So you want to be a tank?

Yes, yes I do. However, where do I start? I've never tanked before as I main WHM. Are some tanks better than others? What is the "premier" tank class? Are there any specific tank classes in high demand?

Among other questions, which I'll ask once these are answered. I hope you all don't chew me up and spit me back into healer hell ;_;

Marauder is a good starting point - easiest to tank with early on, gets tanking stance @ 30 when you unlock WAR as opposed to PLD which gets it @ 40. You want GLD to 22 for Provoke regardless of what tank you choose to play, though.

To answer your other 3 questions: Warrior.

The answer depends on the meaning of the question; all three tanks begin with roughly equal simplicity, though Dark Knight throws you into the deep end because of its nature as an extra job. Gladiator has simpler mechanics when leveling past 20 due to a much simpler area-of-effect taunt that does not strain resources, more diverse defensive abilities (even though some of those have dubious usefulness in the best of times) and the very straightforward combat rotation for which they are known. Marauder requires more thinking and being smart about when you use what to be played optimally, between Overpower being both more position-dependent than Flash and requiring a significant amount of TP to use, and their defensive abilities being very lackluster in the beginning. Spooky Ghost has the right of it for the most part however.

By all means, try your hand at Marauder. If you find yourself not enjoying it for how slow it can sometimes feel, try Gladiator. Of course, not everyone is made for tanking, so one would like to remind you to take all things read here with a measure of discretion.

Note (and general advice for everyone really):

When choosing a class in an MMO, don't automatically choose the one that's currently most powerful at endgame. Roll the one you find to be the most fun when playing. Balance changes. What's strong one month might be weakest next month.

That said, Paladin, Dark Knight and Warrior all have very different feels and what one player likes, another might hate. Warriors are pretty universally regarded right now as the strongest tank. They do the most DPS whether MTing or OTing, they have a really robust kit that's got plenty of mitigation options, and they just feel really well rounded. They're the most in-demand at current time due to how most of the hardest encounters currently ingame favor DPS over raw mitigation.

Warriors are reasonably complex to play - they fall in the middle really. Dark Knights are probably more fiddly at endgame (though quite simple to play early), paladins are generally the easiest of the tanks to get to grips with.

The one caveat about Warriors though - everyone I know who prefers Warrior over other tanks is more... DPS minded? They like warrior for the fact it's aggressive, hard hitting and that they can rock the DPS meters. I however prefer the feeling of being a solid iron wall of indestructibility, and I prefer fast nimble attacks over slow heavy ones, so I much prefer the feel of Paladin.

Paladins are the highest mitigation tank overall, but not by THAT much (the difference in DPS output between Warrior and Paladin is much bigger than the difference in their mitigation). They're the more traditional sword and board tank, but right now probably the least desired of the 3 tanks at endgame. They do very low AOE damage when tanking packs, and are the lowest DPS of the tanks (though when offtanking they can put out respectable DPS numbers). Note that the popularity of paladins mostly boils down to whether an encounters is super hard due to the damage a tank takes, or super hard due to the DPS requirements on the raid. In most cases right now, the latter is the case, so paladins arent as popular.

Dark Knights are the middle ground between Paladin and Warrior. Their skillset actually matches Paladins more than Warriors, but with an extra layer of fiddly mana management. Some people love that, some hate it (i don't like it myself). They have a more aggressive feel than paladins, but not quite as much as warrior. Right now they're a good middle ground tank that does a tiny bit more dps than paladin as an MT, but much more when tanking AOE packs. This makes them very good for 4man content as their AOE damage helps churn through packs. In raids, they're mostly favored due to their high magical damage cooldowns - if an encounter does mostly magical damage (and currently Alex Savage 1 and 4 are very high magic damage) they'll be a bit tougher than a paladin.

All 3 tanks have similar skillsets, but it's very much personal preference for which one you prefer. You NEED to get Gladiator to 22 for Provoke for all 3 tanks though, so you should do that. I'd recommend that first. Dabble a bit with all of them. You'll probably know fairly early which one you like best just due to skill animations, sounds and overall feel. They're all viable, but right now Warrior is the strongest and most popular.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gist

However, where do I start?

---

First grab a hammer. Smash you left foot, hows it feeling? Ok, now ignore that pain. Now smash your right foot. Did you forget about the pain in your left foot? If yes, you are ready to start tanking. You will have no issues ignoring those who tell you to find another job, amongst other things.
That was a joke, but no not really, but yeah.
Honestly I really have only had a couple bad run ins. Its a lot of fun or aleast I think so. I'll be bias toward PLD because its all I play. All the hate for PLD lately is really just for end game stuff and even at that I have my doubts about it because those threads are always a mixed bag. Its easy to play simple rotation, probably why I like it. I can get all thumbs at times so its good for me. Though I was always partial to the sword and shield play types.

