How is the Weathered Noct Hoplon?

I'm assuming it counts as a Tower Shield, what with the lower block rate/higher block percentage.

I also feel like once I trade out Valor pants for Noct pants, the extra accuracy will be needed for coil. Stuff I won't get from Holy Shield Animus, though the holy shield won't cost soldiery.

I haven't heard much good stuff about tower shields. It seems like anything that isn't a kite shield is frowned upon.

So I'm curious what other people think of it/if any testing has been done with it.

For those few tanks who skipped out on the Noct body and opted for the shield instead.

Tough choice, I think most of it comes down to your personal preference with play style. I spent my soldiery on the ring, since I find it hardest to get high level accessories.

You'll be trading Skill Speed for Accuracy. Check the other pieces maybe and see if you need to spend your soldiery on the shield instead of another piece. There accuracy on other pieces of gear, skill speed is good too.

Skill Speed is a pretty bad stat for tanks, especially Paladins. Paladins can run out of TP really fast.

I went with the Weathered Noct Lorica for my first purchase, since:

1. On top of VIT gains, it's a +4 gain in Parry, and trading off 24 Determination for 26 Accuracy from the Valor Surcoat, which was the 2.1 BiS for Paladin. This is also a +14 gain in Parry, in exchange for -8 Accuracy from the Heavy Allagan Arrmor, but given your Paladin is getting a +26 Accuracy, this should put you at close to 500 Accuracy for now. The minimum accuracy required for The Second Coil of Bahamut - Turn 1 seems to be 490 for tanks, so that's a good base line to work towards.
2. If you feel you have too much accuracy using the 2.1 BiS, except the Valor Surcoat being swapped with the Weathered Noct Lorica, you can replace your Allagan Bracelets of Fending for Hero's Bracelet of Fending for an extra +5 Parry and +11 Skill Speed, in exchange for a loss of 16 Accuracy.

Another good option if you don't know if you should spend on the shield is the Weathered Noct Ring, which is a direct upgrade to the Hero's Ring of Fending. Otherwise, you can also use it with your Hero's Ring of Fending for extra Accuracy.

As a shield, the hoplon style shields are good for blocking attacks more often. This allows you to use more Shield Swipes, and have a more constant damage mitigation, although it mitigates for less.

I decided to go for it to skip upgrading my Holy Shield, it makes sure that you take advantage of Bulwark when it's up because of the 3 to 1 nearly Block Strength. For all PLDs that are going to do Atmas or not, I'm not going to myself, I would suggest getting it since it seems to be the best shield of it's type that you can get at the time, better than Allagan Round Shield at the least, you lost some block rate for a lot of block strength, and blocking more often is nice, but not when it barely gives any reduction at that point and how most fights Pacify won't work or will get an immunity too quickly.

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Originally Posted by juniglee

Another good option if you don't know if you should spend on the shield is the Weathered Noct Ring, which is a direct upgrade to the Hero's Ring of Fending.

As a shield, the hoplon style shields are good for blocking attacks more often. This allows you to use more Shield Swipes, and have a more constant damage mitigation, although it mitigates for less.

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Thanks for pointing out the ring to me. I do actually have the Lorica, it was my first purchase.

Also, I'd like to point out the Noct Hoplon is, I'm pretty sure, acting like a Tower Shield. Low block chance, high block damage.

I never heard many good things about Tower Shields. The only thing being "The less you block, the more you Parry".

Most people suggest kite shields. I have extensive use with both Holy Shield and Onion Shield, and know the ins-and-outs of both. I've never touched a tower shield, however, and that's why I'm curious about the giant hoplon.

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Originally Posted by Curcio

Thanks for pointing out the ring to me.

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WAR here but was looking what to buy next earlier and that ring seemed like an awful choice.

375 tomes for 3 Vit, 1 Pry, 1 Acc?

Looking at the stats, it makes most sense to save up for the extra week and go for a bigger piece like the chest or legs

Ring seems pretty meh unless you already have a spare Oil of Time hanging around ...unlikely.

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Originally Posted by Curcio

Also, I'd like to point out the Noct Hoplon is, I'm pretty sure, acting like a Tower Shield. Low block chance, high block damage.

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Ah I read it the wrong way around. Yes, it seems to act as a Tower Shield, not like the Onion Shield. I would avoid that if that's the case.

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Originally Posted by Grembo

WAR here but was looking what to buy next earlier and that ring seemed like an awful choice.

375 tomes for 3 Vit, 1 Pry, 1 Acc?

Looking at the stats, it makes most sense to save up for the extra week and go for a bigger piece like the chest or legs

Ring seems pretty meh unless you already have a spare Oil of Time hanging around ...unlikely.

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You don't have to use it over the Hero's Ring of Fending, it can be used WITH it too. You lose about 5 Parry, but if you need the extra Accuracy it's there.

But otherwise, it's a pretty meh purchase, I agree. However, I'm just being cautious with my purchases, so I'm prioritizing anything that has both Accuracy and Parry, given the rest of the Weathered Noct gear have stuff like Skill Speed, Critical Rate, or Determination.

I'd say the new set of gears have given us more options (or for others, another set of headaches) for gearing. It's not as straightforward as maxing Parry and capping Accuracy, as it was in pre-2.2.

I will not use that shield due to low block rate. Relic zennith is kite shield type that have balanced stats and everytime you block is around 27% dmg reduce, it is more reliable

In theory the balanced kite shield seems optimal as it blocks a good amount of the time for decent reduction. However, I am beginning to like the idea of a tower shield. Based on shield swipe lighting up, I notice that vs hard hitters like twin, I almost never block. Against giant trash packs I typically use Bulwark anyhow. Maybe huge block strength isn't so bad.

atma farming at the currently stage is very tedious and time consuming, i'd rather spend the time learning and downing coil if you have a static going. You only need to down turn 7 for a oil of time to upgrade the hoplon to a i110 weapon, so i think that's a better goal to work towards rather than dealing with RNG.

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Originally Posted by Dano

atma farming at the currently stage is very tedious and time consuming, i'd rather spend the time learning and downing coil if you have a static going. You only need to down turn 7 for a oil of time to upgrade the hoplon to a i110 weapon, so i think that's a better goal to work towards rather than dealing with RNG.

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Mind you that you'd still need to deal with RNG even if you down Turn 7. Last time I check, the mats required to upgrade wasn't a 100% drop. Plus, you need to pray to the RNG Gods that your roll will be the highest.

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Originally Posted by Thorauku

Mind you that you'd still need to deal with RNG even if you down Turn 7. Last time I check, the mats required to upgrade wasn't a 100% drop. Plus, you need to pray to the RNG Gods that your roll will be the highest.

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First thing it is guaranteed to drop last time i checked. and if your in a group that can do t7 its probably established some sort of pecking order for that item to maximize usage.

but on topic. Until some serious theory crafters get the noct, tidal, and animus shields we wont know for sure what provides the most reduction, but i think its safe to say pick your shield on ilvl and secondary stats. If you need the acc get it if not id try to pick up levi shield if you dont plan of farming for animus.