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There seem to be a lot of discussions as to which is the best tank. A lot of people have mentioned it being situational--but here is how I perceive it. For a long time (ok, my entire journey on WHM >.>) I was of the mentality PLD > all but other things will work if you cant seem to find one. However, I am now leveling RNG with my husbands MNK--he has a 65 and a 32 PLD (2 characters, obviously) so hes quite used to the tanking thing. He's also a very good PLD (by that, I mean making sure the mob is on him and, if its ever not, doing something about it). He thought I was kidding when I said I wanted him to main tank after 30 on MNK, because, well, MNKs aren't tanks.
After looking into the skills, stats, abilities and parsings of the jobs, as well as experience in their hate holding abilities, I've reached the following conclusions. This is not to say Im saying one is better than another, or advocating the use of non-traditional tanks in every situation--it is rather situational overall what is the best tank. I agree that it will likely be based on actual level too, not just comparison of player to mob level, but 1-75 this is how I see it.
PLDs tank ~IT-IT++ beautifully. Reason: PLD hate generation is less dependent upon the level difference between the PLD and the mob, however, higher level mobs will hit too hard to make decent exp chains and will drain more hate from the PLD in damage than it can generate. Similarly, PLDs cant generate significantly more hate on lower mobs than higher ones, yet, the damage output of your damagers will go up drastically thus causing more hate holding problems. For Exp purposes, PLD wins in terms of dmg taken vs hate holding capacity on most typical Exp mobs. PLDs keep hate primarily through Flash, Cures and Shield Bash/Sentinel/Rampart, etc. IT mobs will hit enough to build significant cure agro and the other forms of hate control are almost completely disregardant of level.
On higher level mobs a NIN, I believe (or a WAR/NIN after 74...maybe earlier, depending on skill, equip and how well the PT has hate swapping down) is the better tank. This is due in large part to the fact that after a certain disparity in mob/player level, the tank will be getting hit so hard that they simply do not want hate all of the time or they will die or at least have a messy PT--this is where NIN helps, by taking almost no damage you have solved what becomes increasingly the bigger problem on harder hitting mobs when survivability becomes more important than flawless hate control (as long as hate control is "good enough").
On lower level (-VT-IT+) mobs is where, I believe, MNK and WAR tanks shine. (Note: You could, debatably, add SAM to this tank class, but I haven't looked into it as much as the others, so Im omitting it) This is due to their primary hate holding form--damage output. I read somewhere a WAR say he had , effectively, tanked his way this far--he wasn't going to stop and become DD only since he could deal damage almost as well as he could if he was dedicated to it as when he tanks (not as well, but still dish out the pain). MNKs are basically in that same situation--though with, Id argue, even less of a diminished capacity to deal damage while tanking than WARs. MNKs also do, proportionally more damage to mobs this level range than higher mobs compared to other jobs as a result of having two weaker hits versus one more powerful one. Comparing the two, MNKs have higher VIT(tied for highest with PLD) and Evasion (Tied in third with SAM, behind THF and NIN), where as WARs have higher DEF and AGI. MNKs and WARs are both second teir damagers and second teir tanks--IMO, their true power shines when they can effectively combine the two into one task.
While player vs. mob level is one major factor in determining an "ideal tank," mob type is another. Things that hit hard and slow (Manticores, etc) are undeniably a NINs playground, where as things with blink-stripping AoEs (Weapons, etc) or with hard hitting, non-blinkable specials (Triple bats, etc) are generally bad for them. MNKs , IMO, are better than other choices on things that hit fairly fast but not quite as hard because they have no spells to interupt with being hit often and lower damage hits, in general, are more dampered by VIT than DEF, however things with high hitting specials usually cause MNKs to become MP drains rather than viable tanks. Paladins shine on your "average" Exp mobs--ones that don't hit so hard than blink is completely necessary or so weak that their hate generation and utility (high def, high vit) is minimalized or so fast they can't get a spell off or so slow that a NIN would have far more shadows than they would ever practically need.
Paladin is the most versatile tanking class, fitting into most situations, followed by NIN. However, other classes can overall outperform a NIN or PLD in certain situations. From some parsed data, when set MNK tank, he only does roughly 5-10% less dmg per fight, but takes anywhere between 15% less and 20% more damage than PLDs in the same level range/mob type depending on level range/mob type who is doing considerably less damage to the mob. No other class, however, comes close to comparing to PLDs in emergency situation tanking, though other classes can, depending on situation, hold their own in normal tanking.
Factors contributing to damage reduction:
PLD: Tied for highest VIT, has highest Def of any class. Has average evasion and lowest AGI. Flash, Sentinel, Rampart, Shield Bash. Access to highest levels of defensive equipment. Shield, parry.
NIN: Utsusemi, second highest Evasion/AGI. Strong Paralyze, Blind, Slow spells. Parry.
WAR: Average VIT and AGI, above average Evasion and defense. Defender. Access to most of the highest defensive armours. Parry and sometimes shield.
MNK: Counter, Guard, Chakra, Dodge, third highest Eva, tied for highest VIT. Average AGI and Def.
Factors contributing to hate generation/keeping:
PLD: Cures, Flash. Shield Bash, Sentinel, Rampart, Cover.
