Greatguardian
06-21-2011, 06:41 AM
The following is a guide thread that I wrote for my linkshell in early 2010.
While I will start off by stating that I fully realize the relative uselessness of the Paladin job class, and how generally outdated the specific information in this post has become, I nonetheless believe that it contains information inherent to the fundamental workings of the game that would be beneficial to those who are not already aware.
The general message of this guide can be applied to every job in the game. Enmity mechanics are important for practically everybody, and are a widely misunderstood concept. Working as part of a team is a fundamental principle of FFXI play. And, frankly, I'd like to be able answer the people who say that I've "contributed nothing" in my 1400+ posts on this forum.
Without further ado:
Unlike many jobs in the Final Fantasy XI Universe, whose primary roles and functions have not changed since dinosaurs walked the Earth and Furionstormrage was learning to tie his shoes, the role, the function, and the execution of the Paladin class are extremely dynamic things. Tried and true strategies from 2008 are considered woefully out of date by 2009. Armor that was the bees knees in January is useless by April.
For this reason, I thought I would write up a short narrative about Paladin's current role in endgame and how it accomplishes this role today. I would like to point out that at no point will I be going into Paladin functions below level 75. Exp Paladin is extremely different from Endgame Paladin in most cases, and what you're expected to do depends greatly on who else is in your party.
Part 1: Enmity
Knowing and understanding the Enmity system is the foundation of any good Endgame Paladin. Rumor, conjecture, and misunderstanding surrounding the Enmity system lead to a large majority of gaffes on the part of both experienced and inexperienced Paladins alike. So, how does it work?
Enmity is quantified into units and divided into two categories, VE and CE. Just about every action in the game has a set "Base Enmity" value, which is divided into VE and CE itself. For example, the Warrior Ability Provoke nets 1,800 units of VE and 1 unit of CE for the player on the target monster. The Ranger Ability Barrage, because it affects the Rng itself, nets 600 units of VE and 1 unit of CE towards the Ranger for *Every monster for which the Ranger is on the hate list*.
Before I go any further I should probably explain a few things from that last paragraph. Firstly, what do VE and CE stand for and what do those numbers represent? VE stands for Volatile Enmity. Volatile Enmity is volatile because it naturally decays over time. Namely, VE will drop by 60 units every second. However, VE also tends to be easier to gain in large quantities than its counterpart, CE. CE stands for Cumulative Enmity. Cumulative Enmity does not decay over time, however it is lost whenever an enemy deals damage to you.
CE can be harder to raise, but once it is capped it does wonders for holding the attention of the monster. The units used above are not named, but are consistent in value. CE and VE *Each* reach a hard cap at 10,000 units. This means that the maximum Total Enmity (TE) any player can possess with respect to any particular monster is 20,000 units. 1 Unit of CE is worth *Exactly the same* as 1 Unit of VE.
Now, you may be asking yourself, "If CE never decays unless I get hit, and VE only drops at 60 points per second, is it possible for me to sit at 20,000 Enmity indefinitely as long as I get the VE back consistently and don't get hit?" The answer is an emphatic Yes! 60 VE per second extrapolates into 1800 VE every 30 seconds in order to maintain your current level of VE. This isn't as much as it may seem. As we saw above, 1800 VE is actually the base value of Provoke. In most cases, Paladins will be able to gain far more VE than the value of 1 provoke every 30 seconds.
Now, what about this Enmity+ equipment? How does that work? Well, it's rather simple really. Because Enmity is quantified for every action in the game (that is, it's a set number), Enmity+ effects and equipment simply add to that number. Or, rather, they multiply it! A character with a total of Enmity+50 will gain 50% MORE Enmity *Per action* than a character with Enmity+0.
For example, Flash has a base value of 1,280 VE and 180 CE. With +50 Enmity, a Flash would net you 1920 VE and 270 CE! Enmity- gear and effects work in exactly the same fashion. A character with Enmity-50 would net 640 VE and 90 CE from Flash. Enmity+ Effects and equipment hard cap at +100, the value provided during Sentinel, meaning the most Enmity you can gain per action is twice its base amount. Likewise, Enmity+ effects have absolutely no effect when no actions are being taken. 150% of 0 is still 0.
I'm going to take a minute to set out a few bullet points for important facts about Enmity that come in handy.
- Curing a Player will net you both CE and VE, based on both the amount cured and the level of the player being cured. You gain MORE Enmity curing a level 30 player for 500HP than curing a level 60 player for 500HP.
- Dealing Damage will net you both CE and VE based on how much damage is dealt and the level of the Monster being damaged. You gain more Enmity doing 500 damage to a level 30 monster than dealing 500 damage to a level 60 monster. The type of damage being inflicted (melee, magic, ranged, WS, whatever) has absolutely no effect on the amount of Enmity generated.
- Simply zoning or logging does not always necessarily reset your hate. In order for your hate to be reset with respect to any given monster, that monster has to actually look for you and not find you.
- The player with hate on any given monster at any given time is always the player with the highest Total Enmity value with respect to that monster. Having 10,000 VE and 500 CE is exactly the same as having 6,000 VE and 4,500 CE.
- If you perform an action which would bring you over the Enmity cap (Ie: Sentinel + Invincible, a total of 15,800 VE), you will only ever gain Enmity up to the 10,000 point cap. 1 second after using Sentinel+Invincible, your VE would drop to 9,940.
- All Enmity values and hate lists are specific to one and only one monster. In order to get on a monster's hate list, you must perform some sort of action against it. In this case, performing an action for its enemies constitutes the same thing. Curing or buffing a player who is on a monster's hate list will put you onto that monster's hate list as well.
- Self target abilities and spells, or abilities and spells targeted on other players will elicit Enmity from all monsters for whom the target of the spell or ability is on the hate list. For example, if a Paladin is on 10 Flamingo's hate lists and cures himself, the Enmity for that cure is applied to all of them.
- All monster hate lists are completely independent, and as such Enmity is never "divided" between monsters. If you perform an action on yourself which nets you 1,000 VE and two monsters have you on their hate list, you will gain 1,000 VE with respect to both monsters. That said, if you perform an action *on* any one of the monsters, ie: Flash, it will not affect the Enmity values of any other monsters.
- The "claimer", or first person to perform an action on a monster will receive extra Enmity equal to 200 VE.
