PLD's, end game tanking advice

[Damon]

well, i've been pld for a long ass time, since about the NA release. However, i've just recently started the end game. Sky NM's easy, Genbu easy. seiryu + suzaku WHOOPED MY FRIGGIN ASS! no simple way to put that. but when a mob is hitting me for like 200 damage with another 150 or so added, plus double attacking sometimes for a total of like 350-700 damage, yea....

anyway, i havent been able to get any pieces of koenig yet. a few other plds got the few pieces that have dropped so far, but i'm wonder what gear i should be wearing for gods and HNM's. i always hear HP+ HP+, which i still havent totally bought into.

as of right now i have 2 sets of gear. for pt's and basically melee'd mobs i use:

main - durandal
sub - koenig shield
ranged - rosenbogen
head - dusk mask
neck - royal guards collar
earring1 - mercenary's earring
earring2 - hades earring
body - adaman
hands - adaman
ring1 - jelly ring (macro'd out when mob is casting)
ring2 - hercules ring
back - knightly mantle
waist - warwolf belt
legs - adaman
feet - adaman

for harder hitting and kited mobs i use

main/sub - earth staff
head - adaman
neck - iron muskateers gorget
ring 2 - bomb queen ring
earring 1 - might be buying a cassie earring, have to sell my nins gear first though

i'm wonder how can i improve this set up. for gods should i just totally forget everything and go all out HP. get the cassie and pigeon earrings, maybe gigant mantle, if not behemoth mantle. My LS is working on getting me more koenig, but i'm wondering what I can buy. Any input is appreciated. Thanks.

[Fira]

gods=hp
enmity+ is allways good to....

[Lyramion]

The ADD effect can be dispelled by throwing the correct wind on the gods. RNGs with endless shot should throw it.

- If you dont have the correct wind yet since your LS still new - ask another more experienced LS to give you one, there they usually get tossed.

[Gafgarionn]

I've heard from plenty of high level PLD that HP+ gear is the way to go, and I don't doubt it, but it just doesn't make much sense. How does having +200 HP beat getting hit for significantly less damage each time you're attacked?

[threevo]

as of right now i have 2 sets of gear. for pt's and basically melee'd mobs i use:

main - durandal
sub - koenig shield
ranged - rosenbogen
head - dusk mask
neck - royal guards collar
earring1 - mercenary's earring
earring2 - hades earring
body - adaman
hands - adaman
ring1 - jelly ring (macro'd out when mob is casting)
ring2 - hercules ring
back - knightly mantle
waist - warwolf belt
legs - adaman
feet - adaman

for harder hitting and kited mobs i use

main/sub - earth staff
head - adaman
neck - iron muskateers gorget
ring 2 - bomb queen ring
earring 1 - might be buying a cassie earring, have to sell my nins gear first though

i'm wonder how can i improve this set up. for gods should i just totally forget everything and go all out HP. get the cassie and pigeon earrings, maybe gigant mantle, if not behemoth mantle. My LS is working on getting me more koenig, but i'm wondering what I can buy. Any input is appreciated. Thanks.

sell pld gear and level NIN

[Quicklet]

sell pld gear and level NIN

Bad idea.

[Edwardtheblack]

As far as i experience, total HP+200 enemity+15 is enough to do gods

[Daahan]

When we were ready to do Byakko for the first time in our LS a while back we had two PLD. One was in full Adaman as you were and the other wore his AF+only the Adaman head. Both are very very good PLD. The one in Adaman plopped to the ground in 5 seconds, whereas the one in the AF tanked Byakko the whole fight. I've never seen any PLD tank gods in Adaman gear.

[Gafgarionn]

Alright, I think I'm gonna pawn off my Adaman legs and only use head. Thanks for the responses everyone.

