PLD Idle Body Piece.

oh god, the humanity!! /facepalm

You are guessing wrong, it is the whole thread that caused me to post. OP asked one question and got 2 pages of useless answers other than a few.

Rdm/nin?! Drk?!

meh rdm/nin gets hate too slow for my taste. And I haven't met a drk that seemed to know what keeping utsesmi up meant

Cure cheats + Dispel/Blind/Sleep etc! Doesn't take long and you have huge survivability. DRK with Apocalypse is pretty beastly at tanking, and even if we're talking nonrelics then it can tank certain mobs quite fluently.

so you're saying getting slightly more mp than needed during a fight, is better than idling in a truly defensive piece in situations where you're not going to want to be tping?

don't get me wrong, ares's is a great piece for kited type fights or any where you're less likely to take any damage, even for just standing around in trying to regenerate mp. but, it's ability to help you keep more hate than you would lose if you're in any instance of possibly taking damage is less than than the enmity loss of idling in a truly defensive piece. now given that the total gain from a defensive piece over ares's is going to be very small (very small) it's still a gain none the less, and if your not able to keep up hate with refresh and mage's ballad 2 because you've run out of mp something is obviously wrong.

remember this is mainly considering that you're using /nin. in the case of other subs it's possible for ares's to pull ahead (by about the same marginal amount) considering your target enemy and mp useage. outside of DI and JoL I'm not too sure what that would be unless you mean other events where a DD tank would be more of a viable option.

True. But with tanking I'd like to have some kind of advantage to staying alive. Weather it is shield mastering from pld or rdm or drk and some other job now not like it can get alot of shield skill but meh. Or fast cast like crazy and/or over 100% -interrupt for ichi. Or nins ability to actually evade mobs or just have extra shadow/higher skill for better chance at keeping self alive.

I'm sure there are drks that can tank... however I've played mostly with ones that didn't really understand that healers aren't supposed to plug themselves into a melee to keep it alive even on lolEMs.

what about blu/nin!? I'd still like to test this combo out, but I don't have the massive amount of swap gear it needs to become a viable tank. ;;

I wanna try out blu/pld but I don't have /pld lvld.

/facepalm

There was a thread on BG about blu/nin tanking and it looked fairly convincing, though I didn't analyse it in any great detail.

What!?! Theoretically on mobs where it actually works a blu/pld could keep a mob pretty much flashed forever. Not to mention sentinel Diffusion exuvation to start a fight is pretty damn rediculous

I was calculating it's viability as a tank a while back, it's fairly easy for it to gain massive amounts of hate rather quickly and it has access to all the defensive gear of rdm. it may not have access to a decent stoneskin, but it can easily idle in close to 800 def (now def is normaly lulz, but at such a high value it becomes more of a viable defensive mechanism). it's really given much less credit for being able to tank than it should, though the amount of high end gear needed is very annoying.

Also probably the only job combo that could convceivably keep hate off of good zergin DDs.

lol, yeah, I'm just not very accustomed to taking damage unless I play drk. I refuse to use subs other than /sam unless drk is really needed and I'm expected to take that much hate (no apoc. /cry).

lol, wait a min! how's a blu keeping a mob flashed that long?! the duration on my hate spells don't last for *** XD

edit: we're going to hell for all this derailing, aren't we?

Well part of it is blu gets 2 flashes. And if you get them down to full -50% recast and actually cast in macc you might get longer. Full duration landing should work.

Idk about flash spell but actinic burst generally last a good 10-15 sec for me on most mobs up to non HNM nms in normal DD gear. Recast is 60 sec base.

Flash is 12 sec duration for full and only has base 45 sec recast.

Yes I know normally it would sound weird casting your hate spells in macc gear but really does +emnity matter when your throwing out a flash every 15 sec or so? Also blu stun is pretty acc too even in DD gear. Though it is like base 2min I think.

