Which tank to choose as a new "tanker".

[Passmeister]

Hey peeps,

So, I am thinkin' about trying and leveling a tank. I've done my fair share of tanking in world of warcraft so I am not unfamilliar with tanking. However in this game I find it harder to choose which tanks because of what benefits if you know what I mean.

Until now, I have played as a SMN and SCH also have this job at 50 so I do know the game in general.

That's as far as my input goes. If you have any more questions you need to ask me for a legit answer feel free to ask 'm.

- But which tank would you suggest for a new tanker?
- Which tank has better survivability?
- Maybe a short summary of Pro's vs Con's

I thank you in advance for taking the time to read this post

Cheers!

[Nabian]

In regards to durability both tanks are about equal and in most cases it depends on the fight.

Paladins by default have a much higher defense than warriors but warriors have higher hp (an bonus healing) so in the end it balances out.

Paladins have more defensive cool downs than warriors but warriors have Inner beast which is available much more frequently.

The major difference I find between the two classes is that paladin tends to be a bit more forgiving for a new tank. Warriors are more difficult to master than paladins but have more advantages in the long run when played properly.

My suggestion would be to level both and see which you like best. It's not like it takes a long time to level them.

[Kitru]

- But which tank would you suggest for a new tanker?

PLD is easier to learn and almost impossible to screw up because it has a single tanking combo and all of its tanking CDs do basically the same thing. FoF doesn't have any penalties you have to weigh so it's entirely safe to use. WAR is more complex and, as most people see it, more interesting because it has 3 combos it has to use as a tank with 2 debuffs that you need to maintain, a very diverse CD suite, and abilities that actually have penalties you have to weigh (Wrath consumers; Pacification on Berserk; Bind on Holmgang; Overpower's ridiculously high TP cost).

If you're entirely new to tanking, I'd recommend PLD because it's the archetypal tank. If you're new to tanking in FFXIV but you've got experience with DPS and more complex rotations, WAR would probably be better, in order to keep your interest.

- Which tank has better survivability?

As it stands, they're so close that it doesn't really matter. PLD is better at constant high incoming damage whereas a competent WAR is better at surviving burst damage (a bad WAR is going to be noticeably worse than a PLD).

- Maybe a short summary of Pro's vs Con's

The basic run down is that WAR is more complicated, has better damage, and tanks burst damage best whereas PLD is simpler, has better utility, and tanks constant damage best.

[Enkidoh]

It should also be mentioned that PLD and WAR's base classes (GLA and MRD) go hand in hand with each other in terms of cross-classing - they both can draw from each other abilities even when you have their respective Job crystals set, meaning it is definitely well worth levelling both, if only for the added benefit of using things like Provoke and Convalescence with WAR and Foresight and Bloodbath with PLD.

[subteraneanbird]

My suggestion is to try them both out. PLD can be a bit "boring" until level 26, when you get Rage of Halone. On the flipside, WAR tends to, at low levels, have a bit of a problem with single target aggro until 30 with Butcher's Block. Definitely try them both out though.

[AmyNeudaiz]

War also makes it a lot easier to hold hate on a large number of mobs while on Pld you're much more limited in what you can do and how fast you can build hate against several mobs.

[Glurky]

Stop saying "tanker"

[Grimm08]

Paladin is a lot less complicated, I was playing Monk for the longest time (since I started last year) and learned to use PLD, from having no tanking experience whatsoever, within a week and a half. It is hard to screw it up, as they said lol, but it is entirely possible that you could feel more rewarded by playing a WAR, it just takes more work and understanding.