What your Tank Main says about You, FFXIV Jobs 

Dark Knight will always be my favorite job. The contrast between the edginess of the appearances of a DRK and the fact that the true strenght of a DRK comes from a place of love, empathy and altruism is just perfect. I absolutely love it.

DRK was EXACTLY what I wanted after being used and abused and alone at the end of ARR. I unlocked it immediately and reveled in bringing justice to assholes who thought they were above the law (like the ones in Ul’dah -yes, I was still mad). Plus I greatly enjoyed Fray telling my WoL to value herself. DRKs are driven by love, but it’ll eventually become very hard to do for others if you don’t love yourself a little, too. (And I screamed when I saw who in Endwalker was a dark knight.)

This quote from the novelisation of a webcomic I read kinda embodies DRK- “Remember this,” she hissed. “Remember this union of understanding and rage. This is the balance that will keep you fighting." The rage at injustice tempered by understanding/empathy for the victims is what empowers a Dark Knight without falling into the trap of becoming a soulless monster.

I've seen quite a number of these "What does your job say about you" FFXIV videos, but I have to say I really like your take on it. It's backed by established lore in game, ties in with stories of the job quests, and is an all around great treat for people who really like their WoLD and roleplayers! I'd love to see more of the other roles too, ty for the tea time, Professor!

Considering how often people make fun of PLD's lore and its job quests, this is one of the more open minded takes I've seen about the job as a concept, and while its quests still leave a lot to be desired in some respects, I still appreciate the idea of being a freelance knight who travels the land protecting those in need.

This makes me appreciate Warrior more. They don't have to spell out their loyalties or goals, or poses special magic and weaponry. They pick up an axe, and use their sheer willpower to end the problem.

To protect, one must cast aside all sense of the self. Whether you live or fall, so long as those you fight for survive? Your duty is done, your life given meaning. This why tanking has always resonated with me, even if Tankxiety exists.

Quite honestly, I feel The Warrior of Light as a tank makes the most sense to me taking all the lessons and mindsets of the four tank jobs and blending them into a singular core concept. They would rush headlong into battle to take the enemy's focus by force (Gunbreaker) To act as the vanguard shield for their friends, loved ones and allies (Paladin) To ensure their survival by securing victory using every ounce of power they can muster (Warrior) And defeating evil wherever, or whoever it might be to make the world they love a better place. (Dark Knight) Lofty ideals of a fool to be sure, but with The Warrior of Light's sheer tenacity and force of will, they have proven that nothing will stop them from doing everything they can. Even deprived of friends, allies, equipment, or even their own body, The Warrior of Light has always fought their absolute hardest to protect the worlds and their peoples.

You forgot to mention, that a Warrior's Inner Beast can only be tamed by the Warrior's desire to protect something - and that this desire is literally the only thing keeping you from becoming a berserker destorying everything and everyone, even your closest of kin.

GNB was the reason why I switched from being a WHM main. People say it's a bit too busy, but it really helped me transition to trying out the faster dps jobs. And I adore how Squalls limit breaks are some of the abilities.

I think warrior was a little undersold in this one. In my opinion, it's not merely anger and survival that drives the warrior to being as powerful as they are, but rather "experience". Call it the height of thrill seeking; a warrior's inner beast doesn't just crave carnage, that's merely the result of their actions. Rather it craves *everything,* to experience all of it at once - love, fear, pain, and of course, anger - in said culminating, ultimate moment of survival. A borderline suffocating breath of life under the strain of imminent death. I think in many ways that's why warriors are associated with rage and fire. To embrace and take upon yourself the inner beast is to tap into an emotional flame so personal, so primordial to your being, that most simply succumb and let it burn them down. As a warrior, you did not. You harnessed it. You stare down the savage, unthinking madness inside your soul every single day, because behind your mighty back are those that cannot handle the touch of such a frightful burden. You will burn and breathe, and turn to ash before you let them come to harm.

As a Lalafel Gunbreaker... your description of fighting larger opponents while flinging myself at them via explosions is dead-on

