Any chance you could explain the cooldown uptime a bit more? tank CDs have massive cooldowns like 60 or 90 seconds (me learning DRK right now) How and when, during trials and bosses, do I use them? Obviously during tank busters, but besides those? Should I still use them in between just to mitigate some damage?
@@parafoxl7619 Most trials and bosses have cycles of big damage. If you go into a new one and see a huge cast bar or telegraph then use a cooldown. Even if you end up being wrong it's better than never using them. When I'm healing it's far better to see a tank mistiming or running out of cd's than seeing a tank who never uses them. Once you have seen a fight a couple of times you should have a feel for when big damage is coming and you will be able to come up with your own pattern for mitigation. If you are still struggling with it then you can ask others in-game for advice as most people play multiple jobs and someone will likely have an answer you need for whatever you are doing :)
The truth about tanking is that eventually, you reach a point where the loading screen ends and you are possessed by the spirit of tanking, black out, and only return to consciousness when the duty complete fanfare plays.
Can confirm, did a duty as dank knight while high as hell. Luckily this was one of the most linear dungeons I think I have ever played in, invalidating the only real danger... getting lost and looking like a doofus for leading your team the wrong way.
@@lossnt557 Mannn when I did Sastasha my first time as a WHM (conjurer before job stone) and if I wasn’t high back then, I would have died from that pressure lmfao
@T K As a tank main, I’d say don’t be intimidated. It’s mostly crowd control and choreography. If you’re seeing members of your party taking hits during a pull, find the strays and aggro them. If you’re taking too much damage, pull smaller. During boss fights, as the main tank, position the boss facing away from the group and spank and let the others do their job. As the off tank, fill in where the MT needs you (adds or splitting or DPS). Everything else is dungeon/boss specific (and you usually don’t start to see those until LVL 70+). This guide is a great one. And as a guy who has run every tank job, I’d also recommend finding the tent that fits your style. The Warrior is a big ol bruiser with a balance of offense and defense. The Dark Knight is a hard-hitting tank with few defensive options. The paladin could probably run a dungeon solo if necessary with its wide toolbox. And the Gunbreaker is a fast DPS that took its vegetables, and said it’s prayers to become a tank. Find your style and find your comfort zone. And remember that listening to your team and leading your team is a balancing act. Go get ‘em, Warrior of Light!
Tanking is by itself a double-edged sword for me. Firstly, an experienced tank knows that tank-xiety gives way to the revelation of tank privilege: I'm literally allowed more mistakes in mechanics because I'm built different. At the same time, tanking is the purest expression of trust between two people as you can get. You have no choice but to trust the healer that they will do their job well. And somedays I'm just not up to throw my trust around so easily sometimes.
lol tell that to that one tank I met who literally only cares about DPS uptime. I was his healer that time and his tank god complex (I presume soloing stuff since he loves WAR that much) and I told him he didn't understand how hard it is to play Scholar since he only bothered playing as the other roles. (a lvl 51 AST won't convince me he tried it lol) As a healer main, I find SCH a challenging enough job that even at lvl80 I still am learning how to properly use my kit.
@@lootmaster1337 as someone who started as a PLD and is still a PLD main. i second that. "what healer?" i leave my healer to holy spam and they trust me to clemency myself to full during wall to wall pulls.
Also, Tank bros in 8-man content are best buddies, they need to communicate and tag-team a lot more than any other job, multiple healers and DPS rarely have to constantly be coordinating with each other and communicating, Tank bros due to stacks mechanics usually do (Extreme Ramuh fight is a great example for that).
"USE. YOUR COOLDOWNS." As a healer main, I cannot stress enough the importance of this principle. If I'm spending more time healing you instead of doing damage, and you still go down because you didn't pop CDs, that's entirely on the tank. Don't be blaming your healers when you decided not to use your defensive abilities.
To go further on this - use your cooldowns *pro*actively, not *re*actively. Don't just wait until you're below half health to pop your defensive cooldowns. If you have enemies attacking you, Rampart has the same effectiveness at 90% HP as it does at 40%, but using it proactively at 90% will make for a much less stressful time for both you and your healer.
Okay, but what if you're a sprout in a low level dungeon and an experienced max level healer who, with no explanation, tries to play limbo with your HP before you even knew that was a thing that people did, and then while at full mana proceeds to fault you for dying on trash mobs because one of your damage mit cooldowns was up. Then when you start to use your mits more consciously, the healer passive-aggressively praises you as if to imply that you're dumb. I just had this experience yesterday and it really upset me, mostly because the healer was being very rude about it and expecting me to apparently be the second coming of christ in the form of a newbie tank player. Like, I can understand the technicality, but lawyering your way through it isn't always appropriate in the context.
@@HamsterPants522 Then you don't yell at them. You teach them. I literally just got done with a lvl 80 dungeon with a DKN, who, miraculously enough, didn't even know he had damaged mitigation abilities. So I paused the run and took several minutes to explain what rolling cds meant. The 2 dps were totally cool and offered their own advice.
@@BlitzedNostradamus In this context, I'm the newbie tank player. It's all well and good to teach me how to play, but if I'm doing low level content that doesn't require me to be as sweaty as humanly possible, then I have less reason to care about playing perfectly at that time.
"tanks really are the role that benefit most from playing other roles" HONESTLY... tbh i had a Lot of tank anxiety and only got around to it when i was a year into the game and was going around leveling every job. i did ask my friends for some basic advice but really I learned most tank etiquette just Being a healer and melee player for a bit. also if youre worried about being a bad tank, nows a great time to learn!! theres looooads of sprouts and specifically folks playing through early content for the first time, so you're all learning together! Plus if you're an experienced player, just in other roles, you'll look like a genius explaining mechs to sprouts.
I just hit level 52. I started the game as a gladiator. I have tanked in wow, mostly easier content as I do have anxiety of doing it. I decided instead of being worried about it, I would go straight into it. But then I found there was an issue! The dungeon starts and I had no clue where to go and everyone was following me.
@@cheepvodka-gaming2629 omg! i feel that, theres a lotta dungeons that are easy to get lost in. In my experiance I just tell folks at the beginning like welp. sorry i always get lost here and people will tell you which direction to go lol. thankfully as you go on the dungeons actually get simpler, more just hallways of enemies till you get to the three bosses.
@@cheepvodka-gaming2629 If you haven't already, something I found helpful was zooming out the minimap all the way to give me a better view of the route as I'm going. The rest comes with experience :D
@@cheepvodka-gaming2629 Coming back to game after loooong hiatus and decided I'd tank since I began my MMO career there in so many others . . . oh, my god you hit it right on the money here . . . my returning tank anxiety isn't mechanics, its where do I go next, left right, ahead, circle back, I get lost easily even with maps sometimes lol . . .
Anxiety about tanking is something a lot of people are mentioning in the comments and I just want to highlight the tools in game that allow for at least some experience of tanking dungeon content without worrying about real party members: squadron command missions and trusts. Even though these are highly suboptimal compared to running with real people and won't let you practice all aspects of tanking (DO NOT big pull), just to be able to queue into a real dungeon and get through some content can be the push you need to think "Oh, I can actually do this". Squadrons in particular are tricky with their AI, but this impact is less when you are the tank, and if you can do some dungeons with the unbearably slow squadron healer AI, doing it with human healers will be a breeze. You'll learn more with real human party members, but if you genuinely fear just queueing into content as a tank, maybe these alternatives can bridge the gap.
While I agree with this in some areas, with enough experience with trusts and a specific class (Paladin) you can actually do massive pulls with trusts. You just have to keep in mind where the npc's and healer are and run back to them if need be, use clemency and divine veil when the heals suck. I actually became more confident and a way better tank after learning to wall to wall pull as a tank with just trusts.
The only anxiety I get is duty’s I haven’t cleared as tank levels 1-70 is pretty forgiving for mistakes After that I have to learn the fights with dps first so I’m not blindly getting slapped around as a tank 😂
New FF14 player here; about 2 months in. Thanks for making these role, class and job videos. It helped me become an amazing healer and am now going through these again as a tank. Keep up the great work!
I just started playing 4 days ago and I'm a dps main but found myself forced to play tank because I just like dark knight but it annoys me when the dps run ahead of me and start attacking before I even got q chance to agro and group the mobs XD
Thank you for explaning why chain pulling sucks. Wasting buffs playing as dps feels bad, and as healer losing your bubbles feels horrible. The amount of earthly stars, asylums and sacred soils that have been left as a decoration on the road could make up enough aether to bring a rework/buff for scholar.
