STR vs. VIT for leveling

I know this is the popular topic of late, but as someone looking to level a tank class, I would appreciate some input on what my stat focus should be while leveling from baby dungeons through to 50. Seems traditional tank accessories are getting frowned on for lack of a better term. So wanted to know if I should focus on STR, VIT or hybrid the two, and which of them is most viable.

VIT. It will make things go much smoother, even with a not so good healer. Also, the synch function on low level dungeons is quite strong, so you won't have problems keeping aggro with full VIT equips.

Level in VIT gear - add some STR gear if you have enmity issues (but that usually ends up being because of an underlevel weapon) put your bonus into STR; at lv60 begin to slowly swap to mostly STR as you get up towards i180+ while figuring out/meeting the threshold HP requirement for your typical healers (13.5k-16k) and you'll be golden.

Actually, STR is the better option pre-50. One reason is your enmity toolset is limited and some jobs get their big DPS boosts early on so enmity generated through DPS is a bit more critical, another reason is the stat differences don't stand out large enough to matter till 50 when you're ilv can jump up 80 levels instantly. Even then, unless your doing something that would be considered "end-game" for pre-Heavensward content, or you just happen to just make the minimum level for a post 50 dungeon your doing you don't really have to worry about HP too much.

Strength.
You get plenty of HP by being up on left-side stuff and the weapon. Hate is the hardest thing you have to deal with. There are a couple level ranges where it's nearly impossible against some synced players.
Anyone that gets hit with level-sync will be rocking the maximum ilevel for the dungeon. If you're in a level-appropriate dungeon it's very hard to do that yourself.

Vit is going to be most appropriate right when you hit 50 and again when you hit 60 since it's easier to hit content you're relatively undergeared for.

I levelled my tanks in full STR because I wanted to do more damage when doing stuff like quests, leves, hunting logs and FATEs, and I never felt squishy or whatever in dungeons and never got any complaint from healers. But it honestly doesn't matter at low level, the difference in HP between the two is really small. The difference in DPS is small too but more noticeable. Take whatever you're the most comfortable with.

I'd say it depends on the tank job you want to level.
GLA/PLD has a lot of trouble holding hate below 50. Any little bit of STR you can get helps making it easier, and you can shield through dmg intense phases/hits with your defensive cooldowns, so having less VIT is not a problem, even with weak healers.

DRK and WAR don't suffer from the same problem, so you can smoothen things out with more VIT. I personally went full STR on both build and accessories (and even a bit on the left equipment side) and still didn't have any trouble. I even regularly asked my healers if they felt I was taking too much dmg or if healing me was stressful, but they all replied that it wasn't the case, so...VIT would have been a waste.
But if you feel uncomfortable with a smaller HP pool, it's fine to go for VIT instead :)
Just not as GLA..xD

The VIT and STR is less important - almost iirelevant - to low level gearing as there's a far worse problem I've seen of tanks leveling their low lvl DRK.

Scale Mail, Elmos, Sallets, Mitt Gloves.

These are not tanking gears.

Every 5 lvls tanks can upgrade between plate armors and heavy plate armors. Use that and upgrade to the next batch every 5 lvls. Doing that with all STR Accessory right side is perfectly fine. PDEF/MDEF is what matters. And that Scale armor does not have it, so tanks should consider their healers.

The Scale Mail and Elmos and such, wish they'd just make them DRG exclusive. It's not for tanking. Fate grinding, fair - because it doesn't matter. But dungeon running, be considerate and wear the right stuff.

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Originally Posted by Xenosan

Scale Mail, Elmos, Sallets, Mitt Gloves.

These are not tanking gears.

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For lower levels (Steel Scale and Horn Scale gear, the level 32 and 38 sets), these are actually as much tank gear as heavy armor. At the level where you can equip them, they are the best tank gear option available. It starts being squishy DRG gear only with the level 41 scale set. Anything before that gives tank def/mdef values.

For accessories: Either, just not neither.

For armor: Defense and Magic Defense over both (these account for more mitigation than either STR of VIT will provide, which will make you less squishy).

For weapons: Weapon damage.

For shields*: Kite > Scutum > Hoplon
*in my experience

For sockets: Don't bother.

Rotate your cooldowns, rotate targets for enmity combo, and stay in your tank "stance" and you'll do fine.

As long as you're not skipping a plate upgrade because you went with a scale set 2-3 lvls before reaching the next tier that's fine. But those sets do have a lower PDEF/MDEF rating per iLVL than plate so you're not gettign as much bang for your buck. Realistically I wouldn't expect someone to upgrade every 3 > 2 > 3 > 2 lvls but if they do, great

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Originally Posted by Xenosan

As long as you're not skipping a plate upgrade because you went with a scale set 2-3 lvls before reaching the next tier that's fine. But those sets do have a lower PDEF/MDEF rating per iLVL than plate so you're not gettign as much bang for your buck. Realistically I wouldn't expect someone to upgrade every 3 > 2 > 3 > 2 lvls but if they do, great

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When a level 32 pink scale armor drops at Brayflox longstop, it's still an upgrade if you don't have the green set yet. Same at Cutters Cry. The level 38 pink scale set is better than the level 35 full plate set. Most people wear these scale sets because that's what dropped for them. And that's fine. It only becomes a problem if they wear the level 41 scale gear, which is then weaker than the level 38 horn scale gear because it's actually becoming full blown DRG armor with low magic defense.

