Paladin Gear

So i just hit 34 and this is the set I'm using at the moment (mostly for Solo or with NPC, not for Party tanking)


Hume : +1 Str, +20 MP, -Interupt & +Crit merits

I'm looking at upgrades and trying to debate what is worthwhile.

Sword : 42 Knight's Sword
Shield : ?? Jenet Shield

Head : not for a long time
Body : 40 Royal Squires
Hands : 43 Gothic Gauntlets
Legs : 50 Iron Musketeer
Feet : 43 Gothic Sabatons

Neck : 50 Parade Gorget
Waist : 50 Swift Belt
Back : 36 High Breath Mantle

Rings : n/a (66 Hercules' Ring)
Earrings : ??? (54 Hospitaler Earring)

Again general play style is solo or with NPC. 133 MP & 168 Def keeps the two of us alive just fine on EP~T mobs (no buffs, usually use Marinara Pizza)

Not sure there are any really worthwhile earrings (Shield Earring, & the +Vit Earring for /War have both been mentioned to me). I likely won't be changing body before 40 unless i can finally get Deimos's Cuirass to drop... then maybe hold off upgrading my Ares till i finish using the 35 on Pld.

Anywho let me know what you think answers will be appreciated with regard to their content and description of why A over B instead of just listed options.

Seeing your general playstyle, you've come up with a nice selection.

Knight's Sword and Jenet Shield are good while they alst.
Parade Gorget is like a must-have for PLD.
And the High Breath Mantle always comes in handy when having trouble keeping hate. If you don't have trouble with that, look for a nice cape or mantle suiting your needs.

A ring that would surely help you out needing less cures is the Jelly Ring. Hercules' Ring takes a bit to break its latent, unless you like going into <50% HP.

I can't say if your melee-specific equipment choices are any good, for I'm not experienced playing PLD the way you do. But they do sound better than stocking on VIT and Defense XD

I do wonder why you would wear rings that convert MP to HP, when having 50 MP gives you a Cure 3 extra. You could look for the Pigeon Earring (level 33) that gives you HP+20 (+40 if you take two, +50 with two HQs) without the loss of MP. If you prefer a bit more AGI, the Drone Earrings are a nice have.

At level 50, Unyielding ring comes into play. Very nice ring giving DEF+7, DEX+3 and VIT+3. Until then, Verve Ring gives the same VIT, but lacks the rest, but isn't that expensive, so worth the try.

Ever tried /BLU? I managed to solo/NPC IT mobs that way around your level.

For solo'ing what you have seems fine and the upgrades you suggested are good. It will be up to your sword skill vs ep/dc mobs as to whether you should stack acc over def stats.

If you do get into parties however I would recommend changing the physical earrings to This, cures are the best way to build hate in exp party as the CE doesn't degrade so fast, also the higher your hp the less enmity you lose per hit so these earrings are good. You probably already know this lol

For solo on EP type mobs you more than likely won't get much out of jelly ring, it's at its best when stacked with other phys- gear or against mobs with high dmg phys tp moves (colibri pecking fury it helps a bit). Hospitaler is really just for macro, never used one but it might help with solo so you don't have to rest so often.

Unyielding Ring is a great ring for pld solo or in a pt. Small bit of Acc off the dex and helps with lowering dmg you take though i'd suggest swapping it for maybe a +5 Acc ring around 62/63 when Vit/def becomes much less important around exp mobs.

Anyways, basically for solo if you are having trouble hitting mobs swap in woodsman rings and a Life belt or possibly some Luisant(lv45) gear. If Acc is fine against what you're fighting stack defensive gear so you have to rest less often.

Acc hasn't been an issue, sticking with EP~T mobs having the +10 from PCA & what i get from Marinara Pizza covers me to a reasonable hit rate (can solo about 3k/hr not counting band or FoV, without NPC... up to as much as 6k with).

As Pld/Dnc I almost never have to rest, the only exception if I end up fighting 2-3 at a time (because i wasn't watching) or if i fight a few T's in a row and they really stick it to me. (getting hit with a few Sickle Slash's in Easter Desert hurts after a while).

As for the Pigeon Earring, I've got Bloodbead & Cassie on my list of "to get" for part of my Dragoon HB-trigger set, so unless i find i need the 50mp for something I'll likely even wait to spending that much more for something (Physical are 5~10k, half price of the others).

