Are paladins the support tanks of the game?

[Siegrand]

I've finally made it to savage raids and ex trials as a paladin and I've noticed that I'm pretty much always expected to be off tank. After examining my kit more and reading guides and such, it really does feel like I am a support tank (with moves like intervention and cover). If that's the intention then cool, I come from playing alot of WoW where all the classes in each role are the same, so it's awesome to see unique takes on each role.

[shao32]

as a tank you are expected to move betwen OT and MT on a fight all the time bcs mechanics, but yes as a PLD since they have the worst agro generation on pulls/opener and the most number of utility aviable they are expected to be most of the time or all the time if the fight don't require it on the OT spot.

[Hierro]

PLDs are expected to OT only because it lies in their best interest as far as DPS goes.

Being forced to use a GCD to switch back to sword oath and delay your opener by an entire combo (or two) really hampers your damage compared just being able to start off in sword oath to begin with, also coupled that the other tanks can pull without much consequence.

The fact PLD has support tools is just a bonus.

[Saeno]

Yes and no. All tanks in this game have support and any class in this game that has any kind of support is expected to use them. The reason why PLD's are expected to not pull is because out of the 3 tanks, PLD's take the biggest hit to their DPS and the aggro they create for their DPS loss is not worth it. If PLD didn't suffer a DPS loss from pulling, you can bet PLD would be the premier pulling tank (MT).

One thing to note about FFXIV tanking is that you are expected to DPS a lot more than WoW. You balance defensive responsibilities with your co-tank to ensure that you guys aren't dying but still dishing out high damage.

[Oshea]

Yes, they are.

[Lambdafish]

I like to think so. PLD has very powerful, perhaps seemingly broken to some people, support toolkit, cover especially. While it may seem useless on the surface, is really fun once you master it. Cover is less about protecting from damage in some cases, it can also be used to take incoming DoTs from targets, and when combined with tempered will, can provide knockback immunity to you and an additional player. And that's just one skill, divine veil, intervention, and clemency all provide their own utility.

[Eloah]

I don't Tank much, but given their overall kit, yes they are more inline with support than outright damage. Similar to how SCH is more inline with Mitigated healing than pure healing, making them ideal at DPSing. T.T I want more shields....

[Khalithar]

I've full cleared all the current savage stuff this tier and last tier and I can tell you that yes we are the support tank right now. Cover + tempered will to bypass certain mechanics (train ghosts, hyperdrive on god, knockback on graven image/guardian, etc.), Divine Veil, Intervention, the way certain mechanics line up with Hallowed, and I could go on. Right now, Paladin is just too good in the OT spot with the current fight mechanics and because Paladin loses more dps than warrior the way the openers work, you'll basically be OT/support most of the time.

You balance defensive responsibilities with your co-tank to ensure that you guys aren't dying but still dishing out high damage.

I also want to address this because, while Saeno is absolutely correct, I want to elaborate a bit more. Tank damage on bosses in this game tends to come in waves with the big stuff happening at preset and very predictable intervals, as a result once you learn the fights it's really all about pushing your dps as high as possible while remembering to pop the appropriate cooldowns.