Choosing a tank class..

As the title states, i'm debating which tank class to sway towards as I've mainly been a DPS and healing role up until now. To those tank mains out there, what class do you prefer? And which would satisfy you the most?
I don't necessarily aim to go for anything specific but an overall great tanking experience.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

I mained paladin up to 3.5 and it's probably the easiest to play effectively. I only played warrior enough to get foresight and bloodbath. DRK is kinda above my skill level tbh, but it's super fun to play as OT eventhough it's not really built for it.

As I decided to level my warrior. I kinda fell in love with it. You get to see big numbers(11k crit fell cleave anyone). Aggro is very easy to maintain and the skill floor is between pld and drk.

I would recommend leveling pld first to get provoke, but that will all change with 4.0. Aggro is kinda bad until 40 on pld, but war/drk gets tank stance at 30.

Thanks for your reply Boris, i've decided to run as a Paladin as it seems to be a good all round class and I already have the cross class skills such as Foresight and Bloodbath.

I've tinkered with Dark knight and leveled it to 51 and enjoyed the maneuverability of the class as well as the overall DPS.

Also regarding the Paladin class, what would be the best method for maintaining aggro during dungeons and raids etc..?

I feel like we get this a lot on Tonberry Novice Network. 'What should I play and why?'

Answer is simple: There is no answer at this stage. Previously it would have been 'Not PLD!' for tank, or 'not WHM!' for heals. Which was when you are competing at endgame. None of that matters anymore. And -NO ONE- knows how 60-70 will go. Ask the bandwagon bards. All jobs are useful in all fights now.

Go for what feels right to you, and what brings you the most enjoyment. While there always exists a meta, a good party will find a way to compensate and turn use it to their weird advantage.

Depending on party comp, or if your using DF, usually open with shield lob and flash every pack your picking up if your pulling gate to gate. It's usually a good time to pop rampart as it will keep the healer from needing to heal you as you're running.

Then once you've gathered all mobs, circle of scorn, flash again, then just prioritize which mob to hit with the sword.

If your raiding primals and going to be MT, I recommend a countdown timer. If you have a nin in group, set it for 20 seconds for their huton, if not go with 10.

Pop shelltron pre pull, shield lob, circle of scorn, spirits within, shield swipe, then goring blade combo. HOWEVER, use fight or flight just before you finish the combo because CoS will come off CD, before FoF ends. You can also squeeze another goring in if you clip it just after 9 seconds left.

Apply RoH as needed to hold aggro, but usually the royal authority combo is enough

Oh and pops CD's as needed, lol.

Oh and the aboverall opener works for every dungeon boss as well.

Sorry can't edit on mobile.

I finally have all three tanks to 60, so I can offer some insight (yay!). Keep in mind, what I'm going to say is based on my own observations, and so is very subjective. Actual mileage may vary.

Paladin - I hate the story of PLD (especially compared to GLD's story, which was excellent), but if you can forgive that, it's a pretty handy tank class. It's easily the most defensive of the three tanks. It can be a little frustrating to watch the enemies' HP barely budge when you use a fully buffed Royal Authority (especially when comparing to the other tanks), but PLD makes up for it by having some utility that can help out the rest of the party, and by being able to actually effectively turtle tank (if you wanted to go that route--check with your group). Clemency, Stoneskin, and Protect add a great deal to your ability to contribute as a PLD, and can help save the group from a wipe. I usually use PLD on new content, simply because it has the greatest ability to support the party in my experience. It's also typically my go-to tank for dungeoning and raiding (though it can be a bit boring sometimes). Paladin also has the best ability of the three tanks to do snap mitigation.