When I first started this game a couple months ago, your ninja guide got me through all of ARR carefree. I was impressed by how concise, straightforward yet incredibly detailed that video was. Now I've just hit Ishgard and am going to try tanking for the first time, as a former life long WoW dps veteran. Once again, you've provided an incredible resource for making my experience in this game so much better. I genuinely want you to know that I appreciate all the work you've put into making what I consider to be the best mmo guide videos I have ever seen.
Tip for warriors: once you get nascent flash... SPAM THE EVER LIVING SHIT OUT IF IT IN WALL TO WALL PULLS! It heals better than your average healer as long as you hit mobs with aoe. Also during Berserk/Inner release: Vengence counters direct crit during the buff.
Warrior is my main tank, I just started Shadowbringers, and I cannot wait until I get Nascent Flash 😭 the difference in these dungeons is huge, they hit soooo hard!
"Don't let that length scare you" [laughs in looking forward to longer videos because I learn a lot from them and your thorough explanations are easier for me to digest than "tank in 15 seconds"]
I just started tanking in this game and I'm already finding it very different than other MMOs that I've played. Minor background; I've been an MT in WoW, ESO, and EQ for long periods of time (totaling 20+ years) and I think this guide is great. Its so great in fact that I suggest new tanks to this game but not new to the role, watch this video in its entirety, IMO.
Another great one. The only thing that ever really gives me Tankxiety is knowing the dungeon and not either A) Leading the team the wrong way or B) Going the opposite way to the group, noticing too late, one or more of the group pulling and me not getting there in time causing a wipe (or in rare cases them all managing just fine without you helping you feel a little worthless.) The actual action of tanking itself is never all that hard. Even if someone else accidentally pulls. Just use your ranged to grab the agro off them. If they're too far off for even your ranged pull? Don't sweat it and just let them tank it. A smart party member will always bring the agro to you anyway and it's not worth moving the trash group for one straggler that the one dos is playing cat and mouse or dps tank with.
As a healer Main, I do my best to support the tank. This is my priority. Regardless of pull size. I have never complained or seen complaints of smaller pull sizes. I HAVE however seen full party wipes from pulling TOO MUCH for Me or the TANK themselves to keep up with. As a tank, you CAN Take it slow. Nobody will complain. PS, Thanks for this vid, I need to at least learn more about the tanking role as a healer and am looking at expanding my game into tanking soon.
Im also healer main, and this. Tanks should pull at their comfort level. If you wanna do the first couple pulls small to get a feel for how your healer heals, go for it. If almost never had any issues with someone saying "hey fyi im new to ---" or " im rusty at ---".
Became a tank on accident when I started playing about two months ago. Dude with giant two hand axe? Looks dope and must do big damage! My first queue into a dungeon was a reality check. My first group was very understanding thankfully.
That's exactly what I did with Gladiator lol. Man, one handed sword style?! Sick! Then Satasha hit me and I was so overwhelmingly confused since it was my first MMO. I know far better now with MSQ finished and several classes level 80 lol
@@yuchimiha got my first 80 last week on GNB! Got all my DoH and DoLs to 70+ on monday! I've got SAM and WHM to 70 and I wanna get MCH there too then i think I'm done moving between classes. That's more than enough for me to juggle! One of each style!
The dog not god section was exactly what I was looking for here. I've never been entirely clear about when aoe damage procs so seeing that I can run back in after the indicator disappears is extremely helpful. Thanks for the video!
Thank you for these guides, as always! I've been leveling every job for my own Seto, and have gotten to the point where I only have tank jobs left, because I've been terrifed. Your white mage actions guide helped me get over my fear of healing a few months ago, so seeing a whole guide to actually tanking and not just actions is such a lifesaver.
Cannot agree enough about the recommended gear button being crazy, I got to level 50 on Warrior and didnt have ironworks tanking accessories on hand so it decided to put all my ironworks HEALING accessories on me
One thing I’ve figured out about it - it seems to prioritize Bound gear at the same ilvl over other gear. Had the same issue where the button auto-equipped casting accessories on my Dragoon. I’d already done a couple of dungeons with my Black Mage, so my casting gear had "Binding" on the tooltip, but my newly-purchased Slaying accessories did not. So by default it put the bound equipment on me.
recommended gear button will always prioritize total stats over anything else. thats why the preorder earrrings have all stats so they are always recommended
Thank you for mentioning the better way to tank that second boss on Stone Vigil. Most people tank it on the cannons, so every time I run Stone Vigil as Healer/DPS it's a festival of tornadoes. And the few times I got to tank it near the door I always got flamed for it.
Hell yeah, I’ve been loving these vids. i have recently hit 100days in playtime, but watching these guides are helpful! a lot are things i already know, but it’s great to have those thoughts actually vocalized. Your guides have also been a crucial part in me learning dps, haha. Keep up the good work as always! your work is greatly appreciated!
Dear weskalbert. I have watched your videos since I was a sprout. Now I do savage content and ready for ultimate. Still watching your videos even when I already know what your gonna say. I've learned a lot since back in sprout days. Keep it up. Your videos helps sprouts get to endgame much more smoothly than other videos.
I was legitimately looking for a digestible tank guide video yesterday because I really want to play DRK, but have never played a tank before. So this is a pleasant surprise. Thank you sir 💕
Most of my tanking anxiety comes from knowing how much to pull. If you pull smaller amounts, people can get mad at you. (I've literally seen a healer and DPS quit because another tank didn't pull "enough". They even said it was their first time running the dungeon!) But if you pull too much then you die which usually results in a wipe, which takes time and causes the impatient people to be impatient and hate you for that as well. It's a careful balance that must be struck that makes me nervous.
to be fair, the healer and dps ditching in the situation you mentioned is on them. you not being comfortable enough to string pulls together is totally fine. if it's my first run of a dungeon, i'm stopping every time i hit a group. if you know the packs though, a very good strategy to kind of pull harder is to drag single enemies into a larger group that's just a few paces away and *then* stop. you're still keeping a comfortable amount of enemies and just slightly increasing your efficiency.
A good way to handle that is to watch your hp and healer, if your hp is dropping hard and the healer isn't casting dps spells, its a bit too much and vice versa. If it seems ok then start pulling more, grabbing another pack of mobs when the current pack is at 50% is totally fine.
Old comment I know, but as a brand new player I picked WAR. I had this exact fear. I ended up creating a macro when I was first learning that said something like “Healer, let me know if you want me to pull more.” Worked a treat.
The thing I like about your videos is that even though they are long, there doesn't seem to be any filler. I've come back to your videos many times as a reference because of this reason.
Thank you so much for this series! Tanking is the role I'm always apprehensive about and this video dispels so much misconception I have about the role. I've been lurking around your YT channel for a while and I seriously love that the way you lay out the content of your videos in a way that's very easy to follow for beginners and experienced players alike. Very in-depth but also very understandable! Great work and looking forward to more!
The thing you say in 1:12:52 is the one of the very few things I've seen ping(latency) spoil in whole game. And it pisses me off. I can't dodge any aoe if i'm not out of it like 2 to 3 seconds before it goes off. I pray everyday for brazilian servers, but this aesthetic kind of game does not have much adherence in my country... Sadge Edit: the Arm's length slow dude, I never knew about it. 4 months in, almost all classes at 60+. You are a beast dude, watched all your class guides and always check them when i have any doubts. Keep up the good work!
Thank you Wesk! I never knew how using 2 mitigations at once worked. I shudder at where I'd be in this game without the help of guides, especially yours
I do love these videos. Even though I play Black Mage, this is still very useful guide on the general knowledge and tips that I can keep in mind. Thank you for these guides.
Always nice to remind new players that people don't need to immediately start massive pulls, I remember when I started and pretty much single pull in ARR and HW, learning is part of the experience and wish all people that try or are playing tank to never be discouraged.
Thank you for those kind words lol,During one of the final parts of the crystal tower quests i repeatedly got called braindead by another player,So that was kinda disheartening and rude,But seeing as i'm at the end of my free trial month and just got dark knight as a job last night,These words are encouraging,So thank you
Definitely playing other games and intuition helped me learn Tank quickly. But I think the best way to learn is by not being a Tank. A Tank has the responsibility of protecting the team, but if you don't know how others are meant to play, how will you know when to actually use your mitigations, how do you know how to position yourself for the ease of the team? Things like that can be easy to realize if you yourself have experienced many-a dungeon as a non-tank, and have seen the experience of your tanks. Unfortunately for me, I have the ego of a werewolf, and so I started off as a Marauder. The only way I learned (before finding this video) was by having a friend tell me about pulls and positioning. The rest was by my own.
