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Merri and I have very similar views on how to play WAR, so at the risk of just repeating everything he's already said, I'll try to cover various other rotation bits. Though similar, Merri and I do have a different opening rotation, so try both and see which you prefer!? I consider myself a career WAR, having played the class from T1 (back when people said WAR couldn't hack MTing Coil pre-2.1) to T13, and in every content that wasn't Coil. So I would like to emphasize at the start that I consider this way of playing WAR the more optimal and efficient way, but that is not to say it is for everyone. You can get on just fine playing your WAR like it's a PLD (most people do), but you just aren't getting the full potential out of your job.
Like Merri said, know your abilities, know your dungeon, and know how your stats work. I consider these the three keys to pushing the envelope as a tank. Merri's done a pretty good job of going over your abilities individually, so I thought I'd suggest some good ability combinations as well as what I cross-class.
Personal Cross-Class:
Convalescence - Increases the potency of healing spells used on you by 20%. This, stacked with Defiance, gives you 40% extra healing recovery, which is amazing! This is a must have skill that I usually reserve for big pulls or impending heavy damage in raids.
Provoke - Another must have! Places you at +1 Enmity above the highest enmity of another player. This is a catch-up skill. While you can use it to rip enmity back, know that you absolutely must follow this ability up with either a tomahawk (ranged) or a Butcher's Block (close) if you want to keep said hate lead. Otherwise, you're just turning the mob.
Awareness - I consider this essential, though a lot of people don't. For 25s you will not suffer any critical hits. While this is not always a major concern for a tank, there are a few applications where this ability shines. In dungeons, you'll want to use this during big pulls. This guarantees that your HP falls at a steady, constant rate and will not divebomb suddenly due to a crit. During raids as an OT you will want to save this for high-powered adds that will try to wreck your face while your MT is also getting his/her face wrecked by boss. This lessens strain on healers and makes sure your HP doesn't plummet suddenly, drawing both heals away from the MT. In FCOB especially, suffering a crit hit can mean losing an upwards of 4k HP, which is not something your healers want to see an OT doing while MT is also taking damage.
Internal Release - Free +10% Crit Hit Rate for 15s! This is incredibly nice for WAR during Berserk for those really high numbers that make tanks and dps wet themselves with fear and envy.
Second Wind / Featherfoot - Second Wind I use for Raid settings. I prefer Featherfoot for Dungeon content. Second Wind (on a STR WAR) actually has a pretty decent return - 1100 regular or 1800 crit I've seen. So not bad if you need to bounce your HP back when you aren't your healer's priority heal or when your healers are DPSing you can cover your damage fairly easily with Second Wind and Inner Beast combo. Featherfoot I use during dungeon so as to prevent multiple hits during Big Pulls.
Honorable Cross-Class Mentions:
Flash - A lot of people use this. I do not, though I have nothing against people who do. This ability is realistically for burning your MP pool instead of your TP pool when trying to maintain AoE aggro. Though, in my experience, its effects and range are lackluster and as a STR WAR, I rarely lose any mob that I've Overpowered twice. Be sure to always follow up your Overpowers with Butcher's Block rotations during smaller pulls like Merri said.
Mantra - Again, some people seem to like the 5% increased cure potency, but I do not. When compared to Convalescence's 20%, 5% is very disappointing, even if it does go out to the whole party, there's 1) very few times I'm stacked close enough to the party to catch my group with the buff 2) usually only me taking damage 3) plenty of other jobs can cross-class Mantra for better effect, like BRD or DRG.
