Bulwark

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Originally Posted by Torunya

Why any tank would ever turn their butt to the boss is beyond me. Don't worry.

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I think Enemy "gaze" types attacks will miss if you turn your back to them. Like a basilisk trying to turn you to stone.

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Originally Posted by Ragology

snip

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Except for petrification mechanics and the likes, obviously.

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Originally Posted by Syzygian

Honestly the worst part of Bulwark is its Recast time. All tanks have cooldowns that are a little on the dicey side and not intended for mitigating TBs (if you use Bulwark on a TB and nothing else... yeah.) but when used properly smooth out incoming damage and provide spike mitigation. But none of them have a fucking 3 minute recast.

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This! Afterall its only 60% and lasts 15s so having a 3min recast on CD that is meant for fluff damage is too much for my taste, 90-120s would be more in like with DD and RI. 120s would be good recast as it would synch with Awarness and Foresight because you want to combo those 3 CD to make most out of them(they have pretty awesome synegry imo).

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Originally Posted by Torunya

Except for petrification mechanics and the likes, obviously.

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Oh, does turning away still work on the boss in void ark though?

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Originally Posted by Ragology

Oh, does turning away still work on the boss in void ark though?

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Yes, I was agreeing with you as well. This is however more on the topic of the effectiveness of Bulwark, which is what I primarily had in mind in relation to my statement on why no tank should turn their butt to the boss. Mechanics aside.

This is legit because of how the combat table works. Block will only work on non-critical physical damage. It's useful exactly for what you have described, where you are facing off against a large swath of enemies - the more enemies are attacking you, the more normalized the mitigation shall become.

But you always want to pair Bulwark with Awareness. More than any other PLD cooldown, Bulwark is made significantly more effective by Awareness. A physical attack that cannot critically hit is one that is also that much more likely to block an attack. On its own, Bulwark mitigates 7-15% of damage, depending on your shield type (Tower/Scutum > Kite > Buckler). Pair it with Awareness, and the two will provide more mitigation than Rampart (to where, on big pulls, it's actually the first CD pair I hit after Hallowed Ground and Sentinel).

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Originally Posted by JackFross

Never couple Bulwark with Sheltron. That's silly.

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Different folks for different strokes. Solo Bulwark don't always help against physical tank busters, as I (and other have proven) that I took the less amount of damage from, say, Sephirot if I coupled Bulwark with Sheltron. Bulwark alone was like I never used the CD.

Not saying you're incorrect, but many people tell me to do this or do that, but end up finding my own way to work.

So, yeah, on Sephirot for example again, my comfortability and safeness relies greatly when I could Bulwark and Sheltron. And to be honest, in one group, I coupled Sheltron for each tank buster with each CD (Foresight + Sheltron, Rampart + Sheltron, etc...) because Sheltron was always ready. My healers never complained. In fact, some asked me to do what I did previous when I DON'T couple Sheltron.

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Originally Posted by Cabalabob

Never use bulwark alone for a tank buster, couple it with a proper cd, even a minor one like foresight or Shelton.


You also cannot block or parry while casting, so if you're using stoneskin or clemency during bulwark you're negating the effect.

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For the first line, thank you. Thank you so much.

For the second line, I have to question that. I recently turned "Flying Text" on after NOT using it since like 2013. I turned it on recently because I've been playing with AST, and I don't know the cards by colors, but by name. That said, I swear, before the change to Clemency, I would sometimes get "Parried" or "Blocked" on my screen during Clemency's cast time. I noticed it because back then, I would time the cast with Holy Bladedance from the Knight on Thordan, and would get the text.

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Originally Posted by Jim_Berry

For the second line, I have to question that. I recently turned "Flying Text" on after NOT using it since like 2013. I turned it on recently because I've been playing with AST, and I don't know the cards by colors, but by name. That said, I swear, before the change to Clemency, I would sometimes get "Parried" or "Blocked" on my screen during Clemency's cast time. I noticed it because back then, I would time the cast with Holy Bladedance from the Knight on Thordan, and would get the text.

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Test for yourself, it's not difficult, go to azys lla, find an owlbear around 11:10, wait for it to cast gust avoid it and pop Shelton and awareness while its casting (so it won't attack you while you're putting it on) then when it's finished casting gust start casting stoneskin and see if you block when it auto attacks you while you're casting.

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Originally Posted by Synestra

This! Afterall its only 60% and lasts 15s so having a 3min recast on CD that is meant for fluff damage is too much for my taste, 90-120s would be more in like with DD and RI. 120s would be good recast as it would synch with Awarness and Foresight because you want to combo those 3 CD to make most out of them(they have pretty awesome synegry imo).

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I totally agree with you here, but the problem with Bulwark's long ass CD timer is the gradual increases in block rate/strength over the course of the patch, which is probably why SE refuses to adjust it's obnoxious CD timer.

Someone else in the forums pointed this out to me once before. As we get further and further into the patch cycle, shields improve. By the end of it, the amount of mitigation provided by our blocks increases quite a bit. At the end of the 2.x cycle, for example, the mitigation provided by a Pld's block was very near to the mitigation provided by Sentinel. Some people would consider that a little overpowered, even if it is only for physical dmg.

I definitely agree that the Timers for Bulwark and Awareness should be adjusted to provide better Pld synergy. Awareness is a Pld move, for crying out loud. There's no reason why Pld's should get the least utility out of it. However, I can kind of see why it hasn't been adjusted (even if I don't agree with it). I don't think SE wants to overpower Pld's physical defense by, essentially, giving them an extra Sentinel cast every ~120 seconds (coupled with an Awareness every 90 seconds, in an ideal world). That said, SE is also the main peddler of that myth in which Pld's are somehow the king of physical mitigation. So, really, it wouldn't be too out of place with what they've tried to sell us in the past if they did do this.