Strength Tanks

[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.

[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.

[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]

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

[karateorangutang]

A new one! Wheeeeeeeeee

[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.

[VanilleFang]

As a healer I don't think a smaller HP pool really means anything for a tank. Well, with in reason obviously. If the difference in HP is like.. 16k to 20k then I don't see the issue. If the tank is doing his/her job properly and I am stance dancing like I should be then it'll be okie dokie. Also faster clears are always a plus.

[Kabooa]

Finally! someone had to say this! i have no idea why people think getting two hit by bosses is a good idea.

LEt's assume a tank has 15,000 hit points. If this is -two hit range-, then the boss hits a minimum of two 7.5k hits within a short window of time.

Therefore, a tank with 15,001 hit points will be 3 hit. After that, a tank requires 7500 more hit points to not be 4-shottable without healing. Any hit points before that point only pads on an amount a healer does not need to heal to prevent the tank death in 3 hits.

Tell me why this is a more efficient use of your limited gear options than trusting your healer and dealing more damage?

[BeeWise]

As far as numbers go, to put it simply, left side gear pieces all give the same amount of VIT per item level and if DoW/M. Item level 200 DoW left side set gives 419 VIT (376 for DoM), sans weapon. As a DRG, like in most other FF games, you have a higher natural VIT stat than other DoWs DPS. Obviously not tank high, due to the "Enhanced Vitality" trait, and tank job crystals giving about 10 more VIT.

All that being said, a 7 ilvl difference is pretty significant, especially if most of your 200/210 pieces are on your left side. It's really not as far-fetched as some may think it is. In this game, the biggest difference in tanks vs DPS is (at this stage in the game, at the same ilvl) a near double defensive stats difference from other roles, and a much higher abundance of defensive cooldowns, along with a "tanking stance". Whereas in a lot of other MMOs, tanks tend to have nearly 2-3x the HP of their DPS, plus defensive CDs. Maybe we'll get there someday.

[CookieMonsta]

Please stop, there is no sane reason why a tank should slot points into strength instead of vitality. You having less or the same hp as a dps is not an effective tank build because a dead tank does zero dps.

It is not a healers responsibility to spend an insane amount of time and mana keeping you alive when you choose not to talent properly, it's like healing a dps that thinks he is a tank.

In conclusion is you want to play a dps class then roll one otherwise learn to play as the role you selected which means you are there to take damage not cause massive damage to mobs and die in the process.

Wao, some people want to see the world burn. This has been discussed to death already, go do Alex Savage then come back and tell us what you think (hint hint, A3S GL keeping aggro off a WHM without STR).