What is the General Consensus?

[HyperiusUltima]

This is in regards to where each tank places, and I would also like to know what each role excels at. I haven’t always poked the Tank Sub-forums, but with all the anti-climactic ‘doom and gloom’ over Dark Knight, I just want to know what each Tank brings to the table based on data and abilities available.

[Canadane]

I think the general consensus is that they're all capable of doing all content in the game.

[HyperiusUltima]

I think the general consensus is that they're all capable of doing all content in the game.

Then why do people fight over it exactly?

[Aniya_Estlihn]

All three are capable of doing content effectively, even if one is grossly disadvantaged by simply having it's fault ignored repeatedly, they all three can perform their base function, that being to tank. Warrior and Paladin simply excel at it compared to Dark Knight. Warrior is seemingly based around the idea of doing more with less, Paladin has a cooldown and utility for almost every situation, and Dark Knight is the opposite of both and requires vastly more effort to achieve the the same results with no consideration or extra reward for the effort put in to doing so.

but with all the anti-climactic ‘doom and gloom’ over Dark Knight.

Honestly, for Dark Knight, it's not doom and gloom when it's the absolute truth.
Poor mitigation, lacking in offensive ability and an over reliance on multiple, separate resources.

[Dieworc]

Then why do people fight over it exactly?

Because people are obsessed with the high level "meta", Something that is relevant to maybe .1% of the player base.

[shao32]

Then why do people fight over it exactly?

most doom and gloom come from other players trying to say our kit is good without even know how the DRK math works, you can add the ones how complaing they main jobs are not even good as the data show -aka PLD and WAR- with its really anoying after spend several months reporting about how "bad" is our state compared to the other tanks.

in the end its just a "no my job is more weaker" fight but the consensus in general is WAR is a bit to strong due the last rework and DRK need several changes that by SE logics on balance has to be done since day 1.

meta its just a excuse some take it out they hats, its just comon sense you cant have 3 tanks and keep buffing the one how dont need it and keep ignoring the lower one.

[Squintina]

The general consensus is they all can do it, but that in theory (in theory) PLD = better raidwide def, WAR = more deeps, DRK = needs some love.

But a player who's good is the #1 important factor. People who care enough about meta to enforce it, instead of just theorize over it, are either speed runners or sucky players who need to rely on meta to overcome their own party's lack of skill.

[Hierro]

Honestly, for Dark Knight, it's not doom and gloom when it's the absolute truth.
Poor mitigation, lacking in offensive ability and an over reliance on multiple, separate resources.

People are far less likely to take your opinion seriously when you use hyperbole. DRK mitigation is anything but poor. TBN supplements all defensive CDs, for a cost that breaks EVEN in dps. Offensive capability isn't that lacking either when you look at top performing DRKs vs top performing WARs. Also, the last statement is something that's wayy too overloaded with meaningless words.

[Chrono_Rising]

General consensus is tank order goes:

(1) Warrior
(2) Paladin
(3) Dark Knight

I would guess most people feel the (1) and (2) spot are fairly comparable and at times interchangable, and the third spot is in need of attention. How much attention Dark Knight needs is something people disagree on.

Why? Dark Knight has comparable dps to paladin on a striking dummy, but usually falls behind slightly when fights have down time. Paladin makes up for this lower dps compared to warrior with utility, it buys lots of healer uptime, but Dark Knight doesn't seem to bring much in the way as a counter balance here. Weird design issues: The tank which is hurt the least by down time has 2 knock back cancellations and a gap closer with a longer range all on shortish cooldowns, the tank hurt in the middle here has knockback prevention and no gap closer and powerful ranged attacks to minimize downtime, and dark knight is hurt the most by down time has no knockback prevention 1 gap closer with a shorter range and loses quite a bit of dps if you need to hold that gap closer and lacks a powerful ranged attack to minimize the uptime.

