War MT?

[Ceodore]

All tanks are quite viable on all of the content. Each of them has their strong points as well as their learning curve. I always suggest learning Paladin first for this reason. While it lacks the burst DPS of warrior, it has more steady DPS, as well as a standard mitigation toggle that is literally more effective in ALL situations. Even with the new addition of parry on Warrior's Wrath, they actually are required to use Wrath as a resource and thus lose that Parry quite often. Further, as several people have pointed out, Parry is useless against magical damage, which is fairly common in the game. Not nearly as common as physical damage, but still common. I suggest people learn Paladin first because it has the most simple and just powerful mitigating cooldowns that requires less thought about its usage. After learning Paladin, I suggest learning Warrior, since you will now have the basics of tanking down and you will learn things like cooldown combinations, synergy, and more precise skill timing. Then, after mastering both, I suggest moving on to Dark Knight, since you will now be an exceptionally skilled tank with all the aspects of tanking well practiced, and you can apply them to a tanking class that really challenges the role.

[Perzeval]

Don't get fooled. Most statics use Paladin as MT because it's the safest choice, all Paladin cooldowns are oGCD, while inner beast, WARs main mitigation, is not. Warrior MT and Paladin OT setup is considered advanced gameplay already. It is usually viable if you have done the fight a couple times and are pushing the numbers to get it done faster. The WAR needs to know the timing of incoming tank busters and so do the healers, otherwise it's going to be a horrible experience.

[Abbul_Stonecleaver]

While Warrior can definitely MT anything, and I imagine that will remain the case, many groups looking to fill a tank slot in their static likely will have Warrior pegged as OT.

You can plead your case, and can find a static that will allow War MT definitely, but it is unlikely to be the default in the majority of groups.

However, many end game fights require tank swaps or both tanks to MT at points. You'll definitely get plenty of chance to shine tanking either way.

[Kleys]

Let's face it.

- PLD is the worst OT, and even the worst MT.

- WAR is OP. You can't go wrong with WAR, even if you have 2 WAR in your raid. But, you can't afford to be "bad" if you wanna MT.

- DRK is decent, arguably the best MT, and can outdps WAR as OT, but is heavily reliant on the party composition, since it lack the damage debuff from WAR, slashing debuff from WAR/NIN, and extra help from NIN/AST to solve his TP issues (and if you have a NIN, you still need a STR-melee DPS to get the STR bonus).

That being said, the "worst" isn't bad. You can clear every endgame content in this game with 2 PLD in your raid. In fact, I cleared everything with almost always 2 PLD, and I'm gonna clear the upcoming content with almost the worst team composition: 1 DRK 1 PLD, a MNK, no NIN/DRG. At least I got an AST.

This game isn't class-carried. You simply need 2 TANK 2 HEAL 4 DPS and you're good to go. Well, almost. BRD was a requirement for most endgame encouters in ARR, dunno if it will still be true in Heavensward.

[Doudousteve]

Let's face it.

- PLD is the worst OT, and even the worst MT.

What? How did you come to that conclusion?

[Misha_Tameshigiri]

What? How did you come to that conclusion?

PLD has the worst DPS of the 3 tanks and its increased mitigation is only in regards to physical attacks. In heavensward raids (read: Alexander) which are magic damage heavy, it loses its only advantage over the other 2 tanks.

[Kleys]

What? How did you come to that conclusion?

PLD :
- Worst DPS out of the 3 tanks classes. Now better than what it used to be, but still.
- Less mitigation than DRK, and WAR have Inner Beast which is the best defensive skill in this game since 2.1.
- Most ppl say it's the "best" tank against physical damage. It's simply wrong. Block/Parry is RNG, thus not reliable, and Halone combo is too weak.
- Doesn't increase DPS for other party members (WAR increase Tanks and NIN's DPS).
- Has the weakest damage debuff (-5% STR).
- Run out of TP in most fights. WAR now have TP restore and damaging GCD that doesn't cost TP, and yeah this is bullshit. DRK also have huge issues with TP, but will never be as useless as any other classes out of PT since it can maintain ~70% of its DPS with MP only, and your overall DPS will only decrease by ~12% if you're fighting for 8min straight without jump phase or any help for your TP.

