Tank "Guidelines"

[SummonerSenah]

My main is a dps and I kind of dislike when the tanks don't mark, so when I'm on my 23 GLD or 31 WAR I have a macro for marking that I use. I wish more tanks would practice it, though. It's not like it takes that long to do and it helps smooth things out.

[WhaleBiologist]

My main is a dps and I kind of dislike when the tanks don't mark, so when I'm on my 23 GLD or 31 WAR I have a macro for marking that I use. I wish more tanks would practice it, though. It's not like it takes that long to do and it helps smooth things out.

As a tank, you can bind marking targets to an unused hotbar (1, 2, 3, triangle etc etc) and bind those to keys. I use F1 for marking a target as #1, F2 for marking target #2 etc. Can very quickly mark things up mid fight when they're keybound and no need to fiddle around with macros.

[indira]

#1 pull with shield lob / tomahawk.
#2 use flash / steal cyclone & then overpower / circle of scorn / flash (or the other way around)
#3 change targets and end your enmity combo on a new mob. keep doing this combo it ends rage of halone / butchers block

if someone steals aggro provoke then use an enmity move right away. Holmgang if you think you need a sec to gain hate.

[Zfz]

Got 50 PLD and 50 WAR.

Flash spam is not a lot weaker to Overpower spam now, with the Shield Oath buff. I like spamming Overpower because it lets me dump my TP so I have an excuse to stand there and chat. You don't get that on the PLD...most BRDs don't care if you've got 0MP, so when I spam Flash so the BLM and BRDs can just AoE, I have to recover using Riot Blade for the next pack.

The Warcry-Steel Cyclone combination is also very powerful. Prep a wrath stack and do two Steel Cyclones at the beginning, you won't even need Overpower.

I wish the wrath stacks don't fall off though. The only times when I can't have a 5-stack prepped for the next pack (gotta love those double Steel Cyclones) is when someone is not keeping up. And there's nothing we can do about that. Otherwise I don't really have trouble in the current myth-farms (i.e. WP, AK, Haukke, CbM). Warcry (Infuriate for EN?) is on a 1m cooldown so it should be up every second pack anyway. I don't think I've ever needed to use Flash since getting Warcry. It's still sitting on my hotbar, but I'm seriously thinking of removing it---although it does come in handy for things like a 5% HP spiny...(yes it does happen orz)

Regarding BLM and Sleep. It's a mass sleep anyway so as long as you have 1 marked, it shouldn't cause too much trouble on the pull. Tanks should try to have 2 marked before 1 is about to die, though, so the DDs can prep for their next target. Don't wait until 1 has died to mark the next 1; aim to have 2 marked by the time 1 is at 25% or so.

My experience regarding Sleep/Repose is that more often than not in pugs, they will just cast it on whatever they happen to TAB to. I've got used to marking only 1, and then when the Repose/Sleep comes, I mark the 2 and 3 according to which one got the Repose first. New tanks need to watch out if you want to do this, though, as auto-attack will wake them up if you're tab-marking.

Back to guidelines.

Most frequent mistake I see new tanks make are these:

1. Not pulling the melee enemies towards the ranged enemies - and then trying to use Shield Lob/Tomahawk plus Provoke to maintain enmity on the ranged enemy.
2. Not using line of sight to force packs to congregate.
3. Tanking with their backside.
4. Not using cooldowns.

Although that last point is very much understandable for newbie tanks. You want to save them for real emergencies. But as you get to know the content, you'll know where you can use them. And if you can, you should.

Beyond these, I think it's perhaps best to talk about specific encounters and explain why it's best to do it a certain way. Sort of like case studies. Some people can learn from just reading guidelines; some people learn better from case studies.

[Kiroh]

The lesson here is just don't play a tank, everyone thinks they know better than you and will berate you to death over it.

[Stryker12]

People have tp issues? If it'sa rregular dungeon like wp, tomahawk, and wait for a second then over power twice, single target throw in over powerevery second ccombo. If it's a speed run I pop blood bath and unchained and bezerk and spam overpower till the trash is dead. Rarely run out of tp and with the incoming healing from. Blood bath healer can spam holy for 10 seconds or so

[Stryker12]

Yah the point of pull with provoke is NOT to get hate its to be able to pull the mob DUH, I guess you are not a tank if you dont know that. Shield Lob range is extremly low and there are many situations in which you need a bigger range. So its better to pull with provoke than let a bard or a blm pull.

I let a bard pull long range ones and sweep the whole mob with one overpower

[tymora]

I do this now when single mob tanking.
1. Lob while running to mob.
2. Start combo while running through mob. (Fast Blade)
3. Spirits Within + Scorn for a slight additional hate.
4. Flash when in position
5. Complete started combo.
6. Resume with 1 2 3 Flash rotations adding spirits and scorn when available.

*Remove Spirits if not desirable to silence.
*Reduce flash if not desirable to get hate on everything.