Note obviously wont work on mobs that are fairly resistant especially to light. But on the mobs it does work on... if it works sounds crazy. Also mp going out one end like crazy

bah, I forgot about flash /pld, lol. but, normally either spell only lasts 5~7 sec on big enemies for me. blu get's 2 stun spells that generate the same enmity too, but they're on a greater delay timer (about double that of actinic burst). either way, all the spells are accurate enough not to get totally resisted with merits and no skill gear most of the time, like flash (then again I have max macc merits too, not sure if it matters that much or the spells are inherently highly accurate. I use blu as a jack, not only phys. dmg situationally, lol).

yeah, the main concern with blu is spiking CE to begin with, diffusion exuvation won't always hit everyone to gain the desired amount of enmity.

but in a zerg situation blu/pld as suggested, you should technically still have mp even after the fight, lol. as blu/nin you'll need to watch your mp use more so, but I think cure cheats would be the way to go to spike CE the most efficient way because of blu cure's low cost.

Blu only has 1 stun that has the emnity of Actinic burst... maybe your thinking the terror spell too which well that has crap for macc but same hate and same recast. All the other stun spells seem to be fairly inaccurate to me on harder mobs cept temporal shift. Granted most the others are physical cept blitztrahl.

I really don't think it would be that hard to get people to gather together for a few seconds at the start of a fight though. Mid fight sure. Maybe after I finish rng I'll lvl /pld

jettatura, yeah it's not really 'stun' but same effect, lol. it's more inaccurate, but pluto's staff helps a nice bit along with the merits. it's normally thought to be less accurate than it actually is at higher levels because the enemy has to be facing your general direction and not everyone realizes it, I mean it still gets a lot of partial resists but much less full resists than rumored. blitzthral is just junk as a stun spell though, highly inaccurate and takes forever and a day to cast, lol. as for the other stun spells, eh not so great for tanking big NMs, yeah, you need to rely on both their physical acc and then hope the effect procs.

although, recently I've been stacking full skill gear on top of acc+haste for physical stuns and it seems to help a lot for tougher enemies out side of big NMs (though I can't say for sure because of the obvious).

Just to respond to the OP:

This is my normal idle set for say Dynamis (ie. Not setup specifically for a type of fight or particular mob). Some people will tell you "this could be better by doing..." so on, this just works for me. At the end of the day, you need to find the same.



By idle set, I mean what gear my PLD will change back to after any macro I use. I'll explain why...

The set gives (at white HP or above) 3HP and 3MP per tick as standard (4MP per tick with Sanction Refresh, 4HP and 4MP per tick in Campaign, although my Campaign setup is different), over 300 shield skill (303 to be exact), over 1500 base HP (as an Elvaan, but more with food), and a decent setup for building TP / Atonement (a fair amount of Haste / Accuracy). The actual Atonement macro uses my +Enmity set as Atonement's damage is based off of hate.

Whilst I can't be bothered to make every single macro set I use to show you them all (because there are a hell of a lot), to give a brief explanation of all the "main" sets I have:

Idle set - If you are looking at being a career PLD, you will need several Idle sets. The above set I have for normal day-to-day use, but I use several others, including:

Magic Defense Bonus set - Mainly consisting of Iron Ram gear, but this is unfinished as of yet. Will include things like Lamian Kaman +1 and Merman's Earring's.

Campaign set - Uses things like Patronus Ring giving me -20% physical damage taken (when combined with Terror Shield), and Sonia's Plectrum (Waltz Potency +10% in Campaign) as I sub DNC in Campaign.

DD set (lolPLDDD) - Whilst you are never going to be a "DD", you can chuck out damage and reasonably quickly if needed. This set includes Store TP+ equipment like Askar Body / Raja's ring, as well as Haste and Accuracy from Homam feet / Askar head etc.

Enmity set - An Enmity set is used for all "hate building action", although a few pieces may change depending upon the action. An example of this would be using Sentinel, I will be in full Enmity+ equipment with the exception of my feet, which will be Valor Leggings which enhance Sentinel's effect. For actions such as Provoke, I will stack as much Enmity+ as I can in to my gear set. Atonement, Warcy, Rampart, Shield Bash, Chivalry, Fealty etc will all contain as many Enmity increasing pieces as possible. A lot of the Iron Ram pieces are great for this if you don't have access to rarer items like Bahumat's Mask, but includes other stuff such as a Cerberus mantle and Warwolf belt.

