New Tank Advice

[StriderShinryu]

To me, this is what makes a good tank and I can give you advice on it:
So as long as your healer has mana and you have some defensive cooldowns available, then you can keep mass pulling. Don't be that tank, the one who mass pulls with no defensive cooldowns, then dies and blames it on the healer.

This is a very important point. Not so much about the mass pulling (pull what you are comfortable with, and the amount you'll feel okay pulling will naturally increase as you learn to understand your abilities) but about working as a unit with your healer. It's not the job of a tank to expect the healer to just heal anything and everything regardless of the situation. It's not the fault of the healer if they have no healing tools left and the tank just keeps pulling and pulling or getting hit by things they could avoid/mitigate. It's also often not necessary for the healer to keep the tank at 100% HP at all times as long as both are prepared for what's coming next. The healer and the tank have to work together and have to rely on each other.

[DRKoftheAzure]

READ YOUR TOOL TIPS ABILITIES. Also, don't be THAT tank that runs into 7+ mobs and won't use a defensive CD (or 2).

This quote right here, too many people are the latter(as well as not reading tooltips) and not the former which has caused tanking to be basically a chore more than actual fun(along with a bunch of other factors) due to how tank stance is basically a toggle that only lasts until you sync down and have to re-apply it again or turn it off for whatever reason.


Also if you happen to be that DRK that only uses TBN as their only defensive cooldown because it gives a "free Edge/Flood of Shadow" you're not wrong but only if it breaks, otherwise you could have used that 3k MP on Edge/Flood of Shadow instead of TBN because you would have used that 3k MP on Edge/Flood of Shadow anyway...

[Rymm]

I wish I could like this post twice, because he nailed it. Please pay special attention to his advice. Especially this advanced bit:

The advanced stuff

- Your awareness level is off the charts. You do not tunnel vision, you know exactly what is going on the entire time with your party, you use Cover and Clemency on party members who are in risk of dying to incoming damage. While I said lines above that you have to learn your best dps rotation (which for Paladins involve the use of Holy Spirit), if you notice that you have a weak healer in your party, then you want to save some of your MP to throw a Clemency here or there.

There have been countless occasions when my healer died mid fight during a boss encounter and I kept the 2 dps and myself alive by saving my mana and using Clemency on them as well as rotating my defensive cooldowns.

It is ALWAYS best to lose dps in lieu of keeping your dps alive, than letting them die because you had no mana to use Clemency. Yes, I know, it is the healer's role to heal, however, the discussion here is how to be a good Paladin tank. The dps you did by casting Holy Spirit will not make up for the lost dps of a dead dps member and the subsequent weakness (resurrection sickness) said member will have for the next 100 seconds. So just save some mana for Clemency just in case.

- You maximize THE ENTIRE PARTY's dps. What does this mean? You know where and how toposition the boss, especially for your melee dps. Remember that all melee classes have "positional attacks", which means, they do more damage if their attacks are made from the flank or from behind. If you position the boss in a way your melee dps can't attack from the flank or from behind, then you are lowering the party's overall dps. If you position the boss in a far corner of the arena when the best location is its center, then you are lowering the party's overall dps.

Situational awareness will make or break a tank. Great tanks are as prepared as possible before a fight begins (familiar with the encounter, how to maximize their party, etc.) but they are also ready to react when things go sideways. Because they will eventually.

I never tank a dungeon without the camera zoomed out far enough to be able to see the entire trash pack (most bosses are so big I zoom all the way out so I can see around them). Any time I'm stationary for more than a few seconds I spin my view so I can keep an eye on the entire party. I want to know immediately if someone pulls aggro, blunders into a patrolling mob, is putting extra stress on heals by eating AoEs, etc. and react accordingly.

Good tanks do thier job. They keep aggro while taking as little damage as possible.

Great tanks do that too, but also do whatever is they can to maximize the performance of the rest of the group.

[Nioh]

Since most people already said everything, maybe ask your healer if they want big or small pulls? Some are experienced, but others are new, too!

[Kewitt]

As I've been Warrior from 2.0...
with all the changes they have made...
It's really easy to tank now.
Keep iron will(or your job tank stance up) up at all times, the only time this doesn't apply is Endgame Raids content, and you will know by then when and when not to have it up or you will learn quickly.
Read the tooltips and understand what they mean for your rotation.
Provoke is basically useless outside of the endgame tank swap.
Have fun as you get more confident. you will learn how to tell when your party can handle big pulls.