Abilities, Rotations, What to Use When:
Big Pulls:
Vengeance + Bloodbath + Overpower = success. Vengeance increases your mitigation by 30% plus deals 50 potency damage to attackers. Combine this with bloodbath, and you'll actually heal for a fraction every time you're smacked. Overpower though is where your true self-healing comes in. Say you have 10 mobs beating you. You overpower and hit all 10 mobs for 400-500 dmg because you're a STR WAR. Bloodbath takes 25% of that damage dealt and converts it to HP. Meaning, you just healed 100-125 HP x10 = 1000-1250 HP per Overpower every ~3 seconds. That's an extra physick going off every 3 seconds, on top of the AoE damage it deals and massive hate gain, all the while Vengeance is keeping you from taking an overabundant amount of damage, which makes healers happy.
Featherfoot + Awareness = the gambler's mitigation. I also like to use this on big pulls when Bloodbath + Vengeance is down. Aka the next pull. This combo isn't as effective at damage mitigation as the first, but it still does its job at not allowing your HP to suddenly nosedive. Featherfoot is actually really good about dodging multiple trash mob attacks. So of the 10 mobs, maybe only 7 or 8 of them will actually hit me, and none of those hits will be critical. Where possible, do try to mix in Inner Beast for some mitigation to help your healers out.
Holmgang. A very tricky ability to use, but when used well can make or break a party or raid. As has already been expressed, Holmgang's primary use is to prevent your HP from dropping below 1. It certainly does not make you invincible and it certainly doesn't make it easier on your healers, but what it does do is stop you from dying at the wrong moment. It gives that extra moment for Benediction. It lets you eat something extremely powerful without fear of dying. It gives 4 more seconds for the party to down that last 1% on the boss, or for Healers to slow raise the other. It can also be used as a CC interrupt ability as was pointed out a couple times already. Max range your Holmgang and pop it, and the mob will be pulled towards you, interrupting their cast. Very useful for when Brutal Swing is on cooldown because you instinctively use it as part of your dps rotation.
Boss Pulls, Hunt Mobs, MTing Raids:
Like I said before, my opening combo is a little different from Merri's, since I lack his skill speed but is essentially the same. I start with a normal Butcher's Block combo, then follow up with Maim and Storm's Eye to slow build my Wrath instead of popping it with Infuriate.
Note: Off-GCD abilities in parenthesis. Indicates should weave these abilities in between GCD.
Tomahawk > Heavy Swing (Brutal Swing) > Skull Sunder > Butcher's Block >
Heavy Swing (Bloodbath) > Maim (STR X-Pot) > Storm's Eye (Berserk) (Unchained) >
Heavy Swing (Infuriate) (Internal Release) > Skull Sunder > Butcher's Block >
Heavy Swing > Skull Sunder (Brutal Swing) > Butcher's Block > Fracture* > Inner Beast
<<Pacification>> Heavy Swing > Maim > Storm's Path > etc.
*I slot Fracture here because it is fully buffed and only then because it fits into the combo well. Outside of this combo, do not use Fracture with Defiance up. It is a waste of TP and the damage is so incredibly not worth it. Even off Defiance it's kinda meh, so only use it on a boss that you're going to not be attacking for a bit because as OT you're dealing with adds or mechanics. I never use it as MT outside this combo.
This combo guarantees I get two Butcher's Block combos in my Berserk rotation by prepping Storm's Eye debuff beforehand. Though not as quick as Merri's combo, this one allows me to pop Infuriate and Internal Release into the actual Berserk window for an extra 20% Critical Hit Rate on top of the minimal amount I get from gear. (ie. usually 10-12% from gear + buffs = 30-32%) I end the combo with a supercharged Fracture and Inner Beast, before all buffs drop off. Follow this up with a Storm's Path combo to reduce boss' damage and reinstate Maim, then alternate Butcher's Block and Storm's Path combos until you're ready to prep Berserk rotation again.
A similar rotation can be used immediately as an OT for burst opener. Simply substitute Butcher's Block combos for Storm's Eye or Storm's Path and then drop Defiance as soon as you are Pacified.
