Paladin Cover Ability - Do you use it?

I've had Cover on my toolbar since I got it... and I've never used it. I've never had a situation where it was necessary, or seemed like a good plan.

What are your tips and tricks, if any?

Yes, when you know someone is gonna get their ass kicked and you happen to be nearby. Lol

I use it in AOE-heavy fights when the healer is taking a lot of AOE damage.

Do you ever use it on someone who's just been Raised, and suffering from Resurrection Sickness?

I use it in TBCOB T3, Speed runs when someone will get hate perhaps, 2nd boss in WP sometimes um, yeah not that often. Skill with potential thou, hate is so easy to handle here thou so diminishes it's value.

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Originally Posted by Wadoka

Do you ever use it on someone who's just been Raised, and suffering from Resurrection Sickness?

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Never thought of that. Good idea!

Nah ! Let him perish into the Abyss of DOOM!

I would put a stoneskin on him though.

I ran with a guy in a Titan EX who Covered healers when they were going to take unavoidable damage. He accidentally hit Cover on me at some point during the fight and he went from "fine" to "dead" pretty much immediately. It was truly amusing.

I saved a couple of my early t1 groups with it. Gave the other tank that last little bit of time to down caduceus.

I sometimes use it as OT when the tank is taking too much dmg and the healers can't keep up. Just cover and rampart.

My pld is only 40, but i made a macro for that one moment where you know someone is gonna take hate, <tt> macro for cover to save their squishy little behinds ftw.

I used that... once... on Chimera

as healer i got cover several times in wp sr, sometimes it really helps >_<

I have never used cover, don't even have it on my bar anymore.

Cover is pretty awful overall, but there's a few places where it's okay. It'd be a lot better if it took the paladin's mitigation into account. There was a post on the Japanese forums about how in the future they might possibly improve the graphics of it to better let people know when they're covered (or they'd bring it up to the dev team or something), so hopefully they'll take another look at how the skill works then.

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Originally Posted by Brannigan

There was a post on the Japanese forums about how in the future they might possibly improve the graphics of it to better let people know when they're covered (or they'd bring it up to the dev team or something), so hopefully they'll take another look at how the skill works then.

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That would make it more fun, aye - say, the person being covered is limned in a beautiful golden nimbus of light; or the Paladin gets to strike an awesomely inspiring "Shield Up!" "I'LL PROTECT YOU CITIZEN!" pose... :)

Yeah so what actually is up with Cover's current animation? The paladin grabs his face and kind of waves his hand toward the covered target. It's all weird.

It's one of those tools that can really help but they're extremely situational. Adding a macro to it helps, so people know they're covered before they start sprinting around while panicked. xD

I use it on our DRG when he takes the Rook on Turn 4 before LB'ing it.

Other than that I don't think I've ever put it to good use.

Rarely, some times after a res if I'm the off tank. Can use it in pvp to give your healer some breathing space.

Extremely situational ability.

In Titan EX you can use it to steal a stack that the MT will take. If you time it right you can reset his stacks.

I never use it in raids, because it does not factor in your armor/defense when you cover someone, it factors in theirs, so you will probably die, or come very close, and be a MP sponge.

Edit: Using cover on a DPS/Healer, that is. Using it on another tank is fine.

I do use it in WP/ 4 man dungeons often. Especially speed runs. And it's amazing in PvP.

HUGE pulls on dungeon speed runs with a WHM - when planned, I pop cover, HG, they use holy.

And other times, but yes, rare and very situational indeed.

tanks derp in turn 4 and healers and black mages constantly die. Pld tries to use cover on them to make up for their hate generation badness.

The only time I can think of to use Cover is T4, last phase as it spawns, cover the whm being's targeted by all the mobs so that you can safely wait for them to get to said whm, flash them all and pull away to safety.

The problem I have with it is the range. To cover a healer, they need to run to me or I to them. If they are kiting mobs, it's useless as they run out of the cover range. I will some times use it on a Melee that is close to death so the healer can shoot them a heal, but even then they run away from the action a lot, which again wastes the effect.

I use cover most of the time and it's a habit of mine to protect those who's in critical or in danger.
Example.

