Can anyone give me some PLD tips?

[Yawnie]

Hi there! First I'd like to say that I'm pretty new to tanking. it's always been a role that's scared me I do have a small amount of knowledge about it though. I've leveled my DRK to 39 (lol), and I've done all low level dungeons up until cutters cry sooooo it's not a lot but I do know the basics.

I managed to get provoke from gladiator at 22, though honestly that was simply by doing levequests

The only reason I started Tanking with the DRK was because I was told that it was pretty easy to keep enmity (Hello unleash). And as much as I'm loving their story I'm not really finding the class all that fun even though I've had little to no trouble playing it in dungeons.


This brings me to the PLD or gladiator in my case
I love seeing other players use it and I find them pretty fun as a class. The thing that really puts me off from playing it is how I constantly see everyone saying how it's a struggle to keep enmity with them until about level 40.

Hence why I'm here twiddling my thumbs and being to scared to even que for halatali lol Anyways, I was hoping all of you Tank pros could give me some advice that could help me in lower level dungeons. I really don't want to give other party members a hard time so I don't want to jump in blindly. Of course I always make sure I'm not undergeared so no worries there.

Thanks in advance

[SpookyGhost]

You'll only have real enmity struggles if you don't keep your gear up to date. Unlike DPS and possibly Healer, tanks rely more heavily on their gear before getting tank stance as the damage DPS output will outscale the enmity you're able to output if you're lagging behind.

GLD is actually fairly simple. In terms of pulling groups of mobs, you want to Flash twice and then start doing your single target rotation. If DPS are AOEing, then obviously you want to focus more on using Flash - while it'll cost you a GCD of damage every time you use it you'll probably lose hate to a Fire 2 happy THM if you don't. Basically, be aware of where your enmity stands on the mobs and try and check out what the DPS are doing. Usually you'll just want to mark your primary target with "1", since marking everything takes too much time and isn't really necessary.

For bosses, get Raging Strikes from Archer and crossclass that until you unlock PLD. Raging Strikes + Fight or Flight will basically give you a ton of enmity and you just FB -> SB [-> RoH] your way to victory.

Defensive CDs are pretty straight forward, use them when you know you're going to take a lot of damage.

If you do end up losing hate in early dungeons it's not that big of a deal, mobs hit fairly weak in these. Once you get Rage of Halone and especially Shield Oath @ 40 then it's smooth sailing from there.

[Ebonwings]

Don't stress too much over it. PLD at lv 30 only has sword oath which is your dps stance until lv 40 which you get shield oath your tanking stance which makes life easier. If you don't have Circle of Scorn which is PLD aoe, increase enmity, and dots just use my lazy PLD style XD open with shield lob, flash 2-3 times, fast blade, riot blade, rinse and repeat for multiple mobs. If you still lose aggro add flash in between. As for tanking single target, use Fast Blade, Savage Blade, and Rage of Halone don't forget to use shield swipe if it proc for extra enmity also use cooldowns to negate some damage. Hope this help in some way.

[garret_hawke]

Open with 3-4 flash then use riot blade once to recover some mp then savage/halone + flash every 2 combo and riot when low on mp. If there is a thm/blm or anyone spamming aoe just flash every combo

[Jpec07]

I was going to reply, but SpookyGhost did such a good job covering the basics of the job that it really isn't necessary to say anything more. Follow his advice, and you'll do fine.

[Februs]

Pld still has the lowest enmity gen even after they get their tank stance, so there are some tricks you're may want to learn early. The biggest trick to learn is how to split your enmity:

After your initial hate grab, consider learning how to split up your enmity strikes (Savage Blade, Rage of Halone (lvl 26), Shield Swipe (lvl 30), and Shield Lob) across multiple targets to secure a lead on their hate. It's a tactic you can learn once you access to your full Rage of Halone combo, and is a good thing to make a habit of because it: 1) helps you secure aggro on peripheral targets, 2) spreads RoH's strength down debuff for added passive mitigation, and 3) allows you to be adaptable when the Dps go wild and start racing each other on different targets.

Keep in mind that, until you are at max level and fully geared, you'll still be relying heavily on Flash and should use it liberally. As you start to level, though, you'll notice you need Flash less. At level 30, you'll gain access to Shield Swipe, which can be used to gain additional enmity on a single target every 30 seconds (with the added effect of pacification). At level 50, one of your Flash casts will be replaced with Circle of Scorn. At MAX level and with top end gear, you should able to reduce your use of Flash usage to the duration of its blind application, varying slightly on the number of enemies you are pulling (additional Flashes may be needed if the number of enemies exceeds your ability to land enmity strikes on all of them before losing hate).

As you level, you should be able to get a feel for how much of a lead you need on enemies to keep hate, but until then you can also use the enmity meters in the party list to keep an eye on things. Just remember that the goal is to be proactive. You don't want to have to chase targets to take back enmity you should have already had. So, instead, try to anticipate which target is going to need the biggest infusion of enmity and split up your love taps accordingly.

[winsock]

take SpookyGhost's advice for sure.

In addition, it might be useful to know:
* FoF impacts flash.
* before RoH, flash spamming generates quite a bit more emnity than the threat combo. (While you should need this on single targets, might be useful if you're struggling)

[Ragology]

take SpookyGhost's advice for sure.

In addition, it might be useful to know:
* FoF impacts flash.

I thought Flash scales with attack power and since Fight or Flight didn't raise attack power that it also didn't boost flash? (WAR's Berserk helps with flash though.)

[Stufoo]

I thought Flash scales with attack power and since Fight or Flight didn't raise attack power that it also didn't boost flash? (WAR's Berserk helps with flash though.)

Fight or Flight doesn't work on Flash because it specifically states it only increases physical damage. Flash is magical. Maim, Darkside, Blood for Blood, Raging Strikes, etc all work on Flash because they increase all damage.

It has nothing to do with scaling with AP, though obviously Berserk does work with Flash just like AP from any other source.

[Metalwrath]

First of all just want to point out that for holding threat as a tank you shouldn't compare other tanks to Dark.When Dark knight was being released SE knew the main player demographic for that job was gonna be people who never tanked in their life and would choose the job because it looked cool.Hence why Darks emnity is so rediculously broken.Hoping that gets nerfed in the near future.They made it a complicated class to master but designed for retards to be able to hold agro.
Like others have said Pld pre lvl 40 will be dificult to hold agro.One bit of advice i wil give especially in PLDS case.If some trash monster steals agro off you i generally stun the mob first before useing an agro combo to get it back.Reason why.The stun gives you the window to take back the mob emnity without the risk of the dps getting killed or stealing heals from you as tank.