Tanks are still taking STR accessories.

[Syzygian]

tank swaps can be pretty easily ignored in m5, m7, and m8 on normal assuming your healers have boss awareness of when to queue up the bigger heals .

Thats a LOT of faith in the DF.

[Kotemon]

Thats a LOT of faith in the DF.

Tell me about it. I just finished Cuff of the Son (story) and despite telling the other tank when to swap. I had to solo tank while he had grit off for everything besides the doubles phase (~i200 or just over by the looks). Thank got DF healers kept me alive despite dropping once into the 200's. Before food (Kaiser) I currently have ~22000 hp and dropping to 200-ish with some cool downs. Thank god they were good healers.

--

Looking at the numbers fending pieces will always give more attack than strength, but not so much secondary. From what I can tell the difference between plain Vit and Str accessories at the same ilevel is about 1 ATP.

However given the gap on left side fending gear between STR and VIT. Strength Materia III has +4 (1.8 atp), STR IV +7 (3.15 atp) and STR V +15 (6.75). I am assuming +STR wont go above or much past Vit's initial value. If fending left (not including the belt) can add at least 4 to 7 points of Str from one meld you could get anywhere from +9 ~+15.75 atp by melding one strength Materia onto each left fending. That leaves the second slot (if there) for a larger secondary then go conservative on the remaining three unless you can afford it. The right side on +i220 I'm assuming could hold 1 full Strength V meld.

If anything closing the gap between Strength and Vitality on the left and boosting STR and DPS secondary (or Acc for savage) looks like a more practical means given the current adjustments. So despite the difference in secondary on melded slaying and fending accessories. Other than max HP, what does a difference of 5 ATP amount to in comparison to the difference in crit/det? If you can put one full Str V Materia on each fending accessory (+33.75 atp) and over meld the secondary. How would that be optimal compared to putting one Vit V Materia on Maiming accessories and doing the same thing?

[Sarynth]

I dunno about the other tanks but an i240 fending set with 0 parry is possible on DRK.

If you don't mind me asking but what is this magical no parry set, and can it be done with i220? (I don't have a static for raiding savage at the minute)

[Syzygian]

If you don't mind me asking but what is this magical no parry set, and can it be done with i220? (I don't have a static for raiding savage at the minute)

Look at gear on Ariyala.

I don't know what it is at i220 because, as a DRK main and as a raid MT, I do not go out of my way to minimize my parry stat during progression, nor do I recommend it.

But if you're not raiding then screw it. http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/DRK will show you.

[BattleGrace]

If you don't mind me asking but what is this magical no parry set, and can it be done with i220? (I don't have a static for raiding savage at the minute)

like Syzy said, Ariyala, it's done with 240 "BiS" and yes it can be done with 220 because it's crafted or midian, just mix and match.

Disclaimer: i found a picture telling acc caps but i can not verify if they are correct but if they are BiS CAN NOT be done with 0 parry (whats 36 parry though?) if the following is to be believed.


http://imgur.com/Eotal1y

https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme..._accuracy_cap/

[Odett]

If you don't mind me asking but what is this magical no parry set, and can it be done with i220? (I don't have a static for raiding savage at the minute)

You can do it with a mix of 220 crafted and 220 midan, basically using those to replace anything 230 that has parry. I agree with Syzygian that you shouldn't go out of your way to minimize parry during progression, but if you're able to gather the items needed for the crafted stuff, it's surprisingly cheap.

What you can do right now if you're not planning to raid or have the ability to gather the crafted mats is:
-Lore headpiece
-Lore body
-Crafted arms
-Midas belt
-Midas legs
-Midas feet
-Midas choker
-Lore earrings
-Lore bracelets
-Left Lore ring
-Right crafted ring

The Lore right side is pretty horribly optimized. I would not recommend buying the crafted stuff off the MB unless you're rich and have money to throw around. Although, you could make the argument that higher ilv on right side means more defense and vitality, which would benefit the group as a whole a bit more than better secondary stats.

Thats a LOT of faith in the DF.

It helps when you go in as a certain tank for each turn as well. I'll go as PLD for A7 and DRK for A8 and your cooldown affinity for each respective tank buster will allow you to not require a tank swap and lessen the load on less skilled healers.

[KrenianKandos]

Recently did the switch from STR to VIT and won't ever look back. I've done Midas on DF twice now (full clear last week, this week just did M6 and M7..)

As someone stated: It's possible to cheese the tank swap but I wouldn't trust my life in DF healers (No offence to healers; I just trust my wife healer to keep me alive a lot more.). So the extra health is nice if I get a tank that doesn't provoke off of me. Also, the cushion in health allows us to deal with a situation if we do muck up; that buffer does wonders.

I'll let the others DPS the crap out of things. I'll just focus on staying alive, now.

[Hayward]

Whenever and whatever I'm tanking, I'll take a 22% discount on damage much sooner than absorb the full brunt of it for a questionable increase in DPS.

[Odett]

Whenever and whatever I'm tanking, I'll take a 22% discount on damage much sooner than absorb the full brunt of it for a questionable increase in DPS.

Where are you getting that 22% from exactly, and it's not a "questionable" increase. It's a tradeoff of 20% more damage received for a 20% damage gain for DRK, as well as being able to use Blood Weapon and getting more MP back and increasing DPS even further, and for PLD a 20% more damage received for a 15% damage gain. Taking off your tank stance situationally has its uses.

[JackFross]

Where are you getting that 22% from exactly, and it's not a "questionable" increase. It's a tradeoff of 20% more damage received for a 20% damage gain for DRK, as well as being able to use Blood Weapon and getting more MP back and increasing DPS even further, and for PLD a 20% more damage received for a 15% damage gain. Taking off your tank stance situationally has its uses.

Not completely accurate. With Grit and Darkside on, you operate at 92% of your default damage with neither active. Turning grit off buffs your damage to 115%. That's a straight up 25% damage increase swapping from Grit -> no Grit. It's a 20% loss to swap back to Grit.

Similarly for Paladin, going from 85% -> 100% is a gain of ~17.6%, not including the additional Sword Oath auto buff. Going back is a 15% decrease.

Percentages are multiplicative, not additive. You should really not think of 80% damage -> 100% damage being a 20% boost in damage, because it just honestly is not.