Unyielding will probably be the upgrade from San d'Orian ring at 50, As i picked up Balrahn's Ring i'm not sure there's anything reasonable sooner.

As for soloing IT mobs, it's a bit of play style really. I know that from 8~22 soloing EP/DC you can make 5~7k/hr easy enough and as I've done that quite a few times it's hard to want to fight something harder. When i leveled Dragoon i worked more on the EM~T scale than i have been with paladin but it gave near the same results, where chains only made up for extended fight times and potentially higher risks (XP lost to death) or resting times.

I'm sure if i keep up this style sometime in the late 40's I'll be switching to goblin pets but I'm not sure it'll be required and I'll probably stay away from it if i can.

-------- takes a break in thought to read above again --------
I might go for a Jelly ring but 63 is still a ways off for me so we'll have to see.

Losing MP to the earrings isn't to harsh, in my current gear set i come to:
HP 644
MP 133

Str 37 +4
Vit 38 +8

Acc +14
not counting Pro II / Food / Breath Mantle

From having leveled Whm having a lot of MP isn't important really the rate at which you can recover it is. of my just over 1,000 MP i often never go below 800~ the last is a buffer for "o ***it hit the fan" While one more cure before i have to rest might be nice it's not something I've had to worry about (in the last 14 levels solo i've hit invincible once, and that time I still died)


------- looks up again ------
I turn down a lot more parties these days just because there's often something that just strikes one of those "stop doing it wrong" nerves. But I will say from going Whm/(Dnc, Sch), Blu/Dnc, Sam/Dnc, Drg/(Rdm, Blu, Whm, Sch) & Blm/(Dnc, Sch) tanking and soloing in campaign I think I've learned a bit about how i would have to play Pld/War or Pld/Rdm. And Mnk/Nin as a Salvage job along with other things, how i would get along with Pld/Nin.
Learning the JA's and how/when it's best to use them is interesting to me, although I'm sure I'll find people someday that will call me a bad paladin for learned habits of saving JA's & effects till they're needed (melee likely would get hit if i'm tanking, I'll cure them but they'll get hit, I wouldn't likely use Sentinel or Shield Bash just to build hate)

Anywho thank you two for your responses!

Personally I stacked VIT/DEF back in the days of EXP parties onry, when there was no such thing as PLD solo :) But I think you're doing it right, and the suggestions here are pretty good; definitely with the addition of the Gothic set and the lv.45 Iron Ram Set you're essentially going to be geared more towards DD than tank, especially while soloing. :)

So I'm looking at a second upgrade session and what to get now that i'm 53 and advancing:


Sword :
Shield :
Ammo : 60 Bikiki Seashell

Head :
Body : 55 Royal Knights Chainmail, 57 Scorpion Harness, 59 Haubergion / Vermilion Cloak / Bryne
Hands :
Legs : 55 Royal Knights Breeches
Feet :

Neck :
Waist :
Back : 61 Amemet Mantle, 70 Boxer's Mantle

Ear 1 : 75 Brutal Earring
Ear 2 : 72 Ethereal Earring
Ring 1 :
Ring 2 : 63 Hercules Ring

Things i'm not thinking of using:
Parade Gorget : I'm almost never in the "white" to get the bonus refresh when solo
AF1 Feet : I wouldn't mind using if i had, but being as i haven't done AF weapon the Para proc for both pieces of Gothic is nice (5~10 damage, 60%~ or so proc, 5~8% para on proc for 30% fairly potent)

You have the right idea, but you're "hybriding" which doesn't work well ;x if you're gonna DD on PLD, you have to go the full mile.

Ammo: Fine, things like Smart Grenade are good for DD.
Head: Empy/Voyager Sallet/Walkure Mask for DD (not in a x > y > z order).
Body: Can PLD wear Jaridah Peti? If not, RKC yeah. Byrnie has no place on a Paladin really :x
Ring2: Acc Ring, preferably one without -def.
Ears: I'd use Assault/Buckler in an ideal world, or Attack/Buckler.
Legs: Yup.

Feet: Definitely use Gallant. This will translate to a large consistent decrease in damage taken over time, unlike Gothic which is somewhat random.

