Questions from a newish tank

[Agumonz1001]

Hey guys, I have a few questions:

1. Should I use my defensive skills on trash pulls? So far, there hasn't been a trash pull where I needed to use them but I was wandering if I should've been using them this entire time.

2. Awareness. I don't know if I'm using this skill right. I use it when I know I'm going to get hit by a skill but I'm wondering if there is a better time to use it.

3.Should I use Shield Swipe every time it's up?

Thanks in advance. Also, any tips that you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

[Galgarion]

1. I wouldn't use them all at once. Save them for when you're taking noticeably higher damage, or just before a hard pull when you know you're going to get rocked.

2. Awareness seems to exist to take up space on a quickbar. I haven't noticed any detrimental effects from ignoring its existence.

3. YES. It locks enemy weapon skills and hits hella hard. I noticed today while running chain running Brayflox that it also gave me nasty single target threat. Get a shield that grants you high block rating, and go nuts.

[Agumonz1001]

Oh yeah, I forgot about that one. Which stat is better: block strength or block rate?

[Galgarion]

Oh yeah, I forgot about that one. Which stat is better: block strength or block rate?

Block strength = damage absorbed.

Block rating = frequency of blocking.

If you have to choose between a shield that offers strength or rating, always pick rating. Higher frequency of blocking means predictable/smoother incoming damage (Not to mention it helps a lot with a proc on block ability like shield slam, thus increasing your single target damage/threat.) A shield with high strength but low BR will just make you spikier. No one likes a spikey tank. Kite shields are a nice balance between the two.

[IndigoHawk]

Defensive cds like rampart and foresight are good on trash pulls to reduce pressure on your healer / let them dps. Time your cds so they are ready for the boss battles. (It's also ok to use big cds like hallowed ground on huge trash packs for speedrunning.)

Awareness is bad. Use it when you have lots of mobs. Even then you'll barely notice it. You can macro it with foresight, which is also bad.

Shield swipe is mediocre. It helps recover tp but pacification may not reduce incoming damage. Often enemies telegraph large abilities that you can dodge for no damage. If you pacify, the enemy will use autoattacks you can't dodge. Shield swipe generates low aggro so it's not good on trash mobs in aggro race with dps. It's better to use on bosses. Lastly, tanks do little damage compared to dps so the damage boost doesn't matter much. Shield swipe is ok but not a priority.

Equal block strength and rate is good.

[Wizhard]

Awareness is absolutely useless skill for both PLD and WAR since most attacks CANNOT crit you in endgame content (only auto-attacks can crit). I'm not sure about low level content though so I can't really help you with this.

You might reconsider that when Nael Deus Darnus crits you for 4k with an auto-attack.

On topic:
Def cds on trash is not really needed unless you pull more than 1 trash pack.
Awareness is useful for big multi-pack pulls and bosses which deal high auto-attack damage, otherwise its meh.
Use shield swipe when you are sure you secured aggro on the target(s), otherwise continue with flash/enmity combos.

[Agumonz1001]

You might reconsider that when Nael Deus Darnus crits you for 4k with an auto-attack.

On topic:
Def cds on trash is not really needed unless you pull more than 1 trash pack.
Awareness is useful for big multi-pack pulls and bosses which deal high auto-attack damage, otherwise its meh.
Use shield swipe when you are sure you secured aggro on the target(s), otherwise continue with flash/enmity combos.

I see. Since I'm still kinda new to tanking, I try not to pull more than 1 pack per pull. The only times I had to deal with more than one pack was when it's my first time in that dungeon.

[chidarake]

most cd's can be saved in low level for bosses only but even then you don't really need them. that being said its good to get in the practice of activating them and rotating them to have some up at all times during boss battles.

awareness just use it whenever, or replace it with something more useful.. your call.

shield swipe, well I've been playing pld quite awhile and have used it all of two times, seems pointless to me, yeah its extra dps but id rather stay with keeping the hate away from the actual dps, although I'm usually pretty far ahead I could spare the turn. I prefer to not think about its existence, feel free to call me a bad pld....

[Agumonz1001]

I see. Thanks for the answers guys.