Tanking in Eureka (As a DRK)

[Tint]

Hii

I really struggle in Eureka with tanking on my main job Dark Knight.

I have the feeling that I generate not enough enmity when I put my elements into defense, so I have to spam enmity combo a lot to stay on top of the enmity list.

This becomes a problem with hard hitting enemys, especially NMs, but also trash mobs a few levels above me. I can't switch the elements to offense, because I will take too much damage, and because I have to use enmity combo a lot, I generate not enough mana to use TBN often, wich means my mitigation is lacking.

I have the impression DRK doesn't really work well in Eureka. Or am I doing it wrong?


Also Sprites! DRKs ranged enmity skill for pulling is a spell, wich means that I aggro every Sprite around me when I try to pull anything. I think this is an unfair disadvantage for DRKs.

[Elkanah]

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Which eureka are you going into? Anemos? Pagos? Pyros? Hydatos?

If you don't have a party with a healer that's paying attention (and not afking, which seems to be just about any dps, tank or healer in eureka), I wouldn't even bother tanking. If you're at max cap in the instance and don't have all your quests done in that zone for your magicite, then I would recommend working on getting all those before doing that. If other players are pulling hate off you, I wouldn't even worry about that either. Let them be the main tank. Eureka's content is so casual that I pull, and then don't even bother using an enmity combo (in defiance) on WAR lol. Cause it's gonna die quickly enough. If it's an NM, don't fight tooth and nail for hate off someone. Just let it be.

[Xenosan]

I did a Eureka Pagos grind session (pre train) as a DRK

my fingers fell off and my hands were cramped the following days

The APM alone is reason to not take DRK

[Tint]

I am currently grinding Fates at level cap in Pyros (I am lvl 53). I have 5 magicite and finished all the quests.

But I already had that problem in Pagos (also on level cap and with 5 magicite), Just the lack in mitigation wasn't such a problem in Pagos as it is in Pyros.

I was tanking Penthesilea today with 2 healers in my party, had my elements in defense. But I died 3 times (picked it up again after I got raised and people high in the enmity list were dying). I have not enough cooldowns to help with mitigating the auto attacks and TBN is a problem because of the mana and me spamming enmity combo. I also lose out on the selfheal from Souleater. I use Eureka Potions all the time to help a bit with healing, but the overall experience is rather bad. I take too much damage and struggle with enmity.

And not tryng to actually hold enmity? But I can't let rip the boss through half of the people there, can I? I mean I am a tank, and I should be tanking that guy!

[Elkanah]

And not trying to actually hold enmity? But I can't let rip the boss through half of the people there, can I? I mean I am a tank, and I should be tanking that guy!

You (should) normally be tanking, yes, however Eureka as it is gives no flying mandervilles about whether you tank or not. So it's really up to the user at that point. I prioritize adds over boss (during fate train). And when I pull for spawning, I just pull it once and let everyone else do the work (cause the mobs die faster than the bosses would).

[ArianeEwah]

I was tanking Penthesilea today with 2 healers in my party, had my elements in defense. But I died 3 times (picked it up again after I got raised and people high in the enmity list were dying). I have not enough cooldowns to help with mitigating the auto attacks and TBN is a problem because of the mana and me spamming enmity combo. I also lose out on the selfheal from Souleater. I use Eureka Potions all the time to help a bit with healing, but the overall experience is rather bad. I take too much damage and struggle with enmity.

My guess is you were trying to hard to mitigate autos, then lack mitigation for tank busters. Use simple, less usefull/hard CDs for autos (Anticipation, Awareness, Convalescence, TBN) and stronger STACKING CDs for tank busters. Eureka bosses hit HARD, like a truck. And you gotta keep in mind that you are not overgeared or something like that, even with elemental bonus on defense. Activate at least 2 CDs for tankbusters, e.g. TBN + Shadow Wall or Dark Mind + Rampart. TBN + Rampart is too weak sometimes (unless in tank stance).

You losing aggro might be because you are fighting against people who've got the whole +2 set, the + elemental bonus eureka weapon, and maybe 1 or 2 additional magicites. It's like trying to hold aggro vs someone at least 5 levels above yourself (even when synced). This is a lost fight. Funny thing tho, they even take less dmg than a tank with defensive magicites, it's ridiculous.

