Strength Tanks

[Kaisinel]

I'm full 210 ilevel with upgraded deathbringer and have 16800Ish HP with full str.

[Launched]

STR is the best stat and doesn't make the tank any harder to heal. Any problems are caused by the tank player or healer player, not gear (unless they're under by 20 ilevels or something).

[Jpec07]

Dead mobs also do zero DPS, which lowers HPS requirements.

No, a dead mob lowers overall damage output, not encounter DPS. You'll require less healing overall as a Str tank PERHAPS, but your healer is going to have to work a hell of a lot harder to keep you alive for that short encounter.

Under normal circumstances, and most instances in the game right now, I agree, OP. But there are a few contexts where it doesn't make sense:

• DRK Using Living Dead - In this circumstance, the healer needs to heal the full amount of the DRK's HP if they have their health hit 0 in order for them to survive. Healing 15k HP is a lot easier than healing 20k HP.
• Alexander Gordias: Savage (1-4) - You'll never, ever see a tank who is able to clear this content while it is current while wearing Vit gear. The DPS checks require tanks, healers, and everyone else to do everything they can to maximize their DPS output, and the outgoing damage specific to tanks is only marginal, and highly predictable.
• Neverreap/Fractal Continuum (once geared) - At this point, tanks won't be running these dungeons once they pass i170. But before 3.1, the outgoing damage in these dungeons did not require more than ~15k HP to be able to answer properly (with a tank's natural mitigation), and it was usually detrimental to the party to put stats into Vit instead of Str.
• Fresh 60 Tanks - Tanks who are new to level 60 ought to put their stats to Str instead of Vit, because they'll need it for the enmity generation. Being able to take a hit means nothing if you can't also force everything to hit you.
• Self-healing - Warriors are the biggest culprits here. Every tank's healing ability scales with their attack power, which scales more with Strength than anything else. And since most of Warrior mitigation comes from their self-healing, they need as much Strength as they can get.

Otherwise, I agree. A tank will be better able to serve their group and fulfill their role if they can take more damage without dying.

But I also know that a lot of people will probably reply to this and say that "killing it faster means shorter encounters and less damage" - so using damage as mitigation by proxy.

Ultimately, it's something that you should discuss with your healer(s) to see what they prefer.

[SwordCoheir]

No, a dead mob lowers overall damage output, not encounter DPS. You'll require less healing overall as a Str tank PERHAPS, but your healer is going to have to work a hell of a lot harder.

They really won't work any harder, the effective healing over time does not change with a bigger or smaller HP pool, it only changes the frequency of which healers have to go back and fourth between their healing and extra curricular activities. Which is something healers should be used too anyways, because every tank is going to perform at different levels and incur different results when it comes to hate management and incoming damage.

Now a typical fight can go so many rounds before tanks need healing, tanks with bigger hp pools can go longer periods without any heals, however it also takes the healer longer to top the tank off. Inversely a tank with lower hp takes less time to top off, but afford the healer shorter breaks inbetween healing sessions. The reason? Because healers won't be curing for any more or less based on the Tank's hp pool.

[bardaboo]

Yeah. The difference in going str over vit is like 4k hp. Sooo if a i200 str tank has same hp as a fresh lvl 60 vit tank you as a healer should be prepared and able to keep him alive.

[Causality]

Yeah. The difference in going str over vit is like 4k hp. Sooo if a i200 str tank has same hp as a fresh lvl 60 vit tank you as a healer should be prepared and able to keep him alive.

Your i200 Tank is going to have significantly Higher Physical and Magic Defense than an i160 Tank. Their Armor Value is also going to be significantly higher. Vitality only Effects HP, not Defense/Magic Defense and Armor rating.

That is to say your i200 Tank is taking smaller hits from the same mob than an i160 would take. When making the decision to switch to STR Accessories from VIT certain factors need to be considered such as what is my DEF/MDEF at verses my health pool.

Getting hit with 15k health with 1.3K DEF/MDEF is significantly different than getting hit with 15K health at 2.1K DEF/MDEF

Certain fights call for having that extra health from a VIT set, most do not. Many blend accessories for a small boost to health when needed.

A Heroic Dungeon that has an iREQ of 145 does not need an i200 Tank running around in full Vit. Your average i145 WAR will only have 14K health in full Vit with far less DEF/MDEF than an i200 DRK and Especially PLD with 14K health.

Its a matter of Content vrs Gear.

[cgbspender]

Your average i145 WAR will only have 14K health in full Vit with far less DEF/MDEF than an i200 DRK and Especially PLD with 14K health.

Its a matter of Content vrs Gear.

Or you can have both, you know. I145, full strength, wearing an i90 weapon. Or a full "whatever" 210 who can't either do damage or keep aggro no matter what. Out of 3 instances I run a day, I meet at least one of those. 33% of "I Think I'm the best tank ever" who don't even realize how mediocre they are.

[Aurius]

I am full strength specd with slaying and two pentamelds. 16.6k in deliverance and almost 21k in defiance. I run dungeons VERY aggressively and pull in defiance until my hp buffer is gone and aggro is established, then pop deliverance. I have never had a run that stressed a healer, I know because I start a dungeon with "if i suck to heal let me know, I'll pull back" and finish dungeons with healers thanking me for an easy run. Use cds, use self heals, use stances appropriately, and your fine in full strength.

[cgbspender]

Holy ! You are the lord of trolls, aren't you ?

[karateorangutang]

A new one! Wheeeeeeeeee