Which Tank is the most mechanically challenging?

[NegativeS]

As in, not challenging in general (I know DRK would win by a long shot right now) but mechanically complex, if that makes sense.

I've played a lot of PLD and GNB, and I can definitely feel the difference; PLD is a lot more complex with the two main damage buffs changing your rotation up, while GNB feels more like a rhythm game with how that one ability coming off cooldown leading into the rest of your rotation feels like the drop to a song or something.

I've played WAR up to ~50, and DRK I only got like, 3 job quests in before I went back to PLD, so I have no idea how those two play in endgame.

[shao32]

WAR is fairly simple compared to PLD and GNB but still have to manage his gauge, his storm eye buff and his infuriate time reduction, DRK on the other hand is just throw all his oGCD and MP under raid buffs and spend 45s doing nothing but his soul eater combo, his difficulty rely on how good is your connection to make all those double weaves after his absurd downtime so is basically a brain dead job.

If you want to play the most complex tanks you are already playing them.

[AziraSyuren]

Paladin, easily.

[NegativeS]

WAR is fairly simple compared to PLD and GNB but still have to manage his gauge, his storm eye buff and his infuriate time reduction, DRK on the other hand is just throw all his oGCD and MP under raid buffs and spend 45s doing nothing but his soul eater combo, his difficulty rely on how good is your connection to make all those double weaves after his absurd downtime so is basically a brain dead job.

If you want to play the most complex tanks you are already playing them.

Understandable, I guess that's what drew me to them in the first place

[Hierro]

GNB, because it actively works against itself with how so many things needing to be weaved. To balance that with its tanking responsibilities of positioning and mitigating, it can be a handful to keep everything up and still perform at an exceptional level.

[Undeadfire]

Paladin effectively has different openers and customized rotations in a lot of fights for optimising it, making mistakes will usually pay a de-sync, or a pack of dps loss, it's been the toughest since they added Atonement/Confiteor. You have to remember all the optimised rotations in every fight to effectively keep up with GNB/DRK (If it gets buffed).

The other 3 tanks is usually burn everything in their burst window, Gunbreaker has a tighter timer making it more difficult to move bosses.

[Oizen]

PLD > GNB > WAR/DRK

[Atreides]

Paladin is in my opinion the one that is the most mechanically challeging in that regard because they can and have to adjust their rotation depending on the fight to get the most out of it they are pretty flexible in that regard.
Warrior is as straight forward as it can get. You hit your buttons, you smash, feels very satisfying.
Gunbreaker is also very straight forward the challenge is mostly in trying to fit defensive cooldowns between your continuation windows, also boss movement during that time is a pain and you ideally want your cotank to do that.
Can't say much about Dark Knight since last time I really played it was in 4.1 all I know is that they are doing pretty well in raids but have a bad time in dungeons currently.

[Sazuzaki]

PLD and DRK are the most mech challening IMO. PLD def has the most complex rotation, very hard to use it to it's fullest. DRK on the other hand has a very high defensive skill ceiling. You lose DPS if you use TBN (The Blackest Night) improperly cause it costs MP. PLD for hard rotation management, DRK for hard resource management.

Both have downsides, however:
PLD is very spammy with Requiescat, Atonements, and the new Confiteor "combo." So you're gonna be pressing one button a lot with PLD.
DRK, you only spam 1-2-3 outside of burst windows which is really boring, as well as our inferior Inner Release called Delirium. A lot of its kit is very unimaginative and lacks synergy. Gonna be real, the only reason I even touch this class is TBN.

Honestly though, there is no real hard role in this game. All of them can be played by anyone, which isn't a bad thing. The real difficulty comes from the fights themselves.

[Atreides]

Honestly though, there is no real hard role in this game. All of them can be played by anyone, which isn't a bad thing. The real difficulty comes from the fights themselves.

Pretty much this, the difficulty in jobs is mostly measured by entrance difficulty, in the end you'll have the rotations down in your muscle memory and just play the mechanics.