Dark Knight - By contrast, DRK's story is excellent, and hit me right in the feels (though this was somewhat personal for me, and I know that most people won't get that same catharsis). DRK gameplay is interesting, and requires you to pay attention. I feel like I have a harder time juggling cooldowns as DRK, but that's probably just because I'm not as used to them as I am to PLD's. Dark Arts adds a very interesting dynamic, but sometimes makes it very easy to mess up (and somewhat difficult to recover from those mistakes--accidentally lost Darkside and you're out of luck for quite awhile). It does have a good bit of defense capability, but can't do snap mitigation as well as PLD can. DRK also isn't anywhere near as viscerally satisfying as WAR in terms of damage output, but you will notice things dying faster than if you were a PLD. DRK's Int debuff is also handy, but Int-based damage doesn't feels as prevalent as Str-based damage, so this loses to PLD's RoH debuff in my mind.

Warrior - Warrior is easily the most offense-oriented tank, and the one that rewards stance dancing the most. As such, you can output some very big numbers as WAR (Fell Cleavus is real). The job's ability to output damage is coupled by animations that are viscerally satisfying, which in my opinion just makes the job fun. The downside of this is that while WAR has the ability to keep decent mitigation up at all times, they can't do snap mitigation as well (unless they plan very carefully). This might have your healer cursing your existence, especially if you also have a macro that spams them to Esuna you after Berserk. I usually use WAR for Trials, because it helps them go a bit more quickly, and most Trials in the Trial Roulette don't have tankbusters severe enough to worry about snap mitigation (I just cry a little if I get The Chrysalis or Final Steps of Faith, and let the PLD or DRK tank). WAR also has the benefit of being the only tank where I can actually see my DPS contribution on the boss' HP bar.

I can't really speak to savage content, as I haven't raided that difficulty yet (outside of 2.x content), but I fully expect people to disagree with my opinions.

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Originally Posted by BorisDaBlade

Depending on party comp, or if your using DF, usually open with shield lob and flash every pack your picking up if your pulling gate to gate. It's usually a good time to pop rampart as it will keep the healer from needing to heal you as you're running.

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Don't try to "gather all the mobs" if you're new to this, or if your healer or DPS are new to their roles. It can end very badly.

Stick to pulling each pack and finishing it off until you know how to manage threat enough to be sure that when you do chain pull, some of them won't peel off and eat the other people of your party on your merry way to the next gate. There is nothing worse than a chain pulling tank that doesn't know enmity buildup and management... It is an extremely common thing to see in just about every MMO when you encounter 'new' tanks trying to copy an experience-player's move before they are ready to.

Anytime you see a 'flower' - new or returning player icon - above your healer (and sometimes above a DPS), revert back to single pack pulls until you're sure of their ability.

I'm a warrior main so I'm completely biased, I think Warrior is the Swiss army knife of tanks, good at just about everything you need us to do in the hands of a skilled player. Need us to off tank? We can totally shine as OT and have tons of utility. Need us to main tank? We can hold the line there. Need a high dps opener? We can open the fight then swap with the MT.

At lower levels it's easier for DRK and WAR to hold hate, and PLD doesn't get shield oath until 40, so keep that in mind. Unless you're already a skilled tank, holding aggro as a gladiator can be very unfun.

PLD has a lot of solid mitigation, it's very reliable, and easy to play (though more difficult to really make it shine).

DRK also has great raid utility and holding hate is a total joke. Unleash and dark arts power slash (single target, bosses) and abyssal drain make the mobs yours forever.

For me, WAR is favorite job overall but I enjoy running roulettes with big packs on DRK.

And I would also like to testify that Fell Cleavus is real. The sheer satisfaction of a triple Fell Cleave hitting for 15K per cleave is indescribable.

I've been away since 3.1. It sounds like nothing's really changed in the tank balance. Is that about right?

Personally I always preferred PLD because it was the most straightforward. It makes it better for guys like me who come and go a lot or play a bunch of different classes. Also I'm not doing any Savage content and little PvP so the DPS differences in the tanks is more about convenience.

Paladin for me - soft spot for the good ole Sword'n'Board, likely because I played ProtWarrior in WoW for donkeys years. It's arguably the best go-to as a first timer, even if you don't wish to level it to max (Provoke), so I'd always recommend starting there and seeing if you gel with it. Rule of thumb for me has always been to at least try classes up to 30 -- I already have my main three (WHM/PLD/MNK - ironic as all three are at the brunt of certain criticisms, but that's the point - you should play what you enjoy, not what everyone else tells you to). Only you can decide whether you enjoy X or Y, and it's not like FFXIV doesn't allow you to test them ALL on your character.

