PLD 70+ XP Gear/Food advice

[Ste_S]

At the moment my gear is mostly centered around +emmity, acc/atk and shield skill, and I normally eat sushi. Which is fine and dandy for good parties.

However I seem to be in a run of crap parties, that take an age to kill mobs and I often end up being a mp sponge. For these parties is it worth going the traditional turtle route - pile on the vit/def and eat defensive food ? I've read elsewhere on here about the vit/def calculations being broken, so would I see much of a difference ?

[Deband]

Wow still no replies! Well I'd just ditch the pts. Your gear sounds pretty much what i used in xp.

[Raen Ryong]

I'd just go full DD gear + AF feet.

Someone's gotta add efficiency to the party if the other DDs are too gimp <_< I know what you mean though, as pld 66-73 I had a long ass stretch of awful parties where I'd constantly parse top... quite bad. Full AF thfs ftw though.

[Larrieux]

70+ as pld was unusual as far as exp pts goes. I dont recall many invites after 70, but I know I got at least a few. Most of the parties I was in, I formed them and I always went with a DD build. I was fortunate enough to have justice sword and joytoy so I'd always come /nin. I'd wear:

Justice main
Joytoy offhand
Optical hat
tiphias sting
ryl gaurd collar - sometimes chiv chain
fowling earring
assault earring
hauby
dusk gloves
rajas - sometimes sniper
ulthalamama
Amet +1
swift belt - sometimes potent
blue legs - the enmity ones that you can buy of ah
Af1

This setup worked well for me and I gained access to a better set of gear once I cleared 75. With this setup I made some decent melees just look ridiculous and some good melees ask me what I was doing to create as much dmg as I did. I was shocked how god awful some people tool their characters but having a DD setup will do you more good then a defense one, unless you killing trolls.

[Sanjiyan]

For comparison sake, and also additional input, this is what I wear now (69PLD).

My shield skill is already underlevelled, and I don't like going /NIN before 74 so I try to /WAR when I can. Most people expect a PLD to be /WAR anyway. However if asked to be /NIN I won't reject.

(sushi more often than not)
espadon +1 + IR shield
bibiki seashell (tiphia sting for WS)
IR sallet (voyager sallet for WS)
shield torque (chiv chain for WS, parade for idle/rest)
intruder's earring + shield earring (assault + coral for WS, hospitaler for cure)
haubergeon
forth gauntlets (pallas for WS)
toreador + herc (toreador + rajas for WS)
amemet +1 (resentment for voke/JA)
swift belt (potent for WS, dash sash for voke/JA)
RK breeches
gallant leggings

I'm pretty happy with my performance DD wise in exp. I can hold hate fairly well, busting out some decent vorpals (rather consistent 350-450, with spikes to 750-800 using espadon +1), and happy with my WS setup. I try to minimize blinking when using JAs/voke/flash, but still as much emnity as I can.

Not much will change at 70 aside from joyeuse and ohat. Joyeuse will be a good increase in DoT but reduction in WS damage. Ohat I might use for vorpals, if just to bridge the gap to eventually using meat. From 71+ there's also a few other additions in my mind, most notably is suppa (useful whether /NIN or /WAR) at 72, company sword if dual wielding, dusk gloves, warwolf/harmonia's torque for some more non-blinking macroable emnity, and of course eventually walmart turban/homam at 75.

Just gotta work on that homam now... I think legs > feet > hands, those 3 are the most important pieces with body/head more as a toy for a PLD?



EDIT: I find I get hit pretty hard wearing my hybrid DD/shield setup in exp, like upwards of 120 and crits of 200 recently exping on Imps at level 68. I don't know if it's because my level was low, or just because of my setup. It definitely keeps the healer and I awake, that for sure. Luckily though the Imps are pretty soft and they usually go down fast, especially with a BRD. However, I can see how it could become a problem if the party's DD roles are lacking and the fight drags out too long. Getting hit that hard definitely isn't good in that case... but I wouldn't change to a turtle setup. I'd just say this party has some problems, and maybe find another tank to replace myself.

[GSDragoon]

Campaign hurts for shield skill, but it can be better than crappy parties.

[Ste_S]

I'd just go full DD gear + AF feet.

Someone's gotta add efficiency to the party if the other DDs are too gimp <_< I know what you mean though, as pld 66-73 I had a long ass stretch of awful parties where I'd constantly parse top... quite bad. Full AF thfs ftw though.

I was out damaging an AF, str+2 rings etc Drk in one party

EDIT: I find I get hit pretty hard wearing my hybrid DD/shield setup in exp, like upwards of 120 and crits of 200 recently exping on Imps at level 68. I don't know if it's because my level was low, or just because of my setup. It definitely keeps the healer and I awake, that for sure. Luckily though the Imps are pretty soft and they usually go down fast, especially with a BRD. However, I can see how it could become a problem if the party's DD roles are lacking and the fight drags out too long. Getting hit that hard definitely isn't good in that case... but I wouldn't change to a turtle setup. I'd just say this party has some problems, and maybe find another tank to replace myself.

