[Havelock]

I'm joining a friend's Dynamis shell, and the first run is in a week.
I've been reading the wiki and have looked at quite a few Dynamis posts,
but I was wondering if anyone had any golden bits of wisdom, especially for a < 75 tank. Thanks!

[Ameroth]

Originally Posted by Havelock

but I was wondering if anyone had any golden bits of wisdom, especially for a < 75 tank. Thanks!

Don't main tank. In fact, don't tank at all if you're not 75 with some decent gear or hate holding techniques. Dyna mobs and bosses will eat you pretty fast pre 74/75.

[Cotners]

I agree, don't main tank until you get more familiar with dynamis. You may just be asked to be a voker, which is very important. Your mages will sleep links and you will voke/flash them while slept to unsure they don't go after the mages when they wake up.

[Solymir]

Paladins just Provoke and Flash the mobs as they come into the group. Don't forget to cure yourself as necessary too.

Ninja pretty much has the same job has Paladin, just fewer job abilities to use. Enfeebling spells can get you enough hate to take the mob off of the puller though.

It should be someone's job to sleep the mobs. The tank's job is to make sure A: they don't kill the puller B: they don't run around all over the place making it harder for the sleepers to do their job.

[Havelock]

Yeah, I think the plan at first is to voke and help with cures as needed while watching the other experienced PLDs do their thing.

[TheGrandMom]

Yes, its very difficult to actually "tank" any mobs that are being killed. Hate is usually bounced around and the mobs usually die fairly quick. As everyone has said, just worry about the mobs that are pulled to your ally. Voke one, flash another, or however they want you to do it but don't bother trying to keep too much hate on mobs that are being killed. Pre 75 is nasty for a tank so let another tank worry about hate then.

You also might want to bring a RR hairpin with you. Depending on zone you may need antidotes, poison pots, and always echo drops (assuming you are nin or pld). But relax and enjoy yourself. It really is fast paced so if you make a small mistake no one will probably even notice! LOL Have fun!

[Neverslip]

Main thing to remember is to LISTEN to what the leader says. Make sure there is not multiple commanders that might confuse the situation. Melee are typically told to stay in a certain area for the Main Assists to pull back to. Don't be talked into becoming a Main Assist (MA) until you are very familiar with a Tank's role in Dynamis. When they tell you to wipe (which is inevitable), die as quickly as possible. Bring RR items for this. Bring a buffer so you don't D-Lvl. Be on time... that's all I got for ya.

[Havelock]

Great, thanks for the input. Gives me a little better idea of what to expect.
One question, though--what would be the reason for an intentional wipe?

[Durahansolo]

Originally Posted by Havelock

Great, thanks for the input. Gives me a little better idea of what to expect.
One question, though--what would be the reason for an intentional wipe?

Time limit I assume. (Probably wrong though, I haven't done Dynamis before but I've heard stories. This is a good topic for people like me that will start in the future. )

[pixiehawk]

Oh, they're usually not intentional. The mobs will overwhelm the Dynamisgoers (usually via a bad link on the pull) at least once a run. Once to many people are down there is nothing you can do but wipe, let the mobs reset and then everyone gets up. If they call a wipe do NOT get up until all the mobs are clear or they will come for you - I usually wait til the first few WHM's get up, the ones who have been doing Dynamis for years.

[Neverslip]

I don't fully understand why ... It might only happen if something is f'd up and you just need to try again. If certain jobs are wiped, there is no way to continute the fight so they have everyone wipe to clear the area... but we had to do it in Windy cuz I think we needed to get a NM out of a group of regular mobs... but maybe it's only when the fit hits the shan. I've only been a tag along for a few clears in the cities so I've not got a clear idea of all that is taking place.

[Solymir]

One thing I have learned is to not just spam all of my defensive abilities when they are available, except for Defender, that one has no down time for reuse. The main reason is there are a couple of mobs you want to try to help the melee with more than the others. Learn which mob names are Monks and Rangers.

If you are the one keeping hate on a Monk wait for it to use Hundred Fists and pop your Sentinel. You can also use Shield break in the middle of HF to break up his swings and give you time to cast a Cure IV on yourself.

For Ranger it's pretty much the same deal except you have to guess when they might use Eagle Eye Shot. I usually use Sentinel just as the mob gets below 75% hp.

[TheGrandMom]

Yes, if the mob you have hate on is a Monk, wait for his 2 hr and then pop Sentinel. Thats a very important point that Solymir made. Wiki lists the mobs jobs, so get familiar with the names and what jobs they are:

Category:Dynamis - FFXIclopedia, the Final Fantasy XI wiki - Characters, items, jobs, and more

[Karinya]

DO:

Sub Warrior. PLD/NIN has its place and Dynamis is not it.

