Just for fun: Tank archetypes!

[Risvertasashi]

I came across this post of different types of tanks (from the perspective of a healer), and thought it might be fun to see how they stack up in XIV (from my own experiences, of course!)

Tanks who position themselves in set-piece boss battles like no other tank ever, yet insist that "everyone does it this way".

Seen on occasion, but doesn't seem terribly common in XIV.

Tanks who have so much health that you just know they have no damage mitigation whatsoever and they're as likely to survive as a house of cards being hit by a bowling ball.

XIV doesn't really allow for this kind of stat variation but occasionally I do get tissue-paper tanks. Especially wars that want to solo tank stuff that gives vulnerability stacks x.x

Tanks who are alts of people who normally DPS, who know the fights backwards as DPS but are utterly clueless as tanks.

More of a problem with healers than tanks, in my experience. "Oh I can heal this!" and then it ends up feeling like I'm solo healing...

Tanks who are under-geared and over-apologetic. Yes, I know you're wearing armour made of tissue-paper, you don't have to keep saying you're sorry every time I have to scrape you up off the floor.

The undergeared I've seen plenty, apologetic usually not, instead they just blame the healing...

Tanks so single-minded that they are oblivious to the presence of the rest of the group. Was someone explaining the fight in chat? Too bad.

Yep. One of the few that gets under my skin. Or if they let me die to add aggro while they burn the boss, then go and pull a trash pack before I've even gotten back to the party x.x

Tanks who are last to be ready for every fight, then start it without warning and complain that no-one else was ready.

Seen this one, but in XIV it seems like DPS are usually the hasty pullers, healers after that, and least commonly tanks.

Tanks with less health than me. These are usually among the testiest when they get smashed to pieces, as clearly it's the healer's fault they can be one-shotted.

Health not so much, but for oneshotting/excessive squishiness... Definitely in XIV, mostly wars from what I've seen, especially something with vulnerability stacks. (Always the healer's fault, of course)

Tanks who wear pumpkins or other comedy headware. We can tell you're 13 by your vocabulary, you don't have to wear the uniform too.

Hmm. No, the tanks I've seen with comedic gear are usually pretty good at their job and reasonably mature.

Tanks who say they're going in then don't. They will, of course, complain heartily if anyone took them at their word and stepped into aggro range, because"pulling is the tank's job".

Haven't seen this one in XIV. I myself kinda get irritated at DPS pulling (though accidents are understandable).

Tanks who tell the healer how to heal. This is like being rescued following a road traffic accident and telling the paramedics that you want blue bandages. No, that that way up, the other way up. Oh, and put them on using a paint roller.

Yep. Bonus points when they popped that CD too late for it to mitigate the tank buster (if they popped it at all).

Tanks who never say anything, ever, for any reason.

Well... I don't think this is role specific. I'm guilty of this >.> <.<

Tanks who complain that everything is bugged. "It's that bug where the boss resets aggro". No, it's that moment where the boss always resets aggro and you were all out of taunts.

Replaced bugged with other excuses but yep, this one's abound.

Tanks who stand in the fire then complain that you can't heal them through it. "I thought you were better geared!". Yes, and I thought you were better-brained. Don't stand in the fire!

In XIV, I haven't seen standing in AoEs be as big of a problem as CD use (but it does happen on occasion). Yes I have my own CDs but if they're going to do really large pulls or if we're in a fight with tank busters it's not enough x.x

Tanks who are brittle and unforgiving. The slightest mistake by anyone (tank excepted) and they're screeching about how they hate PUGs and why don't people learn the fights. They threaten bitterly to quit the group if people don't shape up. Everyone is immensely relieved when they make good on this promise.

In XIV I've seen this a lot more on DPS than tank roles. A lot more. Fortunately, DPS are pretty replaceable.

Tanks who use weapons meant for DPS, which they justify on the basis of some obscure feature they claim helps tanking, but you know the real reason is because they don't have any other weapons...

Well... Weapon can't be an issue in XIV. Accessories can be, depending on if the tank is really as overgeared for the content as they think they are. And less health means they need to be better with CDs, and CD use is where I most often see issues.

Tanks who are certain of falsehoods. No amount of argument will persuade them that there is a simple way to beat this boss that doesn't involve the healer's having to stand in the fire.

Oh man I see this one all the time. One of the big reasons I never talk on /party. But it's not really tanks especially, it's everyone.

Tanks who are easily confused. If the fight goes how it went in the Youtube video they watched, they're fine. Any slight devaition, though, and they spam every one of their abilities not on cooldown. If they survive, they'll usually compliment your healing, which is sweet of them, given how much they just made you panic.

DPS give me more heart attack moments than tanks in XIV, and the way XIV fights are designed, I think the youtube thing applies equally to everyone. Learn the fight's script!--seems to be the XIV mantra. But seeing PLDs pop Hallowed Ground even as I've got buffed heals coming down on them isn't that uncommon.

Tanks who never give up. The DPS is clearly incompetent and there's no way we'll defeat the boss before the server is taken down for maintenance next week, but the tank just gets up without complaint, goes straight back in and gets beaten to a pulp time and time again. You have to admire their perseverence. Maybe one of the DPSs is a relative or something.

These tanks are bros. My favorite to heal, even if they struggle with something here or there.

Tanks who are an order of magnitude better than everyone else. Did the rest of the group get killed by that earthquake? No problem! The tank will just solo the boss.

