Adjusting to Tanking from Healer

[SnowDraconis]

Hello to all.
As the title says, I am trying my hand at tanking and have always been a healer [supportive] class type of player. I have run a few things as Dark Knight and kind of find myself watching health and struggling a little with how I have to rely on another to heal me. [A very scary concept to me when one healer actually fell asleep mid boss]
I was curious if there were any suggestions or even ways other manage to deal with balancing doing other classes. Or even if there is another class for tanking that might be better to start off in!
Thank you~

[BorisDaBlade]

Roll pally instead and clemency yourself if you don’t trust the healer lol.

[RokkuEkkusu]

- Since I'm assuming you're in the level 30-50 range, you should make sure your gear is strictly compatible with "GLD PLD MRD WAR DRK". That means it's strictly tank gear. If you do come up with gear that includes "LNC DRG" included with the aforementioned 5, the defense and magic defense numbers should be equal (e.g. 100 on both; not 90 on one and 80 on the other.)

- You shouldn't use stuff that has the general "Disciples of War" compatibility. Those are for the dps roles.

- Make sure your gear levels are up to date in relation to the dungeon you are tanking. Your vitality and defenses heavily depend on how high the gear level and quality are.

- Focus on keeping aggro on enemies. In the case of Dark Knight, start off a pull with Unmend. After all the enemies gather up close to you, use Unleash 3 to 4 times. Watch out for ranged enemies that don't wanna budge (casters and arches come to mind.)

- Make sure your tank stance is up when you are tanking enemies. In Dark Knight's case, the tank stance is Grit.

- As a Dark Knight, be sure to keep Darkside up. Your attack power increases and some of your abilities are require Darkside to be on.

- Make it a habit to use your defensive abilities. Some examples include Rampart, Shadow Wall, and Anticipation.

[Rilifane]

1) What's the worst thing that can happen if you DO die because the healer you have to rely on hasn't been healing? You die. You respawn/ get ressed. Done. Ask the healer if you overdid it or -if you definitely did NOT overdo it- suggest he starts healing a little sooner and maybe focus less on dps for now to be on the safe side. But really, even IF the one you have to rely on isn't doing a good job - the world won't stop turning. It happens.

2) The more time you have to spent focusing on your job the less you'll have to focus on other things like watching your hp like a hawk. Sure, a tank should always be aware of his hp but mostly so you know when you need to use YOUR skills. So maybe pull a bit more so you have a decent challenge with keeping aggro. Or try to push your dps. But focus on your job first and foremost. I daresay you have enough on your plate as a tank, no need to mentally do other people's job aswell.

And on a side note: a healer has to rely just as much on the tank. And you managed that just fine as a healer, didn't you?
It's teamwork and you can't control what others are doing, regardless of your role. Dps have to rely on BOTH tank and healer, even in easy dungeons.

[SnowDraconis]

Thank you heavily for this advice so far!

And I do agree with if we do die we just respawn but sadly not all in a party feel that way and verbal abuse towards self or healer has been an issue in the past for it. But yeah, I shall certainly keep this all in mind when I do give it another go.

As for the healer managing I have a tank I have been with for many games now so I am use to being able to talk to him on voice and relay so its def hard to go to not having that haha. Though I am sure I could get them to do healing one day hehe.

[Rilifane]

Of course you will meet people along the way who immediately go into ragequit mode. Bound to happen in an MMO, composure is not a prerequisite to create an account.
Sure, having that whole "private tank/ healer" thing going is nice but the sooner you step out of that bubble, the better. Unless you want to make yourself completely dependent on a set group of people who are always friendly and understanding, you'll have to go out there and play with people you never ever met.
This doesn't *always* go well but in my experience, the calmer you are, the calmer they react. Goes for both tank and healer.
You would be surprised how many times someone was initially insulting but backpaddled and apologized when I explained the situation in a calmer manner.
And if they still cannot see reason, tell them that you welcome helpful tips because you are still adjusting but will not put up with insults. So if they want to finish the dungeon, either show basic manners or you'll leave.
I think I only had to go this far once.

But the first step to ensuring things do go well is to focus on doing your own job as best as you can and NOT mentally do other people's job. Let them do their job. Check your healer's gear, play it safe for the first 1-2 groups and then step it up as you see fit. If something still goes wrong: dying/ wiping is not the end of the world. And you cannot prevent it by being jumpy and mistrusting.
And playing with Roulette groups keeps you on your toes ;D Nothing is pushing your limits better than a group of strangers who decided to make this a savage mode.

[Thoosa]

Some tips:

1. Try and face enemies and bosses away from the group at all times
2. Keep and eye on the markers next to the enemies - solid square means they have aggro on you - if that changes to a triangle or yellow, you’re losing aggro, so cast a flash/overpower/unleash
3. Don’t rush ahead and leave your healer behind, because you’re likely to die. :P
4. Try and maintain aggro especially away from your healer.
5. Know when to mass pull or not, be aware some Dungeons are a step up like Sushi to Bardam’s as the enemies hit harder.
6. Learn the dungeon.

I’ve got a warrior to 70 and have done Dungeons and trials with it, but yet to brave raids and was also healing before.

Good luck

[DRKoftheAzure]

Roll pally instead and clemency yourself if you don’t trust the healer lol.

What they said since DRK is not worth playing right now... or you could go for WAR... they don't have as much reliance as healer so long as much manage your CDs, as well as staying in tank stance, when compared to DRK and PLD... only play DRK if you A. hate yourself B. hate the group you are in C. hate your healers and want them to heal more D. hate people in general... (as you can tell DRK is pretty much a self-loathing class that takes their anger out everyone because they don't understand the nerfs DRK recieved... sarcasm aside you really are better off playing something that is NOT DRK)

[Heleth]

I say it all depends what you plan to do with your tank... If you plan to do dungeons and the odd duty finder raids you can play whatever you want.... I have both dk and warrior at 70(working my way up with paladin), and in my opinion DK works fine in regular dungeons... They don't have as much defensive abilities as warrior and paladin(which you will only really notice if you play any of the other tanks), but their aoe is great: Non positional restrictions(unlike warriors overpower), several options in unleash, salted earth, abyssal drain, quietus...So rounding up groups for the dps(and healer) to kill is fairly easy on dk(not saying its difficult on warrior/paladin, but its at least just as easy if not easier on dk)..... Which is all you really do in dungoens in between bosses..

Concerning your fear of relying on your healer, dk are most healer reliant(imo)... Both paladins and warriors can do a fair amount of self healing themselves.... As for complexity I dont think any of the tanking classes are complex, but paladin is the safest to play... They have a good set of defensive cooldowns, good synergy between gameplay and abilities, have great passives in block(can now also block magical damage)... So if you are a new tank and don't have any personal preferences i'd recommend playing a paladin first...

[Derio]

DRK currently suffers in content lower than 60, due to its toolkit getting stripped in 4.0

PLD or WAR is much easier to level in leveling dungeons due to them having several more mitigation tools to choose from.

If you are transitioning from healer to tank I would recommend PLD as it has several tools and even group heals and group mitigation that makes you feel still very much support role in the group.