Type /autotarget off before the run starts. (This keeps you from automatically swinging at a new target when your current one dies.) Very important because the auto-selected target might be a bad target.

Provoke and flash sleeping mobs so they don't go after the BLMs when they wake up (including BST pets, and if necessary, wyverns). This is the primary responsibility of non-main tanks. Particularly watch out for Benediction, which will wake up all mobs in range at once - if they all go for the BLM that sleepga'd them, that BLM is toast. Don't let that happen. (WHMs are often called late for just this reason, but some pulls have several, or have mobs that are even more important to call last.)

Kite if you need to, if you have several awake mobs on you. It's easier for sleepers to notice that a mob is awake when it is moving, as opposed to standing still and hitting you. But be careful where you're going.

If you are going to attack the main target (which, as an off-tank, you don't really need to, but if you have the right macros you can some of the time), make sure to use /assist. There are frequently several mobs of the same name at the same time.

Pay attention to what the LS leaders are saying, even if it doesn't seem to make sense. (For example, some LSs want everyone to get close to orc NMs while they are being fought, because charming the whole LS is better than charming half of it and having them kill the other half.)

Keep defender up all the time. There are plenty of DDs, you're not one of them.

Use Sentinel against Monks to reduce their 2hr damage (if you have hate).

Use Rampart against Ninjas to absorb part of their 2hr damage (even if you don't have hate, since Rampart and Mijin Gakure are both AoE).

Use Spirits Within or Atonement against Thieves and Paladins during their 2hours. Both of these WS deal non-elemental magical damage and will go through Invincible and Perfect Dodge. You probably won't do enough to kill them, but in conjunction with other people nuking, the LS might not have to wait out the whole duration.

Raise others when asked to do so. Even though you only have Raise 1, it helps the LS recover faster from mass death situations, and time in Dynamis is more valuable than experience points. If you don't have enough MP to cast Raise while Weakened, bring along some MP gear if you have it. Even RSE might be enough. (Some endgame sets like Crimson and Homam come with +MP on some pieces - you might bring them for that purpose even if you don't wear them all the time. W.Turban too.)

Bring echo drops, especially to Windurst and Beaucedine. You probably won't need many, but it's better to have them just in case.

Learn your LS's lotting rules and set an appropriate comment before the run starts.

Eventually, learn which mobs have which jobs and what order to call them in, so that you can take over when other tanks are dead/weakened/afk/not in attendance.

DON'T:

Attack avatars.

Attack any mob that the main caller hasn't called. If it isn't asleep yet there's probably someone casting sleep on it right now.

Attack or call statues (other than mega bosses) or slimes, unless specifically asked to do so. These are normally nuke-only mobs. Some LSs include hecteyes too. (It's ok to provoke and flash those mobs, if necessary. Just don't give them TP.)

Go AFK without letting someone know you need to go AFK, and asking where there is a safe place to do so. Killing some mobs will pop others, which might pop right on top of you, potentially killing you *and* screwing up later pulls.

Aggro anything that isn't already aggroed on a LS member. Dynamis pulling is complicated and not for amateurs. If you're not sure if something is asleep or not aggroed yet, wait.

Try to run away from big pulls, or when lots of people die or are charmed at once. Even if half the LS is already dead, it's more important to stay in a safe location for eventual recovery. There's nowhere to zone to anyway - running either prolongs the wipe, or gets extra aggro *and* prolongs the wipe. Standard tactics for an overpull or other disaster are to kill whatever you can (high priority targets first, but setting target priority will not be your job) and then die in a safe place. The more experienced members should know which places are safe.

Cure pullers who say "don't cure me" or "let me die". This is part of sacrifice pulling and anyone who cures that person will have hate from all mobs that hate them, which is usually too many for the LS to handle. Pull what you are asked to pull out of the train (usually normal mobs first, but some LSs pull NMs out of trains), and don't touch the puller.

Complain about what raise you got. Experience points are cheap.

Forget to click on the ??? that appears where a mega boss died. If you don't, your win doesn't count.

Drop your glass unless the run is over or the leaders say to drop it. It will warp you out of Dynamis.

[hexx]

Karinya pretty much covered it, but, being the main tank for my Dyna LS I have some additional words of wisdom for ya. Carry multiple sets of gear if you can, such as high emnity gear (for flashes, vokes, and cures), high def gear (for hard hitting mobs like mnks and rngs), and mag def gear (I.R. gear of the past is great for this) to block magic attacks that may come your way. If you're not 75 yet, dont main tank, and if the leadership of the shell wants you to main tank..........slap them upside the head, cuz you will most certainly die a nasty, horrible death, pre-75. As far as food is concerned, go maybe with some fish mithkabobs for cities, but invest in tavnazian tacos for northlands (especially Xarcabard). Other than that, think youre pretty much good to go.