Best tank for SHB ex/savage content

Hello my fellow meat shields!

I recently came upon this thread: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ons-WAR-vs-DRK

This thread largely focuses on who is the best tank for running dungeons and there is pretty interesting talk on the topic.

But it got me wondering: who, in your opinion, is the best tank for current ex/savage content and why?

I'm guessing it's not GNB, because he's kinda squishy (imho). GNB might be the best OT though because of it's dps.

Discuss.

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Originally Posted by Hartwin

I'm guessing it's not GNB

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You would be surprised.

Free yourself from the MT/OT mentality. Sure, one tank will handle the boss longer than the other one, but at the end of the day - to use both tanks' CDs in most efficent way - both tanks will handle the boss.

You also have to differ between every floor, instead just x tank is the to-go job for every single one.

What do you even define as "best"? DPS, survivability, party utility?

For E1s and E2s DRK is actually very good.
Because Eden Primes raid aoe is %-based, TBN is really good, while all the other mitigation tool are doomed to fail. The tank lasers and tank buster dot are also both magical, Dark Mind is very helpful - especially for the dot.
Voidwalker only has magical attacks and busters, so once again Dark Mind is very helpful.

Shake it Off and Divine Veil are great mitigation tools in E1s, similar to TBN, they shield the party from the %-based aoe.
WAR can actually heal themselves throught the E1s tank buster dot, Holmgang then heal through the first and second Megalith in E4s - tho most parties prefer only the first to lessen the CD usage in the last phase.

In E4s PLD can take the first hit of the last Stonecrusher, then Hallowed Ground the 2nd and 3rd hit plus the Megalith buster solo if timed well - not recommended tho.

GNB in general is very strong in DPS, has the same party utility as DRK (Dark Missionary vs Heart of Light), and as you have guessed a strong OT that supports you with Aurora. Brutal Shell shield is just a niche bonus.

PLD Intervention is good when the other tank has to save CDs, they can boost it with Rampart and/or Sentinel. e.g. Megalith in E4s P2 or other shared busters. This frees the "MT" to use their CDs for AAs/raidwides, and PLD can take over for the rest of thier CD duration (if possible, e.g. not possible in E4s or E3s).

Dark Knight + Paladin, absolutely no contest. Gunbreaker is *fine* and does provide a good chunk more DPS than PLD/DRK but you lose out on either significant party utility with PLD or unrivaled mitigation with DRK.

The "good chunk" of DPS ala 3% won't matter so PLD and DRKs output are more than fine and inline with GNB but they hold overall better defensive kits which is what you bring a tank for.

WAR and GNB also do fine. No tank is a wrong choice here and the only time the minor differences in kit will matter is for bleeding edge world first race.

For overall ability to have the largest impact in pug PF or Dungeons; play PLD. The ability to self heal with clemency is a powerful clutch tool no other tank has and PLD has a suitable defensive kit for dungeons and trials despite having the weakest personal mitigation kit.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hartwin

Hello my fellow meat shields!

I recently came upon this thread: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ons-WAR-vs-DRK

This thread largely focuses on who is the best tank for running dungeons and there is pretty interesting talk on the topic.

But it got me wondering: who, in your opinion, is the best tank for current ex/savage content and why?

I'm guessing it's not GNB, because he's kinda squishy (imho). GNB might be the best OT though because of it's dps.

Discuss.

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The Player Skill is best Tank

WAR+DRK is going to give your healers crippling anxiety bc of their invulns. lmao

War + war
Screaming at the boss will make him enrage later. :p

It's so close between the 4 tanks at the moment that you can realistically take any combination of the 4.

If you play all 4 tanks and are even slightly better at 1 than the others, then that will be the best tank to play.

PLD + GNB, as much as people will point out DRK GNB as an OT can cover PLDs lack of a cooldown at the very start and you know... hallowed ground is still a thing alongside having a burst that is ranged unlike all other tanks.
DRK is a good sub for GNB... but WAR really only has a place if you need/want the fast cooldown on a tank invuln. Every other tank just is better than WAR so you can play it... I just don't see why outside of personal preference.

in my opinion, WAR has the overlooked benefit that it grants the player the most freedom to pay attention to other things in a fight while still maintaining optimized damage. As the tank with the lowest APM, you can focus more of your attention to the actual fight itself. GNB, on the other hand, can become overwhelming when both your GF combo and NM become available-- a very common occurrence. Imagine having to weave in defensives while dealing with positioning ONTOP of maintaining optimal damage as GNB during NM windows, it's just not as easy as with WAR.

On a max min perspective id say PLD and GNB, but realistically speaking its just better to swap GNB for DRK because its far more tankier and since the ShB tank damage nerf the tank dps contribution has sunk so much its not worth the loss of survivality.

PLD reign supreme on this expansion though, is just that good right now. WAR is viable but not good compared to DRK which has better tankyness and around the same damage (depending on raid buffs a bit better even) output

They're all used in all kinds of content. Right now, they're fairly well balanced.

That being said, WAR and DRK and the more defensive of the two, PLD and and GNB are the more offensive, in terms of raw numbers anyway, but its so close it really doesnt matter much.

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Originally Posted by Hierro

in my opinion, WAR has the overlooked benefit that it grants the player the most freedom to pay attention to other things in a fight while still maintaining optimized damage. As the tank with the lowest APM, you can focus more of your attention to the actual fight itself. GNB, on the other hand, can become overwhelming when both your GF combo and NM become available-- a very common occurrence. Imagine having to weave in defensives while dealing with positioning ONTOP of maintaining optimal damage as GNB during NM windows, it's just not as easy as with WAR.

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Its overlooked because newer players learning fights sure can definately learn faster, but experienced players get skull bored quickly playing WAR.

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Originally Posted by BarretOblivion

Its overlooked because newer players learning fights sure can definately learn faster, but experienced players get skull bored quickly playing WAR.

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I don't know, I'm still pretty entertained myself so probably not the best thing to just lump all experienced players together.

the only real need is having two different tank classes (both due to requirements of raid finder and due to overlap issues). yes, there's a meta where PLD + X is ideal just due to PLD's great party utility, but the tank delta right now is extremely minimal. so if your question is "i'd like to get involved in doing current savage/ex next patch, which tank should i do?", the answer is honestly, whichever you like better. i like DRK's defensive options, but until i can learn its rotation, i'm doing GNB because it has a DPS-like rotation, which is easier for me as a former melee DPS to do.

a lot of groups may already have a PLD, so you may have slightly better luck with one of the other 3, but even that isn't a huge difference.