Even after hundreds of hours into tanking there’s still little bits and pieces I picked up. Awesome guide and I’m looking forward to watching your other role guides !
I really love your use of the chapters in guides. It makes it sooooo nice to come back and review key points like a level 60 rotation or role specific information. Great job here as always :)
theres one thing i tend to do during bosses regarding positionals. if the boss has a cast time that causes it to change its facing direction, assuming its a decently long cast and the melees have already moved to position, i will move to their current front to make sure they dont turn after the cast. this will let melees adjust quicker to the new 'north' of the boss and hit their positionals cleanly. if there are cleaves, i can adjust a bit after to make sure that isnt an issue. and if there's no melees, i wont really need to worry
Dark knight has a line aoe with flood of darkness/shadow so drk especially needs to clump up enemies for selfish reasons as well as reasons to help the party
Thank you for this video been looking for in depth discussion or tutorials about this game and just started playing last month so i really appreciate this ty
Great video -- just seeing this and as someone who's been playing for years but just getting into tanking this is great info. The bit about the tank's AOEs registering on the mobs before the animation helped me understand why I'm so often ending up leaving stragglers behind on my big pulls. One thing to note for new folks is that since this video was created, regens no longer create heal enmity on heal tics, only on the first application, so that makes healers' and tanks' lives much better.
Thank you for this. I am just coming back to the game after 6 years away, and this guide has already helped me a LOT at getting back into the groove of tanking. And there's tons of advice in here that I probably never knew in the first place, though I remember precious-little about actually playing from so long ago, heh.
I sat through this whole video at first I was a little worried how long it was but I loved it! And it truly helped! Going from Sam and just unlocked GNB and I’m excited
Best tanking video I’ve seen. New sub. I like being a gladiator/paladin but hated tanking in this game. Other players always blames the tanks. Before I couldn’t even tell if I had agro. Definitely learned a lot in the video. Thank you very much for this guide.
Thanks! Still learning to play my tank in Squadron Command Missions, but I already did an MSQ run the other day as an offtank. I picked up the trash during a pull when the MT suddenly DC'd just when we hit the wall. :)
What had me look this up was the three Raids that ARR forces you to do during the Crystal Tower Questline in order to continue the MSQ... A faceroll to be sure but I was amazed at the other two tanks that were doing so well despite the cluster that it was. My final raid there was a guy who gave out mechanic tips to everyone and taught me how to properly swap. It was nice to be taught and now this will help me be even better
I really wish there was a video like this but for people new to MMOs in general. I get some of the terms here but I also got lost at times. Hopefully I'll understand on a rewatch later.
22:30 NOTE: Warrior is the only one that can get away without moving out of AOES because of Nascent Flash (unlocked at LV76)for trash pulls since the incoming healing from one Chatic cyclone or decimate spamming under Inner Release is MASSIVE. Use your mitigation to stall until nascent is back up. When nascent flash ticks off, dodge AOES like normal. Depending on the boss and if your burst window is back up( Inner Release, Gnashing Fang, Delirium) taking the magic down debuff is worth it for damage( up time). This applies when your comfy with tanking and/or trust your healer. NOTE: Certain mechanics must be respected even as a tank. This does not mean stand in every bosses aoe. It is a case by case bases.
Thank you for the video wesk. Your guides has helped me a lot when i am tried to learn different jobs, you break everything small details and explain it simple. I gave astrologist try thanks for your guide and managed to get rough idea of class how it plays up to lvl 60. It takes more time to learn than white mage but can buff partys damage and heal sametime if taking time to learn play the class. my poor fingers practically shouted mercy but that is just my personal experience. I play mostly as dps and have taken couple month breaks now and then, i think it was when heawens ward released when i actively started to play ff 14.
Great guide. New player here training Paladin (tank for first time) and haven't done a dungeon yet as unlike DPS it feels like there's more responsibility. I've also come across an a-hole tank during the Garuda extreme trial that didn't seem to understand new player's can't know boss mechanics without actually doing the fight and learning, as near all players there were new. However, I've done the Eyes Have It and large dragon FATEs in Coerthas and managed to stop other's being targeted, so that's a good way to train. Also Whiteout with the Gobbues and The Grey FATE with the wolves or others were good for learning to pull all the enemies without a healer. And you might have one other player join the FATE that you can protect.
Pre-50 is the roughest part of tank leveling. You don't have tools to handle situations, you don't have poetics gear to rely on and your dps friends don't have aoe to speed things up.
one of the best pieces of advice i can give to any tank is learn the fight and know when to press your mitigation buttons. you'll make a lot less mistakes weaving in mit buttons when you're proactive with your defensive cds instead of reactive. after doing a fight so many times, i just press those buttons like they're part of my rotation instead of trying to find a spot to weave after remembering the mechanic coming up. leads to less panic, and once it becomes part of your muscle memory, you can spend less time staring at your hotbars and more time looking at the screen to pay attention to mechanics.
Hi Wes! Amazing video as usual, and I have kind of a silly question if you don't mind me asking it. Why do you have Limit Break on your hotbars 15 times? Haha! Thank you for the video, I learned a lot!
Check my UI vid linked as a card!... I think I explain it better there. but it's a leftover from the TWR raiding. A lot of that used to be potions and more. I intend to redo my UI a bit for EW
I was leveling my White Mage the other day and got Longstop as my leveling roulette. The tank started the dungeon without his stance up, asked me 'Heals you good?' and then proceeded to do a massive pull without mitigating and proceeded to tell me that I should only focus on healing and not dps at all. As a someone with level 70 tanks, I've never felt so upset that someone doesn't know how to tank.
This was extremely helpful as someone new to MMO's in general, the only one I've done prior was Rune Scape back in early 2000's. You made it very easy to understand and through several parts of the video I was slightly proud to learn that I was already doing some things right and some things I suspected were spot on, like queuing the move slightly before the cd was over and that I could move back in when the aoe indicator disappeared (maybe my inherent need to want to keep my party from harm was an early indicator that I should be a tank). I have a ton to learn, mainly that my setup is off and I should be playing much more zoomed out, I was playing with more of an rpg point of view and was finding it very hard to pull enemies effectively because of it but this confirms that I should zoom out. Also I was previously using the left and right click mouse buttons method for moving because I kept losing the wasd when I would use hotkeys so I was having to swap back and forth to be able to click mobs, I realize I should probably only move with wasd now and just get better at finding the hotkeys lol. Idoubt you'll see this after so long but thank you for this guide, I'll be returning to it frequently to learn everything piece by piece. I WILL become a better tank.
As a wow refugee I was terrified of tanking or healing . I witnessed so much abuse dished out on these two roles was terrifying to me. However, with FF14 player base and job system I am playing a WM and have just started DK job! Yea me! TY u tube creators and guides!
I feel that alot! I'm also a wow refugee and my friend notices time and time again how much anxiety that usually gives me. I am a dancer main, however a while ago, I wished to pick up both a healer and a tank class for our guild and was super nervous. I am now a fairly confident Sage and am slowly finding my own Tank class (Gunbreaker seems to work great for me!). There's still one or two people who tend to be a bit unkind, but those are so minimal, I barely notice, and many even give me advice. That's why I love this community ^^
The one thing I will say about castbar dodging is- please keep in mind your international friends. Many of us play on US servers and just deal with the lag, so you may see a tank move earlier than others to account for this. It's a safety thing (or at least it is in my case)- we're moving earlier to ensure we're avoiding the damage entirely, because surviving is ultimately more important than DPS.
A second earlier is one thing, but my issue is I see people moving the second the cast bar appears. That ain't because of being overseas that's for sure
I have to admit bardams mettle traumatized me a bit, but as a healer. I was going in with my friend as the tank and it did NOT work out and I felt so guilty that I legit haven't entered that dungeon since qwq. This guide is really helpful however, and I can't wait to watch more!