Haste set - Primarily used for reducing shadow cast / recast times when subbing NIN, it will include gear such as ACP Body with Enmity+ and Fast Cast+ augments, Swift Belt, Walmart Turban, and Homam legs / feet / hands. Any other slots that I am not able to fit Haste in to will be filled with Shield Skill+ gear, like the Parade Gorget being swapped out for a Shield Torque. The reason for this is if your Shield procs when you are hit mid-cast, you will not be interrupted.

Cure set - Similar to the Haste set, but with increased MND where I can.

Cure Cheat set - You will never be a good PLD without good support, and this macro set relies heavily upon your support to be of use to you. That being said, it is one of the most important macro sets you can have. I have a set the includes items not normally associated with PLD such as Electrum rings, and that also removes gear pieces that give me HP+. It then reverts back to my Idle set, meaning I am several hundred HP below full health. Assuming your support / MP is good (BRD / RDM / COR are great assets), you then Cure IV yourself for massive amounts of Enmity. This is one of the very few ways PLD's can attempt to hold hate against the best DD's.

Kite set - Will change out things like my Joytoy for a Macachewuntil +1 (however the hell it's spelt) or an Earth Staff, and one day my Fast Pants (One day! *shakes fist*). The rest of my gear will change out for MP Refresh per tick and defensive gear for whatever type of mob I'm kiting. Shield Skill+ gear will be removed, as it isn't any use if you aren't facing the mob.

MP Rest set - Used in situations when you are pushed for time and mages are trying to get people up ASAP (basically, when it all goes a bit pear-shaped). Includes things like a Dark Staff and Ether / Serket rings so that I can help Raise people / Cure them.

I should note, PLD was my first job to 75 and is well geared. But that gear has taken a long time to get, and cost a hell of a lot of time / money. There are still pieces I would love to have (Ares body, but I don't have access to Salvage with my current schedule), and stuff I just haven't got round to yet (such as Ethereal Earring). All of these things could make my PLD better. Should also note you asked what body piece, to which I would reply Shadow Breatplate if you can't get Ares. That being said, a Shadow Breastplate, much like Ares body, is far from "easy to obtain"...

Look at what you use your PLD for the most, whether it is worth you really investing in it (ie. Are you your linkshells main tank?) and go from there, gearing it as you go. Level your subs as well, WAR / NIN / RDM are all must haves, BLU can be very useful if you ever need to Super-Tank.

Like I said, I'm sure people will disagree with what I use, but it works for me.

Wanted to clear out my 1st post, as a lot was lost in translation in first page pickering. I thought the OP meant idle set a TP set when engaged to monster and not taking any action. Of course things are situational. As for saying Ares Body would serve no use for me, I take that back to some extent, but to be honest things I fight are mostly meleed and I haven't ran into MP or hate issues especially having chivalry now. This again being said as a taru paladin with huge MP pool. didn't mean TP body > ares, always in every situation.

No really universal stuff there or absolute truth, just try to adjust to different situations. That's what I love about paladin, it has had a long learning curve to me, I was shockingly awful after I dinged 75 and started learning /nin still year ago. Now I feel I've become pretty good, but still learn things and try to adjust your sets better to every situation and that's the beauty of it.

If you ever get ares you might play differently, I know I did. Can dump so much mp and never run dry. Great piece!

/salute Well said, sir.^^ I'm not an incredibly well-geared PLD myself, but it is my first job as well. Thanks for the input. :)

For the love of god don't use Askar in an Atonement set or whilst fighting anything hard at all. Haubergeon, Homam, and Ares (if you substitute a Madrigal for a Ballad) are all much better choices.

You should probably have a full shield skill set for casting Ichi, while keeping the full Haste setup for Ni.

