How to Build a PLD, needing tips plz.

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Originally Posted by SwordCoheir

One viable situation might be if you were fighting Ifrit and the DD's in your group were forced to move in to avoid his Plume attack but eat one or two sears in the process, or Garuda hits everyone near her with Wicked Wheel, throwing out a Sacred Prism > Cure could help top them back off giving you a little hate boost as well (depending on the number of DD's of course).

I would like to also add, Regen has cut down on the number of times such a strategy becomes viable, but is still an available tool in your arsenal to be considered.

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Ahh, Sacred Prism >> Cure, I see now. I'll chock up the use of Curaga in your other post to a miss-type then, seeing as Curaga can't be assigned as a PLD. Apologies for implying that you were an unreliable source of information. Please forgive me.

Well I did said superficial curega since the subject was Sacred Prism, so I meant it wasn't superb in a sense but useful at times. It was a poor choice of words on my part, so I'm just as much to blame for your remark as any other, no worries.

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Originally Posted by Raymeo

I would not advise placing Stoneskin on your party, as opposed to the recommendations by other posters, because your Enhancement Magic potency is weaker than that of a White Mage, and you'll be doing your party a disservice by giving them a weaker Stoneskin than they could otherwise have.

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I'm at work, so apologies if this is a bit off, but...

PLD Enhancing magic is near (if not above) a WHMs enhancing, and the amount of damage absorbed by Stoneskin is actually based on the caster's VIT. A PLD's stoneskin should actually be stronger than a WHMs, according to the tests my whm LS buddy did recently.

That said, however, the casting time and usefulness of the pld casting Stoneskin make it impractical in most situations, so I wouldn't recommend it anyways. The only possible time I could recommend it is during Ifrit's Trio of dashes, if there is absolutely nothing better to do at the time. Just thought I'd share the stoneskin info.

It's probably also due to VIT affecting Enhancing Potency as well. However CONJ/WHM gets an Enhanced Stoneskin trait which I'm not exactly sure what it does, but from my experiences it makes Stoneskin (slightly) stronger by comparison, probably augmenting the Stoneskin HP/Enhancing Potency formula.

Ignore me, i shouldn't post things while at work apparently.

It is protect that is better on PLD for physical damage (whm obviously adds magic defense, so yeah), I was just recalling the conversation i had incorrectly. Either way, both aren't worth the cast in a group setting unless a random situation occurs. It's the higher VIT raising your enhancing magic that makes it potent.

Either way, i'm getting a bit off-topic...

Has anyone done any thorough testing with Sentinel since the update? Prior to 1.22 (and i'm guessing still...), a few tests had shown that the text for the ability was a bit misleading, and only damaging abilities (auto attacks, weaponskills) were granted the extra enmity boost (of x1.2, btw). Abilities such as Rampart, Flash, and Provoke seemed to be unaffected.

I cannot say for sure sense I haven't tried any through testing on Sentinel's hate increasing abilities, but I do recall a few WAR's on the WAR/MRD forums saying that Sentinels Enmity bonus effect was bugged on WAR a few weeks ago. So it might be bugged overall it's just taken everyone much longer to notice, and might account for some of the reason Threat has been an upstanding issue with some PLD/GLA's lately.

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Originally Posted by SwordCoheir

They mostly do that to try and de-emphasize focus on min/maxing stats and allow players to be more flexible with their gear setups. I'm not sure if you've ever had the pleasure (or displeasure depending on your point of view) of playing FFXI, but these past five years it's less about going with the best you got and more "you must be prioritizing, gear swapping, and outputting to your maximum potential or your not invited" mentality.

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I come from 5 years of WOW where gear/stats and gear score is everything. They can never de-emphasize focus on min/maxing stats because that's what the game is all about. Better gear with better stats = stronger character that performs better. The battle system does not leave much room for skill, it's all about stats.

I played the Tera beta where the battle system plays more like an action game then an RPG and with that kind of system yes Skills is what matters, then gear comes 2nd. XIV is built like XI and WOW where the better gear you have the better you are.

