PLD Advice - Skill bloating?

[Chrono_Rising]

That gave me a thought.
I will move SW to the other GCD (riot blade probably) so i will not waste time to cast it before starting my GCD, thanks.

Read the rest of the post highlighted below. You aren't solving the problem, only shifting it.

The second reason also has a control aspect. If I am close to using Fast Blade with that macro, and spirits within in coming off cooldown, then the game will prioritize Spirits within, and push back fast blade. I might think to myself, well I'll just switch the order of the two. This doesn't work. If I press that macro before my GCD is up to use fast blade as my GCD comes up the macro will only see Spirits within as being usable and force the clip again.

There is nothing special about the GCD being fast blade. You haven't solve the problem, only shifted it to a different GCD.

I see you changed your post to say shield lob, this has less issues until you lag for a second and shield lob goes off instead of Spirits within, which potentially resets your combo.

[Canadane]

Macros are specifically designed to be terrible for content.
I cannot in good faith tell you to use them.

Instead, just add more hotbars. I use about 4 per job.

[Noldornir]

I only use 3 Macros in total:

Stance Swap:
/macroicon "shield oath"
/ac "shield oath"
/ac "sword oath"

As stated above WILL work thre's just one Downside and we have to understand ho a Macro Works in order to figure it out:

The Macro will attempt to perform the first command then the second then so on (micon is not accounted since it only gives the macro the wanted icon).

If you have no stance and press the macro:

-You will go into shield oath (first command is shield oath)
-You will enter in a GCD for 2,5 secs
-You will attempt to use sword oath but since there's no WAIT command it will be executed immediatly after the shield oath so can't be performed
RESULT= you will go in shield oath

If you have sword oath and use the macro the same will happen since the first command (shield oath) will also remove sword oath.

If you are already in shield oath:

-The first command will be executed REMOVING THE TANK STANCE (you'll be with no oath for a brief moment)
-Since the first command only deactivated a toogle it won't need a GCD
-Sword oath can be executed

You'll find yourself in sword oath.

DOWNSIDE to be noted:

If you are in shield oath and use the macro you will loose all your oath gauge. So it's better to make use of it beforhand.

You can revert the behaviour reverting the macro but I find this better (I won't loose any gauge when i skip from sword to shield)

Another macro I use is bulwark+anticipation.

Bulwark alone is cool but not that strong, awareness is even worst. If used togheter they are really neat tho!

Bulwark will greatly increas your block rate but critical hits cannot be blocked. Awareness will make you immune to criticals. Works really well where you are going to receive many hits (ex. many many adds, big pulls, etc.).
You could also use awareness+anticipation for a weaker version with a smaller recast time

My third macro is set on the R3 button and it's non skill-related; it marks the enemy i want the DPS to hit with a number.

I wouldn't advise any other macro tho, there are several reasons:

-They are NOT situational

-They do make you loose time (wait command can accept 3 seconds, you loose 0.5 secs/GCD which translates in a free skill every 5)

-They CANT be enqueued (you need to wait your GCD to actually expire while plain skills can be enqueued 0.5 secs before use)

-They DO NOT take into account your positions; how many times do you (let's say) begin a combo, move to avoid boss AOE, wait a sec for said AOE to pass, move back into enemy and END the combo. The macro WOULD try to execute the command while you are far and you'll have to start over again.)

-They can't have in-between skills unless you always perform em (Shield Lob - FLASH -Fast blade - Riot Blade - FLASH - Rage of Halone) is what often happens when pulling a small group. Maybe one DPS got the wrong add (the one you are NOT targetting) maybe the healer casted regen too soon, maybe a ton of reasons sometimes you'll need the second flash (not always). Flash will not interrupt your combo (it will only slows it for the GCD) but in a macro is Always cast or never while you want to decide given from circumstances.

I kinda like that defensive CD macro from Nedkel

/macroicon "sentinel"
/ac "sentinel"
/ac "rampart"
/ac "bulwark"
/ac "convalescence"
/ac "anticipation"

But I would NEVER use it alone REMOVING the skills from my bars (in too many occasions i'll want a specific skill not a random one) and so it's more a tool like "I won't forget to have an oGCD up" button then a "any defensive skill replacement" button IMHO.

[Seraphor]

The simplest and most effective macro’s I’ve got for PLD are:

Flash/Circle of Scorn
/micon “Circle of Scorn”
/ac “Flash”
/ac “Circle of Scorn”

This one works well because it’s a GCD and an oGCD, giving you control over which one you use at any given time.
Hit it one and you’ll use Flash.
Hit it twice in quick succession and you’ll Flash and Circle, applying your AoE DoT on pull.
Otherwise, when Circle is off cooldown, you can weave it between your GCD combo, which will only apply Circle being an oGCD.

