What are the basics of Gladiator/Paladin?

[ZenBear]

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You're right that at lower levels Flash has a much greater potency. I remember when I was leveling I made it just fine through Sastasha, Tam Tara and Copperbell relying mainly on Savage Blade for enmity, but when I hit Halatali where they start to regularly throw larger groups of mobs at you I had to use the Fast Blade -> Riot Blade -> Flash combo exclusively. The damage of Riot on top of Flash enmity was sufficient to hold single target enmity against a DD at that stage, so I didn't need to use Savage. But that didn't last for long.

Something in particular of note: you really don't need to use Riot Blade to regenerate MP, especially toward the end of a fight. Once combat is over, you regen massive chunks of HP/MP per second, so unless you're really hauling a$$ you'll usually have full bars by the next fight. In a pull of 3 trash mobs you can cycle Fast Blade -> Savage Blade -> Flash over and over and by the time you run out of MP at least one mob will be dead and you won't need to Flash anymore anyway.

This is what I love about FFXIV's dungeons; they teach you how to tank as you level up and gain new abilities. As you progress your tactics change and what worked for you before is no longer as effective, but the lessons you learned in those lower level dungeons guide you to discover those new tactics that will carry you through what lies ahead.