What makes a great tank?

[Llyren]

Female Roegadyn!

Lalafell is clearly the Master Tank.

[keroo]

What makes a good tank in my opinion is first of all, damage mitigation. That's pretty self-explanatory. Second is, managing HATE/ENMITY. Third is awareness of battle and usage of appropriate Defensive Cooldowns in certain events. Lastly, positioning, it's essential where you place your enemy as it is needed to prevent unnecessary walks or runs to catch up certain raid/dungeon mechanics.

[BIRDMAN]

Ready Check at the beginning and Ready Check before the final boss. Tank holds enmity and sets an efficient pace.

as a side opinion- I think dps should be responsible for marking/picking targets, they are the ones doing the damage so it stands to reason they should pick what they're doing damage to.

[Thistledown]

as a side opinion- I think dps should be responsible for marking/picking targets, they are the ones doing the damage so it stands to reason they should pick what they're doing damage to.

I should think it is the tank's duty to mark. Every fight should begin with the tank initiating it, marking as he rushes forth, rather than waiting for and reacting to someone he cannot always trust.

In a static, fine. In most pugs though, I would never trust a dps to have my interest at heart to mark targets properly. I want heavy damage dealers and aoe critters out of the way before everything else.

[mosaicex]

I'm a new level 50 SCH and I enjoy healing quite a bit (I really did not expect to enjoy it) and I like to think I'm decent...

Since I saw that first tank, I've been considering leveling a PLD but I am wondering what really make a good tank.

- Is it memorisation of all the dungeons and boss? (do they keep notes/cheat sheets of all the boss?)
- Is it taking the time to talk and show leadership?
- Is it purely skills and stats?

I'm not sure I can find a static with my schedule for now, so I am playing a lot on DF...

Any advice?

All those requirements you listed are mandatory for EVERYONE, not just Tank.

Marking? Anyone can do this, it's not exclusively tank jobs but it's a job for more EXPERIENCED player to mark the priority target. (One notorious example would be Qarn's one-shotted bees)

Boss/Dungeons mechanic? Again, required for everyone (eg. DPSes knowing about Nails killing priority in Ifrit EX and tanks knowing when to swap to minimize hassles with chain debuff)

Great Tank (Or good tank, because there aren't really big difference) are the one that

1. Can hold all the hates from mob
and
2. Don't bite more than they can chew (eg. Don't pull more mobs than your Healer's healing capability).

[MXMoondoggie]

I guess everyone will say something a bit different for me the best Tanks i ever played with have strong nerves, don't panic and make snap judgments. They have the ability to see the fight and learn about their party quickly. Of course it's always easier with a static but if you can learn enough to get the best out of people even in DF telling them how to do better and what you need from them then it's a good thing. Of course keeping aggro is a given but the best Tanks I've known it's not about how they keep aggro is how aware they are when they lost it. That instant snap back is not something you'll see in the mad dog tunnel vision types.

A good Tank is like a rock that keeps everyone calm. The Healer can trust you so they won't panic heal or chicken run when mobs turn on them and the DPS will pump out optimum damage because they know your positioning won't have the mobs suddenly spin around. Good Tanking is like a state of mind being able to see the fight 3 moves ahead and knowing what CD's you have on the table and what you can do in each possible outcome for what is coming next. Just always be thinking "What if something goes wrong?" and be ready to fix it.

[Saseal]

I've nothing to contribute, but...thanks for this thread - I'd been debating on trying tanking (with exception to a single and terrible attempt that had turned me off from tanking since), a little bit before I initially saw the thread and was still a little wary of trying again..... but reading the posts have helped greatly (I ended up going home from work and WANTing to tank something o_o *Checks pulse, sees if this is real life...*).

So, again, thank you for this thread and all that contributed the advice in it!

From the standpoint of someone who mains WHM... I agree with a lot of points already stated - A great tank is a person you can rely on/trust and won't leave you hanging if something were to come out of the woodwork and attach itself to you (ADD spawn; accidently or DPS took aggro if I'm in a lower dungeon, etc). Who will actively seek it out, as well as flashing/RoHing if I run it to them (rather than making me just run to them and stand there like an idiot... I've had a tank run AWAY from me and the mob I was trying to give him, before...... chased him around the room before giving up and tanking it all myself >_>). Someone who calmly takes charge of the situation, without demanding. Doesn't point fingers, but advises. Doesn't bite off more than they can chew. Doesn't run off without the rest of the party OR run off before killing everything the party's been chewing on...

A great tank is 'That Tank' that makes you think, "I want to party with this guy again dammit. ;_;" when you had pugged into a dungeon... - and then rage-pout when the instance is complete and over... lol

[Bashum]

#1 for me would be situational awareness. Good tanks know that ninja # 2 is about to pull hate, and react accordingly to prevent it. They see that roamer sneaking up behind them and react accordingly. They know their healer is busy running to dodge an AoE, or rezzing someone else, so they burn a cooldown or two to make life easier.

All the gear and stats in the world can't help you if you're clueless about your surroundings.

Also, since the tank often ends up as the de facto leader of the group, patience, and the ability to explain things to newcomers is always an asset.

[Sleigh]

1. Knowledge of the encounter they're in, in its entirety. Gotta know placement of adds/boss, where things spawn, timers on mega attacks, tank swap timings, etc.
2. Aggro, short-term and long-term, and tank swap aggro (both giving it up and keeping it). This would be ranked lower but a good tank who can let a BLM Firestarter within 1s of the wyvern/Bennu/cube/etc spawn is quite an asset in beating T10-13 DPS checks easily.
3. Ability to remember and reflexes necessary to execute the required CDs for the encounter. This seems trivial but wait until you get a tank who "forgot" to use a CD or one who swore his Inner Beast went off in time (as the cast bar is finishing, no less)
4. Ability to put out those Deeps. At the end of the day if one tank is doing average damage and another tank of the same role and gear is doing 50-100% more damage with the same healers in the same fight, there's a performance gap.
5. Ability to adapt when things go wrong.

[Naotsugu]

1. Raid Awareness: the ability to notice any and all changes happening during the raid at all times.
2. Knowledge of Role: Understanding the full extent of the operations you are able to do at any given moment in a raid.
3. Communication: Being able to convey and discuss your thought's with respect to the raid, including the ability to convey priority information to the raid.
4. Personal Responsibility: Save all stressful thinking for after the raid and actively identify and resolve errors that you had made after every raid.
5. Have Fun: Do not enter a raid feeling tired / stressed / pressed for time / etc. Either go in blank or go in excited. Maintain a positive attitude for the whole 90 minutes despite what happens in those 90 minutes.

Tons of ways to do this, but given around 2 months playing for 15 hours a week I think you could be a world class tank. Or at the very least the tank everyone wants to play with.