A little tip for a WAR trying to learn

[Graiggy]

I keep seeing WAR in dungeons doing different things. like When should you change from Defiance to Deliverance? also. i have my own rotation and its very sloppy. I have looked for guides and such but so far most the ones i found seem to assume you are already a pro and just breeze through with little to no explanation. I am decent at tanking I have yet to lose aggro and cause a wipe because of that. however i will admit that my DPS could be better and i could get more fluid with my rotation.

when i start my rotation on a mob i use throwing axe into overpowoer x2 maybe 3 depends on how spread out the mob was. then i going into storms eye to storms path x2 and back to storms eye and repeat. when available i will unchain with berserk and use either steel cyclone if many enemies remain or inner beast if one or just a couple. I have not unlocked inner release yet plan on doing that the next time i log on.

[Graiggy]

I have not found a good time to switch stances. even at bosses ive found as soon as i switch i start taking on more damage than my healer can handle so i end up swapping back anyway. any info would be a huge help. I want to get the WAR down so i can really start end game content

[Thela]

I have not found a good time to switch stances. even at bosses ive found as soon as i switch i start taking on more damage than my healer can handle so i end up swapping back anyway. any info would be a huge help. I want to get the WAR down so i can really start end game content

Unlike PLD & DRK tank stances, Defiance doesn't actually affect your damage intake in any meaningful way. It gives you a slight amount of parry rating based on your beast gauge (up to 10%) and more hp and that's about it. Mainly the reason to go into defiance is either for higher enmity or access to inner beast / steel cyclone (self healing) but rarely for reduction to dmg taken (outside the 20% dmg reduction for 6 seconds from inner beast for tankbusters).

[iridemyunicorneverynight]

Unlike PLD & DRK tank stances, Defiance doesn't actually affect your damage intake in any meaningful way. It gives you a slight amount of parry rating based on your beast gauge (up to 10%) and more hp and that's about it. Mainly the reason to go into defiance is either for higher enmity or access to inner beast / steel cyclone (self healing) but rarely for reduction to dmg taken (outside the 20% dmg reduction for 6 seconds from inner beast for tankbusters).

A lot of people don't understand this part right here. Probably the most important part. It does affect our damage dealt, but unchained being separate CD from IR now allows us to handle that more elegantly.

[Graiggy]

Unlike PLD & DRK tank stances, Defiance doesn't actually affect your damage intake in any meaningful way. It gives you a slight amount of parry rating based on your beast gauge (up to 10%) and more hp and that's about it. Mainly the reason to go into defiance is either for higher enmity or access to inner beast / steel cyclone (self healing) but rarely for reduction to dmg taken (outside the 20% dmg reduction for 6 seconds from inner beast for tankbusters).

See this i was not aware of. that is a huge help. my guess is i thought the difference was because of increased dmg resist. but must be it was the self heals. Ill have to have a talk with my healer. and see if i cant get him to get a better heal rotation.

[Thela]

See this i was not aware of. that is a huge help. my guess is i thought the difference was because of increased dmg resist. but must be it was the self heals. Ill have to have a talk with my healer. and see if i cant get him to get a better heal rotation.

No worries, many healers are not aware of this either and think you are a bad tank taking unnecessary damage for not staying in defiance which is just not the case. That being said, there are of course situations where being in defiance is helpful. You do gain a larger hp pool and thus can survive longer if taking heavy damage, plus you get access to self healing for the same scenario. And of course the 20% damage reduction from inner beast is very good for tank busters, but if you can survive it with other means its generally preferable because every time you use inner beast is 1 less fell cleave

[347SPECTRE]

Honestly, best way I've figured where I can use deliverance during a boss is to learn the bosses mechanics and plan your zerk FC spam around that. Also, using a CD helps a little bit as well.

Hopefully that helps a bit.

[iridemyunicorneverynight]

Hi, friend.

As a WAR tank, this is your opener: http://ffxivrotations.com/1c5y

This is a high enmity opener, while lining up your burst damage at the start of your pull.

Right now WAR places things on CD. Your Infuriate should be on CD 100% of the time so that you can Fell Cleave at will. For the most part, I only use Onslaught to shorten distances and as a GCD during Inner Release window. Upheavel should also be on CD. Make sure you keep Storm's Eye up as well.

Stance dancing isn't 100% necessary. If you need to go back into Defiance, then it should be done when you're aware of a high burst damage coming towards you. Popping Unchained and using Steel Cyclone (For AOE heals) or Inner Beast (for a solid heal) is fairly recommended.

Otherwise, you should be mitigating damage. Review Warrior's kit for mitigation abilities. We've a lot of it.

I have noticed that if I go into Defiance while Unchained is off CD, my damage doesn't suffer a huge hit.

[Graiggy]

Thanks ill look into the opener and i will have to go through my entire kit again.

[RopeDrink]

Tip: Don't look for static answers to variable problems. There is no static answer because such an approach cannot account for every variable detail, such as whether your Healer is geared/experienced and/or can they maintain their own damage while healing you in DPS stance. Sometimes you don't always have the freedom of comfort-pulling. How hard do the enemies hit? How hard does your party hit? eg. If it's a long fight (be it low DPS and/or non-trash/boss), the enemy in question hits hard, and your own group is slow at killing, then this has an effect on the Tank & Healer.

In short, the only real thing you can approach from a static PoV is your openers/rotations, so work on those. At the end of the day, this is an MMORPG - a good player (in any role) can adapt on the fly without relying on predictable/set patterns. Sometimes shít just hits the fan.