What job is the best tank

[Brendon]

ok im going to make a dragoon and i want it to be a tank so would warrior be the best job to make my dragoon a tank and im choosing hume as my race

[Khaotic]

Umm you'll never tank as a drg, never. There is really only 2 main tanks that people choose, and that is :

Ninja
Paladin

Ninja "blink tanks" which is basically, he takes no damage, assuming he/she is good at counting their shadows, unless of course theres an AoE(area of effect).

Paladin is all about defense and damage reduction, they take hits head on with a shield and heavy armor, they can also cure themselves to keep the focus of the monster on you.

warrior is a needed subjob for any tank simply because of provoke, but, sorry to tell you, dragoon simply won't ever be a tank, the healers would be healing you way too much, wasting their mp, causing huge downtime compared to a nin or pld.

[No.78]

Ninja is the ultimate tank! If past level 37, before they need a second voker but at 37+ they're probably better then paladin.

(warrior can tank too...)

[Yeargdribble]

Ultimate stationary endgame tank mostly for indoor use is BRD/NIN but that's a whole different topic.

No... you will never tank as DRG, sorry.

[TinyRikku]

The best Tank is either one on three choices Warrior/Palidan, Warrior/Ninja, or Warrior/Theif any other job subed with Warrior isn't the best choice... You are talking about Final Fantasy XI Online right?? lol

[strawberryman]

Ninja is the ultimate tank! If past level 37, before they need a second voker but at 37+ they're probably better then paladin.

(warrior can tank too...)

Um, uh. No. I'd prefer a PLD over a NIN tank any day. Because they can actually hold hate when the going gets rough. Also, alot of NIN tanks I've had had no idea what they were doing. WAR could possibly tank, yes, but alot of people choose not to at 40~50+, even when they're the only one seeking. I've actually had WARs disband when they were told they were the only tank-type job around the parties level.

[Markus. D]

I saw a video on youtube showing that Bards can make kickassssss tanks endgame, apparently.


edit: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Tgz34-fv9jE&search=Bard%20Tank


excuse the bad fraps capture.

[Kuzotz]

Ultimate stationary endgame tank mostly for indoor use is BRD/NIN but that's a whole different topic.

No... you will never tank as DRG, sorry.
If I would've said that Lionx would have something to say about it then.

[Lionx]

The best Tank is either one on three choices Warrior/Palidan, Warrior/Ninja, or Warrior/Theif any other job subed with Warrior isn't the best choice... You are talking about Final Fantasy XI Online right?? lol

Personally i dont see how WAR/PLD is any worth to a tank...WAR/NIN post 50 with a BRD is possible(Elegy is very strong), and of course post 74 with Ni is possible with WAR/NIN. But WAR/THF lacks the tools a WAR/MNK has and is mainly a damage dealer in my opinion.

For me personally, i see 3 main top tier tanks until 74:

PLD/WAR or /RDM(post refresh only please) and possibly /BLU
NIN/WAR
WAR/MNK (just wear AF to tank..)
post 74: WAR/NIN

I am still somewhat believing that MNKs and SAMs can tank in their own ways....if only Guard/Parry fired off more respectively.

I havent seen a BRD tank before honestly, but i do know that BRD/NIN is used quite often in merit-pts to pull. But i have never seen a DRG tank. @@ Their armor selection is always on the light side...

[Rostum]

No, you'll never tank as a DRG. You can solo though.

If you want to tank I suggest being a Paladin or a Ninja.

Having leveled Ninja to 40 and Paladin to 75. I can say that I really do like Paladin a lot more, but then again, level 40 isn't a huge number to be able to have a defenate opinion on the class. I still couldn't imagine how it'd work if they chucked in a couple of Ninja to replace the Paladins in a fair few end-game situations.

I couldn't see it working as well or as effective. Although the advantage Ninja seem to have is the amount of damage they can do, due to them being able to equip attack-kind of gear.

There are so many unskilled Paladin's and Ninja though, so whichever one you choose, please learn to play it well so as to actually benefit your party.

