Wanna go PLD.Follow

I'm not sure what you're asking here.

At a basic level tanks need to do two things:
- Hold aggro
- Don't die

You'll use your high enmity skills to hold aggro on mobs while your party kills them. While doing that you'll push cooldowns to not die. You gear also contributes to not dying.

I'll figure it out lol.

A good thing a lot of tanks don't do, low level and high level (and why tanks get a bad stigma by default):

Using your ranged skill.

So I don't play PLD but I do play DRK and WAR, using Shield Lob at the pull then hate rotation (including flashes when need be, specially in aoe heavy parties) will solidify hate nicely. All too often tanks facepull and that's the end of that pull because gl getting the hate established while it's running everywhere due to face pulling. So always open with shield lob, especially if you need to relocate, since all too often DPS unload as you pull and if you get that one special healer who loves to spam Medica II or use Medica II before damage even really goes out...rip.

Speaking of DPS:

Use your markings. e.g 1-5 etc. So you can kind of herd your DPS to attacking 1 monster as higher up (where I most see it) DPS love to attack what you are NOT attacking, e.g ninja/drg/mnks mostly (especially DRG and NINs), so as aid, attack all monsters and flash to hold hate. Personally, if they ignore the marks, I let them die..but I'm not a nice person lol.

Boss wise, you should be fine with hate as long as you're not extremely outgeared like say you're i140 and your dps is sync'd from 185, you'll have some troubles but once you get the feel and rotation down you'll even be able to dance around with shield/sword oath.

A note on this specifically: right-click off regen, medica 2, aspected benefic, aspected helios, whispering dawn... any heal-over-time effect before you pull the next pack. If your healer reapplies it, click it off again and swat them in the nose with a newspaper. There is no easier way to completely bone a pull than to have a HoT on you when you do it.

They do. It isn't very much, but you have zero at the beginning of a pull and lag will usually cause the mobs to run right by you as they thirst for the blood of a healer.

My preference is to shield lob an initial target and then run past the enemy group, this makes them come to me and accounts for lag, then I flash.

Unless the dps seriously unloaded on my initial target for some reason (and then they deserve what they get) in that opening 3 second window, I've now got everything just fine. If I'm with a couple BLMs that just can't keep it in their pants I might flash twice, but usually once is enough.

Marking mobs is definitely useful, however I feel it unnecessary to mark the whole group. Mark only the first mob you want to die. (if you have to, macro it to shield lob / Tomahawk / Unmend to make it even easier on you.) This will help quicken the pulls and mitigate hasty douchebag DPS jerks who can't wait. By the time they reach the next mobs, you should have enough established hate from your AoE enmity attack that it won't matter what they do. Flash at least twice at the start and keep up your momentum with the combo.


Edited, Jul 7th 2015 8:16pm by Stilivan

Yes and no. Since you're really starting out on the tank game, go full Vit. Once you get comfortable and into end-game, a lot spec STR and some Vit or all STR or spec full VIT and STR accessories as more damage means more overall hate. It changes a bit when you start doing end content, but for the most part, you can easily go full VIT and be ok and quite honestly for some content like Alexander turn 4, Ravana Ex and maybe Bismarck Ex, you do want as much HP/Def as possible.

Gladiator is actually the more difficult of the two in the early levels. Maurauder has an easier time because their AOE enmity ability is a weapon skill, so it does a little damage in addition to the enmity boost. GLD"s benefit is that it is sturdier, and in an emergency, could even self cure or cure the party if the healer dies. (I did that once in a baby Sunken Temple of Qarn run on the 2nd boss. It's not like he's even tankable.) By level 40, PLD has surpassed WAR in its ability to maintain enmity on single targets, although WAR will always have a slightly easier time with crowd control. That's why I prefer the PLD main tank / WAR off tank combination on trials with adds involved.

I'm afraid that never goes away.

Most people are patient enough in leveling dungeons.

The only thing I'd mention is to make sure you take GLD far enough to at least get Provoke. That's not optional. You need it. Eventually you'll also want Awareness (which is like level 42 or something... sorry) but Provoke for sure.

For WAR macro Tomahawk and Skull Sunder together. If a mob peels off you hit that button and if the mob is close you'll skull render it (cheaper on TP), if it's made it too far away you'll tomahawk it saving precious seconds and possible a hit on your healer. Use this as the second button in your hate rotation and it's now a dual use button that saves you a button bar/cross bar spot.

/micon "Skull Sunder"
/ac "Skull Sunder"
/ac "Tomahawk"

When you get to the right level another good one is:

/micon Vengeance
/ac Bloodbath
/ac Vengeance

Hit it twice and then Overpower big groups of enemies to self heal while AOE take out some of the mobs and lowers incoming dps.

edit: too not to

Edited, Jul 21st 2015 2:35pm by Yodabunny

Keep in mind if you go this route that actions in macros can't be queued the way action just on buttons can. This means that you will always have to wait for the GCD to be finished before the game will acknowledge that you're pushing a button. In contrast, you have a window of about half a second before the GCD is up to queue the next ability if you're not using macros.

I use macros for some things. I have mouseover macros for Goad, Smokescreen, and Aetherial Manipulation. None of these things are rotational abilities.