- The amount of CE lost when taking damage IS affected by both the player's Max HP and Enmity+/- gear. In fact, taking damage with Enmity+ gear on causes you to lose MORE Enmity. The higher your Max HP is, the less Enmity you lose when being hit for the same amount of damage. A player with 1500HP being hit for 200 damage loses more CE than a player with 2000 HP being hit for 200 damage.
- *IN GENERAL*, Job Abilities only add large chunks of VE, while spells add larger chunks of CE. For exact values of spell and ability base Enmity, please check the link below.
Last but not least, the source of pretty much all reliable Enmity-related information anywhere, here is a link to Kaeko's blog: Kanican Livejournal (http://kanican.livejournal.com/tag/enmity%20table!)
The above link contains Enmity lists and charts for the base Enmity value of every action in the game. It is well worth a read or twelve.
Part 2: Spells and Actions
Now that we know that Enmity is added and subtracted based the actions of ourselves and the monster, the next step for us is to ask what we should do to get the most out of each action we take.
Cures:
Cures are an important part of the Paladin's repertoire. In a situation where the Paladin has proper support (ie: plenty of refresh ticks coming in), they are going to want to avoid letting their MP get too high. The easiest way to burn off extra MP is to cure someone, whether it's yourself, your co-tank, or members of your alliance who have taken damage (though be careful to avoid pissing off Sorc Ring Blms and Minstrel Ring Brds). For situations where people simply aren't taking damage, it is highly recommended that every Endgame Paladin have at least 2 different "Cure Cheats".
A Cure Cheat is a set of equipment swaps which serve to lower the Paladin's Max HP, and then raise it up, allowing the Paladin to cure themselves back to full. I recommend having both a Cure 3 Cheat and a Cure 4 cheat for this. In general, Cure 3 cheats require significantly less HP gear to use and thus allow you to pump more Enmity+ gear into the cast, thus giving Cure 3 a higher Enmity:MP ratio. However, at times where your Enmity+ is capped, ie: during Sentinel, the Enmity+ gear you're wearing won't matter at all, so you're free to use a Cure 4 cheat using significantly more HP affecting gear and still get increased results. Because Sentinel is only active for 30 seconds, you are going to want to pack as much punch into each Cure as possible while it is up.
For both cure cheats, and standard cures, you are going to have 2 primary focuses from a gear standpoint. The first is Enmity+ values. Because cures cast relatively fast and have such a short recast, Haste and Fast Cast are not a major concern with these spells. You will want to gain as much Enmity per MP spent as possible. The second is Cure Potency values. I say this with one particular piece of gear in mind, and that is the Hospitaler Earring. Cure Potency +5% in a slot with limited Enmity options is a nice and woefully overlooked boon to both cure cheats and standard cure sets.
Flash:
Flash is the lifeblood action of Endgame Paladins. If your Flash recast is up and you're not casting it, something is wrong. That said, gearing for Flash can be tricky business. A quick, general, non-optimized rule of thumb for Flash is Quantity over Quality. Casting flash more often tends to outweigh casting "better" flashes from an Enmity standpoint. This is due to both practical factors (being able to adjust your Enmity more freely), and mathematical factors (VE decay). If you have the option of equipping either Haste/Fast Cast or Enmity in a slot, you are most likely going to be better off with the Haste. The biggest exception to this rule, however, is when your Spell Recast is already capped.
All spell recasts hard cap at -50%. Spell has a base recast of 45 seconds, thus you will never, ever be able to cast it more often than every 22 seconds. In a solo situation, or when your only form of additional Haste is the Haste Spell, this is generally not a problem as it is impossible for Paladin to hit -50% Recast with that level of support (25% cap on gear, don't even think that's attainable anyways, 15% Spell, 3.5% Fast Cast Recast Reduction is 43.5% under optimum conditions).
However, when you start adding Marches to the picture, hitting 50%+ Haste isn't so hard any more. An "Average" Double March is +20% Haste (11% March2, 9% March1), and stronger bards can hit 21% Haste. Added to the Haste spell, that gives you 35% Haste before gear is added into the equation. If your gear is limited and you are unable to reach +15% Haste anyways, then this is a non-issue. However, if your original Flash set has over 15% recast reduction in it, you are going to be wasting some of that haste when under these buffs.
For this reason, it can be prudent to simply have 2 flash sets. The first for when you are not capped on haste, which focuses primarily on Haste, with Enmity in every non-Haste slot. The second for when you are capped on Haste, where you limit your gear to only 15% Recast reduction, and add in Enmity in the slots where you gave up Haste. For example, in my Capped Haste Flash set, I swap out Walahra Turban for Bahamut's Mask because it has the best ratio of Enmity to Haste in slots where I could swap the two and maintain capped recast.
In general, Haste first, Enmity second. Hybrid pieces like Homam Manopolas are awesome when their haste values match their non-hybrid alternatives, but I recommend against giving up Haste for a hybrid piece. Haste+3 Enmity+3 will not beat Haste+5 with uncapped haste, for example.
Rampart:
One of Paladin's more interesting and technical Utility abilities, there are two main ways to use Rampart. First and most common, Rampart is used as an Enmity gain tool. In this case, you are going to want to gear for as much Enmity+ in every slot as possible. Keep in mind when using Rampart that the Enmity you gain for the ability is directly dependent on how many people are hit by it. Rampart gives you 300VE *per person* that it hits. If you're only hitting yourself, it isn't going to do much for you. If you're hitting your whole party, however, you gain a nice chunk of VE. This use of Rampart is rather straightforward and shouldn't need much more explanation.
However, Rampart can also be used as a defensive tool. While the Defense Bonus it endows players is meager at best, it is the Magic Shield effect which can make Rampart shine in this regard. When a Paladin uses Rampart, he and everyone hit by the JA gain a "Magic Stoneskin" which absorbs incoming Magic-Based attacks. Unlike regular stoneskin, however, the amount of damage (or Potency) of Magic Shield is not determined by MND or Enhancing magic, but instead by the PLD's VIT at the time Rampart is used.
To be precise, HP Absorbed = VIT x 2. When using Rampart for its Magic Shield effect, you are going to want to pump as much VIT as possible into it. Anywhere VIT isn't being added, Enmity+ is always a nice touch. If you have a Valor Coronet, it can be rather useful in this regard as it extends the duration of Rampart (and thus Magic Shield) from 30 seconds to 45 seconds. Note that you do not have to keep your VIT gear on after Rampart is used to maintain potency.
I highly recommend having both of these sets if at all possible, in order to allow yourself to adapt to different fights and situations. However, if you had to pick one and only one, I would definitely make an Enmity+ Rampart set.
