tank with least buttons for 4 mans

[SyzzleSpark]

This is not a good indicator as not all abilities are used equally.

....

If you're literally just concerned about buttons

10char

[DacienSanderon]

DRK will run out of mp faster than PLD will run out of TP.

PLD just spams TE / Flash and alternate when their run out of one type of resource. 2 buttons.

Nice thing about this is you also get more mitigation for no effort. Free blocking plus 20+ seconds of blind. The AE dps is the lowest of the 3 tanks though, maybe significantly lower.

[DacienSanderon]

....

I think the concern is useful buttons. If you want to be literal though are you really going to count war fel cleave and inner beast as 2 buttons even though it auto switches for you based on stance? Or count 2 paladin/war stances vs one drk stance?

[Thela]

DRK will run out of mp faster than PLD will run out of TP.

PLD just spams TE / Flash and alternate when their run out of one type of resource. 2 buttons.

WAR will spam OP but needs do to SE combo to maintain buff and potentially do Cyclone. 4-5 buttons.

DRK will spam AD and Unleash but will need to replenish mp with SE and potentially TBN for quietus. You're looking at 5-7 buttons.

So no, the correct answer is PLD.

But nobody asked which tank is better/easier or whatever to play, the question was which tank has the least amount of buttons and the answer to that question is most definitely NOT Paladin.

And if you just spam TE / Flash and nothing else you're really not gonna get very far, just saying. If you go by that logic then the correct answer would be Warrior, doing nothing but Overpower which will create enough aggro for you to just stand there after you run out of TP waiting for it to replenish. Or indeed Paladin doing nothing but Flash. But I'm assuming the OP want to play the job CORRECTLY.

[Shinkyo]

But nobody asked which tank is better/easier or whatever to play, the question was which tank has the least amount of buttons and the answer to that question is most definitely NOT Paladin.

The question in the title is from my understanding "which tank requires the least button to run 4-man content (i.e. dungeons)?" so I'm simply answering in that mindset.

Flash/TE is the correct way to play PLD in dungeon big pulls until you reached a boss.
Only when you've burned the mobs down to 3, you may want to Goring if it's gonna tick in full.

All I'm saying is that with a minimum of 2 buttons and on trash mobs, PLD is more efficient than the WAR/DRK. It's less potency per GCD but it's more sustainable and you're not playing it wrong.
But really the OP question is a bit weird in the first place :-)

[Galgarion]

The actual answer here is DRK by far. Come on guys what are you even trying by saying PLD and War instead? All a DRK has to do is literally just spam Unleash/Abyssal drain with some blood price to get mana back. That's it. At most at really high levels spam abyssal drain with the ocasional quietus worked in there.

You have to combo to regen mana, though. That's too many buttons, the whole system falls apart.

[DacienSanderon]

And if you just spam TE / Flash and nothing else you're really not gonna get very far, just saying. If you go by that logic then the correct answer would be Warrior, doing nothing but Overpower which will create enough aggro for you to just stand there after you run out of TP waiting for it to replenish. Or indeed Paladin doing nothing but Flash. But I'm assuming the OP want to play the job CORRECTLY.

Flash/TE spam is playing the job correctly. That's the point.

[JugoJagereich]

Correct answer is DRK.

* AOE threat gather - don't have to mind the cone aoe
* AOE damage deal - same.
* scaling mp regen based on number of enemies with no effort.
* floor based damage - also scales with number of enemies
* least amount of defensive CDs to manage

[MauvaisOeil]

Basically : any tank job player saying it's another tank job the easiest.

[Venur]

Your group would hate you, but you could probably hold aggro and get through dungeons as a Paladin without ever using any ability other than Flash.

Wasn,t it how PLD used to play from 1 to 50 prior 4.0 ?