The Definitive State of Paladins Thread

[Brian_]

The State of Paladins

While there is definitely some overlap between the points, I will try to break it down piece by piece.

1. PLD raid DPS contribution lags far behind WAR and DRK.
   
   WARs bring the highest single target DPS while MTing and OTing, the highest AoE DPS, and the highest contributed raid DPS.
   
   DRKs bring the second highest single target DPS while MTing and OTing, the second highest AoE DPS, and the second highest contributed raid DPS.
   
   PLDs bring the least single target DPS while MTing and OTing, the least AoE DPS by a huge margin, and the least contributed raid DPS.
   
   In 2.X, PLDs were the highest single target DPS tank when in Sword Oath. What has happened since?
   
   Det has been nerfed and weapon-skill potencies across the board have been increased for all classes. As a result, Sword Oath's auto-attack bonus is not as impactful and did not scale as effectively with HW adjustments.
   
   Shield Swipe's potency was not properly adjusted to account for PLD's two new combos. In 2.X, it was a DPS neutral / slight gain and thus its use as a TP conservation skill was encouraged. In 3.X, it's a DPS loss.
   
   WARs have gotten Deliverance, Fell Cleave, Decimate, and a TP refresh.
   
   DRKs started with a higher baseline and Delirium has allowed groups to run NIN / DRG melee comps without losing MNK's INT debuff.
   
   
2. PLD enmity generation lags behind WAR and DRK.
   
   Skull Sunder / Butcher's Block (WAR enmity combo) and Spinning Slash / Power Slash (DRK enmity combo) both have higher enmity modifiers (3.5/5.5) than Savage Blade / Rage of Halone (PLD enmity combo)(3.0/5.0).
   
   In 2.X, Warriors ideally rotated through 2 combos with the situational application of their third combo. Only one of their combos in this rotation generated enmity. PLDs on the other hand only used 1 combo, their enmity combo. So, PLDs needed lower enmity modifiers in order to alleviate enmity juggling issues between tanks. Even with the lower modifiers, PLD enmity was more than sufficient due to pure enmity combo spam.
   
   In 3.X, PLDs were given 2 new DPS combos (bringing them in line with WAR and DRK) and now rotate the three combos based on DoT upkeep and enmity. But, despite their enmity combo dropping in usage, its modifiers were not properly readjusted. While PLD enmity is still sufficient while in Shield Oath, their DPS suffers. The more time a PLD needs to spend in Shield Oath, the larger the gap will be between them and WARs / DRKs.
   
   
3. PLD utility is incredibly underwhelming.
   
   WARs provide raid groups with Storm's Path and Storm's Eye. Both are incredibly effective and near irreplaceable in progression.
   
   DRKs provide Delirium. As detailed earlier, it's huge to be able to drop MNKs from raid comps without losing an INT debuff. They also provide Reprisal albeit somewhat inconsistently.
   
   The utility that WAR and DRK provide have a significant impact on raid-wide damage mitigation and raid DPS.
   
   PLDs provide Rage of Halone, Cover, Stoneskin, Divine Veil, and Clemency. It's a long list of skills that are slightly useful at best, generally very situational, and completely unusable at worst.
   
   Rage of Halone - While the strength debuff matters in AS3 and provides raid-wide mitigation, the debuff is underwhelming elsewhere. With a lack of physical tank busters or physical raid-wide AoE, the strength debuff is often reduced to minor mitigation on auto-attacks.
   
   Cover - Useful in AS1 when properly coordinated to redirect a hydrothermal missle. But, from personal experience, healers prefer consistency over occasionally needing to readjust to a PLD using cover. Also useful but not necessary to protect your WHM/AST on W8 of AS2 or to absorb a cleave in AS3 P4.
   
   Stoneskin - Generally pretty useful but is generally counterproductive when you're pushing tight DPS checks and can already survive through the incoming damage.
   
   Divine Veil - Useful when popped before hard hitting party-wide AoEs but it has an incredibly long CD for such a weak shield that has a cumbersome activation condition. The up-time on this skill is horrible.
   
   Clemency - Unusable. It's too frequently interrupted when cast while tanking to be consistent or coordinated, too slow to cast when not tanking for the heal to be efficient.
   
   All of PLD's utility has no significant impact on raid DPS. Only a small portion of their utility has a real impact on raid-wide mitigation.