My FC mate (a true fanatic, he was on vacation, and finished BA on EU first) told me he could fight lvl 55 mobs with ez in Pyros, without using any potions. The elemental bonuses from BA +2 gear, weapon and magicite increase the power by roughly 10 elemental levels while being on same level.

It's a mess, and unfair towards people who want to experiance eureka, just when they make you eat their dust. It's like a low level dungeon you're new in, someone else's gear doesn't get synced and they roflstomp through it.

[Phoenicia]

Elemental bonus from gear is HUGE. Specially when you move to the older zones. For example, currently I have +871 elemental bonus (full bonus) on multiple jobs and my offensive element BLM can take hits better than non-elemental geared tanks on defensive element some times. Another case is on my full offensive element DRK, my Souleater's healing outpaces Pazuzu's damage completely (I need literally 0 healing from start to finish). Basically, if the person that's taking aggro off you while spamming aggro combos is a tank, just let them have it. Since they overpowered your aggro, it also means they take less damage, the best thing to do is let them have the boss. Fighting them over aggro is only gonna cost you both DPS (enmity combos are DPS Loss) and you probably dying and them ending up tanking any way.

As for whither DRK is bad in Eureka or not, it isn't. It isn't any worse or better than the other tanks anyway. DRK has the highest personal mitigation of any tank currently, no matter the content. But at low elemental gear your self sustain takes a huge hit since souleater won't heal for anything worth the effort, same with WAR.

[Kalise]

I have the feeling that I generate not enough enmity when I put my elements into defense, so I have to spam enmity combo a lot to stay on top of the enmity list.

Enmity list isn't particularly useful in Eureka during trains. Since, it generally shows you only your party. However, there might be another Tank outside your party that is pumping out a ton of enmity making it redundant for you to also be doing that.

If you're the only tank in the train, then yes, make sure you're top of enmity and the boss is fighting you, otherwise, don't bother. At best, go pick up the adds because as someone who generally does trains as a Healer (Due to how bad Tanking in trains is because of the fact that you're generally not particularly useful as they're usually someone else to MT the NM's) the biggest threat is people not caring about the adds as they go and murder all the healers whom are generating enmity with heals.

This becomes a problem with hard hitting enemys, especially NMs, but also trash mobs a few levels above me. I can't switch the elements to offense, because I will take too much damage, and because I have to use enmity combo a lot, I generate not enough mana to use TBN often, wich means my mitigation is lacking.

Fun Fact:

Elements on offense actually gives you more survivability. If you use Grit then Souleater will be healing you for a TON because of how inflated your damage output is with full offense.

Sure, Grit won't be the best for damage output, but in Eureka it's less of a concern when you've got the 20-50+ DPS jobs wailing on the enemies.

I have the impression DRK doesn't really work well in Eureka. Or am I doing it wrong?

Tanks as a whole are kind of mediocre in Eureka. Due to NM's only needing 1 tank, outside adds that people inevitably pull.

They're decent for soloing stuff, in terms of being able to survive fighting at level or +1 mobs pretty well, but that's about it.

Also Sprites! DRKs ranged enmity skill for pulling is a spell, wich means that I aggro every Sprite around me when I try to pull anything. I think this is an unfair disadvantage for DRKs.

Use Provoke.

It has more range and isn't a spell.

[Tint]

Okay, I had no idea about the power of elemental stats on the gear :O

And no, I am not fighting with other tanks for aggro. When they pull it they can have it. They have the tools to handle with bosses anyway.

Can someone confirm that you pull less enmity with your elements in defense? I mean normally I can use Souleater combo in Grit without losing enmity to DDs, but this seems to be not the case in Eureka, when I have the elements in defense(?)

Next time I'll take a look if the people have elemental+ gear.

[ArianeEwah]

Can someone confirm that you pull less enmity with your elements in defense? I mean normally I can use Souleater combo in Grit without losing enmity to DDs, but this seems to be not the case in Eureka, when I have the elements in defense(?)

Naturally. Your damage determines your enmity. By reducing your damage output, you also reduce your enmity generation. There are rare skills and abilities that's not the case, e.g. PLD-Flash or the DA Plunge effect. But those are also very special cases!
In general: damage (x enmity modifier) = enmity generated

edit:
e.g. if you're dealing 1k damage with Souleater in Grit, you generate 2.7k enmity points. But a BLM that deals 30k dmg with Fire IV generates 30k enmity points. They may use Diversion to reduce it to 10% = 3k enmity points, but - as you can see - that's still higher than your generated enmity.