GLA - PLD Gear Recomend Builds

Im still new into the game I only have GLA 50 atm, so lookin for some recomended gear for tankin stuff like Ifrit/Garuda an stuff. I know af only goes sofar, so what should i aim for in terms of materia gear / weapons ect ?

Only piece of AF worth using on PLD is body and that is very very very situational, if you are able to take advantage of the cover augment its very nice when you are running low on MP.

This is what I generally use on PLD though if it helps.

Head: Cobalt Helm Double Melded MND
Body: AF or Cobalt Haub with Double VIT
Hands: Cobalt Gauntlets with Double ACC
Waist: Cobalt Plate Belt Double Enmity
Legs: Felt Trousers Triple VIT/STR
Feet: Sentinel Sabatons Double HP
Rings: ACC Rings
Neck: Militia Choker/ Explorer's Choker works great as well.
Wrists: Coral Armillae +1

For weapons until you can get something better i'd recommend a Cobalt Winglet with enmity on it, altho the new Grand Company weapons that just came out are going to be your best bet for a strong long lasting weapon to use.

Now keep in mind while the majority of my gear is Double/Triple melded it is in no way required but it definatley helps. Single melds will work fine for you as well and still be better than AF~

A good way to look at it for PLD is this when focusing on Gear.

Cap ACC (ACC is very important for landing your enmity combo) >>> Focus on STR >>> Focus on MND >>>> Focus on Enmity >>> Everything Else.

There is really no need for a 'Tanking' set at all as far as damage reduction goes, you can basically just focus on a DD setup and making sure that your ACC is capped so you are not missing combos.

Also for every 1 enmity in gear its only a .1% increase so unless you have more than 10 enmity on a piece of gear it really isnt work using because its basically doing nothing.

I highly recommend picking up some enmity potions as well for starting out boss fights, they do wonders for that first minutes enmity gain.

cool, thnx for the tip

Is there an easier way to double/triple meld stuff? I have such a hellacious time doing it or trying to get it done :(.

Its all luck based, Gil isnt hard to come by in this game, can just buy the stuff people put on the AH thats all ive done for all my melded gear.

In terms of swords how does Serpent Lieutenant's Longsword stack up to other options baring the other GCs ones. Mainly asking because I seem to notice alot of plds using moogle or Ifrit so not sure if I've missed something about those swords.
Damage 102
Delay 2.6
DPS 39.23
Slashing 100%
Vitality+20
Accuracy+20
Serpent gear (5 or more pieces): Mind+20 (Not sure activating this is even viable with out sacrifcing too much to be worth it so can ignore it)

Also is it worth melding hps into a shield or is there a specific shield we should be using. Thats probably a noob question that everyone should have the answer for sorry XD

I made a PLD guide: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/47393-Tachi-s-Guide-to-Paladin-%28post-1.22b%29

Mogblade has +30 ACC Ifrit's has +30 attack...my guess is thats why people use those two. I honestly want to use the garuda sword...for the block bonus.

serpent sword looks nice for the buffs...but im still fuzzy on what stats actually do.

for shield...i have my eye on the flame sergeants shield for magic potency+5. but if you could meld better stats on a shield i'd be all for highest possible melds with best possible meldable shield

As you say that you are fairly new to the game I don't really agree with the setup Gradd suggests. Vit on haub and str/vit legs are more a War/Mrd setup imo.

"There is really no need for a 'Tanking' set at all as far as damage reduction goes, you can basically just focus on a DD setup and making sure that your ACC is capped so you are not missing combos." For an experienced warrior sure, I don't think this is great advise for a new(ish) player on Glad.

Thormoen's Purpose (dungeon drop but purchasable) is the specific shield that a lot of PLDs use, again some of the GC shields are good if you have access to them. Otherwise kite/vintage kite shield with HP melds again.

Body - Cobalt Cuirass not Haub, HP not vit
Legs - can go with str/vit as suggested, but HP again viable option.

If you are using 2 x electrum rings and the explorer's choker (the milita choker is a rare drop and stupidly expensive to buy) for accuracy, then melding more Acc into the hands is really somewhat overkill. Unless they changed it Dex should effect block rate, or you can always go with your old friend more HP !


@ Odin: when double melding +1 gear will give 5% greater odds, and always put lower stat materia in first for another few % difference.

@ Asura: the Mogblade is particularly useful as it has +30 acc on it, meaning you can sacrifice your electrum rings for a different stat. The new GC swords seem to be decent, but at 25k for promotion, then another 25k for the weapon it's a costly option when primal weapons are effectively 'free'.

There isnt a single boss mob in the game at the moment other than Coincounter that requires a 'Tanking' set, if you think otherwise you are greatly mistaken, and severely lacking in knowledge of game mechanics.

The vitality on my Body is Questionable, for every 1 point of Vitality you gain .1% increase of PDT to your blocks, if MND or STR were a Meld option that would be a no brainer. The new Lominsan body is actually pretty amazing for PLD, 10 STR/VIT/MND/DEX.

