BLU/WAR Tanking

[eva00r]

As a 62 BLU/WAR, I was tanking in the party, because there is no ninja or paladin around.

Target Mob : Puk
Damage per hit : 60-75, 30-40 with shield proc
Defense : 607
Refresh per tick : 3 (Vermil, Auto-Ref, Sanction) + 3 Refresh

PT Setup : BLU, 3DD, WHM, RDM
EQ Setup : Vermilion Cloak/SH/AF/Sword and any SHIELD
Magic Setup : Auto-Refresh/Cocoon/Jet-Stream/Death Scissors/Magic Fruit/Head Butt
Food : Tav Taco/Feather Barrier

Don't forget to Defender + Cocoon yourself BEFORE fighting. Cocoon lasts for 90 sec whlie Defender lasts for 180 sec. You will have to use a Defender once every 2 Cocoons. Defender doesn't lower your DS damage at all, so make sure to have it on at all time. Feather Barrier is not necessary but it's good to have it.

CA + DS swap macro to Scorpion Harness and Life Belt to pull enormous hate at the engagement (4-500 damage ish) then Provoke neatly. Swap to Vermillion and then spamming Head Butt + Magic Fruit, the mob will never go away EXCEPT RNG's WS. Head Butt saves a lot of your HP and it deals decent 50-70ish damage.

If you're losing hate, then 3 options
1) Jet Stream it ... 150-200 damage instant is a nice way to pull back.
2) Heal somebody with Magic Fruit, yes this is even nicer but it costs 72 MP.
3) Warcry (lv 70+)

Exp per hour 4.5-6k/hr.

Conclusion
- Your hate is lesser than PLD but more than NIN. (I have both at 75)
- Your defense is higher than PLD but sometimes take more damage than PLD due to far less shield skill.
- You will be hit VERY HARD if you DON'T have Cocoon + Defender on.
- Your MP pull is significantly higher than PLD.
- You can deal as much damage as NIN as long as you have spare MP to DS.
- You can evade only when you have Feather Barrier on.
- You NEED a RDM.

BLU is a capable tanker for sure but you are very dependant on your BUFF and MP. You definitely need food, BUFF to tank.

Mobs that are capable of dispelling are HIGHLY NOT RECOMMENDED. Example - Colibri.

BTW, SMN in a party is better than WHM. BLU doesn't have much MP problem as PLD have so we need blinkga to save us a few hits.

[Eauijhkuu]

Re: BLU/WAR Tanking

So does this mean that a WAR/MNK is actually capable of tanking at 75?

Without as much complications?

[eva00r]

Re: BLU/WAR Tanking

lol WAR/MNK is rubbish tank at 75, uncomparable to BLU/WAR. I healed myself over 10,000 hp in the tanking party, providing very high hate and safety for all party members.

It's even better than PLD in damage area but PLD beats BLU in damage cutting area. Well, BLU can heal themselves a lot more often though.

It's differences than PLD or NIN tanking. It's a new tanking style.

[Eauijhkuu]

Re: BLU/WAR Tanking

And why would WAR/MNK < BLU/WAR?

[Celeal]

Re: BLU/WAR Tanking

Great to see actual proof of BLU/WAR tanking, /cheer ^^b

*off topic*
As for WAR/MNK tanking at level 40 ~ 60, I personally tried in few parties --- it does NOT work efficiently. With Aggressor + Focus, my hits are connecting. However, for hate generation, my DoT cancels out with my damage taken:

When I eat taco and gear up as much as defence as PLD, I took less damage, but I damage output drops as well. When I eat attack food (with Defender), my I damage output goes up, but my damage taken goes up as well.

Each time the mob hits at me, I lost hate. It cancel out the hate I made from my DoT. The real hate tool is only Provoke, Boost and WS.

No matter how skillful my party support was, there were still downtime. My observation of WAR/MNK downtime is:

When PLD is tanking, both PLD and main healer has Refresh at the same time. Meanwhile, for WAR/MNK tanking, only main healer has Refresh. For rate of MP recovery, PLD + healer is 2x faster than WAR/MNK + healer.

For spending MP on Cure, PLD + healer shares the workload. On the other hand, WAR/MNK tank cannot share the workload of curing with healer. Therefore, the healer has to dump cure at a faster rate on WAR/MNK compare to PLD tank.

To sum it up for WAR/MNK tank:
1. Slower rate of mp recovery --- instead of PLD and healer Refresh togather, only healer got Refresh alone in WAR/MNK tank party.
2. Faster rate of mp usage on Cure --- instead of PLD and healer share curing, healer has to burn Cure faster on WAR/MNK tank.
3. WAR/MNK's hate tool is less flexible compare to PLD/WAR's. (I don't want to derail the thread more, because we can spend pages from how PLD tank like a meat shield, to how PLD tank with damage output)

My conclusion: WAR/MNK is not PLD/WAR. Forcing WAR to tank like a PLD will fail.

[Minaku]

Re: BLU/WAR Tanking

I'd recommend tanking in SH, seeing how Feather Barrier is +20 eva, and so is the difference between SH and vermy. So you lose 1 mp/tick but don't have to cast FB, get increased sword DoT for hate, and additional def from a headpiece.