Best Tank...Follow

i think it's official that PLD/WAR is the ultimate tank..

1 - highest def/vit
2 - invincible
3 - healing magic to increase hate further
4 - lookin good with a kite shield :P
5 - a tank MUST HAVE PROVOKE

.. with WAR/PLD and WAR/MNK at second place ..

obviously high def beats high HP for tanking because the need for healing is reduced.. a high HP tank which takes more damage will still need to be 'in the white' and will need a lot more healing to do so (the paladin can even heal himself, saving the whm's mana and/or aggro further)

but then again: IT'S NOT WHAT YOU PLAY BUT HOW YOU PLAY IT! .. to a certain extent ;)

I'd have to go with PLD/WAR simply because of the DEF of a PLD and you do need Provoke or else you are not much of a hate keeper. I play as a MNK and want to go to PLD sometime in the course of my adventures and I can tell you not to let HP fool you into thinking you are a tank for one as a MNK you can't take hits you can just more then the average damage dealers because of the lack of high def armor. I wish PLD had provoke then I would sub MNK to PLD to get counter which would be fun to take hits then once in a while throw a good one back at the mob as we ll as your normal hits.

PLD/WAR gets my vote!

thats the problem fore pld/war tough they get hurt even with high DEF witch takes its toll on whm MP.

the NIN/WAR if he knows how to play and is rich enough will never get hit so wont cost MP from the whm....

Well I can't make a statment on nin/war as tanks ( i have never seen a nin capable of tanking ), pld/war for sure is the best tank.

I will let a rdm/war tank before a war/pld or war/anything their def is not much of a difference ( or atleast dmg taken doesn't seem that great of a gap ) and myself being a rdm who prefers to nuke/debuff/melee i do not prefer to tank, but will do so if needed. Many parties will argue that we should get a war to tank since there are no pld in the area but once they see me in action they understand a rdm can keep aggro better than any war. If I do happen to lose aggro to a mage in the back I simply cast sleep than cure III the person with the most dmg..usualy me than provoke and attack the mob..sleep is a major hate builder whether it sticks or not cure II is another major hate builder with aprovoke on top of all of that..thats alot of hate built up in a short period of time.
IMO wars were built mainly to be a sub class..not a main class. There are plenty of main jobs out there that either out dmg or out tank wars.
I surely would love to try having a nin/war as a tank one day and see how they are in action.
I also concentrate on having good gear ..mostly with high def and +agi on them. This sure helps alot. I am sure not every rdm is set up, or has the ability to set themselfs up as tanks, personally I like to be set up for various roles in a party.

But again I remind you ..try and get a pld/war nothing will ever beat that as a tank.

**Everything I have said is based on people knowing how to play their class and role in a party**

Edited, Thu Jan 22 23:55:18 2004 by celinaredfern

Two things. Ninja CAN be a better tank than paladin. A rich ninja that is. Reason is that it won't get hit at all. I have no clue how ninja can control aggro effectively, because in every party I've been to, I was the main tank.

Paladin is the best all around tank, in my opinion due to aggro management and great defense. It does get hit, unlike ninja, but it takes much less damage than any other class. Plus shield, high evasion and parry do block/evade a sensible amount of hits.

The main thing about paladin is aggro though. I don't think there is a single class that is capable of managing aggro like a good Paladin. Warriors are good tanks when there is no paladin available. Ninja are great tanks when the guy is rich and knows what the hell he's doing. I do fail to see how ninja can effectively control aggro at higher levels though.

If you want to be a tank, be a paladin, in my opinion. The class is designed for this role and does a damned good job at it.

Rushian, lvl56 Paladin

PS. As for equipment, paladins get best defensive equipment. Period. Till about lvl52-55 Warriors can wear the same equipment, however after that paladins get a lot of job only defensive equipment that is very nice. Plus a lot of enmity equipment as well (granted warriors and samurais have enmity bonus on their AF too).

PSS. As for shield break it IS a great skill of warrior. What it does, it destroys the special defense of the mob, much like dispel/foe requiem (I believe that's the song). So, that's a great bonus to a warrior

Edited, Fri Jan 23 01:42:22 2004 by Russian

I myself have yet to be grped with a Ninja tank (mainly because I'm playing tank :P). Although, I have heard from some LS members that the one's they've grped with were just awesome, partially because they had great equipment.

To get down to my question: what is the best race for Nin/War tank build?

Mithra - this would be my 1st guess since they have great Dex & Agi

Hume - isn't just about anything possible with a Hume?

Elvaan - good dmg, and if the equipment is great it might be possible to get in the much needed evasion

Galka - I'm not too sure. they were meant to be defensive chars so I dunno how that'd work

Taru - pretty good Agi but a lil low on Dex
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So, which one would you choose and why?

Edited, Fri Jan 23 01:50:32 2004 by Damotta

Ah, but theres a trick. You lose hate every time you take damage. As a ninja, you are very rarely getting hit, so this is alot of hate you aren't losing. So it works both ways. Paladins get hit, but have all these different skills to keep up with the times they get hit and lose hate. Ninja rarely get hit, but only really have provoke and dual wielding (two sword swings is pretty good for hate) and every time they cast blink they get a nice bit of hate as well.

Ninja is much less reliable, mainly because it is more difficult in the timing of the blinks, but if the person is practiced enough, can be just as effective as a paladin..

And there actually are a decent amount of Enmity items available for Ninja. They are expensive though.

Last night i had the honor to play with Vvmax, a japanese PLD/WAR lvl 29/14. From what I could remember of his armor, he had a Kite shield and wore TWO Astral Rings. (being a 28WTM/BLM I was fasinated by the rings) In anycase... our party was constantly getting 185-225 xp per battle in Kahzaam (the Second Jungle) In every battle, I only had to cast Cure or Cure II maybe 3-5 times, more if people were asleep. But Vvmax did an amazing job of Maintaining Hate (All WHM love that!!!) With Provoke, and Cure II that he would cast on himself, the guy truely was invincible!!! Granted that i couldn't understand a word he ever said. We enjoyed eachothers company and lvl's flew by for the 3 hours I was able to play with him.

Nin/war is the best tank hands down. My friend and I PT all the time, him being a 54 nin, me being a 54 drg. He doesn't get hit, keeps hate better than any war and on par or better with a thf tricking on him. Of course the shihei is expensive but i help him out with it and thus we have good PTs ALL the time. If the nin knows what he's doing he can time utsusemi to the point where he will only get hit 10-20% of the time. When fighting mobs with a massive WS attack which does alot of dam no matter what and he can absorb it? well that just puts them above pld since the pld will get hurt and the mages will be nuking heals on him making him lose the hate. Nin tanks are just the best for xp/time and my friend never goes in without atleast 3 stacks of 99 of shihei.