Seems alright--And yeah, Raen, PLD can wear Jaridah Peti. Although personally, I would opt to wait the 2 levels until Scorp Harness.^^;

I highly second this not only for the Extra Acc and lolpldeva but the substantial HP difference between -25 and +15/20.

I think you underestimate the aesthetic value of Mithra in Jaridah Peti! And if you're not a Mithra, plasticsurgeon to one dammit :(

Just noticed this:NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PARADE GORGET GET!!! ; ;

Seriously, it's damned useful, especially when you're in a party with constant pulls and no RDM/BRD/COR to Refresh you. You'd be doing yourself a huge favor getting this, and it's really not that hard to obtain.

Also, like Raen said, Gallant Leggings with Shield Skill +10 is indispensible. Gothic is a nice trophy item, but to be honest it's not at all as useful to a Paladin as Shield Skill. Get a Buckler Earring, too, if you have the funds.

LOL! Just dat swap it ;3

Now you're talking crazy :( and I forgot about the -HP. Depending on the flow of your party, Jaridah Peti may in fact not be the best piece for the job (if you're seriously burning at 55~ (talking BRD COR etc) then it'll do decently, but in a more moderate paced party then it's probably not worth it).

You don't want to get me involved in .dat swapping where Mithra are concerned...

:x That is not a paladin-like quality, sir!

My Paladin always has been somewhat unique =)

Some people didn't look at the top part of the post... I play mostly a solo PLD & Acc is really not an issue on DC/EM mobs. SH isn't really for the Eva or Acc but just because i have one and will continue to have one, and would let me sell the RK.

again with the Parade Gorget, a static +10 Acc definatly wins out over 10% chance to have enough HP to get a refresh tick off gorget. It takes a lot of work while solo to keep HP out of the orange and really isn't worth it. It's not that i won't probably get one, but it really doesn't serve much purpose when your not in the white.

As to Hybriding, I think the only thing which really counts as "hybrid" is my second ring, which i don't want to really have to buy another Acc Ring (I have Blood Ring lv70).
The shield i'm using now i've had for some time, it was free and an upgrade, I think its 55 there's one with Notes that i'd upgrade to if not it's 60. But 1% haste brings me to a nice even 5% with Swift.
And on the note of headgear, I've looked at the masks, but 10 Def, and 20~ HP & MP is hard for me to pass up.

Some of my decisions are made from a space standpoint... i don't have (or plan to have) any mules, ever. Pld will be my 9th job going to 75, all of them still geared.

Not sure when I'll end up changing off the crown =/ maybe not till 70 with O.hat/75 Turban, although I've thought about the lv 59? turban for +Str. Also the same with hands they're one of the best options I've seen for some time yet.
As far as "chance" from para on Gothic, you have to try it to understand i guess, but when you see para go off 5 times on a mob even if it's only every 10th fight it really does save MP/TP keeping yourself alive and makes the next fight or two easier.
Bryne has a place as well, when your not needing to focus on the refresh from Vermi or Acc on Haub, pretty sure at that point it passes Haub for usefulness and losing the -20 evasion is always nice.

Anyway I'm still willing to take input.

LOL what info do you want then you keep saying your doing ep's and dc in actuality if your soloing ep's and dc's w a npc what gear you have no makes no differance lol. You can lv in rse gear to 75 for that matter mind you I have no idea why your doing this I guess just to...because its going to take you forever to get to 75 and your skills will not be capped fighting ep's and dc's. But back to my point if your just going to do ep's and dc's to 75 with a npc then you can wear anything and gear really isn't the issue. Now if your xpin to 75 fighting IT's thats a totally different story. :0

Edit: Probably the easiest thing to do is get full af @ lv 60 and just rock out with that till 75.

I've been in exactly 4 parties from 20 till 53, 3 of them were only duo. maybe 50-50 with NPC but i still have to keep hate Fierce Attackers really do a large amount of damage.

Also not saying i "won't" party but that my gear isn't specifically designed with that in mind as the main source of my XP (about 3k/hr solo not counting FoV or XP band). Also I get the occasional T/VT ... recently FoV on Scorpions has had me mostly on T which will stay EM+ for another level or two.