NIN: Strategic use of Ninjitsu.
WAR: Damage output, Warcry.
MNK: Damage output, Boost, Chi Blast.
After looking into the skills, stats, abilities and parsings of the jobs, as well as experience in their hate holding abilities, I've reached the following conclusions. This is not to say Im saying one is better than another, or advocating the use of non-traditional tanks in every situation--it is rather situational overall what is the best tank. I agree that it will likely be based on actual level too, not just comparison of player to mob level, but 1-75 this is how I see it.
PLDs tank ~IT-IT++ beautifully. Reason: PLD hate generation is less dependent upon the level difference between the PLD and the mob, however, higher level mobs will hit too hard to make decent exp chains and will drain more hate from the PLD in damage than it can generate. Similarly, PLDs cant generate significantly more hate on lower mobs than higher ones, yet, the damage output of your damagers will go up drastically thus causing more hate holding problems. For Exp purposes, PLD wins in terms of dmg taken vs hate holding capacity on most typical Exp mobs. PLDs keep hate primarily through Flash, Cures and Shield Bash/Sentinel/Rampart, etc. IT mobs will hit enough to build significant cure agro and the other forms of hate control are almost completely disregardant of level.
On higher level mobs a NIN, I believe (or a WAR/NIN after 74...maybe earlier, depending on skill, equip and how well the PT has hate swapping down) is the better tank. This is due in large part to the fact that after a certain disparity in mob/player level, the tank will be getting hit so hard that they simply do not want hate all of the time or they will die or at least have a messy PT--this is where NIN helps, by taking almost no damage you have solved what becomes increasingly the bigger problem on harder hitting mobs when survivability becomes more important than flawless hate control (as long as hate control is "good enough").
On lower level (-VT-IT+) mobs is where, I believe, MNK and WAR tanks shine. (Note: You could, debatably, add SAM to this tank class, but I haven't looked into it as much as the others, so Im omitting it) This is due to their primary hate holding form--damage output. I read somewhere a WAR say he had , effectively, tanked his way this far--he wasn't going to stop and become DD only since he could deal damage almost as well as he could if he was dedicated to it as when he tanks (not as well, but still dish out the pain). MNKs are basically in that same situation--though with, Id argue, even less of a diminished capacity to deal damage while tanking than WARs. MNKs also do, proportionally more damage to mobs this level range than higher mobs compared to other jobs as a result of having two weaker hits versus one more powerful one. Comparing the two, MNKs have higher VIT(tied for highest with PLD) and Evasion (Tied in third with SAM, behind THF and NIN), where as WARs have higher DEF and AGI. MNKs and WARs are both second teir damagers and second teir tanks--IMO, their true power shines when they can effectively combine the two into one task.
While player vs. mob level is one major factor in determining an "ideal tank," mob type is another. Things that hit hard and slow (Manticores, etc) are undeniably a NINs playground, where as things with blink-stripping AoEs (Weapons, etc) or with hard hitting, non-blinkable specials (Triple bats, etc) are generally bad for them. MNKs , IMO, are better than other choices on things that hit fairly fast but not quite as hard because they have no spells to interupt with being hit often and lower damage hits, in general, are more dampered by VIT than DEF, however things with high hitting specials usually cause MNKs to become MP drains rather than viable tanks. Paladins shine on your "average" Exp mobs--ones that don't hit so hard than blink is completely necessary or so weak that their hate generation and utility (high def, high vit) is minimalized or so fast they can't get a spell off or so slow that a NIN would have far more shadows than they would ever practically need.
Paladin is the most versatile tanking class, fitting into most situations, followed by NIN. However, other classes can overall outperform a NIN or PLD in certain situations. From some parsed data, when set MNK tank, he only does roughly 5-10% less dmg per fight, but takes anywhere between 15% less and 20% more damage than PLDs in the same level range/mob type depending on level range/mob type who is doing considerably less damage to the mob. No other class, however, comes close to comparing to PLDs in emergency situation tanking, though other classes can, depending on situation, hold their own in normal tanking.
Factors contributing to damage reduction:
PLD: Tied for highest VIT, has highest Def of any class. Has average evasion and lowest AGI. Flash, Sentinel, Rampart, Shield Bash. Access to highest levels of defensive equipment. Shield, parry.
NIN: Utsusemi, second highest Evasion/AGI. Strong Paralyze, Blind, Slow spells. Parry.
WAR: Average VIT and AGI, above average Evasion and defense. Defender. Access to most of the highest defensive armours. Parry and sometimes shield.
MNK: Counter, Guard, Chakra, Dodge, third highest Eva, tied for highest VIT. Average AGI and Def.
Factors contributing to hate generation/keeping:
PLD: Cures, Flash. Shield Bash, Sentinel, Rampart, Cover.
NIN: Strategic use of Ninjitsu.
WAR: Damage output, Warcry.
MNK: Damage output, Boost, Chi Blast.
lv12 one lol, cant remember name) so they dont get blink up enough if the mobs are attacking fast and then mages have to spend more time healing instead of nuking. PTing with a ninja tank the mages (if theres a Rdm or Brd) always have next to full MP by the time you pull another mob, and thats pulling like within the next 10-15secs of the mob dieng so you can get alot of exp in little time as you could imagine.
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