As for mitigation, Dark Knight does not have a native cooldown which lasts longer than 10 seconds. Most of its kit is set up well for tank busters, and if you find yourself low on HP has a powerful mitigation tool in the form of TBN. However, it offers little in physical turns and offers less overall mitigation on busters than paladin. Dark knight also suffers here on fluff damage because its short duration cooldowns do not necessarily cover damage outside of busters.

In terms of utility dark knight doesn't really offer much for groups, as compared to warrior and paladin. Warrior and Paladin are fairly comparable because though warrior is bringing more dps paladin is bringing a number of utilities that allow healers to contribute more to groups. The dps/utility allows healers to contribute more to groups.

[Nedkel]

General consensus is.
If you want to play a tank, you should be playing world of tanks, because tanks in this game are DPS class that lives only because healers heal them. xD

Idk why people are obsessed with mitigation all that much, its not like warrior has it any better.
His tank stance only gives him bonus heal, it will not save him from tank buster.
Raw intuition is straight 20% dmg reduction from parry, vengeance has 30% same as the DRK one cd.
He has 2 heals, 1 of which increases his hp by 20%, has shake it off and thats it.
But he lacks a proper tanks stance, he doesnt have any dmg reduction from it, DRK has and has a TBN, those both are enough to sustain any tank buster you want and you could do extra by activating CD ability.
Since most of the tank busters are magic based (i think they are :P), DRK has 2x 30% mitigation CD, a good shield, 20% perma dmg reduction, and role cd.

Paladin has sheltron, sentinel which is 10% stronger than DRK or warrior has, 20% damage reduction stance, hallowed ground, useless bulwark for tank busters and well a shield, but it doesnt matter if you keep using it for sheltron, and a heal that will only hurt you using it.

So whats the point?

DRK is way more useful againt tank busters, paladin has his use on dungeons pull, and warrior is something in the middle.

Let me sum it again
DRK:
- 20% damage reduction stance
- 20% hp shield with 15 second cooldown that does not hurt your dps to use it
- Dark mind 15-30% magic reduction on 60 sec cooldown
- shadow wall 30% on 180 sec
- Living death 300 sec cooldown
Warrior:
- 20% healing boost stance - it will not save you if the boss suddenly decide to rip 90% your health bar off, you will need to pray to the healer.
- 60 sec cooldown heal, well this will not make you tankier either.
- 20% heal/hp increase 120 sec cd
- vengeance 30% on 120 sec cd
- Holmdgang 180 sec cd
- Shake it of, 8% hp shield every 60 sec, could be use with some other cd's to increase effeciency, but to be honest its not perfect, and need a perfect timing to make a full use of it. Its perfect party shield, but lackluster tank buster deffence.
- raw intuition 20% mitigation from parry only on physical dmg 90 sec cd, im pretty sure its useless in sigma, at least not as a tool that will help you surviving some stuff, and oh dont turn around or you will get hit for 50% hp. xD
PLD:
- 20% dmg reduction stance
- Sentinel 40% on 180sec
- bulwark 60% more blockrate, barely any use on tank busters and etc 180 sec cd
- tempered will, passage of arms, intervention, cover are utility abilities will not make you harder to kill to the boss
- divine veil, a shocking 10% extra hp, 120 sec cd, good for party to have
- shieltron guaranteed block around 20% mitigation, need gauge and the fastest way is to auto attack with 2.8 sec delay for 5 gauge each, and this takes around 25-30 seconds to recharge, faster if you use holy spirit, but still it takes half of the mp bar to use holy spirit and due to that resource is far worse to manage than MP for DRK used for TBN, and DRK doesnt even need to turn the stances, where PLD kinda needs to, block frequency is all random and makes it impossible to stack gauge if you fight 1 target.
- hollowed ground and 420 sec cd
- clemency, that will only help your team to hit enrage timer

So? Where is that giant disadvantage in mitigation?
Nowhere, pld may seem only better in dungeons and bigg pulls, DRK is more reliable to tank the main content of the game he doesnt have almost any utility, but he is easier to tank, PLD is superior as a support tho and warrior is for dem dps records.