Which Tanks Are Strongest in FFXIV Dawntrail?

Sorry again about my voice, I'm sick but I'm recovering! Should ideally be back to normal by the next video. This video discusses my first impressions on each of Dawntrail's tanks as well as which ones are the strongest as of right now and therefore promising picks going into the 7.05 Savage tier.

0:00 Intro
1:14 Warrior
8:18 Gunbreaker
15:35 Paladin
22:26 Dark Knight

#ffxiv #dawntrail #ff14

[TheChannelTV]

Suffering is part of Dark Knight's job identity.

[manhattanblockade]

Gunbreaker: LETS GO GAMBLING
No Crit: ah dang it
No Crit: ah dang it
No Crit: ah dang it

[Nexiebean]

Wait wait wait. I'm not sure if i'm tripping. I clicked on this video to learn about the all the tanks (Great video btw.) And the last clip where you're talking about DRK fighting the 4th boss in the raid the other DRK tank is me. That's my exact mog i was using and it's the same race. My character name would be N. E. too. I know this comment is sorta irrelevant but I just wasn't expecting to see myself when clicking to watch this video haha XD

[overratedcynic]

Alternative title: Is Gunbreaker still the top dps and why you should play the other tanks

[SeikiKisaki]

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" should've been their motto for DRK as well...

[phiefer]

There's a misconception in the DRK section. DRK does not have less blood gauge than it did in EW, it actually gets more bloodspillers over the course of a fight than the EW version. Yes, you lost 20 gauge per minute due to the merging of blood weapon and delirium, but you also gained 50 gauge every 2 minutes because Living Shadow is now free.

[quilavaflare]

As a DRK main, yeah these changes just aren't great and it is probably the "least ideal" tank rn. But honestly the part that's going to be much worse than any actual in-game changes will be all the people online blowing it so far out of proportion that PF groups are going to start doing the baby whining and demanding you change jobs or leave because DRK does 3% less damage than other tanks, even though I would perform significantly better on it than anything else.

Edit for clarification: Not referring to this video, Rinon usually has more level-headed takes that I really appreciate.

[diorekkusu]

Timestamps:
WAR: 1:14
GNB: 8:19
PLD: 15:38
DRK: 22:27

Great video by the way :>
Always been a WAR main, and I'm so glad to see it high up and not just DRK and GNB, though ngl-- Kind of sad to see where DRK is right now ; w ;

[tannerwilkins]

dark knight is the strongest tank by far of all the suffering it has endured for 3 expanions now

[TRexLord]

i play all four tanks to an extent and was a tank main for *most* on Endwalker (Abyssos is a dark memory) and I have my own thoughts on each job after playing them a bunch:

PLD: honestly, 800 DPS behind GNB right now is nowhere near as bad as it was in Endwalker, because the job was UNPLAYABLY bad until the rework (thanks 2 minute burst), but with higher damage numbers means 800 DPS is not as big of a difference as you would think. Sure, it's still a gap that i feel should be tightened up a bit for sure, but as it is now I still think Savage groups would pick it just because of how solid it is all around. The job feels pretty smooth to play but it does lean a bit too hard on "LETS GO GAMBLING!" (looking at you Blade of Honor), which i don't think is changing, but should still get some small buffs to fix that

WAR: this job is overpowered full stop. With how much damage it does right now in the role, I'd argue it makes DRK almost completely *obsolete* in terms of what it brings. Consistent burst that feeds *exceptionally* well off of DRG/BRD/SCH, and additions to their burst that make it *actually* feel bursty (it didn't feel like that for me in EW), on top of so much on demand healing without losing damage makes them almost completely unkillable in *all* content, not just dungeons, though dungeons are a big outlier. Really it honestly feels like the job just does not have weaknesses, and the ones it may have are so minor it just doesn't matter.

