Which Is The BEST Tank Job For YOU!? (FFXIV Dawntrail Patch 7.1 Edition)

[@Lankerton]

When I started playing Drk back in Shadowbringers I fell in love with it, the story, the aesthetic, the skills, the edginess, it was all perfect. I don't even mind being an off-tank, supporting my team is easy enough, and main-tanking is very doable. Definitely my favorite class in the game.

[@pteronura6739]

Gunbreaker just feels so good

[@Senbatorii]

Warrior it’s Warrior. It’s always Warrior and always will be Warrior

[@Michael-bb1cw]

Hahaha Fell Cleave go BRRR

[@HamsterPants522]

As someone who mains Paladin, I've never perceived the shield as something cowardly. Quite the contrary. The idea of the shield isn't simply to protect myself, but to protect my friends because I care about them very much, and that's also been the defining gameplay trait of Paladin in the history of the Final Fantasy series, uniquely possessing the ability to block attacks for their allies.

[@Thee_worst]

As a paladin main... I feel called out by the trueness of the first 15 minutes of the video

[@AzuriteTV]

I swear its all in good fun!

[@StriderZessei]

Talking a lot of crap for someone within divine smiting range, ​@@AzuriteTV

[@SubduedRadical]

I like how Tanks have been WoL enough in cinematics that you could show all four (with Thancred stepping up for GNB) in cinematic form.

[@TengAi21]

Bitchadin? You mean SHIELD-GODS!!!??? ROFL I think you just jealous of our gorgeous coronets. We fine AF in them things. LMAO. Awesome vid. Thank you.

[@AzuriteTV]

I admit I am big jealous

[@tkOzeki]

PLD will always be my favorite. I remember soloing the last boss of Dead Ends first try cause my party wiped early lol

[@dayru_ru]

appreciate the castlevania rondo of blood music

[@cgkase6210]

Chose Paladin for my boy Harchefaunt and nothing else

[@loofy530]

Paladin with Emperor's New Shield though, roleplay yourself blocking attacks with your forearm 👀

[@LuminNox]

after maining melee for all of EW and escaping the tank void all tanks except GNB feel so sluggish to me. GNB is the only one that really keeps me engaged and therefore my favourite

[@KeavyGoesLive]

As a former Paladin player who swapped to Gunbreaker and never looked back, I find it odd you consider it an “Off tank” since I swear I main tank all the dang time, as for some reason no other tank in Full Party content seems to want to engage or asks me to main tank. I don’t mind and I like the opportunity to test my skills but it just seems odd so many people in my data center seem to think Gunbreaker is a main tank.

[@saintjynr]

I play warrior and drk, and I've been asked to be OT as a warrior, so at this point I just shut up and agree with my co tank lol

[@SayuIchi]

One thing is that even in extremes or savage the other tank often does not care for enmity at all. And GNB ususally does more damage, taking over. So you are stuck Provoking, making it tedious. Then its just easier to let the Gunbreaker main tank from the start- especially if they already volunteer. As offtank I don't need to heal them, so i really don't care.

[@Tholapsyx]

Ye I think it’s primarily an enmity thing. GNB & DRK tends to hog all the aggro with their openers, so many just let them MT and not worry about enmity. However, in my experience on Crystal, if there’s a WAR in the party, they tend to MT ‘coz they can invul most of the TB. One reason why PLD tends to be relegated to OT is that in some fights the OT has to be out of max melee, and PLD can maintain full uptime in these positions. Most recent example of this is M4S.

[@blackmagekongs2588]

Drk is my go to tank for every endgame content, and always has been especially since their rework to living dead from endwalker. Imo they have the best invuln in the game in general, because it is so easy to use. You dont have to time your invulns properly like other tanks like the quad buster from AP in TEA. You can say its a skill-issue on my part and that WAR invuln is still better because of its shorter cd and ability to cover that buster as well. But with drk's invuln you can safely know that whatever buster is heading your way, you will survive it and you can pre-pop it way earlier than any other tanks. Plus they have the 2nd shortest invuln which I feel pretty much allows them to be on par with WAR for most content that requires invulns. I dont see this mentioned to often, but frankly drk is just the beeefiest tank. Meaning they have so many mits available to them that they can handle busters and autos from bosses really well. I know tbn is getting a lot of flak for being an outdated defensive cd, but combined with all their mits with tbn drk's barely take any damage from any busters headed there way. Drk really is just the best at handling anything the boss decides to throw at them. They also have the highest burst damage and also the easiest burst damage to execute. Their dps is based on gauge which means its great for ultimates during downtime. While i complain that drk has a boring and uninspired rotation between bursts, that being a worse war clone. Not having much going on in between bursts really allows you to dial in on upcoming mechs or mechs that are happening currently. There are other changes I wish for drk, but as of now they still seem to be the best tank for the new upcoming ultimate FRU. Drk is not really where i want it to be, but they are still arguably the best tank for progging and clearing endgame content. I just need to know though, why did SE decide to keep enhanced unmend lmao. Is there a secret to it that i don't know? Because i feel like that trait has always been completely useless lmao.

