[GUIDE] Warrior: Skill Intensive Tanking

[Sakasa]

In short, as with most abilities it's a very situational choice compared to the storm's eye and butcher's block combos, and to make matters worse it combos off maim, so often times you'll be firing it in place of storm's eye and then having to waste additional damage/enmity swapping a main combo for a late DPS one. You're better off investing in Second Wind and replacing it as the "oh shit" heal instead of using a 7 second combo that screws your storm's eye bonus.

On that note Butcher's Block and Storm's eye have an animation lock that will prevent even off GCD from activating. This is very import when you are waiting for cast bar move to stun but you don't want to just sit there and auto attack. So using Storm's Path is more effective then just repeating heavy > skull and heavy > maim waiting for the stun.

[Exrage]

As it continually keeps being brought up I'll say it again: Your choice of Second Wind, Mantra, or Inner Release are all based on the boss fight and your group's composition. If you have no monk/someone else with Mantra substituting Second Wind or Provoke is just fine in most cases.

If you're using the duty finder for Titan (God help you) or OTing the Coils Inner Release to up your DPS would be preferable over self-healing as you won't be taking anything significant enough to rate it.

This being said remember: You're a tank. Self Healing helps when you're main tanking and that extra 600 heal right before you get smacked and the scholar's still midcast.

[Exrage]

Note: Stacking Vitality in your crafted 50 gear you blew over a million gil on does NOT make you Titan or BC ready. Completely blew my mind today, I know some guys need to be carried but there's a limit.

[Chained_Icarus]

Note: Stacking Vitality in your crafted 50 gear you blew over a million gil on does NOT make you Titan or BC ready. Completely blew my mind today, I know some guys need to be carried but there's a limit.

Hey, I've been stuck on Titan HM for... well... weeks now. I could legit use some Warrior advice.

When I MT it, I feel like I'm doing well for what the class can do, and the healers don't seem strained to keep me up personally (everyone else is another story). But I notice that if we pass heart, it's almost always an immediate wipe there. Is there something I could be doing to help out? I'm usually one of the last to die (I self-heal through a lot of Turmult's damage and I time IB near perfectly with Mt. Buster).

When I "OT" it, I try to be a psuedo-DPS, but I'm not sure I'm really contributing. Any tips there?

[Exrage]

Hey, I've been stuck on Titan HM for... well... weeks now. I could legit use some Warrior advice.

Titan Hard Mode is probably the most frustrating fight in FFXIV as a warrior for a lot of reasons, most notable is the pure and simple fact that until AFTER the heart phase there's literally nothing you can do to help as the rest of them are forced to dodge *everything* or die.

Titan will Mountain Buster you for roughly 4K-4.5K, Rock Smash for an additional 1.5-2K, then regular attack for a final 750-900, which completely overwhelms a full HP tank unless YOU anticipate the attacks and clutch your DPS combo with a well timed Inner Beast/Second Wind heal as a buffer for the healer's cast time. But if the healer doesn't have you topped off after the shatter, as most go into panic mode trying to heal everyone else, the 2-2.5K self heal won't be enough to survive the second rock smash which is where most tanks new to the fight fail.

[Exrage]

When I "OT" it, I try to be a psuedo-DPS, but I'm not sure I'm really contributing. Any tips there?

Titan requires 150+ DPS minimum for all members assuming you use the LB2 method, which even in our tanking set + Ifrit or Garuda weapon is easily accomplished. Some warriors use crafted materia melded items to boost their STR or augment their rings/neck/earrings with Peltist AK gear for the additional edge on damage. This being said, compared to an actual DPS class in equivalent gear you won't be able to compare if they know what they're doing so most stick with a single tank.

If you're looking for a way to carry your team, merely survive the heart phase with a healer/tank combo that knows the transition. Your self-healing prowess in the 5th phase will make you one of the *only* DPS alive until the healer manages the LB3 mass raise to hurry the end of the fight.

[Giantbane]

Hey, I've been stuck on Titan HM for... well... weeks now. I could legit use some Warrior advice.

When I MT it, I feel like I'm doing well for what the class can do, and the healers don't seem strained to keep me up personally (everyone else is another story). But I notice that if we pass heart, it's almost always an immediate wipe there. Is there something I could be doing to help out? I'm usually one of the last to die (I self-heal through a lot of Turmult's damage and I time IB near perfectly with Mt. Buster).

When I "OT" it, I try to be a psuedo-DPS, but I'm not sure I'm really contributing. Any tips there?

Remember, when you are playing OT to a PLD MT, it's not just your DPS you're bringing to the raid. You're also boosting the PLD damage (and threat) by 11% from the storm's eye debuff (provided you keep it up near 100%).

And you are much less *squishy* than other DPS since you've got extra HP, better base defense, and access to better defensive moves (than a DPS class), so that's less to worry about for your healers.

[Exrage]

Remember, when you are playing OT to a PLD MT, it's not just your DPS you're bringing to the raid. You're also boosting the PLD damage (and threat) by 11% from the storm's eye debuff (provided you keep it up near 100%).

And you are much less *squishy* than other DPS since you've got extra HP, better base defense, and access to better defensive moves (than a DPS class), so that's less to worry about for your healers.

Exactly, and a very good point. You're a self-healing monster that can take a ton of hits and be left unattended compared to the glass cannons that die in a single weight of the land or tumult by the 5th phase- ANY DPS at this point is a blessing, and one a warrior easily provides in lieu of our STR and DPS raising stats that benefit the raid as a whole rather than simple matters of raw DPS alone.

[krazyrs]

guessing your stat points went to 30/30 STR Exrage?

i did mine all in VIT since thats what i was told but if i get decent dps in garuda i have to spam enmity combo to first jump and cant slide maim in untill DD go fight first group of feathers
i find tanking it on PLD way easier with 30/30 VIT stacked but ive been farming axe for my WAR

i have full the DL for pld/war + all VIT acc and hero's VIT ring but have been sticking with AK STR ring in 2nd slot on WAR, it helps.. a lot

[Exrage]

i have to spam enmity combo to first jump and cant slide maim in untill DD go fight first group of feathers

I swap between the two in order to continue to test not just which stats are "most beneficial" for each gear combo (Full/half AF2, Full/half Darklight, Full/half AK, Crafted 50 and any 50+ warrior axe) as I see where specific clutches and stat requirements per each fight make anything noticeable occur. This being said, I favor more STR to VIT even MT in the Coils.

As to being "required to spam enmity" I've never had this problem- using what I refer to as the "main" combo at the start, followed by a maim/eye or "dps" combo afterward, then another main combo (AF+1 groups typically) or immediately rock the "burst macro" for unchained/berserk/inner release smash with an inner beast to infuriate, then maybe another main combo before smashing inner beast just before pacification- and never worry about aggro again.