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Final Fantasy XIV is coming to Xbox and there are bound to be tons of players from the Xbox community making their way to Eorzea. Before you get started on your adventure as the Warrior of Light, we thought some beginner tips would be helpful for those who are curious about the classes and jobs the game has available. Each class has its own set of responsibilities, so for this beginner guide we are going to cover tanks and what you’ll want to keep in mind when you start your adventures.
Is Your Stance Active?
The first thing you want to do with dungeons is to check and make sure your tank stance is active. A tank stance is an ability that increases how much enmity the tank is going to generate while attacking mobs and bosses. Generating high enmity is how a tank keeps enemy aggro throughout the dungeon and whoever outputs the most is the primary focus of the bosses or mobs. Tank stance is available very early on into your tanking adventure, and you’ll have this ability before the first dungeon of the game.
Once in a dungeon, make use of Area of Effect abilities on groups of enemies so that enmity stays high enough for them to all prioritize the tank. When going into trials or raids, there are going to be other tanks with you for these instances. If you wish to be the main tank for a raid or trial, just let the other tank player know that you would like to be the main tank for the fight. Many players are happy to oblige anyone that has asked for their preferred role.
Do Not Use All of Your Mitigation At Once
With your tank stance active, you will want to ensure your healers have an easier time as well. As you level, you’ll get a handful of damage mitigation abilities to make use of. Just make sure when you do use them, it’s not all at once. These skills are an important and strong tool to use, but stacking them isn’t as efficient as going through them one by one. Stagger the use of your mitigation abilities. Use them strategically to mitigate incoming damage during boss tank buster attacks or large pulls of enemies.
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Check Your Skills and Abilities
It’s important to read what your weapons skills and abilities are going to be doing and put them all on your hotbar in a way that makes the most sense to you. Your tooltips for each skill will explain how much damage you’re going to do and what chain actions it will combo with. Tooltips will also explain the percentage of damage that other skills might absorb. If you go into “Actions and Traits” in your menu, it’ll show you a comprehensive list of all of your skills, whether they are locked or not.
As for how to organize all of your hotbar skills, it’s all up to you. Hotbars are unique to everyone, and it’s down to what makes the most sense in your head. For example, I keep almost all of my weapon skills on hotbar 1 and all of my mitigation skills on hotbar 2. This works really well for me but might not for someone else. There are even training dummies scattered around the world if you want to take a few minutes to test your bars and make sure they are in a spot you mesh with. Just make sure to find what works best for you by experimenting and moving around skills and abilities until you find a formation that clicks.
Don’t Worry About Wall-to-Wall Pulls Right Away
Tank players in Final Fantasy XIV get really familiar with the term “Wall to wall”. What this means is that you take the entire group of dungeon enemies from the start of the current area all the way to the boss room entrance or until you cannot proceed any further. Then you’ll fight the whole group of enemies at once and kill them as fast as possible. Usually, these big pulls are a big part of how the game is played after the A Realm Reborn content.
However, it is advisable for new tanks to start with smaller pulls until they gain some experience and confidence through exposure to the class. Starting by pulling smaller groups of enemies allows you to manage incoming damage more effectively and gives you the opportunity to learn enemy behavior and attack patterns without overwhelming yourself or your party. As you become more comfortable with tanking, you can gradually increase the size of your pulls. Also, if you let a party know you are a newer tank when you enter a dungeon, raid, or trial, they’ll be more patient and some are even willing to offer some help if you ask.
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Tanks Don’t Move As Often in Boss Fights
Tanking isn’t just about holding aggro and mitigating damage; it also involves understanding the needs and abilities of your party members. For example, certain DPS jobs like Monk, Dragoon, and Samurai have positional attacks that deal increased damage when executed from specific angles relative to the enemy.
As a tank, positioning bosses and enemies in a way that facilitates these positional attacks can enhance your party’s overall damage output and efficiency. Make sure that you aren’t moving very often, unless it’s to dodge mechanics and avoid unnecessary damage. The boss will follow you around the arena and there’s a chance you cost the party that small but effective damage bonus for their attacks.
You are bound to learn a lot more in your adventures through the world of Eorzea in Final Fantasy XIV. There’s a lot more to learn in the game and if you decide to take the plunge into Savage tier and Ultimate tier content later on, you will gain a whole new level of knowledge about how the game works. The normal content is made in a way that you don’t have to be the most optimal player in order to move through the story, it’s there to ensure you are learning your job and class properly. So make sure to take care while tanking! Check your stance, manage your weapon skills and abilities, ask questions when you have them, and just have fun. It’s an amazing game with a bright community that loves to help each other.
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