I keep getting mixed advice for DRK Tanking

[AzraelX]

ok my dark is at lv 49 and will be lv 50 soon.I have never tanked in FF14 before and don't want to be a liability. The issue is that I continue to hear mixed advice on going STR accessories/ all sTR attributes vs all VIT accessories/attributes. could a seasoned DRk Knight help this novice out?

[Giantbane]

ok my dark is at lv 49 and will be lv 50 soon.I have never tanked in FF14 before and don't want to be a liability. The issue is that I continue to hear mixed advice on going STR accessories/ all sTR attributes vs all VIT accessories/attributes. could a seasoned DRk Knight help this novice out?

Start with all VIT and all your points in VIT once you hit 50. This is the safest route to go while you're learning.

When you've got an idea about how much HP you actually *need* for any bit of content, you can start swapping in some STR accessories/attributes.

[NeaturalBomber]

[QUOTE=Giantbane;3152318]Start with all VIT and all your points in VIT once you hit 50. This is the safest route to go while you're learning.


This is the best answer you'll get . Stay on vit gear until you know the content confidently enough that you can swap a few out . Considering the dark knight doesn't not have a large range of CD's I wouldn't swap to many over once you do
As long as you do your job confidently gear does not really matter
Only run strength of you want to try improve your play style with a bit of extra dps

[Hypie]

Right at the Start your are WEAK! You have no Gear which supports you and everything. You want to learn your Skills, figure out how to combine Stuff and so on.

So you want to grab everything that makes your Health go up and mitigate more DMG. When you hit 50 and dont have any Tome Tank Gear around the Ishgardian NPC's sell you a complete Ilvl 115 Set. Costs around 150K Gil. It's worth the investion.

You can always reset you Points later with a Drink at your Grand Company. So take Vit until you think you got the hang of the Class and slowly start exchanging Vit Gear with STR Gear. Heck i have Alexander clear and just started exchanging Vit against STR Gear. Don't let other Players mess with you. If you are uncomfortable with that HP Pool they tell you and you should wear STR Gear and Shit. Take the Vit Stuff. While its true that Tank DPS can matter its not true in "Normal" Content.

Alexander Savage will be the first Encounter where Tank and Healer DPS really will make a difference between Do or Wipe.

[Viviza]

Start with all VIT and all your points in VIT once you hit 50. This is the safest route to go while you're learning.

When you've got an idea about how much HP you actually *need* for any bit of content, you can start swapping in some STR accessories/attributes.

This is good advice.

One more point of caution I'll throw in as a healer main -- the lower your health pool the thinner the margin of error, even if it is, in theory, 'enough' to handle the encounter. Things don't always go well. Being able to take some hits without a healer glued to your health bar frees up their time to do other things and allows a greater margin of error in panic scenarios.

[GeekMatt]

People suggesting STR for tanks aren't wrong, it's just misleading to passerbys reading the forums.

Tank priority is
Manage Aggro > Survivability > DPS and Support.
If you don't manage aggro, you're of no use to the party and are probably dead anyways.
Once aggro is managed, the goal is letting the healer keep you alive, focus on this.
If and only if the first two priorities are confidently met, should you start working on DPSing more and focus on whatever additional support your tanking job has to offer. More DPS means a smoother run for everybody, but if your healer is struggle-busing then it's not worth the trade off.

[Timat]

Ummm.....if you are LEVELING your DRK go STR all the way.

I did and had no problem tanking the 4mans and was able to kill stuff reasonably fast which means smoother leveling.

Once you get to 60 then you can work out str/vit

I will say this thought.......increasing your HP is only as good as the amount you use.

If you have 15k hp but you never go below 3k in any given run on a usual basis....that extra id say.....2.5k isnt doing you any favors.

[GeekMatt]

Snip...

My POV on this is.. Levelling my AST I didn't experience the DRK-squish until Aurum Vale. Even then it was the player not the job. On the other hand when levelling WHM from 50-60 finding a DRK that wasn't squishy compared to PLD/WAR was almost unheard of.

...personally I like a challenge when I heal, but I still think it's dumb to squish-up your tank with DPS accessories in those level 51-59 dungeons. Especially since I haven't seen any DRK ever that did big pulls and didn't require everything in my arsenal to keep him alive.

[Timat]

My POV on this is.. Levelling my AST I didn't experience the DRK-squish until Aurum Vale. Even then it was the player not the job. On the other hand when levelling WHM from 50-60 finding a DRK that wasn't squishy compared to PLD/WAR was almost unheard of.

...personally I like a challenge when I heal, but I still think it's dumb to squish-up your tank with DPS accessories in those level 51-59 dungeons. Especially since I haven't seen any DRK ever that did big pulls and didn't require everything in my arsenal to keep him alive.

As a DRK that leveled 1-60 with a full STR focus (or just about) I have never had any issues on any pulls in 4mans....dark dance, shink, wall ,etc....its pretty easy actualy.

[Dracosavarian]

What I did, and will continue to do, is pump all stat points into Strength. My logic is that it helps my damage and consequently, my ability to hold hate better. More Strength = More Hate, essentially.

However, beyond that, starting out, I think you should make sure to use Fending armor and accessories until you are truly confident in your abilities as a Dark Knight. Paladin players have it easier because to be quite frank, Paladin is Easy Mode Tanking. Source? Myself, and a level 52 Paladin currently grinding on their Zodiac before I continue leveling that job. Paladin currently has only 1 rotation of Weapon skills for example at this point for me.

Dark Knight has THREE.

My Dark Knight however is level 54. And in my experience the 400 bonus HP you would get from those stat points pumped into Vit do not help me nowhere near as much as Strength has on matters. You kill mobs just a touch faster and your aggro management is stronger for it.

So, basically, Str for stat points is what I would recommend, and all Fending gear until you find your comfort zone. That's a good mix, I feel.

Also, be sure to maximize your potential tanking abilities. I've seen a lot of Drks not use Dark Dance + Dark Arts for example. The boost to your dodging ability helps tremendously, and almost every fight I open starts with Dark Arts + Dark Dance if I can help it. Then as the fight progresses, Foresight, Shadow Skin, Shadow Wall, and so on.

The reason why a lot of Drk's seem squishy is because, well, they are. Many don't open with abilities that make them take less damage. Paladin can get away with a Foresight starting out mostly because of their shield. Blood bath etc, helps.

Not so much Drk. We eat a ton of damage to the face compared to PLD starting a fight. So be aware of it, and prep your cool downs when opening.