An excellent macro I made is called "Set and Forget," and it's a single button I can keep available but out of the way that attempts to cast all of the abilities people turn on and then leave on when they swap to a job: /merror off /ac grit /ac "iron will" /ac defiance /ac "royal guard" /ac "fists of flame" /ac "summon selene" /ac "diurnal sect" /ac "closed position" /blueaction "mighty guard" It saves a decent bit of physical UI space but also a notable amount of mental energy. There are exceptions - in 8-man content you want to throw Closed Position on someone other than Target 4, on a few fights you want to actually turn tank stance on and off, and until Endwalker comes out you might want to use Nocturnal Sect (and AFTER Endwalker comes out that ability won't exist anymore anyway). But the core of it is just those first four lines: It's one button that tries to cast Grit, Iron Will, Defiance, and Royal Guard all at once, and in doing so ends up casting whichever one is actually valid and ignoring the rest. And because you're always outside combat when you do this the weird macro-clipping that can happen isn't a problem.
The way I do it is by using job change macros that try to macro the skill after I swap to that job. It doesn’t always work because macros are bad but it feels more natural for me.
I just got back into ff14 after a several year break and decided to play a warrior this tiume around as I have never played a tank in MMO before and heard they were fun in this one. I am so happy I gave it a try and got over my "tankxiety". It is actually really fun and you feel way more involved than a DPS just following the group around a dungeon. Also, the singleplayer content is MUCH more fun as a tank than a DPS.
Having been a healer main for a while I decided to become a tank (currently L56 DRK) and i am really enjoying it. I am using my defensive cooldowns sensibly and becoming brave with pulling more. The area I struggle the most on is making sure I have picked up all the enemies. I rely on the aggro table and I note it only picks up enemies that you have engaged with. Sometimes there is a small mob attacking someone but I dont always notice straight away as its not on my list. Is it a case of just being more aware ? It has got easier as my confidence has grown and turning effects to limited has helped. P.S - brilliant guide. You are the best
I don't think there's a UI solution at present to this problem, really. Mostly just a matter of camera work to watch for mobs, or eyeballing the health bars once in a while to see if anyone is getting nicked who shouldn't be. Heals and DPS *should* know to run *to* the tank if they pick up a wandering mob, though.
I’m an Omni80+ healer main, this video is such good info, not only for beginners but experienced players as well. Recently, I’ve been lvling dps jobs and seeing less experienced tanks and healers fumbling through dungeons. Tanks forgetting to use tank stance, healers staying far from the tank during large trash pulls, etc. I myself am going to lvl gnb after lvling my current job, so this is a good refresher.
Had a gnb use superbolide at the start of a wall to wall pull causing me to burn through my cds early. I struggled to keep them alive and ultimately ended in a wipe. After the revive they started started pulling smaller, to which I explained why superbolide was bad to use when they did.
man thank you so much for this lol this might get me back into tanking. i developed tankxiety (lol this word) sometime in my ffxiv hiatus and have been having the damndest time shaking it. which sucks cuz i used to love my DRK but now its one of the most unused jobs in my pool. i dunno. aside from the fact that i hate 'leading' so to speak, i kinda just have this "ill do my thing, you do your part, and we'll all come together somehow" mentality when it comes to the trinity. but when it comes to tanking, whatever you call it, leader, team player, meat shield.. people basically *_can't_* do their parts, unless you're *always* doing your part well. and while im good at what i do, it doesn't exactly come with the air of confidence that ill *always* be so 😣
THANK YOU for a genuinely beginner introduction. I’ve been playing MMOs for a few years, been playing FFXIV and leveling my first job (WHM) for about a year, and am just now dipping into a tank role for the first time. I appreciate that you cover tank-specific basics without being patronizing.
My best advice to get past tank anxiety is the phrase "Healers adjust." I know it sounds like you're being a jerk, but its a good summary of an experienced tanks mindset on mistakes. No one plays perfect and unless you or your healer are very undergeared the entire huge mistake you're worried you just made is one or 2 extra heals.
"Bardam Mettle is the hardest hitting dungeon" hits me deeply. As a new SCH-in-training (but healer main), I had the hardest time dealing with big pulls wall-to-wall since the dungeon entrance, ended up wiped the entire party.
5:00 i subscribed cuz ur spitting truth. Tanks can easily get an inflated ego...and become an egotistical elitist which is why I am going to mainly tank so I can turn that around and become a beneficial elitist who will build ppl up instead of tear them down.
Tanking is only “easiest” in normal content. In savages/ultimates you have tons of extra responsibility depending on the fight. And tanks like GNB and DRK have harder rotations than a handful of DPS classes
I would argue you don't have "tons" of extra responsibility in 99% of savages. Ultimates, sure. Though sometimes tanks get to do legit nothing in even ultimate fights.
@@Kisuzume I mean.. you can make the same argument for every job, in certain fights though.. like I sometimes prefer being DPS in UWU cuz it feels like I don’t gotta do shit, hardly LOL! And healing in savages with groups that don’t eat extra damage is typically a cake walk, since our attack rotations are EZ asf, and healing only typical/necessary predictable sections is simple and non taxing.
@@jacobtridef48 "You can make the same argument for every job." Exactly the point I was making. It doesn't matter which is easier where. It's a pointless conversation to have because it will always change on a per fight and per phase basis.
@@Kisuzume which is kinda what I was getting at, in the original comment, in the first place.. cuz the vid says Tank is easiest, and I was just saying it’s not really.. you’re right, it is fight dependent (in most cases). Granted I’ve found more ultimates rough on Tank Responsibility, than any other job(DSR is a prime example, also kinda TOP but not quite as much). But for savages it’s somewhat more evenly split, than ultimates are.
To resume this video a lot less stressful, follow these 3 simple steps: A B C. Tank me later. Joke aside, great video. Really helpful for me since I just started playing FFXIV as a Gladiator lvl23 and I’m having a blast whit my first MMORPG ever.
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Ok but anyone who doesn't love the Shiba Inu hat is a heathen and I do not think we can be friends.
I do not love… that I cant wear it as a viera
Any chance you could explain the cooldown uptime a bit more? tank CDs have massive cooldowns like 60 or 90 seconds (me learning DRK right now)
How and when, during trials and bosses, do I use them? Obviously during tank busters, but besides those? Should I still use them in between just to mitigate some damage?
@@parafoxl7619 Most trials and bosses have cycles of big damage. If you go into a new one and see a huge cast bar or telegraph then use a cooldown.
Even if you end up being wrong it's better than never using them. When I'm healing it's far better to see a tank mistiming or running out of cd's than seeing a tank who never uses them. Once you have seen a fight a couple of times you should have a feel for when big damage is coming and you will be able to come up with your own pattern for mitigation.
If you are still struggling with it then you can ask others in-game for advice as most people play multiple jobs and someone will likely have an answer you need for whatever you are doing :)
@@Cassapphic ppp
I really like your voice for some reason. its very friendly. 👍
The truth about tanking is that eventually, you reach a point where the loading screen ends and you are possessed by the spirit of tanking, black out, and only return to consciousness when the duty complete fanfare plays.
Can confirm, did a duty as dank knight while high as hell. Luckily this was one of the most linear dungeons I think I have ever played in, invalidating the only real danger... getting lost and looking like a doofus for leading your team the wrong way.
yep
@@nerdicusdorkum2923 dude the first dungeon i did i was high and i was tanking. The pressure i felt lmao
@@lossnt557 Mannn when I did Sastasha my first time as a WHM (conjurer before job stone) and if I wasn’t high back then, I would have died from that pressure lmfao
This just happened to me what the fuuuuuuck
Dude, you have some of the best guides in the community. You're good at teaching without the sarcasm/smugness. That's super underrated.
Agreed! Easily on the top of my list for sure, AND he plays a male character! Suddenly i dont feel so alone anymore lol.. Big UP +1
@T K As a tank main, I’d say don’t be intimidated. It’s mostly crowd control and choreography. If you’re seeing members of your party taking hits during a pull, find the strays and aggro them. If you’re taking too much damage, pull smaller. During boss fights, as the main tank, position the boss facing away from the group and spank and let the others do their job. As the off tank, fill in where the MT needs you (adds or splitting or DPS). Everything else is dungeon/boss specific (and you usually don’t start to see those until LVL 70+).
This guide is a great one. And as a guy who has run every tank job, I’d also recommend finding the tent that fits your style. The Warrior is a big ol bruiser with a balance of offense and defense. The Dark Knight is a hard-hitting tank with few defensive options. The paladin could probably run a dungeon solo if necessary with its wide toolbox. And the Gunbreaker is a fast DPS that took its vegetables, and said it’s prayers to become a tank. Find your style and find your comfort zone. And remember that listening to your team and leading your team is a balancing act.
Go get ‘em, Warrior of Light!
Tanking is by itself a double-edged sword for me. Firstly, an experienced tank knows that tank-xiety gives way to the revelation of tank privilege: I'm literally allowed more mistakes in mechanics because I'm built different.
