Tanks have always been one of the more rare battle jobs in Final Fantasy XIV, primarily because many players appear to be afraid of having to lead the party, taking aggro of the enemies and the boss, and ensuring that their party members are well protected from the enemies' auto attacks.

Tanking, on the other hand, can be a lot of fun in FFXIV for a variety of reasons, one of which is that some of them are almost invulnerable, able to survive a variety of deadly attacks that other roles will not be able to survive. Tanks can even solo recent old content in Stormblood or Shadowbringers as a result of this.

Tanks can also survive some dungeons on their own, even if their healer is dead and no DPS can resurrect them. Many videos have been made showing how Tanks can solo through many dungeon bosses due to their strong mitigations and even healing abilities.

4. Dark Knight

A Dark Knight preparing to unleash his darkside.

Dark Knight is a Tank that was introduced in the game's second major expansion, Heavensward, which is also included in the free trial. This means that free trial players will also have access to this cool and dark tank.

What Dark Knight Excels in:

• Big Damage. Dark Knight has a lot of skill attacks that can deal a lot of damage to the enemies.
• One example of their big damage can be seen in one of their newest skills, Shadowbringer, which has a 600 attack potency.
• They can help some of their teammates by negating the damage they might take, such as the Oblation skill, which can be used not only for themselves but for a party member, and reduce the damage taken by them by 10%.
• They can use their MP to use several attack skills that can buff their damage even more, such as Flood of Darkness and Edge of Shadow, both skills which grants Darkside, which will buff their damage by 10%.
• Their MP can also be used to cast mitigation skills, particularly The Blackest Night, which can be used on themselves or a party member, and will absorb damage up to 25% of their HP. 
• One of the strongest Tanks in terms of AoE attacks, since they have plenty of them, such as Flood of Shadow, Salt and Darkness, Shadowbringer, Quietus, Stalwart Soul, and others, making them very effective in dungeon runs.
• Has variety in combos, making Dark Knight one of the Tanks that suit advanced players who like to have more than just a few attack buttons for their Tanks.

Tank Usefulness Score: 85/100

3. Gunbreaker

The Gunbreaker, the hardest-hitting Tanks out there.

Gunbreaker has been dubbed the "red Tank," with "red" representing the color of a DPS's badge in a party. This alone demonstrates that Gunbreaker can deal a significant amount of damage as a Tank.

What Gunbreaker Excels in:

• More variety in their attack combo with a lot of weaves and variations that differ between one fight and another.
• While this might become a negative point to some, it definitely is a plus for players who are looking into a Tank with a combo beyond the usual 1-2-3 Attack skills.
• They have very strong attack skills that can deal an insane amount of damage to the enemies. Because of this, Gunbreakers are able to contribute significantly to the DPS output of a party, which may help clear a fight faster and break through DPS checks.
• Some examples of this are Double Down, which has a whopping 1200 damage potency. Another skill that is very strong is Blasting Zone, which has 700 damage potency.
• A lot of mitigations, which cause Gunbreaker to be able to survive long in the battlefield.
• One of the examples of their mitigation skills is Nebula, which has the ability to reduce damage taken by 30%. Another can be seen in Camouflage, which increases parry rate by 50% and reduce damage taken by 10%.
• Many skills that can also help their teammates and themselves through mitigating the damage taken by their teammates or giving a regen for their party members or themselves.
• Aurora is a skill that will give regen over time over a party member or the Gunbreaker themselves.
• Heart of Stone can be given to a party member or self and reduce damage taken by 15%. Best yet, their cooldown is only 25 seconds.
• Heart of Light can reduce magic damage taken by the whole party members by 10%.
• Heart of Conundrum gives a mitigation up to 45% as well as regeneration to a party member or the Gunbreaker themselves.

Tank Usefulness Score: 88/100

2. Paladin

Paladin, the Tank that swore to protect their allies with their shield.

The Paladin is the party's powerful protector, and they manage to give their party members and themselves the ability to protect and heal their allies while also dealing damage to the enemies.