Edit: Either way, level Monk to 20, then level Warrior/Monk to 30. That'll get you started on either Dragoon, Ninja or Paladin -- whichever one you choose.

[Fuego]

anytime i look for a tank for a party i look for a Pld or Nin ... never has a Drg cross'd my mind for competent tank ... sorry not to be rude ... but i agree it would take alot of healing to keep a drg tank alive and pld has cure spells which is a god send for Whm ... to cut down on the hate they (WHM) take .

[Yeargdribble]

BRD makes an incredible stationary tank simply because they can hold more hate than any other job in the game. If they have support enough to keep their shadows up (2xMarch+Haste+good gear etc) and can spam Mazurka (and now Sirvente+Raptor Mazurka) hate isn't coming off of them. After several rounds of Mazurka (especially now with Sirvente) even a PLD 2hr will not pull hate.

Last night I kited Kirin while the rest of our alliance fought demis. The PLDs would voke (mostly to make sure there was strong hate on a backup tank if I died) but their vokes wouldn't make Kirin even think about looking at them.


That's a very specialized situation for people with very specialized gear though. For XP you're gonna look for NIN/WAR, PLD/WAR and ocassionally WAR/MNK (usually more fit at lower levels). I'm finding that BLU/WAR makes an outstanding tank pre-30 because Cocoon makes them have out of this world defense and they have more than enough hate generation methods.

[Markus. D]

I really like the Bard.

so versetile and potent in many many many sexy ways.

[Brendon]

what does the sub job do

[Miriel]

As a WHM, I like PLD tanks, as a SMN I like NIN tanks.

[Markus. D]

what does the sub job do

gives you some passive effect and skills and traits, not to the full effect of it being your main, but yeah, combining it can potttttentially make you awesome, for example... subbing a warrior to a Monk Main, maximizes the Monks damage potential.

[Brendon]

so dragoon and then what white mage or warrior as sub

[Khaotic]

Never sub a mage with a melee unless you're soloing, if you want a healing warrior, go with paladin. Subjob is to maximize your main job, for instance, in your case, warrior is good for DRG, especially 50+ with double attack (which is really good for 2 handed wielders since they have high delay weapons) berserk for weapon skills, and DoT(damage over time), defender for when the tank dies and you need to backup tank, and provoke to save your mages(or tank if something goes wrong). WHM for dragoon is possible, solo, and alittle endgame, however, its adviceable to have dragoon AF2 helmet for the upgraded wyvern breathes(specifically healing breath)

[Brendon]

would dragoon as main and dark knight as sub work???

[Misfit]

would dragoon as main and dark knight as sub work???
No.

Drg/war, or don't drg at all. :3

[Lionx]

Actually i am not so sure...theres probably better options though, i heard of DRG/DRK working out but i havent seen any concrete proof of it.

[Misfit]

DRK sucks like nothing that has ever sucked before imho. :}

[Markus. D]

DRK sucks like nothing that has ever sucked before imho. :}

I disagree about them sucking.... I just believe they have grown a bad reputation for themselves.

[Miriel]

Misfit was a DRK, so that's proof that DRKs do suck! ^_^

[Khaotic]

DRK with their new absorb-TP aren't bad, nor were they before that even, assuming you did your job correctly and didn't just start using JA's like the world was going to explode.

[Misfit]

Nah, DRK's don't suck...

I just didn't like it when I leveled it, s'all. >D

[Fuego]

as a rdm ... i have to have a brd in party ... usually because there are like 5 mages in the party with a nin or war tank now if there is a pld tank ... we have 6 mages (or magic usin peeps) in one party and i have to refresh them all .... O HELL NO !!! i get people yelling at me for refresh when there is a 16 second cool down period to reuse plus debuff the mob and enfeeb ... i am but one person. long story short ... i swear by Brd's doesn't matter why they're there ... as long as they use mages ballad :D

[Mirage]

I too agree that Dragoons would not not make good tanks. Tanks need either good defence, or abilities that make them hard to hit. Dragoons don't have a lot of defence compared to Warrior and Paladin, and if Dragoon were to sub Ninja for utsusemi (mirror images), he would have a very hard time holding hate (keep making the enemy attack him, and not the rest of the party).