At the same time, tanking is the purest expression of trust between two people as you can get. You have no choice but to trust the healer that they will do their job well. And somedays I'm just not up to throw my trust around so easily sometimes.
Paladin: lol trust the healer lol
lol tell that to that one tank I met who literally only cares about DPS uptime. I was his healer that time and his tank god complex (I presume soloing stuff since he loves WAR that much) and I told him he didn't understand how hard it is to play Scholar since he only bothered playing as the other roles. (a lvl 51 AST won't convince me he tried it lol)
As a healer main, I find SCH a challenging enough job that even at lvl80 I still am learning how to properly use my kit.
@@lootmaster1337 as someone who started as a PLD and is still a PLD main. i second that. "what healer?"
i leave my healer to holy spam and they trust me to clemency myself to full during wall to wall pulls.
Whats "tank anxiety" rofl
Also, Tank bros in 8-man content are best buddies, they need to communicate and tag-team a lot more than any other job, multiple healers and DPS rarely have to constantly be coordinating with each other and communicating, Tank bros due to stacks mechanics usually do (Extreme Ramuh fight is a great example for that).
"USE. YOUR COOLDOWNS."
As a healer main, I cannot stress enough the importance of this principle. If I'm spending more time healing you instead of doing damage, and you still go down because you didn't pop CDs, that's entirely on the tank. Don't be blaming your healers when you decided not to use your defensive abilities.
To go further on this - use your cooldowns *pro*actively, not *re*actively. Don't just wait until you're below half health to pop your defensive cooldowns. If you have enemies attacking you, Rampart has the same effectiveness at 90% HP as it does at 40%, but using it proactively at 90% will make for a much less stressful time for both you and your healer.
@@ShermTank7272 Yes!!! Thank you!
Okay, but what if you're a sprout in a low level dungeon and an experienced max level healer who, with no explanation, tries to play limbo with your HP before you even knew that was a thing that people did, and then while at full mana proceeds to fault you for dying on trash mobs because one of your damage mit cooldowns was up. Then when you start to use your mits more consciously, the healer passive-aggressively praises you as if to imply that you're dumb.
I just had this experience yesterday and it really upset me, mostly because the healer was being very rude about it and expecting me to apparently be the second coming of christ in the form of a newbie tank player.
Like, I can understand the technicality, but lawyering your way through it isn't always appropriate in the context.
@@HamsterPants522 Then you don't yell at them. You teach them.
I literally just got done with a lvl 80 dungeon with a DKN, who, miraculously enough, didn't even know he had damaged mitigation abilities. So I paused the run and took several minutes to explain what rolling cds meant. The 2 dps were totally cool and offered their own advice.
@@BlitzedNostradamus In this context, I'm the newbie tank player. It's all well and good to teach me how to play, but if I'm doing low level content that doesn't require me to be as sweaty as humanly possible, then I have less reason to care about playing perfectly at that time.
"tanks really are the role that benefit most from playing other roles" HONESTLY... tbh i had a Lot of tank anxiety and only got around to it when i was a year into the game and was going around leveling every job. i did ask my friends for some basic advice but really I learned most tank etiquette just Being a healer and melee player for a bit. also if youre worried about being a bad tank, nows a great time to learn!! theres looooads of sprouts and specifically folks playing through early content for the first time, so you're all learning together! Plus if you're an experienced player, just in other roles, you'll look like a genius explaining mechs to sprouts.
I just hit level 52. I started the game as a gladiator. I have tanked in wow, mostly easier content as I do have anxiety of doing it. I decided instead of being worried about it, I would go straight into it. But then I found there was an issue! The dungeon starts and I had no clue where to go and everyone was following me.
@@cheepvodka-gaming2629 omg! i feel that, theres a lotta dungeons that are easy to get lost in. In my experiance I just tell folks at the beginning like welp. sorry i always get lost here and people will tell you which direction to go lol. thankfully as you go on the dungeons actually get simpler, more just hallways of enemies till you get to the three bosses.
@@cheepvodka-gaming2629 Literal nightmare fuel
@@cheepvodka-gaming2629 If you haven't already, something I found helpful was zooming out the minimap all the way to give me a better view of the route as I'm going. The rest comes with experience :D
@@cheepvodka-gaming2629 Coming back to game after loooong hiatus and decided I'd tank since I began my MMO career there in so many others . . . oh, my god you hit it right on the money here . . . my returning tank anxiety isn't mechanics, its where do I go next, left right, ahead, circle back, I get lost easily even with maps sometimes lol . . .
Anxiety about tanking is something a lot of people are mentioning in the comments and I just want to highlight the tools in game that allow for at least some experience of tanking dungeon content without worrying about real party members: squadron command missions and trusts. Even though these are highly suboptimal compared to running with real people and won't let you practice all aspects of tanking (DO NOT big pull), just to be able to queue into a real dungeon and get through some content can be the push you need to think "Oh, I can actually do this". Squadrons in particular are tricky with their AI, but this impact is less when you are the tank, and if you can do some dungeons with the unbearably slow squadron healer AI, doing it with human healers will be a breeze.
You'll learn more with real human party members, but if you genuinely fear just queueing into content as a tank, maybe these alternatives can bridge the gap.
While I agree with this in some areas, with enough experience with trusts and a specific class (Paladin) you can actually do massive pulls with trusts. You just have to keep in mind where the npc's and healer are and run back to them if need be, use clemency and divine veil when the heals suck. I actually became more confident and a way better tank after learning to wall to wall pull as a tank with just trusts.
The only anxiety I get is duty’s I haven’t cleared as tank
levels 1-70 is pretty forgiving for mistakes
After that I have to learn the fights with dps first so I’m not blindly getting slapped around as a tank 😂
@@calebfairchild8745 Warriors baby lol giant pulls are a breeze 😂
New FF14 player here; about 2 months in. Thanks for making these role, class and job videos. It helped me become an amazing healer and am now going through these again as a tank. Keep up the great work!
I love how at around 4:30 where he says tanks are the first ones running into enemies, there’s a white mage running way far ahead jumping around
I just started playing 4 days ago and I'm a dps main but found myself forced to play tank because I just like dark knight but it annoys me when the dps run ahead of me and start attacking before I even got q chance to agro and group the mobs XD
@@TheDarkestPaladinAlthough I do not support the "ypyt" philosophy, I might put them on a lower priority list when healing lol
Thank you for explaning why chain pulling sucks. Wasting buffs playing as dps feels bad, and as healer losing your bubbles feels horrible. The amount of earthly stars, asylums and sacred soils that have been left as a decoration on the road could make up enough aether to bring a rework/buff for scholar.
you didn't have to end this comment that hard but you did anyway 😭😭😭♥♥
Fr, if you try to chain pull before my doton timer is up, you’re dead to me 😤
Me: “Ahh yeah! WeskAlber tanking guide!”
*looks at time of video*
Me: “LETS GOOOOOOO!!!”
*Hopes the ABC - A Beginner's Guide to DPS to be even longer.*
@@silxer3154 I’m looking forward to it!
@@AshTreeDweller Same!
I knew before I started this series DPS video would be the longest.
DPS video is the longest.
@@WeskAlber Is it split up across each DPS type? Or is it general tips for all of them? Or a mixture of both?
When I first started this game a couple months ago, your ninja guide got me through all of ARR carefree. I was impressed by how concise, straightforward yet incredibly detailed that video was. Now I've just hit Ishgard and am going to try tanking for the first time, as a former life long WoW dps veteran. Once again, you've provided an incredible resource for making my experience in this game so much better. I genuinely want you to know that I appreciate all the work you've put into making what I consider to be the best mmo guide videos I have ever seen.
Tip for warriors: once you get nascent flash... SPAM THE EVER LIVING SHIT OUT IF IT IN WALL TO WALL PULLS! It heals better than your average healer as long as you hit mobs with aoe. Also during Berserk/Inner release: Vengence counters direct crit during the buff.
Nascent Flash getting nerfed in Endwalker from %heal to potency heal.
This! The healing is so massive that you legit don’t need to move out of AOES for dungeon pulls unless they give a debuff like healing down .
@@StellariumSound Well I hope they give warriors something else to compensate for it, then.
Warrior is my main tank, I just started Shadowbringers, and I cannot wait until I get Nascent Flash 😭 the difference in these dungeons is huge, they hit soooo hard!
@@nicolasescarpentier854 I'm having that issue too. I still haven't unlocked it and the game is kicking my ass right now.
