Paladin Shield Skill Armor: Vital Equipment or Myth?

[Raen Ryong]

However once STR reaches a weapon's max pDif rank versus a monster's level

What are you saying? <_<

fSTR caps based on Weapon Rank and mob VIT, nothing to do with level (directly) and nothing to do with pDif. Sounds like you got confused between pDif and fSTR there since cRATIO which determines pDif has a level correction aspect.

The best way to raise your per hit damage is typically Attack if you can get enough of it depending on your other buffs; STR is generally a poor way to boost per hit damage especially if the D of your weapon is high. An even better way to increase -overall- damage is of course haste/accuracy...

[Thorny]

I have however NOT tanked a Sky HNM or any others of that nature except for the Nemain Lion in Besieged Battles, and the I will admit was done mostly with the generous and strategic use of temporary items, but I assume it would be the same for anyone other PLD attempting to fight that nasty.

And that would be why you consider shield useless.

[Lexa]

You are wrong, OP.

That's all I'm allowed to say since this is Newbie section.

[Julian]

My pld's shield skill is like lower 200 something :D

[Ophannus]

Is there a hard cap for each shield size? I hear 65% is the cap but is that for size 3 or can size 1 surpass that? Also does Reprisal exceed the cap?

[Aouqess]

Is there a hard cap for each shield size? I hear 65% is the cap but is that for size 3 or can size 1 surpass that? Also does Reprisal exceed the cap?

65% is the cap for all shields supposedly, it's just easier to hit that cap with smaller shields in comparison to shield skill in general.

i.e. (and this is JUST a hypothetical example) If your shield skill was say 200 or so, you might reach the shield block rate of 65% with a Size 1 Shield, but not a size 2 Shield.

And to reiterate for the third time, I did NOT say shield skill was useless. I'm saying that if your hitting the Shield Cap of 65% with a Size 3 shield on a mob, any further Shield skill that you slap on isn't going to do much for you.

Anyways, data to come soon.

[Zosi]

I'm saying that if your hitting the Shield Cap of 65% with a Size 3 shield on a mob, any further Shield skill that you slap on isn't going to do much for you.

And we're saying that that DOES NOT HAPPEN on anything that's even remotely hard to tank, thus why people wear +shield gear for HNMs. It's not a magical target of 308 for everything, higher level mobs require more +skill. If you're only interested in shield block rates against lower level mobs, that's fine, we'll leave you alone, but you really need to understand that end-game stuff is a whole different ballgame.

[Dein]

And to reiterate for the third time, I did NOT say shield skill was useless. I'm saying that if your hitting the Shield Cap of 65% with a Size 3 shield on a mob, any further Shield skill that you slap on isn't going to do much for you.

No one has been denying that if you've hit the cap for the block rate on a mob that extra shield skill is pointless. What everyone's been saying (and what you seem to keep missing) is that all you keep arguing how effective shield skill on on EXP level enemies, and frankly, putting on a lot of +shield skill for exp mobs is a waste of time. But at lvl 75 no one really tanks anymore in the normal merit parties so that's hardly worth discussing.

What people have been saying is that against many HNMs you will not be hitting the cap on shield block rate for them and that you want as much shield skill as possible if you're going to be taking hits. I don't know why you seem to keep missing this point. All the guides for endgame paladin cover what endgame paladins tank and VT mobs aren't part of that.

[SubzeroDiabolos]

If you are a PLD and think a ridiculous amout of shield skill doesn't matter, I have a tip for you
























Level Ninja

[kayn]

I think if you're really a dedicated pld, you'd level nin anyway. There's a lot of things you won't learn on pld/nin that you will taking nin to 75.

[Darunia]

I think if you're really a dedicated pld, you'd level nin anyway. There's a lot of things you won't learn on pld/nin that you will taking nin to 75.

This. There are alot of nice tricks i picked up through getting 75NIN aswell as PLD that i dont think id of learned with just PLD.

[Stiker]

I myself have tanked without Shield Skill assist gear for the last 4 years. I've even fought and survived such enemies as Alexander with little descernable difference to documented performances of other PLDs who have attempted the same fights.

I have however NOT tanked a Sky HNM or any others of that nature except for the Nemain Lion in Besieged Battles, and the I will admit was done mostly with the generous and strategic use of temporary items, but I assume it would be the same for anyone other PLD attempting to fight that nasty.

I don't think you (the OP) have been fighting the things where higher level shield skill is going to matter. When you are, you can feel the difference, and good grief, there is a world of it.

Using a mob like Alexander (in which, fighting with a shield is pointless...I sure as hell hope you weren't standing next to him...) in order to prove shield+ skill isn't going to be more beneficial just will not work here. Forget sky gods, go do a KS99 Wyrm fight as a PLD/NIN. Once your shadows go down, please tell me you aren't praying for that shield skill to proc trying to get them back up again.

If you are fighting something VT as you said before...well I assume you are in a xp/meritpo situation and yeah, shield skill doesn't matter a whole lot because you won't be tanking in those situations if the DDs are worth a damn.

Hell, even in campagin, I lay on shield skill where I can. That is extra TP for my /DNC and an extra block or two can help keep me alive on the NMs. In Dynamis, even in off tanking, I make sure I have shield gear ready for when mobs wake up. Getting hit by two or more mobs without shield procs can easily end in death on larger pulls. I just can't give you a situation besides xp mobs where shield skill to the max isn't vital.

So repeat after me: When I'm PLD/WAR, I will idle in shield gear. When, I'm PLD/NIN, I will stack shield skill for Ichi recast.

