PLD first strike. Am I Pld'ing wrong?

[Jerilith]

I\\\\'m thinking I play PLD 100% different from anyone around me... Any time I see a PLD start their first strike on a boss/group of mobs I always see:
1-shield lob (or provoke... [>.>])
2-flash
3-flash
4-circle
5-ROH combo.
6-ROH
7-ROH
8-flash
------------------------
My combo is as follows:
(start with stoneskinning myself)
0-Fight or flight
1-Marking shield lob Macro [bloodbath activate if on boss]
2-Spirit\\\\'s Within
3-Fracture
4-Circle
5-flash (for initial hate if on trash mobs+blind damage mitigation)
6-ROH (for Debuff+damage mitigation
7-stone skin
8-fracture to re-new dot as it ends
9- fast blade--spirits within-savage blade combo
10-circle
11-flash for Debuff now at 6 seconds
-Roh combo (enmity and Debuff renewal)
REPEAT

I\\\\'ll always use FOF when it\\\\'s available as it\\\\'s tide to fast blade via macro.

[Soulburn32]

I don't use fracture but this is my opening on bosses.

FoF + Rampart => Shield Lob
Fast Blade => Spirits
Savage Blade => CoS
RoH => Bloodbath

This is not how i do it everytime i just mainly try to use an OCD with every attack in my first RoH combo

after that is all just RoH until off cooldown stuff comes up

[Jerilith]

Why would you ROH over and over though when your enmity is probably through the roof compared to others on your enmity list. You're essentially refreshing your Debuff when it's at 12-13 seconds remaining. That seems like a waste to me if your enmity is under control.

[dark494]

I don't see fracture being debated anywhere. It's just universally and unanimously bad. There are better cross-class skills out there.

FoF + Rampart => Shield Lob
Fast Blade => Spirits
Savage Blade => CoS
RoH => Bloodbath

This is not how i do it everytime i just mainly try to use an OCD with every attack in my first RoH combo

after that is all just RoH until off cooldown stuff comes up

This is exactly how I engage. Should be exactly how you engage single targets every time. Flash is okay, but it's not damage inducing and the enmity you generate from it is a lot less than a RoH combo combined with all your off-GCD skills as an opener. Flash is for holding multiple mobs and mitigating TP usage in long fights.

And never use RoH by itself. You don't get the debuff if it's not a combo action, and a pitiful 100 potency attack will generate too little enmity compared to a full combo, more than 25% less enmity when just spammed by itself. It's just bad.

Side note, and pet peeve: Never ever ever *EVER* use provoke to engage, period. Don't use it at all if you are at the top of the hate list! This isn't XI, and I'm sick of seeing so many horrible tanks spam it on CD like this were XI. It's a swap/save mechanic when you aren't the main target, and should always be used in conjunction with an enmity skill like shield lob or RoH (queued on combo).

[Jerilith]

I'll always cast stone skin on myself before large attacks or in down time in fights. IE - titan's Tamults, phase changes. Garudas summoning her sisters etc etc.
I will always alternate my defensive cooldowns as needed .
I will always tab through enemies to see enmity status in relation to my party members and default to ROH combo if need be.

Despite the extra effort and no disadvantages that "I" see to this loadout I still get criticized by other tanks and dps. I don't lose hate in my fights, and I'd like to think I'm contributing to my dps and helping my healers out but in get complaints from everyone...

Should I just stand there and ROH combo and flash over and over instead? That's all I ever see other PLD's do... And nobody complains to them... Advice please.

[Soulburn32]

I am making sure that if the healer needs to go crazy with aoe heals that I will maintain aggro no matter what.

Fracture is hotly debated on this forum and I side on it being useless for the most part and a waste of TP

[Jerilith]

Using fracture before an ROH combo will do more dps. Fracture and it's 6 dots+ the initial damage do more than 1 fast blade so adding it to The start of your Roh combo is nothing but gravy. And considering that those dots can tick when a boss vanishes off screen can help too; like garuda Summoning her sisters.

[Zikh]

Using fracture before an ROH combo will do more dps. Fracture and it's 6 dots+ the initial damage do more than 1 fast blade so adding it to The start of your Roh combo is nothing but gravy. And considering that those dots can tick when a boss vanishes off screen can help too; like garuda Summoning her sisters.

This is the biggest issue with most tanks. They think they are there to do damage. You are there to tank the boss, not to damage it. Your job is to create maximum emnity as soon as possible so the real dps can do their job. After you have a decent lead in emnity you're safe to use any skills you wish.

If you wish to do dmg play a dps class.

[Wadoka]

This is the biggest issue with most tanks. They think they are there to do damage. You are there to tank the boss, not to damage it. Your job is to create maximum emnity as soon as possible so the real dps can do their job. After you have a decent lead in enmity you're safe to use any skills you wish.

This. DD in other threads like to complain that being a Tank is so easy - "All they have to do is stand there and take a beating" - and there are times that is exactly what I am doing, when I have full hate and no one else is close.

I stand there and let autoattack do the work while I take a few precious seconds to look at the big picture - check CD management, look around, maybe even pop off a few of my puny 200-point Cures (I don't have Stoneskin yet) if it's a better use of my abilities than tossing another RoH combo at that moment.

Or I'm standing there because I'm anticipating the cast of a major interruptible attack and I want to be sure I'm not on GCD and Shield Bash is ready to go as soon as I see the cast begin.

Sometimes it's better to be deliberate and perfect than be high-twitch and choose poorly

[Stalkster]

I like the running slide or w/e you wanna call it lol.
FoF>Shield lob(running to boss)>SoC(soon as in range)>Spirits(as I'm sliding underneath/threw him).