Thread: Teach me how to WAR!

I'm a scholar with i88, have been doing coil regularly although haven't beat turn 5. I'm going to play WAR as a sub and I've been enjoying it so far, but once I hit level 32 I feel a bit overwhelmed by the combo it has to use to maximize its usefulness. How do you usually tank as a WAR? Might be hard to teach me cause I've been seeing the world in the eyes of a healer and it has only very few buttons to press..

The positioning? What skills to use, what cooldowns to keep up, when to use Berserk and whether Defiance must always be turned on? Do I have to always use Butcher's Block whenever possible, and keep maim up 100% of the time? What about fracture? I'm only level 32, so that's all I know about, would be great if you could tell me on the next few skills like Inner Beast, Holmgang, the Storm thingy, and give me examples of how to do.. let's say turn 1-4?

I always attempt to learn my class by running each dungeon at least once and I really hate FATE grinding, but so far my dungeons have been very easy and I don't think it's helping me much. I've never wiped my party though, so I guess I got the basics down, marking and stunning and facing them away from the party as such

I feel the same as you. WAR and MNK are the most difficult classes to play for me since they have more combos to fully unlock their potiential. If you are playing war I think what you need to do is to learn the fight then try to adjust your rotation based on your role in the fight. For example, if I am main tanking, I would focus on hate and defince rotations. If I am a dps I would focus on rotation to max my dps. Once you are experinced enough you can mix between rotation.

Pull with tomahawk.
If single target, do a HS>SS>BB combo, then alternate between storm's path/eye combos. To really get ahead you can use unchained on the pull.

AoE pulls, start with tom, Overpower, flash, and a steel cyclone.

Single or AoE, face the mobs away from the party. Except for the last boss of AK, don't do that.

With the changes to aggro, tanking is pretty mindless.

As a "beginner" (can't pass T4, haven't done any of the 2.1 content besides the HM dungeons and PS), I use the BB combo twice on single targets, then I try to keep Storm's path and storm's eye 100% of the time.

In a general way, I keep Storm's path 100% of the time, and Storm's eye whenever I can. Butcher's block is here to held you get a lead if DPs are coming close (shouldn't happen often. Pop some BB combo to keep yourself ahead).

for AoE pulls, 3* overpower is a nearly-guaranteed way to keep the hate for long enough to kill every monster around you if the dps are doing their job. In case of need, use HS+SS on one monster, then BB on an other, it should buy enough time to help the dps to focus.

Defiance should be on 100% of the time if you're MT. If you're the OT, you can let it down if you don't have to take back the hate repeatedly (T2 for example), and spam the storm's combos.

Berserk is a bit more complicated sometimes. I use it whenever it is possible when I OT, as better damages are always good, but when I MT I only use it on single target with unchained, to get a huge lead on hate so that I can perma-debuff the target when pacification turns off.

As main tank, you should focus on Butcher's block and Storm's path. If your hate lead is large enough, rotate in Storm's eye in place of Butcher's block. If you're off tanking, you're basically going to rotate Storm's eye and Storm's path to keep both debuffs up 100% of the time. Also, it is highly recommended to level a Paladin to at least 22 as well. You'll get Flash (AOE threat and your lone MP consuming ability) and provoke. Which is an absolute requirement for end game tanking. As far as defiance goes, if you're main tanking, it will be up all the time. As an off tank, you can turn it off for more DPS, but you have to be ready to turn it back on/provoke/Butcher's block/tomahawk in case the main tank goes down. If you're in a fight that requires tank swapping, leave it up as off tank to make things easier on the healer.

Also, you'll likely never need Berserk for single target threat, but, it's great for AOE tanking. Berserk (and vengeance if it's a big WP type pull), run in, flash, line em up, over power, flash, over power, then go into your single target rotation (either on your marked target or tab it around). Nothing will be pulled off of you ever this way. You can also use Steel Cyclone for AOE threat if it's up.

The last piece of advice, if you have a black mage with AOE sleep, it's always good to inform them to not use it until you finish your AOE rotation. Flash won't break it, but overpower/steel cyclone definitely will.

Originally Posted by Swear_Bear

I'm also a SCH looking to take up WAR as my next job and tank option. This'll be the first tank I play in any MMO, so forgive my n00biness when I ask: what are these combos you guys speak of? I've about read WARs saying things like:

When this happens, I use my "burst dps combo"
When that happens, I use my "oh shit i need more hp" combo "

I know Heavy Swing > Skull Sunder is the beginning standard combo at low levels, but what are these "specific" situation combos people talk about? o_O

Ignore the "when this, when that" thingies. Situationnal skills should remain situationnal.

Tanking as a WAR is a lot of little questions to constantly ask, with a priority order

1) Is my hate far enough above the dps/healers ?
Y => go to 2)
N => use the hate combo : Heavy Swing, Skull Sunder, Butcher's block

2) is the damage debuff up ?
Y => go to 3)
N => use HS, Maim, Storm's path (bonus hp regen, but not worth mentionning)

3) is the resist debuff on ?
Y=> nothing more to do, hit whatever you like
N=> use HS, Maim, Storm's Eye

In a real fight (single target), you'll have to use BB combo, then SP, then it will be up to your sense of what is needed : hate, damage or DR. (consider that more damage dealt results in more hate generated, it can help sometimes)

in AoE fights, 3-4 overpower guarantee to hold threat if you mark the targets to focus. It's also guarantedd if both dps do AoEs (throw some flashes if you start to lose the packs)

in a general way :

Hate building > Damage reduction > Damage

Originally Posted by Fiosha_Maureiba

In my observation, Infuriate to Unchained is great at the beginning to build a massive amount of enmity, be it Overpower x3 or one Butcher's Block combo, before going into rotating Storm's Path for mitigation and Storm's Eye.

In my personal experience, I've found it best to actually open up with HS>SS(Vengeance)>BB>HS>Maim>SE>HS(Unchained)>SS(Berserk)>BB(Internal Release) and then move into either a BB>SE>BB rotation (if there is a PLD around that's going to be spamming RoH and forcing me to generate more enmity to maintain aggro) or SP>SE>BB rotation (if there isn't another tank around that's going to generate enough enmity to actually force me to maximize my own enmity generation). Infuriate>Unchained as an direct opener has always perturbed me because it "wastes" the additional benefits of using all of the WAR multipliers at the same time. I tend to use Infuriate only to get an SC or IB immediately after the use of any of the entire suite of Wrath abilities before I've generated any Wrath stacks via attacks (so it's sometimes IB>HS>IB when I need 10-11 seconds of increased DR or IB>Unchained when I'm ready to drop the bomb with the entire DPS CD suite at once).