Tanking, need some advice?

[JeniLinsky]

There's an old rule of thumb for parties: If the tank dies first, it's the healer's fault; if the healer dies first, it's the tank's fault. If the DDs die first, it's their own damn fault.

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Ah, this makes a lot of sense now. I'll try to reserve shield bash for those sticky situations then.

And building a resistance? 2 uses before it's useless? Haha, no kidding.

[Meenesfeja]

Thanks Meenesfeja! The healer I play with uses Physik (sp?), not medica, at this time, so it's safe there.

Speaking about Scholar, it is usually fairy (Eos or Selene) that pulls aggro. Whitemages are more aggro building healers, specially when they cast aoe heals. (Here you can ask your healer-friend to explain differences between both healer classes - she should know ^^)

I'm lucky to have my healer in the same room as me when we play together, haha. She alerts me *before* I lose aggro that I'm losing aggro, which gives me the impetus in time to switch targets in her defense.

Yeah, I know the situation. I was playing as dps while my bf was tanking. As I was always in healer range, I told him when some mobs run astray
Generally it helps but you still should try to build aggro properly in order not to loose aggro on healer at all (in end game fights it could sometimes be deadly issue that healer pulls mob off tank).

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Yeah, I know the situation. I was playing as dps while my bf was tanking. As I was always in healer range, I told him when some mobs run astray Generally it helps but you still should try to build aggro properly in order not to loose aggro on healer at all (in end game fights it could sometimes be deadly issue that healer pulls mob off tank).

I'll definitely be practicing some of these strategies and employ the advice I've gotten to become an independent and effective tank. I guess starting out it's a bit like trying to see the forest through the trees. I understood what being a tank meant, but the mechanics and the combat have layers that I have to really get down to be a good tank.

And that's exactly what I want. Committed myself to it wholeheartedly.

[Kyana]

Aggro/Hate:
It's not just your job to manage hate.
Especially at lower levels you lack a number of skills to establish solid hate on all mobs you're tanking.
DDs should wait a few seconds before going all out, healers can't do much if they have to heal you to prevent you from dying.
If they draw hate for that you probably took on too many mobs at once.
As GLD/PLD you'll always have a harder time holding hate of a bunch of mobs compared to MRD/WAR.
Never use Provoke to pull and always use a enmity generating attack after Provoke.

So, for your list:

- Getting over the DPS rushing ahead: You can't (well, you can if you feel like it). If they can't wait, let them die. *see above*

- Getting more self-assured: If you know the dungeon/fight in and out, you will be prepared for any situation. You know what to expect and how to handle it. Experience is king.
EDIT: The sad thing is that people expect tanks to know everything. They think as soon as you hit 50 you know how to do all endgame content.
Your best bet for harder content is to join training parties or make your own to get a feeling for it.

- Building enmity as quickly as possible: As you level up you will get more tools to work with and to make your life easier. For GLD/PLD there's only Flash/Circle of Scorn and splitting up combo to maintain hate on multiple mobs, and for quick hate you should use your combo and add your instant skills in between, then keep going with hate combo.

- Good low-mid-level combo strategies: Not sure what you mean. There is no strategy. Either use hate combo on single target or split up between multiple targets, according to enmity level, with added Flash as needed.

- Methods for marking (who first, etc): Healers -> DDs/mobs with annoying AoE or strong attacks -> Tanks, but it all depends on the situation.

[Thaliss]

Ah, this makes a lot of sense now. I'll try to reserve shield bash for those sticky situations then.

And building a resistance? 2 uses before it's useless? Haha, no kidding.

The resistance is temporary, after sometime they are not immune anymore.
There are some Trials where PLD are on Stun duty, Ifrit Hard Mode or Chimera for example.

[Kyana]

The resistance is temporary, after sometime they are not immune anymore.
There are some Trials where PLD are on Stun duty, Ifrit Hard Mode or Chimera for example.

Ifrit got nerved, so you can't stun every eruption anymore.
And in general, it's a waste to keep a PLD on stun duty because the stun is on GCD.
It's easier for other classes to stun with off GCD skills. (WAR, DRG, MNK)
Silence with Spirits Within is something different though since it's instant and off GCD.

[vanityobscene]

EDIT: The sad thing is that people expect tanks to know everything. They think as soon as you hit 50 you know how to do all endgame content.
Your best bet for harder content is to join training parties or make your own to get a feeling for it.

Haha, there's a degree of anxiety about this. Especially entering a dungeon for the very first time. Sastasha Seagrot was good after the second go at it, I was in the groove. When I hit Tama-tara Deepcroft I was starting to feel a bit lost, and on my first run that carried through into some mayhem in spots as DPS/DDs had their way and I was scrambling to keep heat off of them.

Still. Experience, so I'll keep trying and hopefully other players will forgive me for the mistakes I make along the way.

[JeniLinsky]

And that's exactly what I want. Committed myself to it wholeheartedly.

That's step one.

So, let's talk about Damage Dealers (DDs) for a moment. The melee types, who are the most likely to pull agro from you in that first rush to the monster, are not as heavily armored as you are, but they're armored better than the casters. They can take a little bit of damage while you re-establish enmity with your first full combo.

Also, there are self-heals that monk, for instance, has. And many players have at least a few levels of CNJ so they can get protect and cure as cross-class at low levels. (Only a couple of jobs can cross-class these, but all the classes can). So it's not as big a tragedy if your melee DDs get some agro splashed on 'em.

But by all means, keep the monsters off the casters if you can.


One thing that may help... when you zone into the dungeon, don't be afraid to say, "Hey, gang, I'm a new tank. Give me a moment on each pull before you pile on, so I can establish aggro." Then, if they still rush ahead, it's on them, not you.

I love being a tank. There's something very powerful, psychologically, about saying, "I will stand between you and danger, because I AM THE PAPASMURFING TANK!" I hope that you come to enjoy it as well. It does take practice, and thought, and you have to be on your toes. But when it comes off right, it's very rewarding.

Or at least, that's my girl-gamer perspective on it.

[Sapphic]

Ifrit got nerved, so you can't stun every eruption anymore.

Ifrit wasn't changed. how resistance diminishing was changed to resetting it after every stun. Not as it was before where the counter started and stayed from the first stun. Also, plumes are easy to dodge, only ones to watch for and stun are after nails after the central plumes.

That's step one.
So, let's talk about Damage Dealers (DDs) for a moment. The melee types, who are the most likely to pull agro from you in that first rush to the monster, are not as heavily armored as you are, but they're armored better than the casters. They can take a little bit of damage while you re-establish enmity with your first full combo.

Problems there is you are constantly chasing them instead of building up a decent amount of enmity first. Chasing the DD on enmity on the mob they decided to jump the gun on, whilst trying to prevent the other mobs from eating the healer XD Especially at a level where you dont have provoke XD. Also with voke, if they manage to get in a hard hit between voke and RoH.....

DD get hate, instead of trying to nuke harder, they should stop until tank has dragged the mob back to smacking the tank around the head again ^^

But, best advice whilst learning and low leevl is to mark targets in the kill order you want which lets you focus more enmity generation on one mob instead of trying to divide between many and possibly losing when 2 DDs are nuking 2 different mobs As you get more tools it does get easier to manage multiple mobs as PLD against heavy AE.