Thread: [Guide] Paladin Tanking Compendium 2.0

IV. Macros

These are purely to lower the overhead required to play the job and to allow more overall survivability. These are by no means required to play but can be extremely helpful.

To get rid of chat log spam:

1. Navigate Character configuration option menu
2. Click the Log Windows Settings icon on the left pane
3. Select the desired log you would like to filter
4. Click the Announcements tab
5. Uncheck “Error Messages”
6. Apply then close all dialogs

Note: Currently I do not think there is a way to get rid of the “Not yet ready.” spam at the top of your screen.

Please note that when using copy and paste, BBcode translates the quotes into double apostrophes, so you must manually change them in game.

Marking:
/marking attack1 <t>
/ac “Shield Lob” <t>
Use case: Quickly mark the target while pulling.

Fast Blade:
/macroicon “Fast Blade”
/ac “Fight or Flight” <me>
/ac Bloodbath <me>
/ac “Mercy Stroke” <t>
/ac “Fast Blade” <t>
Use case: To keep Fight or Flight on cool down thus upping your enmity overall. Keep Bloodbath on cooldown to add extra healing over the course of the fight. To add an extra non GCD attack during the end of a battle. Should all variables be satisfied it will then Fast Blade.

Provoke:
/macroicon Provoke
/ac Provoke <t>
/ac “Rage of Halone” <t>
/ac “Shield Lob” <t>
Use case: Only use this when you do not have aggro and should. This will shoot you to the top of the enmity list (+1 enmity point above #2 on the list), then depending on if the mob is at range or in melee distance it will automatically Rage of Halone or Shield Lob. This will reset your combo progress so use this carefully if at all.

Circle of Scorn:
/macroicon “Circle of Scorn”
/ac “Circle of Scorn” <me>
/ac Flash <me>
Use case: This is to create as much AOE enmity in the smallest amount of time. Since Circle of Scorn does not invoke the GCD it will appear that you Circle of Scorn and Flash at the same time. This is also a good way to Flash more often should you have trouble keeping Blind up.

Cover:
/macroicon Cover
/ac Cover <mo>
/ac Cover <tt>
/ac Cover <t>
Use case: This allows you the option to cast Cover using mouseover for those that leverage the Party frames, while not losing the ability to also click on a target and cast the ability.

Cure:
/macroicon Cure
/ac Cure <mo>
/ac Cure <t>
/ac Cure <me>
Use case: This allows you the option to cast Cure using mouseover for those that leverage the Party frames, while not losing the ability to also click on a target and cast the ability. If you are targeting an enemy target it will cast Cure on you.

Stoneskin:
/macroicon Stoneskin
/ac Stoneskin <mo>
/ac Stoneskin <t>
/ac Stoneskin <me>
Use case: This allows you the option to cast Stoneskin using mouseover for those that leverage the Party frames, while not losing the ability to also click on a target and cast the ability. If you are targeting an enemy target it will cast Stoneskin on you.

Miscellaneous Macro Commands
/p Hallowed Ground Activated! 10s of God Mode <hp> <hpp>
Use case: This casts Hallowed Ground and informs the desired chat channel and healers of your invulnerability status and prints your current hp values and hp percentage.

/recast "Fight or Flight"
Use case: This outputs the remaining time on a cooldown into chat.

VI. Videos

These are a few short videos that supplement information found in this guide.

User Interface and Macros - Extremely extensive. Gives some suggestions on how to layout your interface to maximize both raid awareness and as well lower player overhead during battles. Also discusses uses of certain abilities that may be controversial.
Single Target (Boss) Tanking - Last boss in AK. Discuss best practices for single target threat, positioning, mitigation, and maximizing raid awareness.
AOE Tanking and Chain Pulling - Dungeon crawling through AK. Tank 8+ mobs, mention halone splitting which is not found in this guide, as well as resource management.
Wanderer's Palace Speed Run - Very detailed explaination on how to be very time efficent when farming Allagan Tombstones of Mythology. Content by: Zeus Laser

VI. References

These are simply links where a lot of my data was gathered. Feel free to visit them and draw possibly draw your own conclusions.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/f...657-Tank-Roles - Information to build a general consensus on how the Paladin community is tanking
http://www.bluegartr.com/forums/155-...Theorycrafting - Information to build a general consensus on how the Paladin community is tanking
http://www.daevaofwar.net/index.php?...sjob-analysis/ - Another great guide that beginner information this guide assumes you already know.
https://pay.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...flash_testing/ - Discussion on what affects flash, also contains diminishing returns on stacking STR.
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...LD-Bonus-Stats - a discussion on STR vs VIT
http://valk.dancing-mad.com/?page_id=231 - A table that contains abilities along with their enmity multipliers
http://xivdb.com/ - An item database that sometimes contains comments on drop locations.
http://mooglebox.com - A now decommisioned database that contained loot drop locations.
http://www.ffxivinfo.com/ - A what appears to be an up and coming resource site for FFXIV.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...ob2hnWHc#gid=1 - Information on accuracy caps.
http://chocobro.com - great theorycraft website.
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ipment-Planner - Jahaudant's Paladin equipment planner.

