PLD!

[Norelco]

Whats the drama behind your M body? Or you have 75WAR and a whacked LS loot distribution system?

There's no drama behind it. I believe his shell was trying to log someone into the game in order to lot on it and it couldn't be done in time so it fell to him.

[Norelco]

I think today's PLD should consider staying away from HP gear (unless you're a Taru).

With the release of new gear such as Ethereal Earring, Loquacious Earring, Parade Gorget, as well as the introduction of the Auto-Refresh trait and Chivalry Job Ability the importance has shifted from an HP to MP build in my opinion.

Say for example you have both a Cassie Earring and an Intruder's Earring, you're gaining 90HP but you're losing 90MP. 90HP will always be 90HP, but 90MP (fit in a cure IV), can gain you well over 300HP in a self-cure and generate hate.

My suggestion for your PLD from 40-75 would be to find a good balance DEF/VIT/MP gear, and as someone suggested earlier you will find it appropriate to have different sets of gear for different situations.

[Miruka]

I've only thought briefly about leveling PLD, but those Enchantment (+38hp/5enmity at 36?) capes look too good not to abuse the heck out of. And not like you're gonna wear something else there... er, I think.

[Dark Vincent]

I think today's PLD should consider staying away from HP gear (unless you're a Taru).

With the release of new gear such as Ethereal Earring, Loquacious Earring, Parade Gorget, as well as the introduction of the Auto-Refresh trait and Chivalry Job Ability the importance has shifted from an HP to MP build in my opinion.

Say for example you have both a Cassie Earring and an Intruder's Earring, you're gaining 90HP but you're losing 90MP. 90HP will always be 90HP, but 90MP (fit in a cure IV), can gain you well over 300HP in a self-cure and generate hate.

That's an interesting idea, but what you said can be used to justify how +MP gear is unneeded. I rarely have MP problems these days, specially with Utsusemi/Aerial Armor, Devotion, Refresh/Evoker's Roll/Mage's Ballad, Parade Gorget, Auto-Refresh, Chivalry etc etc.
I do think your point is good regardless, but it can be seen both ways.

[Karinastar]

I too plan to level paladin would it be worth it to put merits into sword for PLD exp?

I haven't put merits into any weapon yet because I haven't decided if I want to do Sword, Axe or Great Katana (when SAM is 75)

I have full sword merits from my WAR, and I definitely noticed it exping as PLD. My damage was pretty decent for a PLD, but I think it was a combination of the gear I used, sword merits, and critical hit merits.

I wouldn't merit sword just to level Paladin though. If you have 75 WAR and you like to use axe/sword then by all means go for it. If you're planning on making PLD your main I'd get shield merits myself.

[Xavier]

Surprised that nobody has suggested the awesome pld/whm w/ a lightstaff and verm/parade gorget alternative as main healer!

Ya know, I realize that's sarcasm but reading that I just remembered this taru DRK in my LS that has something like 1.2k MP without wearing full MP gear.

Makes me wonder if a Taru PLD/WHM could get more than most WHMs, lol.. In essense, with the right gear and played properly it'd be at least amusing.

When I originally posted that, I was going to do a follow-up saying in all seriousness that pld/whm could actually technically work w/ the proper gear, but I didn't want to start that whole debate again, lol.

[Furionstormrage]

The "Breath" mantles are very nice when tanking, mainly for the +Enmity.

Just remember that if you un-equip it (macro swap or any reason) the enchantment is lost.

You can keep it on, and have the enchantment full-time, as it lasts 30 minutes with a 30 minute recast, just bring something as a backup in case you die.

[Celeras]

http://ffxi.somepage.com/itemdb/7471

Use that or go home.

[Bagel]

Taru PLD/WHM base MP is 603, which I think a friend of mine said was higher than his Elvaan WHM/BLM.

[Julian]

Surprised that nobody has suggested the awesome pld/whm w/ a lightstaff and verm/parade gorget alternative as main healer!

