Paladin Attributes

[Sapphidia]

Stat allocation is quite a hotbed topic around here. A lot of people give advice based on "feel" or "this worked for me" without knowing the actual data figures to back the claims up. Jahaudant reposted an awesome summary in this thread here : http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...n-FC-confusion.

30 in VIT will give you roughly 10% more hitpoints depending on gear (+450, and starter tanks in average gear at 50 have about 4000 HP without this), and there are a number of hard hitting encounters at 50 where this -does- make a difference. It also slightly improves HP regeneration (I think it's a factor of Max HP, so should be 10% higher regen too).

30 in STR increases your block/parry amount but by such a tiny amount that it's less than half a percent increase in survivability, and maybe even 0% if you don't hit a "round-up" breakpoint. 30 Strength also gives around 2% more damage, which is barely noticeable. You might see +1 or +2 damage on some attack numbers but the difference in holding hate is virtually nothing - the Damage number on your primary weapon is the thing that makes the huge difference to damage/threat output. Strength isnt bad but it needs a huge amount to be visible.

So the choice is between 10% more HP, or 2% more damage. Suffice to say, every tank I've spoken to or read about (including myself) who started levelling with STR and then respecced to 30 Vit didnt notice a single ounce of difference in damage/threat by dropping the strength, but DID notice the big HP pool increase. Even early encounters at 50 like the Tonberry King can hit your tank for thousands of damage, and 450 HP really can be the difference between life and death in burst situations.

TLDR - Go full 30 vit for around 10% more HP. Full 30 strength gives barely 1-2% boost to anything it affects.