[END-WALKER SPOILERS] Discussion about Warrior that relates with another character from End-Walker Warrior is the class that I stuck with through the entirety of the story, from ARR to EW. The class quest when compared to it's peers isn't nearly as good in my opinion, though the principles that it teaches about the Warrior culture I think amplify relations with certain characters in the MSQ. Warrior isn't only about survival, but how fighting ever stronger foes and pushing beyond your limits entice the Inner Beast. For me it re-contextualizes our relationship with Zenos, as Zenos is someone who's desire to win against ever stronger opponents align with the motives and desires used to describe the Inner Beast and the Warrior class with the exception that Zenos sits directly opposite of the WoL in the moral spectrum which makes him an extremely compelling foil to the WoL, almost like two different sides of the same coin. I think its one of the many reasons I love Zenos as a Character, from our first fight - to the end; The Warrior's love for combat and desire to win against greater odds adds that tiny bit more additional credence to the fact that our WoL always throws themselves at the face of danger not only because they fight for their friends and for the people but because deep down the thrill of the battle is one that cannot be passed up. And it is this shared love for battle that makes Zenos's final question hit just right; Us the player- playing to fight against greater challenges in video games for no other reason than what entertains us, and to the Warrior- who chooses to fight ever greater foes not only for their own sake but for the sake of the people. "As surely as you know the thrill of pushing your body and soul to their limits. Of confronting ever-mightier foes, dancing ever closer to the precipice, wondering if this will be the one to finally, finally... fill the void. Such pleasures, you seek for their own sake, and no other reason. Is this not so... Adventurer?" That, I cannot deny.

Dark Knight... in combat: **Shadow the Hedgehog theme at max volume** out of combat: **Guts' theme at a reasonable volume**

My first foray into tanking was also the reason I returned to and finally hooked to FFXIV : Heavensward and the release of the Dark Knight. Before that, I had only played DPS jobs mostly because I feared the tank and healer experiences. I had also quit the game after getting to Lv.50... but then Heavensward was announced and Dark Knight was coming... and while I was looking forward playing a DRK as a DPS, the fact it was a tank was daunting. But since I am a big fan of FFIV and Cecil Harvey's own story, I put myself to the task to learn to tank and I did so becoming, at the time, an exclusively DRK tank (yes, back when Dark Side drained your MP over time). I do very much enjoy every tank jobs 'now' but playing DRK feels like putting on a comfortable pair of socks, both performance and morale-wise. The take on DRK that FFXIV uses also delightfully reflects with who I am : someone doing what needs to be done, often because he has something to protect, despite their dark thoughts (or Dark Side) screaming at you to just focus on yourself, that the people you deal with don't even bother to show being thankful for what you do. It's doing the thankless job that is necessary despite knowing you probably won't have any recognition for it and sometime have people take it for granted, not thinking that if you did up and leave, everything would fall apart for them. In universe / character however, I see my character taking up the sword and arcane arts of the Dark Knight as seeking to gain the power they need to accomplish the job. While the power itself might be dark and frowned upon, heck even dangerous, it is something my character is willing to gamble with if it means protecting those he swore himself to and those who faces wrongdoings. When he takes the sword and shield, it is because he needs to be unmovable and stern, the stalwart wall against the coming flood. When he takes the axe, he simply embraces his inner fury like he did before so long ago and rampage through his enemies, bringing the biggest and baddest of them down so his allies don't have to. When he takes up the gunblade, then it is because he must become the center of attention while disabling his foes with flashy swordsmanship and specialized magic. The Paladin is the shield that protects the weak and the helpless; The Dark Knight is the sword that brings down the corrupt and wicked; The Warrior is the axe that cleaves the world and roars into the horizon; The Gunbreaker is the gunblade that is sworn to duty and at the vanguard.

I started this game as Warrior, but grew to love Dark Knight. The cold resolve resonated with me more than the hot rage. On a side note, I'm also a Black Mage main. When Reaper was added and I found myself enjoying that too, I started growing concerned about a possible pattern between these three jobs and what it could say about me...

I myself started the game as a Marauder, and while I do have every job at max I personally ended the game as a Gunbreaker, something about an Eastern Au Ra Gunbreaker just drew me in... Although in the future if they add a twinblade tank job I am definitely maining the ever living heck outta that!

I kinda like all the tank job that i use for my main.But if i would go for Lore wise. I would say my main's tank will be Dark Knight. I mean Dark Knight is one of the coolest and best job in my book. And it suits so well with the Hrothgar.

The excerpt on Dark Knight is very true for my character too. "A Dark Knight is a monster, that hunts and preys on other monsters", and the point that Dark Knights are who they are because of love and empathy, are exactly how I've designed my character's backstory and personality. I've mained Dark Knight since it launched and I'm never stopping, I love this job so much.

Paladins in this game are my favorite MMO class ever. The combination of damage, magic, and reactionary shielding is so freaking fun. Not to mention the spells are visually awesome.

Gunbreaker was a natural evolution for my WoL. She went into Shadowbringers as a machinist, but when her gun and aetherotransformer was irreparably damaged (capped the job) she tried out Thancred's fancy new gunblade and found that it suited her.

I saw a summoner struggling today, a little lalafell, who was about to die in an uneven fight. That was my moment to shine. Tank stance on, FULL HAM INTO THE MOBS whirling my axe through them. Needless to say, I saved the lalafell from certain death. Those little moments make the game awesome.

