Whats up with pali?

[Nishira]

I haven’t played GNB at all, and my paladin is only 46 so uh… this may not be helpful But Sheltron doesn’t block everything, from what I remember when I read up on it, it’s 15-25% iirc, and then on top of that some things are just not mitigated by it at all. So that may explain why you concluded it must be bugged. I could imagine you might be pulling with the idea that overall you’ll have stronger mitigation than you factually do, pull big and kill yourself that way. As I am completely clueless as to how GNB plays, I can’t estimate at all whether it is just stronger at that level.

That said, to me paladin feels decidedly chunky with reprisal, rampart and sentinel + sheltron, and my chocobo has had no issues with fates and such. But from what I remember early HW content hits quite a bit harder than late ARR content, maybe that’s causing it? I won’t even comment on the squadron healer, it definitely feels like living on the edge at times! If GNB is more self sufficient at those levels, I would understand your differing experiences on the two tanks. Paladin does need a heal now and then. If you think you’ve got the hang of the class, tbh I’d just give it a go in DF because I’m guessing with a player healer it may feel more like it should.

[Jeeqbit]

The first boss of Pharos quickly spawns a lot of adds and you need to kill them quick or they build up and wipe you. I've wiped there many times in DF because of people thinking they can ignore them. Sometimes ignoring them does actually work but not always.

In Aurum Vale, there are some geysers that shoot up and hit you. You might also be standing in the yellow area which reduces your health until you move out of it. You might still have the damage over time from the first boss if you didn't cleanse it with the fruit.

All leveling dungeons hit hard too and require frequent healing without mitigation (these are dungeons 1-49, 51-59, 61-69, 71-79), but you shouldn't die in one hit so check your gear and that you repaired.

Paladin has a problem where it lacks both mitigation and self-healing compared to other tanks (unless they use Clemency), but that will be improved in EW.

[Kes13a]

I only took my squadrons out a couple times personally and wouldnt trust them to boil water and not get hit by it

make sure your gear is repaired, that will make a huge difference if its broken. make sure it is up to date

are squadrons handy if you dont like people? sure... but they also fail to anticipate

coincounter used to be worse before they put in the telegraph areas instead of just the boss windup and you hoping you can get out of the way. I would say unless your party is a bit on the dim side, should be little reason to wipe after the changes. so I am leaning towards gear and, well, your party of AI's

[Tranquilmelody7]

I thought DK is the weakest tank of all...... once i lvled my DK i wanna try pally....... is pally that bad at early lvl ???

Glossing over DRK'S endgame viability(They are projected to be the worst TNK in most regards, if not by far), DRK is actually one of the better tanks for ARR.

Comparatively at ARR, the tanks fare like this(Excluding all contemporary CDs)



PLD:
Sheltron
Hallowed Ground

WAR:
Thrill of battle
Thorns effect on vengeance
Storm's Path(250 Potency)
Holmang

DRK:
Dark Mind
Soul Eater(300 Potency heal)
...Living Dead(Actually tolerable for ARR)

GUN:
Camouflage
Brutal Shell(200 Potency heal)
Aurora
Superbollide

As someone previously mentioned, Gunbreaker clearly has an advantage over the tanks.

DRK however is also relatively strong, possessing the strongest rotation heal... not to mention spammable OGCD skills in the form of Edge and Flood of Darkness(That you can generally execute with little regard to MP).

Paladin is shaping up to be a fantastic tank this expansion, but mainly for Endwalker content.
Most of the bluffs to their kit manifest in the form of traits acquired at level 82 and above(Including the heals for Holy Spirit and Circle), while Clemency received 2 nerfs(No requisecat buff and a 200 potency reduction).

So yeah, Paladin will be rewarding endgame, but the leveling process will be a bit rough.