PLD Gear Advice. Please assist

[UnasCarter]

Hey all, first post so take it easy on me… it’s pretty long.

Just a couple of points before I ask for your help:
1) To those who may reply, “WAR is better, blah, blah… don’t waste your time, blah”. I have WAR 50 with full AF (and a crappy Buccaneer’s Bardiche), it’s just I got a Giantsgall Longsword from a Skirmish so decided to build a PLD set first, seeing as I had a viable endgame weapon. And… Pally’s more fun to play anyway!
2) I realise, ultimately, I will need several situational sets/pieces. Right now I’m trying to build a base set, to which I will add pieces as and when possible.
3) I went +23 MND/ +22 STR on my point allotment; this said I’d prefer this didn’t turn into a VIT/ DEF/ HP/ whatever discussion.

Below is my current gear and added materia, the materia in (brackets) is what I plan on adding. There are also a couple of items listed I plan on upgrading to, marked by >>, when I can. Also, and obviously I’ll be looking towards Sentinel gear or at least +1 Cobalt, eventually.

MH: Giantsgall Longsword (Heavens Eye IV)
OH: Thormoen’s Purpose >> VKS +1 (Bloodwall IV)
HEAD: Cobalt Celata with 1 x MND IV (MND IV) (MND IV)
BODY: Cobalt Cuirass with 1x Bloodwall IV (Bloodwall IV) (Bloodwall IV)
HANDS: Gallant Gauntlets >> Sentinel’s Gauntlets (???) (???)
WAIST: Cobalt Plate Belt (Touch of Rage II) (Touch of Rage III)
LEGS: Felt Trousers with 1 x Ironman’s Will IV (Ironmans Will IV)
FEET: Cobalt Sabatons with 1 x Bloodthirst III (Bloodthirst IV)

EARS: Pearl Earrings >> Stonewall Earrings
NECK: Stonewall Choker >> Militia Choker
WRISTS: Coral Armillae +1
Raptorskin Wristbands
FINGERS: Rubellite Ring x 2
Electrum Ring x 2

I’m looking for general opinions on this build and specific advice as to the materia I should attach to my Giantsgall Longsword, and gloves once I’ve purchased them. My original plan was to go for sword + Heavens Eye IV (for safety, not wanting to double meld as I can’t really afford to lose this sword). This would give me +26 ACC (sword), +30 ACC (2 x Electrum Rings), and negligible ACC on a couple other pieces, totalling approx +60 ACC. Will this be sufficient for “hard to hit” endgame content, or will I need +ACC gloves as well? I had imagined double melding +STR to gloves, but I’m now a little unsure.

I’m open to all advice on this build, particularly with regards to sword and gloves materia.

[Brannigan]

Here we go again.


Don't bother with the Vintage Kite +1, just get a Kite +1 (or NQ) with HP or defense or whatever. ARR is coming so don't make any huge investments for triple melds or double melded sentinel gear or whatever. Gil will have value even after ARR launches, but materia might be worse compared to new drops (hopefully anyway). Honestly you could even just go for mostly militia pieces and be set. The hands/boots/body/helm are all common enough, just forget about the trousers.

As far as your accuracy goes it really depends on what exactly you're trying to hit. Curtana/Explorer's Choker/HQ Electrum ring x2 still gives me misses on Nael+ and Ifrit Extreme, but is overkill for stuff like Miser's Mistress and Chimera.

Also what company are you? The Adders and Maelstrom swords are mostly worth using. Flame Sergeant Sash is worth keeping around also.

[UnasCarter]

I know I'm sorry, I have trawled this forum for info on my build and realise there are several threads of this type. There is such a huge ammount of information/data available, it's difficult to process it all. I tried to be specific as to the advice I was particulary interested in, to glean advice aimed specifically towards my build. Thanks for the quick reply and ideas anyway, will look into this.

I'm Flames btw.

[Sounsyy]

Your Giantsgall Longsword with accIV materia is probably one of the better sword options you can have at the moment until you get Relic. It has pretty high dps, mind, and if you buff it up to 25-30 acc with a 15-20 heaven's eye, there's no reason you need to switch to moogle. If you can get Garuda, that's probably better for situational purposes, namely lots of trash mobs or clearing dungeons then swap back to Giantsgall when you got to boss unless you have enmity troubles.

