Low level tanking

[Sida]

A well geared synced down dmg who has perfect ted their rotation can easily tear stuff away from gladiator or early paladin tanks who are towards the end of their gear cycle (tank on such a level that new gear is only available on next level). Even if the tank is doing right things. Easy solution is for the dmg to go a bit easy and let the tank get at least the Flash in before they go all out, but many don't pay attention to that. At that point it's playing tag with the monsters which is highly unoptimal for any enmity combos. If the flash wouldn't have such silly delay it would be a bit more bearable.

[Jpec07]

Enmity is a different beast in FFXIV. I came from WoW where they handed it out like candy at Halloween, and it was a bit of a culture shock. It takes more work and focus to maintain, and personally, I find that sort of gameplay to be much more compelling than any contrived attempt at basing mitigation on rotational performance.

Flash your targets often. You can technically chain it 7-8 times before you run out of mana. And if you see a target's HP bar starting to go down more quickly than your own in the target list, click to it and hit it with a RoH combo, because that means someone's burning it.

The other thing you can do is mark your kill order, so the DPS will should know which target to attack (I've given up trying to teach Dragoons to count). It can slow down a dungeon, though, so I have a set of macros I use:

Marking 2 Targets, starting with <t>!
/mk attack1 <t>
/ac "Target Forward"
/mk attack2 <t>
/target <attack1>

Marking 3 Targets, starting with <t>!
/mk attack1 <t>
/ac "Target Forward"
/mk attack2 <t>
/ac "Target Forward"
/mk attack3 <t>
/target <attack1>

Marking 4 Targets, starting with <t>!
/mk attack1 <t>
/ac "Target Forward"
/mk attack2 <t>
/ac "Target Forward"
/mk attack3 <t>
/ac "Target Forward"
/mk attack4 <t>
/target <attack1>

Marking 5 Targets, starting with <t>!
/mk attack1 <t>
/ac "Target Forward"
/mk attack2 <t>
/ac "Target Forward"
/mk attack3 <t>
/ac "Target Forward"
/mk attack4 <t>
/ac "Target Forward"
/mk attack5 <t>
/target <attack1>

Because of how quickly these run, I've been able to use them in Ex Roulette without too much difficulty. People don't always follow the markers, but I've found that ~80% of the time, it can make pulls go a lot easier.

Granted, if you're doing big pulls with an AoE heavy group (some combination of BLM, SMN, and MNK), marking won't matter anyway and you should just spam Flash (and pray), but old habits die hard.

EDIT: Also, putting your bonus stat points into Strength will help (until we get to 3.2). I've taken to doing it on all of my tanks, simply because it makes life just a little bit easier in leveling content.

[Yukileonhart]

As i main pally my self here is some tanking advice
When you pull with shiel loop use flash right after it , then start aggro combo you start by Fast blade > savage blade > flash > rage of halone . This combo will maximize your aggro and if the mobs are 5 or more you can switch target while attacking . Give every mob a kick , like fast blade on one mob *switch target* savage blade on another mob *switch target * flash > then rage of halone on the other target if u have casters in the party use flash after you finish the combo . Hope this helps .

[Torunya]

like fast blade on one mob *switch target* savage blade on another mob

This. Switching targets as you roll through your combo is vital. Keep an eye on the enmity list to see which enemy is taking the most hits (unless your party is following a marked order) and distribute your enmity combo accordingly to manage your aggro. During big pulls I also spam flash until I'm almost out of mp, and then just stick to my Riot combo until my mp is back up. You can never spam flash enough imo.

[Sida]

Since I'm mostly healer I have my party list moved a bit towards the center of screen so its easier to follow while also seeing what's going on. When I'm tanking I keep also glancing at the per monster enmity from the party window so I see exactly who is gaining and how much even before they turn away from red.

For target marks, I have attack1 and 2 in my action bars. I don't usually mark unless in specific case, but it makes it also easy to slab a mark on mob in mid fight if I notice two dps burn different targets. I just slap 1 on either of them and see if they know how to react to it. Often they get the hint. I have noticed that works more efficiently than habitually numbering them on every pull.

[Yukileonhart]

Flash before rage of halone is the most useful flash you do in a pull coz even if one of the party members has aggro you will take it back easily

[AlexiIvaniskavich]

ROTATE, ROTATE, ROTATE!!!! and flash.

Changing your target is probably the least utilized tactic I see low level tanks using. Escpecially on AoE heavy or DoT heavy DD classes. If you can get out a full rotation do so, but do not be afraid to hit 3 seperate enemies in one combo set. The damage you are dealing with the 1-2 part of your combo can be enough to hold on to enemy a-b, while you lock in enemcy "c" with the 3rd part of your combo.

[Anzer]

Not sure if this would be the appropriate place for this question, but since there is talk about macros and low level tanking tips and such, I figured I'd throw it out there...
Would you recommend creating macros for your different combos? Something like:

/ac "Whack"
/ac "Hit"
/ac "Smash"

...and does that even work, so if I press the macro 3 times, it will rotate through the list, or is that just a pipe-dream? I don't want to lock myself into a 7 second rotation by using /wait, when I may need to alter my target and plans at any moment.

Thank you for any insight or information! /bow

[Ragology]

Not sure if this would be the appropriate place for this question, but since there is talk about macros and low level tanking tips and such, I figured I'd throw it out there...
Would you recommend creating macros for your different combos?

I wouldn't use a macro to perform a tanks 1-2-3 combo because in the event that the enemy evades your attack, the macro would continue the sequence without the combo bonus.

To save hotbar space, I used to use a macro that put Tomahawk and Heavy swing on the same button. Worked great since any enemies outside of heavy swing range would be tomahawked instead. The problem with this macro was that sometimes Tomahawk would be used while I was in heavy swing range.

[Anzer]

That makes sense, Ragology. Thanks for the information. I suppose I'll just have to get used to all these buttons! xD