Out of curiosity, what puts the Heavy Darksteel over the Heavy Darklight? There is a significant DEF difference between the two. Is it the materia added? If so, what are you adding? It seems you wouldn't completely benefit from VIT because it would cap out(not sure if it does, just assumed). Also, the guide says that the stat priority is DEF > VIT. Just trying to figure out which is better before I spend more points on Darklight.

Hello - I have a few thoughts in reaction to your post.

#1 - I am not very comfortable with your Fast Blade macro. Personally I will not use any c/d's on the trash pull(s) right before a boss. Basically, I want everything to be up for that. I agree that Fight or Flight is a critical tool for establishing enmity at the start of a pull, and that's why I want to make certain it is available for me before we begin a boss fight.

#2 - I don't agree with your approach to AOE pulls. I think the rotation you described - especially "spam Flash until half MP" - might be necessary in a very limited set of situations. For example, if a bunch of adds spawn during a boss and they all need to be AOE'd down quickly. But most times this is not the optimal strategy.

Thinking about Flash, it (a) can reduce our incoming damage via blind, (b) can maintain AOE threat against the healer without breaking CC, and (c) does no damage. Therefore I view it as something to be used only as much as is necessary. Any time I use it when I didn't need to, that is wasted DPS. I could have been contributing damage to a target and getting it down faster (which in turn means that I take less damage overall).

In my experience, good WHM's these days are favoring a style of using their first several GCD's on Sleep. This is optimal b/c it in turn allows them to do less healing and contribute more DPS to the target. I find a single Flash is more than sufficient to buy enough enmity to keep the mobs on me until the Sleeps go out. After that, I will not Flash again until the first Blind wears off. Why? Because this game has diminishing returns. When you spam Flash, the next Blind is at 1/2 duration, the third at 1/4, and after that - immune. By spamming it, you are forfeiting your blind, which is a mitigation tool.

Therefore my preference for AOE tanking in most situations is shield lob to initiate, a single flash during the CC portion of the fight, and then cycle my rotation through the active target(s). That is, if there are two active monsters not CC'd, I will Halone one, then the other, etc. If the DD's are creeping up on you, on the main target, you won't be able to do it like that. In that case, I would fast blade on main, savage blade on off, then halon back on main. And so on. As opposed to spamming Flash, this allows me to have much more uptime on Blind, and contribute more damage because every GCD goes to damage.

Originally Posted by Sebastien

Hello - I have a few thoughts in reaction to your post.

#1 - I am not very comfortable with your Fast Blade macro. Personally I will not use any c/d's on the trash pull(s) right before a boss. Basically, I want everything to be up for that. I agree that Fight or Flight is a critical tool for establishing enmity at the start of a pull, and that's why I want to make certain it is available for me before we begin a boss fight.

#2 - I don't agree with your approach to AOE pulls. I think the rotation you described - especially "spam Flash until half MP" - might be necessary in a very limited set of situations. For example, if a bunch of adds spawn during a boss and they all need to be AOE'd down quickly. But most times this is not the optimal strategy.

Thinking about Flash, it (a) can reduce our incoming damage via blind, (b) can maintain AOE threat against the healer without breaking CC, and (c) does no damage. Therefore I view it as something to be used only as much as is necessary. Any time I use it when I didn't need to, that is wasted DPS. I could have been contributing damage to a target and getting it down faster (which in turn means that I take less damage overall).

In my experience, good WHM's these days are favoring a style of using their first several GCD's on Sleep. This is optimal b/c it in turn allows them to do less healing and contribute more DPS to the target. I find a single Flash is more than sufficient to buy enough enmity to keep the mobs on me until the Sleeps go out. After that, I will not Flash again until the first Blind wears off. Why? Because this game has diminishing returns. When you spam Flash, the next Blind is at 1/2 duration, the third at 1/4, and after that - immune. By spamming it, you are forfeiting your blind, which is a mitigation tool.

Therefore my preference for AOE tanking in most situations is shield lob to initiate, a single flash during the CC portion of the fight, and then cycle my rotation through the active target(s). That is, if there are two active monsters not CC'd, I will Halone one, then the other, etc. If the DD's are creeping up on you, on the main target, you won't be able to do it like that. In that case, I would fast blade on main, savage blade on off, then halon back on main. And so on. As opposed to spamming Flash, this allows me to have much more uptime on Blind, and contribute more damage because every GCD goes to damage.

If you're not comfortable with using macros don't use them. You are describing low level dungeons. When you group with geared players you dont sleep mobs you kill them. Pull 3 groups aoe them down move on. No need to make a day out of one dungeon.

The methods I described are from watching videos of high end guilds as well as self experience. As I stated, I do not create anything on my own without verifying that many high end players are doing the same thing, I then compiled the information into this compendium for yours as well as my benefit. Watch videos from Defiant Of (Behemoth), Lyni Sol (Coeurl), Cue Ball (Leviathan) and Rikku Inohira (Moogle) to get a better consensus of how to tank end game content.