Newbie wants to be a better tank

[Dreggit]

So first off, I consider myself a newbie in the sense that I'm new to the game and am willing to learn and get better at being a reliable tank. I'm not new to MMOS but I am new to the role of tanking. I usually in the past have mainew as a DPS but I wanted to try something new for this game.

I'm very sure I understand the concepts of holding hate and the gem mechanic/interest level that mobs have. However I have come to find that later dungeons 30+ I have been having some problems keeping the hate on me.

[Dreggit]

[Character limit woes]


As a gladiator I understand I have an AOE flash and a ranged single target provoke. I also have the shield toss that helps hold enemies. But at times, particularly when there is a black mage of some sort (I don't know any of the magic class names) I will have the hate for a bit but then start losing it as the fight with , small mobs continues.

When it comes to bosses and such I have no problems holding the hate. The combos and provoke are a great tool to always have the attention kept on me.

I just want to get better so to better serve future dungeon runs and not put my team in danger.

I ran into a few duty finder runs where the healer has refused to heal me due to wanting to DPS and that has been frustrating to me. It happened the first time a couple days ago and again the other day when doing Ifrit. And when I died to Ifrit and the party wiped everyone blamed me for being a bad tank

[MahoSenshi]

1. Don't be a gladiator - do your job quest and unlock paladin. Bare classes are useless beyond 30.
2. Use Shield Oath, it helps with defences and aggro generation.
3. Watch aggro meters (under the job icon in the party list) and do your aggro combo (Fast-Savage-Rage) on the right targets.

Problem solved.

[AmeliaVerves]

snip

Short but correct.

Conjurer starting quest
Start with this quest and level your conjurer to level 15, so you will be able to start your career as Paladin with:

Paladin starting quest
this quest to get your Paladin crystal and a lot of more useful skills. You really NEED to become a paladin, because you get a whole lot of really important skills out of there and you wont be able to keep hate away from your team mates.

If you are not familiar about the job system of FFXIV just google it and you will find a mass of information about it. ^^

When it comes up to rotation, i use to make it an easy run for me and spam flash if there are >2 enemies and regain mana with the mana reg combo (Fast Blade -> Riot Blade). If there are less than 3 enemies you are fine with your usual hate combo (Fast Blade -> Savage Blade -> Rage of Halone). Just start at one target with the 1st one and move on the next target to place the 2nd hit on it and so on.

[Dreggit]

I kept wondering how to unlock other jobs so I have to start working on other classes to unlock it yeah? Looking at my character you can see how little I've leveled everything haha... hmm thankyou

[MistakeNot]

1. Don't be a gladiator - do your job quest and unlock paladin. Bare classes are useless beyond 30.
2. Use Shield Oath, it helps with defences and aggro generation.
3. Watch aggro meters (under the job icon in the party list) and do your aggro combo (Fast-Savage-Rage) on the right targets.

Problem solved.

Not quite... Paladins do not get Shield Oath until level 40. Many are the complaints about Paladins having trouble holding aggro until then.

[ZhaneX]

[Character limit woes]


As a gladiator I understand I have an AOE flash and a ranged single target provoke. I also have the shield toss that helps hold enemies.

Shield Toss is for initial provoking, Provoke is for regaining enmity when you use it and also tank swaps in end-game.

[TallonOverworld]

It is of vital importance that you change to paladin not only because you get new skills that help you to tank and also because you get boosted stats (vit mainly). Also, did you put all your attribute points to vitality?

Since you began to level paladin and because you are overall new to tanking i recommend sticking with it and try to learn it to its maximum. There is a slight difficulty, for paladin, in tanking between levels 30-40 because you get your tank stance (more aggro and less damage) at 40. In every dungeon you shoud let the healer and dps know that you are new so both the healer can be more careful and the dps care more for their aggro. This can be helped mostly by marking mobs (1/2/3) so dps can focus their dps accordingly.


Keep in mind that your number 1 job is to tank aka to prevent your party from taking damage. You must not worry AT ALL for your dps at least for pre 50 dungeons not to say for every dungeon. Of course tanks can make considerable damage through calculated skill rotations and shifts between dps and tank stances mid-fight but this requires experience and confidence in your skills. Its still too early to worry about that.

Now regarding your skills, i believe most of them are pretty straightforward. I think your aggro combo now is Fast Blade-Savage Blade->Rage of Halone. Flash unfortunately is your only aoe aggro and you stick with it until 50 where you get a second. Since you mentioned it, provoke is a must skill for tanks but rarely used in dungeons. What it does, is that it instantly gives you aggro on your target but it does not lock the target to you so you have to do an extra (aggro-generating) skill to keep the target to you.

Example: You currently tank 3 mobs and you mark them 1/2/3. Suddenly no 3 switches its target to the healer and you lose aggro. In order not to use your rage of halone combo and lose time you can: Provoke->Shield toss if target is far from you or Fast Blade -> Provoke -> Savage blade if target is close to you.

Well to sum up, paladin is a really fun class to play. Dont think that the other two classes are superior. All tanks can get the job done. If you still have issues, there are countless guides on the internet for you to practice on.

[AmeliaVerves]

I kept wondering how to unlock other jobs so I have to start working on other classes to unlock it yeah? Looking at my character you can see how little I've leveled everything haha... hmm thankyou

Yeah, a lot of starters seem to struggle with this lately, i guess its quite uncommon? Just have a look at this Classes and Jobs that might help a lot.

[HiroKirito]

Personally I found the best way to hold mob aggro at low level, open with shield lob, flash, then rage of halon combo but cycle targets so you hit each one with 1 move out of the combo, IF I did lose aggro to anything then flash and repeat. Pre tank stance Pld seems to be difficult for a large number of people but this made it easier for me. Obviously you have to use you Gcd's appropriately while doing the above and as was said earlier you can mark targets 1,2,3 but unfortunately not everyone will follow your marks in Duty finder. Hope this helps ^^