I know I'm repeating all you others now, but a Dragoon tank will die faster than all the common alternatives. Lower defence means you take more damage, which means the healer has to use more MP on keeping you alive. Which means less MP to use on other things, and they will have to rest to regain MP more, which means longer pauses between battles, which again means less experience points per hour.

In my opinon, Ninja/Warrior or Paladin/Warrior are two combinations that are tested to work very good. You should go for one of those. If you get a group of friends later, you can ask them to help you try out other alternatives.

[Garland]

Dragoon's specialty is avoiding hate, not gathering it. Super jump sheds hate. The Drg's 2hr sheds hate and removes hate from another pt member as well. The nature of their DoT coming from two sources (the knight and the wyvern) makes them much less likely to gain hate in the first place. Dragoons aren't just bad tanks; dragoons are the antithesis of everything tank. Of course, before I played XI I would've said the same about ninjas. What can you do? I think the role of samurai and the role of ninja should've been reversed, from a purely conventional standpoint. Samurai would've been the eastern knight counterpart to paladin. Third Eye should've been utsusemi and Samurais could've been a parry tank instead of an evasion tank. But that's neither here nor there, and another tangent altogether. Just thinking out loud.

[ScottNUMBERS]

Paladin and Ninja are the only acceptable tanks in most peoples eyes, Warrior could tank too but it doesn't have very many abilitys to support tanking. I couldn't say which one is the best, they both have their advantages and disadvantages.

Paladins are able to hold hate very well, in fact there should be no reason why anyone else would get hate providing the party co-operates (By co-operates I mean not purposely gaining hate) and as long as they have Refresh the mob is going to find it pretty difficult to damage that sucker.

Ninjas rely on evading attacks, and with Ut(Tab): Ichi and Ni this can be done very well. The problem with Ninja is they can't grab hate very well, Provoke is the only hate gaining measure I've seen them use.

Ninjas always seem to want the Paladin to tank if there is both in the party. This Ninja once did this to me, he was a real idiot and kept telling everyone to listen to what he says because he has three jobs at level 75, this really pissed me off. I got into an arguement with him so I appointed him tank. I was even more pissed off to find that he could out-tank me, his only problem was that even though I was left DDing I was pulling hate off him without trying (I only had +1 Emnity).

Dragoons? They never tank...or get parties for that matter! I myself have nothing against Dragoons, I think they can DD just as well as any other job. They have accuracy boosts instead of attack boosts, what people don't realise is this could actually lead to more damage in the long run, I mean what's the point of having 234324 attack with no accuracy, this means they could also handle acc- equipment better than most other jobs. What's more is they have a Wyvern for additional damage and in some cases support. People are stupid, just because they don't see a ton of damage points in one attack on their screen they automaticly makes the Job void and the worst thing about it is that they have the power in this game to make the Job somewhat of a chore to level up.

Edit: Whoa it seems I went a bit off topic, ah well. :rolleyes2

[Lionx]

WAR: Provoke, Defender, Warcry, and subbing MNK Counter, Boost.

as for NIN they can spin the Elemental Ni wheel.

DRG's Acc bonus is a free lifebelt, meaning you can stack attack instead of accuracy in more slots, opposite to DRK's 3 ATK Bonuses which is +30 ATK so they can fill in more Acc.

[Mandragoran]

Just Wanted to say that Yes In fact Drg/Drk does make a decent job combination. I have seen it in action numerous times, and it really puts out alot of damage. Only problem you may run into is getting too much hate and becoming an MP sponge. I have tried War/Drk as well and It works very well, only issue is the massive damage output, which = Mp sponge. But lol it feels pretty good putiing out 1900 Damage Raging Rushes on IT Mobs though, and lol thats without mightystrikes.

[Lionx]

Could i see your gear and parser results? o.o preferably screenies too.

[Darius]

1900 without Mighty Strike? :eek: Nice! But like ^^^ said, can you show us a screeny? I dont NOT believe you, I just want to see it cause thats massive damage.