Basic Tank Etiquette

So my main is Dragoon at the moment. I leveled up Marauder to 15 because I thought I needed it for Dragoon but it turns out I didn't. Just to kind of spice things up a little, I'm thinking I may continue with the Marauder and learn the way of the tank. Might help me see the bigger picture better to play in another role than DPS for a while.

I'm nervous about doing an actual dungeon though because I don't know what I'm doing. If it's something that can be put simply... what are some of the little things as tank of a group that I need to keep in mind? Stuff that when you're playing with a bad tank, you notice immediately? Maybe vent with some stories so I can learn what to do, and what NOT to do. :D

Also, are all tank classes/jobs built similarly? Will I be in over my head with Marauder (and whatever Marauder turns into) or should I start with something else?

Appreciate any insights!

When you get into a dungeon just tell the party that you've never tanked it before. Good chance if there's something you need to know, someone will tell you.

For marauder specifically, be aware that Overpower only hits enemies in a cone in front of you (the other tanks all have full circle AoEs.) If an enemy is behind you or too far off to the side then you might lose aggro on it (or never get it in the first place.) Aside from that there isn't much else to worry about right now. At lower levels you only only have a few abilities and there aren't any complicated tank mechanics. The game is pretty good at easing you into mechanics and teaching you everything as you level.

If you haven't already, go through the Hall of the Novice (you can access it via the Sprout-like icon character in the inn areas of each of the main cities) as MRD; it'll walk you through a lot of the basics and give you a good set of gear that will last for several levels, not to mention the Brand New Ring if you haven't gotten it already (free exp boost for all classes/jobs lvl 30 and below).

On that note, make sure to keep your gear up to date as you level. This is important for all classes and jobs, but it's particularly important for tanks - weaker gear means you take more damage, which makes your job harder. Until level 50, try to keep gear within 5 levels of your current level if possible; post-level 50, shorten that to gear updates every 2 levels. Weapon is first priority, followed by body and leg armor, then head/hands/feet armor, then belt, then accessories. Also, at each previous expansion level cap (50, 60, 70), you can use Allagan Tomestones of Poetics to buy gearsets that will last you for several levels, and can be augmented to last until midway through each expansion (55, 65, 75), at least until you hit the current level cap of 80, where gearing up is a little different.

Keep tank stance (Marauder/Warrior's is Defiance) on pretty much at all times outside of 8-person content, where you'll need to coordinate with the other tank to decide who is off-tanking. Spam your AoE abilities if there are 3+ enemies (and as Brightamethyst noted, be careful with Overpower - it hits in a cone rather than all around you, so you kind of have to aim it), as that'll both do more damage and maintain your enmity lead. Use your defensive cooldowns - Rampart, Thrill of Battle, Arm's Length (it causes a slow effect that slows down enemy attacks, which is handy), Raw Intuition, etc. Don't use them all at once, but don't just sit on them either; they're not for emergencies, they're there for reducing the overall damage you're taking. Try popping one at a time and using the next when the first's effect runs out.

Marauder is a great starting point for tanking, but all tanks are pretty similar now, so play what you like. Marauder becomes Warrior at 30, just like Lancer becomes Dragoon - just make sure to do your class quests and job quest when it's available.

Dude...you're only level 15 lol. Relax, most of the do's and do not's will coke naturally or your party will most likely set you straight. I'll type up a few of the big guidelines though, just in case nobody tells you as you go about your journey.

1. Make sure your Tank stance is always on (unless there's a second, more experienced Tank in your party)

2. In mobs, overpower will be your best friend. Use this fairly often to hold aggro. Do not lose aggro under any circumstance.

3. Use your defensive skills (some people may refer to them as "cooldowns" or "CDs") often.

4. Always face enemies away from your party.

Thanks for all the tips guys.

Looking into it a bit more, I'm kinda interested in pursuing the Dark Knight when I get around to completing the ARR MSQ. Reading around (though I'm not sure what info is outdated or not) it sounds like it's beneficial to level up Gladiator and Marauder for the cross-class abilities... and I kind of like the idea of full circle AOE for building enmity anyways (if I have the lingo right lol) :p... so I may lean towards Gladiator/Paladin instead for now to learn with and then maybe jump to Dark Knight. Plus I'm more of a sword and shield guy anyways.

Any Gladiator tips you guys have for a newbie? (Thanks again! Sorry for all the questions and mind changing!)

Cross-class abilities have long been scrapped and are no longer part of the game (since the second expansion in fact), so that guide is indeed out of date. Instead we have what are called 'role abilities' which are learned automatically based on the role of your class/Job (tank, healer, magic ranged DPS, melee ranged DPS and melee DPS) and once you've learned them they can be used on any other class or Job of that role. This official page gives more information about the role ability system and the abilities you can use for the tank role.

As for Gladiator (GLA), it is a very good class to start as when learning to be a tank as it has a well balanced set of abilities that are easy to use with no real complicated gimmicks needed to function. GLA upgrades to Paladin (PLD) at level 30 which eventually gives you some 'holy' DPS spell casting and even a potent healing spell at higher levels, so it's a very good class and Job to have (it's been my main since I first started FFXIV back in the original 1.0 version ;)).

The only advice I can give is early on, when you learn Iron Will (what was formerly called 'Shield Oath') when in a party make sure that is up at all times as it boosts your hate enormously and thus keeps the enemy focused on you. Then it's just using your weaponskill combos, pulling enemies with Shield Lob, using your defensive buffs when they become available at later levels and just making sure the enemy is distracted with focusing on you instead of that squishy lalafell healer keeping you alive. ;) At higher levels you get extra abilites and spells to play with like Requiscat and Divine Veil but you needn't concern yourself with that right at the start.

