
Originally Posted by
Fernosaur
The thing with enmity in FFXIV is that it's permanent, unlike in some other MMOs, in which you lose enmity as you take damage, etc.
The amount of enmity you generate by using your enmity combo in tank stance is pretty massive, as both the enmity modifiers in both the stances and the attacks are pretty big. I believe DRK's Spninning Slash is x3.5, while Power Slash is x5.5 enmity, x6.5 when using Dark Arts (not much of a gain, tbh). This is then multiplied by Grit's enmity modifier, which iirc is x2.7. Also, everything you do inside Grit (any oGCD ability) also gets the x2.7 modifier, so Scourge (rip as of SB), Dark Passenger, Low Blow, Reprisal, etc, generate almost thrice as much enmity as they normally would.
Meanwhile, enmity generated normally by any attack is only half of the actual action's effect, both for attacks and healing spells. So a WHM casting Cure II and healing you for 7000 generates 3500 points of enmity. If you hit an enemy with Power Slash in Grit and you deal 2000 damage, you're generating 35100 points of enmity if you used Dark Arts on it. Literally ten times as much as that one Cure II.
That's the main reason why it takes the DPS and healers a while to catch up: the enmity cushion you build with your enmity opener is pretty massive due to the multipliers.
Once you take Grit off, though, your attacks will only generate half the amount of damage in enmity, so that's why the DPS catch up to you.