A New PVP-Dedicated Paladin just recently hits 50 - what's the ideal gearing path?

Hello. I just recently (last night) got my character Hyrist Verus to level 50 as a Paladin, in aims to use the character exclusively for PVP.

I have a Warrior I used for tanking on a different character when it is required of me, so I don't really want to overlap too much workload as far as gearing is concerned. I wanted to use Hyrist to explore a part of content I would not normally do for my other characters, and to keep his content goals focused on improving PvP performance rather than split that effort between other goals on one character.

I'll confess to being a bit eccentric, but I wanted each major differences in gamplay to be experienced with a different character with my UI, gearing, etc primarily built around that concept. It is part of how I keep my game diversified and increase my enjoyment of it. Each character approaches the game a different way and makes the game feel new in that respect.

So Hyrist is my PvP Paladin, fresh 50 out the gate with the 2.0 Storyline complete and my gear desperately wanting a path towards gearing for Frontlines. And boy do I have questions:

1. How I mine for fish? (Just looking for basic game-play tips, PvP skills I should keep accessible, I play on a Gamepad due to wrist problems so any tips with that would be appreciated.)

2. Gearing in PvE is vastly different than when the game first came out, gearing for PvP even more so. Any ideas on how I should go about upgrading armor and weapons, keeping the idea that I want to PvP with this character in the forefront of the thought process? I've noted that Morale brings ilvl up of the weapon and ilvl70 stuff for PvP is almost instantly accessible. Is it worth going in gimp initially to start gearing up that way or are there some PvE I should absolutely unlock first.

2a. My current idea is to grab the ilvl70 stuff out of PvP so I can start pushing through dungeons with it, aiming to grab the pieces out of PvE dungeons that will best assist me in PvP, then do further upgrades purely on PvP once meeting the ilvl80 cap. This helps keep me gaining PvP Exp while working to gear up. Is this feasible?

3. Grouping: I'm on Balmung and Aether sever from the Maelstrom, anyone know of groups I can find through here to work with or where to go to discuss such things in depth? Also what are some group dynamics I should be aware of as a PLD in PvP?


Anyways, those three questions will be great start to this discussion, and I welcome any who wish to help me with this sort of experiment on non-raid focused game-play. Thanks for your time everyone, and I hope to see you on the field of battle! (Ok, that was cheesy, but hey, I'm in a good mood. EXCITE!)

Start with the i90 stuff. There's no reason to get i70 unless you want to min max hardcore (in fronline) or vanity.

Whenever I play paladin in PvP i like to try and balance support and aggression i.e. stoneskin on healers when they need it / stuns for peel / cover balanced with full retard dps fight or flight styel

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Originally Posted by Gooner_iBluAirJGR

Start with the i90 stuff. There's no reason to get i70 unless you want to min max hardcore (in fronline) or vanity.

Whenever I play paladin in PvP i like to try and balance support and aggression i.e. stoneskin on healers when they need it / stuns for peel / cover balanced with full retard dps fight or flight styel

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I'm going to be approaching this with a blank slate, so I'm sitting around ilvl50 gear right now. My idea of getting the ilvl70 stuff is no PvP rank requirement, meets the ilvl80 cap while at the same time opening doors for PvE content that would help me start on the path to min-maxing for PvP. (which would in turn benefit for me going into getting higher ilvl PvP gear for glamours.)

Anyone here play on a gamepad? Anything in particular on that front I should know about?

The i90 stuff doesnt have a rank requirement either <3 Trust me my son

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Originally Posted by Gooner_iBluAirJGR

The i90 stuff doesnt have a rank requirement either <3 Trust me my son

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How did I miss the Direwolf set!?

Ok. So here's the rub. The Direwolf set is about twice the cost as the Warwolf stuff, effectively doubling the time it would take to get the gear.

Keep in mind, my ilvl is in the early 50s. No matter what I do it's going to take a while before I'm able to reach the ilvl cap for frontlines. The rub is wether or not I should spam something like LoA to get gear before I go into front-lines, or just bite the bullet and go in under-geared. At least then I'd be able to grasp the basics quicker and begin to level in PvP.

Thoughts:

-Theoretically it should be possible to earn Wolfmarks in the lvl 30 synch'd Wolf's Den and at least you won't be undergeared. But you might find yourself in queue for a long time, for a short unfulfilling match.
- I think there's crafted PVP gear, somewhere with an ilvl between i55 and i70 maybe? It has morale on it as well so it MIGHT be enough to get you to about i80 (add item level & morale) but I just don't know without seeing the stats. If you can earn the gil to buy this that's better than starting off with AF gear at least.
- In Frontlines you can expect to earn from about 300-600 Wolfmarks per match (I think minimum is 300 for a loss) if that helps you plan.
- Buy Strength-based accessories, not VIT accessories

First this is the Paladin PvP Crit/Det Best in Slot for i80 sync:

• Weapon: Lionliege Blade, (Direwolf Longsword is a good alternative)
• Shield: Lionsmane Shield, ((Tidal)Wave Shield is a good alternatives)
• Head: Noct Circlet
• Body: Demon Armor of Fending, (Lionsmane Armor has 1 less Crit)
• Hands: Direwolf Gauntlets of Fending
• Waist: Lionsmane Belt
• Legs: Dreadwyrm Sarouels of Fending/Lionsmane Breeches (Varlet's Breeches are a good alternative)
• Feet: Demon Sabatons of Fending/Lionliege Sabatons