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Originally Posted by Sasagawa

Im slowly repping my AF gear but I think Im gonna go Def > HP > Emnity.

anyone know if theres a hard cap on defence as far as i am aware their is not

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lol , IF there is a cap on def, I couldnt tell you where its at, just tested that, bare stats no buffs or food at 769 slowly added buffs and food to increase def, eventually got to 1106 def, every single time i uped def , damage taken went down, tested it on a 59 doblyn , soo if it dosent cap at 1000+ I realy dont know where the cap is.

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Originally Posted by Sasagawa

Im slowly repping my AF gear but I think Im gonna go Def > HP > Emnity.

anyone know if theres a hard cap on defence as far as i am aware their is not

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You're doing it wrong.

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Originally Posted by Onidemon

I come from 5 years of WOW where gear/stats and gear score is everything. They can never de-emphasize focus on min/maxing stats because that's what the game is all about. Better gear with better stats = stronger character that performs better. The battle system does not leave much room for skill, it's all about stats.

I played the Tera beta where the battle system plays more like an action game then an RPG and with that kind of system yes Skills is what matters, then gear comes 2nd. XIV is built like XI and WOW where the better gear you have the better you are.

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Not always true.
Player A sucks at (game). He has epic gear cuz he's played for 12 years. He's a decent dps, but fucks up a lot cuz he's a moron.
Player B is really good at (game). He has not so epic gear cuz he just started. He's an awesome dps, and never fucks up cuz he's not a moron.

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Originally Posted by Onidemon

I come from 5 years of WOW where gear/stats and gear score is everything. They can never de-emphasize focus on min/maxing stats because that's what the game is all about. Better gear with better stats = stronger character that performs better. The battle system does not leave much room for skill, it's all about stats.

I played the Tera beta where the battle system plays more like an action game then an RPG and with that kind of system yes Skills is what matters, then gear comes 2nd. XIV is built like XI and WOW where the better gear you have the better you are.

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I thought i knew were you were going with this until i got to the end, the "better gear you have the better you are", really? Maybe the better off you are, but gear in ff14 is 2nd to skills. Id rather have people in my group wearing all af that know how to play then well geared screw ups.

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Originally Posted by Taggerung5

You're doing it wrong.

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please explain, I have been tanking on glad/pld for a long time now, have been testing every set up that comes up, and vit/def stacking is by far more efficient in staying alive...

I didn't say that it was inefficient in staying alive, just that it should all be = not >. cuz what use is a billion def and HP if you can't hold hate? (hence the = for enmity)
all very important.

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Originally Posted by Absintheminded

Speaking of "required" skills from other jobs, are there any others? For instance someone told me the LNC ability Invigorate was a must. I've picked up Cure and Protect from CNJ as well and was told I should level it up to 26(?) for Stoneskin.

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Regarding required skills from other jobs, what are the limitations associated with this? How many classes can you pull skills from? Can certain skills only be acquired up to a certain level, like FFXI main job/sub job etc? New to XIV but not new to the online FF adventure. Trying to get a feel for PLD before I really commit to this.

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Originally Posted by Drexel_Mactavish

Regarding required skills from other jobs, what are the limitations associated with this? How many classes can you pull skills from? Can certain skills only be acquired up to a certain level, like FFXI main job/sub job etc? New to XIV but not new to the online FF adventure. Trying to get a feel for PLD before I really commit to this.

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PLD can only use 5 skills from conjurer and marauder classes with the exception of class specific skills, however GLD can use 10 skills from any class (the same exception applys). There is no cut off to what level skills you can use cross class are, i.e. archer has a lv 42 skill called chameleon that can be used cross class.

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Originally Posted by DomonKasshu

PLD can only use 5 skills from conjurer and marauder classes with the exception of class specific skills, however GLD can use 10 skills from any class (the same exception applys). There is no cut off to what level skills you can use cross class are, i.e. archer has a lv 42 skill called chameleon that can be used cross class.