I'm still a PLD main if I'm going to be tanking. I like the fact that I have so many tools to protect my team mates as well as myself, even if it means giving up some of my own power - it's actually quite helpful when older running content with sprout FC members. In fact, my husband convinced me I'd be a good healer just because he watched me on PLD and said I was one of the few tanks who gave a shit about my party 🤣

As a WAR main. we get NO LORE. every day I live in suffering watching everyone else eat good ;-; our plot line was reduced to a joke plot about love and not how you can use raw determination, anger, and love to push through all manners of physical and mental pain and torment. Our lore is simple but its shallow as a puddle :(.

Love this video and I really hope you do a full series of this, it makes for a very nice compliment to the job lore videos.

This was a great video and definitely gave some context/insight into the WoL's job choice for Shadowbringers and Endwalker. Ardbert was a Warrior - a being of pure survival instinct, makes sense for a world pushed into a constant survival mode, and the WoL being a Dark Knight is reflective of bringing empathy, understanding, and compassion into a world forced to operate on a very lean budget of opportunity and survival. Endwalker, with its world-spanning themes, makes sense to feature a role that has abandoned ego to combat insidious doubts and terror, literally willing to sacrifice themself for the good of the star. I'd love to see a list like this for DPS and Healers. :D

Maining Dark Knight and Gunbreaker, definitely feel the "Get in and do as much damage as you can" mentality is justified. The more damage you do, the more attention you can draw, letting your teammates and allies do what they need to do. I DO agree that, lore wise, the jobs are a lot more than their memes. But on some level, you just have to [Unleash] the [Edge of Darkness], before you can really [Double Down] with a [Keen Edge] And yes, ability puns do count.

It's funny, I think my WoL's tank progression is totally in character with him (and I guess myself). I started the game as a PLD and it was my main for all of ARR and Coils and only shifted to DRK maybe halfway through post-HW. My WoL always wanted to protect everyone, to uphold justice, so PLD was a natural fit... and then as the world and plot events began to make him jaded and frustrated and furious at losing innocent lives, the DRK emerged as a direct result. A righteous vengeance against the injustices that he experienced and 1000% done with the status quo.

Been a gunbreaker main for 2 years now. :) My first job was monk, so gunbreaker felt like a really comfortable choice, and I love being a tank. I'll admit, my first final fantasy was 8, and I like Squall, but it was actually Thancred that ultimately hooked me in for this.

Omg i loved this video so much!! Plase keep the amazing work and envolving atmosphere :D

I know my warrior of light started as a gladiator, though through trials, tribulations, and soul searching. She traded her sword and shield and embraced a twilight path between the light of hydalen, and the abyss. (Side tangent, in the social rp group I am in, my wol is also a mom who feverishly looked after her own and her community’s children when the fathers went to fight the garleans. Only becoming and adventurer when driven from her home. The transition from night to dark knight captures her own love to protect others.)

The description for DRK is the best I've heard and so close to how I felt when I was making the backstory of my WoL a few years back

This is a great new video topic! Would love to see a video for more of the jobs and roles.

This is really cool. I hope you cover the other roles.

I loved this so much, please do the other jobs soon!

I don't main it but my WoL is canonically a Dark Knight entirely because of how much I agree with some of the sentiments I saw in the quest. I kind of read a lot of things as similar to my own ideals that those who cannot defend themselves need help from those who do. To support those who cannot help themselves no matter the cost. It might not be directly in the text, but it is part of the general vibe I got from the job.

Another thing about Warriors that stands out to me is their lack of a special gimmick in comparison to the other tanks (lore wise, of course). Paladins have their shields and holy magics for defense, Dark Knights sacrifice the ability to wield a shield in favor of their greatswords which are heavier than Warrior's axes, so they sacrifice mobility as well. They make up for their lack of physical defenses by wielding the heaviest of plate armors, and they are also a heavily magic based fighter. Gunbreaker's weapons allow them to warp the aether around them in their favor. Warriors on the other hand don't rely on shields, armor or surrounding aether to withstand the enemy's assault. Their gimmick is the simplest and purest of all: sheer force of will. This is reflected in all the Warrior titles having the word "Steel" in them, which is often used to describe a fighter's resolve in battle.

Did not expect this at all, but will gladly accept "What your job says about you/your character" vids that are not just meme spam. Keep them coming, Professor.

Damn, I’m a dark knight, I just started it earlier. The lore is me, the empathy, if anything tried to hurt someone I love, I feel like I’d go primal rage mode or something. I also don’t like people abusing power, or oppressive behavior. I’m glad to finally decide on a tank to use haha. Btw you’re my favorite lore guy for this game, I like the slightly southern sounding twang of the way you say fourteen lol. I’m looking forward to “what your DPS says about you” video, thanks again !!!!!!!¡!