I main a WAR, and am fine and dandy with doing so, but if I could take anything from the PALs it would be a stun I can use every GCD cycle. That would be nice in so many different dungeons and trash pull situations. I generally prefer my DPS, but sometimes, being a PAL just seems like it would be easier.

Eg. of above would be stunning those exploding AoE gummies in Sohm Al (60) - you occasionally get DPS who just truck into random mobs, leaving the gummies enough time and space to cast, so hey, rotate some Shield Slams into them and voila, not a concern. Does it make up for completely lacking DPS? No, given a stun with no cooldown is situational at best in dungeons - but hey, nothing wrong with having some extra tools to use.

I'm not an expert by no means. I have PLD to 50 but been playing DRK since Heavensward.
What i can say is a bit inconsequential but i would really like to stress how much i love living dead skill
There are some very few fights when you pop living dead just to gain those couple of seconds, with a dead healer, that the group requires to down boss.
Shortly after you die.. like some epic warrior having fulfilled his ultimate purpose.

Yeah i know.. it's not exactly a reason to choose a class over another :)

After some consideration I finally decided to run as a PLD. I came to this conclusion because I felt that it has all of the necessary utilities.
I know it may not have an extremely high damage output compared to other tank classes but it still seems to be able to hold it's own.
After i've nailed the tanking mindset and rotations i'll definitely be moving on to test drive the rest. Though so far so good! It's been a nice transition from mainly DPS and tanking dungeons/raids etc has been a joy so far.
I appreciate the advice everyone has given, it's definitely made a huge impact on my decision!

A solid choice. Levelling as a PLD isn't actually all that bad. Lacking DPS was only really noticeable in certain circumstances eg. inability to comfortably AoE grind in any capacity (which is not the same as 'AoE tanking until stuff eventually dies'), but mono-e-mono you have the CD's and off-GCDs to pummel everything pretty quickly. Given you'll be enjoying instant dungeon queues, there's not much to worry about. If all else fails, you'll unlock provoke and any other PLD skills you can make use of as other tanks later whether you decide to main it or not, so it's always a decent way to start as a tank-minded player and easy-to-play as well.

I have always liked Warrior because of their damage capability but do not know where they stand now in that regard. Paladin is a bit boring and dark knight although very cool seems very convoluted. You really have to pay attention as a Warrior though. You can't just tank everything with your face.

I remember doing Turn 5 for the first time as a Warrior, I was MT. It was hard to stay alive if I did not use Inner Beast immediately following a Death Sentence.

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Originally Posted by BorisDaBlade

If your raiding primals and going to be MT, I recommend a countdown timer. If you have a nin in group, set it for 20 seconds for their huton, if not go with 10.

Pop shelltron pre pull, shield lob, circle of scorn, spirits within, shield swipe, then goring blade combo. HOWEVER, use fight or flight just before you finish the combo because CoS will come off CD, before FoF ends. You can also squeeze another goring in if you clip it just after 9 seconds left.

Apply RoH as needed to hold aggro, but usually the royal authority combo is enough

Oh and pops CD's as needed, lol.

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Best to have it at 23-25 seconds. Those few extra seconds gives the NIN breathing room to toss Shadewalker. Doing it at 20, the NIN's Mudras won't be ready on the pull by a second or two, since the Mudra timer resets on each Mudra activation.

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Originally Posted by Delorean

I have always liked Warrior because of their damage capability but do not know where they stand now in that regard. Paladin is a bit boring and dark knight although very cool seems very convoluted. You really have to pay attention as a Warrior though. You can't just tank everything with your face.

I remember doing Turn 5 for the first time as a Warrior, I was MT. It was hard to stay alive if I did not use Inner Beast immediately following a Death Sentence.

