Quick question about Paladin

[Messenger]

During Ifrit EX or TItan Ex whenever i don't have hate, I stoneskin all dps and healers so they can atleast have a chance to survive when they couldnt avoid the plumes or eruption... Every help counts

[SpookyGhost]

It's really useful utility that your group will appreciate, especially in Coil and EX Primals. You also get a unicorn and who can pass that up?

[Orophin]

It's worth getting. I've started using it in between long casts from bosses that don't target me to put it on myself or another party member that needs it more than I.

[Pesmergia]

Stoneskin is 100% needed for end game in turn 5 for death sentences and profusion. You can pretty much ignore it until then, but it helps when doing titan HM and extreme, because you can cast it each time titan goes up which makes the phase transitions easier on the healers.

[Low_Kick]

Stoneskin is 100% needed for end game in turn 5 for death sentences and profusion. You can pretty much ignore it until then, but it helps when doing titan HM and extreme, because you can cast it each time titan goes up which makes the phase transitions easier on the healers.

You don't 100% need it for T5 since whm should be ss'ing you, which whm's ss is superior because of their trait graniteskin. I don't see the need for it in Titan ex for Titan's jumps since everyone stacks up, and cure III + succor should top everyone off. Casting it on yourself when you plan to eat a bomb helps, since healers are usually positioning themselves and don't have the time to cast ss in between cures at that point.

While it isn't 100% neccesary for you to get, it does come in handy when you run with average healers in fights with a MT and OT.

[Maelwys]

You don't 100% need it for T5 since whm should be ss'ing you, which whm's ss is superior because of their trait graniteskin.

T5 is a bit iffy - the WHM is usually better off timing a Cure II to connect immediately after Death Sentence (in order to counteract the healing debuff) instead of precasting Stoneskin. I suppose if you're not running with a SCH it could help though? In a typical T5 setup there'll usually be a WAR MTing and a PLD OTing- it doesn't hurt for the PLD to Stoneskin the MT in that situation as long as there's no conflag to worry about.

(Due to the cast time on DS being less than that of Stoneskin, you can't start casting SS when you see DS start to go off, you need to precast it instead whenever you know a DS is coming soon...)

Personally I've found I use Stoneskin most often in the extreme primals - there are lots of "gap" moments where I've time to throw them on other players to give them a bit of a buffer for the next AoE. Ditto in CT on the Behemoth fight if I'm stuck on tower duty. I'd rarely cast it on myself because I hardly ever need the extra buffer... but it's nice to be able to fall back on it if I'm out of cooldowns, or if a healer suddenly dies or becomes otherwise occupied.

[AlrikRouge]

Pretty much all of the above.

It is definitely one of those "play the role to the best of the ability" scenarios. Having it helps - even if you pre-cast and you do not manage to have it up for a major hit, but it is up for the smaller auto hits after, it can be a life saver, or just to make the battle that much easier. I do not use it during dungeon pulls as my mana goes to flash in te majority, but I do on most every boss just because I can and again, every little helps.