Shield Bash
It Stuns. It generates Enmity. What more could any Paladin ask for? Gear for as much Enmity+ as possible for this ability. Equipment like Valor Gauntlets and Knightly Earring increase the chance and duration of a successful stun. Fenian Ring and Aegis increase the damage dealt by Shield Bash.
Sentinel
Arguably Paladin's most useful Job Ability, the boon of Sentinel is twofold. Firstly, on use Sentinel will create and degrading -90% Physical Damage Taken effect on the player. This ability will scale down to -40% Physical Damage Taken over 30 seconds until it wears off. If Valor Leggings (Feet) are equipped when Sentinel is used, that becomes -100% PDT scaling down to -50%. Note that Sentinel does not affect magic damage taken at all.
What really makes Sentinel shine, however, is the fact that it grants the player +100 Enmity for the entire duration of its effect. Yes, that's right. All of your actions will gain Double Enmity while under the effect of Sentinel. Make sure to abuse the hell out of this. It is possible to pair other abilities up with Sentinel to double their Enmity gain as well. For example, using Sentinel and then immediately using Shield Bash will cause your Bash to give you 3,600 VE. What's more, the act of Using sentinel itself is worth a whopping 1,800 VE. For this reason, I recommend equipping Max Enmity+ gear for the *actual usage* of Sentinel, even though this gear will have no effect while Sentinel is active.
Divine Emblem
A new addition to the Paladin's repertoire, Divine Emblem enhances the Accuracy and Enmity of the next divine magic spell cast. For general use, this is mainly a "Super Flash" button. It is possible to gain more Enmity via Holy or Banish II than Flash, but only if you were to deal over 250-300 damage depending on the mob level. The higher level the mob, the more damage would be required. Because most Paladins do not have a nuking set, this tends to be unrealistic. The neat thing about Divine Emblem is that its +50 Enmity is actually added separately from other Enmity+ equipment and effects and thus stacks.
For example, a player with +50 enmity in gear and Animus Augeo (+20 Enmity) will not have to worry about hitting the +100 cap when using Divine Emblem. Instead of being added together (70+50 = 120) and thus hitting the +100 Enmity cap, you end up with base Enmity * 1.7 * 1.5, effectively giving you +155 Enmity in this scenario. Use it religiously.
Utsusemi: Ichi
Shadows are good. Being interrupted while casting is not. Ichi is a rather straightforward spell and hasn't changed overly much in the past 3-4 years. Equip all the Shield Skill+ and Spell Interruption Rate-% gear you have for it.
I highly recommend practicing timing your Ichi casts in order to avoid interruption. In all enemies that double/triple/octuple attack, while the animation shows the hits occurring back to back, they actually all hit your character at the moment that the first hit lands. Because of this, it seems a lot harder than it really is to properly cast Ichi when fighting these monsters. For all intents and purposes, you can ignore all but the First hit in any attack round when dealing with interruption. Spells are allowed to go uninterrupted *Even when the Player is hit* as long as the hit occurs during the first second or less of the spell casting.
Being hit in the middle or end of a cast will almost always interrupt you. For this reason it's incredibly helpful to work on getting a "feel" for the rhythm of monsters as they attack. Judge their weapon delay, and use it to your advantage. Whenever possible, you will want to start casting longer spells like Ichi *Just Before* a monster attacks you.
Utsusemi: Ni
Haste. Haste and lots of it. Fast Cast where you can get it. This is an awesome spell and you are going to want it up as often as possible. Need I say more?
Atonement
A peculiar weaponskill, the only modifiers to Atonement's damage are your current TP and your values of CE and VE on the targeted monster. Because of this, Paladins are free to equip whatever gear they want during Atonement and still deal the same amount of damage. Of course, what gear could we possibly want on for it but Enmity+? While it's true that Enmity+ gear during Atonement will not affect the damage dealt at all, it will affect the amount of Enmity you receive for *Dealing* said damage, thus making your subsequent Atonements more powerful and, of course, netting you extra Enmity.
Part 3: Idling
Of course, you can't always be performing some sort of action against a monster. There will be times when you're not casting anything at all. There are two primary forms of Idling, Defensive Idling where you are trying to mitigate as much damage as possible, and Offensive Idling where you are trying to deal as much damage as possible.
In most cases, in this stage of the game, Defensive Idling is wholly unnecessary with proper support and Paladins are free to use an Offensive Idle, resulting in higher damage output and higher Enmity gain. An Offensive Idle should focus on 3 things in descending order, Haste, Accuracy, and Attack. Haste is amazing, period. There is no reason not to swing faster in an Offensive Idle. Despite the fact that the level cap increase has made Accuracy a bit less useful for most jobs (as we have plenty of it now), it still retains importance in a Paladin's TP set due to Atonement's peculiar nature.
While our TP damage may be slightly lowered by giving up Attack for Accuracy, the increased TP gain and thus WS damage more than makes up for it. Attack is less important than Haste, but it cannot be forgotten regardless. Attack is the stat which has the most direct impact on the dreaded "Hits for 0". For the record, having a low Weapon Damage rating will almost never cause this. If you are hitting for 0, it is most likely your attack rating causing the problem and not your sword.
Haubergeons are good. Unfortunately, full perle is now better unless you have Dusk Gloves +1 or a +4 Haste hand equivalent. It's ugly as shit, but Full Perle will beat out a Turban/Haub+1/Homamx3 combo. Joyeuse is amazing. I believe that the Occasionally Attacks 2-3 times sword from Trials of the Magians has outdone it for Atonement now, however. Gearing a Paladin for Offensive Idle is just like gearing a regular DD job.
Defensive Idles can still come in handy, however. Any time where you are unable to directly engage a monster, find yourself unable to deal damage, or plain taking way too much damage, you should switch over to your Defensive Idle set in order to mitigate as much damage as possible.
Defensive Idles tend to focus on your best overall damage mitigation over time, rather than directly mitigating the impact of a single move, and thus focus heavily on shield skill. Shield may not be super reliable in the sense that if it doesn't proc it's done nothing for you, but over time it will mitigate a significant amount of damage. AF+1 Feet, Koenig Schaller, Boxer's Mantle, Shield Torque, and Buckler's Earring are great choices for a Defensive Idle build.
