Weapons to use before being pld ?

[Shen]

I'm gonna be pld/war in the end

But at the beginning i'll be war/mnk i guess. My question is should i use axe while i'll be war to be a good war and level faster by being as good war as i can, and switch to one hand sword once i'm pld ? Does the fact that i won't capp my 1 hand sword ws at each of my pld level for the 30 first levels will gimp me as a pld ?

[Reanda]

Try to use both Great Axe and 1 hand axe as a Warrior, whenever your levelling it.
You'll cap your sword as a PLD when levelling one in no time, just like when you started out warrior.

[Verus]

I used a sword as a WAR for the first couple levels but switched to axe and great axe long before my first party. You'll be a much better WAR and level faster if you use the proper weapons. Don't worry about having sword capped at each level, it always capped each level within 500-1000 experience of getting a new level while I rasied PLD.

[FuzzGtp]

i used both..


i brought sword/shield because alot of people will ask a war to tank and the chance to block is nice.

[Nemes]

Be a real war and get 1H Axe+shield and a 2H Axe.

[Biterman]

If you want to level some shield skill use an Axe, there is no reason whatsoever you should use a sword as WAR.
At most level sword to skill 10 so you have a WS once you get PLD, but thats it.

[Karinya]

1 handed swords are weak weapons and WAR should rarely if ever use them (i.e. maybe to skillup, but not in an exp party). If you're tanking with a shield, or subbing NIN, axes are stronger and have a better WS selection for most purposes; otherwise, use a 2-handed weapon (great axe is best for damage and break skills, but great sword, spear and scythe each have some additional SC options). It might sometimes be worth it to use a 1h sword to fill a specific need for a SC (typically Burning/Red Lotus Blade), but this is rare and most of the time you're better off with an axe. If you can't afford to carry around a lot of weapons, an axe, shield and great axe (for when you're not the tank, or fighting things with weak attacks) should do fine until level 30, or even 37. Plus a bow if you intend to pull.

You shouldn't worry about skilling up weapons for a job you intend to play later: any job that regularly melees will cap skill for its commonly used weapons with no real effort. However, if you are planning to play PLD, you may benefit somewhat from playing axe and shield and tanking as much as possible as WAR, so you can level shield and parry skills, both of which are a pain.

In general, though, if you're a warrior, be a warrior, not an imitation paladin.

[Artonis]

I used sword and shield all the way to war30.
Why? Because I wanted to. As much as it's "better" to use a specific weapon, play the game how you want to play. If you want your character to use a shield and sword...do it. Don't just do what everyone tells you is best for everyone.

Counterpoint: by not appeasing everyone you don't seem like a team player.

But I didn't get any flak about it, I tanked every single fight from 10-30, sc'ed with red lotus in almost every fight and not a single person told me to use a different weapon.

Yes, great axe is the best choice for WAR, but what's the best choice for you?

[Reanda]

Well, you don't HAVE to use an axe or great axe if you don't want to, no one's stopping you.

But having those 2 weapons levelled up is always an added bonus, and will definitely come in useful in future.
Also, you have nothing to lose using axes as a WAR before becoming PLD.

In my case, I regret not levelling my Great Axe as a WAR because now that my PLD is 75, I intend to level up WAR to 75, so I need to skill up Great axe all the way from beginning...which isn't too hard, but still, pretty tedious, considering all the skill ups I did with Greatsword ,Staff, and club.

[Ariesknight]

Yeah, while you're a WAR use G.Axe or Axe+Shield, when I was raising my PLD from 21 (21--->50 in 2 weeks, not bad) I got damn annoyed to see lvl 28 WARs in my PT using Sword+Shield. Damn it, we needed heavier damage, use an Axe+Shield if you intend to be PLD but if you don't use a G.Axe, please, for your party's sake. Post 30 I saw WARs using Axe+Shield and G.Axe (like I did when I raise WAR to 45--dual wielding 1H Axes and G.Axe) which was good. So please heed my adive, the PT will love you for it and XP will move faster, as a PLD there'lkl be plenty of chances to cap your Sword.

[Nemes]

Artonis, you're right. If you want to play Sword & Shield, go for it. No one will stop you.


However:

1) A warrior's best weapon is axes. Why not use that as an advantage?...

2) Axes are better than swords, especially the GAxes, for their uber weaponskills...

3) You're gonna be tired of swords if you play both WAR and PLD with swords... Why not try something different?

4) If you level sword, you're probably gonna end up wanting to use axes when you level WAR back when you need to level it as a sub, or just for playing WAR. I see so many ppl at level 30 WAR that need to level their Axe skills 'cause it's at 0...


Besides, axes are cool

[Shen]

I'll go for Great Axe, and play my WAR like it's meant to be played.

I played some time ago , canceled, lost my char and i'm starting back, and the first time, i played war with sh+sword , then war/whm , i was gimped all the way through, got bored, and finally become drg (which i like too)


So GAXE for me, then war/mnk , then pld/war. I'll do the things right this time I've been surprised by the power of using an A+ weapon !!! Definitly worth it

Thks for input :p

[Dark Aphalite]

As a Warrior I used Sword until Lv18, then switched to Polearm until Lv25 and went with Great Sword all the way to 30.
Might seem silly but those 3 weapons are great for a PLD.
And yes, even Polearm.
We get Penta Thrust at Lv55 I believe, which GREATLY helped my farming until I reached Lv60 when I learned Vorpal Blade with my Sword.

[Ariesknight]

Yeah Dark but given the TP Nerf isn't the use of Penta Thrust for farming PLD's trivial now?

P.S You mentioned Phalanx Rings at 50 in another psot, do you believe they are better than my Sphene Rings, basically VIT+4 VS Def+20? which one?

[Lyonesse]

Axe+Shield, Gaxe and Gsword.

PLDs don't get to use GSword (although they have the ability too) often and having a leg-up on it by using it with WAR is nice and handy for when you want to finally level it up.

You use Sword so much that you'll have it capped all the time anyway. The same goes for Club if you choose to use that with PLD ;p.