WP SR - The part where you pull mobs and the healer doesn't trust you so she'll heal you right away which she'll probably will get several mobs hate (Use Cover)
AK SR - The last part where you pull the whole jungle before the boss area and you don't have enough aoe dps. (Cover the dps that's grabbing ur hate koz u don't have enough mp for flash)

T1 - Maybe when your slime puller is a newb and die easily (Cover)
- Or the part where you killed your snake first and the tank is getting trucked with damage (Use Cover then CD when that tank has CD down)
T2 - ... I have never figure out where i should use it.

T4 - If you are an OT during phase 5 or phase 6, after several attempts you should already know which healer mostly grabs the hate when the soldiers and knights pop (Run close to that healer and use Cover then CD)
- If you are an MT and your primary healer is the one getting hate and the other tank don't know how to use cover - ask that healer to get close to u a bit but not to be in front of dread (use Cover when the soldiers and knights pop)
T5 - T_T.......

Garuda EX - OT or MT, in rare occasion if Suparna/Garuda is closed to the melee dps (Use Cover before the whicked wheel)
Titan EX - I mostly use this to a DPS/healer whose health is about to die during stomps. Also after you destroyed that heart and then theres someone who failed to avoid the bomb explosion. I Cover that person even though i don't know if its gonna work after the Titan Kabooming
Ifrit EX - I have never used it here but i spam Stoneskin on each dps and healer whenever it is down and even I have the hate.

In my experience the most I have used cover is for situations gone horribly awry due to some adds, or, when I am in Crystal Tower helping the tank as off tank. Generally I'll hit cover on them if they get dangerously low and the healer doesn't seem to be paying attention. Has saved lives more than a few times.

I use it on the main tank when I'm off tanking ifrit HM along with bulwark to try and get some pacifies in on eruptions so stun resist rate doesn't go up as fast, other than that I don't use it except for lols.

The problem I have with the ability is the recast time. I feel like it's just long enough, given its short duration, that its usage is too tediously strategic to employ. Coupling that with that fact that it takes the original target's mitigation into account instead of your own makes it almost burdensome to consider using, spontaneously or regularly.

I see it in my mind's eye, as you see it in the opening movie, when the Roegadyn Archetype physically stands over a downed comrade with his shield high. So in my mind, the mechanic certainly should be short range, but also it ought to use the Paladin's defense/parry/mitigation because it's the Paladin physically shielding the person they're Covering.

I am certainly going to find a place I can experiment with using Cover now!

IMO this skill has a way long CD for it to be truly effective. That and the short range (ok, I get it, you'd have to be close to someone to protect him, but 9 out of 10 times you cover someone, that someone will end up running away from you, or you dont get close fast enough for it to actually protect the target in time). But it HAS its uses, albeit very limited. But what I like doing is on Turn 4 phase 4, when you have 4 spiders and 2 spinner rooks. You let the healer grab aggro, cover him and flash away. I think its safer then running around Flashing or having the MT worry bout helping tank that phase (specially when the dreadnaught is still alive).

It's a decent skill and it has it's uses. If it shielded from magical dmg as well it would an awesome skill.

You choosing not to use it doesn't make it a useless skill.

As others have already mentioned, I mainly use it during Turn 4.
Usually this is to cover a Healer at the start of Phase 3 (first dreadnought feed - they'll get a hit or two from the spiders before they get absorbed) but occasionally during Phase 6 if I'm Off Tanking.
I used to use it a lot in Wanderers Palace to escort a squishier class past the Stalkers.

The downsides of Cover (that virtually no defensive Cooldowns other than Bulwark and Foresight make any difference to it unless cast DURING the cover) make it difficult to use in a true "emergency" situation. And the cooldown and range are still a little too restrictive for my liking.

So in one of our first attempts of Twintania (I think it was the last go of the night) one of our paladins decided to "see what happens" when he covered the current tank during a death sentence... it did not end well.

We use it for the second snake-phase in T5. The whm grabs the aggro with a precast medica 2 to position the adds, the pal covers him and the whm drops aggro after 6-8 seconds. This makes positioning as easy as it can be because noone has to move at all. But basicly that´s the only encounter we found a use for it.