Every adventuring party in Final Fantasy XIV needs a tank. The stalwart spearheads of the group, tanks lead the party through the battlefields. The primary purpose of the tank is simply to draw enmity (or aggro) away from the party. Effectively, the tank functions as the leader of the party, and how the dungeon, trial, or raid goes can ultimately be up to their discretion.
The idea of being at the forefront of all the damage and leading the party can be extremely daunting, however. Tanking can feel like too much responsibility for newer players or the uninitiated, but like with all learning processes, it's best to take one step at a time. This guide will break down the basics that any aspiring tank will need to begin their mighty journey. So long as these fundamentals are understood, tanking can be a fun and rewarding experience.
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Understanding Tank Stance Is Crucial
The first -- and yet undoubtedly the most crucial -- step to tanking is understanding Tank Stance. For Gladiators/Paladins, it's Iron Will, for Marauders/Warriors, it's Defiance, for Dark Knights, it's Grit, and for Gunbreakers, it's Royal Guard. At level 10, players unlock the tank stance, which increases enmity generation, ensuring that the tank maintains aggro so long as they keep doing damage. This is incredibly essential to tanking. In light parties of four players, the tank must always ensure this is on. In full parties of eight players, one tank must have this on (designated the main tank or MT), and the other tank (designated the off tank or OT) must start the duty with this off to not steal enmity from the main tank.
If there is a singular tank, this stance must always be on. Enmity generation is what keeps the enemy from decimating the rest of the party. To maintain enmity, all tanks need to do is keep doing damage, usually by repeating Area Of Effect attacks ad nauseam. If all is done right, the tank won't ever lose enmity.
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Get a Handle on Mitigations
The next integral step in tanking is understanding mitigations. Tanks are given plenty of skills solely to help lessen the amount of damage they take during fights. Though these skills may seem small in concept, a good mitigation understanding is very often the difference between life and death. Strategically using and spacing out rotations makes both the tank and the healer's job easier, so it is a good idea to get a handle on the nuance of damage mitigators.
All tanks share three kinds of mitigation: Rampart at level 8 (lowers damage done to tank), Reprisal at level 22 (lowers damage from nearby enemies) and Arm's Length at level 32 (nullifies knockback and slows enemy attacks). Each of these mitigations has a particular use and should be spaced out accordingly, so there is always one handy when needed. Under no circ*mstances should a tank ever stack mitigations, as their benefits are multiplicative and thus offer diminishing returns.
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Learn to Pull the Mobs
In dungeons, enemies are grouped up into packs. The tank's job is to grab (or pull) the attention of these packs as the party burns them down. Ideally, the best way to do this is to walk forward until the dungeon no longer allows the tank to advance while doing an AoE attack on any enemies they pass (known as a Wall-to-Wall Pull). The main reason for this is that the more enemies that are hit by an AoE, the more damaging the AoE becomes. On longer pulls, tanks may find that they begin to lose enmity, but this is okay so long as the tank just keeps moving. The tank can recover all of it once they reach the end of the pull.
However, wall-to-wall pulls can be intensive for both healers and tanks alike, so if newer tanks are anxious about jumping into the deep end, a good place to start is to pull two packs of enemies, mitigate damage, defeat the enemies and repeat. Pulling a single pack of enemies is not recommended, as it doesn't make the best usage of AoE attacks. Overall, it slows the dungeon down. A good rule of thumb that all players should remember is that if there are three or more enemies, do an AoE.
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Keep Positioning in Mind
In boss fights and raids, the tank is going to be the center of attention for all the enemies, so it's a good idea to keep positioning in mind. Generally, when the tank has the boss aggroed, the tank will want to turn the boss away from the party and stop moving. Facing the boss away easily avoids cleaving the party with a wide attack, which means less work for the healers. Additionally, keeping the boss still and pointing away makes life much easier for DPS classes with positional attacks.
As for positioning in dungeons, the big thing tanks need to look out for is their positioning relative to the healer. If the tank walks out of range or leaves the line of sight of the healer, it could spell imminent doom, even with the Twelve's blessing. Newer tanks must also watch their positioning to not accidentally aggro additional enemy packs that they aren't prepared for.
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Use Invulnerabilities When Necessary
Sometimes, things just go wrong. Sometimes, the party does everything right, and still, it comes to a wipe. Not to fear, invulnerabilities are skills for tanks that stop or delay a tank's untimely demise. These abilities come with a lengthy recast timer, so tanks must ensure that they only use these skills when a wipe is imminent.
Not all invulns are built the same, however. The Gladiator/Paladin gets Hallowed Ground, which simply negates all damage for 10 seconds. The Marauder/Warrior gets Holmgang, which doesn't allow the tank to go below 1 HP for 10 seconds. The Dark Knight gets Living Dead, which, when they die, gives them 10 seconds where all their attacks heal. If they heal a total equaling their max HP, they don't die. The Gunbreaker gets Superbolide, which reduces the tank's HP to 1 but nullifies all damage for 10 seconds. When planning to use Superbolide, it's important to inform the healer so as to not waste any heals.
Following this guide will prepare any new tanks for the long journey ahead of them. Tanking can be daunting to the uninitiated, but so long as these basics are followed and understood, there's little that can keep a new tank down. If new tanks are struggling to digest all this information, they just need to remember this sequence of events: stance, pull, mitigate, and repeat.