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I appreciate you passing that info along. Makes a lot more sense now. I would ask what you think the top five skills would be but I assume that a lot of skills will be situational?

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Originally Posted by Drexel_Mactavish

I appreciate you passing that info along. Makes a lot more sense now. I would ask what you think the top five skills would be but I assume that a lot of skills will be situational?

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It's mostly situational, most will recommend you get Cure, Raise, Stoneskin, and Sacred Prism from Conjurer. For marauder you will want bloodbath and Provoke. You will definitely want Cure and provoke. Sacred prism turns Cure and stoneskin into AoE which can be nice for a hate spike and protecting party members. What you use is up to you but I'm sure you'll find them all useful.

Has anyone even tried maxing out MND at 350 and STR at 310?
These are the main modifiers for paladin, it's really hard to get out of the thought process of a meat shield needing something other than VIT/DEX for HP/mitigation/shield block but has it even been tried?

Seriously, what if phalenex did 750 damage to ifrit instead of 25? Scale that with other skills / weapon skills.

Enmity would be insane if it worked. Of course it's a huge investment into double and triple melds, +1 rings, and all around phat loot, so of course I would want someone to tell me if theyve tried and failed.

Thanks

pretty sure its STR:350 MND:310 (guesstimates) for garuda (and a bit less for ifrit/moogle like 335STR, 300MND)

here's the PLD section from a Materia guide I made on my LS forums. I've listed these from best to worst

Weapon

Touch of Rage
MND
STR

Shield

Bloodthirst
Lifethirst
Bloodwall

Head

MND
Manaflight (Magic Evasion)

Body

Bloodthirst
VIT* (currently broken)

Hands

Bloodthirst
STR

Waist

Touch of Rage
Bloodthirst

Legs

Bloodthirst
Lifethirst
Manathirst

Feet

Manaflight
Bloodflight
Bloodthirst

Really MND on body instead of VIT or HP? And HP in legs over STR/VIT? What about HP in feet?

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Originally Posted by Riv

Really MND on body instead of VIT or HP? And HP in legs over STR/VIT? What about HP in feet?

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I didn't list STR/VIT because VIT is all but completely wasted at 50, VIT is also not optimal for PLD either. VIT gives a 1:1 boost to HP, but has no other benefit at 50. Because of this, Loresman's Wit, Vestryman's Faith Materia, Swordsman's Cry Materia, and Ironman's Will are fairly equal because they all have one wasted stat. That's not to say they don't do PLD any good, IMO they just aren't optimal. I only listed materia that has 100% valuable stats for PLD. Because of the relation of damage dealt to hate gained, materia that acts as a dmg modifier in addition to affecting things like evasion or healing magic potency therefore is more valuable. I tried to take into account that certain materia goes in more slots than others. For example; HP can go on just about anything, evasion only goes on feet. As for where I placed magic evasion, magic evasion is very important for a tank because most mobs biggest dmg dealing abilities are magic based. Using magic evasion allows for less cures and less chance the whm will pull hate. thanks for catching my mistakes. If anyone else can find issues with my list, I'd be more than happy to modify it.

edit* actually the whole body section was wrong. I had a copy+paste error, but I fixed it.

So VIT doesn't actually do anything for damage mitigation?

Kaeko's post about Blocking

VIT does in fact help with damage mitigation it seems

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Originally Posted by Sigmakan

Kaeko's post about Blocking

VIT does in fact help with damage mitigation it seems

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In the same sense that a screen door helps on a motorboat. Yeah, vit will make you take slightly less damage when you block, but only when you block, and only against attacks that you can actually block. And even then, 1vit=.1%, so...... no. Vit does not help.