I loved this video! I hope you do the same on the other jobs aswell. Great content!

Patiently waiting for more episodes of this series

We of course would love to see an entire series of these

I like this, and I hope this becomes a full series. personally, my mains for each job type are: Warrior, Sage (have yet to really level so ehh?) Dragoon, Black Mage, and Dancer (true main). It'll be interesting to see what all these jobs together say about me as a person.

thanks a bunch for all the clarifications !

WAR is just something amazing with my character, Sovereign. Beastly, ferocious, and brutal despite her size.

Warrior has always been my favorite tank for the sheer simplicity of its lore and the ability to go all out, using my rage and sheer will to protect myself and others from harm.

I hope you continue this video concept for the other classes. :) My Samuraï Mainness is tingling! :D

I still love that in Ethyris, Gunblades are older than guns. It's so whack but it fits so well.

Amazing video!

I have two characters in the game that I managed to decently flesh out: a hyur and a miqo'te. Both WoLs. My hyur has a theme of finding family, since he lost his parents in the Calamity. He was tempted to the path of the dark knight when he started to realize he basically became a glorified errand boy, and the Banquet kind of soured him on the whole "Warrior of Light" thing. When I kept going through the Dark Knight story (it was my first official tank,) the fact that the job's story is about embracing love and becoming a better person sealed my choice of tank for him, as he's naturally empathic. As he is my "summon everything" character too, the fact that you can summon your own Esteem fits perfectly within his capabilities, even if he tends to be physically weaker than the otherknights. Meanwhile my miqo's hot-headed and impatient, so the "go-in guns blazing" thing does fit him- though he picked it up after the events of base Shadowbringers, wanting to lean into more supportive roles like Tank and Healer due to the events giving him the epiphany that people actually do care about him, and he wanted to protect them in turn. However, I wanted him to be a bit more aggressive with his choices, hence why I chose Sage and Gunbreaker, as they're a tad more aggressive with their fighting styles. Regardless, it's a good video and I can see this series (if you make it one) helping people with fleshing out their own character.

Considering i am trying to main and proudly glamored my DRK to make him look as close to Batman as it gets and it's not just looks but with a fitting reason yet i couldn't explain properly. Explaining Empathy is the true reason and real strength behind it's cold and edginess is just the explanation i was looking for and if anything is the best compliment i'd ever hear. and Batman,Behind his broodiness and cold exterior,is also extremely empathetic... Huh,No wonder he's also called the Dark Knight.

I honestly love how PLD is the “shield” that protects and it’s like GNB is the “sword” that protects and GNB very much fits both me and my WoL

I look forward whenever you do a video about DPS jobs.

Awesome video as always, Scribe. As a tank main, consider me more than satisfied with the content provided. One thing that I don't think is often said about the Warrior of Light, though, is that-whether as a Paladin job or otherwise-they're the only being on the star that fulfills the prerequisites of the Paladin of general fantasy who fights for a cause and has the blessings of a deific being. More succinctly, the Warrior of Light is the only one who has Hydaelyn on speed-dial. She's chosen them, blessed them, empowered them with a sliver of Her power, and She has intervened on their behalf on numerous occasions. On the topic at hand, I've always been between PLD and DRK for tank jobs, so I enjoyed the breakdown for both. That certainly isn't to say that I didn't appreciate that you've put forward the fact that Gunbreakers were originally shock-troops, and that their Gunblades are such that anything that fights them won't come out of it the same ever again-whether or not said opponent survives. With regard to my 'Warrior of Light', he doesn't necessarily fill any of the jobs/roles, and is more like a Gladiator/Swordsman with a two-handed sword for melee, rather than the typical sword and shield they're most often seen with. If I were to put him in the Tank job box, though, he'd probably be a lot closer to a Dark Knight just because of the background I gave him, and he already knows how to fight with a greatsword as both an offensive tool and a bodyguard's weapon

oh, im happy to see you grow :) May you share the lore with all of us WoLs of Etheriys :D

This was so insightful. I would love a melee dps version of this!!

As far as lore perspective goes, I would also like to see a video like this on the starter classes, too, since your starting class can also lend a lot to your Warrior of Light's journey as well.

I love your stuff this video really made me stop and think about how much I enjoy tanking in FFXIV. Thanks again for the video mate.

