Of all the 4 tanks right now, how would you stack them against each other?

[TheForce]

I'm curious to hear the opinions. In the current build of FF14, I'd like to know what you guys think about the current Tank balance. Which Tank is best? Which is the worst? Strengths? Weaknesses?

[whiskeybravo]

I only have personal experience on WAR so far. High end PLD of friend is really liking PLD, and he's been leveling up GNB and seems to think it will be pretty good too.

Personal rough assessment:

1) PLD
2) GNB/WAR
3) DRK

PLD seems to have a really nice rotational flow, and early indications would suggest it's as strong as it looks. It seems to be missing 1 personal defensive CD compared to the other tanks, but since gauge isn't used for anything other than defense you have access to a lot of Sheltron, and natural passive blocking anyways.

WAR I feel is really solid defensively. It took a bit to get used to not having a second set of CDs for big pulls in dungeons, but once you unlock Nascent Flash it really fills in the gaps for dungeon survivability. Ex trials haven't demanded much CD usage so we'll see how it plays out in savage raids, but it's solid as far as I can tell. One thing I miss the most is those oh sh!t moments (like when both healers die to something at the same time) where you could swap to defiance and spam IB for healing. That aspect of WAR survivability is completely gone, and will be missed. Stacking Infuriate is the biggest change I think the job has going for it, since it adds a bit of depth to what would otherwise just be more unga bunga.

GNB, from what I hear, is pretty solid so far in dungeons and has a decently high burst for DPS. I can't say too much about it though since I don't have one myself nor do I have any close friends that have it maxed yet.

DRK.. I won't comment on DRK other than to say, if I did play it, I probably wouldn't like it too much. I spent some time arranging a new hotbar and messing around with on the dummy, but imo I'm just going to stay away from it.

[RyuDragnier]

DRK.. I won't comment on DRK other than to say, if I did play it, I probably wouldn't like it too much. I spent some time arranging a new hotbar and messing around with on the dummy, but imo I'm just going to stay away from it.

Play it, you may find yourself surprised. This is coming from the fact I've seen more than a few people disliking how it looks, only to play it and enjoy it.

[Dalmacus]

In terms of playstyle

GNB
PLD
WAR
DRK

In 2.0 i main PLD because rage of halone was so cool at that time i decided to drop SCH/MNK to tank for the first time in a MMO. Then 3.0 hit and i've been a DRK/PLD so total i have about 6 years worth of tanking experience. Tanks should and always be Emnity generation and defensive ability first before DPS. So by going from the definition

PLD is still supreme in MT or ST/OT role. Warrior is still warrior, big numbers coming from fell cleave what not to like?. GNB i am having tons of fun with this new tank as it requires the player to be constantly on his/her toes hitting every button you possibly can either to DPS or mitigate. This is the kind of playstyle i wanted in DRK but oh well.

DRK i have leveled to 80 and it's soooo boring to me now it's like such a braindead job. For DRK if i get to pick i rather go back to 4.X DRK playstyle instead. I rather be spamming dark arts than this boring playstyle.

[DeWinter1]

From what i have seen so far i would go something like that:

PAL
WAR
GNB
DRK

I have only played WAR so far, started leveling PAL, feels nice, dmg should be amazing at 80. Gunbreaker and Darkknights seems weaker to me, mostly because of there strange cooldowns.

[Derio]

Personal Assessment including DPS.


1. PLD
2. DRK/WAR
3. GNB

Only reason GNB is last is because their wasted def cooldown that increases parry by 50% when parry in the game isnt the best mitigation.

DRK is just a bad WAR clone with Delirium . PLD just feels really good and has really good DPS at least until they nerf it.

LD is still the worst but Superbolide angers healers especially when the tank has a high ping and the healer benediction's them before they cast it.

[Valic]

I never mained PLD but just looking at it I can tell it's the most "understood" of the tanks.

PLD
WAR
GNB
DRK

Atm I feel PLD is a good equilibrium of tanking and dps. WAR being it's followup as a more dps oriented role, GNB following up for the same reason, and DRK being last because it's in such an odd spot right now.

[Cosaint]

People talk about DPS but they forget these are tanks, you need to consider their defensive tools as well.

1# PLD
2# DRK
3# GNB
4# WAR

PLD right now has 0 weaknesses and it's the top DPS of all tanks, they are uncontestedly the King of the Hill.
DRK identity as the King of self mitigation increased even more, not only Dark Arts spam is gone, they got an AoE mitigation and TBN got stronger on allies.
GNB not only has really good DPS, but also really good assistance tools, Aurora is a strong oGCD regen, Heart of Light/Stone are solid buffs and they can cheese anything PLD's Hallowed Ground could with Superbolide.
WAR unlike other tanks, barely evolved. They got nerfed in the mitigation department, having to choose between self healing and Raw Intuition on top of Holmgang getting slightly nerfed. They are still very viable, but at this point I have no idea why someone who can play all tanks would choose a WAR over a DRK or even GNB for another reason than flavor.

The best combinations of tanks are definitely PLD+DRK or DRK+GNB, with slashing debuff out of the way WAR isn't locked anymore, tank choices are going to be made based on DPS and utility, since all tanks have very similar DPS outputs, utility becomes the tiebreaker. DRK's TBN doesn't have a mitigation fall off for being a shield, making it the strongest self mitigation in the game outside of invulnerability moves. DRK+WAR also works well, but GNB gets an edge for being able to use Aurora, a more realiable heal than Nascent Glint. Any combination that doesn't have a DRK is subpar.

[Dio_Tiferet]

GBR
GBR
GBR
PLD

My static is going double gunbreaker btw

[Drayce1]

GBR
GBR
GBR
PLD

My static is going double gunbreaker btw

Im gonna stop you all here and use my powers of divination, and past trends, to tell you the true order, coming around 5.1 when balance changes hit.

Ahem.

1. War
2. War
3. War
4. War
5. DRK
6. GBR
7. PLD

Just following what happened the last two expansions.

You are all welcome!

.........lulz