Best Tank for a New Tank?

[WalxAtNite]

Paladin and Warrior imo.

Paladin especially since it's a good offtank, does have a very good evolution when leveling up (you really feel that it's becoiming more powerful)

Ah. Thanks for thinking of that on my behalf! Maybe I should do the opposite and go PLD, then WAR if I don't enjoy it for some reason.

PLD is GLD at the start, correct? I can never remember between GLD and Marauder (don't remember the abbreviation for that, either.)

I'm a noob. Clearly.

[Jandor]

Ah. Thanks for thinking of that on my behalf! Maybe I should do the opposite and go PLD, then WAR if I don't enjoy it for some reason.

PLD is GLD at the start, correct? I can never remember between GLD and Marauder (don't remember the abbreviation for that, either.)

I'm a noob. Clearly.

Gladiator in Ul'dah becomes Paladin.

Marauder in Limsa Lominsa becomes Warrior.

Dark Knight starts in Ishgard as a level 30 job.

Gunbreaker starts in Gridania as a level 60 job.

[Xelphus]

Not to beat a dead horse here but Marauder into Warrior overall is a really solid experience. Yes, overpower is a conal instead of a circle, but having played WAR since ARR it isn't that big of a deal (granted, when i leveled originally the alternative was Flash, of all things). Warrior gains a ton of great mitigation abilities (equilibrium is a solid heal, raw intuition is vastly underrated, nascent flash is really close to busted), and WAR is the first tank to get its death defying ability (holmgang still comes at 42 iirc).

WAR does have some issues, don't get me wrong, but most are very minor and are really only affect the offensive experience, but whenever I play WAR i feel pretty close to indestructible.

[Jandor]

Not to beat a dead horse here but Marauder into Warrior overall is a really solid experience. Yes, overpower is a conal instead of a circle, but having played WAR since ARR it isn't that big of a deal (granted, when i leveled originally the alternative was Flash, of all things). Warrior gains a ton of great mitigation abilities (equilibrium is a solid heal, raw intuition is vastly underrated, nascent flash is really close to busted), and WAR is the first tank to get its death defying ability (holmgang still comes at 42 iirc).

WAR does have some issues, don't get me wrong, but most are very minor and are really only affect the offensive experience, but whenever I play WAR i feel pretty close to indestructible.

Flash WAR was neat, something to spend all that MP on.

[ctcc42]

Warrior overall is a really solid experience. Yes, overpower is a conal instead of a circle, but having played WAR since ARR it isn't that big of a deal

I would go one step further. Overpower being conal is a good thing. It cultivates the habit of keeping enemies in front of you.

A lot of new tanks do not realise that they need to keep enemies in front to parry. Overpower encourages someone learning to tank to do this, even if they are unaware. And as a good tank should be doing their best to keep enemies in front for this reason any way, it is not a particular disadvantage.

[Fluffernuff]

A lot of new tanks do not realise that they need to keep enemies in front to parry.

I dont want to go against genuinely sound advice, but this is factually untrue.it has been for quite a long time now. Straight from the 4.0 patch notes from over 2 years ago (in the battle system under the rdm/sam quests);
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...e7c51abfa95055

"Blocks and parries are no longer limited to attacks from the front."
what we still cant do to targets behind us is use weaponskills or spells. All we can do to a target behind us is auto-attack (baring AoE and untargetted abilities and such)


that said, you dont want to have a bunch of mobs crowded around you with yourself in the middle; people have AoEs. AoEs that only reach so far away from a specific mob they need to target. to use an older term, when youre mass pulling and have a bunch of mobs crowded up, it's called the "deathball". the tigher packed the deathball is, the more effective and efficient AoE damage becomes. you dont want to destroy a deathball. it makes people sad. just tank everything as in front of you as you can.

[ctcc42]

I dont want to go against genuinely sound advice, but this is factually untrue.it has been for quite a long time now. Straight from the 4.0 patch notes from over 2 years ago (in the battle system under the rdm/sam quests);
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...e7c51abfa95055

Thank you for the correction. I read that this was a thing when I started playing in January and have adhered to it my whole time in game. Looks like I have been playing to a mechanic that has never applied to me.

[Fluffernuff]

I could have been softer about it, but the information USED to be true, its just outdated. its still very much standard/good practice to keep mobs in front of you to the best of your ability. in ShB content though, this is a more difficult/tedious affair though. lots of big fat ogre butt mobs cosplaying as Moses and parting the mobs like its the red sea. so you just gotta do the best you can.

but to give a little credit, it USED to be true in Heavensward, and you cant parry MAGICAL damage (while blocking can, as well as blocks reduce more damage), so there's some difference still, but it's not the facing anymore.




Onto the actual topic, my suggestion would be toward PLD if you're first time learning. PLD simply gets all of it's tools the quickest and covers every base a tank needs to learn. You have an unlimited AoE rotation early, all of your cooldowns reasonably early on, and you dont have a resource that gets "wasted" or overcapped until the later stages of your leveling process.

DRK and GNB really stuggle in these aspects specifically until level 72, and by that point, the only thing pld is "missing" is a magical AoE to use Req on. oh man, such an awkward and clunky thing they lived without.

I'll fully disclose, though, that i have not and have no interest in WAR in ShB, so i dont have the slightest clue how their leveling progresses.


and at the end of the day, I speak for actually leveling up and not the state of endgame toolkits. there is something to be said there, but I think its a little more "advanced" than the discussion warrants

[Lodi]

Dunno if this has been said already, but I'd recommend to avoid GNB until you've learned the basics of tanking. Since GNB starts at lv60, you risk ending up tanking Heavensward content as your first dungeon, which might be painful.
DRK doesn't really suffer from this, lv30 is low enough to go in blind without putting your party at risk.

[MnemoQuix]

Hi, WAR main here - for a starter I'd suggest playing as a WAR simply because it's simple and pretty straight forward, think of it as a gateway tank class. Once you get an insight into tanking and cooldown management, you can move onto something with more utilities. PLD is pretty good with a lot more utilities to mitigate damage and provide party/raid-wide with mini buff/protection. I have not personality played GNB but I am itching to learn once I get the time to level the class. DRK is pretty fun to play, although I have not played the class in this expansion - I've only heard good things about it.