Tanking with style

[AnotherPerson]

When I started tanking, I chose GNB first as my favorite.
WAR has its unique charm and lots of fell cleave. Inner release and most of the skills having this shrug off animation felt pretty wild and beastly to me and was my close second.

Post lv 70, DRK is my top choice, followed by WAR/PLD. ShB has especially cemented DRK as my number one tank. At first I didn't like the slow wind-up attack animations, but it grown on me and I can appreciate how it felt in ShB.

[Vyrerus]

For style it depends on what you like. Gritty/tough animations, go with Gunbreaker. Pearlescent, nacreous animations, go with PLD. Shadowy and sensual, go with DRK.

DRK's lost the most animations over the years, and PLD's never really lost any(I don't count the loss of certain defensives because they basically just Hallowed -1). Of course, DRK has also gained new animations this expansion... and if it still had the Power Slash combo, I'd probably never play anything else.

WAR's animations suffer from basically being a lack of animation. Outside of its combos there's Fell Cleave and Decimate with truly noticeable animations, but Steel/Chaotic Cyclone basically get drowned out by the direct crits appearing on screen. I guess if you like staring at the damage text, then that's a style all its own, but honestly the animations themselves are mildly disappointing. It's lost the second most animations across tanks. Why PLD gets to to keep everything and only get better every expansion is beyond me, but there are other jobs like that as well so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

GNB's single target rotation is very sexy and always feels fun at 70+. It's very cool looking. Its AOE rotation on the other hand is dog shit from an aesthetics stand point, since it's literally the same animation twice(one's CW other is CCW, whoopie), followed by that same animation, but now with booms, when you get the Powder Gauge AOE in the 70s. I kinda wish they'd lower the recast on Bowshock, as it's really cool looking, but GNB doesn't need to get any stronger.

PLD's got some of the coolest animations now. I've never liked Royal Authority, it's too prissy for my tastes, but Atonement, Requiescat, Confiteor, Holy Circle, and Goring Blade really get my groove on.

[DRKoftheAzure]

For style it depends on what you like. Gritty/tough animations, go with Gunbreaker. Pearlescent, nacreous animations, go with PLD. Shadowy and sensual, go with DRK.

Yeah it's mostly animations that tend to sell a class more over the others...

DRK's lost the most animations over the years, and PLD's never really lost any(I don't count the loss of certain defensives because they basically just Hallowed -1). Of course, DRK has also gained new animations this expansion... and if it still had the Power Slash combo, I'd probably never play anything else.

That is a mood right there, though "balance comes before fun" pretty much killed DRK for me...

WAR's animations suffer from basically being a lack of animation. Outside of its combos there's Fell Cleave and Decimate with truly noticeable animations, but Steel/Chaotic Cyclone basically get drowned out by the direct crits appearing on screen. I guess if you like staring at the damage text, then that's a style all its own, but honestly the animations themselves are mildly disappointing. It's lost the second most animations across tanks.

I never really liked WAR... only leveled it in Heavensward for it's cross class skills for DRK and boosted it to 60 and the grind the rest of the way... Never liked Fell Cleave spam and it killed my immersion of the class and any other class with Fell Cleave spam(PLD was the First with Holy Spirit Spam though I kind give PLD a pass though I do not like how the WAR and DRK got their own versions and DRK getting 2 discounted version)

Why PLD gets to to keep everything and only get better every expansion is beyond me, but there are other jobs like that as well so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Actually PLD lost Shield Swipe but kept Shield Bash... that one is beyond me...

GNB's single target rotation is very sexy and always feels fun at 70+. It's very cool looking. Its AOE rotation on the other hand is dog shit from an aesthetics stand point, since it's literally the same animation twice(one's CW other is CCW, whoopie), followed by that same animation, but now with booms, when you get the Powder Gauge AOE in the 70s. I kinda wish they'd lower the recast on Bowshock, as it's really cool looking, but GNB doesn't need to get any stronger.

