Out of The Norm Melds and Stats for Tanks

[Renato]

As long as I've been tanking, Crit has always been at the top of the charts for melds and armor stats. Would it really be handicap me as a tank if I did meld something other than Crit or DH? After all, I want to tank...I understand tank DPS is a thing but at the same time, if I wanted big numbers, I'd play as an actual DPS class.

Coming from someone who doesn't care to do Savage content...does it even matter? What effects would stacking Tenacity or Determination have for more of a tank-y build?

[ShinShimon]

I looked it up once and Crit over Tenacity only gives you a few % dps. As someone who only does casual content, I think I save more time by preventing wipes with duty finder morons due to the extra damage resist than I do from the extra crit damage. I've also heard that even serious raiders use tenacity or vitality during progression, and you're kind of always in that situation even if you know the fight if you aren't doing content with a regular, experienced static.

[Kaozurei]

In my opinion, unless you're doing Savage raiding or SB EX farming it really doesn't matter much and is up to personal preference. I like going the Crit/DH route on my tanks simply because they increase my personal damage output and helps me kill things faster, which makes dungeons take less time overall. (I'm also a DPS main, so yay damage!)

You can use cooldowns to temporarily improve your defensive power if needed while your damage output tends to have limited ways to improve during a run. Melding for damage also helps make up for bad DPS which are plentiful in duty finder. That said, melding defensive stats isn't a huge handicap in casual content so you can go for it if it's what you want. Nobody should complain, though it might make runs take longer if you get paired with bad DPS.

[Renato]

Good to know. I've currently been gathering gear with Crit and melding Tenacity when I can but I'm considering going after Tenacity gear instead and stacking Determination and a bit of Skill Speed for my DRK just to try something new.

[Megguido]

I looked it up once and Crit over Tenacity only gives you a few % dps. As someone who only does casual content, I think I save more time by preventing wipes with duty finder morons due to the extra damage resist than I do from the extra crit damage. I've also heard that even serious raiders use tenacity or vitality during progression, and you're kind of always in that situation even if you know the fight if you aren't doing content with a regular, experienced static.

Except the mitigation from Tenacity will barely make a difference between life and death, so stacking Ten to prevent a wipe is kinda placebo, unless you consistently survive at like 1 or 2k HP after a big hit due to Ten.

On the other hand, going full Ten meld over Crit melds is a loss of about 100 DPS (so 2-3% damage ?), it won't make a difference unless you want a fflogs highscore, or you're pushing enrage with low level gear. So, if you want to go Det/Ten over Crit, that's fine. The only mendatory meld for tanks is STR on accessories.

[SleepyNeko]

I think if you don't care much for getting the high parse numbers then you can just meld the cheapest materia because none of them will have a big enough effect to suddenly help you clear content that you couldn't clear before.

[Nedkel]

I like to meld or even focus entirely on skill speed even on warrior. It gives more living to the tank you are playing, the dps is not all that different than going for crit, but you have to keep in mind that you cant miss even a second when using ur gcds.

[udubdave]

If you're not doing savage raids or farming ex trials, then no, it doesn't matter. You can get by with no melds at all.

[Liam_Harper]

I'd almost say Tenacity has more use in Casual than in Savage, because you never know what you're getting. You get everything from your dungeon healer in Bardams with a 200ilv weapon, to soloing dungeon bosses, to extra mobs pulled, to afk or dead healers at random times, to taking vulnerability debuffs because you barely remember the fight and so on. There are also very few real tight dps checks in casual.

In savage it's more calculated. Boss auto attack is handled by a certain amount of mitigation and regen, tank busters are handled by a set cooldown rotation. An extra 5% mitigation isn't necessary. Casual is an unpredictable (in a fun way too) mess and that 5% DR may be just as useful as the 2% dps.

[Wyndam]

Anything is better than nothing. Yeah, if you're really trying to push content then you want to do the optimal DPS thing. Otherwise if it's the difference between using materia or not using materia, meld what's available.