Shield Swipe/Shield Lob
/micon “Shield Swipe”
/ac “Shield Lob”
/ac “Shield Swipe”

Again, we’ve got a GCD and an oGCD, so you can weave Swipe on cooldown, but otherwise you use Lob.


These are all skills that are niche enough to not effect your proficiency too much, they’re not your core DPS or defensive skills, and in general aren’t used much outside of the pull and any minute delay they might cause won’t effect you outside of dungeons, which aren’t high level stuff anyway.

[Sabora_Makingai]

I'll try to upload a pic of my cross hotbar later today. I play PLD main on controller on PS4 and while I do sometime have to switch out abilities depending on what content I'm running, I have never really had an issue with too many buttons. Also since I raid I combined my enmity combo into a maco since I should never really be using it as a PLD. Opens up to additional slots for me.

[Chrono_Rising]

I kinda like that defensive CD macro from Nedkel


But I would NEVER use it alone REMOVING the skills from my bars (in too many occasions i'll want a specific skill not a random one) and so it's more a tool like "I won't forget to have an oGCD up" button then a "any defensive skill replacement" button IMHO.

Yeah, the problem with this is that if you use it as an extra button, it is literally an extra button duplicating what you already have on your hot bar which adds to the button bloat problem the OP asked about. On its own, this button can cause issues from loss of control. If I need sentinel later but it is currently up and I don't have my solo buttons then the macro will force my sentinel use. If I want something for fluff mitigation but not necessarily need it for a tank buster, I may not want to pop sentinel immediately, and rampart may be better suited for what I'm looking for (20 seconds of fluff). Ordering doesn't help here, in a different order of macro, if Rampart is up and I need sentinel then I'll be forced to pop both blowing both my CD's when I only needed the second. The solution is to use the solo buttons. There are some good macro's, like intervention to your cotank, or shirk to your cotank that make your targeting easier, but in general pairing of abilities does more harm than good.

Right now we have more than enough room with 3 hotbars that have button input patterns to call them up and dismiss them quickly, and I don't think this issue will go away in 5.0 so its probably good practice to start getting use to it.

[Burningskull]

I don't know about skill bloat, but I wish PLD had a DPS combo pre 50... when every I do a roulette and get synced to 50 even outside of shield oath I have to be careful and not do my Rage of Halone combo for fear of pulling hate off the MT. Which I tend to just spam Riot Blade combo with no finisher on it....

[Noldornir]

I don't know about skill bloat, but I wish PLD had a DPS combo pre 50... when every I do a roulette and get synced to 50 even outside of shield oath I have to be careful and not do my Rage of Halone combo for fear of pulling hate off the MT. Which I tend to just spam Riot Blade combo with no finisher on it....

Below LvL 50 just pull.

Else you are watching screen (not helping party).

A WAR can dish out more DMG than you (access to main combos at 50)
A DRK same story (access to main combos at 38)

You can LITERALY just spam RoH (access to later combos at 54-60) when you are 50 and there's NO WAY someone can outenmity you spamming RoH+Shield Swipes. If you want to be sure just start in tank stance and perform a few RoH then swap to sword (if confortable).

[Lambdafish]

@OP PLD is my main, which I use for raiding. This is my hotbar.

Some things to consider, which is reflected in how I have designed my hotbar:
- My hotbar does not include awareness, interject (I do have these two on another bar, but this is simply for my own convenience and I had space), ultimatum, or low blow. These skills are not necessary, and can be switched in on the rare occasion that that they are, and low blow is strictly worse than shield bash, so never have that on your bar.
- PLD skills are mostly situational, and it's rotation is fairly small, so the button bloat isn't too bad as many buttons are a once on occasion deal. For that reason I have all the cooldowns and stances on the top row, and all the skills I use more often or on demand on easier to manage buttons.
- I would highly suggest binding as many skills to reachable keybinds, I struggled to get the hang of that too, but making use of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 (after that its a bit of a stretch from WASD), as well as Q, E, R, and F, and the CTRL and SHIFT varients of all of them (maybe throw in alt as well if you feel comfortable).
- Since I have started doing that, I have found that controlling my whole toolkit flows a lot smoother.

Oh, and never ever use macros, if anything it prevents you from properly learning your toolkit, and makes playing the job difficult in situations where the macro doesn't work (which is often).

[Izsha]

Re-emphasize like so many others, dont use macros to deal with space problems. Use more space. Macros are generally terrible for a variety of reasons already mentioned.

The only macros I can support are for ease of targeting party members (shirk, intervention, etc) or for party notification. Ie: my provoke is a macro with a line in party chat so the tank is aware I'm taking the boss (handy for stuff like seiryu with multiple quick voke>shirk combos).

Macros should never be used for bread and butter actions to just 'save space' . That is not their purpose and they are TERRIBLE at doing that.