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I'd have to disagree. WAR is by far the easiest tank class, and even the easiest class to perform well with in the game. With it's short yet powerful cooldowns, you're hardly even punished as hard for blowing them early and if you needed a CD and all of your options were expended, you would just IB. The class is a 5 button wonder that gets the best results for the least amount of effort expended. (Hur dur Storm's Eye > BB > Fell Cleave on cooldown.)

PLD at the very least needs to put thought on when to use Goring and its OGCDs aswell as struggle against its own poor design(lul).

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Originally Posted by Delorean

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Originally Posted by FallenWings

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It depends. WAR is definitely the most pug friendly tank, since you are capable of self-sufficiently maximizing your performance no matter how poorly the rest of your party plays. It is the least needy job in the game and so people that otherwise play very poorly (NINs that don't Shadewalker, ranged that don't Quell, a fellow WAR co tank that spams BB, or a SCH that doesn't hop out of cleric to shield for busters, for instance) will think you are just the bees knees.

DRK (and to a lesser extent PLD) on the other hand, really require team coordination to maximize, and if you try and play optimally on DRK in a pug group that isn't prepared to coordinate things like shields, tank swaps, and aggro management, bad things are going to happen and their dumb asses are going to blame you.

TL;DR WAR permits your group to play poorly as a team and ignore a lot of their utilities, whereas the other tanks force everyone to use their tools to the fullest if they want to get an optimal run.

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Originally Posted by SyzzleSpark

It depends. WAR is definitely the most pug friendly tank, since you are capable of self-sufficiently maximizing your performance no matter how poorly the rest of your party plays. It is the least needy job in the game and so people that otherwise play very poorly (NINs that don't Shadewalker, ranged that don't Quell, a fellow WAR co tank that spams BB, or a SCH that doesn't hop out of cleric to shield for busters, for instance) will think you are just the bees knees.
...
TL;DR WAR permits your group to play poorly as a team and ignore a lot of their utilities, whereas the other tanks force everyone to use their tools to the fullest if they want to get an optimal run.

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Thing is....people read stuff like this, and think WAR's are gods, and no matter how FUBAR they play, we'll handle it no sweat. Reality says that fails miserably, because a lot of WAR meta is based on forum myths.

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Originally Posted by FallenWings

I'd have to disagree. WAR is by far the easiest tank class, and even the easiest class to perform well with in the game.

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I'd have to disagree, simply because both WAR and DRK have something PLD does not - currency that can be spent either offensively or defensively.
While the toolkit of WAR is in no means harder to utilize than PLD, it's the management of Wrath stacks that make or break a good WAR.

Stacks aren't really a resource that you "manage" per se. Everything costs exactly five stacks. Your resource management ability largely hinges on your ability to count to five. You then either perform your high damage single target move, or your high damage AoE move. You can learn to play WAR HUDless if you know how to count in your head (this is pretty good practice, in fact).

Part of the problem is that the Deliverance stack moves introduced in HW are significantly better than the Defiance stack moves. In ARR, Inner Beast forced you to think about whether to spend your stacks immediately for offense, or to hold them for mitigation a few gcds later. With the introduction of Fell Cleave, you don't really want to spend your stacks on Inner Beast if you can avoid it, and you have so many other defensive cooldowns with such short recasts that you generally can find ways around using it. Outside of progression, it's pretty much just a safety net for when you mismanage your defensive cooldowns. I would be surprised if Steel Cyclone gets used any more with Decimate available. Unchained is interesting, especially if you were actually forced to use Defiance for a section of a fight, but more often it tends to be relegated the role of enmity grab.

Most of WAR's gameplay hinges around Berserk windows every 90 seconds, much like PLD hinges around FoF windows every 90 seconds. The entirety of both jobs depends on how well you place and execute these relatively fixed rotations.

If you want to give WAR a more interesting resource management system, you need to introduce variable costs. Introduce some abilities that cost 1-2 stacks. Bring back stack penalties for changing stances. Don't give away stacks so freely. Promote defensive stack usage, either by making IB required, or adding stack costs to some other defensive abilities. Perhaps make the passive effects of the stacks more desirable, forcing you to stay above a certain threshold. Force the player to think carefully about whether they want to spend their stacks now aggressively, or whether to hold them defensively for a necessary ability in a few gcds.