Gear with large amounts of HP+ are also very nice here, as are pieces with Physical Damage Taken -%. Jelly Ring is a bit of a mixed bag in this regard. I personally do not like to idle in Jelly Ring ever, and instead reserve it for my Oh-Shit set. However, armor like the Darksteel Harness +1 set are excellent choices for a negating damage.
*There is Absolutely No Reason to Ever create a Hybrid Idle set*. I cannot stress this enough. When a Paladin runs around in a Turban and a Valor Surcoat, or a Koenig Schaller with their Haub+1, they are hurting more than helping themselves. Getting a little bit of offense and a little bit of defense leaves you with not enough of either of them to either deal worthwhile damage or mitigate a worthwhile amount of damage. Avoid this at all costs.
Part 4: Terror, Ohshit, and Magic Defense sets
Now, suppose a Paladin is not performing any actions, yet they are in a situation where they need protection greater than their Idle set can provide them. This is where Terror, Oh-Shit, and Magic Defense sets come into play.
The first and most commonly used of these sets is the Oh-Shit set. Oh-Shit sets are generally used when a Paladin is out of shadows with recasts down, or has low HP. They emphasize Shield skill, Defense, and -PDT, ditching even max HP in order to make sure that next attack lands for as little damage as possible. Jelly Ring, Darksteel +1, Shield Skill+ gear, lay it all down here. This is the set you switch into when you have nothing else to turn to.
Similar in most every way to the Oh-Shit set, you have its cousin the Terror set. Terror sets are used when a Paladin is Stunned, Slept, or Terrorized without protection from attacks. The biggest difference between this set and the Oh-Shit set is the fact that Paladins cannot Shield Block while they are Stunned, Terrored, or otherwise incapacitated. The same tenets apply, however all Shield Skill+ gear should be ditched here in favor of as much -PDT as possible.
Finally, you have the Magic Defense set. In order to best understand how Magic Damage works, I'll lay out a few facts first:
- Magic Damage Taken -% Caps at -50%, including Shell. Shell is a static amount of MDT -% based on the tier of the spell.
- Magic Defense Bonus and Magic Damage Taken -% are *Independent attributes*. Having 45% MDT-% and 5 MDB will not put you at -50% MDT.
- Magic Damage Taken -% has what are called Increasing Returns, that is the more of it you have, the more damage is reduced by each point of MDT. Going from 45%-50% reduces more damage than going from 0%-5%.
- Magic Defense Bonus has what are called Decreasing Returns, that is the more of it you have, the *less* damage is reduced by each point of MDB. For this reason, we tend to focus on capping MDT first and foremost, and adding MDB second.
That said, Magic Defense sets are really rather simple. Shell V will reduce Magic Damage Taken by -24%, -27% if you have a WHM with 5/5 Shellra V. For this reason it's often best for a PLD to shoot for around 25% or 26% in Magic Damage Taken -% gear.
In a Defensive setting, where you really don't care about TP very much, Iron Ram Lance makes this extremely easy to reach with a bit of Coral gear. This cap is a bit harder to touch in an Offensive setting where you don't want to lose your TP, but it is doable. Until MDT is capped, you should almost always use MDT over Magic Defense Bonus in just about any slot. After MDT is capped, feel free to add in as much MDB as possible in free slots.
Part 5: Advanced Tactics
Section 1: Co-Tanking
Another reason why the Paladin job, or rather any Tanking Class, tends to be more technical than normal is the fact that Tanks typically work in pairs. No two people are the same. People don't gear the same way. They don't think the same way. They don't react the same way. Hell, they may not even be on the same job. But the single most important part of tanking in a 2-tank scenario is cooperating with your co-tank. *Tanking Is Not A Competition*. Being able to hold hate the whole fight does not make one tank better than another.
Granted, it is generally extremely helpful to have two tanks of roughly equal skill levels tanking to avoid situations like that. However, regardless of who you're paired up with, communicating and functioning properly with your co-tank is your key to survival. A Paladin needs to be able to lose hate when they need to. An ideal scenario has both paladins at or around capped hate. But at any other time, you are going to want your Enmity level to be about equal with your partner whenever possible.
Rely on your co-tank. Heal your co-tank when they are injured. Drop hate to your co-tank when you're in danger. Respect your co-tank, and Respect your support crew. Ask for specific spells nicely, use please and thank you whenever you are able. If a hectic fight prevents you from typing much, that's one thing. Building a bad relationship with your mages, however, is a sure way to run into trouble down the line.
Section 2: Kiting in Pairs
Kiting as a solo tank is fairly easy. You run away from the mob. You try not to get hit. You win. However, these dynamics change a bit when you have two people kiting together.
When you're kiting with a co-tank, you will always, always want to establish a kiting route with them before a fight ever starts. Two people trying to peel off in different directions is only going to cause a lot of trouble and confusion for the rest of the group. After a kite path has been properly laid out and both tanks know exactly what's going on, including what direction they will be running in, then it is safe to spawn or pull the monster. If at all possible, you want to avoid running a monster backwards along a kite path. Doing so can wreak havoc on the DDs trying to tail the mob, as well as put the other tank completely out of casting range.
It is often unavoidable, however, to end up behind the monster after casting a spell while your partner has hate. So then, how does one avoid turning the monster around while still getting back into the fight to help their co-tank?
Let's say your kite path looks a little something like this:
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj142/Greatguardian/Kite1.jpg
The black dots represent trees, while the red line represents the established kite path and direction.
Now, if you were to cast Flash on the monster at this point and still stay on the kite path, you end up with one of two situations.
Scenario 1: You cast Flash and run Towards the monster to continue going the correct direction on the kite path:
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj142/Greatguardian/Kite2.jpg
The monster ends up eating you alive as you run past it, while your co-tank is too far away to help you.
Scenario 2: You cast Flash and run Away from the monster, going to opposite direction on the kite path:
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj142/Greatguardian/Kite3.jpg
You get away from the monster, but your Co-Tank ends up in the exact same situation you were in 5 minutes ago. Not a good idea.
Instead, you're going to want to hold off on getting hate back and do something like this:
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj142/Greatguardian/Kite4.jpg
And then cast Flash and get hate back when you're here:
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj142/Greatguardian/Kite5.jpg
This way you and your co-tank are both back in front of the mob, able to share hate and kite effectively.
Maintaining the integrity of your kite path becomes more and more important around NMs which use Conic and Area of Effect attacks. The Damage Dealers and Black Mages will only be able to properly arrange themselves if they can depend on the monster to be going in the right direction at the right time. Wild and wacky kiting leads to unnecessary damage and deaths throughout the alliance.
