Is it Time for Active Mitigation?

[Absurdity]

I don't remember that being the case. As I remember it, tanks had an aggro combo and a damage combo, with PLD also having a DoT combo. WAR might have had something like what you're describing (I didn't really pick it up until just before 4.0), but I didn't think it was rotational.

If you started with Stormblood then of course you wouldn't remember that, since it existed in the 3.X era. Warrior for example worked slightly differently in that Maim applied a +20% damage buff, Storm's Eye applied slashing resistance down and Storm's Path applied a debuff to the enemy that reduced all damage dealt by 10% for X seconds. This meant you would be switching between 2 combo finishers to keep the slashing and damage reduction debuff up and, if enmity allowed for it, would do your Butcher's Block combo whenever possible since it dealt the highest amount of damage between all 3.


Dark Knight had 3 finishers for their dps combo, the Soul Eater we all know, Scourge which was a DoT effect and Delirium which reduced the enemy's intelligence by 10% and therefore their magic damage for 20 seconds.


For Paladin was mostly the same as in Stormblood, except their 2nd combos were switched around, this was actually an issue for paladins back in Heavensward since all of their attack combos did increased enmity which made tank swaps awkward since Shirk did not exist. Rage of Halone reduced the enemy's strength by 10% and therefore their physical damage.