Healing an axe tank. Really need advice.

[Snorgrind]

It should really all go out the window later on. From 30 on, you should have Warriors instead of Marauders, and they should be using Defiance (+25% HP, +20% healing received, +Enmity). Paladins, meanwhile, don't have Shield Oath until 40. Between 30 and 40, Warriors should be much easier to keep alive. After that, they should be roughly equal.

exactly, war should be easier to heal 30-40 cuz pld dont have shield oath yet, yes they have rampart for initial pull but thats all,at 30 war have defiance and at 35 have IB that should be enough to outperform pld until shield oath. Also every competent war will level up few levels of pld to get convalescence.

[Akirakogami]

funny. i think gladiators are pathetic in early level dungeons. like 15-39 they cannot hold agro to save their life. I can steal hate away from their MAIN TARGET as lancer easily. I don't even have to use cool downs or anything just true thrust n stuff. It's pathetic.

healing a sword and shield tank in early dungeons is pretty much just healing yourself or the dps and ignoring the tank completely.

CLearly they are either standing in lava or you have no healing items at all. you shouldn't be running out of mp during that part of the game at all.

[NightWrath]

funny. i think gladiators are pathetic in early level dungeons. like 15-39 they cannot hold agro to save their life. I can steal hate away from their MAIN TARGET as lancer easily. I don't even have to use cool downs or anything just true thrust n stuff. It's pathetic.

be my guest to try to steal my pld agro with isnt even br far my main, any time, any day, in any lvl. if are gears would be around the same lvl u would never be capable of such thing.

Most pld just dosent know how to keep agro, in low lvl dg is normal to a drg or brd to keep their hate in 80~90% but they wont steal it, and if they pop a cd, u pop fof together, and then u will stay with agro, and reduce this dps hate to less them 20%...

[whiskeybravo]

At the low levels you're talking about, neither tank has the defensive abilities that really define them. They're weak DPS in heavy armor with a couple enmity skills and a couple defensive cooldowns.

All other things being equal, Gladiators have better defensive CDs (Rampart and Convalescence vs. Foresight and Bloodbath). They also have a shield. Which means they get to both block and parry, while Marauders only get to parry. It's not a massive difference on a per-hit basis, but it adds up, especially on trash packs. More enemies means more overall incoming damage, but also more chances for blocks, which means more chances for the difference to be visible.

It's possible there's also some degree of player personality coming through. GLA/PLD is your standard stand your ground, protect your team, sword-and-board defensive tank. MRD/WAR is the rampaging, bloodthirsty berserker. Newer MRDs might not be thinking as defensively as they'll need to later on. A lot of people see that big axe and think it's supposed to do loads more damage instead of blocking it.

It should really all go out the window later on. From 30 on, you should have Warriors instead of Marauders, and they should be using Defiance (+25% HP, +20% healing received, +Enmity). Paladins, meanwhile, don't have Shield Oath until 40. Between 30 and 40, Warriors should be much easier to keep alive. After that, they should be roughly equal.

At this point, it's likely also a bit of confirmation bias and self-fulfilling prophecy going on. You see a MRD and prepare yourself for a stressful time, and see every HP drop as further proof of the trend, while letting them slide a bit more with GLAs because, after all, the rest of the time they're so easy.

Incidentally, you don't have to use roulette to use the DF. After your daily roulette, you get better XP going specifically for the highest-level dungeon you qualify for. Assuming the party can actually complete it, of course.

This ^ This ^ This ^

The only extra thing is Blind from GLA/PLD Flash that helps with mitigation, MRD/WAR can use Flash but don't get the added Blind effect.

Also, a THM/BLM that sleeps can be a wonderful thing for healers early on. Of course you have Repose, but that will eat into MP. Not only is the tank going to take less damage from mobs, there is less chance you are gonna pull aggro.

[PArcher]

In all honestly, I get the sense that there's something wrong on your end. Yes, maybe the MRD aren't gearing...but pre-30, neither tank is really any good, and the differences between the two aren't great. For the most part, in low-level dungeons, I find GLA worse to heal since they have such bad aggro problems that I'm often pulling aggro through normal healing, or have to heal tank and DPS (and myself sometimes).

Even before 2.1, I never really had problems healing MRD/WAR unless they were just bad tanks, and never had any real problems tanking as a MRD/WAR in 2.0.
In 2.1...they're pretty much equal til 30, then WAR are much better til 40 when they become about equal again and it boils down to tank skill and the healer.

A frame of mind that MRD are worse than GLA can greatly affect your healing. It really can. Don't think about what you're healing, just heal.

[zaviermhigo]

Healing a MRD (2h axe) you must know dmg is going to happen, be ready to cure them but not over cure (if he isn't getting hit to hard, let 25% of his hp go, then heal), it also helps if you know fights, dungeons its hard, but let's say later on content you know the boss is going to hit the tank with this hit and its a big one, you can stoneskin him, and make sure to cure spam then. Healing a pld, they have defensive abilities, so you don't need to worry as much, they can pop stuff during major attacks, a mrd is depending on your buffs to defend him, that is why I say SCH is a better MRD/WAR healer, but later on in 8 man its good to have 1 sch and 1 whm.

[YuiSasaki]

I dont know what you mean @ OP, dont you find it more... challenging to heal a undergeared WAR/MRD?

Putting that aside, healing a WAR/MRD is quite as simple as healing a PLD/GLA. You just need to know when to expect big hits and prepare for it.
Not to mention that using SS on WAR is nice too!

Yes, of course, there are many tanks that are not that good and yes, healing them is a bit more difficult, because WAR/MRD are not as forgiving as a PLD/GLA would be (in terms of mechanics - e.g. blocking via shield).

Just hang in there, you will get the trick sooner or later *hewhew* :P

[Slark]

What Urthdigger stated is right too, a lot of Warrior spec STR instead of VIT and wear DPS gear instead of tank gear.

It actually is NOT right.
WAR's pull around 120DPS in full ilvl90 with an Allagan weapon off of T5. PLD's pull like 95-110 in shield oath in similar gear. People need to stop spreading the misinformation that "warriors do amazing DPS" , and get it out of their heads. It's really just not true. PLD's do comparable DPS. If a WAR stacks STR attributes, they are stupid to the max. This stupidity is only amplified by the fact that WAR scales extremely well off of VIT, even more so than PLD does.
If you are going STR for "better healing", "better aggro", or "better DPS", you should consider rerolling.

With that said, WAR's spike more frequently, but they provide more healing increases. PLD's are more damage reduction in the way they tank. Sounds more like a healer gear issue than a tank one.

[Firetta]

Honestly, in <30 dungeons as a high level healer, both MRD and PLD frequently feel like tissue paper to me. I've looked at their gear and it's all level appropriate, they're mostly using their cooldowns -- and they still seem to drop like crazy! The only thing I can figure is that some of them aren't facing properly. I can keep them up fine, but their HP is like a rubberband.

[YuiSasaki]

This stupidity is only amplified by the fact that WAR scales extremely well off of VIT, even more so than PLD does.
If you are going STR for "better healing", "better aggro", or "better DPS", you should consider rerolling.

So true, i'd only consider going for STR if i reach the next Tier within 5Pts.