While I will start off by stating that I fully realize the relative uselessness of the Paladin job class, and how generally outdated the specific information in this post has become, I nonetheless believe that it contains information inherent to the fundamental workings of the game that would be beneficial to those who are not already aware.
The general message of this guide can be applied to every job in the game. Enmity mechanics are important for practically everybody, and are a widely misunderstood concept. Working as part of a team is a fundamental principle of FFXI play. And, frankly, I'd like to be able answer the people who say that I've "contributed nothing" in my 1400+ posts on this forum.
Without further ado:
Unlike many jobs in the Final Fantasy XI Universe, whose primary roles and functions have not changed since dinosaurs walked the Earth and Furionstormrage was learning to tie his shoes, the role, the function, and the execution of the Paladin class are extremely dynamic things. Tried and true strategies from 2008 are considered woefully out of date by 2009. Armor that was the bees knees in January is useless by April.
For this reason, I thought I would write up a short narrative about Paladin's current role in endgame and how it accomplishes this role today. I would like to point out that at no point will I be going into Paladin functions below level 75. Exp Paladin is extremely different from Endgame Paladin in most cases, and what you're expected to do depends greatly on who else is in your party.
Part 1: Enmity
Knowing and understanding the Enmity system is the foundation of any good Endgame Paladin. Rumor, conjecture, and misunderstanding surrounding the Enmity system lead to a large majority of gaffes on the part of both experienced and inexperienced Paladins alike. So, how does it work?
Enmity is quantified into units and divided into two categories, VE and CE. Just about every action in the game has a set "Base Enmity" value, which is divided into VE and CE itself. For example, the Warrior Ability Provoke nets 1,800 units of VE and 1 unit of CE for the player on the target monster. The Ranger Ability Barrage, because it affects the Rng itself, nets 600 units of VE and 1 unit of CE towards the Ranger for *Every monster for which the Ranger is on the hate list*.
Before I go any further I should probably explain a few things from that last paragraph. Firstly, what do VE and CE stand for and what do those numbers represent? VE stands for Volatile Enmity. Volatile Enmity is volatile because it naturally decays over time. Namely, VE will drop by 60 units every second. However, VE also tends to be easier to gain in large quantities than its counterpart, CE. CE stands for Cumulative Enmity. Cumulative Enmity does not decay over time, however it is lost whenever an enemy deals damage to you.
CE can be harder to raise, but once it is capped it does wonders for holding the attention of the monster. The units used above are not named, but are consistent in value. CE and VE *Each* reach a hard cap at 10,000 units. This means that the maximum Total Enmity (TE) any player can possess with respect to any particular monster is 20,000 units. 1 Unit of CE is worth *Exactly the same* as 1 Unit of VE.
Now, you may be asking yourself, "If CE never decays unless I get hit, and VE only drops at 60 points per second, is it possible for me to sit at 20,000 Enmity indefinitely as long as I get the VE back consistently and don't get hit?" The answer is an emphatic Yes! 60 VE per second extrapolates into 1800 VE every 30 seconds in order to maintain your current level of VE. This isn't as much as it may seem. As we saw above, 1800 VE is actually the base value of Provoke. In most cases, Paladins will be able to gain far more VE than the value of 1 provoke every 30 seconds.
Now, what about this Enmity+ equipment? How does that work? Well, it's rather simple really. Because Enmity is quantified for every action in the game (that is, it's a set number), Enmity+ effects and equipment simply add to that number. Or, rather, they multiply it! A character with a total of Enmity+50 will gain 50% MORE Enmity *Per action* than a character with Enmity+0.
For example, Flash has a base value of 1,280 VE and 180 CE. With +50 Enmity, a Flash would net you 1920 VE and 270 CE! Enmity- gear and effects work in exactly the same fashion. A character with Enmity-50 would net 640 VE and 90 CE from Flash. Enmity+ Effects and equipment hard cap at +100, the value provided during Sentinel, meaning the most Enmity you can gain per action is twice its base amount. Likewise, Enmity+ effects have absolutely no effect when no actions are being taken. 150% of 0 is still 0.
I'm going to take a minute to set out a few bullet points for important facts about Enmity that come in handy.
- Curing a Player will net you both CE and VE, based on both the amount cured and the level of the player being cured. You gain MORE Enmity curing a level 30 player for 500HP than curing a level 60 player for 500HP.
- Dealing Damage will net you both CE and VE based on how much damage is dealt and the level of the Monster being damaged. You gain more Enmity doing 500 damage to a level 30 monster than dealing 500 damage to a level 60 monster. The type of damage being inflicted (melee, magic, ranged, WS, whatever) has absolutely no effect on the amount of Enmity generated.
- Simply zoning or logging does not always necessarily reset your hate. In order for your hate to be reset with respect to any given monster, that monster has to actually look for you and not find you.
- The player with hate on any given monster at any given time is always the player with the highest Total Enmity value with respect to that monster. Having 10,000 VE and 500 CE is exactly the same as having 6,000 VE and 4,500 CE.
- If you perform an action which would bring you over the Enmity cap (Ie: Sentinel + Invincible, a total of 15,800 VE), you will only ever gain Enmity up to the 10,000 point cap. 1 second after using Sentinel+Invincible, your VE would drop to 9,940.
- All Enmity values and hate lists are specific to one and only one monster. In order to get on a monster's hate list, you must perform some sort of action against it. In this case, performing an action for its enemies constitutes the same thing. Curing or buffing a player who is on a monster's hate list will put you onto that monster's hate list as well.
- Self target abilities and spells, or abilities and spells targeted on other players will elicit Enmity from all monsters for whom the target of the spell or ability is on the hate list. For example, if a Paladin is on 10 Flamingo's hate lists and cures himself, the Enmity for that cure is applied to all of them.
- All monster hate lists are completely independent, and as such Enmity is never "divided" between monsters. If you perform an action on yourself which nets you 1,000 VE and two monsters have you on their hate list, you will gain 1,000 VE with respect to both monsters. That said, if you perform an action *on* any one of the monsters, ie: Flash, it will not affect the Enmity values of any other monsters.
- The "claimer", or first person to perform an action on a monster will receive extra Enmity equal to 200 VE.
- The amount of CE lost when taking damage IS affected by both the player's Max HP and Enmity+/- gear. In fact, taking damage with Enmity+ gear on causes you to lose MORE Enmity. The higher your Max HP is, the less Enmity you lose when being hit for the same amount of damage. A player with 1500HP being hit for 200 damage loses more CE than a player with 2000 HP being hit for 200 damage.
