tanks with strength accessories

[Ryock]

The amount of HP required for the game's current end game content isn't nearly as high as many players would probably believe it needs to be. To strictly say a tank is meant only to tank and nothing else isn't a refusal to think outside of the box. Was full STR practical at 2.0? No, not at all. But as we continue to get more and more patches with different types of gear, our options are slowly expanding. As long as you are sitting at 8000-8500 HP as a PLD, you're fine. As for WAR, 10k is the minimum for some of the other content. There are also batches of content to keep in mind that VIT is completely overkill for. A person does not need all that much HP for extreme mode Ifrit for example.

While it's still not something many PLDs are doing, some are slowly converting to full STR. WARs on the other hand are very much gungho for this sort of idea, myself included. STR meshes very well with a WAR's abilities, such as Second Wind, Inner Beast, Bloodbath(in very particular and rare circumstances), Vengeance, Maim, Storm's Eye, Berserk, etc. WAR has a surprising amount of damage for a tank, and while it's rather negligible, you do get a small amount of parry improvement.

TL;DR: The amount of HP that VIT stacking gives is overkill. We can better help the group by adding damage, additional aggro, and meeting dps checks/bursts.

[Hammerfist]

I think it all depends on the healer you have.

If the healer sticks to healing and never does any dps, then by all means go full STR (just don't risk too much with giga-pulls).

If the healer spends most of his time doing dps in Cleric Stance and is good at passive healing through Fairy/Lustrate/Stoneskin/Regen , then it's way better to pack full VIT and try to survive longer without heals (keeping aggro is a joke now, so it shouldn't be an issue).

Personally, I prefer starting any dungeon with full VIT, just for safety, and then adjust myself after the first 1-2 pulls.

[Lemuria]

I'm a full VIT kind of tank when I play, but as long as the tank can do their job and has enough HP and defense to survive the big hitters I couldn't care less what they're wearing. As a healer, it's nice for the tank to have a decent amount of HP since it means I can throw up a regen and not have to worry about them while I DPS. It's also incredibly handy on big pulls since some tanks find it difficult to dodge the sheer volume of AoE's and many don't even try.

But while I won't be equipping STR myself, if I see another tank doing so I'll wait and see what they're like before making any judgements.

[PArcher]

My base "build" for my WAR is what I run in Coil with; two (currently...I'm poor, OK?) penta-melded i110, 1 i130 STR and 2 i130 VIT accessories, DPS-built Ragnarok, all DPS-based i130 armor except penta-melded Kirimu pants (Phoenix hates me), and my attributes are 20/10 STR/VIT. Once I get the other three i110 penta melds I'll likely go full STR (assuming my WHM doesn't kill me for doing that...and I do try to listen to him, since he kinda keeps me alive during silly things like Akh Morn...) If it works in FCoB, it has to work (or be overkill) everywhere else.

Generally...I use this gear for dungeons and raids, and EX Primals; sure, I could probably use more STR in dungeons and older EXs, but I'm a bit lazy...I also err on the "safe" side in dungeons, since most people I run into there are...honestly, I don't know how they managed to get as far as they did lol. If I see that the randoms I'm with are good, then I'll adapt to them, but initially...random heals and DPS seem to just like seeing more VIT on their tanks and freak out if their HP is too low.

Trial roulette and most overworld stuff (hunts, maps, whatever)...I have an almost full i130 set of STR accessories (missing DW ring...) I use since my HP really doesn't matter there.

Back on topic; I generally don't understand full-STR PLD doing trash pulls...they spend most of their time using Flash trying to keep aggro off the Flare-happy BLM in their party. I'm fine with them going STR on bosses, since they're actually hitting things most of the time...but when Flash is your go-to button? Mix of VIT and STR makes more sense IMO. WAR...Bloodbath + Berserk + Steel Cyclone + Overpower spam...more STR = more healing, but again, you do need to have enough VIT to survive.

And no, I have no issues with hate at all on either PLD or WAR (and my PLD is more VIT-based than my WAR...and has worse weapons); the extra STR is purely for more DPS. Though it is funny seeing tanks try to take hate from me in Trials because they have more HP than me (and a good amount of these I take hate without Defiance on. GG other tank)

[IndigoHawk]

Healers in dps stance do more damage than tanks with dps accessories. So if your healer is dpsing, then go as tanky as possible to minimize their healing and maximize their dps. If your healer only wants to heal, then it's ok to go with str accessories for a tiny dps boost.

If a tank mindlessly goes dps and forces their healer to heal more, then it's a net loss for team dps.

Obviously if your healer isn't very good or is stressed out, then simply go full tank to help them out, as succeeding is much more important than failing fast.

Unfortunately some tanks have epeen about doing damage and don't care whether the team is doing more damage or not, as long as they are personally doing more damage.

[SarcasmMisser]

Healers in dps stance do more damage than tanks with dps accessories. So if your healer is dpsing, then go as tanky as possible to minimize their healing and maximize their dps. If your healer only wants to heal, then it's ok to go with str accessories for a tiny dps boost.

You can do both.

[kyuven]

Healers in dps stance do more damage than tanks with dps accessories. So if your healer is dpsing, then go as tanky as possible to minimize their healing and maximize their dps. If your healer only wants to heal, then it's ok to go with str accessories for a tiny dps boost.

If a tank mindlessly goes dps and forces their healer to heal more, then it's a net loss for team dps.

If a tank goes "full tank" and has no DPS at all, it's also a net loss. A good tank knows when it's a good idea to ditch "tankiness" for better DPS. For example, if the mobs are just cherry tapping the tank and not doing much damage, if he's all VIT and Parry, he's not doing anything for the group except being a sponge. If he's STILL getting cherry tapped with STR gear on, he's dealing more damage so the fights are shorter.
It's about balancing the group's needs and limits. Which is why tanking is so hard.

[Cenebi]

Healers in dps stance do more damage than tanks with dps accessories. So if your healer is dpsing, then go as tanky as possible to minimize their healing and maximize their dps. If your healer only wants to heal, then it's ok to go with str accessories for a tiny dps boost.

As others have said, you can do both. This isn't a situation where you're either wearing Str accessories or your healer is able to DPS. If it was, you'd be correct. It's just not though. A tank (especially a Warrior, which is what most of the tanks using DPS accessories are) doing as much DPS as possible generally *doesn't* force their healer to heal more.

[Lemuria]

A tank (especially a Warrior, which is what most of the tanks using DPS accessories are) doing as much DPS as possible generally *doesn't* force their healer to heal more.

This is where I will have to respectfully disagree. One important note that everyone is forgetting is that these accessories aren't just Vitality bonuses, they're also granting significant gains to parrying skill which will greatly reduce the damage taken by a tank. Sacrifice one, and sacrifice both.

The degree to which this will impact the dungeon is entirely speculative, but it's still a factor which seems to have been overlooked by many.

[SarcasmMisser]

It's not overlooked the jury is out on parry and it's a terrible stat that most tanks who actually do hard content these days completely ignore.

However you overlooked that STR increases the amount of damage parried.