Materia choices for Glad?

[Treach]

A master of sword and shield, the gladiator is a melee specialist who excels in defense. Though his individual blows do not deal great damage, he is able to deliver them in quick succession, a quality that has earned him a reputation for dependability. The paladin job sacrifices maximum HP, but this is compensated by way of greatly enhanced defense as well as the ability to cast healing magic. Valiant by nature, a paladin can shield his comrades from blows, making him the unyielding rock upon which a party’s defense is built.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...764#post449764

Something I just read, so maybe start saving up HP gear now just incase, even if you don't prefer it.

[Bahn]

I would go for a setup like this

I actually like your materia setup. It seems nicely balanced and meant to give Gladiator kind of a "jack of all trades" sorta deal by just enhancing all its stats to make it a bit more durable in more situations instead of just one. Might give that a shot myself as I initially was thinking of just piling on the enmity and VIT/defense mats.

[Technolust]

I've also been using the bladed lantern shield for 10 more attack since you can't block ifrit even with ourmanuever on, same for moogles since I just kite king, mrd and whatever else I can get to chase me (can't block from behind even with aegis boon on) but I keep my vintage kite shield for soloing or gold nm adds.

Uh you can block Ifrit with a shield... I do it all the time.

[Technolust]

I actually like your materia setup. It seems nicely balanced and meant to give Gladiator kind of a "jack of all trades" sorta deal by just enhancing all its stats to make it a bit more durable in more situations instead of just one. Might give that a shot myself as I initially was thinking of just piling on the enmity and VIT/defense mats.

Thank you, in my opinion I think evenly distributing materia in the proper stats is more beneficial then slotting HP into everything. My recent VIT tests however show that VIT doesn't negate that much damage, but for long fights it helps.

[knite23]

i agree hp isnt the way to go its the difference from tanking vs being just a meat shield and i know alot of tanks that stone skin themselves and protect themselves and like it was stated before on longer fights the damage that is mitigated from def and vit add up. also as a healer i rather have a tank with 3000 health get hit for 150 damage over a tank getting hit for 200 damage with 50-100 more HP cause in the long run the more damage you take the more you will have to be healed and just stacking Hp imo doesnt leave room for mistakes cause if a healer goes down and your on Cd's your goin to get hit like a truck and that extra 100-300 hp loses it value very fast

[Treach]

Uh you can block Ifrit with a shield... I do it all the time.

I've only ever blocked ifrit with aegis boon on, never once blocked him otherwise....dex rings, dex+16 gloves, vintage kite shield, sentinel gauntlets, not one single block that wasn't forced by aegis boon.

[knite23]

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...764#post449764

Something I just read, so maybe start saving up HP gear now just incase, even if you don't prefer it.

...the description of glad to pla only proves the point of why it would be a waste to try and stack HP

[Al_Harrington]

I would go for a setup like this

Weapon (Strength or Vitality)
Shield (Bloodwall)
Head (Mind or Magic Evasion)
Body (Vitality)
Gloves (Strength)
Waist (Enmity)
Legs (Ironmans Will or Swordsman's Cry) Ironman's is STR+VIT Swordsman's is STR+DEX
Feet (Bloodthirst)

I will be going with something similiar to this. Not saying anyone is wrong, to each his own but putting HP only on all gear is like using materia 10% of the time to me. Anytime you are not at 100% HP you are not wearing materia on gear. Yes you got the boost to start the fight or when a mage heals you to 100% but lets face it all that does is "saves" you one hit to the face before a death. Not saying people don't survive with under 100HP left in fights but are you really going to stack HP for this exact scenario? That and I have a full double meld MRD set I will use with above stats already and hope I don't have to make a new GLD set.

[YuriSan]

When it comes to tankng opinions may differ, My setup however is this:

Head = MND III + IV
Body = VIT III + III
Hands = STR III + IV
Waist = HP III + IV (have one with Enmity IV aswell to use when hate is an issue)
Legs = STR + VIT IV
Feet = EVA III + III
Shield = DEF IV + HP III
Weapon = MND III + IV (have one with Enmity IV aswell to use when hate is an issue)

[Daniel_Fury]

Hmm. Personally, I use a HP set and never had a problem.
STR and MND would be helpful though but I don't see a nice enough boost from VIT to use it as a meld. Emnity doesn't seem like much of an issue in Primal battles, but when it comes to aoe exping, it can be a bit of a pain.