Engame Warriors and Provoke

[Zakalwe]

There was a spirited (and ultimately way too long) thread in the General Discussion forum about healers and Swiftcast. Part of the discussion turned into a generic argument over what cross skills are considered must-haves. Someone posted that for Warriors Provoke and Flash were probably in that category. A couple Warriors came in and said they never bothered to get Provoke and frankly didn't see the need for it. I put in my two cents worth but figured these were not genuine end-game players and kind of shrugged it off.

Then a couple of days ago I was running my Bard through CT vainly hoping to get some upgrades on his DL armour, but no just a bunch more tank and dragoon pieces hitting the floor (even now I have never seen a Bard armour piece drop there). The tanks in our group were two Warriors, both well geared. We got to the boss fight where the 3 parties alternate turning into 'ghosts' in which state they are able to do damage on the boss. The key move is after turning into ghosts the party's tank Provokes and does a tank swap with the former-ghost tank. One of the Warriors stated that he didn't have Provoke so could the other Warrior do the tanking? No one said anything, but I was flabbergasted. The thing is, the Provoke-less tank seemed to be otherwise well played.

I'm assuming this is a rare case, but have others run into this kind of situation?

[SpookyGhost]

Even though I personally like Flash (AOE, uses MP rather than TP, can be used during pacification from Berserk, etc) it's not a must have. Provoke, on the other hand, is. Without Provoke you basically literally can't tank Thanatos in CT, EX Primals (even Garuda), or Turn 2 the normal way. Tank swapping mechanics require you to have Provoke and (I assume) there will be more of these in the future.

Provoke is definitely a must, Flash not so much - though by having Provoke you'll also have access to Flash if you need it.

[AppleGrocer]

I mean, you can tank well without provoke. Provoke isn't something that boosts our "tanking," or helps generate emnity in a traditional fight.

But, just as your example shows, there are some things that you just can't do without provoke. Or rather you can't do them without creating a whole lot of problems.

Turn 2 or Titan EX are probably the most widely known examples. You can do these without provoke, 100% doable. You just have to either make your other tank stop doing anything while you try to rip agro, or you have to throttle it pretty carefully. But, you run the risk of things going terribly wrong.

Flash is just really nice to have IMO. It's basically resource free agro with an instant animation.

[Paikis]

You can get away with no Provoke outside of Coil and Extreme Primals. Once you get there though, you 100% are required to have Provoke. To the point where you are useless if you don't have it.

[WingsofWar]

lol I can see it now in Ultima HM,
TANK1 : "HEY IM AT 4 STACKS AND I HAVEN'T BEEN ATTACKING AT ALL TAKE HIM!! TAKE HIM!"
TANK2 : "I'M TRYING AS HARD AS I CAN! I DON'T HAVE PROVOKE!!"
TANK1 : "USE A STRENGTH POTION THEN!!"
TANK2 : "FUUUU!!!!"

I honestly didn't use provoke on my PLD until TitanHM when heart phase reset Aggro and automatically went to healer when he/she healed after that jump. Now i feel like i use it all the f'ing time now.

[blowfin]

Yeah it's one of things, once you get it and start using it, you'll wonder how you ever did without it.

Ultima HM is probably the first fight where it's basically mandatory. CT you'll generally get by without it, but it comes in extremely handy. EX Primals/Coil you are pretty much gimping yourself intentionally without voke, and would be turfed from groups almost immediately upon them discovering that you're lacking it.

[Kadas]

You can get away without provoke as you work your way to 50, but if you want to do anything even remotely close to endgame, it's a must have with no if and but.
There's virtually no other way to efficiently swap the mob between tanks, and you're going to be forced do that even for easy stuff like Ultima Hard Mode.

[Pavise]

Provoke is on a much higher priority then swiftcast is for healers, any tank who doesn't see why needs a swift kick up the butt.

[Altimis]

Mark my word, Tank without Provoke is useless Tank especially Primal Extreme and Bahamut Coils OR situation you must pull mobs immediately from healer

[Lord_Zlatan]

nothing groundbreaking here... you need provoke, and that much comes it up.