PLD highest DPS tank single target

[Sarcatica]

The, "I are raider, thou aren't not" stance. Pld could use a work up to make it more competitive. Adding a sunburn debuff or something wouldn't shift the balance too much and would add a bit of incentive to use it for those classic DF plds who ignore flash because it's hard to understand its importance at first. Also, PLUNGE FOR LIFE!! \o/

PLD does need some changes but straight DPS gain is not the solution. SE needs to justify PLD being the 'tankiest' by a larger margin of all tanks, like what YoshiP said.

[Kitfox]

PLD does need some changes but straight DPS gain is not the solution. SE needs to justify PLD being the 'tankiest' by a larger margin of all tanks, like what YoshiP said.

I'd honestly prefer to see all tanks balanced equally for both offence and defence, instead of some of them having more one or the other.

[Lambdafish]

PLD does need some changes but straight DPS gain is not the solution. SE needs to justify PLD being the 'tankiest' by a larger margin of all tanks, like what YoshiP said.

Honestly I would rather them move away from the theme being of them being the "tankiest" job, as it's really hard to balance and at a point becomes irrelevant as all 3 tanks need to be able to survive. What I want is for PLD to become the support tank, something that fits even more thematically than tankiness. A tanky tank is very GLA, but a support tank, with it's cover, divine veil and clemency, is much more akin to a holy tank.

The OP is right that PLD needs SOME AOE damage, but it doesn't need a damage buff as such. What I would like to see is for PLD to get a holy shield ability in the future that gives a shield or regen when stepped in, and a small bleed if an enemy steps in, this means it can be used for support or DPS (or change it so that its ability is dependent on the stance the PLD is in like equilibrium).

Also, I am also in the camp for improvements to SwO, not to give it higher damage, but to make it a more interesting and fun skill, with OGDC added to promote stance dancing.

[Seku]

PLD should get more utility and some type of AoE damage.

Agreed. Would be nice if they actually went about making it to where shield blocks protect you from being interrupted while casting. Would make clemency more or less a guaranteed icure while MTing as long as the damage is physical.

[Lambdafish]

Agreed. Would be nice if they actually went about making it to where shield blocks protect you from being interrupted while casting. Would make clemency more or less a guaranteed icure while MTing as long as the damage is physical.

To me clemency is fine as is, it's an emergency tool, or an activator for divine veil (which is always easy to execute during ultimate moves as an example). This is especially apparent in PVP which I love doing as PLD, acting as a support class to keep your party alive with extra heals, SS, divine veil, cover and access to the best stun in the game, a silence and a pacify is a very robust toolkit for a support class which IMO is a preferred choice to WAR DPS in that situation.

Edit: Now that I think about it, the best way to improve clemency kills two birds with one stone, which is to give tempered will a surecast effect, but leave the actual skill as is, this works with the concept of the skill too, in that the PLD is an immovable wall, and nothing should stop the spell from casting.

[Destous]

To me clemency is fine as is, it's an emergency tool, or an activator for divine veil (which is always easy to execute during ultimate moves as an example). This is especially apparent in PVP which I love doing as PLD, acting as a support class to keep your party alive with extra heals, SS, divine veil, cover and access to the best stun in the game, a silence and a pacify is a very robust toolkit for a support class which IMO is a preferred choice to WAR DPS in that situation.

Clemency is garbage with no practical use in raids; and it's purely to do with the cast time. What SE should do is make it instant, cannot target self, and give it a CD; keep the mana cost, which is ~30% of your bar. You can still use it to activate Divine Veil, it heals the target and yourself already. Speaking of Divine Veil, the heal activation part is outright stupid. It's just an unnecessary middle man that prevents clutch shields from a PLD, even in a coordinated group because now you're dealing with PLD ping + healer ping as you try to time a shield. It's an asinine idea.

Cover should be ALL damage, not just physical. The idea of Cover is that the PLD steps in and takes damage for another player. There's no sense in making it only physical damage.
Shield Strike shouldn't have a CD longer than 5s. Sheltron should definitely reset that CD.

Flash needs an overhaul. It's the single most boring ability in the game. No damage, is completely unaffected by buffs, and why the hell is PLD a light bulb for AoE pulls? It's pure ineptitude that this skill still exists as it is.

[Lambdafish]

Clemency is garbage with no practical use in raids; and it's purely to do with the cast time. What SE should do is make it instant, cannot target self, and give it a CD; keep the mana cost, which is ~30% of your bar. You can still use it to activate Divine Veil, it heals the target and yourself already. Speaking of Divine Veil, the heal activation part is outright stupid. It's just an unnecessary middle man that prevents clutch shields from a PLD, even in a coordinated group because now you're dealing with PLD ping + healer ping as you try to time a shield. It's an asinine idea.

Cover should be ALL damage, not just physical. The idea of Cover is that the PLD steps in and takes damage for another player. There's no sense in making it only physical damage.
Shield Strike shouldn't have a CD longer than 5s. Sheltron should definitely reset that CD.

Flash needs an overhaul. It's the single most boring ability in the game. No damage, is completely unaffected by buffs, and why the hell is PLD a light bulb for AoE pulls? It's pure ineptitude that this skill still exists as it is.

1. Clemency is not great, but it is not garbage, I have used it a fair amount during fight downtimes, and actually used it a fair bit in Thorden ex, where there are plenty of times when the boss isn't hitting the MT (sephirot phase 2 is another good time). You are correct that when it was 3 seconds it was terrible, but at its 2 seconds, it's not too bad to cast.

2. I do agree that cover should be all damage, I don't actually like the split between physical and magic damage, as SE really can't seem to balance it properly which greatly impacts the job.

3. Agreed again, as you say, it's not that flash is bad, it's perfectly fine, and as a cross class skill, is a good supplement for Wars toolkit, but as PLds primary AOE move, it is so boring. The blind is barely even noticed most of the time.

I hope SE has gathered a lot of feedback on PLD over this expansion and are working on bigger fixes to fix it's fundamental problems. However, back to the OP, saying that PLDs need more damage completely ignores the core problems of the job regardless of how true the sentiment is.