More bosses like Titan HM?

[Renryuu]

Heya, so now that I've finally got my Drk to 60 and geared enough to start doing level 60 stuff, I was wanting to ask a quick questions. Are there more bosses like Titan HM where you have to know the pattern of attacks to know when to use a cooldown before the tank buster or do bosses have cast bars for Tank Busters now and you just need to know what the spell is to prep for it?

Just figured I'd ask now to know if I need to start memorizing attack patterns or if I just need to learn what spells to react to so that I'm not wasting cooldowns left and right on guesswork.

[Daeriion_Aeradiir]

It's a mix. There are plenty of bosses who's strongest attacks/tank busters are instant as opposed to having cast bars, but there are also plenty of bosses who's tank busters are telegraphed by cast bars.

In most non-extreme primal or raid content, it's not going to be bad if you miss a CD on them while you're still learning them, but you should get into the habit of watching the damage you take from certain attacks on individual bosses so that you'll have an idea of where to use CDs for them. In extreme level difficulty/ raid content, you should prepare yourself by reading/watching some kind of guide, as most guides will highlight where the heavy tank busters are in the fight, especially if you're queuing for the content in the DF solo.

[Renryuu]

Alrighty, thank you. I don't suppose there is a good website that would have guides for various boss encounters is there? At the moment I just watch video guides on Youtube from Mr. Happy and MTQcapture.

[SpookyGhost]

Regardless of how the tankbuster works, you want to know when it's coming so you can pop a CD ahead of time. This applies to every boss as long as it has a tankbuster, a large majority of the dungeon bosses don't as an example. As a tank it's a good idea to memorize the boss' pattern and then map out when you need to pop what - this applies in some way to all jobs, but tanks and healers carry the most weight on their shoulders. Luckily every boss has a fixed pattern that always goes exactly the same every time you pull it (with slight variances, usually just involving who gets targeted for a mechanic as opposed to changing mechanic placement all together) so it's very easy to get all your CDs in a nice fixed order.

RE: Guides -> Xeno has guides for EX Primals and Savage raiding, for stuff like dungeons, HM Primals, and 24m content it's best to just search for "X Guide" on YT.

[Renryuu]

Alrighty, thank you kindly. I do play quite a number of games where one is required to learn attack patterns in order to avoid damage or avoid instant death so this won't be new to me, just wanted to get an idea of how bosses tend to be since I'm still rather new to being a dedicated tank in an MMO and while I did get a good idea of tanking while leveling, I doubt it covered the type of mechanics I'd be expected to deal with in endgame content such as EX bosses, raids, etc. Also getting use to the whole having a second tank in the group and have just been asking the other tank what they want to do and I take over the other job unless it's Warrior since I presume I'd be better as the "main" tank due to Reprisal's mechanic.

[Lyth]

If you're interested in timings, Death and Taxes do some very good written guides. The moveset is listed out by time in seconds, which you can then use to map out your cooldown activation. If it's a newer fight, the easiest way is to either watch a clear or your own replays and measure out the timings from the video.

The presence of a cast bar doesn't really matter. If you're mitigating a single big hit, try to activate the cooldown as early as possible to ensure that your cooldowns are back up faster (i.e. try to activate Shadowskin early so that it catches the tankbuster towards the end of the 20s, rather than at the start). This is especially important if you're playing DRK on a physical fight, because you don't have the luxury of Sheltron.

[Brannigan]

This is especially important if you're playing DRK on a physical fight, because you don't have the luxury of Sheltron.

Or paladin on a magical fight, for that matter However! On some fights you'll be able to catch multiple big hits with one CD with proper timing. Savage Living Liquid comes to mind as a fight where you could catch multiple mini-busters (his cleaves) with one Rampart/Dark Rampart for example. In A8S, depending on your timing, you can defend against a couple of Flarethrowers with one cooldown as well.

Also there's like one boss I can think of where the tank buster timing will be different depending on what he does, and that's midas 3 savage (Quickthinx?). Tank busters come with certain sets of towers on that boss, and which tower set he chooses first is random.

[Renryuu]

Well I don't think I'd ever do Savage mode stuff any time soon, but I will practice timing my cooldowns all the same since I'm sure it'll be a benefit in all content regardless.

[Sarcatica]

Or paladin on a magical fight, for that matter However! On some fights you'll be able to catch multiple big hits with one CD with proper timing. Savage Living Liquid comes to mind as a fight where you could catch multiple mini-busters (his cleaves) with one Rampart/Dark Rampart for example. In A8S, depending on your timing, you can defend against a couple of Flarethrowers with one cooldown as well.

Also there's like one boss I can think of where the tank buster timing will be different depending on what he does, and that's midas 3 savage (Quickthinx?). Tank busters come with certain sets of towers on that boss, and which tower set he chooses first is random.

You don't have a single problem mitigating cleaves if you are tanking in tank stance in A3S, pretty moot. A7S randomness on jail is just a huge memory work that even if you forget which part has tank busters after, you can still pop CDs as it goes off and it is not a huge issue if you are in tank stance. Flamethrower in A8S is not the main point, and even then Double Punch combo will require you to pop a good CD or you are likely to die especially if your healers are not familiar yet i.e. Flamethrower > Double Punch > Flamethrower combo.

[Sarcatica]

To OP, this game is based on memory work and adjustments to the randomness of the mechanics. Some fights are very RNG but you can adapt on the fly with plans ahead. Some fights are rigid on the patterns like most primals with little/some variables attached. It all comes down to the experience you accumulate day by day. Memory muscles will kick in the instant you memorize fights fully and/or have done contents till you don't have to think too much anymore. Basically autopilot mode.

Once you are comfortable with the fights to a certain degree, you can then safely start optimizing your damage output.