A little help?

[Ninster]

Both tanks are my last battle classes to level, and I've hit 36 with both at this point. I've gotten comfortable with lower end dungeons over time, but then two nights in a row I land in Brayflox then Qarn. I was dreading both those runs, but they went amazingly smooth for my first time in both as a tank.

So I think I probably should go back and ask about some basic things here:

1. Cooldowns. I'm never sure WHAT to use or WHEN to use it. I've never heard any feedback from DF groups but I get the feeling it'd be nice to learn how. I'll admit from my DPS experiences that I have a tendency to save cooldowns for bosses or particularly difficult pulls, so I'm not bringing in any good habits here to begin with.

2. AoE enmity. I've read that Paladin tends to struggle with enmity in general before Shield Oath, and I ran Brayflox as Paladin. Of all the DPS to fight with for hate though, a SUMMONER was pulling hate from me repeatedly through the dungeon. For what it's worth, I'm not solid on my rotations either, but I generally Shield Lob to pull then Flash 2-3 times at the start.

3. Speaking of rotations... I've heard of cycling mobs to maintain hate, but how do I need to split my RoH combo, across say, 3 targets?

4. Any dungeon-specific and tank-specific advice for Brayflox forward? I wasn't sure how to position Aiatar so I figured I'd go along the wall as he started spitting acid. My party was awesome though in making sure that I didn't have to worry too much, both in keeping acid puddles out of my way and DPS. Qarn wasn't bad either, and we even had a new DPS to the dungeon.

[Delorean]

use cooldowns when you know that you are about to receive heavy damage. For example, you would use Featherfoot when you know a mountain buster is next in Titan's rotation or if you were about to be attacked by a lot of enemies with physical attacks.

you shouldn't have to cycle, but you can usually tell when you need to switch targets based on the damage targets are taking and you know you don't have a good handle on one taking a bit of a dip.

[Synestr]

Hello and welcome to the wonderful world of face blocking!

I am no expert or guru but I will attempt to provide some "advice".

1. WAR - When I WAR, I go crazy balls. This is my fun tank job. For me, I like to think of my CD's in two different ways, being proactive and reactive. Proactive to mitigate damage as much as possible and make it easy on heals (Foresight, Convalescence, Vengeance, etc.), and then reactive (Bloodbath, Inner Beast, Second Wind, etc.), when things dip a bit and I need a bit of a boost. I keep Foresight on CD at every opportunity and use Convalescence liberally during trash pulls and boss fights. (When the shits hits the fan on big pulls, I like to pop Zerk, Bloddbath, Vengeance, Steelcyclone, Infuriate, Internal release, Inner beast, then many OVERPOWERZ!!)
PLD - When I PLD, I go all biznezz. This is my main, and I use em in all new content to learn it etc. CD timing is different for PLD imo. I use a rotation method for the CD's depending on the pull and situation. For most trash pulls, I will go Awareness+Foresight, then after a few pop Convalescence. When Conv. wears if things are still going, I can either go Sentinel (with awareness if it's up) or Bulwark+Rampart. I think for PLD, keeping CD's on cooldown is important, uless you know you will need them for an upcoming fight or phase. Conv is something I like to keep on CD like all the time, just helps heals. Not the best but hope it gives you and idea.

2. AOE - PLD can hold their own, just not like WAR until, as you stated, Shield Oath. Even then WAR is much better at AOE management. With the recent adjustment, Flash and Circle of Scorn got enmity boosts. You are on the right path though. Lob, Flash a few times, (when you get it weave CoS into your combo), threat combo. Flash some more. For AoE pulls I will lob > Flash a few times > Fast blade > Flash > Riot Blade > etc... Just using flash and Riot combo with fight or flight and flashing can put you well ahead of the dps is most situation, sometimes not. Depending on the DPS (SMN as you said at lower levels), you will just loose threat. But those that wonder off can be snapped back with a lob or a Provoke+lob. Hope it helps

3. Cycling mobs. If three targets I usually give the mob that is the main focus of the DPS a full combo. After that I will start on that mob with Fast blade, move to second target and Savage Blade, move to third target and Rage of Halone. Stay on third target and Fast blade, move to first and Savage, then second target finishing with RoH. Just keep going, throwing in flashes here and there to help maintain the threat. Hope it helps.

Like I said, I'm not a guru or expert but hope it helps.

Syn

[Thistledown]

1. General rule of thumb, 60s is up for every trash pull. 90s is for big pulls and every boss phase change. 120s is one up front, another after 60s, while 180s is your ohshit button.
It\\'s always better to have popped early than not to have popped at all. Don\\'t hold onto your Rampart or FoF. Pop it like you mean it. The earlier you pop, sooner it will be back up for use.
Later on once you get used to certain contents you\\'ll learn that it\\'s better to have saved some cd for scripted mechanics. These are things like Mountain Buster on Titan HM+, so those would be where your big boy cooldowns like Sentinel is popped.

3. Tab to see their enmity meter on individual party members.

Use Fast Blade or equivalent on your primary target to \\'prime\\' it, get Savage Blade/Skull Sunder on the next, RoH/BB on the other. Prime it again, SB/SS the next and so on.

[Thistledown]

I can't edit my post on mobile so you'll have to excuse my double post.

On Buff cycling:
I just finished my gruelling 31-run of T6 and am going to demonstrate to you how an average tank's tanking and cooldown cycling works in post-50 contents
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[aisustrong]

extremely important part of holding hate with pld
your autoattacks (and not just when youre in sword oath, its just as important in sheild oath)

gla/pld damage is absolute crap
autoattacks make up about 50% of his dps
so make sure that you are always facing your target
so if you just dodged something, as your coming back to your position, be absolutely certain that you face your target once more

also pld takes until level 50 to be any fun at all and to have a job quest that isnt super lame

another big thing is having a setup that youre comfortable with
for example this is what i came up with for war after about 2 days of playing on controller after switching over from keyboard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfNxoyPNSdo

[Blitzace]

Aisus, Do you even play PLD? i don't know how you play PLD if half of your DPS is from auto attack.

[Ceodore]

Aisus, Do you even play PLD? i don't know how you play PLD if half of your DPS is from auto attack.

Aisus has a 50 PLD, but yeah, doesn't mean she plays it. I do wonder why half of her dps is from AA. Perhaps she's using Flash way more than she should be? IDK. Can't speculate without more info.

[aisustrong]

Aisus, Do you even play PLD? i don't know how you play PLD if half of your DPS is from auto attack.

that's off of me testing how sword oath worked back when I was level 40, so its entirely possible is no longer the case at 50, where the scaling is different for a lot of things, mainly due to gear

I'm not sure what the % is at 50, but auto attacks are definitely more important to land as pld than as war, especially in lower level content