Musings of DD PLD

[gugru55]

It's been a while since I got back into FFXI, even longer since I played PLD (last time I played it to 75 was before any shield buffs, you know, back when a shield would fully negate damage once every few fights) and I restarted on FFXI quite some time ago and I thought of starting up PLD again.

I'm fairly well versed in the new toys pld has, I know the %'s of blocking, size shields etc as well. Aside from the questions I will pose I was curious if there was any other tips I could glean from current party dynamics etc.

So here goes; I will have access to just about any good gear available to PLD, barring Relic and Ares. Around what level is it possible (read: beneficial) to go more DD oriented? Is it best to just wait until I get Utsu: ni do truly DD? I'll have access to sniper's +1, toreador's, speed belt, kraken club, Haub+1, etc.

Should I even bother DWing KC ever? Is Justice/Joy better at merits? Or organics or w/e? I remember a long time ago somebody posting about a pld who was sword/kc with full DD gear on and he wrecked exp mobs and the pt got great exp.

I guess what I'm asking is, when does a PLD begin to shift from def,vit,hp etc to actually lending themselves to damage. I know before when I first went around (somewhere around 2005/06) most people just went full def/vit, and most PTs thought 4k/hr was good. With the gear I have available, am I just wasting a ton of gil by having them, or can they actually benefit me and my party? I'm more than able to play both styles and specifically I prefer DD but only if it'll help move EXP along.

Sorry for rambling, thanks for any constructive info!

tldr; When can PLD DD with access to Haub+1, toreador's, speed belt, pcc, kc etc? And in what sort of build/camp would be best suited?

[Thorny]

from about 60 up you can wear mostly DD gear while tanking /war in no brd parties(keep gallant leggings, buckler earring, shield on.. only berserk for ws, don't defender)

additionally, if you have a brd you can sub nin and just go full out DD while trading hate with your other DD

at 75:
joy/justice if you have sword merits and homam, greatsword and /sam otherwise..

put the fucking kraken away it's not worth it

[Valyana]

only berserk for ws, don't defender

Berserk for WS, then Defender. Cancel Defender for next WS, then cancel Berserk.

[evilpaul]

You'd want Homam hands, legs, and feet for DD PLD. Maybe the body too. Haub+1 is obviously good too though. Haste belt and Acc rings for TPing. Life/Potent Belt for WSing.

PLD is one of few jobs that actually has decent club skill, so KC isn't completely LOL. You personally couldn't pay me to meritpo with a KC PLD though as I never see people using KCs actually end up tanking much. (Or eating the TP moves from all the TP they feed.)

My most recent memory of a KC party member was being Fire Spit'd on three times in like 10 seconds and dying as Monk.

How awesome KC actually is or isn't for meritpo for PLD I have no idea. "Probably not very" is my gut feeling.

Leveling up you can probably put the Hauby on at 59 and keep it on until merit levels. Maybe go with Woodsman Rings over Sniper's though.

You'll probably want to do more traditional high VIT/Def if you get a retarded party that's fighting IT+++s though. Or find a better party.

Also, Erucas are kind of retarded. I seriously hate them. Rampart's magic shield effect probably makes them a lot less annoying.

[gugru55]

thanks for the replies, I know I'd want homam etc for later on, I'm honestly surprised about the great sword comment, then again I forgot about hasso and seigan. I kind of figured KC would be large in part useless, the only job I recall being good with kc in exp was rng. I never counted on using it entirely as PLD, it was just an option should it be useful. I knew about the shield gear etc to keep on, especially w/ the update.

With the high amount of hits it brings though I figured it may be somewhat useful at some range, but I can't say I'm too surprised - barring the great sword comment - thanks again for the input.

I had a few other questions, what about parade gorget? How often should I keep that on vs say PCC or shield torque? When I played PLD last you still had to rest and all of those horrible memories, is auto-refresh + aht urgan refresh decent enough?