But Wrath stacks most certainly are a resource that will require management when playing WAR at "peak" level in progression. Even if every ability costs 5 stacks, the management is in the decision making.
You don't sit on stacks too long because it will lower your damage, but you don't use Fel Cleave whenever you get 5 stacks either, because you might not have enough for Inner Beast when the next tankbuster hits.
And there is also the timing of defensive abilities to take into considerations that will grants you additional stacks that you don't want to go to waste.

But that's the point. WAR has the shortest recasts on their defensive abilities of any tank. There's usually a way to avoid spending stacks on Inner Beast, and it usually means that you're playing sub-optimally if you do.

Generally speaking, Raw Intuition is the only defensive cooldown that gets tied up by Berserk. Both are on a 90 second recast. The Vengeance stack is essentially free, unless you're trying to reset Infuriate prior to your opener. If you need to use Raw Intuition defensively, you just adjust your swaps so that the Berserk window syncs up with the damage. But the recasts on Vengeance and Holmgang are so absurdly short that this is usually more of a bonus.

Someone (a many a few others) have made it clear we don't know what 60-70 plus the new battle system has in store; so you should reserve making that decision IFFF YOUR DECISION IS BASED ON PLAY-STYLE AND COMPOSITIONS.

If however other aspects of the tanks influences your sway then there are a ton of ideas you can settle in your mind now. For certain SE will not COMPLETELY change the Lore/play style behind each tank.

Warrior will be berserker savage
Dark Knight will be mysteriously magical
Paladin will be Holy white knight

There play styles will most definitely stick close to their lore.

Yes WAR has the shortest recast on their defensive abilities, but that does not mean IB is disregarded, it's one of the most reliable mitigation tools offered when playing WAR.
This is basically what managing the stacks is about, sometimes you need Inner Beast, other times you don't, sometimes you use it just to be safe.
This all depends on what content you are doing, who you are doing it with, and how well the fight is going. Different circumstances means different adaptations might be necessary.

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Originally Posted by Ayuris

This is basically what managing the stacks is about, sometimes you need Inner Beast, other times you don't, sometimes you use it just to be safe.

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You actually just never use IB. If you use your stacks for anything in Defiance it's for Unchained to have the extra healing received/health boon until you go back into Deliverance. To be fair there was stack management in 2.0 and in early 3.0 I was personally excited about Deliverance because (at the time) it seemed like another layer to stack management - now you need to decide when you should be in Defiance and when you should be in Deliverance and plan your stacks accordingly! Warrior's gonna be even more fun! But then it turned out Defiance was useless, especially when raids got easier and easier. Then the VIT changes came along and people thought this would mean bosses would do more damage to compensate, but it turns out they do the same damage and there's even less reason to be in Defiance.

Anyway, I'm hoping stack management returns in 4.0, but for now you're basically just a Fell Cleave bot that sometimes presses defensive CDs.

e: Just read Lyth's post and they basically covered what I said, but since the post I'm replying to takes place after that... I feel like maybe you may have misunderstood it so hopefully this helps a bit.

I agree that is not as necessary as in the earlier days. I've read Lyth's posts, but the fact is still that Inner Beast can be life saving when healers are lagging behind.
In an ideal group of experienced players the usage of IB wouldn't be necessary, but it's not unusual getting PF groups that struggle, and that's when you "might" need to adapt.

Paladin for ease. I like having a regen effect from healers on me at all times. Just habitual since playing old MMO's.

DK if you want to challenge your healer. They don't get any kind of regen, but Astro's and Scholar's can handle this with respective, defense buffs.


Yes the DK looks like a bad ass holding a zweinhander, but sword and board always looks good to me.

Warriors - Don't like em, tons of health very little utility. While it does feel like the older brother of the DK, the DK is Michael Jordan, while the War is Pippen.