How can you tell a bad tank?

[battleshadow66]

Threat is so braindead now if a tank repeatedly loses threat on packs they need to be kicked.

Had a GNB in Mehg who would pull a pack of mobs, aoe once, then start single targeting them. Was leveling my MCH and every pull I'd have at least 2 or 3 mods peel off to attack me...

[Kaitoo]

Baby Pulls in higher content
Dies to Tankbuster all the time
Does shit dmg

[Sebazy]

Skittish tanks are the bane of my existence. aka stutter stepping.

Wait until AFTER my adlo wears off to charge in.

This so much. I can deal with not sprinting, no cooldowns, single pulls and whatnot. But standing there wobbling about infront of a boss just drives me utterly spare. Bosses have been the med break part of a dungeon for years now, just go!

[Pepsi_Plunge]

No sprint.

Why is sprinting actually a thing? Are there any benefits for it? Personally I hate it when tanks are sprinting away with mobs in tow and thankfully none of my friends are doing it. Going 'normally' gives the DDs the time and opportunity to build up their buffs or applying DoTs before the Mobs finally huddle, so they can instantly starting AoE once the tank stops (otherwise you have to do that first when you actually want to AoE but can't because as SAM I have first to go through half of my single-target-rotation to activate both buffs and as DNC I want to do my steps before the huddle so I can use the finish as soon as we stop)

Also I've seen enough tanks dying simply because the healer couldn't keep up with them when they were sprinting ahead and vanished around a corner and sprouts may be unable to cope if you go too fast in a new dungeon. That's why, when I'm playing tank, I usually don't sprint.

[Taika]

Why is sprinting actually a thing? Are there any benefits for it?

I always sprint after hitting the first target(s) of the pull until the end of the pull. It will make the pull time shorter, resulting in less damage taken and allowing everyone to start doing proper damage on the whole pull asap. All other party members should sprint too. When I'm healing, I sprint with the tank, heal them mid-pull if necessary, but mostly focus on single-target DoTing every monster while running.

[Pepsi_Plunge]

When I'm healing I sprint with the tank too, if they do it, but with PUGs you never know and chances are the tank is just sprinting ahead of everyone.
And again, while Monks may like it, as a SAM I have no chance to catch up to build my buffs with a sprinting tank if I'm lacking behind. But if they don't sprint I can use sprint myself to catch up easily and do my preparations mid-pull.

Sure, a shorter pull-time means lesser dmg but from experience with decent equip those mid-pull-dmg isn't really a problem, especially compared to the risk of an healer not keeping up with your sprinting. And also, If the DDs can't do their preparations mid-pull the actual dmg you take will be probably much higher because the huddle-time will be longer.

[Ahrijlaken]

Good tanks use their cooldown and know/memorize/track healer cooldown and take DPS job/gear/AOE capacity into account .... and he pull according to that.

[Taika]

Sure, a shorter pull-time means lesser dmg but from experience with decent equip those mid-pull-dmg isn't really a problem, especially compared to the risk of an healer not keeping up with your sprinting. And also, If the DDs can't do their preparations mid-pull the actual dmg you take will be probably much higher because the huddle-time will be longer.

In all of my years of playing XIV DF dungeons, I have never seen a situation in which a healer couldn't keep up with a sprinting tank. And sprint pulls were already done in 2.0. It is something that may happen, but shouldn't happen. If an individual healer is having trouble with keeping up for some reason (like being a new to the game or the job or not being familiar with controls or whatever), they should simply ask for the tank to not use it, and that problem is solved.


You are right that in the end it's a question of what is the most effective. If the tank pulls without sprint, the pull itself will take longer, enemies are stacked slower for AoE DPS, tank will take more mid-pull damage which might affect their cooldown usage (less cooldowns for when everything is gathered), and healer may need to use their time during pull on healing spells or abilities (I personally prefer saving OCDs for when the pull is done) instead of DPS. Ranged and casters should not be affected, but at least for some melees it might lower their overall DPS for that pull.


I can't really estimate which way is more effective DPS wise, it also might depend on the party composition, but as a tank and a healer I definitely do prefer sprint pulls because I find them a bit safer (because less damage taken as the pull last a shorter time and not all enemies will reach the sprinting tank while running) and from my perspective the faster we get the pull to stop and into the AoE burn mode the better.