Carrying is not much of a thing in XIV (compared to other games), though I did see a war solo the last stone sigil HM boss once.

Helpful tanks. Ones who actually teach people useful stuff without mocking them for not having revised a fight as if it were an exam.

Same as the never-give-up types. <3 these tanks.

Good, adaptive tanks. Ones who go where they're supposed to go, are hit by what they're supposed to be hit by, interrupt what killer moves they're supposed to interrupt, who self-heal when they spot the DPSs are standing in fire and the healer has to fix them. These are a joy to heal.

These too. And DPS that self-heal when I've got a tank at 10% to worry about. Also <3 DPS and tanks that don't let adds eat me alive.

Anyone else have any archetypes to add?

[Tex_Mex]

Tanks that pull 3 packs at once when any of the following are true:
1) They are undergeared
2) Their DPS are both MNK
3) Their healer is undergeared
After the expected wipe, they bitch about how long the dungeon takes when you go one group at a time.

This one always kills me because it is SO easy to spot when pulling multple packs is a bad idea. If your healer has under 3.5k health.... not smart

[Donjo]

Oh, you mean the "Cumon, step it up!" Tank?

[Wintersandman]

If your healer has under 3.5k health.... not smart

Depends on the dungeon. WP I did with a healer with 2.9k. I also did it because he was trying to heal in Cleric Stance and was proving a point. I said something before and he ignored me. Run went much smoother and I could pull multiples. Maybe not as large as I normally would but also with in an acceptable tolerance.

Also can add my own solo boss. One dps and the healer died at 75% and the second DPS died at 60% on first boss in Halatali HM. From there I proceeded to solo the boss.

[Wadoka]

"Tanks who are an order of magnitude better than everyone else. Did the rest of the group get killed by that earthquake? No problem! The tank will just solo the boss."

I've done that in Cutter's Cry, but in my experience when this happens, it's a Bard who pulls this off. Seven dead team mates and a raging, kiting Bard for the win...

[TruebladeNuke]

Tanks that pull 3 packs at once when any of the following are true:
2) Their DPS are both MNK

I had a case like this in reverse order. I was Tanking a dungeon, both DPS were Monks, so I figured AoE power was more or less non-existent, and thus I made smaller pulls then I usually do. (Because you know, MNK's were designed more or less to pick out a single target and demolish that said target) Said WHM goes and runs off pulling all groups I haven't pulled with Aero's and runs back to us with HUGE mobs following him/her. I pull all hate for the sake of not allowing the Healer to die, but the MNK's made it quite known they didn't like that. WHM just scoffs, saying pulling all mobs is required, period, due to gear levels. Nevermind the fact that both DPS are Monks...

Got through just fine though, since I know what I'm doing as a Tank and WHM knew what to do as WHM. Did take awhile to fully destroy any large trash mob due to lack of AoE power, save the WHM.

Said scenario could have easily classified as a "WTFWHM" scenario, if it weren't for dem pro heals.

[Lovemonster]

I wonder why monks wouldn't like it though. They keep their G3 rather than lose it between each pull since no tank staggers their pulls these days and WHM gets to Holy which means a faster dungeon in general.

[TruebladeNuke]

I wonder why monks wouldn't like it though. They keep their G3 rather than lose it between each pull since no tank staggers their pulls these days and WHM gets to Holy which means a faster dungeon in general.

Depends on who you end up running with mostly.

While those Monks made it known that due to their class, AoE power was lacking, others MNK's I've worked with don't complain. It's more or less that like I said in my earlier post, Monks were designed to pick out a single target and quickly destroy that target. AoE isn't their thing. (And it was obvious during the pulls of that run I made. It took longer to bring down the mobs than say... if I had 2 BLM's with me) Most players playing as a MNK understand that too. If it really comes down to the Monk needing to spam AoE, (and most that I've seen go for this anyway, lol) the best they can do is use the "Perfect Balance" buff and then spam Rockbreaker... which only lasts for 10 seconds. (And then they have to wait for the cooldown) Bonus points to them if they pop damage buffs before Perfect Balance. Oh, and line themselves to toss out a Howling Fist, which is a free CD skill use.

Because of the way the MNK is designed, this means that WHM's have to worry about their MP management even more if they're going to Cleric Stance Holy, even with Shroud of Saints MP management. (Cause Holy is expensive per cast) SCH's not so much, despite not having Holy to spam.

I'd also say it depends on the dungeon too. I could see fully beefed out teams of 2 MNK DPS getting away with bigger pulls on the lower/beginner High Level dungeons, like Wanderer's Palace. (Like how I managed to get through just fine anyway in that one run) But the higher up dungeons where the enemies take more hits to bring down and hit harder? Becomes debatable then. Down to how well your party members dodge things and such. I can't really give a full "correct" answer here, as every person is different in how they want to approach a dungeon, regardless of party setup. Me? I just try to adapt as best I can, and hope the others do the same.

tl;dr: Depends on the party, dungeon, etc.

[Urthdigger]

The bit on tanks being confused is why it bugs me when videos and guides day to do or not do something, but don't mention the consequences.

[Aurelinaus]

Oh, you mean the "Cumon, step it up!" Tank?

I'm guilty of that but it's because I main heals and go by what I know I could heal worst case. I've learned to drastically lower the bar in DF when I tank.