I leveled my PLD kinda like that.

I used Terra's, tanked w/ Vermy fulltime until lv72 (holding hate in short fights was getting hard so had to use aegishjalmr) and had 6 staff merits (max weapon merits at the time) and for earrings I used astral/intimidation earring combo.

It actually worked out really well. This was pre-TOAU, of course. Worked best w/ a brd+rdm setup, since then I'd have refresh to keep my mp up, and would be able to spirit taker for 100+dmg every battle w/ minuet+sometimes madrigal.

I main cured myself for most parties, and kept hate like a champ. It was pretty annoying whenever I ended up with those retarded WHMs who don't know how to flash effectively, or overcure like their life depended on it.

Obviously this wouldn't work very well for non-tarus, and I had many people criticize me for it (until they actually partied with me) but it was a fun, unique playing style that worked very effectively for me.

Wish I could have had parade gorget back when I was leveling

And to OP: Do NOT use Cassie. Or anything that gives -MP. No. No. No. No. Giving up MP for HP in EXP is RETARDED. Stacking HP wont do shit for you in exp, and is a waste of equipment slots.

[Judai]

Sword merits would be pointless imo for PLD. Do Shield if you want to merit something. I have 2 Shield, Buckler, Shield Torque and use AF Feet to hit 300 Shield Skill. Shield's are amazing now, so id you want to buff something up with merits, do that.

PLDs still need HP on some mobs, even with /nin. I was tanking Ultima the other day PLD/NIN and even tho he rarely hit me, the moves that go through Utsu nearly oneshot my Taru ass. So depending on the mobs you are fighting, HP is still very nice to have.

The whole thing is to find that balance for whatever you are doing. Exp you can afford to drop off some HP,Def,Enm for a little extra damage, but PLD is not going to be some amazing DD. Unless you have some combo of Jstice/Joy/Kraken, I have seen a PLD pull out some sick numbers with Joy/Kraken.

[Ravenlokk]

For any situation as pld, xp/endgame w/e the gear is situational. You can do the /war setup where you have strong hate grab with flash/voke and you focus on maintaining your hate by mitigating damage, and having high enmity. You can also do the DD route (which theoretically yield more XP because it results in mobs dying faster//higher DPS) but your tanking ability will suffer UNLESS you have maxed out offensive gear/merits/etc.

For a PLD/WAR doing the "shield" style defence, enmity, and vitality are good. Anyone who says "Vitality is useless" doesnt know what it does- It will help to reduce "maximum" damage taken, as in player WS dmg calculations there is often a STR-(Target VIT) modifier. The theory behind holding hate with defence/vit is that the less damage you take, the less hate you lose. Im not sure about this part- but i do believe that your DEF will give diminishing returns with low VIT similar to ATK/STR. But if you cant build more hate than the DPS of the DD's in your PT (if youre fighting VT/powerchaining) this will NOT work for long[Curing the DD's when they take damage will be the only way you can get hate- as flash/voke wont be up enough] and in this case, flash will often be more useful when timed to the mobs ws' abilities (so that the person tanking takes less damage).

For a PLD/NIN doing the "dd" style, acc, atk (balanced with str for ws//brd//etc), and enmity are very good. Your goal with this setup is to do enough damage to pull hate (similar to war/nin) using flash as your initial hate grab, and curing puller/dd's. In this type of setup is ideal for powerchaining/spam PTs where the mobs die so fast that hate can rarely be established/solidified. This setup is very MP Dependant and will work better with constant refresh, and the DD potential of PLD/NIN is fairly limited because of a lack of ATK bonus- so a BRD or ATK food can be very beneficial.

IDK, probably missed somethin, watchin TV while posting this lol. Im a taru BTW, and i leveled PLD before the "PLD Update(shield mastery, refresh, etc)" and i used a terra staff, and spammed spirit-taker using cures to build hate as PLD/WAR. Worked fairly well, and in low lvls (before 50) i often subbed whm, and main healed in the front line with the melee's, and cured myself if i pulled hate. I even played around with PLD/NIN when i had a THF to SATA on me (and a war/nin usually co-tanking with me).