I figure I'll keep both sets up to date and on hand, due to how off some parties can be. What about food post 60? Provided the pt isn't asinine and exping off IT+++ should I go sushi, or stay +def?

[Moridam]

Can't really speak to DD at 75, but an lsmate did a full DD build (haub+1, toreador, etc.) and used greatsword to exp from 70 up. We just had everyone else at 75, 2BRD etc. etc. and spammed mamool ja SP south. He did respectably tbh, obviously wasn't going to be hanging with merited 75 DD's but it was a lot better than I expected. Exp/hr the few times I tracked it was steady around 18-19k/h, setup was usually mnk/nin war/sam pld/war (may have been /sam, i really don't remember) brd brd rdm.

For what it's worth, he had the option of doing a /nin kclub build and chose greatsword instead. I really don't see it being worth it, maybe just to play around for a couple mobs, but I'm guessing there are better options.

[Tormentormike]

With 269 Club on PLD it probably wont be that bad since you'll be wearing alot of ACC gear as it is. If it's not the best, who really cares? It's fun as shit

[Imitarate]

I haven't played with club (still like 140 skill), but if you're going to, there's only a couple you should use. Deae Gratia comes to mind, but I think there's a good mace. I haven't used gs/sam much, I'm waiting to play with that til I finish drk and have a good reason to have greatswords laying about (are there any good drk GSes that pld can use? perdu probably).

I do know that, between joy/justice and organics/joy, I prefer the latter. However, I should note that I haven't played with joy/just since atonement. I need to get some stones and go try it. I don't think atonement is reliable in a merit situation, though. You'll probably be using vorpal, in which case you want good base damage (and imo the str/crit+ helps a ton, enough to use over company). Also, organics looks awesome.

Hauby+1 is great, of course, but you don't necessarily need one. Having A+ skill does mean you have good accuracy. You could use a variety of other armor pieces, perhaps focuing more on attack. Byrnie, assault jerkin, askar korazin, and of course ares body (which you may want to try to get anyways, but yeah -- expensive). I can see why people would want accuracy gear, but I think it's a bit overkill to go balls-all on it. You have some accuracy from homam hands and feet (maybe legs? i forget), swift, you should have some on neck (whether that be chiv, pcc, or torque), and your rings. You probably don't need it on body. If you're WSing with vorpal, then you'll want acc and att as well. This'll be a good marinara pizza setup, though I've used meat in this (mind you, not on mamools). Not even saying hauby isn't a good option, it might be the best, but I do fine focusing more on attack.

[Tormentormike]

250 Great Sword seems kinda depressing for how low it is, I'd love to give it a shot but getting into a party as PLD/SAM isn't going to happen lol

Edit - Even sword seems kind of sad on birds.

Lv.82 - 339 EVA
With my PLD/NIN setup:
Sword Skill 296
DEX:68+8
ACC+37

Joy/Justice/na/Tiphia
Turban/Fortitude/Suppa/Brutal
Homam/Homam/Rajas/Blood
Forager/Swift/Homam/Aurum (no homam)

On birds, it says accuracy will be 71%...

Same setup with Great Sword would give 59%.

[Shinryuu]

A sword/KC PLD is top parse in the exp grind, Throny. Yangsing did it. Of course, requires good gear and not being retarded about food and BRDs/CORs not being retarded about songs and rolls.

Anyway, go all-out DD, can start from level 39 if you have a BRD. Elegy's that good (plus the songs that make the mob dead fasterly, of course, benefit you greatly). Actually, with level sync it's fairly easy to accomodate yourself with DD gear and a BRD; I'm leveling PLD soon and I won't do it without a BRD, really.

IMPORTANT

Don't use KC on stuff whose TP moves kill you dead. I'm looking at incinerate from red crawlies.