- *IN GENERAL*, Job Abilities only add large chunks of VE, while spells add larger chunks of CE. For exact values of spell and ability base Enmity, please check the link below.
Last but not least, the source of pretty much all reliable Enmity-related information anywhere, here is a link to Kaeko's blog: Kanican Livejournal (http://kanican.livejournal.com/tag/enmity%20table!)
The above link contains Enmity lists and charts for the base Enmity value of every action in the game. It is well worth a read or twelve.
Part 2: Spells and Actions
Now that we know that Enmity is added and subtracted based the actions of ourselves and the monster, the next step for us is to ask what we should do to get the most out of each action we take.
Cures:
Cures are an important part of the Paladin's repertoire. In a situation where the Paladin has proper support (ie: plenty of refresh ticks coming in), they are going to want to avoid letting their MP get too high. The easiest way to burn off extra MP is to cure someone, whether it's yourself, your co-tank, or members of your alliance who have taken damage (though be careful to avoid pissing off Sorc Ring Blms and Minstrel Ring Brds). For situations where people simply aren't taking damage, it is highly recommended that every Endgame Paladin have at least 2 different "Cure Cheats".
A Cure Cheat is a set of equipment swaps which serve to lower the Paladin's Max HP, and then raise it up, allowing the Paladin to cure themselves back to full. I recommend having both a Cure 3 Cheat and a Cure 4 cheat for this. In general, Cure 3 cheats require significantly less HP gear to use and thus allow you to pump more Enmity+ gear into the cast, thus giving Cure 3 a higher Enmity:MP ratio. However, at times where your Enmity+ is capped, ie: during Sentinel, the Enmity+ gear you're wearing won't matter at all, so you're free to use a Cure 4 cheat using significantly more HP affecting gear and still get increased results. Because Sentinel is only active for 30 seconds, you are going to want to pack as much punch into each Cure as possible while it is up.
For both cure cheats, and standard cures, you are going to have 2 primary focuses from a gear standpoint. The first is Enmity+ values. Because cures cast relatively fast and have such a short recast, Haste and Fast Cast are not a major concern with these spells. You will want to gain as much Enmity per MP spent as possible. The second is Cure Potency values. I say this with one particular piece of gear in mind, and that is the Hospitaler Earring. Cure Potency +5% in a slot with limited Enmity options is a nice and woefully overlooked boon to both cure cheats and standard cure sets.
Flash:
Flash is the lifeblood action of Endgame Paladins. If your Flash recast is up and you're not casting it, something is wrong. That said, gearing for Flash can be tricky business. A quick, general, non-optimized rule of thumb for Flash is Quantity over Quality. Casting flash more often tends to outweigh casting "better" flashes from an Enmity standpoint. This is due to both practical factors (being able to adjust your Enmity more freely), and mathematical factors (VE decay). If you have the option of equipping either Haste/Fast Cast or Enmity in a slot, you are most likely going to be better off with the Haste. The biggest exception to this rule, however, is when your Spell Recast is already capped.
All spell recasts hard cap at -50%. Spell has a base recast of 45 seconds, thus you will never, ever be able to cast it more often than every 22 seconds. In a solo situation, or when your only form of additional Haste is the Haste Spell, this is generally not a problem as it is impossible for Paladin to hit -50% Recast with that level of support (25% cap on gear, don't even think that's attainable anyways, 15% Spell, 3.5% Fast Cast Recast Reduction is 43.5% under optimum conditions).
However, when you start adding Marches to the picture, hitting 50%+ Haste isn't so hard any more. An "Average" Double March is +20% Haste (11% March2, 9% March1), and stronger bards can hit 21% Haste. Added to the Haste spell, that gives you 35% Haste before gear is added into the equation. If your gear is limited and you are unable to reach +15% Haste anyways, then this is a non-issue. However, if your original Flash set has over 15% recast reduction in it, you are going to be wasting some of that haste when under these buffs.
For this reason, it can be prudent to simply have 2 flash sets. The first for when you are not capped on haste, which focuses primarily on Haste, with Enmity in every non-Haste slot. The second for when you are capped on Haste, where you limit your gear to only 15% Recast reduction, and add in Enmity in the slots where you gave up Haste. For example, in my Capped Haste Flash set, I swap out Walahra Turban for Bahamut's Mask because it has the best ratio of Enmity to Haste in slots where I could swap the two and maintain capped recast.
In general, Haste first, Enmity second. Hybrid pieces like Homam Manopolas are awesome when their haste values match their non-hybrid alternatives, but I recommend against giving up Haste for a hybrid piece. Haste+3 Enmity+3 will not beat Haste+5 with uncapped haste, for example.
Rampart:
One of Paladin's more interesting and technical Utility abilities, there are two main ways to use Rampart. First and most common, Rampart is used as an Enmity gain tool. In this case, you are going to want to gear for as much Enmity+ in every slot as possible. Keep in mind when using Rampart that the Enmity you gain for the ability is directly dependent on how many people are hit by it. Rampart gives you 300VE *per person* that it hits. If you're only hitting yourself, it isn't going to do much for you. If you're hitting your whole party, however, you gain a nice chunk of VE. This use of Rampart is rather straightforward and shouldn't need much more explanation.
However, Rampart can also be used as a defensive tool. While the Defense Bonus it endows players is meager at best, it is the Magic Shield effect which can make Rampart shine in this regard. When a Paladin uses Rampart, he and everyone hit by the JA gain a "Magic Stoneskin" which absorbs incoming Magic-Based attacks. Unlike regular stoneskin, however, the amount of damage (or Potency) of Magic Shield is not determined by MND or Enhancing magic, but instead by the PLD's VIT at the time Rampart is used.
To be precise, HP Absorbed = VIT x 2. When using Rampart for its Magic Shield effect, you are going to want to pump as much VIT as possible into it. Anywhere VIT isn't being added, Enmity+ is always a nice touch. If you have a Valor Coronet, it can be rather useful in this regard as it extends the duration of Rampart (and thus Magic Shield) from 30 seconds to 45 seconds. Note that you do not have to keep your VIT gear on after Rampart is used to maintain potency.
I highly recommend having both of these sets if at all possible, in order to allow yourself to adapt to different fights and situations. However, if you had to pick one and only one, I would definitely make an Enmity+ Rampart set.