"Don't let that length scare you"
[laughs in looking forward to longer videos because I learn a lot from them and your thorough explanations are easier for me to digest than "tank in 15 seconds"]
I just started tanking in this game and I'm already finding it very different than other MMOs that I've played. Minor background; I've been an MT in WoW, ESO, and EQ for long periods of time (totaling 20+ years) and I think this guide is great. Its so great in fact that I suggest new tanks to this game but not new to the role, watch this video in its entirety, IMO.
Another great one.
The only thing that ever really gives me Tankxiety is knowing the dungeon and not either A) Leading the team the wrong way or B) Going the opposite way to the group, noticing too late, one or more of the group pulling and me not getting there in time causing a wipe (or in rare cases them all managing just fine without you helping you feel a little worthless.)
The actual action of tanking itself is never all that hard. Even if someone else accidentally pulls. Just use your ranged to grab the agro off them. If they're too far off for even your ranged pull? Don't sweat it and just let them tank it. A smart party member will always bring the agro to you anyway and it's not worth moving the trash group for one straggler that the one dos is playing cat and mouse or dps tank with.
As a healer Main, I do my best to support the tank. This is my priority.
Regardless of pull size. I have never complained or seen complaints of smaller pull sizes.
I HAVE however seen full party wipes from pulling TOO MUCH for Me or the TANK themselves to keep up with.
As a tank, you CAN Take it slow. Nobody will complain.
PS, Thanks for this vid, I need to at least learn more about the tanking role as a healer and am looking at expanding my game into tanking soon.
Im also healer main, and this. Tanks should pull at their comfort level. If you wanna do the first couple pulls small to get a feel for how your healer heals, go for it. If almost never had any issues with someone saying "hey fyi im new to ---" or " im rusty at ---".
Became a tank on accident when I started playing about two months ago.
Dude with giant two hand axe? Looks dope and must do big damage!
My first queue into a dungeon was a reality check. My first group was very understanding thankfully.
That's exactly what I did with Gladiator lol. Man, one handed sword style?! Sick! Then Satasha hit me and I was so overwhelmingly confused since it was my first MMO.
I know far better now with MSQ finished and several classes level 80 lol
@@yuchimiha got my first 80 last week on GNB! Got all my DoH and DoLs to 70+ on monday!
I've got SAM and WHM to 70 and I wanna get MCH there too then i think I'm done moving between classes. That's more than enough for me to juggle! One of each style!
The dog not god section was exactly what I was looking for here. I've never been entirely clear about when aoe damage procs so seeing that I can run back in after the indicator disappears is extremely helpful.
Thanks for the video!
This is one of the best tutorials I’ve ever watched for any game, period. Very helpful!
Thank you for these guides, as always! I've been leveling every job for my own Seto, and have gotten to the point where I only have tank jobs left, because I've been terrifed. Your white mage actions guide helped me get over my fear of healing a few months ago, so seeing a whole guide to actually tanking and not just actions is such a lifesaver.
Cannot agree enough about the recommended gear button being crazy, I got to level 50 on Warrior and didnt have ironworks tanking accessories on hand so it decided to put all my ironworks HEALING accessories on me
One thing I’ve figured out about it - it seems to prioritize Bound gear at the same ilvl over other gear. Had the same issue where the button auto-equipped casting accessories on my Dragoon. I’d already done a couple of dungeons with my Black Mage, so my casting gear had "Binding" on the tooltip, but my newly-purchased Slaying accessories did not. So by default it put the bound equipment on me.
the recommended gear button on my level 52 black mage is trying to put on 1st level starter ring and necklace instead of my ironwork ones *eyeroll*
recommended gear button will always prioritize total stats over anything else.
thats why the preorder earrrings have all stats so they are always recommended
Thank you for mentioning the better way to tank that second boss on Stone Vigil. Most people tank it on the cannons, so every time I run Stone Vigil as Healer/DPS it's a festival of tornadoes. And the few times I got to tank it near the door I always got flamed for it.
I've never been this early to a video. Love the content man, keep up the good work.
Hell yeah, I’ve been loving these vids. i have recently hit 100days in playtime, but watching these guides are helpful! a lot are things i already know, but it’s great to have those thoughts actually vocalized. Your guides have also been a crucial part in me learning dps, haha. Keep up the good work as always! your work is greatly appreciated!
Dear weskalbert. I have watched your videos since I was a sprout. Now I do savage content and ready for ultimate. Still watching your videos even when I already know what your gonna say. I've learned a lot since back in sprout days. Keep it up. Your videos helps sprouts get to endgame much more smoothly than other videos.
I was legitimately looking for a digestible tank guide video yesterday because I really want to play DRK, but have never played a tank before. So this is a pleasant surprise. Thank you sir 💕
Most of my tanking anxiety comes from knowing how much to pull. If you pull smaller amounts, people can get mad at you. (I've literally seen a healer and DPS quit because another tank didn't pull "enough". They even said it was their first time running the dungeon!) But if you pull too much then you die which usually results in a wipe, which takes time and causes the impatient people to be impatient and hate you for that as well.
It's a careful balance that must be struck that makes me nervous.
to be fair, the healer and dps ditching in the situation you mentioned is on them. you not being comfortable enough to string pulls together is totally fine. if it's my first run of a dungeon, i'm stopping every time i hit a group. if you know the packs though, a very good strategy to kind of pull harder is to drag single enemies into a larger group that's just a few paces away and *then* stop. you're still keeping a comfortable amount of enemies and just slightly increasing your efficiency.
A good way to handle that is to watch your hp and healer, if your hp is dropping hard and the healer isn't casting dps spells, its a bit too much and vice versa. If it seems ok then start pulling more, grabbing another pack of mobs when the current pack is at 50% is totally fine.
Old comment I know, but as a brand new player I picked WAR. I had this exact fear. I ended up creating a macro when I was first learning that said something like “Healer, let me know if you want me to pull more.” Worked a treat.
the trick is to not give a fuck what your party thinks and do what you feel is right
The thing I like about your videos is that even though they are long, there doesn't seem to be any filler. I've come back to your videos many times as a reference because of this reason.
Thank you so much for this series! Tanking is the role I'm always apprehensive about and this video dispels so much misconception I have about the role. I've been lurking around your YT channel for a while and I seriously love that the way you lay out the content of your videos in a way that's very easy to follow for beginners and experienced players alike. Very in-depth but also very understandable! Great work and looking forward to more!
The thing you say in 1:12:52 is the one of the very few things I've seen ping(latency) spoil in whole game. And it pisses me off. I can't dodge any aoe if i'm not out of it like 2 to 3 seconds before it goes off. I pray everyday for brazilian servers, but this aesthetic kind of game does not have much adherence in my country... Sadge
Edit: the Arm's length slow dude, I never knew about it. 4 months in, almost all classes at 60+. You are a beast dude, watched all your class guides and always check them when i have any doubts.
Keep up the good work!
Yeah, ping is unfortunately something you just have to live with... on the bright side, your awful ping makes your ability to be a mage easier?
Thank you Wesk! I never knew how using 2 mitigations at once worked. I shudder at where I'd be in this game without the help of guides, especially yours
Wesk: "you are not the arbiter of who lives and dies."
Me: "Well yeah that's the healers job"
For soothe.
I do love these videos. Even though I play Black Mage, this is still very useful guide on the general knowledge and tips that I can keep in mind. Thank you for these guides.
Wow, what a great video! This helped me a lot. I am still a bit nervous to tank and stuff, but, I need to push through that and keep learning.
Always nice to remind new players that people don't need to immediately start massive pulls, I remember when I started and pretty much single pull in ARR and HW, learning is part of the experience and wish all people that try or are playing tank to never be discouraged.
Thank you for those kind words lol,During one of the final parts of the crystal tower quests i repeatedly got called braindead by another player,So that was kinda disheartening and rude,But seeing as i'm at the end of my free trial month and just got dark knight as a job last night,These words are encouraging,So thank you
this is - by far - by waaaaaaay far - the best guide the internet can offer
Definitely playing other games and intuition helped me learn Tank quickly. But I think the best way to learn is by not being a Tank. A Tank has the responsibility of protecting the team, but if you don't know how others are meant to play, how will you know when to actually use your mitigations, how do you know how to position yourself for the ease of the team? Things like that can be easy to realize if you yourself have experienced many-a dungeon as a non-tank, and have seen the experience of your tanks.
