Is it true that holding aggro 100% of the time isn't possible at low levels?

[Faeon]

WAR tank is best tank

wow okay, that is really a great answer for the OP question.

Yes as launched said, keep your gear up to date, and maybe even ahead slightly. You will need to work slightly extra hard since you don't even have your tanky stance yet. GL

[Vaala]

One of the biggest things I've seen newish tanks be afraid of is running out of resources (TP or MP). The regen rate for these outside battles and running between mobs is so quick, don't be afraid to throw out a couple extra Overpowers, or Flash...or both! You'll get a feel for how much you need based on your party and the aggro bars!

I used to mark mobs religiously at low levels when I was new. Now I throw about 3 overpowers out and watch the HP bars of the mobs on my emnity list. If one is dropping faster than the rest, then I focus my hate combo on that as both DPS are likely on it...if I see 2 mobs going down about the same time, i know I need to split my focus or toss out an extra overpower/flash.

You'll find a method that works for you, but pre-30 it is definitely more difficult to hold hate against some more aggressive players, or unpredictable ones that attack mobs you aren't expecting.

Keep your head up and Axe sharp

[Claire_Pendragon]

One of the biggest things I've seen newish tanks be afraid of is running out of resources (TP or MP). The regen rate for these outside battles and running between mobs is so quick, don't be afraid to throw out a couple extra Overpowers, or Flash...or both!

There is no way you're getting decent TP/MP regeneration unless you're allowing maim/wrath to drop off between pulls, or going to pull too slow.

If you're actually keeping maim up between pulls, so it raises your overpower dmg next pull, you will always have less TP the next pull, than you had the prior pull. (Pretty much leaving bosses as a means to catch up in resources.)
2 overpowers, 1 flash, with an occasion change of: 1 overpower, 2 flash to maintain resources. (and its still not enough, you should be out of resources by the boss if not sooner)

tabbing around to maintain threat, and as WAR skip using tomahawk, unless you're willing to slow down pulls. (The TP consumption is too great to keep AoEs up and keep the pulls fast)

[Sigmar_Heldenhammer]

Haven't read everyone's response in full, lots of info there, so, not sure if it has been mentioned, but you can also try marking targets for kill order.
That way hopefully people will focus fire and give you a chance to build Afro on what you are killing, and on the rest before they are attacked by the DPS.

[Zampp]

It is possible to keep aggro 100% of the time as a low level tank. You just have to do more AGGRO combos and flashes/overpowers. Once you hit 30 and get a stance tanking becomes brain numbingly easy.

[Warkupo]

it's possible, but it doesn't necessarily make the run faster to play like that. Especially as a PLD with no AOE its' often faster to just let the DPS take a mob so you can do less Flashin' and more DPSn'. Flash is basically a DPS loss unless the added mitigation lets your whitemage do some more DPS as well.

Enmity isn't your resource alone to handle either. DPS should know that they do more actual damage taking advantage of a tank so that they can use flanking combos and the like. If they decide to be stupid about it and just go full ham and rip hate they're the ones actively hurting their DPS, not you. It's not that damn hard to switch targets mid-fight: I do it constantly, so why can't anyone else?

You're the tank. You're 1/4 of the party. Don't let crappy players dictate how much weight you should be pulling.

[Awful]

It's very possible you need to use your toolkit as effectively as you can all while being ahead of the DPS/Heals on threat. For bosses you see DPS using offensive CDs at the start Fight or Flight should be used I find from personal experience Toto-Rak is the only place that is crappy. Not only do DPS get their 3rd combos but they start getting maim+ mend (dmg/auto attack dmg) and stronger abilities to amplify their threat. If you're on point with cycling your emnity combos and using Flash as much as you can to fill in you should be good.

[Ilan]

Is it possible to keep hate as a low level tank? Yes. Are you able to keep hate in low level if you never played a tank in ff? Probably not.

Use overpower for groups and get flash from GLD as extra tool, don't be afraid to use both skills to keep hate and you should be fine until you get your tankstance. After that its pretty easy to keep hate.

[lulunami]

At low levels for packs of enemies, just do the following:

- use AoE ability twice (Flash, Overpower, Unleash); bigger enemy pulls may require more AoE
- use any DPS increasing skill/ability (i.e. Maim) and maintain it if possible
- cycle through and do single target rotation on multiple enemies (i.e 1st and 2nd weapon-skill combo on mob A, then use 3rd weapon-skill combo finisher on mob B)
- constantly tab target and look at aggro meter and single target combo enemies where you have small aggro lead

For single target at low levels:

- Overpower once or twice (if playing WAR), and otherwise just do single target (i.e. Shield Lob at start of pull into Fast Blade > Savage Blade > Rage of Halone combo)
- use any DPS increasing skill/ability (i.e Maim, Fight or Flight) and maintain it if possible

[Mirch]

I tried to hold hate in the level 24 dungeon with my dark knight but i had my guildmate with me and he was leveling his black mage and he took away from me 3 mobs in the whole dungeon, because he hit 1 mob and the other dps hit another one so i had to switch target everytime, but nothing complicated to handle, i always started with unmend>scourge>unleash>hate combo>unleash>switch target>scourge>switchtarget>scourge>and so on, i also used the power that increase reduces your recast of skills to do more unleash when needed