BLU Tanks

[nekoshoonen]

Trying to build a viable gear set for tanking on my BLU for various endgame activities, i used search but all i got was pages of leeking Vaginas about Exuvhiation instead....

Also would like to hear about Spell set ups from people as well as discussion on subs ...

Thanks in advance.

[Suiram]

[Auto Refresh] Actinic Burst, Plasma Charge
[Conserve MP] Chaotic Eye, Zephyr Mantle
[Max HP Boost] Frypan, Flying Hip Press
[Magic Def. Bonus] Ice Break, Magnetite Cloud

That's 25/48 (for me, I maxed Assimilation)

Then you have your hate spells: Exuviation, Blank Gaze, Jettatura, Magic Fruit, Actinic Burst*, Temporal Shift**
*Included already
**Not always set, for instance you obviously won't use for hate on Khimaira

That's 13 or 18 more points, so you're 38/48 or 43/48. From there it depends on what you're fighting. For instance on Cerb I used the last 5 points on Beast Killer (Wild Oats and Sprout Smack), whereas on Khim I had 10 pts left over so I just set Evasion Bonus since even though you aren't evading much, 5% is 5% and I couldn't think of anything better to do with it. I set Saline Coat for Ultima, although it's something of a burden on MP, and while I've missed the last few times my LS has fought Tiamat but my intent is to set it there too, for flight.

All this is for BLU/NIN, btw.

[fantasticdan]

Trying to build a viable gear set for tanking on my BLU for various endgame activities, i used search but all i got was pages of leeking Vaginas about Exuvhiation instead....

It depends what you're trying to tank obviously... Other than homam/turban, you'd mostly be using the same capes/rings/belts/etc as any other tank depending on what you're doing. Generally speaking thou, I would put gear priority like this: haste/fastcast/refresh/conserve mp -> hp/damage -%/mdb -> enmity. Reason being you can build hate easier/faster than a pld/nin even with less enmity in gear, but your survivability is much lower, you have no shield mastery to help stop utsusemi from getting interrupted, and you burn through mp faster. But it is obviously situational. Other than resist builds, this is all the stuff that I could think of:

weapon/sub: mac+1 x2, mac+1 & genbu shield, earth/terra staff
ammo: fenrir's stone, happy egg
head: turban, homam
neck: ritter gorget, harmonia's torque, or something with hp on it.
ears: magnetic, ethereal, loq, cassie, merman
body: AF, morrigan's, crimson, nashira
hands: homam, dusk
rings: tama's, bomb queen, bloodbead, shadow, defending, merman's
back: cerberus, high breath, gigant, lamia mantle +1, umbra cape, shadow, resentment cape
waist: swift belt, speed/velocious belt, warwolf, gold moogle belt, trance belt
legs: homam, vendor's/prince's slops if you don't have homam, crimson
feet: homam, dusk, root satabons, ataractic solea

[Alistaire]

[Max HP Boost] Frypan, Flying Hip Press

lol.

Max HP Boost trait is 10 hp. You can get that by setting Screwdriver or Wild Oats. Or both for 20 HP!

Also for gear there's those +2 enmity earrings (+3 on hq but fairly pricey) the lvl...54? ones, look like shells and I remember NIN can use em but PLD can't.

[nekoshoonen]

would demon earrings x2 and 2x Wyrm slayers + Flawless ribbon be useless for tanking Wyrms? was thinking for example of Tiamat when he's on the ground. I agree that Emnity generation shouldn't be too difficult without a ridiculous ammount of emnity + gear either.

Also on what mobs would u suggest avoiding Damage spells altogether for hate and on which recomend using alongside other hate tools? My thinking here is when to sacrifice Suppa/Fortitude Torque 100% of the time over other items.

Eris Ali i think they are called.

[Suiram]

[Max HP Boost] Frypan, Flying Hip Press

lol.

Max HP Boost trait is 10 hp. You can get that by setting Screwdriver or Wild Oats. Or both for 20 HP!