Its pretty moronic to say not to worry about ACC, if you are capp'ing ACC though you should be using STR on your hands, preferably a double meld.

I would 'Never' suggest Dex to somebody either, that also shows how misinformed you are. For each point of Dex you add its only a .1% increase to your block rate.

The new GC weapons as well are 'Amazing' to tell somebody not to worry about getting them because how much they cost is just lazy and ignorant. Lominsan sword for example is the exact same Base Damage as ifrits, but Higher DPS and 20 ACC attached to it.

Also for those that care, after you turn in the 25k for your rank you can get that 25k back to purchase a weapon by trading the Coin you receive to the black market who will give you your Seals back in exchange for the coin.

To end, I Have a full HP build, but have never found a reason to use it once other than Coincounter. If you some how die to something else, then its a matter of your mages sucking not your gear.

I saw that sword today actually running by in town, it looks pretty great to me especially if you can set bonus it without sacrificing anything important. Getting closer to the MND damage cap would be very very nice, the 20 VIT on it would be 2% PDT added to blocks~

I would only put HP on a shield for Coincounter, but I generally tank him on Warrior rather than PLD because of the Higher HP, my WAR has about 5.2k HP fully buffed, my PLD maybe 4.8k.

The best options I can come up with for activating the mnd + are
All these except for the neck take away from you defensivly over other options so thinking the added damage wouldn't work out to be better on anything significant unless you were trying to DD on pld for some reason. That said I don't know enough about defensive stats for me saying that to meen anything more then eyeballing you average damage XD

How much ACC + should you aim for on High end and a lower end mobs, obviously it changes based on what your fighting but just looking for a guideline if thats possible to give.

Edit: Oh right, what about food for pld? No idea if I should be eating for defensive, attack or acc.

The question about ACC is a little difficult to answer, because the amount you'll need will change quite a bit depending on so many factors. Full party buff, light party buff, solo, boss mob, trash mob, minuet or no minuet, just so much to take into consideration.

The best advice I can really give is to get some acc gear, such as rings and some melded hands, and keep them on you in case you need it. If you're capping without them then you can switch over to something else, you'll really just have to feel it out for each fight.

Things like ACC melded gloves can be pretty expensive, especially with the spike in price from the materia being required for relics. But it is most definitely worth it, people don't ever seem to understand that all the HP/VIT/etc won't do anything for you if you can't land your hits and combos. If you're missing combos, you're not holding hate, end of story.

For the food questions, the popular food choices are Mugwort Carp and Salt cod puffs.

Hope this was helpful!

To answer your question about Defense, because of DLevel scaling it down a pretty vast amount it essentially does nothing on boss mobs (it does help just not to the degree that people imagine).

For Example CNJ was tanking ifrit with very little to no effort at all wearing cloth armor before they nerfed its hate generation.

All right thanks, thought as much about the acc but figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Wish I could just give you an exact number to aim for, I can maybe start parsing my ACC on different bosses to see how much keeps me at cap and put together a list.

Garuda for Example I sit on 430 ACC in gear before ACC food (Saltcod Puffs) and Minuets and that generally puts me at 98% ACC on the parser with my gear food/songs.

Seemed to have touched a nerve here.

I would like to point out the OP is new to the game, my large HP based suggestion is based upon this. Having 1k extra HP is great for learning to tank and get used to the fights.

Yes of course if you have an experienced party with melded/endgame gear you can in DD/crit gear or even underwear, however I imagine the OP does not have an endgame LS just yet.

At no point did I suggest to ignore the GC weapons, merely pointed out the cost. Of course I am aware you can turn in the commemorative coin for 25k seals on the black market, effectively making one weapon free, however a lot of FF players are 'hoarders' that will not give away this unique item.

That kinda works both ways though, having tons of hp is nice but if it is unnecessary then they are getting into the bad habit of stacking unneeded stats. If you don't need that hp then its a waste of a slot. Being new and possibly having limited resources he might not want to spend them on a set that will see very little use outside of learning and just go for what will be best in the long term.

You also can't forget that more damage = more hate, and dead things can't kill you (well zombies and stuff but lets no go there). If you can't put out a reasonable ammount of damage on pld then war is probably going to be taken as tank over you as a tank.

Touch a nerve? Not really.

Higher HP isnt going to change anything in the 5 minutes it takes to learn a job, if he happens to die within the 5 minutes that it takes to learn to tank then thats on the Mages and not the Tank.

With proper instruction a competent player can go from 1-50 in a day and play the job flawlessly minutes later.

Paladin pretty much comes down to this for bosses:

Pop Enmity Potion >>> Grab Mobs attention (first action no matter what produces 0 enmity so don't waste a voke grabbing it) >>> Sentinel >>> Rampart >>> Voke >>> Flash >>> Aegis Boon (to force a block) >>> Phalanx >>> Spirits >>> Outmanuever/Divine Veil >>> War Drum >>> Enmity Combo.

After that your hate is pretty much set in stone, and all you have to do is use your respective combos when the timers are up along with your enmity abilities.

