Turn 11 Tank DPS

[Abbul_Stonecleaver]

I'm having a hard time managing the numbers in T11 that I should be capable of performing. In T10 in 2 clears my better parse was 241 dps.

I've only asked twice in T11 (both times only making it to adds phase), and the numbers were 195 and 185. (I'm a Warrior)

In T10, I use 3 Str accessories and I can switch Defiance off a lot, as well as my out of Berserk rotation is SE -> BB. Last phase I use a lot of SP though.

In T11, I've heard the numbers should be roughly the same as T10. I find due to the sheer amount of pain me and my co-tank receive, I have to go 30 Vit, all Vit accessories, full time Defiance, and my rotation out of Berserk is SE -> SP.

The only way I can see to output more dps in T11 seems like it would be too risky. What do you guys do differently that manage 220+?

[stoxastic]

~200 seems about right for a full VIT i110 tank with i115 weapon. If you are tanking the cube, you will be doing less because of the damage reduction. There are ways to cheat off defiance in T11 but it's probably not really worth it until you have the fight on farm mode.

Melded i90 crafted accessories are the way to go here. They give you a substantial increase in dps while not sacrificing much HP.

If you have full VIT accessories, you can probably get away with going 30 STR, but it all depends on your healers.

[Abbul_Stonecleaver]

I may try 30 Str once we get last phase down, if we have trouble with Enrage. Although last night we did get to see tether for first time, unfortunately Egg was still alive. But we had a dps death or 2 in that phase.

[SpookyGhost]

So, there's a few things that you can do in T11 to boost your DPS.

The first one is the most costly, but is also the biggest increase you can get in ALL of FCoB and that is investing in HQ Ruby/Topaz accessories melded with (at the very least) VIT/STR. This gives you the best of both worlds, enough VIT to comfortably survive off tanking all of FCoB and a large amount of STR that the VIT accessories don't have attached to it. This is the best possible way to boost your DPS and I would recommend any WAR progressing in FCoB to invest in them. Ruby accessories come preloaded with +16 SS per piece, allowing you to achieve the 9 hit Berserk combo with only a few pieces, so (to a point) those are the better option. Obviously if you don't need all the VIT they provide, you can swap some pieces out for pure STR accessories.

The second is that the cleave Kaliya does that needs to be split between the tanks is on a set rotation. It comes at very specific parts, and is the only time (in the first/second phase at least) that the OT needs to be in front of Kaliya. So if you do get down the timing for when they come, you can drop Defiance and stand to the side. Obviously you'll want to be in Defiance for Secondary Head swaps and have an IB ready, but aside from those two mechanics you don't actually need to be in Defiance in front of the boss. This changes in the last phase because of the tethers, but your DPS will increase substantially if you stance dance during the first/second phase.

The final one is knowing when you can and when you can't use BB. There are times (many of them really) in T11 where Path is completely unnecessary, so dropping Path for a rotation and using BB when it's safe will give you a bit more DPS.

All that said, your DPS on T11 shouldn't come at the cost of consistency. If your group is clearing the fight then I'd recommend against doing the second suggestion as it can go horribly wrong if you happen to mess it up. Ruby accessories help loads so I'd say those are great to invest in regardless, but don't go crazy and spend all your gil if they're unnecessary for your group. Always remember, you're a tank first and a DPS second, if you need to go 30 VIT, full VIT accessories, the whole 9 yards to survive the fight then that's what you have to do. This, however, is really only the case for MT of T13 and even then only with lower end gear. So the best advice I can give is invest in Ruby accessories and you'll be happy you did... until 2.5 when they're replaced with i110 crafted accessories!

[Abbul_Stonecleaver]

Excellent suggestions, Spooky. Resonance comes very often so it'll take some time to get that down before I would attempt it. Group would be pissed if the MT died cause I'm over there standing on the side at the wrong time.

[Ehayte]

@Spook

Are you saying that some of those attacks are just normal cleaves that really don't need to be taken? I know that the split damage happens on one of the first 2-3 hits of the fight, but I just assumed every swipe was a split not a straight cleave.

I'm struggling so hard with whether or not to get ruby's melded. I'd love the skill speed, but with 2.5 like 7 weeks away I'm not sure if it would be worth the 3-4 mil to do the second-hand materia method of melding (with -10 det).

Coming from almost 9 weeks of raiding as a NIN/MNK and more recently PAL, I'm trying to get a handle on what's actually "worth it." My healers have asked me to stay full vit and leave my tank accessories on. My SCH tends to gush over 3.3k lustrates... I'd really like to experience what my dmg would look like with that amount of str...maybe I'll just put on str accessories and whomp on a striking dummy for a little bit.

HMMMMM.

[Donjo]

I'm struggling so hard with whether or not to get ruby's melded. I'd love the skill speed, but with 2.5 like 7 weeks away I'm not sure if it would be worth the 3-4 mil to do the second-hand materia method of melding (with -10 det).

If you've done nothing to work toward Crafted i90 yet, I would argue that it may be best to just wait for 2.5. We will very likely get access to crafted i110 accessories, which will add 25 more STR when compared to i90 with the same loss of VIT(when compared to i130 VIT gear). Right now, crafted i90 sacrifices a max of 60 VIT for 65 STR. Everything will be happier if you can sacrifice 30 VIT for 90 STR instead.

[Abbul_Stonecleaver]

I got parsed at 211 going into adds phase last night.

Then next run I thought I had performed better (we made it substantially into adds phase), but only had a turrible 183. So I'm thinking it's the adds killing me. I'm constantly finding myself running out of range to move away from the stupid egg. Do you tanks try to stay in melee range and slowly move? I find the sphere doesn't look to move consistently.

[Ehayte]

It won't move unless you get out of its hit box, so you have to get out of melee range to move it.

[SpookyGhost]

The only suggestion I can give for the adds is to try to move when your GCD is running. Dunno what your rotation is for the adds atm, but Unchained should be up when your add spawns, save Zerk for this if it is. For progression you'll want to put up Path on your add so you can't really min/max that much but just try to minimize your movement while your GCD is up and use offensive CDs.

Edit: You can also drop Defiance and pop Vengeance for a pseudo-Shield Oath as long as you've built enough hate on the add. Same applies to Thrill + Conv = Defiance. So optimally you'd want something like Unchained -> BB combo with Zerk + IR if available -> SP -> Fracture -> IB -> BB combo -> turn off Defiance while pacified and pop Vengeance -> SE -> BB -> etc. Use Fracture after pacified if you don't have enough SS for the 9 hit combo. You get the idea.