I really shouldn't do this, I said I wouldn't. Curse my lack of self control and boredom.

Quote Originally Posted by Kitru View Post
+20% evasion and +25% hp provides the *exact same benefits* as 20% DR from Shield Oath. That's the entire point. Evasion tanks are only broken when you screw up that simple concept.
This is both correct and incorrect. In terms of total mitigation over a long period of time, yes. They are equal.

However, think of bulwark. Bulwark is the worst PLD cooldown. Why? because its unreliable, it doesn't always work. I've used it for a death sentence, blocked neither the plummet, the death sentence, or the auto attack and died because of it. No one was prepared for Bulwark to fail so spectacularly. Does this happen often? No, it's happened twice in the months I've been doing twintania but it still happens and is still a major issue in the very core concept of an evasion tank.

Evasion isn't reliable since it isn't constant, if you have some bad luck and don't evade during a burst phase, bad things can happen. Of course this works both ways as well, sometimes you evade alot of attacks. Point is, unreliable mitigation is not what anyone wants when they're facing down foreseeable burst damage. Why would anyone put their hands completely into RNG when they can take steps to mitigate damage through their own actions. Unreliable mitigation is inferior to reliable mitigation in practice, even if on paper they should be equal.

But another huge problem is once again, is debuff attacks and death sentence. What if you can't evade them? Imagine a PLD facing down DS without shield oath. Because if 20% evasion is replacing 20% dmg reduction or 25% hp/healing and you can't evade a death sentence; you're basically a PLD without oath, or a WAR without defiance. One of your main mitigation mechanics is now worthless. How will an evasion tank be able to deal with these situations? If it's some form of damage mitigation cooldown ala inner beast or rampart, whats the point? All you have now is another clone of the current tanks with different flavour text, but is also more liable to burst damage. Completely breaking encounters by being able to dodge fight relevant mechanics isn't viable, its broken by its very nature.

Listen, I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. Total mitigation over a fight doesn't matter. What matters is mitigation when you need it, relevant mitigation. Death sentence, Wicked Wheel, Mountain buster, Incinerate Spam; you want mitigation for them. Who wants a ton of mitigation when the healers would be able to keep you up easily with their most mp efficient heals without said mitigation; it's a waste.

I still say we will probably never see a evasion tank. SE will not break their own mechanics and SE will not create another tank job that plays no differently then the others. If we do see one, it'll be different from what most people expect an evasion attack to be, which is what I've been saying all along.