"Why haven't we visited them?" Pretty much the same reason we haven't visited Aerslaent, or the South Isles, or the Golmore Jungle... Honestly we don't know a whole lot about contemporary Eithyris and that's a bit unfortunate. Especially given places like the ones I just mentioned which are major lore areas for the races you can play. As it stands I know more about my Roegadyn's patron deity than I do her homeland. I understand developer time is a limited resource and only so much can be put in an update/expansion/etc. but honestly I was low-key hoping that the "Newfound Adventure" after Endwalker was going to be less... cosmic, since there's so many stones unturned in our own world.

DRK main.... walked in braced to have my feelings hurt! *Nervous laugh* You did me justice, though. THANK YOU! In my real life, I'm a Registered Nurse. A nurse who has gotten in trouble more than a couple times for raging a personal war against physician teams, management, case workers, you name it --- all because I know what can be done for a patient, and someone in my care wasn't getting it. Yeah, I have dark crass humor, pretty stubborn depression, PTSD from stuuuuuff, but I was also born with a sense of justice and resistance to authoritarians which has lead me on many occasions to set my needs aside and pick fights my natural stature doesn't support (but my years of martial arts training does!). It wasn't the aesthetic of the DRK that stood out to me. In many ways, my DRK is clad in gear which resembles a rouge gunbreaker or light weight PLD. It was the story. The story SANG to me from beginning to end. I giggle. I cried. Bullocks did I cry. It left me feeling seen. Seen in my resentment toward myself that I CAN'T walk away when I see an injustice unfolding in front of me (That's a good trait, right? Why resent it? Because. It's hard to live that way. It down right sucks sometimes). Seen in the heartache and compassion that beats me down and raises me up. Seen in my internal struggle growing up. And seen in the feat that was reconciling it all.

I started as a Warrior and swapped to Gunbreaker later on... Mostly because the Warrior questing in the expansions was getting very silly. But, the way you described the lore around them... GB really does define how I see my character's personality. And I imagine her teammates had to hold her back multiple times from just pulling the gunblade and wrecking some trash talking idiot I know I could take (Talkin' to you, "Little Sun"!)

so my main and two of my alts have different tank jobs, and i feel like they unintentionally chose the right jobs for their place in the lore and their personalities lol. this was an awesome video to see!

Warrior I think fits best to certain types of protagonist with simple motivations. Love of battle, hold the angst. Willing to take the hits for comrades onto herself not because she's better at defending herself but because she believes in her own strength and resolve. Recovering from the brink of death mid-battle by diving in deeper. Remaining on her feet after taking a death blow by sheer force of will. Not to mention -kaioken- -gear second- -dragon install- inner release. Want to play the hot-blooded fighting anime protagonist? Warrior's for you.

The reason my main tank class is Gunbreaker? EXPLOSIONS! And yes, running in guns blazing to be the biggest in distraction is what I like to do in games, my personal safety and survival be damned.

It's really fitting that in Endwalker, "Meteor" ends up as a PLD. In each expansion trailer our beloved mascot displays a job that suits the story he/we are about to go through. In ARR, we see him as a warrior, fighting to survive, for his comrades, and to live through a battle and time like no other. But come HeavensWard...we take up a mantle to fight back. He/we switch to a power that gives us a stronger chance...but yet...storywise, this is where we see true darkness really take root in ourselves/the WoL as he/we begin to truly get a taste of true war and being seen as not just a champion of eorzea but rather as instead as a soldier and then treated as such. Come Stormblood we remain in the DPS role to continue fighting forward, going in hard and strong, with a need to be quick and move on a moments notice...but with it we are thrust into a forefront of a long war between 3 different factions. Literally. We are still soldiers and are expected to act as such. Come Shadowbringers, we see this take its toll at last, as he turns to a DRK, tired, angry, and sick of being used and mistreated despite the fact that it really doesn't stop. He uses the power to continue fighting but has left the idea of constantly having to fight another war for someone else and instead is trying to do it for himself and those he cares the most about. Putting himself at the front once more to take charge and control the situation. But...come Endwalker and the situation changes. Drastically. People now openly look to the WoL for guidance and stability. And we realize this isn't a war we fight for someone else...but for everyone. Its our job to protect everyone. They need a leader, a soldier and a protector all at once. So we go to Paladin for strength, a tank willing to lay it all on the line for...everything and everyone, even at our own cost. Which we see at the end....holds up true more than any other moment prior. Where we truly do willingly sacrifice ourselves to make sure our party and the universe have a means of going on. With...or without us. He/we are willing to take it all onto ourselves alone for the greater good.

