Warrior Tanks: Maximizing DPS Output

[BushidoMP]

I did some comparisons between Gryphonskin / i90 DPS jewelry, and here\\'s what I got. This is using the melds I have and what I believe would be "BIS" DPS jewelry for WAR, and using 30 points in STR/HQ buttons.

Gryphonskin:
STR 448, ACC 501, CRIT 385, DET 346, SS 380, VIT 482, PAR 420

i90 DPS:
STR 468, ACC 473, CRIT 359, DET 352, SS 383, VIT 432, PAR 420

At the moment, the ACC gains in Gryphonskin are negligible, but may prove useful for T6-9. The CRIT difference puts Gryphonskin at say 2-3% higher crit rate. The DET and SS differences are negligible IMO.

It\\'s really just between choosing 20 STR or 50 VIT. I\\'d go with the VIT since that\\'s nearly 1K HP in defiance, that\\'s just me tho.

Can you post your actual gear sets? I don't see how you can have 468STR and 432VIT (your i90dps) at the same time, and are you sure you have 448STR and 482VIT in your Gryhphonskins? Are those your numbers WITH party bonus? Please post them raw if you can for a more accurate comparison.

Let me preface the next section by saying subtract 30 from VIT and then add 30 to STR. For some reason the site doesn't let you adjust your point distribution.. or I just haven't figured out how.

Here's my i90 DPS set:
http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/LT4T

STR 469, ACC 473, CHR 413, DET 307, SSPD 372, VIT 416, Parry 410 [Adjusted for +30STR -30VIT difference on build site. No food.]

STR 469, ACC 473, CHR 421, DET 322, SSPD 372, VIT 431, Parry 410 [Adjusted for +30STR -30VIT difference on build site. + HQ Buttons]

Now, here is something close to what I would consider to be close to a hybrid BiS. Balancing stats for maximum tanking/damage effectiveness without using i70 crafted gear:
http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/LT5A

STR 430, ACC 472, CHR 363, DET 302, SSPD 368, VIT 461, Parry 472 [Adjusted for +30STR -30VIT difference on build site. No food.]

This build has multiple advantages. Firstly, with party bonus your STR will be high enough to reach 25% damage parried, AND your parry is at a reasonable number to parry more often compared to the DPS setup. A very good balance IMO. The CHR is a lot lower, but your DET is relatively the same so you can at least rely on your baseline numbers to remain similar. I can do what I need to do with a pretty decent rotation at 372 SSPD on my DPS build so dropping to 368 doesn't hurt. For reference.. the difference between 372 SSPD and 388 SSPD changes my GCD from 2.47s to 2.45s, a marginal difference.

There's also flexibility here with food options so I would suggest either HQ Buttons again, or HQ La Noscean Toast for more Parry. Both options obviously give you more HP. If you wanted to make this (these?) build(s) food dependent for Coil accuracy cap there's room for improvement in the damage department; food for thought.

[Rexus]

@Bushido

With Gryphonskin, 30 STR, NO party bonus, and HQ Buttons in a Blanket:
http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/LT71

With i90 DPS, 30 STR, NO party bonus, and HQ Buttons in a Blanket:
http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/LT77

You have just over 7k HP w/food+party buff in Defiance, using full DPS set right? I dunno how comfortable I'd feel tanking with that amount, considering there's always the occasional moment where my HP dips to the sub 2k range, and I have 8.5k HP with my gryphon set up.

[BushidoMP]

@Bushido

With Gryphonskin, 30 STR, NO party bonus, and HQ Buttons in a Blanket:
http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/LT71

You have just over 7k HP w/food+party buff in Defiance, using full DPS set right? I dunno how comfortable I'd feel tanking with that amount, considering there's always the occasional moment where my HP dips to the sub 2k range, and I have 8.5k HP with my gryphon set up.

Yes, as Seravi said, around 7.1k with food + party buff. (In full DPS)

If we compare your above gearset with mine:

This is the i90 hybrid.
http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/LT7O
STR 443, ACC 472, CHR 370, DET 329, SSPD 368, VIT 461, Parry 457 [Adjusted for +30STR -30VIT difference on build site. HQ Buttons.]

VS. yours

STR 448, ACC 501, CHR 385, DET 346, SSPD 380, VIT 482, Parry 420 [Adjusted for +30STR -30VIT difference on build site. HQ Buttons.]

I really don't know how that debate would go. I wanna say obviously in your favor in terms of damage, and you HP is obviously higher. However, I dunno how much more survivability the 37 Parry gives, probably not much. So I guess in that regard i70 would be superior. I played around with different combinations where I was able to raise my Crit above yours at the cost of a little more DET, and eating Toast for extra parry and it's closer..; but as has been stated the tradeoff to VIT:STR is pretty great so that battle isn't winnable.

So I guess you could summarize that on the whole i70 dps melds vs i90 STR/VIT combo -- i70 yields better balance, but i90STR/VIT will give you an edge on parry and isn't too far behind in other stats. That is to say fully considering +30STR build.. I'm not sure what the numbers would be (too lazy), if one were to split the points between STR and VIT, you could probably come a bit closer with some gear swaps.

At any rate... I'll still continue using the full i90 DPS set for the current content because I've been able to so far, and it's definitely the best DPS option.

[bokchoykn]

but i90STR/VIT will give you an edge on parry

Some Crit, Det, and Skill Speed can be sacrificed to meld Parry, pushing it ahead of yours in each and every category.

Also consider that Dexterity also increase Parry chance.

[SeraviEdalborez]

7.1k. There were some close calls getting adjusted to healing with his DPS build but it's really been no issue for the fights he's been using it for (everything except Ifrit EX and Turn 5 MT).

[MythToken]

Hey it turns out everything you said in this article is super correct, and gryphonskin is STILL superior to i110! As long as you don't mind losing a bit of VIT in the process.

And with 110 non accessory gear pushing our vit up higher than every anyways, losing out 20-30 vit that you can make up with bonus stat allocation isn't a big deal, for the INSANE damage increase.