FFXIV Tank Role Actions: Guide & FAQ (Dawntrail UPDATE)

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Hey guys! In Stormblood, the cross-class skill system was completely replaced with the Role Action System. Here we talk all about the Tank Role Actions, and what’s best to use!

Tank  Role Actions – Navigation:
Tank Role Actions List | Role Actions Uses & Discussion

Tank Role Actions List

Tank Role Actions: Quick Strategy & Discussion

Here’s a general rundown and a quick analysis on how useful each of the tank role actions are.

Rampart: Your bread and butter defensive cooldown. A must have if you are ever planning on taking damage. Take it 99% of the time.

Low Blow: Only bring it if there is something that needs to be stunned. If you played DRK before, keep in mind this no longer does damage!

Provoke: Essential for any encounter with a tank swap. Every tank has also used this as a panic button, heh. (Provoke mechanics in FFXIV work like this: you get to the top of the enemies’ enmity meter +1: so you have to follow it up or you will lose aggro right after)

Convalescence: A decent cooldown, but varies GREATLY depending on your synergy with healers. Has a nice interaction with DRK’s Living Dead. Great for large dungeon pulls.

Anticipation: High uptime, but not a lot of mitigation. It’s more reliable against a lot of small hits than hoping to parry a few large ones.

Reprisal: Basically free damage reduction. This is useful for any boss encounter. A must have for any raid or trial. Not as useful in dungeons as it only affects 1 target.

Awareness: Very situational; it’s hard to say if you need this or not without being familiar with the content you are running. Has good synergy with cooldowns such as Raw Intuition or Bulwark.

Interject: Same as Low Blow, only bring this if something must be silenced.

Ultimatum: Provoke in an AoE definitely great for dungeons, an “oh shit” button when all the mobs start running towards the healer. I would suggest bringing this over Provoke for dungeons, but not for trials or raids. (Provoke mechanics in FFXIV work like this: you get to the top of the enemies’ enmity meter +1: so you have to follow it up or you will lose aggro right after)

Shirk: Helps make tank swaps a lot easier. Only useful in raids and trials, do not bring this into dungeons. It has a niche application for opening bursts for raids, but it’s only something a finely tuned group would consider (and even then, maybe pointless).

Tank Role Actions for Dungeons

These role actions should be taken when “queuing blind” in a random dungeon, and should serve you well for general content.

• Rampart: Short cooldown and powerful. You’re crazy to zone without it.
• Convalescence: Amazing when doing large pulls, takes a lot of stress from your healer.
• Anticipation: Good when dealing with a lot of enemies.
• Ultimatum: When you lose aggro, this helps you to regain it from multiple enemies quickly.
• Low Blow: Useful for interrupting attacks that would force you to move. Usefulness varies in specific dungeons. The stun also works as “mitigation”, as that mob won’t hit you.

Awareness: Dungeon monsters crit! They crits add up when pulling big groups. VERY GOOD for speedrunning.

Provoke is mostly unneeded for experienced tanks. Ultimatum is probably a little better in dungeons. Don’t be afraid to take one / both if you’re still learning.

Reprisal is a poor skill for dungeons, since dungeon bosses are rarely a huge threat.

The other skills are iffy for “casual random dungeon runs”.

The order is largely irrelevant, but the above is a decent ordering given the dungeons you will encounter when you scale down to <50.

Tank Role Actions for Raids

RAID ROLE ACTIONS ARE HEAVILY INFLUENCED BY ENCOUNTER! THERE IS NO TRUE ONE SIZE FITS ALL!

• Rampart: Still absolutely essential, take this.
• Reprisal: An absolute must in raids. 2 tanks and reprisal blunts loads of mechanics.
• Convalescence: This gets better the more you communicate cooldowns with healers.
• Provoke: Most raids require tank swapping, also if you or the other tank dies, this is essential for regaining control over aggro.
• Shirk: A flexible skill that allows safe tank swapping and better aggro management.

Shirk is pretty useless in encounters without tank swaps (if ever there would be one).But for the love of god ALWAYS TAKE PROVOKE. Don’t be fancy.

• Low Blow / Interject: absolutely RISE in value and should be taken in encounters that require more interrupts. Can be avoided if your DPS/ team have a good interrupt rotation.
• Awareness if there is an enemy with a high critical hit rate you need to tank

If you’re looking to cut one of the “Default 5”, Convalescence and Shirk are first up on the block.

Anticipation is RNG based mitigation. Don’t ever bet your life on luck. Again, it excels versus many enemies as you’re more likely to get an “average expected outcome”.

Ultimatum is extremely situational in raids. So far there haven’t been any encounters designed where you need an AoE Provoke, but if you need it don’t hesitate to swap this in.

Tank Role Actions – Navigation:
List | Discussion | For Dungeons | For Raids

Well, that’s about it for Tank DPS Role Actions! More than most classes, you have to be keen and adapt your role actions according to the encounter you’re playing! Put that effort, man!

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