My Opinion on why WAR is the superior Tank.

[Kitru]

Featherfoot for non-Coil stuff only, surely?

All auto-attacks can be dodged, and a fair number of special attacks can be as well. Even if it only worked on auto-attacks though, it would still be more useful than pretty much any other option (potentially barring Second Wind): Flash is worthless now that Overpower is fast and massive, Awareness only avoids crits (which only occur on auto-attacks), Savage Blade is lol as is Haymaker.

[Giantbane]

All auto-attacks can be dodged, and a fair number of special attacks can be as well. Even if it only worked on auto-attacks though, it would still be more useful than pretty much any other option (potentially barring Second Wind): Flash is worthless now that Overpower is fast and massive, Awareness only avoids crits (which only occur on auto-attacks), Savage Blade is lol as is Haymaker.

Flash still has some use. It's omni-directional for mobs don't always like to line up nicely in a cone for overpower. It uses a different resource than overpower when running out of TP is a concern. It gives you something you can do during pacification in case there's an add that spawns if you mistimed berserk. And you can use it without having anything targetted in cases where the in game targetting is being stupid or you're getting severe ability lag that's just messing with everything you do (i'm looking at you brayflox...).

Convalescence and provoke are the only really must have cross class abilitites. Featherfoot is probably the next best in terms of mitigating damage. Everything else is not all that special, so I just run with IR and flash for normal everyday stuff and swap out second wind/awareness if I want every bit of mitigation possible (don't have mantra unlocked).

[bokchoykn]

For what it's worth, I like Flash for Turn 4 for the reason Giantbane mentioned: It uses a different resource.

For the fourth phase (2x Spinner Rooks, 4x Clockwork Bugs), conserving TP by using some mixture of Overpower and Flash is better AoE damage and better enmity than using only Overpower and conserving TP by filling with single-target attacks and standing still. I'm able to enter the fifth phase with almost full TP, and go absolutely nuts in the sixth phase with all my offensive cooldowns and Overpower.

[Kitru]

Flash still has some use. It's omni-directional for mobs don't always like to line up nicely in a cone for overpower. It uses a different resource than overpower when running out of TP is a concern.

This is why I have Steel Cyclone. Flash is entirely redundant, as far as I'm concerned. It used to be useful because it was fast, but 2.1 took care of that. Now, it's just a low enmity (compared to everything else) AoE that you can use 3-4 times per fight most likely during the Pacification after Berserk, in which I've already abused the living hell out of my abilities to establish such a massive enmity cushion that it's pointless to generate more without doing damage. The only time I'd ever want Flash is if I have to pick up an add while I'm Pacified, which doesn't happen because don't use Berserk when I know adds are incoming.

Flash is basically a dramatically downgraded Steel Cyclone to a WAR (at least to my WAR).

[Kitru]

For the fourth phase (2x Spinner Rooks, 4x Clockwork Bugs), conserving TP by using some mixture of Overpower and Flash is better AoE damage and better enmity than using only Overpower and conserving TP by filling with single-target attacks and standing still. I'm able to enter the fifth phase with almost full TP, and go absolutely nuts in the sixth phase with all my offensive cooldowns and Overpower.

I conserve/regrow TP during AoE phases by doing my ST rotation and using SC when I get 5 stacks. It's especially helpful since it keeps Maim rolling on me so that the AoE that I *do* use are more effective, plus, prepping an SC>Infuriate>SC for a new phase is just *amazing*. If I do that, most of the time I never need to use *any* Overpowers.

[bokchoykn]

I conserve/regrow TP during AoE phases by doing my ST rotation and using SC when I get 5 stacks. It's especially helpful since it keeps Maim rolling on me so that the AoE that I *do* use are more effective, plus, prepping an SC>Infuriate>SC for a new phase is just *amazing*. If I do that, most of the time I never need to use *any* Overpowers.

Turn 4 is kinda trivial now since we can crush it under the weight of our gear, not to mention the echo buff. But just for fun and theorycrafting, suppose Turn 4 was re-released and the numbers were scaled to the current available item level.

I'm guessing that you and I would probably take a similar approach to end the first Dreadnaught: Making sure we're back in Defiance with three Wrath Stacks, and a Heavy Swing to ready your combo. Maim > Storm's Eye one of the Spinner Rook and double Steel Cyclone everything.

From there...

(Overpower, Flash)xN would cost about the same TP than single-target combos into Steel Cyclone at 5 Wrath, but it would do substantially more damage and generate substantially more enmity. This extra damage comes in handy if your team comp has only one caster, especially if it's a Summoner. If the damage isn't needed, you could do an extra Flash here or there, or replace a couple Overpowers with some single-target attacks.

Either way, having Flash gives a 0 TP option that generates Enmity, opening the door for Overpowers and/or conserving TP for the final two phases. Ironically, I think having Flash in this fight would actually result in a higher damage output, despite the fact that it's a GCD that does zero damage.

[Menae]

Ironically, I think having Flash in this fight would actually result in a higher damage output, despite the fact that it's a GCD that does zero damage.

That's not really that ironic, though. You are given a certain amount of TP over the course of any particular fight, based on initial TP, natural TP regeneration (which is capped based on fight length), Army's Paeon use, and things like Invigorate (which don't apply to tanks). Given this fixed number (again, it's only fixed for a particular attempt), you can optimize for damage, optimize for enmity, or sacrifice both for some other gain (like doing the first two moves of a combo and holding the third until an add spawns to generate initial enmity, or not pasting the boss into the wall on the first GCD so the other tank gets hate). If you are optimizing for damage, then using Flash for enmity might allow you to still generate enmity and use your TP on more efficient TP-to-damage moves, where you might otherwise have to use it on less efficient damage moves in order to hold hate.

It's all in the numbers (and what your composition and strategy allow for); ain't nothing ironic about it!

[Riyos]

There's no better jolly-cooperation

Oh you