Another point that does need to be made though about gaining hate. Your weaponskills are your main source of keeping the enemy focused on you, but GLA does get an ability also called 'Provoke' (or did, it's now a tank role ability so all other tank classes and Jobs can learn and use it too) which works a little differently - this ability is situational and only useful when someone else pulls more hate than you (determined by the party list no longer having an 'A' next to your name but a number), so what Provoke does, is it basically matches your hate with the person who has stolen hate from you, and then adds an extra point of hate to you, meaning it is vital to follow it up immediately with one of your weaponskill combos (Total Eclipse is a good one for this) otherwise the other person could steal agro from you again and thus making the whole thing moot. So just be aware of this and use this skill to your advantage.

Also, and this should go without saying, make sure your armour, sword and shield are up to date as they can make all the difference between success and failure (early on vendor gear is all you can really get as the first dungeon gear doesn't drop until level 15ish).

Either way, good luck soon-to-be-knight, you can do it! :D

Pretty much anything you read about cross-class skills on combat classes/jobs is outdated. They were phased out a while ago and now only apply to crafting. Cross-class skills have been replaced by role actions, which are learned naturally. No more need to level a certain class in preparation for a different one.

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

Cross-class abilities have long been scrapped and are no longer part of the game (since the second expansion in fact), so that guide is indeed out of date. Instead we have what are called 'role abilities' which are learned automatically based on the role of your class/Job (tank, healer, magic ranged DPS, melee ranged DPS and melee DPS) and once you've learned them they can be used on any other clas sor Job of that role. This official page gives more information about the role ability system and the abilities you can use for the tank role.

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Thank you for the info!

*sigh* I seem to be running into a lot of outdated stuff out in the wild.

Just wanted to follow up and say that I successfully tanked my first dungeon yesterday as a Gladiator! :D Other than a Lancer trying to outpace me the whole time, it was a lot of fun being the first into the fray (usually) and managing the pace (usually) and the enemies.

I definitely kept all of your tips in mind, so thank you for them! Learning the dungeons is going to be the most interesting part for sure.


EDIT: In particular I liked the tip about keeping enemies facing away from the team. Not only does that keep the abilities they do pointing comfortably away from any melee DPS in the group as they hack away (as long as it isn't a full circle around them)... but it'll probably make it easier for teammates to do their positional abilities in later levels. Pretty savvy little thing there!

Nice!

An addendum to the 'face enemies away from everyone else' rule, once you've pulled a group and you've positioned yourself appropriately, try not to move unless you have to. Dodge AoEs when you need to of course, but try to stand right back to where you were afterward. If you move around the enemies follow you, making it harder for melee DPS to hit positionals.

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Originally Posted by Brightamethyst

Nice!

An addendum to the 'face enemies away from everyone else' rule, once you've pulled a group and you've positioned yourself appropriately, try not to move unless you have to. Dodge AoEs when you need to of course, but try to stand right back to where you were afterward. If you move around the enemies follow you, making it harder for melee DPS to hit positionals.

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Yep, I did figure that piece on my own. ;)

I think the boss battles will take a bit of learning too. Like how to manage adds. I left my spot next to the big boss pretty quick in my one run so far to gather the adds because they spawned next to and immediately swarmed the healer... but what if it's like 1 or 2 that don't really move (ie. the things making the boss invincible in Tam-Tara Deepcroft) on the other side of the arena? Do I drag the boss/other adds with me or let the DPS go dispose of them quickly and take a few hits? Probably one of those "follow your gut" things.

It depends on the boss, and a lot of it is intuition and/or familiarity with a fight. A lot of times the adds on bosses don't need to be tanked at all though. Often you can keep focusing on the boss and just let the DPS burn down the adds.

If it's your first time tanking, I highly recommend running dungeons like Halatali specificially. That dungeon has a ton of wandering mobs that can get caught in your tanking and it lets you get a better handle on it especially with facing the mobs away from the party. A big reason I also say Halatali over Satasha/Copperbell Mines is the the dungeon is also much shorter then either of those. So if you're leveling a tank it gives you a quick run through of how to tank and what you need to look out for. If you feel daring you can also pull more then just one set of mob there, but I would only do that when you properly manage aggro/use your cooldowns, and let your healer know you will.

But the absolute most important thing to do when tanking is let people know that you're still learning. Cannot stress that enough and most people will adjust to you if you're having trouble and offer you advice.

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Originally Posted by Noitems

But the absolute most important thing to do when tanking is let people know that you're still learning. Cannot stress that enough and most people will adjust to you if you're having trouble and offer you advice.

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I only had time to sneak in one dungeon run yesterday after leveling Gladiator to 15+ ... but I did mention I was learning at the start, and I'll continue to til I have a better handle on everything. I like to think that's why the Lancer started running ahead though, trying to take matters into his own hands. :D "I'm not dealing with some new, crappy tank that's still learning... I'll just do it!"

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Originally Posted by TheForce

4. Always face enemies away from your party.

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This. And keep them facing that way. Was leveling monk over the weekend and I had plenty of low level tanks who would keep rotating mobs around when I was trying to flank, as if they were desperately trying to always face their back towards me. Don't do that ^^

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Originally Posted by RoyalBeef

This. And keep them facing that way. Was leveling monk over the weekend and I had plenty of low level tanks who would keep rotating mobs around when I was trying to flank, as if they were desperately trying to always face their back towards me. Don't do that ^^

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It can be a little tricky between trying to get aggro on a bunch of scattered enemies, recognizing where your teammates are, and where you need to pull enemies to in order to get things situated properly. Especially if teammates are impatient and all over the place themselves. Now I'm still new to this (haven't played much in the last week) and I'm still only tanking low level dungeons but sometimes the mobs are dead/near dead by the time I finally get the positioning right. :D