Want advice on "how to tank"

[Lord_Zlatan]

Fast Blade -> Shield Bash -> Spirits Within -> Savage Blade -> Rage of Halone

Stuns the mob in place and lets you wind up an Halone combo as well as using Spirits Within if it isn't already on cooldown.

shouldn't shield bash come first because it breaks the combo?

[Lord_Zlatan]

use that ability you have, called cover, shield bash.

I use FoF on trash pulls at the very start because the faster one of those things dies, the less damage you take. And thats what it's all about.

yes. cover. no one ever uses it, and it is awesome.

[Maelwys]

yes. cover. no one ever uses it, and it is awesome.

People do use it occasionally, but sadly it's only awesome in certain situations due to silly buff stacking mechanics.

[glen7187]

In my own experience this is the advice I have to give.

Marking targets will soon kind of fade out in the Endgame content because everyone will either AoE everything or they already know what needs to be killed. I usually don't even mark targets anymore unless there is a target that needs to die for sure in a certain order. Some examples would be like in Haukke Manor HM the rooms that have the large lady boss and 2 imps, I would mark the lady boss as 1 because we want her to die first for sure. After that, it doesn't matter. Another would be Wanderer's Palace on the room before the first boss, I would mark the Tonberry 1 because once he dies the door opens, after that it doesn't matter. Because of this, I recommend getting more used to holding aggro on multiple targets. I'm not saying that you shouldn't mark targets all the time, I'm just saying that it is less important. If you want to mark them then by all means do so.

When holding aggro on multiple targets, you'll want to get used to using Flash 3-4 times right at the start and then doing Riot Blade Combo > Flash. Riot Blade Combo > Flash gives you an almost infinite amount of Flash since the MP you get from Riot Blade and the natural MP regen is ALMOST equal to the cost of Flash (it's a bit less so you'll still be losing MP but at a slow rate). You also want to get used to doing RoH combos spread out across multiple targets. But really with the increase in Enmity for Shield Oath in 2.1, you don't really have to do that anymore, you can just Flash and hold aggro easily.

You want to save your Provoke for if you ever happen to lose aggro, but the Shield Bash idea is good to stun it. A couple of Flashes should pull it back, but I'm not sure if a Flash or an uncombo'd RoH gives you more enmity.

When you pull ST mobs/bosses, after doing a shield lob (or maybe not even doing a shield lob at all) I always start with an uncombo'd RoH. This is to give me a jump ahead in enmity in case the DPS start firing right away. Generally you don't have too much of an issue in the lower level dungeons but I know in the endgame dungeons, especially when the DPS have strong gear, many of them tend to do just start firing as soon as the name turns red.

For Convalescence, I made a macro with that and Foresight. Foresight increases your defense but it isn't by much to make a significant DR as the other CDs do so I pair Convalescence with it.

[Raestloz]

I've been wanting to make use of Cover, but I generally don't have enough time to try it:
1. I'm still looking for Cavalry Cuirass (yes, I've gotten Gallant Cuisses, but I want that cuirass)
2. You don't have access to Cover in Brayflox
3. When I have access to it, the healers are too far (because I explicitly try to get them as far as possible from threat) to use it from my standing point. Granted this last point is just a matter of be being lazy or not. Anyway, I'll try Cover whenever I have the chance, it's actually right on my quick to access buttons

[Yunnie]

"Cover" your healer if provoke is down. It takes a bit of micro to execute while moving into position and trying to regain agro. The hardest part is finding time to practice. I just bearly learned this in a turn 4 run a couple weeks ago. Cover is one of those job defining cooldowns that seperate paladin from warrior. It is very rarelly used and most people I talk to forget they even have it, but it can be a very clutch ability.

[Dhex]

the way FoF works it increases Damage done by 30% but it does this by increasing the weapon damage... and Flash agro is based off weapon damage. better weapon you have stronger flash is. Other wise flash would just flat line early on and would be shit. So yes FoF does Effect Flash.

No. Fight or Flight modifies the damage dealt to the target. It does not "change" the Weapon Damage listed on your weapon (Phys/Magic DMG) - which is what your Flash is calculated with. So in no way does Fight or Flight change the value of your Flash. The enmity that is generated via Flash is specifically designed as a flat enmity gain tool.

It isn't rocket science to test either - 2 naked PLD with the same base stats - one uses FoF -> Flash the other simply uses Flash. They will do the same generated enmity - however if they were engaged the PLD with FoF would win out simply because their auto-attacks are going to do 30% more.