Simplest explanations: The Warrior has the highest damage potential. His mitigation isn't as good as a Paladin's or a Dark Knight's, but he makes up for it with lots of health, and many cooldowns on short timers. Lot of stance dancing though to max his potential. Pros: Can wreck/survive anything with a good player behind the wheel, can lower magic and physical damage by 10% with one move, making him a must for raids, has none of the TP issues that can plague Dark Knights and Paladins. Cons: Has a lot of nuance and complexity compared to Dark Knights and Paladins, and lots of stuff to memorize. A good warrior is made out of rock, a bad one is made out of paper. Choose if you want a class with a high skill cap that's never boring.

The Dark Knight has the second highest dps potential, options for good burst, very good mitigation, and the highest threat of all three tanks. Pros: Easy to use, the only tank with a gap closer, absurdly high threat potential that lets you spend more time dpsing, mitigates magic damage like a boss. Cons: Some skills work against each other, lots of skill bloat, mana management can be an issue if you're outgeared by your dps and the class has a sharp stigma of being full of worthless idiots who don't know how to tank. Choose if you want a class that has a little more complexity than a Paladin but isn't as skill capped as a Warrior. Also if you like big swords and an 'evil' image.

The Paladin is the classic sword and board fighter. He has the lowest dps potential of all three tanks (while main tanking), but he has a much easier time mitigating physical damage than the other two. Pros: Widely considered the easiest tank to use, mitigates the most damage out of all three, possesses the most powerful defensive cooldowns in the game. Cons: Low aoe damage makes him more of a challenge to hold AOE threat with, lower single target damage has been labeled a hindrance for the current tier of progression raiding, his cooldowns center mainly around mitigating physical damage so fights with a lot of magical damage being thrown around are pain for him. Choose if: You want to play it safe with a strong, easy to use tank.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Galgarion

The Dark Knight ... and the highest threat of all three tanks.

---

Just wanted to point out that that is not true at all. Yes DRK has the highest potency enmity combo, but that doesn't give it the "highest threat" potential. You have to look at how their toolkit works. That said, let's look at DRK's "kit":

1- Power Slash combo is DRK's weakest combo of their 3 options so people avoid reusing it. So it is NOT optimal to reuse. Each PS combo used is a DPS loss.
2- Darkside costs MP and DRKs have to stop doing Power Slash to regain MP. Power Slash with Darkside down is weaker than Butcher's combo with Maim up. Dark Arts need two siphon strike combos each use to get the MP back. Ideally, you alternate your Siphon combos for maximum damage while never touching the PS combo after the threat lead.
3- DRK has no offensive CDs that boost their enmity further. Dark Arts Power Slash adds a multiplier of 1 to it (6.5x) and is not even worth the MP.

Now compared to WAR:

1- Butcher Block is WAR's strongest combo and it is optimal for DPS and aggro to alternate BB once every other combo.
2- Like DRK, WAR loses potential by spamming BB. WAR has incentive to use at least 1 Maim combo every third, and 1 storm eye every other combo. Ideally, you alternate SE with BB for maximum aggro damage.
3- WAR has Unchained (33% more DPS in Defiance) and Berserk (20s of insanity). Also you can't ignore Internal Release.

Simply put, if a WAR "wants" aggro, a DRK will not get it.

The rest of your post is spot on though. It is a good way to put the three tanks in perspective.

Yay, thank you all for answering my questions~ <3

My goal is eventually going to be getting all classes to 60 (though not i190, my WHM is already enough work as it is XD). Would there be a good "order" to level each tank in?

I appreciate the simple playstyle of what the PLD seems to have, and I want to be The Tank and be able to take all the damage. :^) BUT, I've recently been expected to have DPS over 700 when I'm playing WHM. Am I going to be expected to DPS as a tank when that's not the role I queued for?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gist

Yay, thank you all for answering my questions~ <3

My goal is eventually going to be getting all classes to 60 (though not i190, my WHM is already enough work as it is XD). Would there be a good "order" to level each tank in?

I appreciate the simple playstyle of what the PLD seems to have, and I want to be The Tank and be able to take all the damage. :^) BUT, I've recently been expected to have DPS over 700 when I'm playing WHM. Am I going to be expected to DPS as a tank when that's not the role I queued for?

---

Yes. BUT dpsing as a tank is much easier than doing it as a healer. No cycling between mobs and party members for one thing. DPSing as a tank is actually pretty fun. It should be considered a feature, not a chore.

Every class is expected to contribute to damage, no exceptions. Holding aggro is just the bare minimum needed for the party to function.

I main whm usually but my second was always a tank class. I chose pld until HW came out and now I main drk at least for the moment. My reason for choosing pld then was from my experience as a healer. I prefer a tank who has high defense and there isn't as much of a risk of dying so I could feel secure enough to dps.

