Help me be better!

[Pepsi_Plunge]

At what point should I pop a defensive cooldown? And is there a particularly order like should I save the 30% until last, is there a common rotation or all depends on how many mobs you pull?

For bosses, you pop your cooldown either right before you know a tankbuster&mechanic is gonna hit you. Usually you pop your best cooldown but by learning the fights and doing them more often you may realise that a smaller one may be also enough, especially if you know that something harder comes along later.

For pulls, you gather your mobs and once you decide to stop you pop your cooldowns. Usually you will also start with your biggest one but it also depends on how many mobs you pull. If this is a small pull mit maybe 2-3 mobs and a larger pull will be coming right after you may save your 30% cooldown for that big pull later. If you pull big from the beginning start with 30% and go down that road once they run out of duration. In the beginning you can (and should) also throw in smaller CDs like arms length or Reprisal together with your bigger CDs.

If you are playing PLD and have holy ground you can and should also use it on big pulls as your first big CD, when you take the most DMG. Don't use it just as an emergency button.

Wall to wall pulling, is this a thing I should do in level 50 dungeons or wait until higher levels.

The thing is more about your equipment and the equipment of the party. You can do this in most dungeons but you may not survive this if you're not equipped for the task. Same is true for the healer as they won't be able to keep up with the incoming dmg if their equipment is lacking. And also if your DDs won't do good damage the mobs will take forever to die and you may run out of CDs. It's a group thing so make sure your group is okay with the big pulls, especially if there are newbies in your teams.

Should I spam aoe until there’s only 2 enemies left then go onto single target attacks.

Yeah, most of the time you want to hit everything because you don't want to lose aggro.

Do you usually pull one pack and see how you get on and that determines how you will play for the rest of the dungeon?

That may be a good idea to test the waters, especially if you are not sure if your team is equipped well enough (see above)

[Absurdity]

In the beginning you can (and should) also throw in smaller CDs like arms length or Reprisal together with your bigger CDs.

I would not use arm's length and reprisal together with your 30% cd. Since arm's length slows the mobs attack speed the only thing you get out of it is less mitigation from your big CD.

Pop arm's length about 3-4 seconds before your 30% runs out so by the time you have no mitigation up the enemies are slowed and then combine it with reprisal as "intermission" mitigation before popping something like rampart.

I should also add that you want to be careful with a WHM as your healer. If they actually know what they're doing then they'll start spamming holy for a while as soon as you stop pulling more mobs. This means that the enemies will be stunned for about 7 seconds and using your defensives during that means you're potentially wasting half of your 30% CDs duration since nothing is attacking you.

generally yes u want to spam aoes until there are 2-3 mobs, at this point depending on your healer's mana just start to pull the next set of packs.

For warrior and gunbreaker it is a dps increase to use your aoe combo on 2+ mobs.

Keen Edge -> Brutal Shell -> Solid Barrel = 3 GCDs for 900 potency total, Demon Slice -> Demon Slaughter = 2 GCDs for 400 potency per enemy hit. So let's assume you do 6 GCDs with atleast 2 enemies. Your single target combo would deal 1800 potency in damage and your aoe would deal 1200 potency per enemy in the same amount of time for a total of 2400 potency in dps. It becomes a bit more complicated if we factor in cartridge spenders but generally you want to prioritise your Gnashing Fang combo for 1-3 mobs, at 4+ mobs Fated Circle will deal more dps.

I'm not too sure about paladin or dark knight but even there you can safely assume that at 3 or more enemies your aoe will deal more damage in total. This obviously changes at lower levels when you only have access to 1 aoe ability with relatively low potency.

[Spartan_Aoues]

For warrior and gunbreaker it is a dps increase to use your aoe combo on 2+ mobs.

Keen Edge -> Brutal Shell -> Solid Barrel = 3 GCDs for 900 potency total, Demon Slice -> Demon Slaughter = 2 GCDs for 400 potency per enemy hit. So let's assume you do 6 GCDs with atleast 2 enemies. Your single target combo would deal 1800 potency in damage and your aoe would deal 1200 potency per enemy in the same amount of time for a total of 2400 potency in dps. It becomes a bit more complicated if we factor in cartridge spenders but generally you want to prioritise your Gnashing Fang combo for 1-3 mobs, at 4+ mobs Fated Circle will deal more dps.

I'm not too sure about paladin or dark knight but even there you can safely assume that at 3 or more enemies your aoe will deal more damage in total. This obviously changes at lower levels when you only have access to 1 aoe ability with relatively low potency.

After big pulls you done wait to kill 2-3 mobs, the dps can prob kill it on your way to the next packs. its better to just mobe on and grab more. unless u need to wait for cds or healer mana is low.