Honestly, with our hp pool so low, I think hp is the best for the legs and feet slots. (I currently use a 60/65 pants and 55/55 sent boots). The body i would also say hp again, our hp is just very low. You don't want to put hp in belt, cus that's where the god of pld stats, enmity, goes, and gloves is a slot that I think the af is actually pretty strong in. (I personally am lucky enough to have hdl glvoes, which are also not meldable). I have a vit17/def17 body, but I am strongly considering making a hp one because vit and def just don't work right now. HP is always there, its also a "storeable" resource in that your whms can top you off. The more of it available to you, the harder it always is to kill you. With moves like voice of the ram hitting for 2.7k and not being blockable, I'm saying the stat you need is HP not vit.

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Originally Posted by PiedPiper

In the same sense that a screen door helps on a motorboat. Yeah, vit will make you take slightly less damage when you block, but only when you block, and only against attacks that you can actually block. And even then, 1vit=.1%, so...... no. Vit does not help.

Honestly, with our hp pool so low, I think hp is the best for the legs and feet slots. (I currently use a 60/65 pants and 55/55 sent boots). The body i would also say hp again, our hp is just very low. You don't want to put hp in belt, cus that's where the god of pld stats, enmity, goes, and gloves is a slot that I think the af is actually pretty strong in. (I personally am lucky enough to have hdl glvoes, which are also not meldable). I have a vit17/def17 body, but I am strongly considering making a hp one because vit and def just don't work right now. HP is always there, its also a "storeable" resource in that your whms can top you off. The more of it available to you, the harder it always is to kill you. With moves like voice of the ram hitting for 2.7k and not being blockable, I'm saying the stat you need is HP not vit.

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Hi Pied and All,

I've been wondering if anyone's ever bothered trying out Double Melded Evasion Tier IV on Feet slot? Or Evasion + Magic Evasion? I know PLD / WAR aren't "Evasion Tanks" but I'm curious if getting some Evasion to help them evade hits once in a while is worth trying?

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Originally Posted by Riv

Really MND on body instead of VIT or HP? And HP in legs over STR/VIT? What about HP in feet?

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Can't even meld MND to a bodypiece if I recall correctly (Maybe one of those new materia I can't remember). It was VIT, DEF, Crit Atk + for the most part, unless you take the PLD af body which actually has some MND on it.

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Originally Posted by SwordCoheir

Well I'll try to break it down a little for you and explain the stats some, they are similar to FFXI but there are some noteworthy differences.

Each job has two modifiers called stat bonuses which give a significant boost to damage. But the bonus stats don't exactly play to PLD's strengths, so unlike other jobs that juggle two maybe three stats, PLD gets to juggle four. These stat bonuses however show an actual difference in your damage output, so it makes them worth looking into when figuring out your setup.

STR- Stat bonus, helps damage output
MND- Stat bonus, Increases Enmity modifier in Fastblade > Flatblade Combo, Helps increase cures and magic accuracy
DEX- Increases Block rate, Increases Acc
VIT- Increases HP, effects magical and physical damage calculations when taking damage.

Enmity is to be consider as well.

+10 Enmity = 1% Enmity Bonus

Thankfully Materia and Jewelry gives you quite a bit, and does not really conflict with other gear choices.

Shields work a bit differently, and actually just got adjusted and receiving other adjustments here in the near future so I won't derive into them much. However you can attach materia to your shield, but your options are limited to pretty much HP/MP or Defense materia. (Personally I wen't defense)

Gear Wise, Plate Mail will be your best friend on this adventure providing the best overall defense, most stats on the different pieces are somewhat negligible enough you can be flexible (IE: Little difference between Sentinels and Cobalt gear, but Sentinels is much more expensive.)

One debate that's going on right now is the usefulness of the PLD AF, stat wise it's comparable (for the most part) to a single materia melded Cobalt counterpart making it a good free alternative, that gives bonus effects to different PLD abilities. However I recommend doing this when you can afford it, is try for a double/triple melded piece of gear and slowly replace your AF.

Below is my current personal setup for PLD, I like what it provides but I recommend you find your own preference and merely take this as a suggestion. Materia Augments are in Parenthesis next to the name.