I'm not gonna give crazy detail because many others here have done that very well but Imo Pld is what I recommend for a first time tank. They have the easiest time surviving because of their high defense and the most important part of a tank is to be able to take hits. They can all do that but some are a bit more involved then others. War may feel a bit overwhelming with the way it plays AND having to learn how to just tank in general. Pld is the easiest to just focus on taking. Not dpsing, not debuffing (not a lot anyway) no stack management or crazy mp management. I recommend learning the basics of tanking in general and then go for the slightly more complex jobs.
Btw most of this is my knowledge of 1-50 war and pld and up to 60 drk. I can't comment on how pld and war change after 50 but then that's not for a first time tank to worry about yet anyway

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Phoenicia

Simply put, if a WAR "wants" aggro, a DRK will not get it.

---

Dark Arts Power Slash under Girt is something absolutely asanine like a 15.3x aggro multiplier on a 300 potency skill.

If a Dark Knight wants aggro, no other class in the game can compare. Sure, you have to sacrifice 160 potency to do a Power Slash combo instead, but it's not a huge loss, and the point is moreso that Dark Knight is, hands down, the king of Single Target aggro - a equal geared warrior and paladin have zero hope of pulling threat from a dark knight in an aggro arms race.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by nyttyn

Dark Arts Power Slash under Girt is something absolutely asanine like a 15.3x aggro multiplier on a 300 potency skill.

---

Nah, tested, it's 6.5 and Grit is 2.3. Since Grit and Defiance are both equal at 2.3, Power Slash at 6.5 isn't that great. Specially when WAR has 33% (Unchained) and 50% (Berserk) added on top of the 5.5 BB. With both Unchained and Zerk up (no maim) BB is at 11x, or 25.3 with Defiance. Good luck catching up to that before you run out of MP using Dark Arts on every Power Slash.

So from what I understand, to learn tanking I need to start with PLD, then when I'm comfortable, go to WAR and if I get bored with either of those, play DRK?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gist

So from what I understand, to learn tanking I need to start with PLD, then when I'm comfortable, go to WAR and if I get bored with either of those, play DRK?

---

Simply put, PLD is the best place to learn about tanking because it's simple. It makes you worry less about your rotations and more about mechanics, aggro and damage reduction.

DRK is closer to PLD with some added in complexity. But it follows a similar skill set.

WAR is the more complex tank because of how its rotations work and how its mitigation is different. WAR is the only tank that isn't press-and-forget when it comes to mitigation CDs. Most of its skills are two sided offensively and defensively.

I absolutely love PLD. I love the straight-forwardness of it. I'm enjoying the new potential it has with the new combos presented with HS (which i was just recently schooled in with a different thread) and i've always been that up-front type and i love taking all the hits.

If you can manage your defense abilities and enmity well, you should be just fine playing tank. Yes you definitely need to play DPS from time to time, especially if you are decided to be the OT instead of MT, but that still means you are tanking, just moreso the adds instead of the main boss (which can be equally crucial or even more so depending on the run).

Honestly though, as i have no experience with DRK or WAR i would say take into consideration the play-styles that others are explaining and make a decision on that. End-game mechanics are to some degree what you make of them too (ie. gear, cross-class abilities, etc). Maybe go on youtube and watch some videos to see some play styles.

The question can be considered in numerous ways. Particularly with our interpretation of "premier".

Gladiator/Paladin is thought to be the best for negating physical damage. They can not only block using their shield but they are able to disrupt attacks a lot with chain stuns and an AoE silence as well as their best AoE attention-grabber containing an in-built blind.
GLD also provides the cross-class skill "Provoke" which is thought of as mandatory for all classes to have. In this way they can be considered "premier". However their defensive capabilities are in such excess that they're considered the "safe" tank and lack in aggressive features that other tanks can bring to that party slot. They are also considered the easiest to play.

Marauder/Warrior can be considered "premier" in the sense that they are currently widely accepted as the best of the 3 tanks. They simply have no weaknesses. They have a ridiculous HP pool, brilliant single-target damage, and the ability to keep up their TP practically indefinitely (though bosses often offer breaks when switching phases usually making the latter a moot point).
As PLD can make little use out of CNJ skills in a party setup and DRK only has cross-class skills of the other tanks base-classes, Warrior also has the best pick of cross-class skills with PUG complimenting their goal of wasting the enemies time perfectly. Most notably granting cooldowns for a flat evasion boost and crit chance, as well as the ability to heal themselves with attack power. Though their single target damage is so great that they'll often get asked to play in an off-tank role. Great if you enjoy the challenge of churning out bigger numbers and acting as a major DPS outside of the DPS role. Who doesn't.

