[Guide] Paladin Tanking Compendium 2.0

[Sebastien]

Hello - I have a few thoughts in reaction to your post.

#1 - I am not very comfortable with your Fast Blade macro. Personally I will not use any c/d's on the trash pull(s) right before a boss. Basically, I want everything to be up for that. I agree that Fight or Flight is a critical tool for establishing enmity at the start of a pull, and that's why I want to make certain it is available for me before we begin a boss fight.

#2 - I don't agree with your approach to AOE pulls. I think the rotation you described - especially "spam Flash until half MP" - might be necessary in a very limited set of situations. For example, if a bunch of adds spawn during a boss and they all need to be AOE'd down quickly. But most times this is not the optimal strategy.

Thinking about Flash, it (a) can reduce our incoming damage via blind, (b) can maintain AOE threat against the healer without breaking CC, and (c) does no damage. Therefore I view it as something to be used only as much as is necessary. Any time I use it when I didn't need to, that is wasted DPS. I could have been contributing damage to a target and getting it down faster (which in turn means that I take less damage overall).

In my experience, good WHM's these days are favoring a style of using their first several GCD's on Sleep. This is optimal b/c it in turn allows them to do less healing and contribute more DPS to the target. I find a single Flash is more than sufficient to buy enough enmity to keep the mobs on me until the Sleeps go out. After that, I will not Flash again until the first Blind wears off. Why? Because this game has diminishing returns. When you spam Flash, the next Blind is at 1/2 duration, the third at 1/4, and after that - immune. By spamming it, you are forfeiting your blind, which is a mitigation tool.

Therefore my preference for AOE tanking in most situations is shield lob to initiate, a single flash during the CC portion of the fight, and then cycle my rotation through the active target(s). That is, if there are two active monsters not CC'd, I will Halone one, then the other, etc. If the DD's are creeping up on you, on the main target, you won't be able to do it like that. In that case, I would fast blade on main, savage blade on off, then halon back on main. And so on. As opposed to spamming Flash, this allows me to have much more uptime on Blind, and contribute more damage because every GCD goes to damage.

[Garnatian]

You are also less spikey.

Your active mitigation procs for less, therefore you take bigger hits less often, lolwut? Also, macros have no place in this game.

[Ariyn]

It's a good starter guide. Personally I do not agree with the aoe rotation and wouldn't macro most of the cd's together. Spamming flash is something I never do unless it's a castrum run and I'm just being lazy during massive pulls while jumping in circles.

Also I am not sure if the gear lists you put up are in the order you would say is best to worst. If so I think some of them need to be changed. Like the allagan blade is better then the Curtana +1, valor chest, legs, and gloves imo are better then allagan counterparts. If it was just a list of what's available then disregard this part

[Revolutions]

thanks for info.

[SzaaKarna]

Also, macros have no place in this game.

/trollon Sorry had to lol this /trolloff

[Pixelshader]

Your active mitigation procs for less, therefore you take bigger hits less often, lolwut? Also, macros have no place in this game.

Take bigger predictable hits. Also 40str for 1% block on only melee damage is a bad investment.

[Pixelshader]

It's a good starter guide. Personally I do not agree with the aoe rotation and wouldn't macro most of the cd's together. Spamming flash is something I never do unless it's a castrum run and I'm just being lazy during massive pulls while jumping in circles.

Also I am not sure if the gear lists you put up are in the order you would say is best to worst. If so I think some of them need to be changed. Like the allagan blade is better then the Curtana +1, valor chest, legs, and gloves imo are better then allagan counterparts. If it was just a list of what's available then disregard this part

At the time of inception xivdb had different stats. I updated the list to reflect what is now in the database. As for spamming flash it is required to keep aggro off massive aoe. I currently speed run WP for gil and tomes at around 14-17 min depending on which dps comes. We pull 3 packs, I flash until out of mana, riot combo to get ready for 3 more packs. Macros are purely personal preference.

[Pixelshader]

Hello - I have a few thoughts in reaction to your post.

#1 - I am not very comfortable with your Fast Blade macro. Personally I will not use any c/d's on the trash pull(s) right before a boss. Basically, I want everything to be up for that. I agree that Fight or Flight is a critical tool for establishing enmity at the start of a pull, and that's why I want to make certain it is available for me before we begin a boss fight.

#2 - I don't agree with your approach to AOE pulls. I think the rotation you described - especially "spam Flash until half MP" - might be necessary in a very limited set of situations. For example, if a bunch of adds spawn during a boss and they all need to be AOE'd down quickly. But most times this is not the optimal strategy.

Thinking about Flash, it (a) can reduce our incoming damage via blind, (b) can maintain AOE threat against the healer without breaking CC, and (c) does no damage. Therefore I view it as something to be used only as much as is necessary. Any time I use it when I didn't need to, that is wasted DPS. I could have been contributing damage to a target and getting it down faster (which in turn means that I take less damage overall).

In my experience, good WHM's these days are favoring a style of using their first several GCD's on Sleep. This is optimal b/c it in turn allows them to do less healing and contribute more DPS to the target. I find a single Flash is more than sufficient to buy enough enmity to keep the mobs on me until the Sleeps go out. After that, I will not Flash again until the first Blind wears off. Why? Because this game has diminishing returns. When you spam Flash, the next Blind is at 1/2 duration, the third at 1/4, and after that - immune. By spamming it, you are forfeiting your blind, which is a mitigation tool.

Therefore my preference for AOE tanking in most situations is shield lob to initiate, a single flash during the CC portion of the fight, and then cycle my rotation through the active target(s). That is, if there are two active monsters not CC'd, I will Halone one, then the other, etc. If the DD's are creeping up on you, on the main target, you won't be able to do it like that. In that case, I would fast blade on main, savage blade on off, then halon back on main. And so on. As opposed to spamming Flash, this allows me to have much more uptime on Blind, and contribute more damage because every GCD goes to damage.

If you're not comfortable with using macros don't use them. You are describing low level dungeons. When you group with geared players you dont sleep mobs you kill them. Pull 3 groups aoe them down move on. No need to make a day out of one dungeon.

The methods I described are from watching videos of high end guilds as well as self experience. As I stated, I do not create anything on my own without verifying that many high end players are doing the same thing, I then compiled the information into this compendium for yours as well as my benefit. Watch videos from Defiant Of (Behemoth), Lyni Sol (Coeurl), Cue Ball (Leviathan) and Rikku Inohira (Moogle) to get a better consensus of how to tank end game content.

[Kitatria]

Really good post. Being a new 50 PLD this is going to help me when looking at getting gear and rotations endgame.

[aswedishtiger]

HQ Crafted Darksteel stacked with IV materia > Darklight

any day of the week

and this also applies to any Tier 1 HQ crafted gear outfitted in materia, darklight is a time sink if you know crafters IMO. just a complete waste of time. god forbid people actually socialized, made friends with and got a good deal from a fellow crafter. no way! not in an MMO. sheesh