Heavy Swing > Maim > Storm's Path >
Heavy Swing > Maim (STR X-Pot) > Storm's Eye (Berserk) (Unchained) >
Heavy Swing (Infuriate) (Internal Release) > Maim > Storm's Path >
Heavy Swing > Maim > Storm's Eye > Fracture > Inner Beast
<<Pacification>> (Defiance off)
DPS Rotation:
With a PLD MT in the group, I just rotate Storm's Eye and Storm's Path combos back and forth.
With a WAR MT in the group, I rotate Storm's Eye and Butcher's Block combos back and forth off Defiance. That way MT can rotate Butcher's Block and Storm's Path combos. MT maintains hate and handles his own damage mitigation and OT deals his highest potency weaponskills and handles damage buffs. Both WARs win.
Other than that, buffs are really... when you feel you need them. I am very generous with my buffing on WAR. I pop Foresight whenever it's up really, unless I'm taking magical damage or I already have Vengeance up. Unless I'm prepping for Berserk rotation, I use my Wrath stacks on Inner Beast almost as soon as it's up, provided I'm taking damage. For some weaker HP adds like AK-HM with the plant walls or in SV-HM with the spawning puks, I use Steel Cyclone to just nom them all. Internal Release will pop up long before Berserk and Unchained are up again, so I just pop it once as soon as it's up again for free Critical Hit Rate during my normal comboing.
Stats:
Usually a sore topic for folk and causes some debate on what is "optimal" but I have my views and you can take them or leave them.
STR > VIT > ACC to cap > Determination (DTR) > Critical Hit Rate (CHR)
I do not use Parry or Skill Speed outside of what is slotted on my gear that can't be helped. If you do choose to favor Skill Speed, I'd recommend capping out at 415~ish like Merri does for the sole purpose of adding an additional WS into Berserk combo. As my rotation varries from Merri's I, personally, don't feel the need for any Skill Speed in my setup.
You can read my Dissertation on the Shortcomings of Parry here.
Essentially, STR provides a massive amount of damage, enmity, self-healing, and parry mitigation all on its own. Making it your best stat honestly. VIT increases your HP by 14.5 every 1 VIT. When you do the math... it's really disheartening. Once you get to a certain Item Level (I usually recommend i100+) VIT becomes completely useless as you'll get all the HP you could ever need outside of Coil content from your left-side body gear. As an i126 DPS WAR, I run about 9k HP with Defiance up, which is more than enough HP for most all content in the game. The point of HP is to act as a buffer and make sure you don't die before your healers can heal you. Unless your healers are dead or asleep, anything above 7.5-8k HP should be enough for that. Don't forget that your self-healing can go a long ways as well and that's one of the perks STR WARs can enjoy over their VIT WAR cousins.
As for Determination versus Critical Hit Rate, focus Determination as it ups your base damage, while Critical Hit Rate just increases the chance of multiplying your base damage x1.5. While striking a Crit during your Berserk rotation is really gratifying, when you need crits, you can rely on Internal Release + Infuriate for +20%, a number which is near-impossible to achieve with gear. So prioritize Determination where possible, and Critical Hit Rate on everything else. This will usually leave you with about 10-12% base CHR from gear. This is why, on PLD, I do not recommend CHR, because they do not have Internal Release or Infuriate to further boost this number, so most PLDs will end up with a 10-15% CHR and have wasted all their itemization focusing CHR and not upping their base damage with DTR.
(03-10-2015, 03:23 AM)Ice Cream Sandwich Wrote: Suppose I'm not the MT for any given run and delegated to OT. Wooh!
-Should I have Defiance on or off?
Depends entirely on the fight and if you actually have OT duties other than wrecking face. If no, (ie: ST, WoD, Garuda HM, pretty much all of SCOB if you use two tanks) then turn Defiance off and wreck face. Again, if you have WAR MT, I alternate Butcher's Block and Storm's Eye to maximize my DPS output. If I have a PLD, I lose a little DPS to maintain Storm's Eye and Storm's Path for the benefit of the MT. If however you have imminent Tank Swaps or are needed to soak damage/tank adds/soak mechanics like T10, then I would recommend remaining in Defiance and maintaining Storm's Eye and Storm's Path so as not to draw too much aggro. Maintain second on the hate list if you desire, but it's not really important as you'll get there next tank swap. Your MT should hopefully not be dying.