I agree with Brannigan on the shield. VKS vs. KS comes out pretty even. I wouldn't waste a lot of gil, but I've seen a lot of good shields being sold way under priced, so keep your eyes on the markets.

For your cobalt pieces, I would go Militia on the chest and feet over what you've got currently. Sentinel Sabatons are another good option for feet piece over cobalt, just stick a 65+ hp materia on it. The head is good, try to find a celata that has 30-50 mind on it. Again, people have been way undercutting prices on the 30 mind helms lately, so you can probably pick up one real cheap if you're paying attention. Work your way up to a 50 mind. Your cobalt/sentinel hands, I would put STR on. You've got more than enough accuracy with your Giantsgall and Electrum rings for most everything. On fights you're lacking, you have acc food and acc song. No point in 110% accuracy if you're not doing any damage.

Everything else looks good! Good job on reading the pld forums and not being afraid to post anyways. I will add though because someone else is going to say it... eventually you are going to want to get some HDL/DL pieces. Of these pieces, I would recommend looking into HDL Armor, HDL Gauntlets, DL Cuirass, and DL Sollerets as these pieces have some of the better stats in slot(again situational of course) for both your PLD and WAR. I'd also try to get Militia Trousers, but that's just me. I think they're a great piece and I love mine, but Felt Trousers with Ironman's Will will do just fine until you can get something better.

[UnasCarter]

Thank you, great reply and exactly what I was looking for. I'll look into the pieces when I log on shortly.

[Molly_Millions]

I just wanted to reiterate what Sounsyy said; get some good STR gloves. In addition, I highly recommend a cobalt celata with 40 or more MND, not just 30. Really, the same can be said for the gloves, go for 40+. The added dmg will do a lot to help you hold hate.

The cheapest and easiest way to get 40+ MND or STR is to get a tier II for +10 (8 or less will not do), a tier III for +15 (less that that will cost you on the tier IV) and any tier IV. Your chances of success will be higher than two tier IIIs and a IV.

[SwordCoheir]

Bran and Sounsyy pretty much summed up my thoughts more or less. You have a good build going, and though I love my VKS +1 for my DD setup it is often overpriced so unless you already have one I wouldn't invest too much into it.

[UnasCarter]

Thank you for the input.

I made a little progress with my build last night, my sabatons blew up on attempted second meld, so I settled on buying a ready melded pair from the wards for 99k. They have tier IV Bloodthirst on at +65, so this was an unreal price for my server considering the piece and HP IV materia (which is around 118k atm!).

My Celata blew up too! (Back to wearing the Coronet for a day I guess.) I'm going to follow the model outlined in Molly Millions' post and go tier II, then III, then IV. That said I bought a pair of Cobalt Gauntlets and successfully added tier II and tier III STR, for a total +23. I'll only hit +40 or +41 with the final meld but that'll do, right? Going to enjoy these for a while, while grinding 10k leves and waiting for items to sell at the wards.

I really appreciate the advice, your replies have helped me focus my ideas for my build direction. The point you all reiterated about spending needless Gil hit home too! No Kite +1's on the wards atm but I'm on the look out.

[Molly_Millions]

Absolutely, 41 STR makes for a VERY nice set of gloves. That's what i've got currently. It's important to mention that although hq is more expensive, it has a higher success rate for melding. If you aren't a 50 min, perhaps you could persuade one to help you with the hq cobalt in order to make several sets to get what you need. Even though it can be costly to get triple melded pieces, they really are worth it in the end.

[Brannigan]

I really appreciate the advice, your replies have helped me focus my ideas for my build direction. The point you all reiterated about spending needless Gil hit home too! No Kite +1's on the wards atm but I'm on the look out.

Going for triples at this point in the game is spending needless gil. You can do all the content in the game in single melds. Doubles make it a little easier. Triples (especially a tier-2 materia triple) make only a small difference. What are you planning to actually do with this gear in the month and a half before shutdown?