I Want Some Feed Back From Some Good Tanks ^_^

[Alahra]

Ideally, you should have both, especially if you do a lot of Duty Finder content with random folks. As someone suggested, it's a good idea to start with Fending and to slowly work your way into Slaying. Using Slaying requires proper cooldown management and also puts more strain on your healers to a certain degree if they also DPS, as the difference between full Slaying and full Fending tends to be about 2 to 3 GCDs before the healer will need to heal--though every healer has their own view of how low the tank's health can get before they need to heal.

I'm not a serious tank and in HW thus far I've felt more comfortable using Fending (I used pentamelded accessories in ARR). As a healer, I prefer Fending tanks by default only because I don't know if the tank knows what they're doing (and I have to say, with the shift in the meta, there are a lot of tanks wearing Slaying accessories who have no idea that they need to do extra work to compensate for the lost health). But a good Slaying tank does fine if they have the left side gear and the skill necessary to pull things off.

[abzoluut]

STR for all tanks all the way (when you're 60, I'd check out melded accessories, they're just that good).

Need to ask though. How do your STR tanks die "instantly" compared to your VIT tanks when you heal? The hp you get from VIT, does not make the difference between instant and a little longer. A full STR tank should not die instantly because he has 1000 HP less..

[Seku]

free points from leveling to STR. Full Vit accessories until you're comfortable with large pulls and consistently rotating your CD's. Ease up off Vit for Str once you know a good "comfort zone" for most healers and have got the dungeon learned. Current HP that I find most healers to be able to consistently keep me alive with is about 14-15k in any content outside of Savage Alexander.

[Wyndam]

I'm an i163 tank so I'm not particularly geared or anything. But I've got a lot more compared to where I was when I started on the Expert Roulette. Right now if I remove my right side accessories my HP drops from 16000 to 12000. Yesterday while running Fractal Continuum during trash I took about 4k in a GCD once my cooldowns ran out (4 hits, all completely unmitigated). If it's the difference between dead in 3 GCDs or dead in 4 GCDs, I think it's worth wearing the Fending. Once I'm geared, sure, I'll have some Slaying accessories to play with. Until then, more damage is at the bottom of the priority list.

[Rolynot]

As a lvl 60 PLD main with ilvl190+, I'd say the best method of progression is to start off by using fending as you are first starting to gear up as a fresh 60. You barely hit like 13-14k life with full fending in greens/HQ quest gear as a fresh 60 which makes you much more susceptible to dying if your healer isn't good or geared. As you start gearing up though, start taking slaying as long as you keep your life total around 15k+. Also as you feel more comfortable, switch one fending with one slaying until you are full slaying or comfortable with a mix. I personally started full fending and started to switch to slaying as I got more geared and before I knew it, I ended up with 4 slaying 1 fending (only cause you can't have 2 slaying 190 rings). Also loving wearing the slaying as I watch my dps almost match the weaker dps =) Strangely satisfying.

[Drtoxicmedica]

My general rules.

I tend to roll fending for trash to add a bit of a buffer so the healer can cleric stance. I'll ditch them for slaying if they dont dps or they are really geared.

Slaying for bosses unless healer really has issues (people dying, not yet comfortable with fight etc.)

And overall how well you feel you use your cds (how often you feel you almost eat dirt. How much your healer has to heal you. ex. You see alot of cure 2 bombs just to keep you standing etc.

Fending isn't bad while learning but nothing wrong with slaying once you feel you got the hang of things.

[Aomine1992]

STR for all tanks all the way (when you're 60, I'd check out melded accessories, they're just that good).

Need to ask though. How do your STR tanks die "instantly" compared to your VIT tanks when you heal? The hp you get from VIT, does not make the difference between instant and a little longer. A full STR tank should not die instantly because he has 1000 HP less..

Idk he pulled the first room I saw he took a huge hit so I was already in divine seal and threw out a tetra and got him back to full threw a regan and asylum, then another spike in dmg before a cure could go off so I tried to throw out Bene cause he was already at 20% at this time but it ended up casting on myself cause he died before it even went off lmao.
This was the first room in fractal.

[Phoenicia]

Idk he pulled the first room I saw he took a huge hit so I was already in divine seal and threw out a tetra and got him back to full threw a regan and asylum, then another spike in dmg before a cure could go off so I tried to throw out Bene cause he was already at 20% at this time but it ended up casting on myself cause he died before it even went off lmao.
This was the first room in fractal.

This seems to me an issue of an undergeared (low Def/M.Def) tank or no-CD-usage... or both.

The difference between a full VIT and a full STR tank is ~2000 HP. VIT accessories do not affect the amount of healing a tank takes since it does not affect the damage the tank takes. If a tank gets hit for 4k, you need to heal 4k, regardless of right side.

As for me, I just tank everything in STR gear unless my healer really, really sucks. Then I just slap in VIT and hope the DPS can finish off mobs before I die.

[m3eansean]

You dont even have provoke.

Stop what you are doing and level gladiator to 22 immediately to get the cross class skill provoke.

You are reaching the point in the game where it is a MANDATORY skill. You will be kicked from groups if you do not have it for tank swapping mechanics.

A word to the wise. Get provoke, now.

[Ultimatecalibur]

STR for all tanks all the way (when you're 60, I'd check out melded accessories, they're just that good).

Need to ask though. How do your STR tanks die "instantly" compared to your VIT tanks when you heal? The hp you get from VIT, does not make the difference between instant and a little longer. A full STR tank should not die instantly because he has 1000 HP less..

All fending vs all slaying accessories is roughly 25% to 30% less hp (~4k at i190) at level 60 depending on ilevel*. This can be a significant amount when doing big pulls in the expert dungeons.

*According to Ariyala's. Currently checking in game.