Dark Knight is my personal favourite. It has a high skill-ceiling, and because you get 30 levels worth of abilities dropped on you at once it's not recommended that you play this as your first tank. DRK is known for having abilities that greatly assist with magic resistance. The DRK is also packed with tons of abilities that stack in effectiveness based on how many enemies are present, allowing the DRK to do a lot more against crowds of enemies than they can when only combating a single bigger enemy.
Everything from AoE damage, to parry procs which recover their stun ability, to an ability that gives you MP back every time you're hit. When that latter is being used at its best, the DRK can even start to spam a HP drain which becomes more powerful for every enemy nearby.
Because of this, AoE dps will love the DRK for ending dungeons quicker by way of big trash pulls. Unfortunately it's a slightly different story against the majority of bosses/trials which are just one or two enemies, limiting the DRK to what they can get out of their abilities. Their melee damage is also great but still slightly lesser than that of WAR.

With that said, DRK is in no way a premier tank unless a boss is heavily magic-oriented or the dungeon trash is weak and many (fractal continuum), but is still just as viable as they all are.

In a two-tank party, the one with the least damage will typically be designated the main-tank, allowing the other to assume an aggressive stance. As a PLD you'll be main for those parties besides ones where the other tank wants it because FyouIwantobeinthecentrethat'swhy. A DRK will be an Off-tank to a PLD Main-tank. But a WAR will be an OT to a DRK MT. However disproportionate gearing can shuffle this to be any composition.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cooperal

They can not only block using their shield but they are able to disrupt attacks a lot with chain stuns and an AoE silence as well as their best AoE attention-grabber containing an in-built blind.
GLD also provides the cross-class skill "Provoke" which is thought of as mandatory for all classes to have. They are also considered the easiest to play.


Warrior also has the best pick of cross-class skills with PUG complimenting their goal of wasting the enemies time perfectly. Most notably granting cooldowns for a flat evasion boost

Dark Knight is my personal favourite. It has a high skill-ceiling, and because you get 30 levels worth of abilities dropped on you at once it's not recommended that you play this as your first tank.

---

Stuns and silence are good tools for leveling up. But are almost always useless in raid fights. Provoke is not "thought" of as mandatory. It is. Any time you are in a fight that requires a tank swap you require provoke, on any tank class. PLD is the easiest to play in terms of staying alive early on. It's however the hardest of the 3 tanks for most people to keep hate on.

War's don't waste time, they kill things and have a quite a few options for dealing damage while mitigating damage. Also never ever ever use feather foot(flat evasion boost). It's a waste of a cross over skill slot.

Drk isn't that hard to play, it's PLD at level 30. Major difference being is that you'll have to throw out a few siphion strikes to keep your MP up. Take 15 minutes, learn your defensive cool downs and learn to rotate them. It's not that hard. If you want to take it further, learn to drop grit, apply blood weapon and max out your DPS. For a majority of the content however maxing out your DPS is not required. The "high skill ceiling-cap"doesn't start to show itself until 52. Also WAR puts out the same, if not more AoE DPS than DRK does unless your group is killing extremely slow.

Finally most raid statics that are trying to max out their raid's potential will never use PLD/DRK, but rather War and any combination of the 3. Current favored set up is DRK/WAR. With all that said. Find which one you like the best and level it up. As at this point, the need for optimization is starting to shrink. Unless you're trying to get into a hardcore group.

i enjoyed playing all three and yes i would level up a PLD first cause it's nice to have some of those cross abilities for a WAR. Both Provoke and Convalescence are nice to have. Whats great about PLD is that you have the best defense out of all tanks, you survive major attacks whereas other classes die

DRK is fun too and like WAR does good damage.

Thank you to everyone who answered my noob questions~ \(^_^)/ I think I'll start with PLD before doing too much more :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Seku

Snip.
War's don't waste time

---

I can't fault you on most of your post. Very on point. But I think I missed what I was saying on that one matter of wasting time.
The single most important goal of ALL tanks is to waste the enemies time. They get their role-name because they typically take hits, but all of the most immediate, self-sufficient forms of mitigating, denying and undoing enemy progress will fit the job. The best tank should draw the hits toward themselves without necessarily WANTING to take them.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gist

Yay, thank you all for answering my questions~ <3

My goal is eventually going to be getting all classes to 60 (though not i190, my WHM is already enough work as it is XD). Would there be a good "order" to level each tank in?

I appreciate the simple playstyle of what the PLD seems to have, and I want to be The Tank and be able to take all the damage. :^) BUT, I've recently been expected to have DPS over 700 when I'm playing WHM. Am I going to be expected to DPS as a tank when that's not the role I queued for?

---

You will be. However, it's worth noting that, if you do your tank rotation properly, you will have no issues doing good damage.