Purchase order for Paladin

[Estellios]

I haven't finished collecting my ATMA yet (currently at 6/12) but from what others in my FC say, the grind to Novus is worse than the ATMA grind. So once you get all of your ATMA, upgrading that to Animus is really just spending 1500 myth, which is easy to get now, over and over and complete your books. Easy peasy i100 weapon/shield.

Good luck.

Novus grind is better than Atma because it's measurable and you don't have to spend a ton of time on it per day if you are patient. Roulettes (especially with the first-timer bonuses) and hunts practically vomit myth at you and with that alongside the once-a-day Alexandrite Map quest you can make some efficient progress.

Much better than "I spent my day off of work farming for atma and I didn't get anything". If you do the same farming myth to buy Alexandrite maps you at least have something to show for it.

[dramamine]

One recommendation I have is to prioritize doing your sword books over your shield books.

I know I (and a lot of other players I see around) did it the opposite way, but going from 90 to 100 on your weapon makes a much larger difference than going from 90 to 100 on your shield. It's tempting to go to the shield first since you only have to do 3 books, but it's really not worth it. You can always get the Hoplon if you are swimming in soldiery. Tower shields do make your damage more spikey, but they also effectively turn bulwark into a 15s long 30-35% straight mitigation skill. It's also got accuracy, which will be useful as a swap-out, especially if you don't put accuracy on your novus (or skip the novus altogether).

[KingOfAbyss]

I don't know if it has been fixed, But if you get your sword to Novus before the shield, you won't be able to get alexandrites from Fates. Since you need Animus to get a super-small chance, the game consider the Sword as the complete part of the relic quest.

So.. I am doing the Shield first, only 22 Alexandrites needed as well to change it.

*I did Books for shield Animus first to get it out of the way, was faster, and I didn't had any problems.

[kro]

Thanks for all the advices so far.
I decided to get Weathered Burtgang and ran ST for the headgear, though I got Oil instead.
So I bought the noct ring and unweathered it, since I don't like Noct Shield low block rate
Will do Atma and Novus for the Holy Shield later.

If you already have a Burtgang, going through the Novus quest line just for the Holy Shield Novus is a lot of work. Getting a new shield is probably the single most important purchase when it comes to mitigation and it'll be quite some time before you get there with the Novus route.

I highly recommend taking the Noct Hoplon. The block rate may be lower, but the block strength is worth it. When paired with Bulwark, the damage reduction becomes much more reliable and noticeable. Noct Hoplon also only costs 390 seals and uses a single oil to upgrade from i100 > i110.

Burtgang > Noct Hoplon >>> Chest/Pants >>> Ring/Belt > whatever

[Marukoban]

If you already have a Burtgang, going through the Novus quest line just for the Holy Shield Novus is a lot of work. Getting a new shield is probably the single most important purchase when it comes to mitigation and it'll be quite some time before you get there with the Novus route.

Burtgang > Noct Hoplon >>> Chest/Pants >>> Ring/Belt > whatever

I still haven't got Burtgang, only Weathered version for now, so I'm thinking even Animus should be fine.
Regarding upgrading Noct Hoplon, I kind of already went ahead to purchase Ring and upgraded it.
Weathered Chest I already have and am planning to get Pants next week.
So, for the relic quest, it's better if I do it for other Job?

[Clouse]

I have an unweathered burgtang and noct shield. The block rate at ilvl 110 is only a tad bit lower compared to zenith shield, and the block strength is a big upgrade. Over 10 percent more damage per block, with a tiny fraction of the block chance going down. It makes Bulwark a much better cooldown as well.

As for the higher block chance in "big hits", having a chance at mitigating a big hit is not near as important as having better survivability forbwhen it does land. The (while minimal) extra vit and overall extra mitigation over zenith shield ensures you stay alive when shit hits the fan.

If you have the time to upgrade to novus, go for it. Otherwise noct shield is perfectly viable.

Edit: Anyone with a better knowledge of the forumla's want to throw out some numbers on mitigation percent and block chance comparing the noct shield/zenith shield/novus shield?

[kro]

I still haven't got Burtgang, only Weathered version for now, so I'm thinking even Animus should be fine.
Regarding upgrading Noct Hoplon, I kind of already went ahead to purchase Ring and upgraded it.
Weathered Chest I already have and am planning to get Pants next week.
So, for the relic quest, it's better if I do it for other Job?

If the Hunt situation is good on your server, you can farm enough Sands and Oils to upgrade all of those things much, much faster than trying to complete the relic quest. Hunts are also the best way to farm myth so you will have to do them anyway because Novus requires tons of myth.

At this point, I would only finish a Novus if you really plan to main that job and want to be ready for the next stage of the relic quest. The time and gil investment is way too much compared to the soldiery/hunt route.

[dspguy]

Weapon first. All else second. The simple reason is that currently the only ways to get an i110 weapon are:
- Unidentified Allagan Tomestone + Sands (sounds like you already got the tomestone?). Earning 3 sands is like 2-3 nights of hunts. Done. Enjoy your i110 weapon!

OR

- Doing your relic quest, upgrading to zenith. Spending untold hours/days/weeks(?) farming atma, another week or two of 100% dedication to grinding myth and doing animus books and then probably three weeks of ridiculous dedication (and gil) farming your alexandrite and infusing it with possibly very expensive materia.

[Sandamar]

Well even if you get myth faster. Doing those whole 9 books are pain in the ass, even worse than atma to me

For the shield i use the unweathered hoplon one, still trying to get a hand on the one in T8, it never drops lol.

The hoplon gives me a block strength of 41%, so basically to me it feels like a second sentinel. And when i Look at scob it's much more usefull to me.

T6 you don't bulwark that much.
T7 you can use it when you have one add and Melusine, great plus
T8 you have an extra Sentinel for the double tanking Avatar +DN
T9 great plus for the fourth ravenbeak in P1 (if you can't skip the 4th one)

Ofc i'll use the T8 one when it drops (been almost 2 months that i'm waiting for it ahaha).

[Giantbane]

Well even if you get myth faster. Doing those whole 9 books are pain in the ass, even worse than atma to me .

Say that when you have 3 of your atma take over 10 hrs of solid farming each.