This is essentialy the problem - imps hit pretty hard, and if fights are dragging out I'm often into the red and myself and the whm are on zero mp at the end of a fight. Doesn't help eating a ton of a tier three nukes as the whm can't land silence, and blu's can't/won't stun. I'd love to walk away from those parties, but being a realist I know I can't be too choosy as a pld on the run to 75. If campaign gave skill ups I'd be permanetly there, but atm my shield skill says pick-up party.

My nothing special gear for what it's worth

Company Sword/Cricket Bat +1
Bibiki Seashell
General's Shield
AF Head
Chiv Chain
Buckler/Parrying Earrings
Hauby
AF Gloves
Woodsman/Hercules Rings
Potent Belt
AF Legs
AF Feet
Amemet/High Breath Mantles

and I have three sword merits and one enmity

[Raen Ryong]

Just gotta work on that homam now... I think legs > feet > hands, those 3 are the most important pieces with body/head more as a toy for a PLD?

I would argue that legs > hands > feet, if only for the fact that you would essentially be fulltiming legs and hands, but feet are more situational (I tend to use them when I have shadows up or have no chance of being interrupted in Utsusemi recasting (Utsusemi: Ni for instance)), otherwise it's the AF feet.

The feet are very nice, but I wouldn't say they're as good as the legs or hands. Just my opinion.

My DDtank setup at ~70 looked like this for comparison's sake;

Main: Joyeuse (Used Espa+1 before)
Shield: General's Shield (Used Royal Knight's Shield before)
Ammo: Tiphia Sting
Head: Optical Hat
Neck: PCC
L.Ear: Spike Earring
R.Ear: Spike Earring
Body: Haubergeon
Hands: Fourth Division Gauntlets
L.Ring: Ulthalam's
R.Ring: Rajas
Back: Amemet Mantle+1
Waist: Swift Belt
Legs: Royal Knight's Breeches
Feet: Gallant Leggings

Never experienced any problems with survival and DD'd quite well.

[Ashtray]

In a slow killing party, damage mitagation is more important than doing an extra 2 damage per fight. I'd just stack shield, def gear in these type of situtations. That being said, doing the standard pld tank has it's usefulness in fast (not merit fast) killing pts depending on the play of the tank and support.

Otherwise, if the mob dies in less then 30 sec, pld/nin with just ichi and attack gear could work because another job has to be taking hate and using their shadows hopefully to help with overall damage mitagation.

[Ferien]

Just gotta work on that homam now... I think legs > feet > hands, those 3 are the most important pieces with body/head more as a toy for a PLD?

I would argue that legs > hands > feet, if only for the fact that you would essentially be fulltiming legs and hands, but feet are more situational (I tend to use them when I have shadows up or have no chance of being interrupted in Utsusemi recasting (Utsusemi: Ni for instance)), otherwise it's the AF feet.

The feet are very nice, but I wouldn't say they're as good as the legs or hands. Just my opinion.

As far as just DD is concerned (which is what the poster was talking about), the feet are more useful than the hands. NQ Dusk give the same amount of Haste as the hands do, whereas you'd need Dusk +1 to match the feet.

[GSDragoon]

EDIT: I find I get hit pretty hard wearing my hybrid DD/shield setup in exp, like upwards of 120 and crits of 200 recently exping on Imps at level 68. I don't know if it's because my level was low, or just because of my setup. It definitely keeps the healer and I awake, that for sure. Luckily though the Imps are pretty soft and they usually go down fast, especially with a BRD. However, I can see how it could become a problem if the party's DD roles are lacking and the fight drags out too long. Getting hit that hard definitely isn't good in that case... but I wouldn't change to a turtle setup. I'd just say this party has some problems, and maybe find another tank to replace myself.

Fuck Imps. Bibiki Bay dhamel are soooo much better. I've been just whoring campaign and turning down all invites for Imps. It's just not worth it with pickup parties before 70.

[Raen Ryong]

Just gotta work on that homam now... I think legs > feet > hands, those 3 are the most important pieces with body/head more as a toy for a PLD?

I would argue that legs > hands > feet, if only for the fact that you would essentially be fulltiming legs and hands, but feet are more situational (I tend to use them when I have shadows up or have no chance of being interrupted in Utsusemi recasting (Utsusemi: Ni for instance)), otherwise it's the AF feet.

The feet are very nice, but I wouldn't say they're as good as the legs or hands. Just my opinion.

As far as just DD is concerned (which is what the poster was talking about), the feet are more useful than the hands. NQ Dusk give the same amount of Haste as the hands do, whereas you'd need Dusk +1 to match the feet.

Ah yes, sorry :X forgot for a moment there we were talking DD, in which case legs > feet > hands for sure.