[Rymm]

Provoke is basically useless outside of the endgame tank swap.

While tanking is much, much easier now than when ARR launched, I would hesitate to make blanket statements like this. Please don't encourage new tanks to ignore any of their skills. Many are situational but that doesn't mean they are unimportant or "useless".

Provoke specifically is for tank swaps (as Kewitt mentioned) but also for quickly grabbing back mobs if and when you lose aggro. You shouldn't use it to pull, but it'll put you back on the top of the aggro list and snap the mob back to you immediately.

[Melichoir]

So Pretty much theres a few things:

First - Join the Balance Discord. It has guides on all the classes as well as sections to ask questions and talk to people. So long as youre polite and friendly, people will treat you the same. Just prepared that some people may be a bit more blunt with their feedback than necessary.

Second -

Img Link

That is an old visual guide for tanking from Stormblood. Some of the information is outdated. Ive edited it a touch for the things that dont matter anymore/are different. For the most part, the sectinos with tanking concepts like positioning, pulling, and positionals are still relevant. The sections that deal with aggro management and certain skills is somewhat dated. By and large tanking now is easy when it comes to threat management. Pretty much so long as you have Shield Oath Iron Will on, you will have aggro on a mob as long as you arent extremely undergeared or only gave them a pat on the butt and then walked away.

Beyond this, for basic dungeon play its gonna boil down to you working with your party for efficiency. Most veteran players will want you to do big pulls (this is typically 2-3 mob packs) while they aoe it all down for you. Dont be afraid of doing this. Just plan for what youre gonna be doing and use your defensive cooldowns smart and be aware of your party comp. Stagger your cooldowns so you maximize damage reduction uptime. Here's an example of how to do mass pull with a party:

Party Comp - You (Paladin), WHM, 2 decent DPS with AoE.

You pull 2 Packs for a total of 7 monsters.

-If your whitemage is alright, they will start spamming holy so long as youre not gonna die in an instant. Dont panic about that, as Holy stuns targets so you wont be taking damage.
-When the white mage stops holying, Use Sentinel.
-If the mobs are hitting you hard, Use Reprisal in conjunction with Sentinel to increase mitigation. If They are hitting you like a truck and your hp is dropping way to fast for the healer, use Rampart instead.
-As the mob numbers begin to thin, use your other Cooldowns that you havent used yet. Wait for the previous Cooldown to expire before using the next. If youre down to 2 mobs and the situation is under control, dont bother using cooldowns. Just dps down the mobs and save those CDs for the next pack.

It takes some experience to learn what you can survive and what you cant and what you can bend the rules with. Dont be afraid to push a bit harder if you think what youre doing is too easy or fine. But always be aware of your party comp and what theyre capable of. If you go ham and pull big and find out that the healer is undergeared or inexperienced, you may end up having a bad time. Typically for me, I will pull heavy at the beginning of the dungeon Im experienced in and gauge where the party is at. If the mobs take to long to die or the healer is struggling with keeping me up, I will pull smaller from there on out. If they can handle it and everything is peachy, then I will continue to pull big unless asked to by the party.

Some quick final notes:
•Yes, DO Pull with Provoke, not shield lob when applicable (there is some ideal min/maxing regarding pulling but thats more for Savage Tier). Anyways, provoke is an oGCD and will net you a decent amount of threat due to how its been reworked. Unless its been changed, which I havent seen, provoke nets you a decent amount of additional threat now ontop of putting you in 1st spot. Before it used to put you in position 1 and add only 1 point of threat. In Any case, this will allow you to immediately open up with a GCD rather than having to wait. It also has a farther range than your shield lob. This doesnt mean provoke and ignore the mob though. You still have to smack them in the face to keep threat, as healer aggro is a real thing and they will pull the monster off you if you dont do any further actions.

