Any Pld Tips for Thordan?

[AlexiIvaniskavich]

As Februs stated, the use of clemency as a tool for actively mitigating damage is difficult and requires precise timing. You will want to practice this cast when you\\'re other buffs are up. You also want to let your healers know what is going on.

You must also accept this method is a trade off of your dps for 1 gcd for very potent (4k to 7kish) damage mitigation. Accept this and move on, Thordan is not a dps strict fight. Imo, if you are tremendously hung up on the loss of 1 gcd for that kind of massive active mitigation you may be tanking with the wrong class. Relish in the opportunity to be a tanky tank.

With the breaks in this fight there are many other uses for clemency. Take advantage!

I like DV before meteors (technically at the start of ice/tethers). Personal preference really.

The thing I haven't tried yet (because this thread made me think of it): can clemency reach your other tank if you are holding the two adds just outside of tether range? If anyone steps into this fight in the next day or so, please try this out. Cuz if it does, that would be sexy!

[Ironos]

The thing I haven't tried yet (because this thread made me think of it): can clemency reach your other tank if you are holding the two adds just outside of tether range? If anyone steps into this fight in the next day or so, please try this out. Cuz if it does, that would be sexy!

Anyone feel free to correct me here, but I think the tether range is about 25y. Clemency's is 30y, so it should reach.

[Melian]

That would be sexy.

[Ashkendor]

On the rare instances when they I don't want to use HG here, HIGH mitigation is essential. That means Sentinel + Foresight + Bulwark + Convalescence, OR Sentinel + Rampart + Convalescence. Either of these should be enough, depending on how good your healers are.

You shouldn't need to stack that many cd's to mitigate that even if the knight is in Sword Oath. I take it with Sentinel or Sentinel + Foresight if they have Battle Fever. I tend to save Hallowed Ground for KotR5, so the healers can focus on healing the party through the AoE damage. If DPS is good enough to kill it before that consistently, I'll use it on the Sword Oath Holy Bladedance instead.

@OP - I honestly don't even try to push DPS in Thordan EX beyond what I feel I can safely do. I use my melded accessories because I just don't feel comfortable in full Slaying. Heavenly Heel followed by the cleave has killed me way too many times with 16k hp. What I try to do is make myself as easy to heal as possible so the healers can concentrate on keeping the DPS and the OT on their feet. The only real time I spend in Sword Oath in this fight is the first time Zephirin is out and during the Meteor phase.

I use Rampart + Sheltron for every Heavenly Heel except one. I use Sentinel for the one after KotR3 because I want Rampart for a bit later on. When I know a Heavenly Heel is coming up I also make sure the RoH debuff is on the boss. Any time Adelphel is in Sword Oath, I keep the debuff up on him too. You can catch a lot of the frontal cleaves in the fight with Sheltron by popping it in your opener, when the first Dragon's Gaze is casting, and at other times like when Adelphel/Janeloux are casting Divine Right (it will then trigger on Heavenly Slash) and when your party gets knocked back into Dragon's Rage (he will cleave immediately when he gets back to you). It takes some finagling with the timing, but it's nice to put a dent in that cleave damage. Sheltron also works if you have a tether right before the meteor phase, but that's kinda for giggles because realistically the tether does laughable damage to you.

Divine Veil I use at Ultimate End and for the Quagga/Heel/Quagga combo between KotR 4 and 5. Rampart during the cast for the first Quagga, Sheltron + Divine Veil for the Heel since I know I'm going to get topped off after that anyway, then the party is mitigated for the second Quagga. The only time I really use Clemency is after the first Sacred Cross, because at that point there's zero chance of getting interrupted. I admittedly probably don't use this skill enough simply because it does get interrupted so easily if you mistime it.

[Februs]

You shouldn't need to stack that many cd's to mitigate that even if the knight is in Sword Oath. I take it with Sentinel or Sentinel + Foresight if they have Battle Fever. I tend to save Hallowed Ground for KotR5, so the healers can focus on healing the party through the AoE damage. If DPS is good enough to kill it before that consistently, I'll use it on the Sword Oath Holy Bladedance instead.

Very true, but what you should be doing and what you end up having to do aren't always the same thing.

If you're running with a static group that you trust, then yes, the mitigation I mentioned is overkill. If you're running with the monkey's in PF, however, chances are you're going to need to mitigate more dmg. I've seen too many battle fevers, dps standing in stupid, or healers who refuse to top me off or buff me to trust that one Def CD will do the trick. Unless the healer proves to me they can handle it, I always err on the side of caution.

I also prefer to save HG for KotR 5, but, sadly, it's a rare day when I see a PF healer who is comfortable with that method. Even if they keep me up for SwO HBD, the question I typically get after is if I would mind using HG instead of Sentinel/Fracture/Bulwark.

[IskarJarak]

If you are PF'ing a lot, having 20k with cheap food will help solve a lot of headaches and you'll be free to use your cd's more to your advantage. That way you negate reactionary healers and dps that takes uneccessary damage (allow healers to spot heal them in situations rather then one of you possibly dying). I find having more hp really makes the fight easier for everyone even if you're with a static just because of the few situations where you really spike and chaos maybe happening at the same time. I personally find my health spikes more in this fight than A1S through A3S which I wear all Str accessories except a ring.

[Jim_Berry]

Also: I have no idea how people are doing this with 16k HP. I have a mixed vit/str set up for it and go in with 18k HP, and the first Heavenly Heel + Following Cleave has taken me down to ~2k more than once. Is that just a thing about PFf healers being too slow/not preemptively dealing with the cleave? Is it something on my end? I usually just use Rampart + Sheltron to deal with the first one, so I can have sentinel up for holy bladedance if I get the sword stance guy. I'd like to up my dps a bit for this fight, but if I had 16k hp, I'd totally have died several more times.

I've only been to the Spear phase on my PLD, but...

For the first Heavenly Heel and Cleave, I simply Stoneskin and Sheltron. If I can't get Stoneskin, it's any other defensive buff that's ready, such as Foresight, Rampart, or Sentinel.

For Holy Bladedance, I mainly only use two Defensive buffs so I can have another up for after Bladedance ends. My PLD has 17k with 4/5 STR accessories when the group asked me to drop my VIT gear (since those accessories put me at 21k HP) for STR stuff (although I really hate it). Most hate my play style, so I don't bother trying to up my dps as a PLD, especially after I joined the group as NIN but we couldn't get that last tank.