DRK: I'd be willing to argue that this job is in fact bad. Unplayable? No not really it still functions well, but the reason DRK was so solid in Endwalker was because of how it could keep up with GNB - and in rare cases surpass it - in terms of damage contribution (also not helped by WAR and especially PLD underperforming for the first half of the expac), but now that strength is just gone, on top of losing more than it gained this expansion. It does not feel good to play at all, it feels incomplete with the removal of Plunge and nothing to replace it, on top of less MP per minute meaning less Edge of Shadow usage, and having even *less* to do outside of their burst. Side note, i think losing damage on gap closers is a good thing, and GNB i feel got away with it because it's damage was already so high without it, especially with how much juice they gave it in DT, but DRK didn't get that. On top of it not having *any* form of sustain like the other tanks do (TBN helps but is not a solution) and I honestly feel like there's no reason to play it unless you're a *diehard* DRK enjoyer (which there's nothing wrong with btw). Every other tank just brings more and/or better than DRK does, and i wish they could address that in some way.

GNB: I don't have much to say. GNB good. 141k Lion Hearts give me more dopamine than Fell Cleave ever will. Great Nebula is broken. It's fun to play. Losing Rough Divide isn't much of a loss at all imo. Even if it's not my main job (PLD will always be that for me tbh) it's still a very fun job to bring in no matter what.

Overall, I do kinda agree that the tank role needs more to *do*. Valigarmanda is a great example of what makes tanking fun in this game, with near constant busters (Mountain Fire being a clear highlight), lots of places to use mits for the party, a surprising amount of auto attack damage requiring some short cooldown usage from yourself and sometimes your co tank to keep up, and invulns not cheesing mechanics and making WAR ignore half the fight with Holmgang, more fights like that please. I think all the tanks except DRK feel very good before Savage, and I'm hoping that 7.05 helps fix - or at the very least, address - some things that are dragging PLD and DRK behind, and I'm hoping Savage makes tanking feel a lot more engaging overall. If fights like Vali are the norm, I think we don't have much to worry about.

[conroconro]

Dark needs more of an identity because right now it doesn't really have anything besides .
Before it used to be THE tank with high damage and a way to mitigate an ally on a short cooldown, but all tanks have a targeted cooldown now.

It could be the tank that has a kit suited for self healing without being locked to a specific window like Warrior.

Give Oblation a weak Bloodbath effect.
Give Salt and Darkness a 200 potency heal per enemy hit -- giving the Dark Knight a reason to choose a time to detonate it.

Let Abyssal Drain be it's own cooldown.
Give Carve and Spit a 500 potency heal.

Legit any one of those or a combination would make it feel like so much less of a burden in dungeon content without completely breaking it in Savage and Ultimate.

[AbriDragon]

A thing to note for WAR with double tankbusters, and double anything for that matter, is that Nascent Flash heals both you and your target. This is 3200 healing potency combined, plus the dinky little 400 potency shield on your target.

[luckyels]

Seeing Drk: look at how they massacred my boy

[The_Remage]

[Cries in remembering the HW & StB DRK]

[TOAGamer]

Personally im fine with DRK lack of sustain however we need to be #1 in damage as a trade off.

[Cobatsart]

The huge downgrade DRK got in both gameplay and damage going into dawntrail makes me very sad. Even if they buff the potencies, the job still just doesn't feel as satisfying to play, and its a massive shame.
Dark knight's high APM gameplay is what I loved about it so much (in addition to its glams being so cool), now it's just a very cool looking, but boring job to play with mediocre output. This in addition to being the least self-sufficient tank means there's very little reason to pick it unless you just really like the aesthetic.

[WolfmanXD]

Gunbreaker is so much fun, but my God is there a HUGE discrepancy between crit and non crit lionheart. My strongest crit lionheart to date is 113k, but when it doesn't crit it does less than 60k. It makes me cry when I go entire runs without seeing a lionheart crit.

My group is going gunbreaker (me) and dark knight. Because we don't care about meta and the other tank just likes dark knight. I literally rolled a dice before Dawntrail and it landed on dark knight, so ya.

[angel.feathers]

Thanks for making these kinds of videos. I understand that play what you want is the spirit of the game, some people just prefer playing what's factually the best.

[RagnarokiaNG]

It is good to hear you talk about Clemency and Cover as useful tools, I heard people throwing shade on them due to the damage loss or not being intervention but they have saved countless lives for me in casual content that they definitely earn their place.
Also RIP Plunge, it was always funny to get carried by the weight of the thrown dark knight sword to the enemy

[DirewolfPS]

PLD: Make the blades combo either DH or Crit. If its just the last cast do both.
DRK: Buff potencies and/or its mitigation. At one point it out healed WAR, and for whatever reason SE decided to gut that ability while not buffing their damage output.