[Gustave]

Well I'm 64 pld atm and I've tried DD pld here and there(never with a great setup) and I have yet to see an improvement on exp/hr. Its been easier for me to turtle up and try to keep feather tickle / snatch morsal off the DD's. I have 4/4 enmity merits 4/4 crit hit and 8/8 sword merits. Even with a great gear set I feel like I take to much dmg for the small increase in dmg. Tbh I usually end up going back to tav taco + full time vermy/parade cure spam. I'm going to try and get a colibri pt tonight as pld/nin. My DD gear setup(leftovers from other jobs mostly) is

Gluttony Sword(Yea I know dumb high Delay -1 str -1 dex)
Sentinel Shield
Tiphia Sting
voyager sallet
Peacock amulet
Assualt Earring
Mermans Earring
Haubergeon +1
Fourth Gauntlets
Toreador's Ring
Toreador's Ring
Amemet +1(tho i normally just use High Breath)
Velocious Belt
Ryl.Kgt. Breeches
Fourth Sabatons

Even with 8/8 Sword I haven't been very impressed at all ;;
I really want to get a pld/nin thf war/nin DD/nin bard rdm pt. I think this would do good.
I have an unlocked subduer so I'll prolly give it a try /sam once I hit 72.

[Max™]

Hybrid ftw, I'll turtle for some things (Campaign grunts at 60 are tankable with good turtley stuff), but I've got macros to pop in the Acc gear as needed.

In colibri spam levels I'm leaning towards a setup to let me keep it busy as long as I can, and spam Vorpals as hard as I can. 4/4 Enm/Crit, 6/8 Sword atm.

Compared to War damage, it's shit-tastic, compared to Fast Blade, Vorpal is fucking jesus.

[Gustave]

I just level'd war ; ; maybe thats why I feel kinda meh on my dmg. And I use spellcast with 3 diff groups(no hybrid yet) turtle/refresh/DD set. I have most of my gear for 75 from other jobs so I can't help but want to burn thru 64-75.

[Max™]

I'm a War 75 that's been using gear/merits I've picked up for Pld, the dmg is meh for a War, but I remember when War was my first job up, hitting 60... Rampage is just Vorpal with 1 more hit and generally a better selection of weapons, it sucked then but I got by fine.

Course, you probably got to level War with Crit TP raging rush, which is a whole different story.

[Thorny]

A sword/KC PLD is top parse in the exp grind, Throny. Yangsing did it. Of course, requires good gear and not being retarded about food and BRDs/CORs not being retarded about songs and rolls.

Anyway, go all-out DD, can start from level 39 if you have a BRD. Elegy's that good (plus the songs that make the mob dead fasterly, of course, benefit you greatly). Actually, with level sync it's fairly easy to accomodate yourself with DD gear and a BRD; I'm leveling PLD soon and I won't do it without a BRD, really.

IMPORTANT

Don't use KC on stuff whose TP moves kill you dead. I'm looking at incinerate from red crawlies.

No offense, but anecdotal data from what someone did 4 years ago doesn't mean all that much..

[Shinryuu]

I've seen what a KC can do from a level 64 WAR who spammed sushi on colibri and did respectable damage per hit with kraken; the club actually did damage, and the TP gain was a nice second benefit more than the main reason to offhand it.

[Thorny]

B skill vs A skill, but WAR has aggressor and berserk to compensate.. PLD WS damage is pretty meh. I really doubt it beats joy/justice or GS on anything above EM, though merits in club or sword would largely effect it.

[avelle]

Honestly, I have a feeling that if a sword/kc pld (non relic) topped an exp parse, the other DD's were garbage.

[Panthera]

Given that after 55, when jobs start getting their big weapon skills (Rampage, Sidewinder, etc) DDs get the hate and do much of the tanking, DD pld makes good sense. A defensive build doesn't buy much when you don't have hate. Haubergion, Spike Earrings, etc, and try subbing nin! DDing with defender doesn't make much sense, and tanking with berserk is insane! just sub ninja like everyone else.