PLD Stat Allotment Update?

[Skies]

You definitely want VIT, also I will defer to someone else to tell you which of the stats grants you a bonus to healing magic, but you want that one.

Also I suggest you only really think about starting to adventure as a Paladin after level 35 when you get Divine Veil given how at a low level Cover is pretty useless, as it is when soloing, however Divine Veil will be almost your bread and butter.

That said, do not be afraid of going the path of the sultansworn, the talk about PLD x WAR is extremely heated and while I only have minor experience with Paladin, the general trend on these forums is that a Paladin can tank effectively, but it requires a degree of skill, and also that people are 'used' to Warrior being superior but- Sincerely if a PUG is going to kick you for going with a Paladin instead of Warrior then I wouldn't go with them in first place.

[Drexel_Mactavish]

You definitely want VIT, also I will defer to someone else to tell you which of the stats grants you a bonus to healing magic, but you want that one.

Also I suggest you only really think about starting to adventure as a Paladin after level 35 when you get Divine Veil given how at a low level Cover is pretty useless, as it is when soloing, however Divine Veil will be almost your bread and butter.

That said, do not be afraid of going the path of the sultansworn, the talk about PLD x WAR is extremely heated and while I only have minor experience with Paladin, the general trend on these forums is that a Paladin can tank effectively, but it requires a degree of skill, and also that people are 'used' to Warrior being superior but- Sincerely if a PUG is going to kick you for going with a Paladin instead of Warrior then I wouldn't go with them in first place.

Thank you for your recommendations. I made notes and will definitely follow them. I agree with you on skill. Thats how things were with XI, I wouldn't expect anything less with XIV.

[Hachi-Roku]

Kaeko recently posted some tests on Block, Block Rate, DEX, and VIT on Blue Gartr, the post can be found here. This right here is effectively the meat and potatoes of GLA/PLD's mitigation.

Here's the cliff's notes (which are in his post but I just did some upward conversion):

Every 10 DEX gives +1% block chance.
Every 5 "Block Rate" (found on the shields themselves, also materia) gives +1% block chance.
Block chance is capped at 75%.

Every 10 VIT gives -1% damage taken on block.
Every 5 "Block" (found on the shields themselves) gives -1% damage taken on block.
-Damage taken on block has a floor of 20% and a cap of 75%.

dLVL does influence both 'block chance' and 'damage taken on block' but the effect is far less pronounced at higher disparities than compared to Defense.

There's likely a Unified Theory of Shield Mitigation that can be made of this, regarding DEX and VIT.

[Tango]

recently Kaeko released info on block and block rate:

1VIT = .1% dmg reduction in blocks
1DEX = .1% block rate increase

Pretty strait forward, for example if you allocate 20 points in VIT then you get 2% dmg reduction on every block, on every target regardless of lvl of mob (capped at 75% blocked only happens on mobs 10+ lvl's below your lvl). I would value VIT > DEX since VIT raises your HP and increases DEF in the process and reduces dmg taken.

[Molly_Millions]

Just FYI, to get decent hate on PLD you must cure your ass off. Because of this, MND is more important than STR on PLD. Also, VIT is pretty broken at 50, don't waste your time with it. At 50 all that VIT does is increase your HP at a 1:1 ratio. You'd be better off going with DEF on your shield.

[PiedPiper]

Just FYI, to get decent hate on PLD you must cure your ass off. Because of this, MND is more important than STR on PLD. Also, VIT is pretty broken at 50, don't waste your time with it. At 50 all that VIT does is increase your HP at a 1:1 ratio. You'd be better off going with DEF on your shield.

What shield are you using that can be melded lol? Anyway, def is just as broken as vit. If you really have to meld a shield can't you do hp since that's pretty much pld's weakest tanking stat? Imo you need 4k (in full group) to be really safe against chim and miser. It can be done with less, but 4k seems to be the point where you pretty much never go down really quick. It's even enough to make derping on the occasional 100 tonez swing not fatal, though its still probably gonna kill you if you don't mitigate it with something (sent, block, etc). Once you get to 4000-4200 however, I wouldn't really advocate stacking any more hp, go for enmity.

Curing helps on threat, but in boss situations its unreliable imo. Only you should get hit, and there are 1-2 whms there making you not die. Sure you'll get some cures off, but with limited mp and a long cool down, much more of your threat is going to come from damage and abilities. Don't forget though, mnd is also one of our attack stats, so it pays both ways to cap mnd. Its worth mentioning that our stats suck. Even if you do a full allotment of str and wear two +1 str rings, you're still gonna be under 290 str.

To a certain extent, your stats depend on what you want to do. If you just wanna do spirit bond groups and exp at 50 with the occasional mog or ifrit, then a vit build is probably worthwhile. If you're really into doing speed runs of CC and AV, then you're gonna need enmity. I've found my str/mnd build is working pretty well, only issue of course being trash aoe pulls where we still suffer. If you can land meaningful cures its doable, but that's not always possible.

I'm gonna do some crunching on those block stats, but... with 1/3 of the time having 100% block rate AND a 100% chance to block on boon, you're already blocking a lot of attacks. I'm not sure mitigation is what pld needs, I still believe its more hate. We're really good at not being dead, but its no good to be the only one alive because the others all pulled hate off you.

[Molly_Millions]

What shield are you using that can be melded lol?

The best shield there is imo; Vintage Kite Shield +1, which has +5 MND. Currently, my PLD is sitting on about 105 enmity, and I was just given some hq gear with some really sick HP melds (127 hp on the pants), but off the top of my head I don't know what it all adds up to.

[NefGP]

That seems terribly low, wow.

I've been building my GLA with VIT first and DEX second because I figured it would be similar to XI where your abilities will generate far more enmity than your damage output reasonably can. Not to ignore damage entirely, as it is helpful for generating hate, but I figured STR & MND will go up high enough naturally so why not boost my HP/DEF and Accuracy/Block Rate.

Anyhoo, given those numbers, that means that with the Relic Shield you'd have a base chance to block of 20% + your DEX modifier...

That just seems far, far too low especially if the cap is 75%

[Molly_Millions]

I block on my PLD often enough and I haven't put a single point in DEX. It's not worth it, IMO. Actually, niether VIT nor DEX are really worth it. Damage mitigation from VIT at 50 is TERRIBLE to say the least.

[Alerith]

I block on my PLD often enough and I haven't put a single point in DEX. It's not worth it, IMO. Actually, niether VIT nor DEX are really worth it. Damage mitigation from VIT at 50 is TERRIBLE to say the least.

I agree with Molly here about the wasted points in DEX. While your natural block rate might not be as high as you'd like, your shield abilities alone more than make up for that.

Divine Veil gives you 100% guaranteed blocks for 20 seconds on a 60 second cooldown, so realistically, you're not blocking for 40 seconds out of a minute. Now factor in natural blocks, Aegis Boon and Outmaneuver as well as other damage mitigation sources like Sentinel and Stoneskin, and you are rarely ever taking full damage from a physical hit.