My warrior of light is a male keeper of the Moon whose tribe was captured by the Garlean Empire. He was 7 years old when the mothers were slain and the rest enslaved. He was shipped around the empire, forced to learn how to repair magitek and build arms and armaments in the frontline areas. He was 19 when a group of gunblades broke into the slave gaol and freed people to fight. It was there that one of the gunblades died and his soul crystal fell. It was there my warrior of light grabbed the blade and the crystal and stood shoulder to shoulder with another to cover the escape of his family, using the knowledge he gained from building the magitek to destroy the armaments marching their way. It was only when he was gravely injured that the other gunblade grabbed him and threw him into a garbage chute, telling him to flee. It was then that the other fell, leaving my warrior of light alone. That was 30 years ago. His hair is graying now, and in the home he paid for by becoming a bodyguard is a list of locations where his tribe lives now. He may not be a conventional cat boy but it’s what I wanted for a story for him. First in combat, (usually) last out.

I love this video. It does made me understand why I was drawn to GNB and DRK. GNB suited my playstyle well as an aggressive kind of tank (I started out as a MNK you see and I enjoy jumping headfirst into battle) 😂

i only really started thinking of my WoL's lore after i became decidedly a gunbreaker main, and the lore just kind of all fell into place he was forced to escape bozja at a young age when the garlean empire invaded, and now uses his people's lost art to fight back against his oppressors. wielding power to protect others from suffering the same fate he once did. i always liked seeing people use their cultures' traditional arts and stories in protest against oppressive groups, so despite the kind of military aesthetic the gunbreaker job had a bit of that rebellious spark to me!

Started as gladiator but dark knight is definitely favorite tank to play! Awesome video!

I recently made a soft switch from dark knight to gunbreaker. Because i enjoy the idea of a fast, aggresive tank drawing attention by shredding through enemy offense

I've been a Warrior since day one. And I think maybe that's fairly accurate to my character. Tapping into the primal savagery and strength inherent in all things, using that to survive and protect those that matter to him. Kind of ironic that in traditional dungeons and dragons, I've been equated to more of a Paladin. I guess here in Final Fantasy the barbarian Warrior suits me more. XD

I loooooooved this video!!!

I find the construction and mechanism of firearms to be interesting. As a Gunbreaker, I have the experience and know how of how to target the weak points and infrastructure of large machina or creatures of immense size. And I get the best of both worlds for close range and long range combat versatility. It feels great knowing both the technical aspects of my art and having the strength to back it up. A lot more technical than one might think for a gun sword. Also the fact Gunbreakers don’t have overly heavy armor means they can be quite fast and mobile.

put it simply My WoL was a reaper throughout once i got the job. So it was amazing to think of people starting to become scared or uneasy around my bloodthirsty voidcat boi when the scions are like "naaaah he's a sweetie...unless you hurt something he loves, then dig your grave right then and there.|

as a paladin/sch main ive always loved having as much party utility as possible so i can heal, protect, empower others better than me, not necessarily being the main event but taking action if needed. its why i love characters like reinhardt and Brigitte in overwatch and main just as much as offtanking in ff14 as pld with just how much you have to actively protect the whole party with reprisal divine veil and passage of arms or individuals with intervention cover clemency. id honestly also love if passage of arms had a regen of 80 potency that drains 5 oath per tick

Dark Knight is my tank of choice for several reasons 1: i love that mentality of "A monster who hunts other monsters", its so cool to me, as is the "darkness doesn't mean evil" trait 2: gameplay wise, it's my preferred tank. Taking zero damage from a tankbuster because blackest night is hilarious and they actually have a number of good support tools with party wide magic damage mit, and the ability to drop blackest night on others (which i have used to save people before, probably thanks to my practice with Scholar) 3: My character mains summoner and due to reasons i won't get into here, he has a strong affinity for aethereal manipulation. While in my cannon, he never ends up going dark knight, if he did end up choosing the tank life, he would pick dark knight due to how much aether they use and how they use it when compared with the other tanks

From a Lore perspective, My WoL was a Dragoon Initiate whom after realizing she wasn't fit for it, left the land of Ishgard behind and instead Joined the Gladiators of Ul'dah. After rising up the ranks, and eventually becoming a Paladin, she carried on as such until reaching ishgard proper. (Heavensward) However the over-zealous nature of the ishgardian higher ups, and already having been on the run due to false accusation, there was a *lot* of pent up rage. Upon hearing of yet another person being a victim of the "trigger-happy" ishgardian people, the WoL investigated this rumor, and happened across a dark knight. One who not only taught her how to utilize her rage in battle, but also said and did things she had wished she could do. With the end result, she strayed away from being a Dark Knight as her rage had grown nearly out of control once and could happen again. But she couldn't become a paladin again, her aggressive style was no longer a good fit for it. That was until she saved a Hrothgar and Viera who were worn down and surrounded when she happened to be passing through. The Hrothgar's fighting style had caught her eye, and as repayment for saving their lives, he was willing to teach his techniques. Ever since, my WoL has still kept her desire to protect those she cares about, not with a shield, but by taking the fight to the enemy with Gun(blade)s blazing, even onto the rebellion against the Garlean Empire.