Also for gear there's those +2 enmity earrings (+3 on hq but fairly pricey) the lvl...54? ones, look like shells and I remember NIN can use em but PLD can't.

Except it's HP+30.

Also I misread the OP, I thought that he had gear and just needed spell/sub advice, although fantasticdan hit basically everything I would have said and then some.

[fantasticdan]

would demon earrings x2 and 2x Wyrm slayers + Flawless ribbon be useless for tanking Wyrms? was thinking for example of Tiamat when he's on the ground. I agree that Emnity generation shouldn't be too difficult without a ridiculous ammount of emnity + gear either.

I forgot to mention the slayer swords, but yeah I would use any of them (aquan/vermin/demon/dragon) over mac+1s against the applicable mob types, nq is like 5% proc, not sure if hq is better. I have heard the killer effect bonus on flawless ribbon is quite small, so I'm not sure if that's worth it. I've never seen a test of the garrison killer earrings either, but I guess if they're 3% or more they would be a good second ear option. I wouldn't drop ethereal/magnetic for one thou.

[Seditedi]

[Max HP Boost] Frypan, Flying Hip Press

lol.

Max HP Boost trait is 10 hp. You can get that by setting Screwdriver or Wild Oats. Or both for 20 HP!

Also for gear there's those +2 enmity earrings (+3 on hq but fairly pricey) the lvl...54? ones, look like shells and I remember NIN can use em but PLD can't.

Except it's HP+30.

Also I misread the OP, I thought that he had gear and just needed spell/sub advice, although fantasticdan hit basically everything I would have said and then some.

You are mixing up Max HP Boost and Max MP Boost, Max MP Boost is +10 MP, whereas Max HP Boost is +30 HP. Alistaire needs to look up some info before he starts trying to throw insults.

[Suiram]

On the gear side there are some obvious things, and then there are some sketchy areas it's not sure what's best, weapon/sub combo being one of them. For instance obvious things if you have them are turban, morrigan robe, homam hand/leg/feet, swift/speed/vel. belt. For weapons I've just been using macu+1/genbu combo, although I might start using two swords instead. I passed a half dozen seveneyes when my LS were the only ones killing Khimaira, and now we hardly kill and it never drops when we do, otherwise that could be a reasonable offhand as well. There doesn't seem to be many good choices for ranged/sub, I've been intending to fight Fenrir soon for the stone. As for other gear, what I've been using (and I'm not trying to say this is the best choice, since I'm relatively new to the whole tanking thing) is harmonia's torque, loq+cassie, bloodbead+mermaid, and high-breath mantle or resentment.

[Everything]

I fought Ouryu with Saline Coat equipped, but it just turned out to be a bigger burden than it was worth. The MP cost is high, and it does not last as long as you'd hope it would. It's just easier to use Magic Fruit to cure hate after taking magic damage.

Other than that, the spell combos and hate spells pretty much match up with my setup.

[Spekkio]

I fought Ouryu with Saline Coat equipped, but it just turned out to be a bigger burden than it was worth. The MP cost is high, and it does not last as long as you'd hope it would. It's just easier to use Magic Fruit to cure hate after taking magic damage.

Other than that, the spell combos and hate spells pretty much match up with my setup.

yeah. saline coat as an always on MDB solution, such as vs JoL (and AV...) have already been talked about iirc and dismissed as just being inefficient and ineffective. meanwhile, if you know you're going to eat something big and nasty (proto-ultima comes to mind, while not too much else does) it's an effective tool. it's not lol, but situational, i agree. anyway, back to my corner.

[Suiram]

Yeah you're absolutely right. Especially w/ Ultima since you can time it with the countdown to get the full 50 MDB when it goes off. A BLU shouldn't ever die to CB, even with a lackluster mdef build (unless you don't have enough MP and don't realize it until it's too late).

[eva00r]

You should always equip Saline Coat for tanking purpose. At least it's a part of Defense Bonus trait and can situationally safe your ass.