Best tank for SHB ex/savage content

[Bhearil]

On a max min perspective id say PLD and GNB, but realistically speaking its just better to swap GNB for DRK because its far more tankier and since the ShB tank damage nerf the tank dps contribution has sunk so much its not worth the loss of survivality.

PLD reign supreme on this expansion though, is just that good right now. WAR is viable but not good compared to DRK which has better tankyness and around the same damage (depending on raid buffs a bit better even) output

[VenKitsune]

They're all used in all kinds of content. Right now, they're fairly well balanced.

That being said, WAR and DRK and the more defensive of the two, PLD and and GNB are the more offensive, in terms of raw numbers anyway, but its so close it really doesnt matter much.

[BarretOblivion]

in my opinion, WAR has the overlooked benefit that it grants the player the most freedom to pay attention to other things in a fight while still maintaining optimized damage. As the tank with the lowest APM, you can focus more of your attention to the actual fight itself. GNB, on the other hand, can become overwhelming when both your GF combo and NM become available-- a very common occurrence. Imagine having to weave in defensives while dealing with positioning ONTOP of maintaining optimal damage as GNB during NM windows, it's just not as easy as with WAR.

Its overlooked because newer players learning fights sure can definately learn faster, but experienced players get skull bored quickly playing WAR.

[Hierro]

Its overlooked because newer players learning fights sure can definately learn faster, but experienced players get skull bored quickly playing WAR.

I don't know, I'm still pretty entertained myself so probably not the best thing to just lump all experienced players together.

[SnowVix]

the only real need is having two different tank classes (both due to requirements of raid finder and due to overlap issues). yes, there's a meta where PLD + X is ideal just due to PLD's great party utility, but the tank delta right now is extremely minimal. so if your question is "i'd like to get involved in doing current savage/ex next patch, which tank should i do?", the answer is honestly, whichever you like better. i like DRK's defensive options, but until i can learn its rotation, i'm doing GNB because it has a DPS-like rotation, which is easier for me as a former melee DPS to do.

a lot of groups may already have a PLD, so you may have slightly better luck with one of the other 3, but even that isn't a huge difference.