[Edwardtheblack]

I was using adaman body before i get koenig

[masterorion]

When we were ready to do Byakko for the first time in our LS a while back we had two PLD. One was in full Adaman as you were and the other wore his AF+only the Adaman head. Both are very very good PLD. The one in Adaman plopped to the ground in 5 seconds, whereas the one in the AF tanked Byakko the whole fight. I've never seen any PLD tank gods in Adaman gear.

that kind or issue goes along with people not doing theire jobs. byakko will tear through any pld no matter what they are wearing if the mages arent up on their cures. my ls will only use 1 pld for byakko at a time. i use the adaman body with crimson lower half, af2 gloves, and koenig head and it can still tear through me if mages arent keeping up. same with the other pld that i rotate tanking with. he uses af body. koenig head, koenig hands, crimson legs, root whatever they are, and can also be taken down easily. more hp the better, but byakko can easily do a crit hit and one shot you directly after that regardless of what your wearing

[Toreador]

main - durandal -> Joyouse (In EXP Parties the Extra Hit is worth more enmity and VIT than the Durandal. It helps hold hate better IMO.
sub - koenig shield
ranged - rosenbogen - You might want to get a Fenrir stone for Hard hitting mobs (HP+30 during Night time)
head - dusk mask - This really isnt practical, you should probably sell it once you get a Koenig Schallar
neck - royal guards collar - This is fine, but your better off with a Harmonia Torque or Shield Torque for EXP IMO
earring1 - mercenary's earring - Get cassie and pigeon.
earring2 - hades earring
body - adaman - Its a waste of money, use AF body
hands - adaman - unless you have koenig or AFII these are great.
ring1 - jelly ring (macro'd out when mob is casting)
ring2 - hercules ring
back - knightly mantle - gigant
waist - warwolf belt - buy your races HP + Belt
legs - adaman - AF - Crimson Legs.
feet - adaman - AF or AF2, Crimson Feet

for harder hitting and kited mobs i use

main/sub - earth staff
head - adaman
neck - iron muskateers gorget
ring 2 - bomb queen ring
earring 1 - might be buying a cassie earring, have to sell my nins gear first though


Overall, for EXP, you should grab more Enmity... Adaman isnt really good at all, AF is much better because of the HP +...
Its very important to build a strong Enmity + Set because lots Mobs in Endgame are Kited, and High HP lets you eat stonega and bad resists on breath attacks.

[Darthtaco]

my opoin AF body is better then adaman only 5 less def (doesnt really make any diff at all) more divine u will get more hate with flash more HP always good for end game stuff same VIT

AF2 boots till u can get koening

adaman hands arent that great but they better then AF hands AF2 hands pretty good koening hands best bet

crimson pants^^ very good got some HP and MP high def and the movement increase is awsome for kiting stuff like KB

cassie earing is awsome for HP i dont know if yall have a problem with gil sellers camping it on yalls server but i got mine b4 they started camping it alot the other earing i would use piegon earingNQ +1 or blood bead earing

i would keep warwolf belt for xp i macro it into my voke macro for the enimity and ocean sash good for HP and i would keep a life belt on u for tp

if u can afford it get gigant mantle i guess i prefer behemoth mantle+1

that ring i havent been able to get off that NM in Bostaunieux Oubliette 72 hr pop but its got +50hp -10 mp u can use it in all situations unlike bomb queen ring cant fight suzaku with bomb queen ; ; bomb queen is good

rosenburgen good

koening shield good

durindal bought the best u can get unless u have joyuse i like joyuse alot better

earth staff defenate i keep light and dark on me too for whenever i need them

[Demetrio$]

editedlolz

[Damon]

ok, i think i'm gonna try this set up for most HNM's and gods, at least until i can get more rare/ex equipment

1. main/sub - earth staff
2. ranged - happy egg
3. head - adaman
4. earring 1 - pigeon
5. earring 2 - cassie as soon as it appears in the AH and i can sell my nin gear snf byrnie
6. body - AF until i can get something better
7. hands - adaman
8. ring 1 - bomb queen ring
9. ring 2 - jelly ring (i think i'm going to buy those coral rings for rng's since they have magic damage% - and macro them in and out)
10. back - behemoth mantle when i see one, possible gigant, need more gil
11. waist - i think the hume one is the ocean sash
12. legs - AF
13. boots - AF

thanks for the help

Edit: forgot neck - IM gorget

Edit: also toreador, i dont really see where i could get much more enmity in exp. adaman set, herc ring, durandal (no joyeuse yet), hades earring, warwolf belt is about all the enmity you can get. i wear the dusk mask because the acc really does make a huge difference. since i hit a lot more, i make all that enmity i'm wearing kick in more and generate a lot more hate overall.

[Zaris]

Enmity is good for kiting as people have already said. If you ever lay your hands on the Aegishjalmr then that Enmity+7 really does wonders in kiting situations. Personally I always went a combination of HP and Enmity tanking Byakko and other sky gods because I didn't have the funds to pump either one to its fullest. Which is kind of a good thing; you're only useful if you're alive, you're only useful if you can keep the target pissed off at you.

