulti (like teraflare in turn 13).

otherwise it's kinda useless. like healer lb (don't deny it, we're probably going to wipe even though you just raised us all).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by saber_alter

otherwise it's kinda useless. like healer lb (don't deny it, we're probably going to wipe even though you just raised us all).

---

I won't deny that for a moment; I've always felt like Weakness kind of destroys any usefulness of the healer LB3. If we couldn't stay alive with full stats, we're certainly not going to with heavily reduced stats. :T

I LB at the end of fights if it wasn't used reasonably (regardless of my role), just for funzies. But I'm talking about a fight where the boss will be dead in <10 seconds from our regular attacks anyways.

As for the whining DRG, he'll get over it. Admittedly the tank LB is the least useful LB in the game--something like an instant mega AoE aggro grab might serve more purpose (at least when shit hits the fan/tank dies) because the uses of our current LB are extremely few and far between and only "necessary" maybe twice in the game.

In any case I'd like to take this moment to whine about how poorly players make use of their LBs in general. Healers shouldn't hesitate to LB if the party's about to die, and caster LB on full-room trash pulls are more valuable than melee LB on a boss (unless it's actually hurting your AoE DPS somehow). Also, saving LB for an ENTIRE DUNGEON to LB2 the last boss is silly. If you're doing full clear you can LB1 two bosses and LB2 the last boss. If not you can at least LB1 the first boss and have it built up again by last boss. Lastly if you're puting off LB-ing in case of an urgent healer/tank LB is needed, that's fine. Otherwise saving LB for the last possible moment is inefficient.

/raging table flip

The DPS that wait until the last 2% of the bosses HP to hit the LB are probably my least liked types of players.
If your LB is going to do 4-6% of the bosses HP, use it when it has 7% left, not 1%.

This is why if I see a boss reach 5% or less without the LB used, I use it as tank.
The usefulness of the damage LB has already been squandered by that point.

Ok, I Think I see where your all coming from. But what about the Tank/warrior using LB3? That's an amazing 50% reduction in incoming damage for 20 seconds. That seems pretty useful.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Grupp

Ok, I Think I see where your all coming from. But what about the Tank/warrior using LB3? That's an amazing 50% reduction in incoming damage for 20 seconds. That seems pretty useful.

---

It is useful. It's just that most of the time a DPS limit break is more useful. The only case where the Tank LB is more useful than a DPS LB is when there's predictable incoming damage that you know the party won't be able to survive (or will have a lot of diffuclty surviving) without it. Only 3 places come to mind for this: Ultima Weapon Hard, when done at-level ("Minimum IL" now), T13 at-level (again generally "Minimum IL"), and Cloud of Darkness if your DPS let too many clouds through during the cloud phase. It's quite possible that it'll be needed in A4 Savage, but since nobody's beaten A3 Savage yet, we don't know.

--Erim Nelhah
(Master, Astral Descendants <AD>, Malboro)
(60 DRK Main)

Have been playing this game for a while now. 2 characters lv 50 (LNC, NIN), 1 lv 55 (DRK) and 1 ILVL 190 (BLM). So far from all those fights, I have never seen a useful tanks lb AT ALL. I believe that the tank limit break is useless (people will always go for the DPS or the actual "oh crap" key Healer's Lb). SE should absolutely change the effect of the tank limit break to make it as useful as the dps and healer and less situational. I am a dps guy, but I don't like how the tanks keep getting the short end of the stick LB wise when all classes should be balanced equally.
That said, it is not all critics, but suggestions too: Maybe a buff in defense AND attack (Like the famous WarCry" from many RPGs). That way people will hate the Tank lb a bit less when they see big numbers popping out.

Ultima HM.

T13 @ 50.

Tank LB has it's uses. It doesn't need any change. It's just a simple fact that people are going to use the DPS LB 99% of the time because... it's damage, and most mechanics are solved by doing more damage.

They should then just make a big *** shield come down like a meteor and damage the boss not as much an dps lb while shielding everyone

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Aisenheim

Have been playing this game for a while now. 2 characters lv 50 (LNC, NIN), 1 lv 55 (DRK) and 1 ILVL 190 (BLM). So far from all those fights, I have never seen a useful tanks lb AT ALL. I believe that the tank limit break is useless (people will always go for the DPS or the actual "oh crap" key Healer's Lb). SE should absolutely change the effect of the tank limit break to make it as useful as the dps and healer and less situational. I am a dps guy, but I don't like how the tanks keep getting the short end of the stick LB wise when all classes should be balanced equally.
That said, it is not all critics, but suggestions too: Maybe a buff in defense AND attack (Like the famous WarCry" from many RPGs). That way people will hate the Tank lb a bit less when they see big numbers popping out.

---

It has been required in Ultima HM, Turn 11, and Turn 13. It has also commonly been used to prevent wipe mechanics in Garuda HM/EX, Titan EX, Turn 10, and Turn 12. It's only ever used to soak massive AoE damage that parties will not survive without. A4S may have one of those situations, remains to be seen.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Canadane

The DPS that wait until the last 2% of the bosses HP to hit the LB are probably my least liked types of players.
If your LB is going to do 4-6% of the bosses HP, use it when it has 7% left, not 1%.

This is why if I see a boss reach 5% or less without the LB used, I use it as tank.
The usefulness of the damage LB has already been squandered by that point.

---

No kidding. Most of the time, DPS waits so goddamn long to use the LB that the boss is dead before they even finish casting it. I guess they need it to line up perfectly with their anime-finishing-move macro but LBs get wasted more often than not.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SpookyGhost

Ultima HM.

T13 @ 50.

Tank LB has it's uses. It doesn't need any change. It's just a simple fact that people are going to use the DPS LB 99% of the time because... it's damage, and most mechanics are solved by doing more damage.

---

If it's only ever been (temporarily) useful in one or two fights in the entire game, then yeah, it's pretty goddamn useless. Gimmicky, at best.

If boss is under 10%, I will LB. At that point, it's wasted free damage.