This explain why i am alone as a DRK. As a master of swords i also mastered the arts of gunblades. My mentor was a PLD until shb he switched for GNB, then he left somewhere in endgame. DRK if you are a Cloud main GNB if you are a Squall main

Paladin has always and will be my Main tank that I always play. I have seen the changes its abilities have gone through. Flash being its Aggro ability, Anticipation, Covalence the lot. I love Current Paladin with its reworked kit as it feels more like how a Paladin that wields holy magic play. A mixture of sword strikes and magic along with the ability to protect your party and heal if needed. Plus I just like the standard, sword and shield adventurer concept to begin with so when I first got the Job unlocked it was essentially content to discover and be in awe.

I love Dark Knight and the depths of the job, it really appeals to me and my WoL. :)

The description of the gunbreaker reminds me what is my definition of a Tank, most people think of tanks about the guy with the shield.. the patience shieldwall etc.. but my tank playing was always more like a Uruk-Hai Berserk or my definition.. you are the _maniac_ that rush first in the enemy lines to chaos some chaos while literally every enemy try to kill you, to make a big hole in their defensiv for your friends. Literally "You also protecting your friends when you KILL your enemys"

I started as a Gladiator -> Paladin and am still one of them after Shadowbringer (which I cleared today). I'm still leveling my first job and didn't have a specific reason for becoming a Paladin. I decided I wanted to be a tank, no more thought went into the decision. I actually wanted to start in a different city and messed up by choosing Gladiator, but it's alright. My paladin was never a knight in shining armor, her armor was always of a darker color (sometimes black) or at least not white. Not sure which tank I'll choose once all my tanks are leveled, I'll make that decision after learning how to play as each tank class and maybe make the decision based on the lore, but gameplay is more important for this, I think.

This is a great video idea! I have every job to 90 but am a dark knight main myself. I look forward to seeing the other roles if you do them. I am curious though, why is your current look what it is? Im not sure what exactly that cloak and mask is but it looks like the drops in qarn. Just curious if theres any lore reasoning behind why its the look your character sticks with

To be honest, I always liked the idea of Dark Knight's lore compared to the others. It hits way more the realist aspect of the game(since while PLDs _or at least free PLDs_ protect the world, DRKs essentially clean and take care of the place, you can say if both of those jobs are part of your body, PLD is the survival instinct commanding it and making sure it doesn't kick the bucket while DRK is the immune system to take care of it) and how you can compare it to your own struggles through life and its gut punches in a way, kinda like how Berserk does it, though way more in depth about it since it's pretty much a full journey from childhood to old adult(seriously, Guts is basically a FFXIV WAR and a FFXIV DRK at the same time). It just gets that much personal imo. Although, I do have to say that the lore for my char takes bits from many of the jobs within the game, mostly in terms of personality. I took parts I appreciated about the lore from some of the jobs(and classes) I like and incorporated them to my character's ideas and points of view towards life, people(with a hint of different characters within her that are both spoilers and not, including those involved in the MSQ or job quests) forming all those different mindsets and experiences both from that headcanon and the MSQ forming the whole that is my character's lore. I've also made an alt that I'm also planning to be something similar in principle, but has a completely different foundation because of a different backstory, leading to a separate, yet familiar personality(kinda like how the souls of the dead when reincarnated are always similar but not the same in the lore _if you did ShB you know what I'm implying_). That's all fun and games, but the lore of my character doesn't restrict me in terms of gameplay since I made it freeform enough to be able to main anything(main tank job right now is PLD which is also the class I started with, as a GLA, and ended EW 6.0 with, though I transitioned to different jobs depending on the expansion through context, it felt just right to do so tbh). I have yet to see a job that would win me over as a concept though(lore isn't everything, even if I like DRK's lore, as a concept both in gameplay and idea, I don't really crave for it), since what I like has bits and pieces of it throughout most jobs currently in the game. Not sure which job within the franchise would fit that nest(I didn't play enough of it to know everything, sadly, I only played IV,X and Dissidia besides XIV), but when FFXIV gets one, I'll be all over it.

Gunbreakers going in guns blazing and being too fast is accurate to my lalafell scavenger merchant.

Considering in my headcannon my WOL has died, had his soul trnsfer through multiple hosts before getting his revival... Dark Knight always felt appropriate for him. Starting a selfish adventurer, To eventually grow and protect others, and learn to care about more than himself as his soul traveled. Eventually to return more positive and enlightened, jovial at times. But you bring any danger to anyone he cares about hell has more mercy for your soul than he would.