Vit Accessory Set:

• Ears: Hellwolf Earrings of Fending
• Neck: Werewolf Choker of Fending
• Wrists: Hellwolf Bracelet of Fending
• Ring 1: Hellwolf Ring of Fending
• Ring 2: Vortex Ring of Fending

Str Accessory Set:

• Ears: Tremor Earrings of Slaying
• Neck: Werewolf Choker of Slaying/Dreadwyrm Choker of Slaying
• Wrists: True Ice Bracelet of Slaying (High Allagan Bracelets of Slaying is a good alternative)
• Ring 1: Judgement Ring of Slaying
• Ring 2: Direwolf Ring of Slaying

Despite what some say both Vit builds and Str builds have their advantages.

As a paladin I'd go with the "bite the bullet route. Since you don't have to be a primary damage dealer, your lack of gear wont hurt your team too too much

That was fun!

Picked up a set of crafted ilvl55 gear and had an ilvl70 weapon and hopped into Borderlands Roulette for the first time.
8 v 8 v 8 melee right in the center of the map.

I sat on Shield Oath to defensively make up for the lack of stats I would have otherwise, and it seemed to pay off. I died all of once while playing interference for the team, and we held the lead for the majority of the time. We ended up losing when both teams zerged us towards the end, but we still got second, which gave me enough wolf marks to pick up the ilvl70 shield to keep for a while.

Think I'm going to continue to bite the bullet and gear progression through Wolf Marks and do things like Crystal Tower on the side when my ilvl catches up a bit.

Seems legit! I wish you the best of luck on your journey to rank 45!

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Originally Posted by Ultimatecalibur

First this is the Paladin PvP Crit/Det Best in Slot for i80 sync:
Vit Accessory Set:

• Ears: Hellwolf Earrings of Fending
• Neck: Werewolf Choker of Fending
• Wrists: Hellwolf Bracelet of Fending
• Ring 1: Hellwolf Ring of Fending
• Ring 2: Vortex Ring of Fending

Str Accessory Set:

• Ears: Tremor Earrings of Slaying
• Neck: Werewolf Choker of Slaying/Dreadwyrm Choker of Slaying
• Wrists: True Ice Bracelet of Slaying (High Allagan Bracelets of Slaying is a good alternative)
• Ring 1: Judgement Ring of Slaying
• Ring 2: Direwolf Ring of Slaying

Despite what some say both Vit builds and Str builds have their advantages.

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Not to hijack the thread or anything, but im assuming some of this applies to WAR as well? As far as builds go, what does a WAR build look like exactly?

The WAR PvP Crit/Det BiS would be:

• Weapon: Bearliege Axe
• Head: Noct Circlet
• Body: Demon Armor of Fending/Bearliege Cuirass
• Hands: Bearliege Gauntlets
• Waist: Bearsmaw Belt
• Legs: Dreadwyrm Sarouels of Fending (Varlet's Breeches are a good alternative)
• Feet: Demon Sabatons of Fending

So it looks like to get BIS DPS Accessories items I'd have to pretty heavily PVE - which kinda goes against the whole focused gameplay philosophy I'm working with here. I may have to find a more PvP focused STR Acessory set or simply go do Fending.

Got my first third place yesterday: We were just completely disorganized. *shurg* I do believe I like the morning crowd better than the night crowd but groups like that are eventual no matter what time zone.

I wouldn't worry about i110 bis anytime soon, just getting enough WM's for the i70 or i90 gear and then saving the rest for upgrades since beyond that you need a high PVP rank to even equip that stuff. Luckily you can buy it before you can wear it since you'll cap out at 20k WM's several times over before you get to rank 40+.

If all you plan to do with this tank is PVP, then you can limit you shopping to what's in Wolf's Den Pier and just focus on things with the best stats for each slot. My casters still use the i90 PVP CRIT/DET pants for example vs anything with Spell Speed/Accuracy from PVE. Some i110 pants might be bis for one of my classes like Summoner maybe, I forget, but I'm not ready to spend the WM's just yet when there's plenty of other things to buy and i110 might be bis over i90 in Frontlines, but that's barely the case in light of the i80 level synch and won't make a difference for you anytime soon. Same principle applies to other classes even though stats are different.

haven't read the gear sets in depth but just make sure you're at the acc cap of 363 for anything i80.

good luck.

My one advice if you want to be a serious pvper is to reroll lala and make it the shortest height lala possible, it will make your life easy by 50% due to having a small hitbox, tab target in this game is a pile of poo.

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Originally Posted by Buff_Archer

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Ideally, I'll be getting the ilvl70 set then upgrade as desired while maintaining the 363 accuracy. That said, I do have an overall goal of grabbing an entire set of Lion's gear for the vanity, which is actually part of the original goal in putting this character into PvP.

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Originally Posted by Laxxus

My one advice if you want to be a serious pvper is to reroll lala and make it the shortest height lala possible, it will make your life easy by 50% due to having a small hitbox, tab target in this game is a pile of poo.

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Gamepad/Keyboard and Mouse Hybrid Master Race >.> It's only had for me to switch targets when I try to peg them in the crowd and I can quickly grab with the mouse if needed. It's rarely needed.