(03-10-2015, 03:23 AM)Ice Cream Sandwich Wrote: -Should I be asking for goad or just auto-attack until my TP regenerates?
If Goad is available to me, I ask for it, definitely. Because TP is one of WARs biggest pits.
(03-10-2015, 03:23 AM)Ice Cream Sandwich Wrote: -Overpower>Flash>Overpower>Flash>Overpower>Flash>Overpower after I do a Tomahawk to grab the mob that is and sometimes the mob after it. Thoughts? This is under the condition that Infuriate is on CD and I just used a Steel Cyclone prior to the encounter. Question is, am I overpowering too much or am I overpowering too little?
Wayyy too much. Most times, you'll only need to Overpower 2-3x max to have more than solid hate on all mobs present. If you have an i130 BLM who loves opening with Flare... well... you may need more. But honestly, that doesn't happen that often and Overpower is well... overpowered. For small groups only hit it once for AoE hate then swap to Butcher's Block combo. For BLMs in the party, I hit it twice for good measure before going into Butcher's Block. Anything more than that and you're really just wasting TP for your next pull. Steel Cyclone pretty much acts like a stronger Overpower, so if you have that, pop it, and then really just go into your combo unless you have a Big Pull and you want to keep Overpowering for self heals.
(03-10-2015, 03:23 AM)Ice Cream Sandwich Wrote: -Thrill of Battle, when's a good time to pop it? I usually do mine when I hit like 30%ish HP.Â
Seriously, Thrill of Battle is one of my favorite buffs. I have two applications for it. The first is in a Raid setting, where I'm about to eat a "Tank Buster" mechanic like Revelation, Auk Morn, Flatten, Second Head, Critical Rip, double Wicked Wheel, Mountain Buster, etc. Tank Busters are generally moves that have a risk of one-shotting you, and are truthfully the only time VIT becomes useful in preventing said attacks from succeeding. WAR can get away with not stacking a lot of VIT still because of careful timing of Thrill of Battle, giving you the amount of HP you would of had if you had VIT accessories equipped, but still maintaining all your juicy STR-iness.
The second use, is recovering from said Tank Busters... or just recovering HP in general. A free 20% HP heal is great! It's like your own personal Lustrate. In dungeons where Tank Busters are pretty much non-existant, can save this to help heal yourself during bosses (where your healer may or may not have died) or can pop during a Big Pull after the initial wave of damage. That way it acts as a heal and an HP increase.
There's a third, very situational use for Thrill of Battle in BCOB T4 when tanking rooks. Make sure you're at full health, pop Thrill of Battle, stand in front of the Rook's Pox ability and laugh maniacally. For those that don't know, Pox reduces your max HP to whatever HP you have when it is finished casting. So, if you drop to 4k HP and then get hit by Pox, your max HP is now 4k for the duration. HOWEVER, it also works in reverse. If you pop Thrill of Battle and then get hit by Pox, your HP will remain 20% higher until the Pox debuff wears off, long after Thrill of Battle has fallen off. Say hello to 14k HP as DPS WAR for almost the entirety of Phase 5 of T4.
(03-10-2015, 03:23 AM)Ice Cream Sandwich Wrote: -Berserk should be popped when exactly?
Pop Berserk whenever it's off cooldown honestly. It's pretty great skill. You can pop it once in between Unchained for a little extra damage or just save it until your Unchained is up again. The only time I caution using it is when you know there's mechanics incoming that you're going to need to deal with, like a Tank Swap. You don't want to be pacified when trying to pull hate off another tank. It won't be pretty. A lot of people make Pacification Warning macros and you can do that if you desire.
