i150 Acc.

haven't found anything online as to what builds ppl are using except alot of "oh i wouldnt even bother" blah blah blah. having had a complete Ruby/Plat prior and really enjoying the results of it i have began my new set. im curious as to what builds other tanks have been using? without being in-game currently , i beleive im around 16/25 with completing my melds. will post my setup later

Disclaimer: for those who disagree with the need for penta melding this thread isnt to discuss the benefits of using/not using. :)

Check my lodestone profile. I'm currently using i150 melded, w/ i145 neck. I swap the neck out with i190 str neck for Faust. I have no issues with dealing damage, or taking hits.

It kind of depends on the price of materia on your server, but I think it's worth the investment. Compared to 190 Slaying, you lose 41 STR (with a 180 ring). It's roughly the same when compared to 190 vit. I had a buttload of strength materia, so I went full right side 150 fending with strength melds. The only piece with parry on it is the neck - the other four are 2x acc/crit and 2x speed/crit.

Fending accessories take four STR IV and one STR III to cap strength. The STR III gives you 3 strength, so you can drop it for accuracy IV or something if you really want to.
Slaying accessories will cap with three VIT IV and two VIT III or four VIT IV. However, the VIT cap on this stuff should be 29, and you can get 28 vitality with VIT IV x3 and VIT III x1, leaving your last slot free.

Really, I think you should basically have two sets of accessories - a slaying set and a melded set. Fending accessories are pretty bad.

There's not a ton of room for variance meld wise with how high the meld cap is, and the fact you can't use grade V on sub 160 items. It's basically just, if melding onto fending then 4x STR IV and 1x STR III. If melding onto slaying it's 4x VIT IV and you can use last slot for whatever. Alternatively if you want a cheaper option for 1 less VIT you can do 3x IV and 1x III, or even 2x IV and 3x III. Someone I know did the latter because he had a bunch of III's saved up and IV costs had already spiked.

As for which pieces to use, outside of necklace (use slaying), you should probably go with whatever is cheaper meld option on your server? The secondary stat differences aren't that big either way, and the rings are even identical just with str/vit swapped. You could probably argue slaying bracelet over fending, especially for WAR, since it's ss/det vs fending's crit/acc but I took the acc just in case of cap issues later on if I get bad left side gear luck (also I'm DRK so SS not as needed for me). If absolutely min/max then full slaying with vit IVx4 and the 5th slot with another secondary IV would likely be wisest.

I personally did

Slaying Neck/Earrings/Ring, and Fending Bracelet/other Ring.

I went with a budget option that favored crit. Slaying Neck with 29 Vit melded, and Fending Bracer/Ears/2rings with 31 Str melded (4 Grade IVs and a Grade III). These seemed to be the best stat spreads at least, and Strength was noticeably cheaper than Vitality materia.

I use all five on Alex savage and have no issues with faust/tankbusters etc. I actually think it's better to use the super cheap Stat-resetter to swap between 35 Str and 35 Vit in bonus stats depending on fight (250 GC seals is nothing, just carry a stack of Hymns with you), rather than swapping in str/vit accessories. The spread of the 150s is just too good.

I went with 5x Slaying, all with 3x Vit IV melds for 24 Vit total in each. I melded the last 2 slots on each piece with IVs (Crit, Det or SS), varying on the substats that were near capped/capped, but they feel inconsequential compared to the real reason you get them. It puts me at 16.5k/20.6k HP (Deliverance/Defiance) in party with food buff and 35 points in STR.

Overall, I've had no issues in Savage 1 or 2 with them and don't plan on swapping out any time soon.

http://i.imgur.com/PLieAz4.png
My STATS with ilvl 150 gear, w/ ilvl 190 slaying neck.

http://i.imgur.com/LzI30ay.png
my full melded set. ilvl 145 neck

All are slaying with VIT IV melded. The neck gives 29 str + 28 vit. All others give 31 str + 29 vit.