STR vs. VIT for leveling

[Jpec07]

Wow. Thanks a lot everyone. Appreciate all the input. First time I'll be giving tanking a go in an MMO.

You're absolutely welcome--and welcome to tanking! It can be a blast, but also really stressful. Just take it easy, read guides, and communicate, and you'll be fine. Good luck in there!

[Ashkendor]

While Shield Oath is very useful in keeping hate, getting the first AoE skill at 50 had a lot more impact on me. Even with Shield Oath, Flash and rotating targets for threat combos, there is no way you can keep hate on really big pulls when BLMs and the like let loose right away. But hitting everything once with a nice AoE and applying DoTs on all the targets helps a lot to eastablish that initial threat that you can reinforce with your other abilities/skills afterwards.

Unless you got to 50 only very recently, CoS didn't even generate enmity beyond what initial damage it dealt. Increased enmity was added in 2.4. I mean, I guess it was still an oGCD AoE, I just don't see how it would help more than Shield Oath.

[Atoli]

I just don't see how it would help more than Shield Oath.

I never said it was more useful than Shield Oath (or at least didn't mean it if it sounded that way?), I'm just saying that while Shield Oath alone is nice, PLD still has trouble again hasty AoE-heavy dps until he has Shield Oath PLUS CoS.

(and I actually got PLD to 50 in 1.0, back when everything was different and weird xD I was just talking about the threat from dmg dealt + DoT, the added enmity+ just makes it even nicer now)

[Xenosan]

The VIT and STR is less important - almost iirelevant - to low level gearing as there's a far worse problem I've seen of tanks leveling their low lvl DRK.

Scale Mail, Elmos, Sallets, Mitt Gloves.

These are not tanking gears.

Every 5 lvls tanks can upgrade between plate armors and heavy plate armors. Use that and upgrade to the next batch every 5 lvls. Doing that with all STR Accessory right side is perfectly fine. PDEF/MDEF is what matters. And that Scale armor does not have it, so tanks should consider their healers.

The Scale Mail and Elmos and such, wish they'd just make them DRG exclusive. It's not for tanking. Fate grinding, fair - because it doesn't matter. But dungeon running, be considerate and wear the right stuff.

[Freyyy]

Scale Mail, Elmos, Sallets, Mitt Gloves.

These are not tanking gears.

For lower levels (Steel Scale and Horn Scale gear, the level 32 and 38 sets), these are actually as much tank gear as heavy armor. At the level where you can equip them, they are the best tank gear option available. It starts being squishy DRG gear only with the level 41 scale set. Anything before that gives tank def/mdef values.

[Xenosan]

As long as you're not skipping a plate upgrade because you went with a scale set 2-3 lvls before reaching the next tier that's fine. But those sets do have a lower PDEF/MDEF rating per iLVL than plate so you're not gettign as much bang for your buck. Realistically I wouldn't expect someone to upgrade every 3 > 2 > 3 > 2 lvls but if they do, great

[Freyyy]

As long as you're not skipping a plate upgrade because you went with a scale set 2-3 lvls before reaching the next tier that's fine. But those sets do have a lower PDEF/MDEF rating per iLVL than plate so you're not gettign as much bang for your buck. Realistically I wouldn't expect someone to upgrade every 3 > 2 > 3 > 2 lvls but if they do, great

When a level 32 pink scale armor drops at Brayflox longstop, it's still an upgrade if you don't have the green set yet. Same at Cutters Cry. The level 38 pink scale set is better than the level 35 full plate set. Most people wear these scale sets because that's what dropped for them. And that's fine. It only becomes a problem if they wear the level 41 scale gear, which is then weaker than the level 38 horn scale gear because it's actually becoming full blown DRG armor with low magic defense.

[fm_fenrir]

full blown DRG armor with low magic defense.

Tortoiseshell Scale Mail disagrees with your proposition, but is an outlier in your generalized statement. It's easily overlooked because it's functionally useless if you're playing a class that has AF, but it's worthwhile for DRK who does not.

Anyway, there's no law that says you have to stack all VIT or all STR, but I certainly had more fun playing my tanks like I was a fat DPS 1-50. STR all the way to the finish line, if you ask me.

[Jpec07]

For accessories: Either, just not neither.

For armor: Defense and Magic Defense over both (these account for more mitigation than either STR of VIT will provide, which will make you less squishy).

For weapons: Weapon damage.

For shields*: Kite > Scutum > Hoplon
*in my experience

For sockets: Don't bother.

Rotate your cooldowns, rotate targets for enmity combo, and stay in your tank "stance" and you'll do fine.

[thunderbreak]

I haven't tried this with my warrior, and I'm definitely not doing it with my dark knight, but I've put all my points in strength in pally since level 10, and it's worked out ok. I've never felt particularly squishy, but I always had the most up to date equipments.