Best Tank

[Kiteless]

PLD is the best MT, WAR is the best OT. Both can function quite well in the reverse as well.

PLD strengths:
•Best cooldowns in the entire game
•Great party support/utility
•Greatest overall survivability of the tanks, solid against magical threats, and insanely good against physical ones
•Ability to use a shield
•Very easy to play

PLD weaknesses:
•Lowest damage of the tanks (although despite what first impressions might suggest, not by a particularly large difference, especially over time)
•Lacking in AoE damage/threat control (just spam flash, no one cares about lolPLD damage anyway)
•Can have TP issues in prolonged encounters


WAR strengths:
•Highest OT damage of the tanks (FELL CLEAVE!)
•Potential for impressive MT damage as well
•Amazing OT support skillset
•Testosterone
•Stances off the GCD
•Great AoE damage/threat control
•Infinite TP

WAR weaknesses:
•Cooldowns are a touch on the weaker side than PLD
•Stances do have a 10 second cooldown, which demands a degree of foresight for proper use
•HP bar tends to fluctuate a lot, can put pressure on healers
•Holmgang is not as practical as it is awesome


DRK strengths:
•Can put out some solid damage as MT
•Great AoE damage/threat control

DRK weaknesses:
•Buggy as all hell right now
•MP management adds additional layers of complexity (which itself is good) without much of a payoff and added risk (which is bad)
•Little to no party support/utility, has no value as OT
•Damage mitigation is poor against physical-based threats, and average against magical-based ones.
•Many skills don't work well with one another, lacking in overall cohesion
•Abysmal TP management
•Living Dead is one of the worst cooldowns in the game, puts a huge amount of stress on healers, and can lead to guaranteed death even when used properly
•Heavy reliance on unreliable elements, such as parry

[Tranquil]

WAR strengths:
•Testosterone

Made it this far before losing my shit. Man, I need to sleep more... +1'd though.