Tank Help

[alexh7686]

Hey all,

Pretty new to this game and mmorpgs in general. Started off about a month ago as a gladiator and recently unlocked the paladin by levelling up my conjurer. I was just curious if I could get some advice on what classes to level up for some useful cross class skills and which I should use.

Also any general tips and advice would be nice. Just completed the Haukke Manor dungeon and that seemed like quite a step up from the other dungeons so far. Does seem like a good place for practicing crowd control as I can have problems when the crowds get too big.

Thanks for the help.

[Rbstr]

As a Paladin you can only use skills cross-classed from Conjurer and Marauder so those are the most important when you're doing raids.
People typically take Stone Skin from Conj. which can be neat in many situations. Not much else is very useful there (Cure will restore very little HP, protect can always be provided by healers). Marauder can give you a couple minor tanking buffs: Bloodbath, to self-heal a bit, and Foresight, to help a bit against physical damage. It also gives you two damage dealers: Mercy Stroke, which is free damage off the global cooldown, and Fracture, a DOT that could give you a bit of a DPS increase in some situations but will burn your TP more quickly.

On larger groups - try to stay facing as many as possible so you can block and parry. But don't move around too much as that can make it more difficult on the DPS. Use flash and riot blade to maintain enmity mostly. If you've flashed several times you can rotate through the enemies while using your rage of Halone combo.
Once you get to level 40(*) you get Shield Oath as Paladin and you'll have a much easier time keeping hate.

[Ehayte]

Shield Oath at level 40* will help immensely as it is a straight enmity modifier on all attacks.

Most PLDs use Stoneskin, Bloodbath, Foresight, and Mercy Stroke. The last one is pretty useless : D

[Ceodore]

I find that a great thing about this game is that when you level one class to end game, it really gives you some incentive to level another after. Usually it’s because of cross class skills. In this case, as a Paladin, you have cross class skills from Marauder and Conjurer. A very important skill from Conjurer is Stoneskin, which you have to level the Conjurer to 34 to get. You’re now already more than half was done with your White Mage, so why not finish it and have a healer… you can see where I am going with this. As you level classes, there are skills you don’t really HAVE to have, but later in the game, you really actually do HAVE to have them. Healers really HAVE to have Swiftcast from Thaumaturge. Most DPS really need to have their cross class damage buffs.

As a new tank, be ready to lose agro against players who are level syncing or have an item level far above your own. Be mindful of your healer at all times and the strain that AOEs and heave hitscause them. After your healer, be mindful of your ranged DPS and where they are positioned as to not cause them to get hit with a cleave or that you don’t bring mobs too close to your ranged DPS, making them have to move, and thus lowering their DPS. Be careful of boss positioning for this same reason. Be aware that your Melee DPS have instant cast skills and can move out of things as well as move into position for proper skill useage, so do not make your positioning decisions based solely on what your melee DPS request. Study fights ahead of time so you know if certain mobs have linear or cone AOEs that extend for a great distance, and take caution to turn these mobs away from your healer(s). Be mindful of boss or mob mechanics, especially heavy hitting ones, and use your defensive cooldowns accordingly. Study fights ahead of time to be aware of boss skills that you can silence/stun/pacify. Take criticism for what it’s worth, a chance to learn alternative tactics to fights, and decide what is easier for everyone in the group, not just you.

Learn your skills, their limits, and how to bend them or alter them. For instance, Bloodbath, a cross class skill for Gladiators only heals for 25% of your damage done for 15 seconds. Hardly significant on a class that doesn’t put out a lot of DPS. However, pair it up with your Fight or Flight skill, and you boost damage and thus healing.

As for cross class skills, I prefer Stoneskin (CNJ 34), Bloodbath (MRD 8), Foresight (MRD 2), Fracture (MRD 6), and Mercy Stroke (MRD 26).

[MrsFluffyButt]

Honestly, you don't need to bother with Mercy Stroke. As a GLD/PLD, your overall dps is gonna be lower than a CNJ with CS. Mercy Stroke benefits DPS/WAR much more.

[Ceodore]

Honestly, you don't need to bother with Mercy Stroke. As a GLD/PLD, your overall dps is gonna be lower than a CNJ with CS. Mercy Stroke benefits DPS/WAR much more.

True, but what are you going to use instead? Cure? Practically worthless except in only one instance in Praetorium. Protect? No use in a dungeon, and in solo play you can switch to anything you want anyways practically on the fly if you're in town first. Raise? Same thing as Protect really. If you're in combat, can't cast it, if you're not in combat, better for your dead party member to release and run back than have to deal with a 2 minute debuff. Skull Sunder? No combo action to cycle into this, so it ends up being pathetic.

I voted Mercy Stroke because while yes, it's not going to benefit a Paladin as much as a Warrior, the point is it's a skill on a relatively low cooldown to begin with, can be used off GCD, does a little bit of damage, and if you pair it with Fight or Flight + Bloodbath, you'll get healing no matter what happens. I could best describe it as Assassinate on Ninjas. We know it probably won't finish the boss, we know that we likely won't get any healing from it, but we also know that at 20% HP on the boss, all you're looking for is to bring it down just that fraction of a second faster.

That being said, if you run into a situation where ANY cross class skill could be of more use (i.e. Raise, Protect, Cure) then feel free to switch out. I have already mentioned Cure's one real application in Praetorium, but there was one time (only one) where a Paladin's Raise saved the day. It was in Labyrinth, on Atmos, where team A only had 3 members left alive after killing their Atomos, and the only one with a Raise was the Paladin. He raised a healer, and saved the day. One time, only once, have I ever seen the practical application for this skill in a dungeon, but it was pretty bad ass. I'd like to think, however, that it shouldn't have to get to that point, and a skill with much more application across all situations (Mercy Stroke) would be better suited as a Cross Class.