What Paladin Excels in: 

• The strongest invulnerability skill in the game, since it is the only invulnerability skill that will not let their HP fall down at all no matter how much damage they take.
• Hallowed Ground, their invulnerability skill, will allow Paladins to be impervious to most attacks for 10 seconds, allowing them to survive through many deadly attacks and come out completely unscathed, not giving an additional job for your healers.
• The strongest healing skill by a Tank and can even compete with healers. Clemency, which only requires 1000 Mana to use, is a whopping 1000 cure potency ability that can heal themselves or a party member.
• Because of this, Clemency can let Paladins survive through a lot of dungeons solo even when their healers are dead, and can even keep some DPS party members alive with this skill.
• Strong party mitigation that can help the party as a whole get less damage by a massive amount of numbers.
• The first skill on this list of party mitigation is Passage of Arms, which lets a Paladin to protect any party member hiding behind their summoned wings, increasing block rate to 100% and only suffering through 85% of damage taken.
• Divine Veil can be triggered by a simple healing spell or a Clemency, and will let all party members prevent taking damage up to 10% of the Paladin’s HP. Meaning, the stronger the Paladin is, the more protected the party will be.
• Intervention allows a party member to be protected and mitigate 10% of the incoming damage. This damage reduction is further increased by 10% if the Paladin has either Sentinel or Rampart up. 
• Additionally, Intervention will also grant Knight’s Benediction at high level, which will restore the party member’s HP and give them regeneration.
• Strong AoE attacks, making them very useful in dungeons and mob attacks. Some examples of this are Blade of Faith, Blade of Truth, and Blade of Valor, as well as Expiacion and Confiteor.

Tank Usefulness Score: 90/100

1. Warrior

Warrior, the mighty Tank who wields a large axe into their battles.

If the Gunbreaker has been dubbed the red Tank, the Warrior has been dubbed the green Tank, with the color green representing the job color role for healers.

What Warrior Excels in:

• Strong regeneration. The main reason why they are called the green Tank. They have insane healing and regeneration potency, allowing Warriors to be able to fill their health to full in no time at all, even faster than a White Mage can cast Benediction on them.
• Bloodwhetting is their most powerful regeneration skill, which allows a Warrior to reduce damage taken by 10%, then restore HP with a cure potency of 400 with each weapon skill successfully delivered.
• Equilibrium, which will heal the Warrior with a whopping 1200 cure potency, and will also grant regen of a 200 cure potency for 15 seconds. 
• Meaning, a Warrior is able to regenerate themselves just through attacking the enemies constantly. 
• Nascent Flash shares a cooldown with Bloodwhetting, but it doesn’t matter much since their cooldown is very short, a mere 25 seconds.
• Nascent Flash can be granted on a party member, which will give them Nascent Glint, Stem the Flow and Stem the Tide, which allows a Warrior to grant their insane regeneration ability to a party member.
• Nascent Flash has the same ability Bloodwhetting has, which will restore a party member’s HP with a cure potency of 400 with every skill the Warrior does. 
• Nascent Glint, which is granted on a party member, will restore their HP equaling 100% of that recovered by Nascent Flash, which will allow a Warrior to heal a party member through an insane amount of numbers.
• Stem the Flow and Stem the Tide will also mitigate up to 10% of damage as well as nullifying damage that is equivalent to a heal of 400 potency.
• One of the most ping-friendly Tanks and is very beginner-friendly, as their combo is simple and straightforward, which makes this Tank ideal to be learned by beginners new to Tanking.
• With their simple combo and strong healing skills, a Warrior will be able to survive through a lot of damage as well as dealing decent DPS to the enemies.
• In addition, Warrior also has the invulnerability with the shortest cooldown compared to the other Tanks, Holmgang, which only has 240 seconds cooldown.
• Fell Cleave and Primal Rend Combo. Enough Said.

Tank Usefulness Score: 92/100

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