Your job first and foremost is to deal damage to grab attention.
3.0 has made everyone who's overleveled/overgear stronger in lower level content, further worsening the gap in power between you who is likely to be the appropriate level and typically geared in normal quality whites and pinks compared to those 50 levels higher in all blues.

Go Strength. Make sure you can hold threat. You cannot use your defenses if you're being ignored.

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Originally Posted by Freyyy

full blown DRG armor with low magic defense.

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Tortoiseshell Scale Mail disagrees with your proposition, but is an outlier in your generalized statement. It's easily overlooked because it's functionally useless if you're playing a class that has AF, but it's worthwhile for DRK who does not.

Anyway, there's no law that says you have to stack all VIT or all STR, but I certainly had more fun playing my tanks like I was a fat DPS 1-50. STR all the way to the finish line, if you ask me.

If you decide to go strength for leveling and have crafted strength accessories just think about melding a vit 2 into each of them.
Keeping Agro is important, Strength is nice, Being well geared is good. Just don't forget to consider your healer some may be new or under geared its leveling after all.
Generally speaking my tanking friends would always go 3 vit 2 strength accessories for leveling, and if they needed more vit because the healer was having a hard time they would swap to more vit.

Grab all the tank gear near your level on the left.

For accessories. Don't even bother worrying about it. Just equip what you can get in drops whether it be STR or VIT. A mix is gonna be fine, there's really no need to go out of your way to get a full set of either. If you crafting it, just go ahead and grab up the VIT gear and spec STR. It's a bit safer in the levels where people are still figuring out abilities and haven't yet started to hone their craft.

Just make sure you rotating cooldowns and not spamming them. Try to use a CD towards the beginning of a group too so that your getting the maximum mitigation out of it while there is the most mobs.

Don't be afraid to pop hallowed ground/holmgang/living dead! These abilities are there for a reason! If you even think you might go down use it. If anything it'll allow the healer to stabilize HP and possibly get some DPS going while your taking no damage. Additionally they will be able to save some MP and possibly be even more ready for the next pull. This is one of the biggest mistakes around level 50 that I see tanks doing.

Firstly, just use whatever you get because you'll out level it all soon enough.

Secondly, use STR because it will improve your DPS, making the dungeon quicker and helping you keep aggro.

VIT is largely a useless stat if you have a half competent healer and know what you're doing. Especially lower level dungeons where it really doesn't matter who's tanking because the mobs hit for so little.

If you're planning to do a lot of Duty Finder leveling, I'd recommend VIT accessories with your points put in STR. You can't always be sure of your healers with the luck of the draw, so the VIT will allow for smoother runs in the long run. Depending on your class, you might benefit more from STR. PLD has trouble with hate to some degree before picking up Shield Oath at 40, and they have additional mitigation from their shield.

More than anything though, as others have recommended, keep your left side gear current, especially after level 30. That's the most important thing.

If you cant affort HQ gears all the way from the get-go, better stack up on STR.
The Synched down DPSes can be quite a pain to tank for, even in Sastasha...

Split it while leveling. Will make your life easier on all ends. As you get more comfortable start transferring it to str as you feel necessary. Gear is wholly irrelevant to argue over. Most of it gets replaced in hours of getting it. Just grab whatever the best stuff you an wear at the time that emphasizes vit and defense and try to minimize pieces 9 or more levels below your current class level and you'll be fine. Gearing isn't really relevant until end game and until then its kind of trivial. As far as accessories, just split them if you can.

VIT, because at low levels its actually very powerful until you reach level 52. Then go strength.

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Originally Posted by Atoli

I'd say it depends on the tank job you want to level.
GLA/PLD has a lot of trouble holding hate below 50.

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PLD shouldn't have trouble after level 40 when they get Shield Oath. 30-40 are probably the absolute worst levels for Paladins. Personally, I level in full STR because I hate feeling like I'm hitting things with a wet noodle when I have to do solo encounters, and I don't want to have to carry around 2 complete sets of accessories for whatever level I'm at because my armory chest is already overflowing.

For 1-50 it doesn't really matter whether you use str or vit accessories. (or even both)

3 Strength and 2 Vitality accessories (with all ability points in STR) depending on what they have for secondary stats is a good place to start. Whether you're just starting out or are nearing 60 there's going to always be someone better geared than you; and if they know their job extremely well.....they're going to wreak havoc on you even when they try not to do so. STR, CRIT, and DET are there to offset the difficulty you'll face against these kinds of players. Most people forget the fact that new players or those near the end of leveling have to put up with people that have reached the end-game for quite a while now in terms of equipment and skill ceiling. Tanks explicitly rely on their equipment to do their job, not just effectively, but satisfactorily at best as well and this further emphasizes the need for STR equipment while climbing up to a certain item level.

