Can’t think of much to write this evening, so since I was helping some people out in Final Fantasy XIV earlier, I thought I may as well share the things I helped them out with in a more coherent form. That way, if anyone asks in future, I can simply point them to this post. Wild, huh.

Okay. Over the next couple of days, I’m going to share what I’ve learned from playing Paladin and Black Mage in Final Fantasy XIV. Paladin is a tank class, while Black Mage is a DPS class. Both are very different and have nothing to do with each other; they are collected together here simply because they’re the two classes I have the most experience with.

I’m also not claiming to be the be-all, end-all authority on either of these classes; I’m simply sharing what I know in the hope that it will be of some use to other players like me who enjoy the game, enjoy challenging the higher-end content like Coil but who aren’t five-days-a-week, six-hours-a-night hardcore raiders.

All right then. Let’s begin with Paladin.

Note: The following information assumes a level 50 character with access to all its abilities at the time of writing, but is mostly applicable to lower-level play, too; you simply don’t have as many abilities to use.

Paladin

As a Paladin, your job is to get punched in the face in lieu of the rest of your party. This is what tanks do. Paladins differ from the other tanks — Warriors — in that they have a lower amount of overall HP and damage output, but a greater selection of defensive abilities. Warrior, conversely, relies on a combination of self-healing tied to damage output, much higher damage output overall and significantly higher base HP.

Remember, as a tank your job is to maintain “aggro” (also known as “threat” or “enmity” depending on who you’re talking to) rather than dealing a lot of damage. You can check aggro in two ways: the coloured gems in the target list on the left of the screen — ideally you want them to be red, indicating that those targets are targeting you and not others — or the little bars that appear over the job icons in the party list in the top-left corner. Know which abilities generate the most aggro: any damage will generate aggro, but Savage Blade and Rage of Halone are specifically designed to generate more than usual. Flash generates aggro over a circular area around you, as does Circle of Scorn. And Shield Lob generates aggro at range. Provoke does something a little different, which we’ll talk about later.

Paladin is arguably the “easier” of the two tank classes to play, so for those trying tanking for the first time — like me, when I started Paladin — it’s a good choice. Warrior is more complex, with lots to keep track of at once, so if you’re uneasy it’s a good idea to save that for later.

Getting Ready

In a four-player dungeon, make sure you are in Shield Oath. This makes you take less damage and also increases the amount of aggro you generate. In an eight-player trial or raid, agree with the other tank who will be “main tank” and who will be “off tank”. If you’re main, go with Shield Oath. If you’re off, go with Sword Oath unless you’ll both be picking up separate enemies at the same time, as in the Battle in the Big Keep trial, in which case you should both be on Shield Oath in most situations.

The Pull

As a tank, it’s usually your job to kick off an encounter. In a four-player dungeon where you are the only tank, you should do this by running towards the group of enemies and using Shield Lob on what you intend to be your initial main target — some tanks like to mark this target to make it clear to their party which target they should attack first. The reason you should use Shield Lob rather than just running in and using a close-range attack is that it allows you to get an immediate, ranged head-start on aggro generation, because once the DPS and healers get going, you’re going to need that head-start, particularly if there’s a gear disparity between you and them.

Run right through the group of enemies to the other side, then turn around so you are facing the rest of your party and the enemies are facing away from the party. (This is so any enemies with “cleave” attacks — cone-shaped attacks that hit multiple targets — won’t hit other party members.) As you do so, use Flash at least twice, and Circle of Scorn if it’s ready to use. This extends your head-start on aggro on your main target and also builds aggro on the surrounding enemies.

You Got ‘Em, Now Keep ‘Em

What you do next depends on how many enemies you’re dealing with.

If you’re fighting a single enemy — like a boss, for example — then go with Fast Blade -> Savage Blade -> Rage of Halone repeatedly. This is the simplest possible tanking situation, and you are unlikely to lose aggro like this. If you are, make sure you are using Shield Oath.

If you’re fighting a small group of enemies (two or three), go with Fast Blade -> Savage Blade -> Rage of Halone on the main target, drop in a Flash every couple of times around the combo and change targets every couple of times to make sure you generate aggro on the whole group. Healers generate aggro by healing, so making sure you hit each member of the group every so often — with your main focus being on the main target — means that enemies are less likely to peel away and clobber the healer.

If you’re fighting a large group of enemies (three or more), as you will probably be doing on a “big pull” or a speedrun of a dungeon, go with Fast Blade -> Riot Blade -> Flash. Although Riot Blade produces less aggro than Savage Blade and Rage of Halone, it has the convenient side-effect of regenerating MP, which you’ll be expending with every Flash. By doing this combo, you have effectively bottomless MP with which to keep using Flash and keep the attention of the group. Make sure you move so that Flash hits all the enemies, but try and keep all enemies in front of you and facing away from the party as usual.

Getting ‘Em Back and Tank-Swapping

Lost aggro on an enemy? This is where Provoke enters the picture. Provoke is notorious for having the worst tooltip in the whole game, so here is how it works: when you use Provoke, your aggro level on the target is set to the value of the person who currently has the highest amount of aggro, plus one. “One aggro” is not very much, so if you don’t follow up Provoke with something, you’ll lose the target again and have pretty much wasted the ability.

As such, good Provoke practice is to use Fast Blade -> Savage Blade, then Provoke, then Rage of Halone to secure your lead on aggro. Alternatively, you can Provoke then Shield Lob if you need to pull in an enemy that has moved away from you. In a pinch, so long as you follow Provoke with something, you’ll probably keep the enemy on you.

Tank-swapping is simply deliberately using Provoke as above — including the follow-up hits — to take another tank’s target off them. This mostly comes into play during Coil and Extreme Primal fights, when taking too many stacks of a debuff a boss gives you will cause you to die. You can also use this to switch places with a main tank that seems to be struggling to mitigate the incoming damage if you know you’ll be able to handle it better.

