Curiosity about AK

[Lyndoggy_Dog]

So I have tanked successfully Ifrit more times than I care to count. I have had no issues with WP unless the DPS was not on the ball for the second boss. So I figured I would give AK a try. I regret my decision in life about trying that. I could not pull agro off anyone even with a iLvl 55 sword and patchwork gear. Some still my starting artifact armor with a DL belt and iLvl 55 pants and boots.

Is this a DL minimum for tanks or was I just in a pug with people who were over geared for me to tank for successfully?

You could not pull aggro off anyone? That's you're first mistake right there, you shouldn't have to pull it off anyone, are the team your playing with running ahead of you and pulling before you get there? If not and you are actually losing aggro mid fight then it is a problem on you're end. Learn you're aggro combos and check your aggro gauge over you're name.

[NovaLevossida]

A lot of people in AK are overgeared for it and just there for tomes. Odds are they don't care who the mob is hitting so long as it dies fast and the run goes fast (these people don't care about getting hit so long as they don't die). Think merit parties with no tanks in FFXI. Dead mobs don't hit very hard; hell, there's even a pull on a succubus in there where a geared BRD can outright kill her before she can reach the party. Honestly, if your DPS classes are highly overgeared compared to your tank, if you lose agro on a single mob, it doesn't matter too much. Just try to keep the pack on you. But there's not a whole lot you can do about them pulling mobs on you if you know your rotations and stuff. That's on them to hold back if they want and it's on you to improve gear. That said, I'd start doing primals to get a better weapon.

[Jaminos]

I mark my targets all the time. By 50, I think every tank should know this. However, I have noticed pugs tend to ignore my marks even after I tell them what the mark means.

[juniglee]

I mark my targets all the time. By 50, I think every tank should know this. However, I have noticed pugs tend to ignore my marks even after I tell them what the mark means.

Most of these users have run AK so many times that they're dead bored of it, and just want to finish it fast. So they spam AoE's and stuff, or just go for whatever. Or they probably just don't think much of you when you with your iLv55 weapon can't hold aggro against their relic/+1 weapons. For this reason, I usually run with friends who knows how to work with me. It's really not hard to find an AK party once you hit end game, there's usually always some people out there who'll need to run AK anyway.

For what it's worth, if there's a guy whose AoE pulls all the mobs off you, you can try and use Cover on him while he tanks it...short term solution, but better than nothing. Better to have overgeared DPS than undergeared for AK imo.

[Lumines]

Don't worry too much, there's only so much you can do if they severely outgear you so. Chances are if they're in relic/+1, they can probably kill it pretty fast even if its on them. As long as it's not causing wipes or straining the healer too much, it'll be fine. Your biggest priority right now is to get a better weapon! If relic is out of reach, shoot for Ifrit's Blade, it's ilvl 60 and any improvement will serve you well, it can easily last you until you get your relic. You'll gear up soon enough, perks of being tank is that you do so much faster than DPS. GL!

[Jaminos]

I ended up running it with a PUG today. We had a Dragoon with a Relic+1. He ended up tanking more than I did. Thankfully he and the rest of my group were pretty cool. So I ended up getting two ilvl 60 pieces of armor out of it and progression on my relic quest. Just waiting on Hydra now. I had a Paladin in an Ifrit HM tell me to tank because they had better gear to stun with. I only laughed and tanked the boss. I had a better weapon, and better gear than they did. I have some it so many times I didn't even care. Ironically, they ended up missing most of the eruptions anyhow so the group dissolved.

[xRitzx]

I ended up running it with a PUG today. We had a Dragoon with a Relic+1. He ended up tanking more than I did. Thankfully he and the rest of my group were pretty cool. So I ended up getting two ilvl 60 pieces of armor out of it and progression on my relic quest. Just waiting on Hydra now. I had a Paladin in an Ifrit HM tell me to tank because they had better gear to stun with. I only laughed and tanked the boss. I had a better weapon, and better gear than they did. I have some it so many times I didn't even care. Ironically, they ended up missing most of the eruptions anyhow so the group dissolved.

Gratz on the AK win. I beat AK with full AF and a LvL 40 weapon and shield. So you can do it under geared as a tank but the tank and healer will be strained and the team needs to play smart. There was an awesome BLM that slept mobs and explained fights. We had a few healers because the healer had to work pretty hard.

Also, the weaker geared tank should stun HM Ifrit because you want the geared tank to be taking the hits. So the Paladin in Ifrit HM you had was right that they had better gear to stun with (even though yours was superior).

[Amyas]

Try tabbing through targets after you pull initially and use your single target +enmity combo and flashed a few times, start your combo on one mob, then finish it on mob with next highest hate on pt member that isn't you. That *and* dps really need to stay on marked mob. Ah and use circle of scorn alot too for multiple mobs, don't play pld much but I've seen lvl 50 ones that were pretty good using it, I think it puts dot up too on whatever it hits.

[Zoomie]

Wrote a 4500 word AK technique compendium.... only to have it limit me to 1000 characters.

/wrists

[Viridiana]

Wrote a 4500 word AK technique compendium.... only to have it limit me to 1000 characters.

/wrists

You can edit your post to get around the 1k character limit. It's silly. >_>