Final Fantasy 14: Tank Job Tier List

Tanking in Final Fantasy 14 is one of the most important roles, but not necessarily its most difficult. When it comes down to it, all you're really accountable for is making sure the enemies are hitting you instead of anyone else. However, a skilled Tank knows when to use all the tools at their disposal to protect allies in danger.

Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail - Tank Role Quests Guide

Here's how to complete every quest in the Tank Role Questline for Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail.

There are four different Tanks to choose from, each with its own themes, aesthetic, and playstyle. All Tanks perform at roughly the same level, so ultimately the "best" Tank comes down to your personal preference. Below, we'll take a look at what makes each Tank Job unique to help you decide which one to play.

Paladin

Final Fantasy 14's Paladin Job is a lot like Paladins you can find in other games. With a sword and shield, they protect their allies using powerful magic, weaving spell casts throughout their melee rotation. Of all the Tanks, Paladins have some of the best long-range damage thanks to Holy Spirit and the Confiteor combo, the latter being unlocked by Requiescat.

Paladin also has some of the strongest party-wide mitigation in the forms of Divine Veil and Passage of Arms, whereas other Tanks only have one (not counting Reprisal). Plus, with Clemency, a skillful Paladin can greatly lessen the burden on their Healer, or help burst heal when it's necessary.

Overall, Paladin exemplifies the quintessential Tank, with tools for any situation that mostly revolve around protection and some spellcasting. If you're a fan of the magical sword and shield class, the Paladin perfectly fits that aesthetic.

Warrior

The blood-thirsty, axe-wielding Warrior has the most self-healing of all four Tanks. Raw Intuition, which later is upgraded into Bloodwhetting, restores the Warrior's health each time they hit the enemy.

In large dungeon pulls with several enemies grouped up, a single use of your AoE attacks will instantly restore you to full health. And, the best part about Bloodwhetting is its short 25-second cooldown, ensuring a full heal is always just around the corner.

You can also cast Bloodwhetting on a party member to heal them up instead.

Warrior also has some very high personal damage and a satisfying rotation, which generally revolves around building up your Beast Gauge to unleash Fell Cleaves, while every minute you can use Inner Release to completely unload your heavy-hitting attacks like Primal Rend and Primal Ruination. If you like staying alive forever and hitting things with an axe, you will love playing Warrior.

Dark Knight

Paladins and Dark Knights are two sides of the same Tank-shaped coin. Where a Paladin protects the innocent with their shield, a Dark Knight uses their greatsword to cut a path forward. Both of these Tanks fulfill the heavy-armor magic knight aesthetic, Dark Knights being the morally grey version.

The Dark Knight's toolkit is centered around their 15-second skill, The Blackest Night. This skill grants themself or a party member a shield that absorbs damage equal to 25 percent of their HP, allowing them to survive big attacks like Tankbusters. Plus, when the shield is fully absorbed, you'll be able to cast Edge of Shadow or Flood of Shadow for free, adding some extra damage.

Oblation is a very nice mitigation tool that can also be cast on allies, reducing a bit of the damage they take for a short duration.

Dark Knight also has strong magical mitigation through Dark Mind and Dark Missionary, as well as decent personal damage through its various attacks like Bloodspiller and Carve and Spit. Alternatively, Abyssal Drain can be used during trash pulls to quickly bring you to full health.

Gunbreaker

Gunbreaker is a gunblade-wielding Tank that plays most similarly to a DPS class, making it one of the best for DPS players looking to dip their toes into Tanking. The key here is Continuation, which allows you to execute additional actions after certain attacks, creating long combos with great damage.

Gunbreaker also has some great defensive and restorative tools like Heart of Corundum and Aurora, which are both targetable abilities that heal or grant Regen to the target, respectively. Since these are Off Global Cooldown abilities, you can use them without interfering with your damage rotation, providing some great flexibility in sticky situations.

While Gunbreaker is pretty straightforward to play, its rotation is endlessly satisfying to pull off, and its surprising amount of flexibility is fun to experiment with. Whether you're a new Tank player or a veteran of the role, Gunbreaker is a great choice.

Final Fantasy 14: Complete Guide To Wondrous Tails

Looking to earn absurd amounts of EXP in Final Fantasy 14? Look no further than Wondrous Tails. Here's everything you need to know to get started!