Another thing players need to realize is that tanks doing massive pulls are at the end-game content and have a cushion to fall on with their equipment. Leveling players, in my mind, are just fine doing smaller pulls. The content really should take longer as you level, because it's there to teach you pacing, cooldown management, stance switching, ability usage, etc.

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Originally Posted by Nektulos-Tuor

VIT, because at low levels its actually very powerful until you reach level 52. Then go strength.

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All it does is give you a bigger HP pool, which is kind of pointless unless you do massive pulls and have a healer that can heal that many HP.
Like several people already said, defensive gear is important to reduce dmg taken, but VIT is just an extra cushion to fall on if all else fails so it's a waste of potential unless you feel too uncomfortable without the extra safety.

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Originally Posted by Ashkendor

PLD shouldn't have trouble after level 40 when they get Shield Oath.

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While Shield Oath is very useful in keeping hate, getting the first AoE skill at 50 had a lot more impact on me. Even with Shield Oath, Flash and rotating targets for threat combos, there is no way you can keep hate on really big pulls when BLMs and the like let loose right away. But hitting everything once with a nice AoE and applying DoTs on all the targets helps a lot to eastablish that initial threat that you can reinforce with your other abilities/skills afterwards.

Wow. Thanks a lot everyone. Appreciate all the input. First time I'll be giving tanking a go in an MMO. :D

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Originally Posted by Bourne_Endeavor

Wow. Thanks a lot everyone. Appreciate all the input. First time I'll be giving tanking a go in an MMO. :D

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You're absolutely welcome--and welcome to tanking! It can be a blast, but also really stressful. Just take it easy, read guides, and communicate, and you'll be fine. Good luck in there!

Oh yeah! Also, if you can help it, do not stack in parry at all. This version of parry is the single most horrible defensive stat in all MMO. Do not conserve wrath for it. Don't stack it for DRK.

Parry in FF14 blocks 20% of the little amount of hits it blocks. Thanks to the game not saying what the actual rate is vs. the same level, in addition to how often it pops, it is not worth anything and is just awful.

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Originally Posted by Atoli

While Shield Oath is very useful in keeping hate, getting the first AoE skill at 50 had a lot more impact on me. Even with Shield Oath, Flash and rotating targets for threat combos, there is no way you can keep hate on really big pulls when BLMs and the like let loose right away. But hitting everything once with a nice AoE and applying DoTs on all the targets helps a lot to eastablish that initial threat that you can reinforce with your other abilities/skills afterwards.

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Unless you got to 50 only very recently, CoS didn't even generate enmity beyond what initial damage it dealt. Increased enmity was added in 2.4. I mean, I guess it was still an oGCD AoE, I just don't see how it would help more than Shield Oath.

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Originally Posted by Ashkendor

I just don't see how it would help more than Shield Oath.

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I never said it was more useful than Shield Oath (or at least didn't mean it if it sounded that way?), I'm just saying that while Shield Oath alone is nice, PLD still has trouble again hasty AoE-heavy dps until he has Shield Oath PLUS CoS.

(and I actually got PLD to 50 in 1.0, back when everything was different and weird xD I was just talking about the threat from dmg dealt + DoT, the added enmity+ just makes it even nicer now)

If you are pretty good with using defensive Cooldowns, you can use more strength than vitality. Since you are new to tanking, you may err on getting more vitality. Not every healer you play with in duty finder is going to be super great at healing strength tanks, so you may have to put on more vitality to make the run smoother. I do advise trying to get highest level left-sided gear and weapon available (HQ if they are reasonably priced) if you are going to tank dungeons. Having good gear gives you more Vitality and Strength which can help you play better.

While leveling I would go vit. Not because it's easier but because you don't know how well the healer is going to be geared. When you hit 60 I would go strength though.

All extra points into STR. Go full STR if you're not doing large pulls and keep your gear up to date. No healer should have trouble keeping you alive from 1-50 in those conditions unless they suck or you're getting hit consistently by telegraphed attacks. In which case the VIT isn't really going to do much for you.

If you're doing large pulls split between STR and VIT on accessories or make the overmelds. When you've got your cool down rotations learned and you have a healer that is up to date on their gear (mainly their weapon) switching out the vit for str.

I haven't tried this with my warrior, and I'm definitely not doing it with my dark knight, but I've put all my points in strength in pally since level 10, and it's worked out ok. I've never felt particularly squishy, but I always had the most up to date equipments.

>_> Just go STR. VIT is useless.

















OK if I'm your healer, it's ok to go full STR.

All STR, all tanks, all the time, until SE changes something drastically. Vit is beyond useless. It's actively detrimental because it reduces the effectiveness of your self-heals.