I think this sums up my opinion on the entire thread besides the massive derailment for 2 pages. I run around in like 75/80 gear on pld at any time (78/80 if im /nin). If the OP is looking for ONE full time piece for PLD then you are going to be sorely dissapointed in the performance of your tanking. If you want to know what's going to be the best piece for X or Y situation then you'll find alot of good information between the spamming of epeen and QQ.

I don't often update my item sets (nor do i want people looking at them or telling me how i SHOULD play my job) but if I am talking to someone in game, or applying to a new shell/event, it often comes up where its a great illustrative tool. If I absolutely was a new pld with no access to any great gear and had to limp along i would start my pld journeys with: 1) af body 2) relic body 3) iron ram body. I think these are the basis for a good start. As the dark anasaur said (i think it was the kitty avatar) darksteel body is a decent AH investment. Good luck and happy tanking whatever you take from this thread, OP!

P.S. Hi anye :3 Come say hi in game for once D:

Just made a couple itemsets based on this; does this seem reasonable? (Note: I don't have access to the Homam/Boxer's/Loquacious/Nuevo just yet; this is just a dream set. :P)

Utsusemi: Ichi

• Shield Skill: +32

• Haste: +15%

• Fast Cast: x3

Utsusemi: Ni

• Shield Skill: +40

• Haste: +10%

• Fast Cast: x2

Agreed! And Ash-sama, I haven't been in game because of finals :( I'm here all the time because I'm at school and the internet here is better than the {Phone Line} {Connection} at home :<

Not so with the proper support. Ares' Cuirass provides large offensive bonuses (less hits for 0) along with the valuable 1/tic Refresh. This Refresh allows you to swap out Ballad I for Madrigal, resulting in a greater total amount of ACC, STR, and Attack than you would have with Haub/Ballad while having nearly the same Refresh rate (some tics are obviously lost to gear swaps).

If your support can't give you the right buffs it definitely varies. The value in a non-engaged set is also worth noting, though there's competition there from Darksteel Harness (+1), Koenig Cuirass, and Valhalla Breastplate if you don't need the Refresh. If you do, obviously you can swap it in over the above.
Soooooooo much fun <3 Can't wait to get back into BLU tanking.

You have the right idea Anye, definitely. Tweaks I would make:

Ichi:

I'd use Blitz over Patronus.

Ni:

Homam Gambieras instead of Gallant Leggings and Blitz Ring instead of Patronus Ring again.

This is what I use for both, and neither set is perfect (note no expansion pieces are used for any);

Ichi:

input /equip Head "Koenig Schaller";
input /equip Neck "Shield Torque";
input /equip L.ear "Loquac. Earring";
input /equip R.Ring "Jelly Ring";
input /equip Body "Koenig Cuirass";
input /equip Hands "Homam Manopolas";
input /equip L.Ring "Blitz Ring";
input /equip R.ear "Buckler Earring";
input /equip Back "Boxer's Mantle";
input /equip Waist "Swift Belt";
input /equip Legs "Homam Cosciales";
input /equip Feet "Glt. Leggings +1";

Ni:

input /equip Head "Walahra Turban";
input /equip Neck "Shield Torque";
input /equip L.ear "Loquac. Earring";
input /equip R.Ring "Jelly Ring";
input /equip Body "Koenig Cuirass";
input /equip Hands "Homam Manopolas";
input /equip L.Ring "Blitz Ring";
input /equip R.ear "Buckler Earring";
input /equip Back "Boxer's Mantle";
input /equip Waist "Swift Belt";
input /equip Legs "Homam Cosciales";
input /equip Feet "Homam Gambieras";

Blah! but Blitz Ring is soooo~ expensive! XD And yeah, I did forget the Homam Gambieras. /sigh, another piece I doubt I'll be able to obtain until I graduate. Unless there's an endgame shell that operates during summer and winter breaks along for us students. :P

I'd say the Blitz ring would depend on what kind of mage support you're getting. Haste(15%)+Marchx2 (9% and about 11%) comes out to about 35%- that means you only need 15% in gear to cap out your Ni timer.