So, you want to play as a tank in FFXIV? Every adventuring party needs a tank- the group leader and the powerful meat shield that keeps everyone guarded and attacking. But how do you become the best of the lot?
The common term, 'Tanxiety,' refers to the stressful feeling of screwing up others' experiences through poor tanking tactics. Fortunately, Tanks are self-sufficient job classes to play in Final Fantasy XIV. While it seems like an intimidating seat to fill, there are ways to simplify the role of a tank in FFXIV.
#1 Always Maintain an Active Tank Stance
Tank Stance is your bread and butter. You get your Tank Stance ability at Level 10 under different names, depending on your job. For example:
Gladiator/Paladin | Iron Will |
|---|---|
Marauder/Warrior | Defiance |
Gunbreaker | Royal Guard |
Dark Knight | Grit |
Tank Stance raises your enmity generation, ensuring every enemy you hit or are close to targets you instead of your party's healer and DPSs. It also helps to maintain your aggro for bosses and mobs.
In a Dungeon party of four players, you must have your Tank Stance on from the get-go. As for a Full Party for Raids/Trials, keep your Stance on from the start if you're the Main Tank (MT). However, if you're the Off-Tank (OT), start the duty without the Stance and activate it to Provoke the boss/enemies only if the MT is down.
#2 Positioning is Key
As a Tank, you're the center of attention. This means the enemies angle their debuffs and AoEs towards you. In such moments, your positioning is crucial.
Whenever you aggro bosses and enemies, turn them away from the party and towards you. Simply put, the mobs' and boss's backs should be towards your team. This way, all Party-Wide attacks go through you, keeping your team safe and attacking.
Another tip for positioning is to stay within the Healer's healing range. Straying too far from your team Healer will leave you dead, resulting in the mobs attacking your party members and killing off the whole team.
#3 Mobs are Yours to Pull
Part of your job as a tank is to keep mobs' attention towards you. Keeping the attention on you gives your party the opening to burn them down quickly.
You'll find these mobs in groups of three or so. As you progress in a dungeon, attack enemy units while passing them (also known as Wall-to-Wall pulls.) Stop when you're at ten enemies or so, keep their backs towards the group, and burn them out.
If you pull too many mobs, you can lose enmity. These mobs will then target your team, taking them down one by one. If you're a newer tank with tanxiety issues, worry not! Maintaining a two-group pull helps you tear down mobs efficiently and ensures your healer doesn't struggle to keep your HP steady.
So, if you want to complete a dungeon run smoothly, pull one or two mob groups at a time. More importantly, keep track of your healer's capacity to heal you with every pull.
#4 Invulnerabilities and Mitigations are Your Besties
Mitigations and invulnerabilities shield you from excessive damage and give your healer less stress.
Mitigation skills reduce the damage you take and delay any possible death issue. On the other hand, Invulnerabilities (or invulns, in gamer -lingo) guarantee you won't die temporarily, even at one HP.
Each tank job vulnerability skill is unique. For example:
- Paladin's Hallowed Ground nullifies all damage taken for 10 seconds.
- Warrior's Holmgang doesn't let your HP go beyond one for 10 seconds.
- Gunbreaker's Superbolide drops your HP to one but negates all damages for 10 seconds.
- Dark Knight's Living Dead allows their hits to heal them when they die. If a healer heals them back to their total HP, they don't die.
Out of all the damage reduction skills, all tanks have two common mitigations- Rampant and Reprisal. Rampant is a well-known skill that reduces damage taken and increases your HP recovery. So, if you're the target of a tank-buster, pop your Rampant and let the damage feel like just a scratch.
Whenever you see your HP bar going down steadily, activate these skills, try to keep yourself from dying, and your healer will be able to heal you quicker.
Below is a table of all mitigations and invulnerability for every tank job class in FFXIV:
Tank Job | Job-Specific Mitigations | Job-Specific Invulnerabilities |
|---|---|---|
Paladin | * Sheltron
* Intervention
* Divine Veil
* Sentinel
* Passage of Arms
* Cover | Hallowed Ground |
Warrior | * Vengeance
* Raw Intuition
* Nascent Flash
* Shake it Off
* Equilibrium
* Thrill of Battle | Holmgang |
Gunbreaker | * Nebula
* Heart of Stone
* Camouflage
* Heart of Light
* Aurora | Superbolide |
Dark Knight | * Shadow Veil
* The Blackest Knight
* Dark Mind
* Dark Missionary
* Abyssal Drain | Living Dead |
These are some basic yet crucial tips for being the best Tank in FFXIV. Your unique playstyle and experience will add more to your understanding of how to be a reliable tank for all Final Fantasy 14 missions.
Upgrade your gears, practice your skills, and learn to enjoy being a tank.