Unfortunately for me, I have the ego of a werewolf, and so I started off as a Marauder. The only way I learned (before finding this video) was by having a friend tell me about pulls and positioning. The rest was by my own.
Even after hundreds of hours into tanking there’s still little bits and pieces I picked up. Awesome guide and I’m looking forward to watching your other role guides !
I struggle with tankxiety and your video was really helpful for me!
I really love your use of the chapters in guides. It makes it sooooo nice to come back and review key points like a level 60 rotation or role specific information. Great job here as always :)
theres one thing i tend to do during bosses regarding positionals. if the boss has a cast time that causes it to change its facing direction, assuming its a decently long cast and the melees have already moved to position, i will move to their current front to make sure they dont turn after the cast. this will let melees adjust quicker to the new 'north' of the boss and hit their positionals cleanly. if there are cleaves, i can adjust a bit after to make sure that isnt an issue. and if there's no melees, i wont really need to worry
This was fantastic. Thanks, learned a lot of handy stuff I hadn't quite figured out yet after leveling my paladin to 70.
53:55 "Do what I do and just give up"
Yup.. playing tank made me stop caring about others and only do my thing right.
Shout out to the voking Alliance Raids tanks
That's a bit ironic considering that the tank's role on paper is supposed to be the person who cares the most about helping everyone.
Adding this to my study list to binge after work. This documentary shit is my new drug.
So helpful and the legacy settings was a huge help! Love your video!
Dark knight has a line aoe with flood of darkness/shadow so drk especially needs to clump up enemies for selfish reasons as well as reasons to help the party
This is single handedly the best video on tanking I've seen, incredible work! Can't wait to watch the DPS and Healer videos.
Thank you for this video been looking for in depth discussion or tutorials about this game and just started playing last month so i really appreciate this ty
Great video -- just seeing this and as someone who's been playing for years but just getting into tanking this is great info. The bit about the tank's AOEs registering on the mobs before the animation helped me understand why I'm so often ending up leaving stragglers behind on my big pulls.
One thing to note for new folks is that since this video was created, regens no longer create heal enmity on heal tics, only on the first application, so that makes healers' and tanks' lives much better.
Mass DC's from Light. Worth a once over, even as a tank main who's still to get into Savage.
Thank you for this. I am just coming back to the game after 6 years away, and this guide has already helped me a LOT at getting back into the groove of tanking. And there's tons of advice in here that I probably never knew in the first place, though I remember precious-little about actually playing from so long ago, heh.
I found the best way to get over tankxiety is to get a good healer to party up with you with a voice chat, then they can help out a lot.
These videos have been super helpful and made me less scared to tank in pick up games. Thanks for making these!
I sat through this whole video at first I was a little worried how long it was but I loved it! And it truly helped! Going from Sam and just unlocked GNB and I’m excited
Me with every tank at level 80 - I need to watch this! :)
Very good mindset! I have PLD and WAR at 80.. gonna level GNB next ! It’s good to have a review
I run into people with all 80s who need to watch this every day.
very nice and thorough guide man. Seen alot over the years for many mmo's, but this is one of the best for beginners.
Best tanking video I’ve seen. New sub. I like being a gladiator/paladin but hated tanking in this game. Other players always blames the tanks. Before I couldn’t even tell if I had agro. Definitely learned a lot in the video. Thank you very much for this guide.
Babe wake up, new WeskAlber guide dropped!
Thank you for the fantastic guide! You gave me the confidence to try tanking for the first time
You are so freaking underrated when it comes to guides.
Thanks! Still learning to play my tank in Squadron Command Missions, but I already did an MSQ run the other day as an offtank. I picked up the trash during a pull when the MT suddenly DC'd just when we hit the wall. :)
I haven't watched yet but YOU ARE THE MAN!! This is exactly what I've been waiting for!
What had me look this up was the three Raids that ARR forces you to do during the Crystal Tower Questline in order to continue the MSQ... A faceroll to be sure but I was amazed at the other two tanks that were doing so well despite the cluster that it was. My final raid there was a guy who gave out mechanic tips to everyone and taught me how to properly swap.
It was nice to be taught and now this will help me be even better
Another incredible guide, Wesk!
Love the breakdown! Keep the content coming!
I really wish there was a video like this but for people new to MMOs in general. I get some of the terms here but I also got lost at times. Hopefully I'll understand on a rewatch later.
Well, what in particular confused you? Can explain better and potentially improve my own content.
This really helped me learn to tank better for my high content thanks man
22:30 NOTE: Warrior is the only one that can get away without moving out of AOES because of Nascent Flash (unlocked at LV76)for trash pulls since the incoming healing from one Chatic cyclone or decimate spamming under Inner Release is MASSIVE. Use your mitigation to stall until nascent is back up. When nascent flash ticks off, dodge AOES like normal. Depending on the boss and if your burst window is back up( Inner Release, Gnashing Fang, Delirium) taking the magic down debuff is worth it for damage( up time). This applies when your comfy with tanking and/or trust your healer. NOTE: Certain mechanics must be respected even as a tank. This does not mean stand in every bosses aoe. It is a case by case bases.
Thank you for the video wesk. Your guides has helped me a lot when i am tried to learn different jobs, you break everything small details and explain it simple. I gave astrologist try thanks for your guide and managed to get rough idea of class how it plays up to lvl 60. It takes more time to learn than white mage but can buff partys damage and heal sametime if taking time to learn play the class. my poor fingers practically shouted mercy but that is just my personal experience. I play mostly as dps and have taken couple month breaks now and then, i think it was when heawens ward released when i actively started to play ff 14.
Rookie GNB here to say, I appreciate this video so much. Very encouraging, and informative!
Even as a level 80 DRK, I knew I was bad. Thank you for this video!
Great guide. New player here training Paladin (tank for first time) and haven't done a dungeon yet as unlike DPS it feels like there's more responsibility. I've also come across an a-hole tank during the Garuda extreme trial that didn't seem to understand new player's can't know boss mechanics without actually doing the fight and learning, as near all players there were new.
However, I've done the Eyes Have It and large dragon FATEs in Coerthas and managed to stop other's being targeted, so that's a good way to train. Also Whiteout with the Gobbues and The Grey FATE with the wolves or others were good for learning to pull all the enemies without a healer. And you might have one other player join the FATE that you can protect.
I've only watched 17min in and damn! This is some really, really helpfully Sh*t! Much appreciated bro! Keep preaching!
Tank ABC: Always Be Controlling the mobs.
Pre-50 is the roughest part of tank leveling. You don't have tools to handle situations, you don't have poetics gear to rely on and your dps friends don't have aoe to speed things up.
one of the best pieces of advice i can give to any tank is learn the fight and know when to press your mitigation buttons. you'll make a lot less mistakes weaving in mit buttons when you're proactive with your defensive cds instead of reactive.
after doing a fight so many times, i just press those buttons like they're part of my rotation instead of trying to find a spot to weave after remembering the mechanic coming up.
leads to less panic, and once it becomes part of your muscle memory, you can spend less time staring at your hotbars and more time looking at the screen to pay attention to mechanics.
Hi Wes! Amazing video as usual, and I have kind of a silly question if you don't mind me asking it. Why do you have Limit Break on your hotbars 15 times? Haha! Thank you for the video, I learned a lot!
Check my UI vid linked as a card!... I think I explain it better there. but it's a leftover from the TWR raiding. A lot of that used to be potions and more.
I intend to redo my UI a bit for EW
@@WeskAlber will do! :D
I was leveling my White Mage the other day and got Longstop as my leveling roulette. The tank started the dungeon without his stance up, asked me 'Heals you good?' and then proceeded to do a massive pull without mitigating and proceeded to tell me that I should only focus on healing and not dps at all. As a someone with level 70 tanks, I've never felt so upset that someone doesn't know how to tank.
I do hope you informed them of all their mistakes and misconceptions
This was extremely helpful as someone new to MMO's in general, the only one I've done prior was Rune Scape back in early 2000's. You made it very easy to understand and through several parts of the video I was slightly proud to learn that I was already doing some things right and some things I suspected were spot on, like queuing the move slightly before the cd was over and that I could move back in when the aoe indicator disappeared (maybe my inherent need to want to keep my party from harm was an early indicator that I should be a tank). I have a ton to learn, mainly that my setup is off and I should be playing much more zoomed out, I was playing with more of an rpg point of view and was finding it very hard to pull enemies effectively because of it but this confirms that I should zoom out. Also I was previously using the left and right click mouse buttons method for moving because I kept losing the wasd when I would use hotkeys so I was having to swap back and forth to be able to click mobs, I realize I should probably only move with wasd now and just get better at finding the hotkeys lol. Idoubt you'll see this after so long but thank you for this guide, I'll be returning to it frequently to learn everything piece by piece. I WILL become a better tank.