[Mhaeric]

After big pulls you done wait to kill 2-3 mobs, the dps can prob kill it on your way to the next packs. its better to just mobe on and grab more. unless u need to wait for cds or healer mana is low.

As a DPS main, I hate this. Don't do it. Killing moving targets is a pain in the socks especially if there's still 2-3 of them since they'll likely be spread out and you're forced into single target. The only two exceptions that I would recommend to this are a) if there are only ranged dps in your party since movement doesn't impact those jobs as much although mobs spreading out still impacts AoE and b) if you know that the dps can kill the remaining mobs before they start moving to follow you I.e. waiting until the absolute last moment when only a single hit or two will kill all of the remaining mobs.

[Spartan_Aoues]

As a DPS main, I hate this. Don't do it. Killing moving targets is a pain in the socks especially if there's still 2-3 of them since they'll likely be spread out and you're forced into single target.

Yeah, this is stupid and annoying. This only works if you have 2 Ranged Physical DPS.

I understand your frustration, as most combo skills will be useless while on the move, especially if u are casting. As a tank i get it but pay attention to the situation. If there are 2-3 mobs that are 10% health, there is no reason to maximize combos u can just use single target or use aoe skill that are not tied to mob pos. If done right by the time you pick the next pack dps will have already killed all mobs. Also if you are moveing the mobs will have a longer/staggerd auto attack pattern, making it much easy for healers in range, also it makes buffs like regs more efficient.

As a rule you want to always be pulling not 2 much to wipe not to little that healers it not challenged, make sure you push ur team to be better.

[Mhaeric]

I understand your frustration, as most combo skills will be useless while on the move, especially if u are casting. As a tank i get it but pay attention to the situation. If there are 2-3 mobs that are 10% health, there is no reason to maximize combos u can just use single target or use aoe skill that are not tied to mob pos. If done right by the time you pick the next pack dps will have already killed all mobs. Also if you are moveing the mobs will have a longer/staggerd auto attack pattern, making it much easy for healers in range, also it makes buffs like regs more efficient.

As a rule you want to always be pulling not 2 much to wipe not to little that healers it not challenged, make sure you push ur team to be better.

No. You're potentially wasting dps buffs by pulling like that and killing mobs on the move is a pain for melee and casters. Anyone looking for tanking advice, please ignore anything he said above. Most of it isn't good.

[Spartan_Aoues]

No. You're potentially wasting dps buffs by pulling like that and killing mobs on the move is a pain for melee and casters. Anyone looking for tanking advice, please ignore anything he said above. Most of it isn't good.

relax dude its not bad advice, you dont need the damage buffs, or combos to kill mobs that are 10% health in fact if you wanted you could just used ur ranged attack and by the time the next pack is set ranged will have already killed the stragglers, if not when the next pack is set you can use aoe and cleave stragglers as well.

[Xiaoki]

After big pulls you done wait to kill 2-3 mobs, the dps can prob kill it on your way to the next packs. its better to just mobe on and grab more. unless u need to wait for cds or healer mana is low.

Yeah, this is stupid and annoying. This only works if you have 2 Ranged Physical DPS.

For Melee DPS the mobs will be moving in and out of melee range. You could use Sprint to go faster but then you will be going faster than the mobs and your Sprint will run out before you get to the last pack of mobs and be wasted.

The problems should be self evident if you have Caster DPS.

[aodhan_ofinnegain]

For max reductions as close to the end of the cast bar as u can get(depends on latency) you want the buff icon to appear before the cast bar is finished to register(depends on the attack some attack have a longer animation and can be mig later i think)

This is a not a good means to using cooldowns, outside of maybe timing tank invulns in Savage or Ultimate. Really you should not use cooldowns that close to the boss finishing its cast, but instead try to use your cooldowns early, in advance of tankbusters, as mitigating auto attacks before tankbusters and after can help healers immensely. Also the sooner you use them, the sooner you get them back off of cooldown. Of course pre popping your cooldowns comes with learning a fight first.

After big pulls you done wait to kill 2-3 mobs, the dps can prob kill it on your way to the next packs. its better to just mobe on and grab more. unless u need to wait for cds or healer mana is low.

This is by far the worst thing you can do as a tank in a dungeon, it's just stupid and frustrates melee and casters for no reason, and even Physical ranged too to some degree. A good tank will commit to the pull they have made, and will wait until the mobs are dead before proceeding to the next pack. You prevent doubling the sprint duration received from being out of combat or prevent the use of Peleton from physical ranged, and the increased HP / MP ticks out of combat too, all the while dps are trying to kill the mobs that keep getting yoinked out of their range.

Be a good tank don't do this in dungeons.

[Absurdity]

This is a not a good means to using cooldowns, outside of maybe timing tank invulns in Savage or Ultimate.

There are some cases where this is actually a good idea, namely when you know that popping your cooldown as late as possible allows you to mitigate a second mechanic.