Since 2.1, you can clear every endgame content (savage included) with 2 WAR that aren't even max VIT.

And healers that have trouble healing tanks are simply bad. Tanks can survive to any tank buster with only 1 CD if healers do their job properly (really it's almost all about the SCH).

[Ryahask]

PLD :
- Worst DPS out of the 3 tanks classes. Now better than what it used to be, but still.
- Less mitigation than DRK, and WAR have Inner Beast which is the best defensive skill in this game since 2.1.
- Most ppl say it's the "best" tank against physical damage. It's simply wrong. Block/Parry is RNG, thus not reliable, and Halone combo is too weak.
- Doesn't increase DPS for other party members (WAR increase Tanks and NIN's DPS).
- Has the weakest damage debuff (-5% STR).
- Run out of TP in most fights. WAR now have TP restore and damaging GCD that doesn't cost TP, and yeah this is bullshit. DRK also have huge issues with TP, but will never be as useless as any other classes out of PT since it can maintain ~70% of its DPS with MP only, and your overall DPS will only decrease by ~12% if you're fighting for 8min straight without jump phase or any help for your TP.
Since 2.1, you can clear every endgame content (savage included) with 2 WAR that aren't even max VIT.

And healers that have trouble healing tanks are simply bad. Tanks can survive to any tank buster with only 1 CD if healers do their job properly (really it's almost all about the SCH).

1. Yes, they are the worst DPS tank. It's deliberate.
2. No, PLD doesn't have less mitigation than WAR or DRK. They have more and better defensive CDs as well as better passive (Though unreliable) mitigation.
3. It is the best against physical, and magical too. Block is reliable as a PLD due to Shelltron and Bulwark.
4. Yes, PLD doesn't have all of the utility other tanks have, it would be dumb if they did.
5. Rage of Halone is a 10% reduction. WAR damage reduction is better, but DRK certainly isn't against physical damage.
6. PLD has quite good TP sustain as MT, they need help as OT admittedly. DRK has trouble with both TP and MP. Even WAR has trouble with TP if content doesn't afford them the opportunity to swap to Deliverance, most does, but in more challenging content as a MT it's not likely.

You've also neglected to mention the numerous strengths of PLD. You've basically chosen only to criticize their weakest points in an attempt to support your argument. PLD has the absolute best utility of the tanks, the best mitigation, offers the most substantial safety net for mistakes (Which are realistically always a concern, even among the absolute best players), and offers the potential to nullify mechanics in numerous fights due to their demonstrable defense and their useful tank ultimate (Whereas the other two tank ultimate skills are disgustingly worthless).

[Starkbeaumont]

stuff

2. More? yes. Better? not really. in raid content where CDs usually matter for those tank busters, they are almost in the same boat, with WAR being the clear winner having access to inner beast around every 20s.
3. for magic damage they have 2 CDs. 2! rampart and sentinel. unless you also count divine veil, but this requires you to get a heal before it means anything and it's probably better to be saved for a raid wide move and not those tank busters. well if the mob needs more than 3s to cast you could count stoneskin maybe
5. it's 10% less str of the mob, not damage. an attack could have a base potency of 10k while the mob only has 50 str. your 10% less str won't matter at all in this case. the attack will still hurt. Only reason drk falls short in this category is cause int down can also be provided by a mnk
6. all tanks have the same tp requirement on their combos. but inner beast doesn't need tp and war has the option to get 200 tp back every minute, so they are the clear winner here. and drk has access to some magic, while your dps will fall it can still give some time to recover tp. pld though has nothing like this. especially if you have to pick up something on top of what you tank with shield lob, they are the worst when it comes to tp.

[SpookyGhost]

- WAR is OP. You can't go wrong with WAR, even if you have 2 WAR in your raid.