New Tank facing many challenges... need advice.

[cheolsu]

The moment you hit 50, get access to Foundation through msq. That’s the main city in Heavensward where you’d unlock DRK. First, buy all the 120 ironworks gear you can in Mor Dhona using poetics. Then go to Jeweled Crozier in Foundation and use gil to buy the rest of your gear at 115.

The only way your gear should ever be below healers and dps is if it’s broken, then you need to repair.

[Risvertasashi]

The moment you hit 50, get access to Foundation through msq.

Haha. There's at least dozens of hours of questing between hitting 50 and getting to Ishgard. That's not a 'the moment you hit 50' thing. A week if he plays at least a few hours a day.

[Thoosa]

All I remember doing is getting the ironworks stuff and then collecting better items through doing the dungeons from 50-60. Seemed to work

[Galgarion]

Heyo,
YouTube (MTQ!) has been very helpful. Whenever I can I purchase the highest level gear from the marketplace but that drains my Gil so fast, it’s not even funny.
I also want to finally play a Dark Knight (meta is a question of time not class ) soon.

If you're determined to level as a Paladin, (or any tank really,) then for best results you're going to have to spam run dungeons until you have a good set of green equipment. There's a main story dungeon you're rapidly heading towards called The Vault, and it's pretty much the definitive ball buster as far as regular dungeons go. You're gonna get rocked hard if you're not at least 136 by then. Honestly, if you want to have a good time, then what you're going to want to do is spam level by running dungeons all the way to 60, then use your poetic tomes to get a nice set of shire armor. Then go finish the (HW) MSQ in style without worrying about being unable to clear anything. It's what I'd do. Tanking sucks in this game if your gear is crap, and if you upgrade your shire gear to 270 it'll last you all the way to level 76.

[Aeonk]

for those suggesting he buy NQ vendor armor from HW NPC's, something to keep in mind:

The ilvl of those pieces is a lie.

NQ pieces state they're 115 ilvl, but compare the actual stats. It's below 100 gear.

Example:






That being said, vendor armor is adequate for at least getting through a dungeon and getting your hands on some appropriate gear. The alternative is to grind out poetics tomes on ARR dungeons (because the HW grind wasn't long enough as is, right?), do some side quests for the HQ version of HW vendor armor, or to empty your pockets for HQ versions off the market board. Wouldn't suggest buying them, since they'll be quickly replaced by dungeon gear or the next progression of armor in 2-3 levels.

You may struggle with DPS that have maxed tomestone/coil gear @ 50, but that's to be expected. It gets easier.

[Aana]

Push the main story quest line. You get boatloads of free gear from just doing the story quests. Make sure you are choosing the fending accessories (the vit ones). If you do that you will have all the HP you need.

Use tomes to supliment your lowest ilvl pieces.

After ALL that gear if you are somehow still behind then you buy gear. But you really shouldn't need to. Just do more main story quest and get your free chests of higher level gear.

[CodingSession]

Poetics, poetics, poetics. Grind poetics (beast tribe quests and daily roulette are great ways to do it) and use it to buy Ironworks gears. Ironworks gears are a godsend for fresh level 50 players.

I remember when I was a fresh 50 PLD back before Ironworks was a thing, doing Wanderer's Palace. The BRD in my party has more HP than me, and he ended up leading the way without saying a single word. Such is the way of Asian servers, where people never say anything unless you make a noticeable mistake.

[cheolsu]

for those suggesting he buy NQ vendor armor from HW NPC's, something to keep in mind:

The ilvl of those pieces is a lie.

NQ pieces state they're 115 ilvl, but compare the actual stats. It's below 100 gear.

It isn’t below. The 115 gear has more str and vit.

[Ekimmak]

It isn’t below. The 115 gear has more str and vit.

In fact, the only stat the weathered Burtang has in advantage is 1 extra point in auto attack damage.

[ArianeEwah]

Aeonk is not entirely wrong, iLvl 115 NQ gear is actually 'weaker' than unique (blue) iLvl 100 gear!

Take a look at the head gear:
Weathered Noct Circlet
Mythrite Sallet of Fending

Now you might say, 'The Mythrite Sallet has a few more strength and vitality points', and yes, that is true...

BUT! take a look at those defense values. The Mythrite Sallet has almost 10% less defense than the Weathered Noct Circlet.
And that's where incoming damage starts to hurt.

From the healer's site, I would prefer healing a tank with higher defense values than one with a higher HP pool.

Additionally, afaik before you reach Ishgard for the first time (50+ after MSQ which takes years), you can't buy iLvl 115 gear from vendor (I might be wrong tho).

@OP: You might or might not be able to get your whole ironworks gear ready before Ishgard, depending on how many dailies and dungeon side quests you complete.

Always do your job quest as soon as possible. Your reward is an additional skill/trait/ability and at 50, 60, and 70 new gear. This gear itself is good enough for most dungeons and trials, even through it may put a greater burden on your healer - better let another tank be MT (switch to Sword Oath; use Shirk on MT if you get close to aggro) - as long as it's not a newcomer, too.

Only crucial point is accessories, which you will get by MSQ and poetics only. They give a good bunch of HP or Str, depending on what you can effort to use. But they don't increase your defense, so they aren't your priority.