Thinking of starting tanking, need advice.

[Mantra]

Hello
I am looking for advice on starting tanking in SB now the skills etc have changed. I have only ever tanked at level 30 with a warrior and moved to a DPS but the tanking role seems more interesting now that the queue times are bigger and now that there is a exp boost for leveling im looking for a new lease of life on ffxiv.

Could someone please help me regarding which tank is the best and what for? How easy are each of the tanks for someone near enough completely new to tanking and which would you recommend for a new tanker?

Thanks

[Claire_Pendragon]

Easiest: DRK
Mild: PLD
Hardest: WAR

As for "Fun"
PLD and DRK.
PLD is a bit more of a challenge, but still plenty easy.
DRK is straightforward. (I actually find DRK boring as heck, but there's quite a few people who find the simplicity of DRK fun.)

PLD is the best in pretty much any situation, be it MT, OT, ease, fun, etc.

The only exception is lower levels, where maybe WAR is more fun, since it has berserk, and PLD lacks the fun abilities till closer to 50+

[Mantra]

Easiest: DRK
Mild: PLD
Hardest: WAR

As for "Fun"
PLD and DRK.
PLD is a bit more of a challenge, but still plenty easy.
DRK is straightforward. (I actually find DRK boring as heck, but there's quite a few people who find the simplicity of DRK fun.)

PLD is the best in pretty much any situation, be it MT, OT, ease, fun, etc.

The only exception is lower levels, where maybe WAR is more fun, since it has berserk, and PLD lacks the fun abilities till closer to 50+

Has DRK always been considered the easiest or have the changes with SB pushed it here?

[Chronons]

Has DRK always been considered the easiest or have the changes with SB pushed it here?

No, DRK was definitely more complex than PLD pre-SB and arguably still is. It is simpler than it was before the expansion, however I haven't a clue as to why they would deem PLD as more complex that DRK.

[VenKitsune]

Easiest: DRK
Mild: PLD
Hardest: WAR

As for "Fun"
PLD and DRK.
PLD is a bit more of a challenge, but still plenty easy.
DRK is straightforward. (I actually find DRK boring as heck, but there's quite a few people who find the simplicity of DRK fun.)

PLD is the best in pretty much any situation, be it MT, OT, ease, fun, etc.

The only exception is lower levels, where maybe WAR is more fun, since it has berserk, and PLD lacks the fun abilities till closer to 50+

I really, really wouldn't call DRK easy at all. At endgame for a seasoned tank both PLD and DRK are fairly simple but DRK has a lot more options in regards to how they spend their MP and MP management. The only reason WAR is so difficult right now it because it's a little clunky and in all likelyhood we'll be seeing some changes in the coming month to make it both more fluid and more viable.
PLD has and always will be the simplest of the 3 tanks in the game.

PLD main here but i played all of them during HW.

Pld is the one that teaches you tanking the best in dungeons and instances imo, and is in a very good spot rn so i def recommend it but the other tanks are not bad either even if they might lack raid utility rn, this will hopefully be fixed soon

My advice would be 'try out pld and see if you like the principle of being tank' (don't be discouraged if you lose aggro sometimes esp before u get tank stance) and if you see that you like doing it, you can try the other classes and play around with them

Pretty much this. PLD is excellent at teaching how to tank as up to lvl 54 or so you only have one single target combo, and 2 aoe skills which have different functions. Meanwhile WAR is about managing the beast gauge and using Inner beast at the right time to mitigate stuff, and doing loads of damage when you can afford it. DRK is more about MP management which adds a great deal of complexity to the class.
Back in 3.x i would argue that DRK was the hardest of the 3 tanks but now i'd say that WAR has taken that spot as i mentioned because of its overall lack of fluidity which will likely be fixed. Again like i said in about a months time or so i'd wager that DRK/WAR will be the most complicated to a similar degree where as PLD will be the simplest, this is how it's always been and forcing people to swap which tank they play the most because they want to play the simplest for example is bad game design, it will be fixed. Ofcoure this is all about endgame and as far as leveling goes either of the 3 tanks are completely fine. i suggest OP just picks the one they like the look of most and look up some basic tanking 101 guides.

[ShariusTC]

I really, really wouldn't call DRK easy at all. At endgame for a seasoned tank both PLD and DRK are fairly simple but DRK has a lot more options in regards to how they spend their MP and MP management. The only reason WAR is so difficult right now it because it's a little clunky and in all likelyhood we'll be seeing some changes in the coming month to make it both more fluid and more viable.

well, has all tank at level 70 and i really like to use DRK to do expert/50:60/leveling roulette, aside from mp manage (which you pretty much know 1 or 2 thing about it if you level up DRk normal through dungeon) DRk has some really great skill for AOE tanking which make trash pull in dungeon feel quite smoothe compare to PLD and WAR, also the blackest night is really the best defensive cd ever, can't say about other tank now because they increase enmity generate abit for all tank but as in 4.0 DRK really my favor for daily dungeon

[BluexBird]

All tanks are pretty much "good" at everything. Though some are able to do things that others can't.

Lemme start off by saying why I play Warrior. They're rather simple reasons, actually kinda silly now that I think of it. The first is that I like having the most HP. And the second is that their animations look and sound a lot cooler.

Paladins have a shield and are able to block attacks. It's very strong now that they can block magic. The other two tanks aren't able to do that.

And Dark Knight... I mean, I guess people like the fact that they wield a big-ass sword, and have an interesting arsenal of skills.

Don't worry about which one is the easiest or hardest, because none of them will be too hard that you won't be able to learn how to play with them properly. Just study their abilities, what each one can do, and pick the one you think you'll have the most fun with. In my case, I ended up with Warrior.

Lemme know watcha end up picking!

[Chronons]

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In regards to your original question, this expansion did a lot to even the viability of all tank. PLD being the strongest and WAR the weakest (note that the margin here is small). Once the balancing patches come out, we will see how that changes. For a new tank I would recommend PLD or WAR as they have the most straightforward kits.

[Venjenz]

Wrote this in another thread on same topic - for 99% of the game, all 3 tanks are roughly equal in capability and functional use. So it comes down to what do you think looks coolest: giant axe, giant sword or sword/board.

End of the day, there is a tiny amount of the game where meta obsessed FCs and premade groups might resign WAR-DRK to OT, if invite them at all. IMHO, if that happens to me, you or anyone...make better friends, join a better FC.

So pick - giant axe, giant sword, or sword/shield. Everything else will be roughly equivalent.

[Mantra]

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Torn between sword and small sword and shield! Guess ill have to look at their abilities, thanks!

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Thanks for the info!

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Im torn between PLD and DRK. I like the idea of both but I think Im leaning more towards DRK as I think the class story will be more interesting, although the PLD abilities seem cool too. Such a hard choice! Thanks for the reply.

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Thanks for the info.