Quote Originally Posted by Arohk View Post
Brutal Shell is the strongest by far, if needed you can only do 1-2-1-2... for more self healing.
While true, in terms of actual consistency and viability Souleater in comparison pulls ahead and is generally not obstructed by branching combo paths or alternate combos. Generally the resource generation is also fairly tame compared to Warrior and Gunbreaker, so they tend to use less Bloodspillers vs Fell Cleave & Burst Strike/Cart combo. At levels where other healing tools or healing enhancements come into play however is where the other tanks definitely pull ahead in terms of sustain, which is where rigorous monitoring of "what can I TBN efficiently to reduce healing needed" is the only thing that allows you to come close to the sustain of other tanks.

Also, not related to your post Arohk, but - I'm going to die on a hill saying this since I read this too many damn times every time TBN's 15s cooldown is brought up along with "but it is a DPS loss if used too much"...

High TBN usage is only a loss in the following three scenarios:
  • when used excessively before a 2min global burst window so you can't pool 9000-12000MP worth of Edge of Shadow
  • when used during a 2min global burst window and it won't break in time before damage buffs fizzle
  • when it doesn't break in the first place

And of course using TBN excessively when your healer is in a position to comfortably heal you with one or two oGCDs is not necessarily a loss, but just overkill.

Bonus Info:
If you play raidbuff-less comp aka <tank> <tank> WHM SGE SAM MCH BLM <ideally RPR or MNK> where Raid buffs are utterly minimal then using TBN until you pass out will be such a minimal loss that you can more likely attribute what DPS loss you have gotten over the course of the fight to damage and crit variance than losing 3-5% per Edge of Shadow in a buff window. The comp is perfectly fine for doing damage and clearing content btw.