[Credos]

I think today's PLD should consider staying away from HP gear (unless you're a Taru).

With the release of new gear such as Ethereal Earring, Loquacious Earring, Parade Gorget, as well as the introduction of the Auto-Refresh trait and Chivalry Job Ability the importance has shifted from an HP to MP build in my opinion.

Say for example you have both a Cassie Earring and an Intruder's Earring, you're gaining 90HP but you're losing 90MP. 90HP will always be 90HP, but 90MP (fit in a cure IV), can gain you well over 300HP in a self-cure and generate hate.

That's an interesting idea, but what you said can be used to justify how +MP gear is unneeded. I rarely have MP problems these days, specially with Utsusemi/Aerial Armor, Devotion, Refresh/Evoker's Roll/Mage's Ballad, Parade Gorget, Auto-Refresh, Chivalry etc etc.
I do think your point is good regardless, but it can be seen both ways.

MP Doesn't mean shit if you're dead.

Aside from that, I'd go for Shield Skill, enmity and AGI in exp levels. There really aren't that many mobs that will one shot you in exp aside from Magmatic eruca and a critical Sickle Slash.

[Furionstormrage]

http://ffxi.somepage.com/itemdb/7471

Use that or go home.

While that is a nice Shield with the Phalanx enchantment, unless you plan on cycling through several of these every XP session, you are better off equipping a Size 3 shield (Kite-style).

Other than Aegis, Kite-size shields offer the best Block %/ -DMG Taken ratio of all size shields.

Some good choices that come to mind are:

TK/RK +1/+2 (52?)
Diamond/+1 (66)
General/Admirals (69)
Koenig/Kaiser (73)

Edited for spelling error

[Isildur]

I think today's PLD should consider staying away from HP gear (unless you're a Taru).

With the release of new gear such as Ethereal Earring, Loquacious Earring, Parade Gorget, as well as the introduction of the Auto-Refresh trait and Chivalry Job Ability the importance has shifted from an HP to MP build in my opinion.

Say for example you have both a Cassie Earring and an Intruder's Earring, you're gaining 90HP but you're losing 90MP. 90HP will always be 90HP, but 90MP (fit in a cure IV), can gain you well over 300HP in a self-cure and generate hate.

That's an interesting idea, but what you said can be used to justify how +MP gear is unneeded. I rarely have MP problems these days, specially with Utsusemi/Aerial Armor, Devotion, Refresh/Evoker's Roll/Mage's Ballad, Parade Gorget, Auto-Refresh, Chivalry etc etc.
I do think your point is good regardless, but it can be seen both ways.

MP Doesn't mean shit if you're dead.

Aside from that, I'd go for Shield Skill, enmity and AGI in exp levels. There really aren't that many mobs that will one shot you in exp aside from Magmatic eruca and a critical Sickle Slash.

+Shield armor while exping is the way to go, nothing helps PLDs more than Shield skill. Wearing Shield Torque / AF boots gives you +17 skill in just 2 slots, and you'll block probably 8-10% more often with that much skill added on.

HP gear for PLD is pretty worthless, no matter how much HP you can get you'll still get tooled harder than the PLD sitting next to you when he's wearing a balanced setup of HP/+Shield/Enmity/DEF and all your max HP wont really mean shit except for that the WHM can Cure V you at 1200hp instead of 700hp to fill your bar up. This is HNM tanking, so it really doesnt apply.

While exping its safe to wear +2-5 Enmity in the lower levels, +Enmity gear is hard to come by and PLD isnt that great before 37 due to hate control problems. When you hit 52 you start getting access to some pretty nice gear, AF lasted me til lv73 but i leveled it way before CoP came out...nowadays there's alot better gear at 60+ but most of your AF will still be pretty useful, mainly the feet/body/legs. Wearing +10-15 Enmity at 60+ is a safe amount to control hate with, the High Breath Mantle is utterly sick for exping with and they're cheap as hell for 30min charges.

