How did you level your tank?

[Februs]

I leveled my Drk and War almost exclusively with dungeons. Insta-queues and PuG carries for the win.

My Pld was leveled mostly in dungeons, but I do recall clearing the last few levels with leve quests. Back then, leve quests actually paid out a pretty hefty sum of exp and a ridiculous amount of bonus exp for challenges, so it was one of the fastest ways to power level (if not extremely boring and repetitive). I was sad when SE hit leve quest exp with a nerf hammer the size of the moon. I probably would have put more effort into my dps jobs if they kept it the way it was ...

[NinjaDecoy]

When I leveled my DRK, it was more casually than anything else. I would do leveling roulette aND then go back on my DRG to do the 60 stuff and other dalies. Once I got back into the game I learned how great hw beast tribes were for EXP so I did all of those, leveling/50 roulettes, and occasionally did hunts. Got both AST and DRK up from 52 all the way to 60 just from this in about a month, and this is just cadually. Not a good way, but then again I did this so I wouldn't get burnt out.
For my other tanks I do a mix of fates, dungeons, and leves, though I hate tanking low level dungeons.

[Bigsby]

Hey everybody. Not new to browsing these forums for information, but I just now got around to setting up my account. I'm just a casual player who wants to try to elevate my game a bit. My main right now is nin, but I've been dabbling in drk because I like the aesthetic and feel of the job. I lvled war to 50 solo because I know tanks and healers have more responsibilities than dps do and didn't want to be a burden to the group even though I was fresh to tanking. I wanna give drk a go properly though and my question is with only 3 cross class slots at my current lvl should I take voke over convalescence? Sorry to thread jack and thanks to everybody that provides helpful info and insight on these forums.

[Enkonda]

should I take voke over convalescence?

If you've leveled a tanking class solo and want to actually tank, your best bet would be to start at the very bottom dungeons and work your way up to get the fundamentals of tanking for a group. Unless....you know, you're just that good and can just jump right into a lvl 30+ dungeon. But, out of all the cross abilities, provoke is essential. It comes in handy far more than convalescence especially if you plan to tank future trials and raids where provoking bosses off of other tanks is necessary.

[Bigsby]

Thanks for the advice.

[Machka]

with only 3 cross class slots at my current lvl should I take voke over convalescence?

I'd recommend Provoke, Mercy Stroke and Convalescence. As already mentioned, Provoke is essential later, and helpful even in low-level dungeons. Mercy Stroke is free damage - since leveling dungeons have several packs between bosses you can get a lot of use out of it. Conva in the third spot means you have it as inc dmg starts ramping up in dungeons.

Note: if you like big pulls, take Conva (and even Foresight) before Mercy Stroke. The extra healing and mitigation helps big pulls go smoother. I usually skip Bloodbath on DRK b/c the self heal only procs thru physical atks. All DRK aoe dmg is magical, so Bloodbath's effectiveness is greatly reduced. (It can be useful on some fights later on though, so take this with a grain of salt.)

Eventually, you'll want Provoke, Convalescence, Awareness and Foresight. Can fill with Mercy Stroke or Bloodbath as you see fit.

[Kindread]

Currently just following story quests and doing all side quests as I come across them. Also doing all fates in each zone once or twice as we pass them and every dungeon as they unlock.

Leveling as a Warrior with a White Mage.

It may not be as fast as chaining dungeons but at least there is variety!

[seekified]

Dungeons, because instaqueue and it's the only way to learn how you job works. Getting my WAR up was very quick - armoury bonus, rested bonus and food bonus makes for very efficient leveling. If you add to that the brand-new ring and, if you have one, the Friendship Circlet, getting to 30 will ridiculously fast and after that you can actually tank properly unless you're a PLD.

[Erudito]

Yeah, I leveled all combat jobs to 60. I leveled slowly by means of leveling and trial roulette as well as daily hunts. Oh, and beast tribe quests as well. No FATEs though, I hate those with a passion.

Anyway, after getting all combat jobs to 60 I can clearly say that I can play all of them proficiently except for 3 of them: Dark Knight, Dragoon and Black Mage.
Leaving the DPS aside, I don't like Dark Knight due to the messed up way some of their moves work. Like their bogus MP management and having to turn off tank stance to get back MP through that one move. Also, the job has no identity to set it apart from the other tanks. Its like a bad mix of Warrior and Paladin.

[SpiritMuse]

Leaving the DPS aside, I don't like Dark Knight due to the messed up way some of their moves work. Like their bogus MP mitigation and having to turn off tank stance to get back MP through that one move. Also, the job has no identity to set it apart from the other tanks. Its like a bad mix of Warrior and Paladin.

Um, I'm not sure what you mean by "mp mitigation", but you don't have to drop Grit to regen mp at all. Blood Price usually does me fine, especially in bigger trash packs.