Move Continuation to level 60, but lower its potencies by 100, make a trait that boosts the potencies by 100 per skill, and the level 90 trait boosts it even further by another 100 per skill. But GNB animations really sold me to play GNB and it's playstyle. As for Bow Shock I expect a trait that lowers its recast in the next expansion.

PLD's got some of the coolest animations now. I've never liked Royal Authority, it's too prissy for my tastes, but Atonement, Requiescat, Confiteor, Holy Circle, and Goring Blade really get my groove on.

Sword Oath spam could flow really nicely if you got Atonement spam at level 50 PLD quest, Rage of Halone replaces the last 2 Atonements at level 60 PLD quest, and Royal Authority replaces the second Rage of Halone at level 70 PLD quest(requires bringing back Savage Blade to actually work as how I described)

[select20]

Crazy to hear from you all how much has changed

[DRKoftheAzure]

Crazy to hear from you all how much has changed

You don't even know the half of it...

[select20]

You don't even know the half of it...

Also, ArianeEwah's sig makes so much sense and why I like tanking so much here so far. I feel like you have to think about what you're doing. Which rotation, which skill to use when. Other MMO's I have tanked in a lot, feel very dumbed down and makes me bored. Of course, speaking from the point of view where my DrK is only lvl68. But so far, very much enjoy it.

[DRKoftheAzure]

Also, ArianeEwah's sig makes so much sense and why I like tanking so much here so far. I feel like you have to think about what you're doing. Which rotation, which skill to use when. Other MMO's I have tanked in a lot, feel very dumbed down and makes me bored. Of course, speaking from the point of view where my DrK is only lvl68. But so far, very much enjoy it.

You'll get bored of it Bloodspiller spam really fast, along with Souleater spam... only to realize that no fun is allowed when trying to play as DRK, and are forced to play as the devs want you to play with DRK...

[select20]

You'll get bored of it Bloodspiller spam really fast, along with Souleater spam... only to realize that no fun is allowed when trying to play as DRK, and are forced to play as the devs want you to play with DRK...

I'll make sure I level another tank or two as back up then to keep things fresh.

[DRKoftheAzure]

I'll make sure I level another tank or two as back up then to keep things fresh.

Can't go wrong with GNB as that second single target combo is enough to keep it fresh once you get Continuation skill at level 70, you can also try some flashy custom combo stuff with Sonic Break since it's a GCD with a separate recast timer(like Gnashing Fang but unlike Gnashing Fang, Sonic Break doesn't cost a cartridge) into Bow Shock and if you are comfortable with double weaving Danger/Blasting Zone, though this is mostly oGCD stuff you are allowed to do custom combo stuff with GCD since oGCD doesn't interrupt combo stuff(though Sonic Break and Gnashing Fang combo do not interrupt other combos but regular GCD combos will interrupt Gnashing Fang combo) and there is some tricks you can do with Demon Slaughter combo if you are required to move away from the boss but No Mercy burst is almost back up if you think you won't be able to finish a full Solid Barrel combo in time.


On a more depressing note some IRL stuff hit REALLY HARD and it wasn't COVID-19 that's for sure... so my posts will definitely slow down like an I unsubbed... my sister's cat just turned 15 years old(90 in cat years) his(the cat) health just started deteriorate starting with his kidneys, and he's been around since 2005, and family that actually happened to not move away far enough are wanting to say their goodbyes to him as well in person before he suffers too much... nobody probably cares at this point considering my past posts, but yeah...

[Lammas]

I really don't understand why a new player liking a job needs to be told how glorious it was 4-5 years ago and how dull and boring you think it is now and how they'll hate it soon enough.

I don't like ShB Bard so I don't play it anymore even though I loved that job in HW and SB. I don't see the need to shove that feeling down everyones throat whenever Bard is mentioned even in passing somewhere trying to drag them down too...

As for the OP question I prefer DRK and GNB. The aesthetics of both are great. I like gunblade more than the greatsword as a weapon but on the other hand I prefer the shadow / abyssal abilities to GNBs explosions. PLD and WAR don't really grab me and never did.