+AGI really wont help that much unless you're adding AGI in a slot where there's not much else to put in (lol drone earrings), i really cant help much, its been too long since i've leveled PLD and i dont remember things that'd really help. =/

[Zanz L. Barre The 3rd]

+shield skill, MP, HP, acc/att for gear build up. DEF from food should be enough.

[Lordwafik]

Surprised that nobody has suggested the awesome pld/whm w/ a lightstaff and verm/parade gorget alternative as main healer!

Sorry we're not japanese.

I love JP pts, 5 main healers and 1 tank/DD combo.


NEWAYZ I say pld pre 60 hasn't changed much since back in the day, except for the shield updates making it more viable to sword/shield than staff paladin. After 60 (late 60s really) should /nin since you're going to be in burn pt styles more often than not and not going to tank the same way, you'll need to tank with damage.

[Dark Vincent]

I think today's PLD should consider staying away from HP gear (unless you're a Taru).

With the release of new gear such as Ethereal Earring, Loquacious Earring, Parade Gorget, as well as the introduction of the Auto-Refresh trait and Chivalry Job Ability the importance has shifted from an HP to MP build in my opinion.

Say for example you have both a Cassie Earring and an Intruder's Earring, you're gaining 90HP but you're losing 90MP. 90HP will always be 90HP, but 90MP (fit in a cure IV), can gain you well over 300HP in a self-cure and generate hate.

That's an interesting idea, but what you said can be used to justify how +MP gear is unneeded. I rarely have MP problems these days, specially with Utsusemi/Aerial Armor, Devotion, Refresh/Evoker's Roll/Mage's Ballad, Parade Gorget, Auto-Refresh, Chivalry etc etc.
I do think your point is good regardless, but it can be seen both ways.

MP Doesn't mean shit if you're dead.

Aside from that, I'd go for Shield Skill, enmity and AGI in exp levels. There really aren't that many mobs that will one shot you in exp aside from Magmatic eruca and a critical Sickle Slash.

HP gear for PLD is pretty worthless, no matter how much HP you can get you'll still get tooled harder than the PLD sitting next to you when he's wearing a balanced setup of HP/+Shield/Enmity/DEF and all your max HP wont really mean shit except for that the WHM can Cure V you at 1200hp instead of 700hp to fill your bar up. This is HNM tanking, so it really doesnt apply.

Actually the max hp does mean something. Yes, you should balance etc, but dont neglect the +HP most of time. When you are hit by Assrapist HNM Ability#513, all HP+ will make a difference, and Cure wont save you there in time.
While kiting, obviously, just invest on +HP/Enmity. Straight tanking I do get +Shield (Boots, Torque and lolKnight's Earring) but depending on the HNM I will vary my rings/waist priorizing HP or Enmity or just balancing it out according to the mob's abilities.

[Heian]

PLD Sucks, if you want to tank go level BRD and sub NIN.

[Legolass]

Sword merits would be pointless imo for PLD. Do Shield if you want to merit something. I have 2 Shield, Buckler, Shield Torque and use AF Feet to hit 300 Shield Skill. Shield's are amazing now, so id you want to buff something up with merits, do that.

I have pretty much the same set up. I'd have to save pld if not /nin would be best to merit your shield over your sword. Blocking is so much more of an essential than a sword imo. especially with the new update comming out that allows casting to not get interupted while blocking with a shield.

In HNM or regular exp i block so much and get hit for alot less than normal, i'd just put it all into that particular merit.

I just finished lvl'n my PLD to 75 and i went mostly /war, there were some times that i went /nin with my war set and wasn't bad but my combonation atleast liek 63+ was Jelly/herc ring and buckler earring, resentment cape and eh i not sure what else i used

The hardest part about lvl'n up PLD is simply getting parties