Strength vs Vitality while leveling

[Merkava]

Stone Vigil would like a word. Show up to that in "up to date" STR gear from leveling, and you're gonna have a bad time. The extra VIT really helps.

Except it's not really, Stone Vigil is definitely a step up in terms of difficulty from previous dungeons but if a tank uses their cooldowns efficiently then you're going to be fine regardless of the stats you have.

At that point accessories are largely irrelevant since they offer, at most, 3-4 in a particular stat (and chances are you won't have the full right side). A few points in VIT isn't going to really make a difference as efficient tanking in FFXIV is all about proper cooldown usage (ie. use them, don’t just save them for the boss). Even during big pulls I would go full STR as the extra HP is rarely as huge of a deal as cooldowns, altho I'm not a big fan of big pulls as a PLD as they tend to last 2-3x longer than with a WAR or DRK due to abysmal AOE DPS (big pulls only get dangerous if they go on for too long).

Honestly, you can level all the way to 60 with full STR just fine. Of course, a person who is in the process of learning could always add some vit here and there but an experienced tank has very little use for it.

IMO, use 2-3 vit accessories (bonus stats and the other accs with STR) if you aren't confident and just add in full STR as you get more and more confident in your abilities.

Vit to HP ratio should at least DOUBLE if it ever wanted to remotely compete with STR…