•If youre HP isnt 90% or higher, dont panic. You do not have to be topped off all the time in this game UNLESS there is an enemy with a tank buster that does extremely high damage. Monitor how fast your HP is dropping nad how often your healer is healing. If youre sitting at 50% but your healer is spot healing you and youre not gonna die in the next immediate second or two, dont sweat it. Youll be ok. The exception to this is that there are some enemies with what I would describe as mini tank busters. Theyre instant cast and they will hit you hard, sometimes chunking you fro 20% or more of your HP. These enemies arent too frequent so youre gonna have to learn which ones do it through experience. But if you know an enemy in your pack does have that ability, and your hp is hovering around 20%, that is a problem for you. Do what it takes to make sure you dont die. But I digress. Point is dont freak out if your HP isnt capped. It doesnt have to be.

•Dont be afraid to Pop Hallowed Ground, but dont do it lazily. If you think youre gonna die before a healer can get your health back up, use it. Its better to use it and not die. Worst case scenario, you burn it up and the healer can just do free DPS while youre invincible. I typically wouldnt recommend using it on large pulls though unless youre going for mega pulls - the kind of pulls where you pull from the start of the dungeon up to the first boss and get like 15+ enemies. In that case it is super useful cause youre likely gonna eat dirt otherwise simply due to the amount of damage youre taking. The other time to use it is if youre chain pulling and you arent gonna need it for the boss. So if you use up most of your CDs after the first trash pull, you can use it in the second until your CDs are back, just as a means to clear faster.

•Dont be afraid to cheese. While it is frowned upon, be aware that yes you can kite some melee enemies. Quite a few enemies have to stop before they can attack. This means that if you run in a wide enough circle, they will hit you much less with auto attacks because theyre busy chasing you instead. This will slow down how fast you do take damage (but be aware they WILL still hit you from time to time). The catch is it will also make it harder on your DPS to kill those mobs if theyre not ranged, and will expose them to more Cleave/AoE damage. This isnt a tactic that is recommended to be used on a regular basis, but something you can do if things get that bad. A case would be youre out of cooldowns and healer is struggling with their mana pool. Again, not 100% ideal, heck not even 25% ideal, but it is something you can do if things get that bad.

•Do what it takes to be the tank. At the end of the day, youre job is to get punched in the face and take it like a boss. Youre not a DPS. Youre not a healer. Youre the tank. So do what it takes to make sure you have aggro and are keeping the boss away from your team. If something is interruptable, dont assume a team mate has it. You interrupt it. If the boss has a cleave and one of your DPS is dumb and standing to far forward, pull or turn the boss. You are the one controlling much of the situation in regards to where the enemies are gonna be at and which way they face. This also means that you have to stay alive, so dont take tank busters or other attacks and think "Whatever, Im the tank". A dead tank is a terrible tank. And if you have to move the boss to avoid a wipe and that interrupts DPS, tough luck for them. You do what you have to do to be the tank first and foremost.

Also last one: Arm's Length is a COOLDOWN FOR TRASH MOBS. USE IT. I cant believe how many tanks do not use this for Trash mobs when that slow effect is pretty good. If you know a boss has a push/pull mechanic and need it for that, then you can save it. But for trash mobs in dungeons and big pulls, its a fairly solid CD.

[Gurney]

Meld INT so Flash hits harder. Running joke with me and some of my friends when someone in the FC ask.

[Nedkel]

My advice.
Pull everything in sight and rotate your deffensive skills, always use these on trash mobs and try to avoid using two at one time instead use ane after another.
Thats it.

[Lammas]

While tanking is much, much easier now than when ARR launched, I would hesitate to make blanket statements like this. Please don't encourage new tanks to ignore any of their skills. Many are situational but that doesn't mean they are unimportant or "useless".

Provoke specifically is for tank swaps (as Kewitt mentioned) but also for quickly grabbing back mobs if and when you lose aggro. You shouldn't use it to pull, but it'll put you back on the top of the aggro list and snap the mob back to you immediately.

With its 25y range compared to your ranged GCDs 15y it's actually a pretty nice tool for initiating aggro on some pulls. You get the mobs to group up on you from a bit further away to hit your AOEs earlier and go about your day towards the next mob.
Needed? No. Nice to have for some specific situations, yeah.

Important thing about Provoke in casual content is to not just bake it into your rotation. In content where there are more than 1 tank you'll cause grief, despair and facepalms if you do that while someone else is tanking. Use if where it's needed, not when it lights up.