This is a bit of my preference. In a personal headcannon is that gunbreakers is the middle ground of Paladins and dark knights. Due to their varied mitigation of physical and magical. It also showed me potential mana drain and course the mid combo regen.

You describing warrior the way you did is based, and it 100 percent fits my head canon for my character

Yeah, that's me as a Gunbreaker. Going in gunsblazing, a great defense is also a great offense. That's my strat for alot of Action games, deflecting or guarding as much as I can, and unleash fast attacks.

If I had a say in it Scribe I'd have you as a hidden npc tucked away in the Sharlayan library. I look forward to others as I am a Whitemage Main but I've actually branched out to play Paladin and Monk this expansion :>

"You can't harm the party if the gun breaker deletes you first" is big brain tank philosophy.

Amusingly, about 15 mins before I watched this I had a conversation with my friend about our characters' main tank jobs and how it fits with their personalities. We nailed it. XD My WoL is a Dark Knight who is... kind of bad at the whole looking edgy thing. He's a Miqo'te and favours lighter armor but he'll still sit there and eat whatever enemies throw at him so that his party is safe. His strength comes from his empathy and love... and stress. So much stress about protecting people. Please do a healer version. For all the poor healers who tear at their hair during duties.

The first job I actually reached max level on was Culinarian. And I very much think that my avatar in XIV is a crafter/gatherer at heart. I really have trouble deciding on a "combat" job that would fit with the backstory percolating in the back of my head. That said, my main job that I have played since having the ability to unlock it, was Dark Knight. I did level/play the thematic jobs in Stormblood, but in almost every main scenario quest, my WoL is a Dark Knight Au Ra with black Archaedaemon horns and white/silver armor. It's the closest I feel to a "canon" look for my character while saving the world and what-not between making batches of curry, creme brulee and ratatouille.

I really wished he expanded on the inner thoughts of the WoL i.e. their obligation/duty vs how they are getting tired of being the savior That lingering thought is why I resonate with DRK: the hero complex players are forced to embrace in a lot of RPGs

Like many people here I have always been a huge Dark Knight enjoyer. Intially I wanted to do Warrior as a tank class for her thinking it is the best that fits the character I build, but coming into HW i could not resist Dark Knight because yknow. Edgy. I was pleased to find out that this is just the exterior and DRK come from such a heartfelt place (which fits her so much better). Needless to say this class has been my main source of inspo when it coems to drawing my gremlin of a wol.

Was a good vid. Looking forward to more. While my main is Machinst I would argue Warrior is my secondary. The story and lore is a big reason. (My fc would argue I'm a Sage main but that's cause no one wanted to heal for our content and I like helpinh my friends....and watching them beg for my heals) The warrior and the dark knight really are more then they appear but can you blame people for their reaction at first glance.

Running in guns blazing with a defense fueled by offense is certainly reflective of the GNB’s rotation and opener. While I know DRK’s opener borders on true DPS, there’s something so energizing about GNB’s dedicated 60 second and 30 second explosion-fests.

Dark Knight has the best tank story by far and one of the best in the entire game. While I can't say that I "main" Dark Knight, I do feel like their story most closely aligns with how I see my WoL. I mean, when I first went through the story it was like Frey was reading my mind and voicing how I felt about being made to do really stupid quests for unworthy individuals. It also didn't go unnoticed by me that the quality of the side quests in the game went up dramatically starting in Shadowbringers and going into Endwalker which brings me back to Dark Knight again because of who wrote that story and who now oversees the story for FFXIV overall.

What I thought was funny about the DRK quests (which is my main tank), was that everyone I knew was like 'oh, are you gonna go become edgy?' But at the end, I felt less that my WoL became edgy, though he did grow in an understanding of his own wants, desires, and realized he needed to strike a balance between self and self-scrifice, I think ultimately he taught Cid to be LESS edgy. XD To reflect that, my DRK does not wear dark, brooding colors, but wears a gentle deep green with brilliant silver armor, a white arming coat, and darker green gauntlets and boots to still lend the look a touch of gravity. He's probably the warmest, friendliest DRK you'd ever run into if you have given him no cause to be your enemy, who has learned his sorrow can be a powerful motivator to push him to stand between others and such trageties again, and makes him treasure those that still stand with a fierce desire to protect them.

Warriors unleash their inner beast to make sure not only they but their comrades survive. The best Warriors remain clear while doing so. Dark Knights use their love for the things they want to protect to ignite their aether and draw out dark arts. A combination of these 2 Jobs would be awesome, as they share similar philosophies, as they have to control their emotions. That would be badass.