My linkshell had 3 ninjas and one paladin (myself) for a very very long time. That was our entire tank line. At the very beginning of our sky runs, the ninjas were always first up, and I played Cover on the ninjas a lot. On some instances all 3 ninjas were beat, and I was the last guy to hold like Suzaku (my more remembered experience). It was a tough cure bomb experience as a PLD/NIN, but if it wasn't for Enmity it would've hit other targets and made a mess of things. If I had focused entirely on Enmity, I wouldn't have survived a Fire IV with 12 HP remaining (Utsusemi: Ichi was slightly delayed. Thank god for Ocean Sash). What I'm trying to get at is, trying to find a balance between the two stats and get use to it, and build it up equally. Enmity+1 for every HP+20, or something like that. I'm just theorizing.

[Zetah]

Adaman body is stupid.

Normal tank gear for me:

Head: Koenig Schaller
Body: Gallant surcoat
Legs: Gallant Breeches
Hands: Koenig Handschuhs
Feet: Valor Leggings
Waist: Ocean Sash
Back: Gigant Mantle
Ring1: Bomb Queen Ring
Ring2: Jelly Ring
Earring1: Cassie Earring
Earring2: Pigeon Earring
Neck: Iron Musketeer Gorget
Ammo: Happy Egg

Why HP > VIT? VIT just lowers the minimum damage cap, and it's not very common that a monster will hit you for the minimum damage especially on gods and stuff. Mages will constantly top you off on hp so that really just allows you to take more hits. On stuff I'm kiting I take out koenig shield+warwolf belt and some more enmity stuff, but that's about it.

NIN > PLD anyway!

[sephir]

depends on your race. hume go all out HP, same with taru and mithra. if your galka or Elvaan go for some mp in there but dont negae the HP stuff. RSE2 feet for hume is very good as +60 HP is always nice.

with most stuff in sky i dont worry too much about HP except for Kirin and Byakko. for those i go on HP, VIT and enmity gear. in that order.

to the poster who said that how does having HP reduce a monsters attacks. (was like 4th or 5th poster) in simple fact it doesnt. too tell the truth you end up taking slightly MORE damage with HP gear on that in full VIT/defense. but the advantage of HP gear is that you wont get one shotted by some of the monsters special attacks.
I am a hume with 1718 HP without food and Byakko can Triple attack and WS all he wants because he rarely takes me into the red unless something goes wrong on the mage line. with Kirin youll want the HP to prevent stone 5 from owning your ass. earth resistance helps there but youll survive more likely with higher HP than slightly more earth resistance.

[Damon]

well, just spend some gil on HP+ gear and changed it up a bit, as of right now i have:

main/sub - earth staff
ranged - rosenbogen
head - adaman, if not kiting i'll use dusk mask most likely, gives more HP and vit than adaman, and if i'm attacking it gives acc. also koenig helm is dropped by seiryu, so it shouldnt be too hard to get, we've killed him before.
neck - IM gorget
ears - pigeon earrings, possibly cassie soon
body - AF1
hands - AF1, switching to lords gauntlets when they are in the AH, they give same enmity, vit instead of dex and more HP, losing 20mp isnt bad since you cant cast while kiting anyway. koenig is a genbu drop, i already have the cursed hands, shouldnt be too hard, genbu is easy and items are pretty easy to get.
rings - jelly and bomb queen, macro's to switch to herc ring and possibly another ring for spell casting
back - knightly right now, i have enough for gigant, waiting for it to hit the AH
waist - warwolf, waiting for the hume rse with hp+ on it to hit the AH
legs - lords cuisses, only 3 less HP than AF1 and it gives some vit
feet - lvl 62 hume rse, gives HP+60

as of right now i think its HP+250 or so. more when i get those pieces of gear i'm waiting for.

[Fira]

that ring i havent been able to get off that NM in Bostaunieux Oubliette 72 hr pop but its got +50hp -10 mp u can use it in all situations unlike bomb queen ring cant fight suzaku with bomb queen ; ; bomb queen is good

bomb queen ring makes no diffrence. With ring on take same damage then with it off ;3 our pld's tank tiamat with it on aswell, and say it makes no diffrence.