In-Depth Tanking Class/Job Analysis.

[JibOK]

Just looking for a couple pointers from some veterans here. What skills should I acquire from other classes right away? I know flash is important. Just wondering if I should make it a priority to grab some other skills before I get to level 50 or not. I don't want to be a noob like kids in FFXI with gimp sub jobs.

[Baelrov]

Just looking for a couple pointers from some veterans here. What skills should I acquire from other classes right away? I know flash is important. Just wondering if I should make it a priority to grab some other skills before I get to level 50 or not. I don't want to be a noob like kids in FFXI with gimp sub jobs.

I personally went for Cure from CNJ because it only requires level 2 and can help soloing and minimally while dungeoning. The heal is weak but if enmity isn't an issue and health is, doesn't seem to hurt to cast a cure or two on yourself. I admit that I'm not sure if/how it affects mitigation in this game though, so it could actually be a detriment.

That being said, it's helpful while soloing to ensure that you will never die .

[Duero]

very interesting guide thank you !

figured a bunch of thing by myself already but the detail about enmity is really helpful

[TirionCrey]

Just a little heads up, as prolly many people really want to know about that.

After doing some endgame stuff and/or fighting endgame related mobs, there is a definite choice on Stats now.

Put ALL your Attribute Points into Vitality!

Compared to STR and DEX, VIT is the one stat you really gonna need in Endgame. Stuff is hitting so hard that mitigation through STR, or raising Block/Parry Chance through DEX is neglectable cause of the amount of damage you get hit for. You need as much HP as you can get! This only applies to your Stat allocation though. Seing as any good WHM and/or SCH does use Stoneskin regularly in their healing cycle(and if you don't you're doing it wrong, period!!!), a bigger HP pool will benefit extra from this! So...raise your VIT. Based on meldable gear and their Stat Caps, there need to be more testing done to say for sure if VIT Materia is gonna be your first choice, since most of the times it is capped so low, that on HQ items you merely get +1 to +2 VIT out of a +7 Materia. I haven't checked out the Stat caps for let's say Parry for example, so it is not unlikely that you might wanna meld Parry, or maybe even Dex to your Gear, depending on which gives you greater benefit.

As I am SUPER busy in the game right now, I can't tell when I'm gonna do my next update on the guide. I implemented the rest of the GLA/PLD quests into it, haven't had a chance to do the WAR ones yet. But it shouldn't be too long before I will update the guide with Stat suggestions, macro guides and the rest of the class quests.

[CubemonkeyNYC]

Question:

So I took my lvl 24 Gladiator through Copperbell yesterday, and it all went fine except for the first "boss" room, where a ton of bombs and trash mobs spawn all over the place.

There was no way for me to keep the numbering going AND run around the room using [Flash] AND generating enough MP to keep using Flash. I lasted long enough for the mobs to get whittled down by the DPS, but I eventually died to one of the bomb's AOE while I was running around frantically. The others survived after I went down.

How do you handle a situation with a TON of adds? I've tanked the three dungeons up to this point with no problem aside from this.

[Bixby]

Question:

How do you handle a situation with a TON of adds? I've tanked the three dungeons up to this point with no problem aside from this.

Do what you can and don't stress. Forget about marking anything. Pick up what you can. Focus on grabbing the bombs and pulling them away from the healer if you can, but it's pretty unrealistic to try and grab EVERYTHING on that fight. Especially if trying to grab everything means you're walking into avoidable AOE. You need to stay alive until the actual boss pops or the group is pretty screwed.

This is the "sometimes it ain't your problem" tutorial room.

[Ariyn]

Question:

So I took my lvl 24 Gladiator through Copperbell yesterday, and it all went fine except for the first "boss" room, where a ton of bombs and trash mobs spawn all over the place.

There was no way for me to keep the numbering going AND run around the room using [Flash] AND generating enough MP to keep using Flash. I lasted long enough for the mobs to get whittled down by the DPS, but I eventually died to one of the bomb's AOE while I was running around frantically. The others survived after I went down.

How do you handle a situation with a TON of adds? I've tanked the three dungeons up to this point with no problem aside from this.

Best thing to do for this boss is have the whole group stack in one spot. Mobs always go to the healer so you only have to flash once to get them. Then dps takes them down. They have very low hp so they die before any real threat is caused.

[Levaal]

Awesome read! Answered a lot of questions that I had. You would get a cookie...if I had any...

[Myric]

No info on marking targets? I know it's common sense for a decent tank but just wanted to throw it out there. I ran TTD in P3 like 20 times and made a note to self to mark targets in P4. Peeps just randomly attacking whatever started to wear on me. We aren't playing WotLK here.

Marking isn't necessary most of the time. I've tanked several mmo's and only use it when specific targets need downed first in a boss fight or a healer in a pack. The rest of the time your dps should learn how to /assist. I've only had to mark two things so far. The bosses tail in TMoTR and those floating bitches that will pat through other mobs in HM.

[Titancleaver]

Overall a good guide but when it comes to the single-target rotation I think you're in the wrong to put Inner Beast into the rotation, because we're gonna be tanking with this and Inner Beast IS a situational ability that you don't wanna pop on full health unless the fight is EASY on th healing and you NEED ALL the DPS you can get during certain phases.

Seeing as how you use two Butcher's Block Combos in a row after Storm's Eye means that whatever you do next won't receive the benefit of the Storm's eye debuff.

It's also worthy to point out that you're not using Fracture, considering this ability deals the same damage for the cost of one global cooldown as Butcher's Block does you definetly want to keep that running. I've posted a thread about the basic single-target rotation and why, go check it out.