Cooldown combos?

[TouchandFeel]

Some general stuff for dungeons.

- Learn the pulls of the dungeon and match defensive usage to it. Within like two runs of the dungeon you will pretty much have mapped out what pulls there are and what defensives can go with them for maximum efficiency. There tends to be a general pattern for all dungeons where the really big pulls are staggered so you can usually allot your big defensives (sentinel, shadow wall, etc.) to them and by the time you get to the next really big pull it is back up. For the smaller and medium pulls you can usually fill in with what you have available of the weaker and more readily available defensives.

- Don't worry about saving big defensives for boss fights, mass pulls involve way more incoming damage and big defensives are better used there. You'll be fine with the weaker defensives in boss fights since most dungeon bosses do little more than tickles to a decently geared tank. If the boss has a nasty tank buster, you can pair weaker defensives, like Rampart+Sheltron, to deal with them.

- Don't save or sit on your super defensive: Hallowed, Holmgang, and maybe Living Dead if you have a healer that knows what's up. Plan for and use them like your other defensives otherwise they are just going to waste.

- Most big defensives can be used by themselves while weaker ones like Convalescence and Anticipation can be paired together for greater effect.

- % damage down defensives are multiplicative and so are best not stacked if it can be avoided because it reduces their effectiveness. Defensives that work differently can be paired just fine, such as Rampart+Convalescence, Rampart+TBN, etc.

- Remember that the big defensives also have shorter durations, so plan accordingly. This may mean that you will need to pop a second round of defensives after the big one runs out on big pulls. Always start with the big defensive first in a large pull and then go into the weaker ones since the first part of a big pull always tends to be the period of greatest incoming damage which then will taper off as mobs are killed off.

- Good offense makes for a better defense. Dead mobs do no damage, so make sure to plan your offensive abilities into burst windows that coincide with pulls. If you offload a ton of damage at the beginning of tanking a big group of mobs, you'll kill them off far more quickly and end up taking less damage and sooner, helping to fit the window of large incoming damage to the shorter duration of your stronger defensives.

[DRKoftheAzure]

Some general stuff for dungeons.

- Learn the pulls of the dungeon and match defensive usage to it. Within like two runs of the dungeon you will pretty much have mapped out what pulls there are and what defensives can go with them for maximum efficiency. There tends to be a general pattern for all dungeons where the really big pulls are staggered so you can usually allot your big defensives (sentinel, shadow wall, etc.) to them and by the time you get to the next really big pull it is back up. For the smaller and medium pulls you can usually fill in with what you have available of the weaker and more readily available defensives.

- Don't worry about saving big defensives for boss fights, mass pulls involve way more incoming damage and big defensives are better used there. You'll be fine with the weaker defensives in boss fights since most dungeon bosses do little more than tickles to a decently geared tank. If the boss has a nasty tank buster, you can pair weaker defensives, like Rampart+Sheltron, to deal with them.

- Don't save or sit on your super defensive: Hallowed, Holmgang, and maybe Living Dead if you have a healer that knows what's up. Plan for and use them like your other defensives otherwise they are just going to waste.

- Most big defensives can be used by themselves while weaker ones like Convalescence and Anticipation can be paired together for greater effect.

- % damage down defensives are multiplicative and so are best not stacked if it can be avoided because it reduces their effectiveness. Defensives that work differently can be paired just fine, such as Rampart+Convalescence, Rampart+TBN, etc.

- Remember that the big defensives also have shorter durations, so plan accordingly. This may mean that you will need to pop a second round of defensives after the big one runs out on big pulls. Always start with the big defensive first in a large pull and then go into the weaker ones since the first part of a big pull always tends to be the period of greatest incoming damage which then will taper off as mobs are killed off.

- Good offense makes for a better defense. Dead mobs do no damage, so make sure to plan your offensive abilities into burst windows that coincide with pulls. If you offload a ton of damage at the beginning of tanking a big group of mobs, you'll kill them off far more quickly and end up taking less damage and sooner, helping to fit the window of large incoming damage to the shorter duration of your stronger defensives.

Which raises a question; do you kill mobs 1 at a time or try to go for killing all the trash mobs at once?


Me personally, I try to focus down 1 at a time since I am DRK main. I would use Living Dead more if it weren't for that CD timer...


Also personally, if defensive has too long of a CD timer or greatly punishes you or penalizes you then it is not worth using...


Tank Stance is only tolerable during big dungeon pulls and a lot of role actions I even forget exist because the effects are too situational, bosses are immune to the effects, do no damage(melee range role actions), has the potential to be a lot better, or all of the above.

[TouchandFeel]

Which raises a question; do you kill mobs 1 at a time or try to go for killing all the trash mobs at once?
Me personally, I try to focus down 1 at a time since I am DRK main. I would use Living Dead more if it weren't for that CD timer...

In almost all instances for basically all jobs , when dealing with 3+ mobs you always maximize your AoE damage.
The only instances in which you would potentially hold on to your AoE abilities and not use some of them is if those abilities have a cooldown and you are dealing with a really small pack of like 3-4 mobs (or are finishing off a pack and are down to the last 3-4) and you want to save those AoE abilites for the next big pack coming up. Otherwise you better be using them or you are just not playing to the level of effectiveness that you should.

Also, even when going all out with AoEs you still have a bunch of single target stuff to throw out as well, so you just use those to help focus down any particularly nasty mobs in the pack. DRK has stuff like CnS and plunge, and in addition you also have Low Blow and Interject that you can mix in to try and keep those especially pesky mobs with AoE attacks locked down.

So really it's not an either/or situation in regards to focusing a single target or focusing AoE, you should really be doing both at the same time.

Also personally, if defensive has too long of a CD timer or greatly punishes you or penalizes you then it is not worth using...

I don't know of what defensive abilities you speak of that greatly punish or penalize you, but an ability not used is an ability wasted.
Living Dead and maybe Holmgang are the only defensives that I can think of that may require a bit more caution when deciding whether or when to use them. Asides from those, you really need to be using your entire kit as much as you can or you are only partially playing your job and not fully.
As for abilities with long cooldown times, well that long time is irrelevant if you never use those abilities.

Tank Stance is only tolerable during big dungeon pulls and a lot of role actions I even forget exist because the effects are too situational, bosses are immune to the effects, do no damage(melee range role actions), has the potential to be a lot better, or all of the above.

Yes, if a player is comfortable with tanking and the content that they are doing, then tank stance is pretty much relegated to only being used in mass pulls and initial aggro for bosses, and even then it may not be necessary in those instances with the right setup and situations.

As for the role actions, many may be situational but they are still tools in your kit that you should be aware of and use to maximum effectiveness as much as you can.
More than half of the tank role abilities are just extra defensive abilities that should be a part of your regular defensive rotations and usage.
Shirk, Provoke and Ultimatum may not be as useful in dungeons as other content but are still important parts of your kit that can be put to good use. For example Provoke has a much longer range on it than your regular ranged agro/pull ability, so sometimes if I want or need to tag a mob from far off because I am running past during a pull and don't want to change direction or am trying to pull to a certain spot with as little moving around as possible, I will just use Provoke instead of running closer to the mob and then moving back. Also, in regards to DRK, Provoke costs no MP unlike Unmend which can save you a little bit of MP here and there in pulls if used intelligently.
I already went into where you should be using Low Blow and Interject in dungeons, but just for clarity I'll repeat it. You should be using them to interrupt and lock down the annoying mobs in the pack that use the big AoEs so that both you and your party don't have to run around and move as much.

While not all abilities may be as useful as others, they still all have a use and you should be taking advantage of that.