I love the TANK position...however...

[Frixel]

Hello I just started playing this lovely game and well I would like a few suggestions.
i picked Gladiator since it seems like not many people play a tank and well who can say no to a sword?! ^_^

However to be honest I'm not sure if it's because of the ilevel of high leveled players, but I can't seem to keep the aggro of monsters onto my character. i just leveled my character to 30 close to obtaining Paladin....

But I'm not sure what class to main; I picked the tank position since I get Duty roulette faster than any other classes. (i repeat the sword is awesome), yet I don't seem to be good at tanking.

I would love to see hear/view your opinions, thank you for your time!

[Ferth]

Low level stuff as paladin is an uphill battle. Some advice to tide you over til you get shield oath:

Make sure you have the highest damage weapon available to you. Grand companies offer weapons starting at level 30, but paladin specifically can use Vintage and Goblin weapons that have a higher than usual ilvl starting at level 35. They are crafted from stuff that drops in low level dungeons and you can probably find them on the market boards with relative ease.

Spam flash like it's going out of style. If you are fighting more than one enemy at once hit flash a few times then start weaving flash in between the fast blade > riot blade combo. Flash won't interrupt your combo and this will help make sure everything focuses on you. Once you have shield oath you don't have to rely quite so heavily on flash.

In regards to picking a class to main... try anything or everything that looks interesting and see how you feel about it. Play what you enjoy.

[RokkuEkkusu]

You're doing good so far. As I have said in another new tank thread, the attack power nerf that occurred during 3.2 in Heavensward really made keeping hate with Flash and the aggro combos tougher in lower-leveled dungeons as a class, especially for new players who just started gearing as tanks.

Despite the level and stat syncs, the dps will generate a lot of aggro due to their higher item levels and job crystal stat increases. This is also the case even if you could get the best gear available at the earlier dungeons.
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Don't get discouraged. Keep trying with the tools, abilities, and gear that you can find. Eventually, you'll get the timing of how to keep aggro and rotating the usage of your defensive abilities.

[GDFletcher]

First and foremost Paladin is a decent tank option, however, SE have stacked the deck heavily against the Paladin in the pre-level 40 stages.

You are given "Provoke" and "Flash" as your primary "aggro" moves Provoke allowing you to gain +1 threat on the mob that may be looking away and Flash burning mana to try and keep multiple mobs looking at you.

[1/3]

[GDFletcher]

Flash is a double edged sword in that it doesn't always work, coming from experience I think the Flash move should be scrapped and replaced with something more useful but alas we have to wait.

At Level 30 you get granted the most useless Stance in the game for a tank... Sword Oath, it will minimally rise you auto attack potency for a number not worth even blinking at but 10 level later you get Shield Oath and the ball game changes for you.

[2/3]

[GDFletcher]

Shield Oath is the first time a Paladin can actually tank and well, fight or flight into a shield lob on mobs on the opening pull with Shield Oath then a couple of flashes when they are together you are cooking on gas.
Once you reach Level 60 you have all your rotations and you can with the right gear hold aggro off anyone deeps, even that suicidal Black Mage that thinks they are #1 on aggro meter.

Level 60 - Fight or Flight, Shield Lob, Spirits Within, Circle of Scorn and 2x Flashes and a full set of 3-4 mobs are yours.

Again don't get too disheartened about your tanking style you really can't do much til Level 40 onward. Paladin is supposed to the be "easiest" tank class to play which it is because of the damage mitigation, however, to master Paladin takes some time but once you put the effort in and some dungeons under your belt you will get there!

[aleph_null]

At Level 30 you get granted the most useless Stance in the game for a tank... Sword Oath, it will minimally rise you auto attack potency for a number not worth even blinking at

Sorry but this is misinformation, and before it spreads I'd like to point out that auto attack damage is the biggest damage contributor as a paladin, so boosting that by up to 75% is nowhere near useless. At lv 60, during your sword oath uptime your auto attack damage probably add up to 15-20%, similar to royal authority (assuming you use goring-royal-royal combo almost exclusively with very little halone usage), so your sword oath damage should add up to around 10-15%, not a small number.

If you check the top paladin parses (or even speedkills) on fflogs and check their damage tabs, you'll see that their biggest damage contributors are auto attack, followed by royal authority, sword oath, and fast blade.

[Makeda]

Flash is a double edged sword in that it doesn't always work, coming from experience I think the Flash move should be scrapped and replaced with something more useful but alas we have to wait.

If they switched the levels of Flash and Circle of Scorn Paladin would be an aggro queen, and feel amazing while leveling.

Flash has always felt like a gimmick because it doesn't do damage and is barely visible. It just feels weird using, even though you can almost spam it. I know it applies blind, but it FEELS like it is just 'yelling a yo momma joke' at them...

It took me a LONG time to commit to leveling paladin because the low level play of the job is horrible compared to the other tanks... but once I broke past 40, and then especially 50 - I find it a lot funner than the other choices. But they really need to smooth out the leveling experience of the class.

At 50+, I find the 'rotation' very smooth and I seem to never not have some form of mitigation, threat gain, or DPS gain ready to go on my action bar. I feel like I chain pull more easily than on the other classes (on warrior I have to manage my TP often, and on DRK I have yet to master managing my MP and end up having problems with snap aggro when somebody runs ahead to grab adds...).

But Paladin... I can just control the map at will, on demand, with no limits.

I don't like Shield Bash - it seems to never be 'ready' when I see a cast I want to interrupt going off. I don't have the same issue with Brutal Swing and Low Blow. I'm not sure why. It is probably in my head... but it always 'feels' like it is not available... That is my only complaint about the class that stays after level 40...

[Ryphen]

I don't like Shield Bash - it seems to never be 'ready' when I see a cast I want to interrupt going off. I don't have the same issue with Brutal Swing and Low Blow. I'm not sure why. It is probably in my head... but it always 'feels' like it is not available... That is my only complaint about the class that stays after level 40...

Shield bash is on the GCD, unlike the other two. In return, it doesn't have the 30 second cooldown. You'll learn to anticipate things you want to stun with a little practice so it's ready to go when you need it.

[SlayerRaidu]

I started maining tank because of the wait times in the duty finder and I have to say it was hard at first but my usual strategy that usually works when I have my equipment up to date at low levels was starting the battle with shield lode and then flash two times then the usual combo then some flashes in between. that usually keeps the hate on me, after I got paladin I just kept the same and once you get shield oath you will have nothing to worry about just try keeping your equipment up to date at all times. I mainly get my equipment from current level levequest which have been very nice to me lately giving me swords and shields more than other items in the treasure chest