[@AzuriteTV]

Good points here! In my experience DRK felt amazing in DSR and TOP and yeah the rotation is kinda boring and I do wish for something... more? Its a huge comfort pick for me, more so than playing Warrior, and that's either because it's my main or DRK is just a genuinely comfy tank with its rotation and shit ton of mitigation options

[@blackmagekongs2588]

@AzuriteTV I am in the same boat drk really is a comfort pick for me moreso than war. Dont get me wrong war has their own reasons for being a great tank at endgame too, but it might come off as a surprise when i say that war has more going on than drk as of current. Idk if i should be disappointed or happy about that lol. But to me since drk is deceptively easy to use i can focus more on the fight itself since i think most people can agree that mechs take priority over everything when it comes to savage/ultimate fights.

[@keiken96]

As a Dark Knight main, I agree most of us play DRK cuz its cool af. Also, a bonus motivator for me was the Dark Knight job from Final Fantasy Tactics series and Tactics Ogre

[@ZessaSnake]

I know it is a bit of a cliche, but as someone who doesn’t tank a lot, my go to tank has always been WAR and if that‘s not an option, GNB. For me personally those 2 are the best and fastest to get back into if I haven’t played tank in a while.

[@EloquentTroll]

Gunbreaker was the first tank I picked up and is still my favorite, but I've been leveling Dark Knight and it's definitely interesting. I'm really missing heal and shield on Brutal Shell, but maintain the damage buff minigame is a nice upside.

[@bsmall1412]

Coming back to the game after 1.5 years and been watching lots of tank videos. Last played a GNB but leaning towards DRK now. Thanks for the video.

[@Mythix]

another banger from my azurite.

[@BigSarge72]

I play all four and enjoy all of them. However, if I feel like I need a little extra to carry a group, I am going paly or warrior.

[@Cuthawolf]

Perfectly timed video! Levelled GNB to 100 and I enjoy it, now I'm trying to figure out which second tank I'm going to bring up (eventually I want all jobs at 100).

[@saintjynr]

I'd recommend warrior for one reason, and that is seeing how broken raw intuition and bloodwhetting are in dungeons. Press one button and you're instantly at full hp while its active, rotate it inbetween your cooldowns whenever its available, and you might not even need the healer

[@shadowrigg]

Came back to the game during the end of ShB, but the last time I played was mid-ARR when the choice was only PLD or WAR. So I played PLD. Didn't like it, so I switched to WAR. You're right, WAR rotation is very easy, which gives the ability to pay attention to the party list during raiding and fill the "third healer" role when needed. My group seems to like that, and I get to make unga bunga jokes.

[@EternalPancake1]

The only tank job that matters is the one that fits my glamor the most at that very moment. Now I must level paladin to 100 because I found some cute glamor that fit it. (7.1's new dungeon fending chest piece, sadly its undyeble, so Paladin I must go.)

[@raarasunai4896]

Gunbreaker was my first tank, and it’s still a lot of fun. On that note, I see you have Aurora and Heart of Corundum twice, with the second time being a macro. How do you have those macros set up? I’d love to try them out

[@AzuriteTV]

I actually explain that in my macro video, you only have to watch the first 4 mins, probably not even that! That said, I like to always have my co-tank macro be on my bars, just so its easy to press, while my other party members I have to put in a bit more effort xD Video is here! kzbin.info/www/bejne/oITCq5V7d9lgh6c

[@raarasunai4896]

@ Thank you!

[@akhmorgan]

I’ve been playing paladin for most of the time I’ve been tanking, but picked up dark knight after 7.1 dropped. Got my first unreal clears yesterday as a dark knight and the MP/blood management is pretty fun! The huge sword is also a bonus. I will be stealing your macros next to the party list for individual mits, by the way, that’s a great idea!

[@Sephirothurl]

Not the Oliver, my son was watching with me and that’s his name LOL

[@AzuriteTV]

I'm so sorry lmao

[@sirforcer]

Something tells me this guy doesn't like PLD

[@VashimuXIV]

For me, my choices will always be both Paladin and Dark Knight. On one hand, it’s similar to as you said Azu, I suffer from main character syndrome and I like being edgy, and on the other, it’s my roleplay fantasy of being like Cecil Harvey and going from Dark Knight to Paladin, but that’s just a small dosage of headcanon. Tanking really just spoke to me like no other role has, and I do enjoy playing every role, but I knew I found my home as being a tank once I understood the fundamentals. Also, edging will never not be funny.

