Clemency and Interruptions

[EnaChleo]

(I do not have pld leveled, but it's SIMILAR in use to stoneskin when I played)

I've only played tanks casually in ARR, but if I ever saw a healer die I'd try to stoneskin as a big cast attack was coming out.

Annoying part was stoneskin would often land too late and the attack bypasses it, almost nullifying the reason I used it, clemancy isn't something I'd use every tank hit, but when I know my healer is strained, and I can give them extra wiggle room, I don't see why not if it can save a wipe.

[Phoenicia]

1)4) Nothing about it moving to a GCD from a spell really is disruptive, right? We have other gcds that consume mana (flash). Look at Darks Knights--lots of abilities consume mana, without being spells. It being a gcd means it will work off our skill speed, not be interrupted and not have a negative interaction with our defenses.

Just a note, ALL MP GCDs that DRK and PLD have are considered "spells" and scale off SPELL speed, not Skill Speed. Check your GCD on flash. It will be 2.5 exactly.

Also, Clemency is fine as it is. And you're overestimating block and parry, the casting stopping you from blocking or parrying? there is a higher chance of NOT blocking/parrying that attack anyways. PLD is NOT meant to be the self-healing tank, it's meant to be the mitigation tank. Having a healing spell does not mean you will be using it every-time you take damage. Moving Clemency to a GCD without cast bar will break more than it fixes.

[HeavensSword]

I should ding 58 on my PLD tonight so I expect to play with it some, but anybody here play a NIN or PLD in FFXI? Can you not time the cast of Clemency between attacks like you could in 11? I was fully expecting Clemency to work like stoneskin does, so I really don't have an issue with interrupts. The only thing I would love is if they allowed us to block while casting which was possible in FF11.

[Faytte]

snip.

The mitigation that makes a paladin a mitigation tank is that shield. If not that, the only difference between them and other tanks is 10% on our 180 second cd. That is hardly anything to write home about.

With a tower shield, a successful block is for -28% or 29% damage, which is like having had a vengeance up. So no--that is not over estimating its effects. In fact, if block applied you could very easily not be interrupted when you would have been otherwise, or pop a skill like sheltron before a celemency cast to help tide you through it.

[Phoenicia]

snip.

You're missing the point here though. While a tower shield block is STRONG, the chances of that happening is annoyingly low. Thinking that "I would have blocked or lolparried that attack had I not been casting" is just 1 way to intentionally frustrate yourself.

PLD is a mitigation tank not because of the shield, it is because of how potent their CDs are. Shields are hardly 5% mitigation assuming a flat-line damage intake (all hits are the same damage). Will be far less than that if you don't block any tank busters during a fight, which sadly happens. As opposed to WAR, which inflates its own HP (ToB+IB) or burst mitigate damage (Vengeance+IB) by stacking buffs or heals it post-fact.

On a side note: Sentinel having 10% more mitigation than its counter parts is irrelevant as it has lower overall damage reduction than vengeance for example. (Taking amount reduced over its up-time against its downtime.)

[Faytte]

Snip

How potent their cds are?

Sentinel is 10% over shadow wall, otherwise rampart is the same as skin.

Bulwark explicitly only works with block.

Awareness is not considered strong, open to other tanks. Paladins one lasts longer.
Convalescence is shared, paladins gain 10% more (largely resulting in overhealing).

Where is this great mitigation if not from the shield? Hallowed Ground every 7 minutes or Tempered Will? (Hue Hue).

[Azorius]

How potent their cds are?

Sentinel is 10% over shadow wall, otherwise rampart is the same as skin.

Bulwark explicitly only works with block.

Awareness is not considered strong, open to other tanks. Paladins one lasts longer.
Convalescence is shared, paladins gain 10% more (largely resulting in overhealing).

Where is this great mitigation if not from the shield? Hallowed Ground every 7 minutes or Tempered Will? (Hue Hue).

If your Convalescence is resulting in mostly overhealing, you're probably not using it at the right times...

[Faytte]

During a period where you are low you have two healers on you. The difference of 20% vs 30% healing is not going to be so perfect as to not result in some over healing. There are some exceptions to this like A1 savage and A2 savage, but in Rav EX and what I PRESUME will be a3/a4, the 10% I think largely gets lost in the wood work.

In any case, the 'massive' cds paladins have are not as massive as you think when you discount the shield. The shield 'is' important and not being able to block during clemency largely results in the ability being resigned to OT when savage auto attacks can interrupt it.

[Synestr]

I use it in combination with Cover most times. Then voke + whaterver to get mah monster back. No interrupts most of the time that way. But sheltron before clemency works, or at least that's what I like to believe.

[Zetsubou]

How about..... you just learn to cast it while bosses are using a castbar? Or between any other mechanic where the boss or mob isn't hitting you....?

The problem with casting a spell in this game, it completely remove chances of blocking and parrying if you take damage during the cast, so its bad to actually be casting for any physical moves generally.

For tank buster like A4 and A1 savage that are magical based, casting spell to survive these moves are still a viable way to deal with it since parry and block are useless, are still useless since these moves would still have a high chance of stopping you when you try to bait a heal after the hit lands on you.

Also, even as an OT, you would need to use them when you are taking damage, think A4 orbs and small room add, and yet you have a high chance of getting interrupts from the damage.