Long lost paladin

[Still_Wind]

so... I will lay it out plain and simple in hopes that someone has any kind of information to put forward. Put simply I want to become a successful paladin tank...which indeed sounds quite simple but for some reason i have yet to come across anything super straight forward...cut and dry...Before you blast me for posting this i did scour this forum for answers... what did i come up with? some information that seemed to point to mind being a solid stat allocation option... can anyone confirm this? If mind is indeed a good primary point allocation stat what is a good secondary? From looking at the AF armor on paladins it seems to be healing magic potency and mind for stats... In addition to wondering about those things another question seems to come up... what materia should i get? Other then that are there any other helpful tips on being or becoming a paladin? Thank you for your time and contribution to my knowledge and anyone else's who is in the same boat as me!

[Aceofspades]

so... I will lay it out plain and simple in hopes that someone has any kind of information to put forward. Put simply I want to become a successful paladin tank...which indeed sounds quite simple but for some reason i have yet to come across anything super straight forward...cut and dry...Before you blast me for posting this i did scour this forum for answers... what did i come up with? some information that seemed to point to mind being a solid stat allocation option... can anyone confirm this? If mind is indeed a good primary point allocation stat what is a good secondary? From looking at the AF armor on paladins it seems to be healing magic potency and mind for stats... In addition to wondering about those things another question seems to come up... what materia should i get? Other then that are there any other helpful tips on being or becoming a paladin? Thank you for your time and contribution to my knowledge and anyone else's who is in the same boat as me!

oh wow, where to start. Let me first start by saying, mastering PLD is gona be more work then mastering WAR as a tank, so long as you aren't lazzy or a cry baby its not impossable.

Lets begin with point alocation. I suppose it realy is based on your style of tanking, I love being a turtle/healing tank soo I always stack stats in this order of presidence

DEF > VIT > MIND > Healing magic potency > DEX/BLOCK/BLOCK RATE > HP

please keep in mind that for every two points of defense you should have 1 point of vit on a optimal setup. that being said def will still show a decrease in physical damage taken without the vit to , in a sense, unlock def stat's full potential. but if you have 700 def, and 200 vit only about 400 of your def is being used to its full potential, with 700 def you would want roughly 350 vit to see a more noticable difference in damage deflection. Mind is used on many things with pld but because of the frequency of use of the skills it affects its not as high on the totem as other people put it. Healing magic potency is more effective then mind on cures but i would imagine it has the same relationship with mind as def dose with vit. Now for the rest, dext dose increase block rate and probably shairs a relationship with the stat "block rate" that being said tho, with devine veil being soo awsome I would probably put the stat "block" higher on the totem then either block rate or dext. HP is nice when you can increase it but without the other stats its pretty much as useless as tits on a wart hog.

here is an example of gear I will typically wear on my PLD
[IMG][/IMG]

as far as abilities go....even with just 8+ enmity I dont have any issues keeping hate, it boils down to how a individual controls their charector, wich can be complicated or simplified simply by changing the controller in wich they interface with the game. I for one like the key board. once you get used to it, it is a much better interface then the controller. If you go with key board i recomend you set a "main bar" and a everything else that you use but you cant fit on that bar (wich is quiet a bit) you add to a macro bar. when using the keyboard , you simply hit the ctrl button to access your macro bars, if you memorize where each marco or action is set on both bars, you can easly cast everything in your arsenal and have time to spare.

As far as gear gose, get out of the AF, it looks great but is vertually useless when compaired to cobalt + materia. the crown may be the only peice i can recomend.

When it comes down to seting up your macros and action bars you need to learn not just the action descriptions , but also the traits , as many of gladiator's trait effect actions. for example: combine devine veil with out manevour and you get about (pending on how hard your getting hit) roughly 300-700+ mp regen as well as tp generation. or a well timed stone skin with sentinal and rampart and you pretty much negate some of the most fearsome attack in the game magic or physical. poping agieous boon right before a massive physical attack is , for lack of a better word, awsome. probably your best move in your entire arsenal. your 15 minute ability is great but because of its massive coold down, short duration and inability to defelct magic damage too, its uses are limited , but can be used to buy your healers some time in a clutch situation.

off the top of my head thats most of what comes to mind, if we were in a voice server channel I could go all day but start with that see if it helps

[Still_Wind]

that seems like legitimate information can any one else confirm this? where or how do you get defense sorry i am a noob xD

[Alerith]

You can succeed very well in AF gear. In fact, with the effect of the body, you're even more of an asset than if you were wearing cobalt/materia.

The hands are good as well, so keep those. Very little compares to the coronet and you'll want to keep the breeches and the hands for their effects. If you were hellbent on replacing a piece, you could replace the feet.

Even with AF, you'll still possess a high level of DEF with Protect and Knight Bread, and you will still benefit from the MP regen on the body, the powered up Holy Succor from the hands and the Divine Veil bonus on the breeches. I would not simply write these pieces off.

There are debates about whether or not you should stack DEF or HP or VIT and whatnot, and you can find plenty of arguments here in the GLA/PLD forums. However, realistically, you need all of it, and should make sure you don't neglect any of them.

MND affects many things, but most importantly, it effects the enmity of your Fast Blade > Flat Blade combo. It affects your healing power as well, but Healing Magic Potency will show you a greater increase.

In addition to this, your greatest combo is going to be either Divine Veil or Aegis Boon followed by Phalanx and Spirit's Within. SW deals excellent damage for a tank class, has a fair cooldown and increases your enmity when you combo it. This is your most powerful weapon/hate tool.

[NoctisUmbra]

For info on VIT and Defense and how they work: http://kanican.livejournal.com/#asset-kanican-55915

[Still_Wind]

So essentially putting points in vit and mind is good!? What about material? Healing potency!?

[NoctisUmbra]

So essentially putting points in vit and mind is good!? What about material? Healing potency!?

I'd say those are your top 2 stats for PLD. I mean MND boosts the enmity from one of your combos as well as your overall damage output on GLA/PLD. It also grants Healing Potency. The AF grants plenty of Healing Potency and I don't think pursuing more of it on PLD is worthwhile as the Gallant Gauntlets grant a 10% increase to the amount PLD heals with Holy Succor which will beat the effect of any healing you can realistically meld.

VIT is essentially Defense. It grants damage mitigation at a rate of about 2 DEF per 3 VIT as far as physical mitigation goes, but there are reports that VIT is also reducing damage from magical/elemental attacks unlike DEF. Further testing is needed for this but either way it is the defensive stat and worth getting more of.

[Still_Wind]

so then if healing potency is fine what materia should i shoot for? has anyone heard anything on parry materia?

[NoctisUmbra]

so then if healing potency is fine what materia should i shoot for? has anyone heard anything on parry materia?

Can't parry when a shield is equipped anyway. I'd say the PLD AF is pretty much the best way to go. Except for sword and belt I'd shoot for +enmity materia. PLD can use all the enmity boosts it can get from materia, and they're buffing the values on them in the next patch too.

[Still_Wind]

awesome thank you very much for your straight forward cut and dry approach xD i will get back to you on how all of this ends up working!