Shield Bash
It Stuns. It generates Enmity. What more could any Paladin ask for? Gear for as much Enmity+ as possible for this ability. Equipment like Valor Gauntlets and Knightly Earring increase the chance and duration of a successful stun. Fenian Ring and Aegis increase the damage dealt by Shield Bash.
Sentinel
Arguably Paladin's most useful Job Ability, the boon of Sentinel is twofold. Firstly, on use Sentinel will create and degrading -90% Physical Damage Taken effect on the player. This ability will scale down to -40% Physical Damage Taken over 30 seconds until it wears off. If Valor Leggings (Feet) are equipped when Sentinel is used, that becomes -100% PDT scaling down to -50%. Note that Sentinel does not affect magic damage taken at all.
What really makes Sentinel shine, however, is the fact that it grants the player +100 Enmity for the entire duration of its effect. Yes, that's right. All of your actions will gain Double Enmity while under the effect of Sentinel. Make sure to abuse the hell out of this. It is possible to pair other abilities up with Sentinel to double their Enmity gain as well. For example, using Sentinel and then immediately using Shield Bash will cause your Bash to give you 3,600 VE. What's more, the act of Using sentinel itself is worth a whopping 1,800 VE. For this reason, I recommend equipping Max Enmity+ gear for the *actual usage* of Sentinel, even though this gear will have no effect while Sentinel is active.
Divine Emblem
A new addition to the Paladin's repertoire, Divine Emblem enhances the Accuracy and Enmity of the next divine magic spell cast. For general use, this is mainly a "Super Flash" button. It is possible to gain more Enmity via Holy or Banish II than Flash, but only if you were to deal over 250-300 damage depending on the mob level. The higher level the mob, the more damage would be required. Because most Paladins do not have a nuking set, this tends to be unrealistic. The neat thing about Divine Emblem is that its +50 Enmity is actually added separately from other Enmity+ equipment and effects and thus stacks.
For example, a player with +50 enmity in gear and Animus Augeo (+20 Enmity) will not have to worry about hitting the +100 cap when using Divine Emblem. Instead of being added together (70+50 = 120) and thus hitting the +100 Enmity cap, you end up with base Enmity * 1.7 * 1.5, effectively giving you +155 Enmity in this scenario. Use it religiously.
Utsusemi: Ichi
Shadows are good. Being interrupted while casting is not. Ichi is a rather straightforward spell and hasn't changed overly much in the past 3-4 years. Equip all the Shield Skill+ and Spell Interruption Rate-% gear you have for it.
I highly recommend practicing timing your Ichi casts in order to avoid interruption. In all enemies that double/triple/octuple attack, while the animation shows the hits occurring back to back, they actually all hit your character at the moment that the first hit lands. Because of this, it seems a lot harder than it really is to properly cast Ichi when fighting these monsters. For all intents and purposes, you can ignore all but the First hit in any attack round when dealing with interruption. Spells are allowed to go uninterrupted *Even when the Player is hit* as long as the hit occurs during the first second or less of the spell casting.
Being hit in the middle or end of a cast will almost always interrupt you. For this reason it's incredibly helpful to work on getting a "feel" for the rhythm of monsters as they attack. Judge their weapon delay, and use it to your advantage. Whenever possible, you will want to start casting longer spells like Ichi *Just Before* a monster attacks you.
Utsusemi: Ni
Haste. Haste and lots of it. Fast Cast where you can get it. This is an awesome spell and you are going to want it up as often as possible. Need I say more?
Atonement
A peculiar weaponskill, the only modifiers to Atonement's damage are your current TP and your values of CE and VE on the targeted monster. Because of this, Paladins are free to equip whatever gear they want during Atonement and still deal the same amount of damage. Of course, what gear could we possibly want on for it but Enmity+? While it's true that Enmity+ gear during Atonement will not affect the damage dealt at all, it will affect the amount of Enmity you receive for *Dealing* said damage, thus making your subsequent Atonements more powerful and, of course, netting you extra Enmity.
Part 3: Idling
Of course, you can't always be performing some sort of action against a monster. There will be times when you're not casting anything at all. There are two primary forms of Idling, Defensive Idling where you are trying to mitigate as much damage as possible, and Offensive Idling where you are trying to deal as much damage as possible.
In most cases, in this stage of the game, Defensive Idling is wholly unnecessary with proper support and Paladins are free to use an Offensive Idle, resulting in higher damage output and higher Enmity gain. An Offensive Idle should focus on 3 things in descending order, Haste, Accuracy, and Attack. Haste is amazing, period. There is no reason not to swing faster in an Offensive Idle. Despite the fact that the level cap increase has made Accuracy a bit less useful for most jobs (as we have plenty of it now), it still retains importance in a Paladin's TP set due to Atonement's peculiar nature.
While our TP damage may be slightly lowered by giving up Attack for Accuracy, the increased TP gain and thus WS damage more than makes up for it. Attack is less important than Haste, but it cannot be forgotten regardless. Attack is the stat which has the most direct impact on the dreaded "Hits for 0". For the record, having a low Weapon Damage rating will almost never cause this. If you are hitting for 0, it is most likely your attack rating causing the problem and not your sword.
Haubergeons are good. Unfortunately, full perle is now better unless you have Dusk Gloves +1 or a +4 Haste hand equivalent. It's ugly as shit, but Full Perle will beat out a Turban/Haub+1/Homamx3 combo. Joyeuse is amazing. I believe that the Occasionally Attacks 2-3 times sword from Trials of the Magians has outdone it for Atonement now, however. Gearing a Paladin for Offensive Idle is just like gearing a regular DD job.
Defensive Idles can still come in handy, however. Any time where you are unable to directly engage a monster, find yourself unable to deal damage, or plain taking way too much damage, you should switch over to your Defensive Idle set in order to mitigate as much damage as possible.
Defensive Idles tend to focus on your best overall damage mitigation over time, rather than directly mitigating the impact of a single move, and thus focus heavily on shield skill. Shield may not be super reliable in the sense that if it doesn't proc it's done nothing for you, but over time it will mitigate a significant amount of damage. AF+1 Feet, Koenig Schaller, Boxer's Mantle, Shield Torque, and Buckler's Earring are great choices for a Defensive Idle build.
Gear with large amounts of HP+ are also very nice here, as are pieces with Physical Damage Taken -%. Jelly Ring is a bit of a mixed bag in this regard. I personally do not like to idle in Jelly Ring ever, and instead reserve it for my Oh-Shit set. However, armor like the Darksteel Harness +1 set are excellent choices for a negating damage.
