Tank to main? GNB/DRK

[Shirokami]

I'm looking for an advice. ATM I am leveling a summoner, but right after that I plan on pushing ahead one of two tanks, gunbreaker or dark knight. WAR and PLD both feel unappealing to me, but between those two I cannot decide which one to go for. I like rotations, ideas, the way they look... one feels like hulking dark monstrosity, other like "light on his toes" kind of tank.

Either way, I am curious about two things: ability to dish out the damage (for solo play) and ability to sustain temselves (damage mitigation + self healing), and I would appreciate opinions - what are your experiences so far for those two fields for those two tanks?

[Kaedan]

I went all out GNB and not regretting it at all.

They're "busy" so you don't get bored, they have good damage output, and they have a good balance of defensive skills for both self and party. Not even interested in going back to my DRK main, much less PLD or WAR at the moment (I eventually level all tanks to max).

[TheForce]

Go GNB. Do not play DRK. That class is an absolute joke rn compared to what it once was, and everyone who tells you otherwise doesn't know what they're talking about.

[shao32]

GNB is complex and his rotation is a lot of fun and DRK it's just a simple version of WAR, fun is relative so you will need to try yourself and play both, if you play DRK before and like it don't expect it being like that anymore old DRK play style die saddly this expansion.

[Tila]

GNB is complex and his rotation is a lot of fun and DRK it's just a simple version of WAR, fun is relative so you will need to try yourself and play both, if you play DRK before and like it don't expect it being like that anymore old DRK play style die saddly this expansion.

This tells me you havent played either WAR or DRK since its the other way around. DRK plays like a WAR with more to do.

If anything I would say thats the problem with DRK: its just WAR with more OGCD.

[shao32]

This tells me you havent played either WAR or DRK since its the other way around. DRK plays like a WAR with more to do.

If anything I would say thats the problem with DRK: its just WAR with more OGCD.

I consider WAR more complex bcs have 2 combos, infuriate mechanic it's way more complex that blood weapon and how infuriate have such sinergy with inner release, DRK is just keep all on coldown and don't think about it, it's slow, simple and lame in so many ways and pretty repetitive spamming the same animations again and again and again. for once in 4 years I find WAR much more fun that DRK and that's a big thing coming from me.

[Shirokami]

Mechanics, complexity and such things aside, what of their damage and self-sustainability?

[Arsthan]

Mechanics, complexity and such things aside, what of their damage and self-sustainability?

DRK's damage is second to PLD's, GNB's the last, behind WAR for now. But there's no big gab between them at all, so "Who's the best damage from the tanks?" is kinda a pointless question imo. Self-sustain is gone, the random potency heals that GNB, DRK and WAR have on their combos are just flat potency; not nearly as good as heals based on the damage dealt like in SB. Defensive wise... GNB is "meh, works good enough I guess", PLD and WAR are power houses imo and good luck with breaking TNB on DRK- because if you don't, you lose a big chunk of your DPS.

[Mistyregions]

DRK's damage is second to PLD's, GNB's the last, behind WAR for now. But there's no big gab between them at all, so "Who's the best damage from the tanks?" is kinda a pointless question imo. Self-sustain is gone, the random potency heals that GNB, DRK and WAR have on their combos are just flat potency; not nearly as good as heals based on the damage dealt like in SB. Defensive wise... GNB is "meh, works good enough I guess", PLD and WAR are power houses imo and good luck with breaking TNB on DRK- because if you don't, you lose a big chunk of your DPS.

How did you manage to max level all the tanks and try them out extensively with materia builds in extreme?

Or are you talking out the side of your neck?

[Kaozurei]

DRK feels a bit on the slow side, especially coming from playing it extensively in 4.0. I haven't played new DRK too much yet, but only complaint I have about it is just how slowly it recovers MP. Other than that, I think it's pretty fun and finally has a decent burst phase unlike before, which I really like. Their sustain is rather low, though, and their defensive toolkit relies heavily on The Blackest Night, which is rather costly MP-wise. Damage wise DRK is really strong, or at least it definitely feels that way.

GNB, however, is just on a whole other level of fun. There's tons of stuff to do, you gotta sync up your dots with your damage buff, you got a bunch of oGCDs to weave in between attacks and it just feels engaging for me. My sole complain about GNB is in their personal sustain and mitigation, Heart of Stone is just a worse Raw Intuition being 15% instead of 20%, their Aurora regen is almost useless and their personal shield in Brutal Shell is far too weak to be useful most of the time. They're not TOO squishy, but they could use a defense buff IMO. Damage wise, while it SEEMS strong it actually feels a bit on the weak side... which kinda sucks. A lot of people say it's the worst tank ATM both offensively and defensively but I haven't had any issues just yet.

All in all though, PLD and WAR just seem a bit too strong compared to the other two tanks, but rather than seeing them nerfed I'd like for DRK and GNB to get some buffs of their own to put them on par. Out of the two, though, I would recommend GNB. It's just a ton of fun.