Cooldowns and You

Paladin’s basic combos are easy to learn and less complex than Warrior’s, so much of the skill is in knowing when to use your “cooldowns” — the abilities which have a persistent effect for a short period, then take a short while to “cool down” before they can be used again. Here’s what they do:

Fight or Flight increases damage and, consequently, aggro. This is good to use at the beginning of a fight and indeed whenever it’s up. You’re never going to be going toe-to-toe with a good DPS numbers-wise, but this will help.

Rampart decreases the damage you take by 20%. It has a fairly short cooldown so in most dungeons you can simply use it when it’s available. In trials, which tend to be more “scripted” fights, you’ll want to save it for when you know big hits are coming. The Triple -> Spark attack the boss in The Chrysalis does is a good example, as is Ravensbeak in Turn 9 (though if you’re doing Turn 9, you probably don’t need a guide like this); you’ll still take a chunk of damage, but your healers will thank you.

Sentinel decreases the damage you take by 40%. It has a shorter duration and a longer cooldown than Rampart, so it’s an ability to be used a little more carefully. Again, if you know a big hit is coming, Sentinel is a good ability to use. In long fights, use Rampart first, then Sentinel, then in most cases Rampart will have cooled down by the time you need to soak another big hit.

Convalescence increases the amount you are healed by for a short period. If you are getting low on HP and want to help your healers out, popping this will get you fighting fit in no time, so long as you do it quickly enough. It is worth setting up a short macro to announce when you are using this so that the healers know you need healing in case their attention has been on other party members. That macro looks something like this:

/p Using Convalescence! <se.1>
/ac “Convalescence” <me>

Awareness means you won’t take critical hits for a short period. This is most useful during large pulls where you are taking lots of hits in quick succession — an unlucky run of criticals could do significant damage. It’s also useful to pop before a big hit if you have time; an already damaging move critting could knock you to the floor if you’re not prepared.

Bulwark increases your likelihood to block with your shield, which reduces damage. Again, it’s particularly useful to use when lots of hits are coming in at once, but it’s also good to use if both Rampart and Sentinel are on cooldown. Unlike those two abilities, it’s not a guaranteed damage reduction as there’s a degree of randomness as to whether or not you’ll block each hit, but it’s better than nothing.

Tempered Will doesn’t reduce damage at all, but it has two important functions: it cures Bind and Heavy status, and also makes you temporarily immune to any abilities that would normally cause you to move against your will. Titan’s Landslide and Leviathan’s deck slams are good examples. By popping Tempered Will before these moves go off, you’ll be able to continue standing where you are without worrying about being knocked off, but don’t get too overconfident with it!

Hallowed Ground makes you temporarily invincible for a very short period. Note that there is a short “animation lock” between triggering the skill and it actually activating, so it’s not an immediate “don’t lose” button. This is good to use during large pulls if the healer isn’t keeping up with the incoming damage, or when you know a big hit is coming and you’re not at full HP or your mitigation cooldowns like Rampart and Sentinel aren’t available. It also has a very long cooldown, so in most situations you’ll get just the one chance to use it effectively. It’s also useful to macro this so the healers know they won’t have to heal you for a short period; follow the same format as for Convalescence above.

Good Places to Practice

If you’re new to tanking, it can be daunting to think about what to try doing — no-one likes to mess up, after all, and if the tank messes up it’s pretty obvious. Here are some good fights where you can get some solid practice:

Brayflox’s Longstop is a good low-level dungeon to familiarise yourself with tanking effectively. Its final boss Aiatar demands that you both move it out of the pools of poison it spits and keep it facing away from the party. As a low-level dungeon, though, you don’t have access to all of your abilities.

Wanderer’s Palace is probably the first level 50 dungeon you’ll unlock, and it’s very easy to outgear it. This is a good place to practice doing larger than normal pulls, though be sure to check with your party if they’re okay with this before charging in!

Wanderer’s Palace (Hard) has a final boss that is good practice for moving and positioning enemies. Keep it out of the swirly areas on the ground, otherwise he’ll be considerably buffed; move him effectively throughout the fight so you don’t cover too much of the arena with unsafe areas.

Labyrinth of the Ancients, the first of the 24-player Crystal Tower raids, has far too many tanks, but the first encounters in this dungeon are good for practicing picking up enemies and grouping them together for area-effect classes like Black Mage to kill as a group. The Atomos fight is also good practice if you volunteer to be the one who picks up the additional monsters that appear and bring them to your comrades standing on the pad.

The Chrysalis, a trial towards the end of the main storyline, is good practice at cooldown management. In particular, pay attention to when the boss casts Triple and Spark; that’s the time to use Rampart or Sentinel to mitigate the incoming damage.

The Howling Eye (Extreme) is a good fight to learn about how two tanks are used. Not only do you need to keep the two additional enemies Chirada and Suparna away from one another, you’ll also need to tank-swap the Spiny Plume enemy to prevent either of you taking too many stacks of the “Thermal Low” debuff and dying.

Thornmarch (Extreme) is another good fight to practice working together with another tank amid absolute chaos going on around you. You’ll need to Focus Target your partner, and tank-swap the boss at the appropriate time. At the same time, you’ll need to make sure you’re positioned somewhere that isn’t going to get other people hurt.

The Binding Coil of Bahamut, Turn 1 is pretty straightforward until the last boss. When it splits in half, one of the two tanks will have to Provoke it off the other and drag it elsewhere, positioning it so that neither its frontal cleaves or its tail swipes hit other players. With the enormous “Echo” buff on this content now, there’s not much to worry about here.

Good luck! Tomorrow, Black Mage.