Stepping into raid Tanking

[JackBlaine]

So I am going to start raiding as a War to accompany my already established Pld and Sch friends. I am looking for some pointers and general advice on how to step up to the plate.
I have previously raided as DPS (Brd specifically) so I have some experience but naturally tanking adds new dimensions to the equation.
As a note we already coordinate over Discord!

Thanks in advance for your help!

[XykeVayaris]

All of us have our own way of learning new things. A friend told me to watch streams of tanks on raids to understand what they do from their point of view, though most of the time I raid on my dps and at the same time watch what the tanks do, look out for tank busters, notice when they swap, etc. And when I have cleared the fight on dps, I'll go for a couple of practice runs on tank then a "duty completion" run to make sure I cement my confidence in clearing the content as a tank. But really whichever suits you best having someone to call out is also immensely useful!

[Kreyd]

Man has three ways to act wisely.
By thinking: This is the noblest.
By imitation: This is the easiest.
Through experience: This is the bitterest.
-Confucius


Tanking is not as much rocket science, as it sometimes looks like. You need to know about basic mechanics of each encounter, just like dd's and healers too. But you can forget about other stuff only dd's/healers need to perform, while watching out for your own stuff. (Tankbusters etc.)

As a War: keep back 50gauge to perform Inner Beast, until you know when Tankbusters will occure. (while Mt'ing)
Learn about your deff cd's. How long does each last? How much and which do you need to pop for which Situation?

A good advice: Talk to your co-tank/healers about mechanics that requires coordination. Which Tank will go left/right to break chains at Shinryu ex? When will you pop Holmgang so a WHM can use Benediktion? Always remember: Healers are your best friends, the other Tank is your brother.^^

Oh and...don't use Onslaught at OS2 when he knocks you back...you'll just wipe the whole party...n-not that that ever happened to me! *cough*

[Linx0r]

Good for you!

Well, many people will probably write novels so I'll give you the short version:
1) watch video of the fight first and know when to CD and when to tank swap (if there is)
2) boss position is key - know where you are moving and where the boss should be placed
3) COMMUNICATE with your co tank and healers about swaps/tankbusters/positioning
That's pretty much it. If you are just starting tanking in a raid, you may want to try a couple older ext primals to get the hang of it. Susano ext actually may be good as it has all the above points I illustrated. Good luck!

[cheolsu]

Casters can’t switch who the spell will hit once they’ve begun casting. Many tank swaps happen during a cast bar. That’s your clue to provoke (you don’t have to swap before the cast). For example, in o2s, you can provoke during Evilsphere. It will hit the original tank, then the boss will swap to you. In o4s, you can provoke during Thunder III. The first will still hit the original tank, then it will swap to you for the second hit (you should be immunitying this and taking both hits, but this is just for example).

When you’re starting to learn, stay in tank stance until you get the hang of when it’s safe to swap into dps stance. Don’t be one of those “dps first” tanks. None of the raids this tier require execessive tank dps to clear.

[Sylvain]

If you want to be the average WAR, be sure to always be in dps stance no matter what's coming and never use any CD unless it is not necessary.

Also besure to do everything in your power to spam as many fel cleave as you can even if it means delaying a taunt or building threat as Fel Cleave coolness has more value than a raid sucess.



On a more serious note, unless you seek advice on how to optimise your DPS (which at this point you should simply read a guide), tanking is mostly the same for all 3 tanks (and again, a baseline guide should cover all the noobie mistake you might do)

Although, until you are definitely more comfortable with tanking and have some gear, I would definitely recommand you to stay in tanking stance on any fight you're not especially familiar with. The dps gained from your dps stance won't matter much if you keep dying from either mechanics or a lack of heal, and altough everyone will say "as long as you pop CD on tank buster it should be fine". This is very true, but that's assuming a few things like "healers are good, dps don't take useless damage making healer late or distracted from eventual burst on you" etc etc.

Many players tend to be over confident with their skills and as a part time DRK, I only start being more agressive when I see that the healer I'm with are competent.
Because I had my fair share of healer letting tank die saying "there is nothing I could do he died too quick" altough I could hear StoneIV cast before, during and after the tank died.

So in other words, read guide and for any fight you're not confident and don't know all too well, play safe and stay under tank stance unless healers confirm it's fine to be more agressive (and you feel they're competent enough)

[JackBlaine]

Thanks for all your advice!
V1S went smoothly but is pretty simple. Just gotta get the timings for those swaps on V2S next!
I will definitely be sticking to Defiance for the practice phases, no need to over stress the healers!

[whiskeybravo]

Thanks for all your advice!
V1S went smoothly but is pretty simple. Just gotta get the timings for those swaps on V2S next!
I will definitely be sticking to Defiance for the practice phases, no need to over stress the healers!

Nice!

Regarding v2s:

For example, in o2s, you can provoke during Evilsphere. It will hit the original tank, then the boss will swap to you.

I always swapped with my co-tank immediately after he got the 2nd stack so that I'd take the evilsphere + follow up cleave (if you pop Vengeance like 3/4 through evilsphere cast it will last through f/u cleave). Not sure which is better but it looks like you could do it either way. The important part is to not get 3 stacks and also make sure to yell at your party not to be standing in front when he cleaves after tentacles :3

[Ekimmak]

I'm still trying to learn O4S tanking. Seen the enrage for phase 1, but I just keep getting small things wrong, like having trouble timing Onslaught properly to deal with the knockback, and stuff like that.

[whiskeybravo]

I'm still trying to learn O4S tanking. Seen the enrage for phase 1, but I just keep getting small things wrong, like having trouble timing Onslaught properly to deal with the knockback, and stuff like that.

I'm by no means perfect at exdeath but can try to help. Onslaught in particular is a bit tricky, you have to wait until you are actually in the knockback animation, you can't catch it at like the end of the castbar or something, it's too early. Wait until you are actually getting knockbacked and quickly execute. There have been times when it feels like I've been animation locked on Storm's Eye and missed Onslaught, so if the castbar for vacuum wave and my GCD are really close I'll hold off on Eye or whichever to make sure I'm not animation locked.

In general though, the rotation is very rigid. I know exactly where I'm going to pop which cooldowns and it never changes. For example I open with Awareness and Raw, holmgang thunders, as soon as the last thunder hit's I pop Shake It Off (for upcoming fires) and Rampart. This never ever, ever changes for me. Popping SiO here allows it to be back up in time for the holy stack after first black holes.

Berserk - there is something tricky with Berserk depending on when you use it in your opener. For myself, and whoever is using a similar rotation, Berserk comes off CD after he jumps and everyone is spreading out for flares. It's total down time with nothing to attack, but if you hold Berserk it will mess up the alignment with IR. So you have to pop it there which seems like a waste, but keeps everything lined up in the long run.

For raid mitigation I SiO first fire as above, the holy stack after first BH, and the flare after 2nd BH. Reprisal each BH. (my co-tank reprisals first Fire and Meteors). You can use ToB to buff some of these SiO.

The rest of it is just trying to stay alive and deal decent damage in the process.. And then killing Neo D: