Paladin FAQ, Info, And Trade Studies.

- Compiled testing info, FAQs, Gear selections, Job Discussion. –

This thread is designed to be a compilation of current PLD tests, as well as answers to common Questions.


*****************************************************************************************************
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Perhaps one of the most important parts of a successful job is your Spellcast or Gearswap Script.

I’ve removed my old spellcast, as it’s a bit outdated, and I’ve shifted to a more advanced version of the templates found below:

http://pastebin.com/u/Bokura

I suggest each player take time and work on mastering these scripts. They’re very effective and already have decent gear suggestions for each set. I added a couple sets to the above script (Ochain Shield Mastery set for one).

With the above Paladin script, you can swap between your idle/tp/ws sets by using a “trigger spell”. Specifically, having a macro that casts /ma Poison V <me> will swap between your specific desired sets. A macro that casts /ma Barbed Crescent <me> will toggle between straight PDT, Hybrid, and standard TP sets. And a macro that casts /ma Aegis Schism <me> will toggle on/off your MDT sets.

Edit: We are working on a generic Gearswap Paladin Script, and I will post it when it is complete.


2. PLD FAQs.
Before I get into the PLD job abilities, merits, and gear, it’s necessary for each player picking up Paladin to understand the basics of Enmity and Damage taken.

Game Mechanics

i. Enmity - Enmity consists of two separate parts, Volatile and Cumulative Enmity.
Kanican, the Enmity master, has compiled information on this breakdown, and you can use the following link to determine just how much Volatile and Cumulative Enmity you're actions are creating.
Your Volatile Enmity is always going down at a steady rate, while your Cumulative Enmity decreases as you take damage. You can use the Link here to determine which JAs and Spells can best be used to maintain a steady rate of Enmity.
http://kanican.livejournal.com/tag/enmity%20table!
A keen understanding of how much enmity your actions are creating leads to a more robust play style and a greater ability to keep and manage hate. Typically however, the best way to keep and hold hate is through damage and cures.
- A good Pld should make use of well timed JAs, Self Cure cheats, and Damage to maintain enmity.

edit: As of March 27th 2013, SE has adjusted the Enmity equation as follows:


Enmity Adjustments
In regards to enmity, we will be performing the first stage of the content that was discussed previously. To start out, we will be making adjustments so that if the target is level 51 or above, the enmity generated in proportion to the damage dealt, and the enmity incurred in relation to the amount of HP cured, will be reduced. In the case that the target is above level 99, the amount of enmity generated will be reduced to 30% compared to before adjustment (the current level). We are also making adjustments at the same time so that the enmity gains from Cure V are reduced.

While this isn't limited to enmity adjustments, we understand this is an element that we need to continuously follow and address, and I wanted to remind you that this would be the first step.



ii. Damage Equations -
Magic Damage:
http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Calculating_Magic_Damage
I'm not going to get into the exact breakdown, as people can read this page.

However, the key factor here that everyone should take away is that 5 main things effect how much magic damage you take:
1. Your magic damage taken -%. (Shell, MDT, DT gear).
2. Resists (related to lvl and % of resist gear).
3. Magic Defense Bonus (as a ratio to the Mob's MAB).
4. Number of targets in Range.
5. Your Mnd/Int Relative to your enemy's stats.
The most important stat is to first cap MDT, then you can worry about the other slots.

Physical Damage:
http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Calculating_Physical_Damage
Damage is basically Base Damage * pDif. With Base damage equaling your Weapon Damage + fStr (http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/STR_-_VIT_Difference_Function). And pDif being a ratio of your attack to the Mob's Defense (or vice versa when calculating damage you'd take), with a level correction function: http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/STR_-_VIT_Difference_Function.
Look to these simple equations when determine which weapon/weaponskill or gear would be the superior option. Also, when determine which piece of gear or set of gear/food/buffs will net the most damage reduction, look at these equations.
As with MDT, Damage Taken -% and PDT -% generally work best for pure damage mitigation. That's not to say that defense is useless. You can drive down the enemy's DPS by upping your Defense and thus lowering his pDif. A generally rule of thumb is to assess "what % will this defense raise my total defense", and that is approximately how much PDT% you're adding from that slot.
This gets a bit more complicated when assessing whether to use Shield Skill or Damage Taken pieces, but we'll get into that in a bit when we address Shield Skill proc rate analysis below (suffice it to say, you're almost always better off using -DT or -PDT gear over shield skill, due to how low of an effect shield skill has at the moment, if your concern is purely damage mitigation).

edit: As for March 27th 2013, SE has adjusted the damage formula to emphasize defense when mobs are much greater than your level:


Attack/Defense Ratio Adjustments (MARCH 27TH).
This is in regards to the post I made previously about future battle system adjustments.
We will be making adjustments based on the content described under the "Regarding Defense" header. After the adjustment, in the case that a player's defense is significantly lower compared to a monster’s attack power, the amount of damage received will be higher than what it is currently.

Example:

For the below values:
Monster attack damage value = 100
Monster attack power = 1000
Your defense = 250

The damage received will be as follows:
Pre-adjustment amount of damage received = 200
Post-adjustment amount of damage received = 400
*This is just a simple calculation to make it easy to illustrate the change.

To go along with the above, the below two adjustments will also be made:
The maximum value for damage dealt from the attack defense ratio will be adjusted so they are identical for both single-handed weapons and two-handed weapons.
The defense reduction penalty for "Counterstance" will be reduced.


Shield Skill Testing:

After many years of mystery, we've reasonably nailed down a hypothetical shield block equation that explains why we weren't natively capping shield block on low end mobs. Originally we thought there was a cap on shield block by shield size, but additions of high shield skill shields on the test server have allowed us to shed light on some of our previous mysteries.

For one, each shield has a basic block %. That block % is enhanced by the amount of shield skill ABOVE your current level's shield skill. Similar to how summoners obtain a bonus based on their summoning magic beyond their level's skill. The base block % for shields goes down as shield size goes up (except for Aegis, which is a size 5 shield with the block % of a size 3).

In addition to your shield skill, the your block % is affected by the level of the mob you're fighting. This acts as a penalty, reducing block % proportional to half of the level difference between you and your mob. (Note, you don't get a block % bonus for being above the mob's level. So this acts like the level correction factor in pdif).

Thus the shield skill equation (that matches all current testing results) is:

Shield Block Rate = Base_Block_Rate + [((Shield Skill – Base_Skill)/SkillDivider) – LevelCorrectionFactor]

Base_Block_Rate = Depends on shield type, ~50% for Type 3 (proposed, though it could be lower, as I'm oversimplifying the skill divider).

Skill_Divider = 1~6 (depending on skill level tiers, I'm guessing a stepwise increase every 100skill or so).

LevelCorrectionFactor = (MobLevel-PlayerLevel)*2, and only applies to mobs above our level, similar to pdif level correction.


Damage_Absorption = BASE + Shield_Defense / 2

This is based on a compilation of shield test data from Showmo, Martel, Gustavve, Neosutra, and a few others. Most recent testing can be found at:
http://www.ffxiah.com/forum/topic/21671/paladin-faq-info-and-trade-studies/27/

One of the main take aways from this testing is that it takes A LOT of shield skill to up your block rate (5 skill for 1% block rate about at 99+), and thus there are -very- few slots where you will net less damage taken over just stacking -DT or –PDT, unless you’re focusing on a Shield Mastery set for TP gain.


Job Abilities
Level Name
01 Invincible
05 Holy Circle
15 Shield Bash
30 Sentinel
35 Cover
62 Rampart
75 (Merit) Fealty
75 (Merit) Chivalry
78 Divine Emblem
87 Sepulcher
95 Palisade

Group 1 Merits
Level Name
Merit Shield Bash Recast
Merit Holy Circle Recast
Merit Sentinel Recast
Merit Cover Effect Length
Merit Rampart Recast

Paladin Job Abilities are pretty straight forward, so the only real question anyone should have is "What do I merit?" Honestly, there is no right answer to that. It depends on your gear and playstyle.