[@Densoro]

You called me out lmao I started out as DRG/RDM/SAM, but they were too squishy for some of the solo MSQ fights, so I got annoyed and started trying on tanks. Not only does GNB satisfy my need to mash out hyperactive attack strings -- significantly, it heals on the _second_ hit of its main combo, where other tanks heal on the _third._ Because of this, if the fight starts to get dicey, I can just spam 1-2, 1-2, 1-2 to keep myself healed up, rather than committing to a full 1-2-3. I can worry about generating cartridges once things calm down. Also, I love the change to Superbolide. You say DRK's the 'edge'-master, but back when SuBo dropped you to 1 HP, I used to wait until the _last possible second_ to pop it. Now? If I'm already below 50% HP and the situation seems urgent, what've I got to lose? I've been sleeping on those party mits, tho. Thanks for pulling my attention back to the...tank...part of tanking :P EDIT: This video made me realize I hadn't done my job quest to unlock Continuation. You mean I could've been mashing out _even more combos this whole time???_

[@SayuIchi]

As a Healer i prefer Hallowed over Holmgang 8/10 times. Less scary if theres a hit into a vulnerable tank just before the invuln runs out and 2 seconds later the next hit. Thats unnecessary stress without any clear benefit (e.g. M4S first TB). And its not like it frees up much in the way of CDs. As a healer I did not notice a difference between Tank combos.

[@The_vataru_guy]

Am I hearing Serious Sam OST in Azu’s video?! :O

[@reigningslash]

Warrior for dungeons, Gun breaker for everything else

[@shiro12okami69]

As an absolute PLD main, I have to totally agree that I have a very FLEX-ible rotation,in which I can freely FLEX,my burst to fit it perfectly in given circumstances for maximum FLEX-ibility,in every encounter,while having a lot of FLEX-ible Mitigation for me and my grp, for the absolute FLEXING. Yeah I’m not biased,PLD just Goated sry :P PS: Cover is busted, if you know how to use it, the amount of dogshit I did in savages with it is insane. Get creative guys, we have the tools ;)

[@reloadpsi]

Paladin is gonna be my favourite tank in just about any system and I won't be convinced otherwise.

[@shidokasagi5406]

War. war all the way.

[@vespi57]

I started as a Paladin, I've stayed a Paladin and I will be a Paladin.

[@Hems_]

The best tank is all of them guys🙏🏻

[@tatlxtael2303]

Wait is Paladin a main tank now??? I haven’t touched it since the rework

[@Saltyfeet89]

How do you put macros next to the party list?

[@cloudri]

First like first comment I love your videos

[@Donokyothelast]

SUFFER my BLOODLUST!! DARK Knight

[@liontamer4132]

My first answer is warrior (cuz I started with marauder) but the real answer is all of them

[@Noah-gn2gu]

GNB and WAR should be swapped IMO. Most of WAR's heals are shareable (namely Nascent Flash), while its mits are *much* worse. GNB's massive mits allows it to make Nascent Flash go farther. Compare that to WAR not being able to make any heals given to it stretch whatsoever. Brutal Shell also just ends up healing more than Storm's Path, but requires being MT unlike Nascent Flash. This also seems to be the division the devs are going with as well, as GNB and PLD are close to each other in terms of mitigation while both being miles apart from DRK and WAR (who are close to each other). At the same time, DRK and WAR share having enemy-count based heals (Abyssal and Bloodwhetting) for dungeons to compensate. Also, big disagree with DRK being easy. Everyone says that but I'm sure they're not being optimal at all. This is especially true when things are not structured like in raids. Someone drifts their raid buffs? Now you gotta time your resources for that. At the same time don't save too much or you'll end up having to drift Delirium. This is 100x more noticeable in dungeons, where optimizing DRK becomes a million times harder than other tank. GNB, WAR, and PLD are all on rails, and WAR and PLD are 60s based (GNB is only partially 2M based). In dungeons or in raids, you literally just press everything on CD. Don't drift No Mercy/FoF, Inner Release on CD. DRK having any semblance of saving your skills makes it not "easy," outside of the extremely sanitized organized raid setting. Trying to squeeze out every Edge possible during a boss while having exactly the MP you need to cap MP just as you reach the next pull, and still find a way to trigger a procc of Dark Arts before the boss dies, is quite the experience. If you're going to main a tank and play tank all day and night, DRK is a great tank to main because the way it interacts with everything is endlessly fun and actually dynamic. Being half the time the busiest tank is insanely satisfying while the other half lets you focus on mechs or sustain or party protection. If you're just dipping your toes into tanking just cuz you want to do it here and there then it's not that good. If you're a casual tanker and want something easy, WAR or PLD are great (which is why they're the most common tanks IMO, as most people are not tank mains and just choose the easiest one, skewing the data). If you're a casual tanker and snooze when you don't have something shiny lighting up 24/7, play GNB since it's the most like a DPS rotation.

[@saintjynr]

I think warrior's kit works best for MT when mitigating auto attacks. Damnation deals damage back and gives a regen, and this might just be personal experience, but having that extra self sustain while healers are focused on other stuff is very useful

[@goni2493]

Wouldn't Warrior be both since its one of the best classes to go solo.

[@Taldorin]

I'm too focused on your bars and how you have your UI setup everyone always has such a unique setup that has pros and cons to take from em

[@GodEater015]

The copium that TBN is fine is crazy. It desperately needs a buff.

[@AcidSnake87]

I love Dark Knight. It’s a busy but simple job. It needs another combo, but atm it feels solid and has the best color scheme and style.

[@Xport9]

PLD for me. I just love self-healing.

[@CrabCake31]

I had a lot of fun leveling all the tank jobs, until I got to paladin. I don’t know how to describe it but compared to all the other tanks it just feels boring. After going back to GNB and WAR it’s been a lot more fun playing as tank

[@blackfrostfilms-dl8wo]

I’m sorry but why does warrior have a faster cool down invonerablity than dark knight which literally requires you to to die in case you can’t tell I’m a dark knight, though not because edgy but because it has a color in the name and I thought it would be funny if my only combat jobs had colors in the name

[@eternalsummer8409]

Best tank Ofc is dragoon

[@justinserrano4506]

Pld followed by gnb. Anything else is just the wrong answer

[@michealsoto6722]

its hard to choose just one unless your dedicated to your static or clear Extrmes. this why ff14 is better then warcraft its easy to play every job and be atlease decent. i like Warrior but i feel it can be to easy just heal your self. to me the best tank experience youll ever have in a mmo is with a Darkknight i once heard dk is a challenge for all skill levels in dungions because lack of self heals but there use ful as a off tank in raids. my vote will go to Paladin its just very begginer friendly.

[@AzuriteTV]

Yeah despite "maining" DRK, I do play around as the others

[@user-wf9hl6gu6x]

tbn is garbage. losing the extra bw stacks means you're down 1200mp every minute.

[@GnoccitheThrro]

I'd disagree on Paladin having an Awful Invuln skill. It's literal pure invulnerability with no ifs ands or buts. It's not like Superbolide that drops you to half your health or Living Dead that has a chance to FAIL essentially.

[@Aoki-Blaustahl]

It has the longest cooldown of any invuln skill - thats honestly the most important metric - do you like the guy that gets to reliably invuln every buster... Or the guy that spares you using 1-2 ogcd heals because you don't need to bene that guy. Gunbreaker now only uses half their HP and they get the whole pld full invuln (full invuln for 10s) but on a shorter cd. Also Bolide still triggers HoC so more than 50%

[@pteronura6739]

Superbolide is literally just a better hallowed ground, paladin has the worst cooldown is way yoo long

[@blackmagekongs2588]

Hallowed ground is bad, because it also forces your co-tank to flex around for your invuln times whereas that would not be a thing with other tanks in most situations. The cd is just too damn long.

[@GnoccitheThrro]

I feel like all three of you are speaking from a more hard-core and raid scene perspective. I'm saying it as a more casual player. I would rather have a press a button and I'm completely invulnerable for a long time button then an Invuln that 90 percent of the time I waste because I press the button when I think I'm about to die only to be healed right as the timer dissappears and die anyways. In Trial runs and normal raids, I like to use it for if we need to stall for a Hardcast raise or for a rez mage to pick people up so that I don't get killed and can keep said boss distracted. I don't even say this as a paladin main or anything, I main Gunbreaker of the four tanks. But Hallowed Ground just feels more comfortable for me to use then either of the other two aforementioned invulns.

[@blackmagekongs2588]

@@GnoccitheThrro Id still argue gnb's superbollide does a way better job than hallowed ground for that situation you described. Shorter cd, access to aurora and hoc for self-heal when your healers are struggling. At this point it just boils down to which of the two tanks you feel more comfortable playing.

[@diasmusempal]

Warrior. The answer is always warrior.

[@hunteraldridge9748]

Smash lol

[@HeShoeTooBig]

As a healer, every time there's a Dark Knight, i sigh because I know I have to babysit their HP bar. And lord help me if the DPS doesn't get out of the way of the boss moves and lose half their health.

[@Ratix24]

Lol doom bgm for gunbreaker

[@Ratix24]

Gnb

[@MastaBroshiX]

Condensing my yap to "i appreciate your content" 🫡