[Baha]

I thought the Newbie forum was meant to have newbies getting advice and not trying to give it.

Perhaps I wasn't clear, and for that I do apologize. I am NOT saying that shield skill is worthless. What I'm saying is it's only worth having to a 'point' That point bieng the generally accepted maximum cap rate of 65%.

I don't think anyone needs to be told what diminishing returns are.

All I'm putting forward is that that cap might be able to be reached on most enemies with less skill than people assume.
...
I myself have tanked without Shield Skill assist gear for the last 4 years. I've even fought and survived such enemies as Alexander with little descernable difference to documented performances of other PLDs who have attempted the same fights.

I have however NOT tanked a Sky HNM or any others of that nature except for the Nemain Lion in Besieged Battles, and the I will admit was done mostly with the generous and strategic use of temporary items, but I assume it would be the same for anyone other PLD attempting to fight that nasty.

You haven't tanked anything substantial yet, shit's situational, shield skill and resist/magic down gear only come into play on bigger stuff. On lesser enemies, of course you're better off with other gear, whip out joyeuse and some DD armour if you'd like.
Not sure what you're trying to accomplish? Find out the skill needed to cap block on VT mobs? No idea, but throwing your opinion around as fact isn't getting you anywhere.

[Enedin]

So repeat after me: When I'm PLD/WAR, I will idle in shield gear. When, I'm PLD/NIN, I will stack shield skill for Ichi recast.

Amen!

[Brill Weave]

Echoing the sentiment here. Shield Skill is without a doubt an extremely vital part of our continued existence. Like it was said above me, this is newbie, so I am trying to hold back comments. But when you have tanked NMs that are done with an HNM shell(not just Alexander) you will understand how ludicrous the statement is. Even on Fafhogg, if you're the lone tank there and are caught with shadows down, you're praying for a shield proc while Ichi is casting.

Having been in situations like that I carry all the shield gear I have available to me. I don't remember offhand but I think in all my shield gear I cap at 324 and sometimes it still seems like it's not enough.

In short, shield gear is a savior. As you get deeper into endgame and start camping the Cerb/Khim/Tia you will understand that. As it stands using things like Alexander as the basis for your entire theory is shaky at best.

[Capo]

Shield skill gear is an absolute must even though you'll more than likely never use it. Reprasial will do more for you than the gear. but expect to be laughed at if you say you don't have the setup. I enjoy much ridicule because i don't have an m.head. Some plds swear by the setup for ichi. I've never had a problem w/out it. With a co-tank, repraisal, shield bash and flash, getting up ichi should NEVER be an issue.

well this whole post is pretty much garbage. sure there are a few fights where you can take 0 hits at all but these are few and far between. out of the stuff you listed that means you dont need to shield block - you wont always have a co-tank, some stuff cant be stunned, and i think the only mob that has missed be due to flash is khim but hes blind as fuck anyway. reprisal is ok but if the timer is down you need something else to fall back on, ohi shield skill.

shield skill is the single most important stat to stack if theres a chance you will take a hit while casting or timers are fucked. even if you dont like to blink you can switch in a decent amount of shield+ during casting and switch back to haste just before you finish, and theres really no valid reason not to.

[kayn]

well this whole post is pretty much garbage. sure there are a few fights where you can take 0 hits at all but these are few and far between. out of the stuff you listed that means you dont need to shield block - you wont always have a co-tank, some stuff cant be stunned, and i think the only mob that has missed be due to flash is khim but hes blind as fuck anyway. reprisal is ok but if the timer is down you need something else to fall back on, ohi shield skill.

shield skill is the single most important stat to stack if theres a chance you will take a hit while casting or timers are fucked. even if you dont like to blink you can switch in a decent amount of shield+ during casting and switch back to haste just before you finish, and theres really no valid reason not to.

To each his own. I don't have a shield skill setup and I've managed. I won't claim to be FFXI's best tank. As for solo tanking, the only difficult fights I've had to do that on was an Odin for about 7 minutes when my co-tank died and on Khim for about 15 minutes while I waited for my co-tank to show up. I chose to stack haste for these situations to lower my utsusemi recasts. Once you learn to pre-cast ichi a shield skill setup pretty much becomes mute. But that's just my take on it.

[Valisk]

I think if you're really a dedicated pld, you'd level nin anyway. There's a lot of things you won't learn on pld/nin that you will taking nin to 75.

like what? What wont I learn on pld/nin that I will on nin that will help pld/nin? Cause learning something on nin that wont benefit pld/nin is pretty moot in saying that a "dedicated" pld/nin should level nin to learn things.

[Avarice]

I think if you're really a dedicated pld, you'd level nin anyway. There's a lot of things you won't learn on pld/nin that you will taking nin to 75.

I'm doing this backwards. Orz.

[Neosutra]

like what? What wont I learn on pld/nin that I will on nin that will help pld/nin? Cause learning something on nin that wont benefit pld/nin is pretty moot in saying that a "dedicated" pld/nin should level nin to learn things.

By leveling a job that HAS to keep its shadows up to survive you better itegrate the values of timing your recasts, knowing what moves you should start casting before hand, and over all get another 60ish levels of training.

Alot of pld/nins that dont have nin main are lazier with their shadows, as they have always had their damage reduction/shield blocks to fall back on for pld.

Then again, leveling any job can help you play your current one better. (i.e. tanks leveling other tank jobs, mage jobs, etc to see where everyone else falls in the support chain).