*There is Absolutely No Reason to Ever create a Hybrid Idle set*. I cannot stress this enough. When a Paladin runs around in a Turban and a Valor Surcoat, or a Koenig Schaller with their Haub+1, they are hurting more than helping themselves. Getting a little bit of offense and a little bit of defense leaves you with not enough of either of them to either deal worthwhile damage or mitigate a worthwhile amount of damage. Avoid this at all costs.
Part 4: Terror, Ohshit, and Magic Defense sets
Now, suppose a Paladin is not performing any actions, yet they are in a situation where they need protection greater than their Idle set can provide them. This is where Terror, Oh-Shit, and Magic Defense sets come into play.
The first and most commonly used of these sets is the Oh-Shit set. Oh-Shit sets are generally used when a Paladin is out of shadows with recasts down, or has low HP. They emphasize Shield skill, Defense, and -PDT, ditching even max HP in order to make sure that next attack lands for as little damage as possible. Jelly Ring, Darksteel +1, Shield Skill+ gear, lay it all down here. This is the set you switch into when you have nothing else to turn to.
Similar in most every way to the Oh-Shit set, you have its cousin the Terror set. Terror sets are used when a Paladin is Stunned, Slept, or Terrorized without protection from attacks. The biggest difference between this set and the Oh-Shit set is the fact that Paladins cannot Shield Block while they are Stunned, Terrored, or otherwise incapacitated. The same tenets apply, however all Shield Skill+ gear should be ditched here in favor of as much -PDT as possible.
Finally, you have the Magic Defense set. In order to best understand how Magic Damage works, I'll lay out a few facts first:
- Magic Damage Taken -% Caps at -50%, including Shell. Shell is a static amount of MDT -% based on the tier of the spell.
- Magic Defense Bonus and Magic Damage Taken -% are *Independent attributes*. Having 45% MDT-% and 5 MDB will not put you at -50% MDT.
- Magic Damage Taken -% has what are called Increasing Returns, that is the more of it you have, the more damage is reduced by each point of MDT. Going from 45%-50% reduces more damage than going from 0%-5%.
- Magic Defense Bonus has what are called Decreasing Returns, that is the more of it you have, the *less* damage is reduced by each point of MDB. For this reason, we tend to focus on capping MDT first and foremost, and adding MDB second.
That said, Magic Defense sets are really rather simple. Shell V will reduce Magic Damage Taken by -24%, -27% if you have a WHM with 5/5 Shellra V. For this reason it's often best for a PLD to shoot for around 25% or 26% in Magic Damage Taken -% gear.
In a Defensive setting, where you really don't care about TP very much, Iron Ram Lance makes this extremely easy to reach with a bit of Coral gear. This cap is a bit harder to touch in an Offensive setting where you don't want to lose your TP, but it is doable. Until MDT is capped, you should almost always use MDT over Magic Defense Bonus in just about any slot. After MDT is capped, feel free to add in as much MDB as possible in free slots.
Part 5: Advanced Tactics
Section 1: Co-Tanking
Another reason why the Paladin job, or rather any Tanking Class, tends to be more technical than normal is the fact that Tanks typically work in pairs. No two people are the same. People don't gear the same way. They don't think the same way. They don't react the same way. Hell, they may not even be on the same job. But the single most important part of tanking in a 2-tank scenario is cooperating with your co-tank. *Tanking Is Not A Competition*. Being able to hold hate the whole fight does not make one tank better than another.
Granted, it is generally extremely helpful to have two tanks of roughly equal skill levels tanking to avoid situations like that. However, regardless of who you're paired up with, communicating and functioning properly with your co-tank is your key to survival. A Paladin needs to be able to lose hate when they need to. An ideal scenario has both paladins at or around capped hate. But at any other time, you are going to want your Enmity level to be about equal with your partner whenever possible.
Rely on your co-tank. Heal your co-tank when they are injured. Drop hate to your co-tank when you're in danger. Respect your co-tank, and Respect your support crew. Ask for specific spells nicely, use please and thank you whenever you are able. If a hectic fight prevents you from typing much, that's one thing. Building a bad relationship with your mages, however, is a sure way to run into trouble down the line.
Section 2: Kiting in Pairs
Kiting as a solo tank is fairly easy. You run away from the mob. You try not to get hit. You win. However, these dynamics change a bit when you have two people kiting together.
When you're kiting with a co-tank, you will always, always want to establish a kiting route with them before a fight ever starts. Two people trying to peel off in different directions is only going to cause a lot of trouble and confusion for the rest of the group. After a kite path has been properly laid out and both tanks know exactly what's going on, including what direction they will be running in, then it is safe to spawn or pull the monster. If at all possible, you want to avoid running a monster backwards along a kite path. Doing so can wreak havoc on the DDs trying to tail the mob, as well as put the other tank completely out of casting range.
It is often unavoidable, however, to end up behind the monster after casting a spell while your partner has hate. So then, how does one avoid turning the monster around while still getting back into the fight to help their co-tank?
Let's say your kite path looks a little something like this:
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj142/Greatguardian/Kite1.jpg
The black dots represent trees, while the red line represents the established kite path and direction.
Now, if you were to cast Flash on the monster at this point and still stay on the kite path, you end up with one of two situations.
Scenario 1: You cast Flash and run Towards the monster to continue going the correct direction on the kite path:
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj142/Greatguardian/Kite2.jpg
The monster ends up eating you alive as you run past it, while your co-tank is too far away to help you.
Scenario 2: You cast Flash and run Away from the monster, going to opposite direction on the kite path:
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj142/Greatguardian/Kite3.jpg
You get away from the monster, but your Co-Tank ends up in the exact same situation you were in 5 minutes ago. Not a good idea.
Instead, you're going to want to hold off on getting hate back and do something like this:
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj142/Greatguardian/Kite4.jpg
And then cast Flash and get hate back when you're here:
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj142/Greatguardian/Kite5.jpg
This way you and your co-tank are both back in front of the mob, able to share hate and kite effectively.
Maintaining the integrity of your kite path becomes more and more important around NMs which use Conic and Area of Effect attacks. The Damage Dealers and Black Mages will only be able to properly arrange themselves if they can depend on the monster to be going in the right direction at the right time. Wild and wacky kiting leads to unnecessary damage and deaths throughout the alliance.