You generally can't go wrong with 5/5 sentinel recast. I like Shield Bash recast with Aegis. Fealty is a must, and chivalry is great for low manning things and longer fights where MP may be a problem. Take some time and see where your playstyle is and make a decision that fits!


There is almost never a singular answer to this, so I'll cover a few of the main "must have" gear sets, starting with weapons. People should grow their sets however as they develop an understanding of what they need to accomplish. That being:

1. Keep hate.
2. Stay alive.

Shields: Paladins are defined by their shields. Without them you’re just a less than mediocre DD with very few offensive job abilities. If you’re serious about Paladin, you should be working actively towards one (or both) of these shields. A career Paladin should have both. Fortunately, they’re both relatively easy to get.




- The original Paladin Relic! And with the updates to Aegis it now defies the 50% MDT cap and allows the wearer to reach the new hardcap of 87.5% MDT, making any Aegis PLD near immune to Magic damage! Fortunately, you can farm Aegis by low manning currency and have yourself a nice shiny shield in a couple months (or faster if you just buy the currency).

Aegis definitely changes the job and allows you to take on foes that make other jobs shutter. The only down side is it’s block rate isn’t much higher than your standard size 3 shield. At around a block rate of 50% (which you generally won’t reach on higher end mobs), you’re still taking a lot of physical damage. Fortunately Palisade, Reprisal, and Sentinel help reduce this problem.



- In many ways this is the shield Paladins have always wanted. Ochain is a size 3 shield with a hidden +300 shield skill, which causes it to block at 100% or near 100% block rate on the majority of mobs in the game.

It doesn’t block as much damage as Aegis, but the extremely high block rate causes it to be a MASSIVE reduction in physical damage taken. Simply put, Ochain is to PDT as Aegis is to MDT.

Ochain is also cheap to make. It is however very time consuming. The 50 plates for the first stage is relatively easy, however the 75 souls for the following stage can be a nightmare. The conversion rate for the Tier1 and Tier2 abyssite is sporadic at best, and there is the additional limitation of a 10 min repop on the T2. All in all however, a small group should be able to farm up the 75 souls without too much trouble, as long as they stick to it! The final stage is relatively easy, as the dragon is a single KI pop, and can be tanked from behind (with a whitemage out of party) to avoid a lot of the nasty moves.

Swords: Part of keeping hate is maintaining damage. In addition to that, Paladin can low man and solo a lot of content, depending on the weapon of choice. As with shields, each weapon has it’s own purpose and shining area.



- The great and powerful, and shiny, Burtgang! This sword is one of the top trophies for Paladin these days, and fortunately has a lot of functionality. With the new update the sword now breaks the PDT cap, allowing the user to get to -68% PDT. Combine that level of PDT with a high block rate shield and you’re a hard beast to kill!

In addition to the massive PDT and Enmity bonuses, Burtgang offers a nice boost to DOT via it’s level 3 aftermath. When paired with a decent Weapon Skill like Requiscat or CDC, your Paladin can do some heavy damage.

In situations where you can maintain AM3, Burtgang becomes the superior Defensive and Offensive Paladin Weapon.




- The original Knights of the Round relic of choice. Excalibur is a pretty easy weapon to make and is one of the more attractive options for an up in coming Paladin.

Anytime you're unable to maintain mythic aftermath, or when you're swapping shields out, Excalibur will be the best DPS sword.



Almace was king for DPS during the Abyssea eras, but has fallen behind as both Burtgang and Excalibur received boosts. It also has the problem of having it's 99 trial phase cock-blocked by the death of Voidwatch. If you do however happen to make an iLvL Almace, you'll find it a handy DPS toy for when you can maintain the Aftermath (but still behind iLvL Excalibur and Burtgang).



- Mostly a toy for Paladin, but it’s extremely useful for War and Drk, so it’s not a bad toy to have around when you want to just have a little fun. Resolution makes this Great Sword a beast and Paladin still has good proficiency in this combat area. The only down side is a lack of real combat job abilities.

Delve weapons:


Shahur + Realmreazer are also fantastic alternatives for pure DPS.