But yes i understand I'm not as desperate for Acc/Def/Vit as an Xp paladin would be (or Shield skill).

Ignore the Kalico troll.

I think you are doing pretty well with your gear sets, about the only thing I can think of is get a T.M. Espadon +2, it's well worth the farming time and it will last you to Espadon +1, which is good for the four levels until Joyeuse.

What job are you subbing while soloing?

Most all the gear you should get has been covered, I just want to emphasize the importance of parade and even more important, af feet.

A comment about parade vs pcc, if you're only fighting DC-EM, you shouldn't really have too many issues with accuracy when using an A+ weapon I wouldn't think, especially when you start using a hauby.

Also, If you're so keen on getting para to proc on an enemy, there's no reason to not swap to AF after ice spikes hits. Shield procs reduce dmg by ~40-50% I believe at that level, so one para would be equivalent to just two shield procs, and the +10 shield skill would greatly help with that.

How was my response a troll the op got exactly what i was saying. To the op, imo af will last you until 75 and after namely af feet. I think that making gear sets is pointless ( especially if your soloing/fov/C.Battle lvin w a npc) b4 lv 75 for the most part all jobs af will take them to 75 "for the most part" if your soloing, switching up gear sets every few lvs as if your in xp prties is a waste of time and gil. *** unless thats your thing and that what you enjoy doing**

Para is short lived (about 30s) so on 2min~ fights swapping in/out would get pretty tedious. And again while i wouldn't mind going for Parade being probably 90% of my combat time is spent outside of it's latent it's much less useful than Hercules (where i would spend 70%~ in).

And DC/EM with A+ weapon only using +10 Acc & M.Pizza mobs are just going down to low evasion, so I'd prefer not to lose to much more Acc, but i don't specifically need more.

Also most of my solo right now is Pld/Dnc. I might consider using Pld/Blu or Pld/Rdm but I don't think even with a consistent 2mp/tick using a MP-intensive SJ is a good idea unless i want to start carrying drinks with me.

Yeah /dnc ftw hands down best solo sub for pld solo in all situtations.

"PLD" and "All situations" NEVER go together.

I'm quickly finding out that /DNC isn't the best solo sub "in all situations" because /RDM can rape it in certain things.

You learn quickly!

Hybrid really doesn't fly with PLD, if it's soloing you can stack eva like mad, and if you don't evade to your liking go full DEF/VIT/HP and mobs that low won't hit for nearly anything.

I strongly suggest idling in both parade gorget and vermy until you finish upgrading your ares/before you hit 75, Raenryong gave me the idea actually. 2 extra mp per tick between fignts is a really nice little bonus.

Read what I posted lol I never said /dnc for everything I said /dnc for all solo's..... so correct me if I left something out but what "solo" situtation does /rdm out do /dnc? I'm all ears.....

King Arthro.

Off the top of my head, there are indeed PLENTY where /rdm beats /dnc.

Idling in MP is great.. except when solo the main idea is to never be idling. And while never idling, I often don't have the MP to trigger Parade even when i'm not fighting.

I do understand the benefit of it for party play. But in almost every other situation the amount of work required to maintain more than +10MP from it is unreasonable.

As far as talk about Sub-jobs... please try to keep it limited to a leveling standpoint i could care less about solo/duo/trio King Arthro at this point or what's good at 75. At the rate I'm going i don't even expect to be there for 2 months or more.

And yes stacking Eva or Def/Vit is great for solo, you don't get hurt. But on top of that neither really does the enemy.
My solo build has been an attempt to design around working with my NPC, with the ability to work without as well.
This means i have to be able to kill a mob before even it's little ticks have whittled down my MP too far. It also means that i need the ability to keep hate off my NPC to prevent needing to cure her. Either i have to do this by spending MP (and thus needing more "native" refresh) or by dealing damage (and thus giving up def/vit or eva gear).

From an exp solo perspective i don't agree with a full turtle XP/time suffers incredibly. Begin with a straight DD build and then work back to the lowest amount of turtle that allows you to survive with little/no down time.

ok bro well you seem to have all the answers you know exactly what your trying to do so why even ask for advice if your going to shoot every 1 down lol. Point remains yes if your soloing ep's - Em's with a healing npc you should go full DD set up maybe even try a GS.