Might wanna head over to my settings video! You might find a good few ways to help you find the control scheme you like.
@@WeskAlber Oh wow, you actually responded! I'll do just that!
As a wow refugee I was terrified of tanking or healing . I witnessed so much abuse dished out on these two roles was terrifying to me. However, with FF14 player base and job system I am playing a WM and have just started DK job! Yea me! TY u tube creators and guides!
I feel that alot! I'm also a wow refugee and my friend notices time and time again how much anxiety that usually gives me. I am a dancer main, however a while ago, I wished to pick up both a healer and a tank class for our guild and was super nervous. I am now a fairly confident Sage and am slowly finding my own Tank class (Gunbreaker seems to work great for me!). There's still one or two people who tend to be a bit unkind, but those are so minimal, I barely notice, and many even give me advice. That's why I love this community ^^
This video has helped me sleep so many times, thank you. Good night ❤
Don't get why you needed to be so rude
@@WeskAlber really? I thought it was a compliment for his soothing voice 😅
Like an unintentional asmr
@@lucagilbertion5533 It didn't come off that way. Lack of context, when that changes it a lot. Text doesn't have tone.
The one thing I will say about castbar dodging is- please keep in mind your international friends. Many of us play on US servers and just deal with the lag, so you may see a tank move earlier than others to account for this. It's a safety thing (or at least it is in my case)- we're moving earlier to ensure we're avoiding the damage entirely, because surviving is ultimately more important than DPS.
A second earlier is one thing, but my issue is I see people moving the second the cast bar appears. That ain't because of being overseas that's for sure
I have to admit bardams mettle traumatized me a bit, but as a healer. I was going in with my friend as the tank and it did NOT work out and I felt so guilty that I legit haven't entered that dungeon since qwq. This guide is really helpful however, and I can't wait to watch more!
An excellent macro I made is called "Set and Forget," and it's a single button I can keep available but out of the way that attempts to cast all of the abilities people turn on and then leave on when they swap to a job:
/merror off
/ac grit
/ac "iron will"
/ac defiance
/ac "royal guard"
/ac "fists of flame"
/ac "summon selene"
/ac "diurnal sect"
/ac "closed position"
/blueaction "mighty guard"
It saves a decent bit of physical UI space but also a notable amount of mental energy. There are exceptions - in 8-man content you want to throw Closed Position on someone other than Target 4, on a few fights you want to actually turn tank stance on and off, and until Endwalker comes out you might want to use Nocturnal Sect (and AFTER Endwalker comes out that ability won't exist anymore anyway). But the core of it is just those first four lines: It's one button that tries to cast Grit, Iron Will, Defiance, and Royal Guard all at once, and in doing so ends up casting whichever one is actually valid and ignoring the rest. And because you're always outside combat when you do this the weird macro-clipping that can happen isn't a problem.
The way I do it is by using job change macros that try to macro the skill after I swap to that job.
It doesn’t always work because macros are bad but it feels more natural for me.
I just got back into ff14 after a several year break and decided to play a warrior this tiume around as I have never played a tank in MMO before and heard they were fun in this one. I am so happy I gave it a try and got over my "tankxiety". It is actually really fun and you feel way more involved than a DPS just following the group around a dungeon. Also, the singleplayer content is MUCH more fun as a tank than a DPS.
Having been a healer main for a while I decided to become a tank (currently L56 DRK) and i am really enjoying it. I am using my defensive cooldowns sensibly and becoming brave with pulling more. The area I struggle the most on is making sure I have picked up all the enemies. I rely on the aggro table and I note it only picks up enemies that you have engaged with. Sometimes there is a small mob attacking someone but I dont always notice straight away as its not on my list. Is it a case of just being more aware ? It has got easier as my confidence has grown and turning effects to limited has helped.
P.S - brilliant guide. You are the best
I don't think there's a UI solution at present to this problem, really. Mostly just a matter of camera work to watch for mobs, or eyeballing the health bars once in a while to see if anyone is getting nicked who shouldn't be. Heals and DPS *should* know to run *to* the tank if they pick up a wandering mob, though.
Just started the xbox free trial. Played dps and healer and now I'm trying tanking and the anxiety has hit 100. Thanks for this guide, really helped
I’m an Omni80+ healer main, this video is such good info, not only for beginners but experienced players as well. Recently, I’ve been lvling dps jobs and seeing less experienced tanks and healers fumbling through dungeons. Tanks forgetting to use tank stance, healers staying far from the tank during large trash pulls, etc. I myself am going to lvl gnb after lvling my current job, so this is a good refresher.
Had a gnb use superbolide at the start of a wall to wall pull causing me to burn through my cds early. I struggled to keep them alive and ultimately ended in a wipe. After the revive they started started pulling smaller, to which I explained why superbolide was bad to use when they did.
man thank you so much for this lol this might get me back into tanking. i developed tankxiety (lol this word) sometime in my ffxiv hiatus and have been having the damndest time shaking it. which sucks cuz i used to love my DRK but now its one of the most unused jobs in my pool. i dunno. aside from the fact that i hate 'leading' so to speak, i kinda just have this "ill do my thing, you do your part, and we'll all come together somehow" mentality when it comes to the trinity. but when it comes to tanking, whatever you call it, leader, team player, meat shield.. people basically *_can't_* do their parts, unless you're *always* doing your part well. and while im good at what i do, it doesn't exactly come with the air of confidence that ill *always* be so 😣
THANK YOU for a genuinely beginner introduction. I’ve been playing MMOs for a few years, been playing FFXIV and leveling my first job (WHM) for about a year, and am just now dipping into a tank role for the first time. I appreciate that you cover tank-specific basics without being patronizing.
My best advice to get past tank anxiety is the phrase "Healers adjust." I know it sounds like you're being a jerk, but its a good summary of an experienced tanks mindset on mistakes. No one plays perfect and unless you or your healer are very undergeared the entire huge mistake you're worried you just made is one or 2 extra heals.
@@citriosis glad you managed to read one sentence. Go ahead and read the rest please.
"Bardam Mettle is the hardest hitting dungeon" hits me deeply.
As a new SCH-in-training (but healer main), I had the hardest time dealing with big pulls wall-to-wall since the dungeon entrance, ended up wiped the entire party.
Pull until the wall stops you was the only tipp i got before this video
5:00 i subscribed cuz ur spitting truth. Tanks can easily get an inflated ego...and become an egotistical elitist which is why I am going to mainly tank so I can turn that around and become a beneficial elitist who will build ppl up instead of tear them down.
Great video really learned a lot from it. Thanks man keep it up
Tanking is only “easiest” in normal content. In savages/ultimates you have tons of extra responsibility depending on the fight. And tanks like GNB and DRK have harder rotations than a handful of DPS classes
Well yes, that's who this guide is for. Normal players
I would argue you don't have "tons" of extra responsibility in 99% of savages. Ultimates, sure. Though sometimes tanks get to do legit nothing in even ultimate fights.
@@Kisuzume I mean.. you can make the same argument for every job, in certain fights though.. like I sometimes prefer being DPS in UWU cuz it feels like I don’t gotta do shit, hardly LOL! And healing in savages with groups that don’t eat extra damage is typically a cake walk, since our attack rotations are EZ asf, and healing only typical/necessary predictable sections is simple and non taxing.
@@jacobtridef48 "You can make the same argument for every job." Exactly the point I was making. It doesn't matter which is easier where. It's a pointless conversation to have because it will always change on a per fight and per phase basis.
@@Kisuzume which is kinda what I was getting at, in the original comment, in the first place.. cuz the vid says Tank is easiest, and I was just saying it’s not really.. you’re right, it is fight dependent (in most cases). Granted I’ve found more ultimates rough on Tank Responsibility, than any other job(DSR is a prime example, also kinda TOP but not quite as much). But for savages it’s somewhat more evenly split, than ultimates are.
The tank ego reminder is great. Tanks do lead the party, but the DPS and the Healer decide for how long.
To resume this video a lot less stressful, follow these 3 simple steps:
A
B
C.
Tank me later.
Joke aside, great video. Really helpful for me since I just started playing FFXIV as a Gladiator lvl23 and I’m having a blast whit my first MMORPG ever.
I have over 1k hours in this game and I still learned a thing or two. Thank you!