Ifrit's Blade / Cobalt Winglet (+24VIT)
Vintage Kite Shield (+16Def)
Gallant Coronet / Cobalt Celata (+24MND)
Cobalt Cuirass (+32Def)
Cobalt Plate Belt (+42Enmity)
Felt Trousers Red / Black (+7STR, +7VIT / +7VIT, +7DEX)
Gallant Gauntlets / Sentinel's Gauntlets (+15DEX)
Sentinel's Sabatons (+60HP)

Stonewall Earrings
Explorer's Choker / Electrum Gorget
Coral Armillae
Amber Ring x2

Hope that helps you out.

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Thanks for the informative post. I'm looking to leveling my Glad class to unlock Pld. This would come useful. Happy adventures and keep up the good work!

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Originally Posted by SwordCoheir

Can't even meld MND to a bodypiece if I recall correctly (Maybe one of those new materia I can't remember). It was VIT, DEF, Crit Atk + for the most part, unless you take the PLD af body which actually has some MND on it.

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I did accidentally have MND listed in the body section of my materia guide. It needed to be corrected.

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Originally Posted by Kiara

Hi Pied and All,

I've been wondering if anyone's ever bothered trying out Double Melded Evasion Tier IV on Feet slot? Or Evasion + Magic Evasion? I know PLD / WAR aren't "Evasion Tanks" but I'm curious if getting some Evasion to help them evade hits once in a while is worth trying?

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Yes, on my WAR I have 33 m.evasion on a raptorskin pot helm +1, and it's freakin' awesome. However, I use that for DD rather than tanking.

What are your guys' opinions on the Heavy Darklight Gear? Is it worth it trying to get all the pieces or is it better in the long run to try and get double/triple melded cobalt or Sentinel's gear?

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Originally Posted by GrahamRockwell

What are your guys' opinions on the Heavy Darklight Gear? Is it worth it trying to get all the pieces or is it better in the long run to try and get double/triple melded cobalt or Sentinel's gear?

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Yes, but a full set of melded gear is easier to obtain.

I did some very quick testing as PLD and it didn't take too long to figure out that some of the best builds are most likely going to be composed of having a lot of VIT, HP, magic evasion/resistance(sitautional) and some ENM where you can get it.

MND- is terrible for curing potency and gives terrible MP to boot. If you really want to be able to heal yourself as PLD somewhat effectively you'd be better off stacking healing magic potency. MND is also not the greatest thing when it comes to auto attack damage. I used a cobalt winglet with +32 MND on it and it was less than half of the amount of dmg i did on the same mob same exact lvl with an Ifrit's Blade. Even at MND cap it still wasn't really making enough of a noticeable difference on the flat blade combo which is a waste of TP and a combo in any boss fight. So I've concluded that for the most part MND isn't really going to do much for you. However, I wouldn't completely overlook it just yet because i have further testing to do but as of now i just don't see it doing that much.

STR- Be better off stacking AP and you won't get enough blocks in on any endgame to make the damage mitigation worth your while. You'd probably end up losing a lot of tanking potential trying to stack this.

DEX- You have to stack A LOT to make a semi noticeable difference, and you're either going to have spend and ungodly amount in melding or you're going to have to give up a lot more useful stats like VIT or even MND for that matter. For now, DEX just doesn't seem that good of a thing to stack. Especially since the block you obtain from DEX just doesn't seem to cut it in end game content. You'd honestly be better of stacking raw block rate.

Defense- We should all know that defense is messed up for anything worth your while.

HP- You get more of it you can take a bigger hit, congrats. It's also an amazing modifier for Spirit's Within which is your primary hate grabbing WS. I actually know a buddy who stacks nothing but HP and he tanks very well and he doesn't even stack ENM like some recommend you should.

VIT- Unlike defense, this actually makes a noticeable difference in damage mitigation and it also modifies your WS's. I would recommend at least getting it to the soft cap which is 350.

Magic Evasion/Elemental Magic Resistance- Recently, I've noticed that if you stack enough of this or at least switch up some of your gear for things that have this it will make a big difference on the damage you take from magic(even in endgame content).

