PLD Bonus Stats

[Mini-man]

I also wanna note that those extra 435 hp have actually saved my PLD's hide a few times on the Tonberry King with a nasty overstacked Everybody's Grudge and on Titan where at times I've been left with less than 1k hp after a nasty chain of events. Giving yourself and your healer a little extra butter zone is invaluable, esp when the healer needs to let you go for a second to heal up another party member or themselves. That said, WAR has more notable returns for more than just second wind (didnt feel like typing up a story) and thrive off the damage they do so a Warrior will want to consider putting points into STR for the sake of optimization but since this is a post about PLD points... VIT shines bright.

[Kazer]

I completely agree with Mini Man.
I don't believe it matters much while leveling, but full VIT is the way to go when you hit 50. I can recall some moments where I suddenly dropped to 200-500 health and it saved the fight. Even having no bonus stats invested in STR, you will never lose enmity if you maintain your rotations. Any points being used on DEX is really not worth it.

You will absolutely want as much HP as you can get to help out your healers when you are on Twintania and she hits you with a Death Sentence + instant Auto Attack.

[LunarRei]

Ok, I'm back. Can't take it anymore.

Nobody should just dump their 30 points into any stat, even after weightings. Why? Because stat weights don't tell you where you are right now.

After materia and gear, if you are 10 STR away from the next tier of block dmg reduction % or whatever, then spend 10 of your 30 in STR. If you need 35, then VIT it is... unless your DEX is close enough for the next tier. Materia and bonus points should be allocated together and with some thought and both can be redone if new gear arrives and adjustments need to be made.

[Alwryn]

PLD : VIT
WAR: 1:1 STR and VIT

We need to remember just how much damage is done non-physically, which is most likely the majority of big hit boss damage, that can't be blocked or parried; which means STR is not a good mitigating factor. WAR is an exception since its heals correlate to its damage and WAR's being able to drop defiance to help DPS when used as an off tank, with no adds up of course. PLD is designed around pure survivability and currently has no problems holding hate off DPS. Logically, and from experience, in the current case VIT is best for PLD. They are there to survive through mitigation and a larger health pool is a form of mitigation in it's own right. PLD's might be less self sufficient, but they work as a team player, as long as they team stands strong, so shall they and vice versa. Let's also be honest here, WAR's have nowhere near the amount of mitigation, or timely mitigation as PLD. Timely meaning that PLD's can spend their cooldowns whenever, there are limitations on when WAR can use its mitigating factors. These limitations are the subtle differences that really show the strengths and weaknesses of each job.

We need to play to a job's strength to make them better at what they do, there is no better tank just different tanks made for different things.

[baconlaserbeam]

I dont think min maxing is the solution. We get 30 points bonus max, correct? Maybe like a 8:2 vit:str ratio is best, depending on how much str is required to see a % increase in block reduction. No tank should ever even consider str for dps hate generation, that comes from our enmity generating skills. Str for pal/gla is for block reduce %.

[Nabil]

Ah, this thread has definitely given me something to think about, think i may scroll and redistribute my stats more into vit. I wasn't aware str had such diminishing returns. Maybe something like 5 str and 25vit, or maybe just full on vit. Will have to experiment.

[Excalipoor]

Read thru everything. Sounds like VIT or STR doesn't matter; they're both negligible. 1. Seeing as how the parry/block tiers require so much STR, you would have to spec gear and materia to pull any bang out of STR. 2. VIT would help you live thru something that can blast you for 4K HP or more. Wondering if any endgame bosses have that kind of an attack.... but the extra HP is minimal compared to what gear/materia gives. Most HP i've seen from a darklight geared Curtana PLD full VIT spec'ed is 4500 - 5k. Do PLD's get more HP than that?

Unless we get more levels or the tiers change for block/parry; sounds like Stat points are pretty cosmetic and the most bang for your buck is just VIT. But ultimately, can always respec if future patches change something.

Kinda feel dumb that I was going a 2:1:1 ratio for VIT/STR/DEX. =/ bugger.. I want those 8 stat points back i spent! lol

[Azmo]

Read thru everything. Sounds like VIT or STR doesn't matter; they're both negligible. 1. Seeing as how the parry/block tiers require so much STR, you would have to spec gear and materia to pull any bang out of STR. 2. VIT would help you live thru something that can blast you for 4K HP or more. Wondering if any endgame bosses have that kind of an attack.... but the extra HP is minimal compared to what gear/materia gives. Most HP i've seen from a darklight geared Curtana PLD full VIT spec'ed is 4500 - 5k. Do PLD's get more HP than that?

I'm at 5500HP in PT. Titan mountain busters for 3500+dmg if I dont have cooldowns popped, it's also followed up with an 1k dmg auto attack. I get my Curtana +1 today so I think i'll push 5600+ soon.

Edit: After completing turn 1 of the coil last night there is no doubt in my mind that stacking as much VIT as possible is the way to go. That snake hits HARD. I went into the fight with 5700+HP and needed every single hit point.

[Zfz]

Edit: After completing turn 1 of the coil last night there is no doubt in my mind that stacking as much VIT as possible is the way to go. That snake hits HARD. I went into the fight with 5700+HP and needed every single hit point.

But isn't the Coils actually supposed to be later stuff? I read somewhere that before the Coils there is another tier that got pushed back to path 2.1, so everyone doing Coils now is doing it severely undergeared (skipping one tier completely). If that's the case, shouldn't 30VIT be easily taken care of by one tier of gear?

[SeleneVenizelos]

Most HP i've seen from a darklight geared Curtana PLD full VIT spec'ed is 4500 - 5k. Do PLD's get more HP than that?

I have no Darklight and no Curtana and my standard HP on PLD is 5389. I look forward to seeing how much higher I can get my VIT when I do finish my relic.

That point aside, I tried 1:1 on VIT/STR for awhile and after never losing hate, ever, on anything I reassigned and put all 30 into VIT. It raised my HP more and I since have never lost hate either. Whilst I will never deny blocking more is useful and helpful, and that having that extra 15 VIT probably won't make or break your tanking, I can see no other logical choice. You don't need the STR to deal more damage to keep hate and all that extra STR will give me is 1% more block; as opposed to 15 or more (or more in other people's case) VIT which adds a noticeable chunk of HP.

Is there a stat we could put the points into for a greater amount of magic DEF? Seems like bonus stats are not game breaking in any way.

I believe Defense and Magic Defense are governed by the same stats, since no matter what combination of gear or points I use they're always the same. Not given it much more thought than that though, so I might be mistaken.