Marau vs. Glad, is there even a debate? Marau 100%Follow

So I wanted to bring this to the forums because I am not high enough to unlock Paladin or Warrior. However, from what I have experienced for the first 3 dungeons, Marauder outshines Gladiator by a long shot. I've been tanking on both classes and the most glaring problem with Gladiator, is that I run out of MP way too often to use Flash. Using Riot Blade to replenish MP takes away from my consistent ability to hold aggro. I understand Flash shouldn't be used liberally, but even if I chose to save it, I still sometimes have issues with MP. I mean, outside of savage blade, that's about all I have to work with. Both Marauder and Gladiator get an aoe attack so that is not debatable. However, on Marauder, it seems I can spam cast any ability I want since none of them are tied to a limited MP pool. Added, as Marauder, I am contributing much more dps to the party than I could ever hope for on Gladiator.

As I look at the upcoming skills for both classes, it seems Paladin focuses on mitigation, while marauder focuses on increased att and self healing. I have yet to see how well the self healing skills contribute to being worth using, yet I can't seem to identify a valid reason why one would not go marauder for tanking, aside from the aesthetic of sword/board vs. great axe (which by the way, has more interesting animations than sword/board...and by a long shot at that).

So my question is, from experienced players of Paladin and Warrior...what do you think of them respectively? I know each can hold there own, but does it really boil down to "I like one aspect over the other?" or do you think endgame encounters will be situated to suiting one style over the other? If that's the case, it doesn't matter in the long run because you will be benched as one class or the other depending on the dungeon/raid/whatever they add later instance. I'm curious because I am still trying to decide which one of these tanks I should take into endgame.

Lower levels and Mar kicks the crap of out Gld, no one can argue that really.

But at the end the Pld I think has a slight edge over the War since the higher mitigation, fighting really hard hitting bosses at endgame you need the added mitigation as much as you can.

But to be honest, with the War higher HP pool and self healing they are so close that it really does boil down to play style.

I am War all the way because I have never liked shield tanking. If you have ever played WOW think of the War as the Death Knight, which is the tanking style that fits me perfectly :)

One thing that comes to mind, is that gladiator can use a shield, wich has stats and def on it, and marauder only has an ax. I will try tanking as marauder but for now i am a shield and sword guy.

Warrior outshined paladin for just about every battle in version 1, except for the hardest battles, when pld was equal or slightly ahead. It is such a slight difference at that point though. Early in ARR, I have very much enjoyed tanking on gladiator, and the only time I have lost hate is when DPS starts attacking other mobs. I have also heard in my linkshell about many bad mrd tanks.

So, really, I think player skill is the dominant answer.

That and party quality.

Edited, Sep 5th 2013 11:44am by Thayos

I've seen some amazing WAR tanks though. Did a Brayflox run with a WAR tank and he was right on it - never took a hit from breath, kept the dragon off its green pools, and we won with no death and without my (WHM) even having to pop an ether. Really, a player who pays attention and does a good job is often more relevant than stats and such. That doesn't mean a WHM is going to make a good tank, but MRD/WAR and GLA/PLD are both capable of tanking, at least up through the content that I'm at so far.

I still have to see some more L.50 team action, but as I was leveling, I never had a MP issue with GLDs and they were easy to keep healed. Meanwhile with a few MRDs, there were times that I had to spam Cure2 just to keep them alive from the trash encounters. While we were going through Garuda normal mode, we had a Paladin friend tank it for us. My MP never dropped below 90% and the tank was barely took any damage. Meanwhile the other 3 Garuda runs with non-Paladin tanks were a nightmare.

Edited, Sep 5th 2013 2:58pm by rubina

I've had the same experience with a FC PLD... when he tanks for us I barely have to heal at all. A nice blessing.

Regardless of the tank, I usually drop a StoneSkin and a Regen on them before they pull. If it's a long encounter with trash, I usually find enough time with a Paladin to refresh both and toss in a few DoTs. If it's not a PLD, I barely have time to toss in a Regen during the middle of combat.

I have preferred my MRD over the GLD up to level 26 anyway. I picked up Flash from GLD and defensive cooldowns from PUG and LNC. With Overpower / Flash initial agro is no problem and so long as the DPS are hitting the same target it is all too easy to maintain agro. Even when DPS get over zealous it is easy to keep focus on myself. With Blood Bath and Inner Healing as well as Keen Flurry, Feather Foot, and my own buff I do very well on managing my DMG intake. I know it will change once I switch over to WAR but I will make sure to wait until the benefits equal out over all my cross-class skills.

So what you are saying is that paladin is often running around going "Hit me! I can take it" and only one guy listens, while Warrior is a little like the scene in Braveheart where he turns around and flips his kilt and gets shot in the butt with an arrow after everyone fires.

I have played both a GLA and MRD and to be honest with you, I think that GLA is the better tank at holding agro and has better mitigation. As for you running out of MP using flash, I recommend trying to only use Flash no more than 3 times per battle... Try this rotation Shield Lob > Flash > Fast Blade (FB) > Savage Blade (SB) > FLash > FB > SB > Rage of Halone (RH) > FB > SB > RH > ect... You should only have to use flash one more time, if you use it again at all bcause at this point you should have enough hate from everything (as long as the DPS aren't trying to directly attack targets that you are not focusing on) and if anything pops off you onto the healer all you should have to do is cast Provoke then do your FB > SB > RH combo once before goinback to your original target. I also recomend once you and the DPS burn the target down to around 5% health, jumping to another target to build hate on it while the DPS finish burning down the first target. There are exceptions to this rotation (such as using your cooldowns for bosses and such) but this one works wonders for me.

Edited, Sep 5th 2013 3:29pm by princessary

Here's something I did not know.

WO any evidence to support my claim its my observation that PLD's struggle at tanking in the DF fights, namely group aggro control.