Best SB Tank?

[Kethic]

Stupid question is stupid, but...

If you were going to level a single tank class from scratch for Stormblood release, which would it be? I hear Paladin gets a lot of hate, and Warrior gets a lot of love, but I've never been clear why for either.

[Yeol]

People still consider in their minds that PLD is bad because no parties could clear A4S with PLD before echo and nerf.
But in patch 3.2 PLD got buffed (People are ignoring this for some reason). PLD and DRK are doing almost the same amount of dps now (Check here).
The only difference now is that DRK is better against magic attacks while PLD is better with physical (PLD is said to get more love in SB with magic defense CDs).

WAR is the only tank among the three that actually has massive dps burst. They have burst as MT without enmity issues and burst as OT. Though in the live letter is was said that WAR has been changed a lot. We'll have to wait for SB and see.

[Niqote]

Play the one that you personally are attracted to and enjoy. Look up job guides on youtube if you need to get a feel of max lvl play style, and keep in mind the re-balancing that SB will bring.

[Yahallo]

Too early to say. I main Dark Knight at the moment so I'll keep with Dark Knight while going through Stormblood for the first time; it'll be my default choice since I absolutely adored its 30-50 story, but I also have warrior at 60 so it wouldn't be too bad to switch if I need to. I'll probably also buy the job boost for paladin and then level it up so I have all 3 tanks at my disposal. Can't really say much until we can play the game, so you really can only pick one that looks fun to you and be ready to switch if you have a need to play the meta.

[YitharV2]

Play the one that you personally are attracted to and enjoy. Look up job guides on youtube if you need to get a feel of max lvl play style, and keep in mind the re-balancing that SB will bring.

This.

We don't know how tanks will be in SB until we actually play SB.

[Kethic]

Thank you for the clarification on the pros and cons of the tank classes.

All of these suggestions are very prudent, and I appreciate the caution. Let's assume for a minute that you were going to level a single tank to 60 pre-SB anyway, and that you were unlikely to level another tank to deal with the meta. What would be your personal preference? I won't hold you accountable for any mis-guessing the eventual meta.

[YitharV2]

Thank you for the clarification on the pros and cons of the tank classes.

All of these suggestions are very prudent, and I appreciate the caution. Let's assume for a minute that you were going to level a single tank to 60 pre-SB anyway, and that you were unlikely to level another tank to deal with the meta. What would be your personal preference? I won't hold you accountable for any mis-guessing the eventual meta.

I'm biased because I play WAR, but I love that WAR plays like a melee DPS. It's currently a really good tank because it just self-heals for so much but also has CDs for mitigation. Plus WAR has amazing utility, but is losing the debuff from Path in SB.

For me, PLD feels a bit too simple. But that's not a bad thing. For people who want to play something really simple and easy, PLD is a good choice.

I haven't played DRK but I heard it's all about MP management. I'm sure that's fun in its own way.

[LunaFaye]

.

Going by the video we saw and just by the speculations that are made, I would dust off my pld, loved playing that in 2.x but by the time HW came around somebody decided that it's time to screw up a very enjoyable class prior. I do have also war but I personally don't like the weapon, so it's more of an cosmetic aspect for me. But with the changes made prior I wouldn't play any tank at all, there was no reason to change STR to VIT. But I am not going to rant, to answer your question, if you're not planning on leveling a other tank for a very long time, pick warrior because you can't go wrong with that. And that's all that there is to it.

[KageTokage]

I feel pretty sold on PLD after seeing its changes.

Presently, I enjoy using DRK the most, as it doesn't feel gimped in any way like PLD does and its rotation is more flexible then WAR's.

[Kazrah]

If you're going to level a tank before Stormblood launch, it really depends on what you're more comfortable with, choice of aesthetics, even what you've played before. These three rules might help:

1) If you're a fan of playing tanks in other MMORPGs or need a stint of "tanking 101", pick Paladin.
2) If you tend to favor melee jobs in this game, pick Warrior.
3) If you've been playing healers in this game and have gotten good at MP management, pick Dark Knight.

As someone who has both leveled and still actively play all three tanks, all I could say is try all three and see whatever strikes your fancy. Once Stormblood hits, I'd guess that all three jobs would be more or less on closer footing, but I'd still go for probably Paladin first just because I prefer that aesthetic.