Enmity- Many tanks love to stack this for days. However, ENM is not something that you desperately need on PLD. In actuality i find the ENM is more useful for WAR's than for PLD. I've seen PLD's tanking amazingly with little or no ENM. It is good to have some of it but it's not your greatest focus nor your greatest asset. I found that VIT and HP help more than ENM when it comes to getting hate and keeping it. So get it some if you want just don't go too crazy for it.

(There is no soft cap for VIT. The 350 thing is only for the STR and only for a sword with a DPS of ~39.7)

and people stack MND for flat blade modifier not for cure.

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Originally Posted by Vayne72

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I do try to stack as much hp as I can, but there are many reasons for this. First and foremost people don't realize a dead tank is worse than a tank who can't hold. A dead tank can't cover, aoe rampart, or attempt to heal. Also pld comes with MANY mitigation tricks, the biggest for me is once I break 5k hp, with sentinel and full hp I'll NEVER get 1 shot (a tree will only ever do 4999 with sentinel up). Another thing, and 1 that I will live by now, big hp allows your whm's to do other things, such as dps, buff, or raise because they can ignore you for awhile. Lastly I have yet to observe a cap or tier of any kind in relation to weapon dmg/Spirit's Within dmg. It has continued to climb in dmg and thus climb in enmity generated. The day I hit the hp cap/tier, i'll be a happy camper (if it exists).

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Originally Posted by Tman

I do try to stack as much hp as I can, but there are many reasons for this. First and foremost people don't realize a dead tank is worse than a tank who can't hold. A dead tank can't cover, aoe rampart, or attempt to heal. Also pld comes with MANY mitigation tricks, the biggest for me is once I break 5k hp, with sentinel and full hp I'll NEVER get 1 shot (a tree will only ever do 4999 with sentinel up). Another thing, and 1 that I will live by now, big hp allows your whm's to do other things, such as dps, buff, or raise because they can ignore you for awhile. Lastly I have yet to observe a cap or tier of any kind in relation to weapon dmg/Spirit's Within dmg. It has continued to climb in dmg and thus climb in enmity generated. The day I hit the hp cap/tier, i'll be a happy camper (if it exists).

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^ the buddy who stacks hp and tanks like a boss without ENM. o.ob. Can't even knock it down because it works so well lol. Also one of the best tanks I know :o

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Originally Posted by Chardrizard

and people stack MND for flat blade modifier not for cure.

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And flat blade even with a lot of mnd doesnt really do much :/ just not worth it IMO.

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Originally Posted by Rofellos

(There is no soft cap for VIT. The 350 thing is only for the STR and only for a sword with a DPS of ~39.7)

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It caps for any dmg potential you
might get out of it but not for defense though at one point I think you get hxc diminishing returns.

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Originally Posted by Vayne72

It caps for any dmg potential you might get out of it but not for defense though at one point I think you get hxc diminishing returns.

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It's STR and MND which change your (WS) dmg, not VIT... So no reason to have 350 VIT.

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Originally Posted by Vayne72

And flat blade even with a lot of mnd doesnt really do much :/ just not worth it IMO.


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Sorry I have to lol at this

I can go a whole fight simply using Fast > Flat blade combo on things such as coin counter and still have provoke and flash for animal instinct.

I agree with the HP thing as well,

Although I also have to say having some def + in there is also very good, I can knock off around 200 damage from physical type mobs with a good def build and thats with every hit.

So in those situations def > HP

However magic type mobs HP>DEF

all in all I have multiple bodies for different situations.

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Originally Posted by Rofellos

It's STR and MND which change your (WS) dmg, not VIT... So no reason to have 350 VIT.

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Indeed, I was confused by this as well. on PLD, VIT gives you 1.5 points of def and 1:1 points of HP per point in VIT at level 50. IMO, it's not worth it, go with HP instead. If you really want the DEF, stack def on a vintage kite shield instead of taking up space that could be used for something better.