Now I am not discrediting an HP build either, like I said earlier you need one for Coincounter, but thats only one boss, everything else in the game which is a bigger majority of the content you are far better off just focusing on a DD build because it will come down to your mages keeping you alive and not your gear. The only reason Coincounter is even dangerous is because he can spike up to 4.9k in damage with 100 Tonze Swing, which is honestly the most dangerous TP out of all the boss mobs in the game.

for someone claiming to know a TON about the game you are posting a rotation that has many MANY GLARING ISSUES!!!



nononono nononon NONONONO!!! worst advice ever.

mad pot > voke > flash > rampart > sent > aegis > phalanx > spirits:

from here on out its a balance based on mob target, ex coincounter is mostly a rotation of ws's and self heals, sentinel, divine veil, aegis saving voke for animal.

on a mob like Chimera: its rotating divine veil/sentinel and aegis keeping phalanx>spirits on cooldown, fast > flat is under 100 enmity total so in this case holly succor is MUCH stronger enmity wise.

things you have incorrect:

sentinel's enmity bonus only affects ws's so using it at the start would only be advised if you are having issues getting the mob in position early (and whm is pulling hate @ start)

first action no matter what produces 0 enmity so don't waste a voke grabbing it this is just LOL i'm not sure if your trolling or what but its pretty simple go voke something then have someone auto-attack until they pull hate

rampart as 1st action in rotation this is me nit picking but you should give your party as much time as possible if you can help it to get on the targets threat list before rampart, its a static 180 enmity per player that you hit with rampart (who are on the hate list first) so if they are not on the list you dont' get enmity for them. If you open the fight with rampart you guarantee that you only get 180 enmity on yourself (maybe zero if you are not flashing yet).

With how extesive the testing done by these guys is I'll take their word for it on flash getting a boost. Provoke I just did a very basic test since I couldn't find anything on it and if there is a boost it is less then 10%. With out sent hate was pulled from me at 593 damage (tried to get closer to 550 damage but it didn't want to), then with it at 599, with base hate on provoke being aprox 550. All that said however there are benefits to keeping the recast on flash and provoke together just to keep it easy for you to manage your abilies.

This one you are right on, my LS mate never pulled hate on the first hit even though voke was the only action I used on the mob, checked with flash as well at it was the same.

I would assume that is the purpose of sent being at the start to give your party members the 2 or 3 seconds needed to get on the list. Also unless there has been more recent testing rampart is 190 per player not 180
Your text to link here...

I tested provoke with a mule with sentinel:

agro mob with mule A: do no actions

< mule B(me) > voke #mule B pulls hate#

< mule C > voke > do 1 dmg from attack #2mule-C pulls hate#

-this says voke hate is even and 1 dmg from the attack was enough to take hate from me

agro mob with mule A: do no actions

< mule B(me) > (sentinel) voke #mule B pulls hate# [sentinel used before being on enemy hate list to avoid enmity from abilities]

< mule C > voke > do 1 dmg from attack #2mule-C pulls hate#

-this says sentinel does not increase voke enmity, not even 1% NADA :)

I will try this again with flash I'm very suprised they find it increases enmity by 1.2x. Its a super simple test just need 3 players.

I read the part about enmity producing 0 enmity on the first action on BG maybe 3-4 months ago if thats changed since then, then so be it.

Good info though thanks for the correction~

cool glad to help, nice to see people who respond positively when someone gives out information. A good player looks to improve as best they can given the information available. I've made many changes based on other players observations.

One recent improvement is the enmity from holy succor vs flast>flat combo on high defense mobs. Learning that I'm using up a 1k combo and the time spent on the action for 15~20 dmg or 80 enmity max vs what could be used better elsewhere

this is what i use on my pld:

main: garuda's gaze
off: maelstrom shield

head: +50mnd cobalt celata
body: darklight cuirass or +50vit cobalt cuirass
hands: +36str sentinel's gauntlets
belt: +44enm sentinel's plate belt
legs: +20str +22vit felt trousers
feet: darklight solerets or +60meva cobalt sabatons

black pearl earring+1
explorer's choker
1 of like 5 different bracelets
mixture of stat+1 and electrum+1

it's probably one of the best setups you can use unless you 2-3x evenflow on sent hands, 3x str/dex on sent hands (which i can't seem to make) or 3x str/dex a sword (although gaze will prolly spank it).

Why trade so much enmity on heavy DL gauntlets? For a 25 point dmg boost on ws's? Unless enmity is just never an issue at all. I have a few sets but my fav is pure enmity with 248 enmity bonus

thnx for the gear info an tips, so last question on my part, what type food would be good then? acc food/atk food/ def food ?

Really depends on what your fighting.

Coin Counter youll want HP food.

Everything else i'd go with DD food of some sort depending on how your ACC is.

If your capped go with something like Smoked Raptor, if your having ACC issue's i'd recommend Saltcod Puffs.

Highly recommend having a stack of Maddening Potions with you for boss fights as well.