Pld looking for advice

[Caisersoze]

what is better to use a AS GS or SS

[Crode]

Re: Pld looking for advice

sword is best for us plds.

[Zyph]

Re: Pld looking for advice

In exp, you can use both effectively. But eventually you'll get some morons in here going on and on about "OMGWTF OH NOEZ U CANT TANK WIFFOUT A SHEELD!"

[Karinya]

Re: Pld looking for advice

Well, you will definitely take more damage with greatsword than with sword and shield, especially if in addition to the shield itself, the sword you are using with it is Gluttony or Durandal. Depending on what you are fighting, this is usually a problem, but not always. Some enemies hit weak enough that the vulnerability of greatsword may not be a problem. But if you are going to bring a greatsword, you should (a) make sure it is skilled up, and (b) also bring a sword and shield in case you need to switch to them.

Also, some high level shields have significant +enmity, which will help hate holding too - and of course you can only Shield Bash if you are using a shield, which is both a hate spike and a spell interruptor. But if you have a THF, you may not need it for hate, and not all monsters have spells to interrupt.

In most situations, sword and shield is significantly better, but in a few cases greatsword may be fine too. I don't know of any ways it's actually better, though - the higher damage is counterbalanced by higher delay, and a PLD isn't going to put out the kind of WS numbers a DRK does with the same weapon, especially not in tanking gear. (And some of the best greatswords are DRK only, too.)

Earth staff is valuable in a few situations, but does pathetic damage and hate holding may be a problem. It's generally used for kiting since you can't shield block attacks from behind. There have been studies showing that a shield with high shield skill reduces damage *more* than Earth Staff if you are facing the attacker, though - in addition to the enmity and damage advantage of sword+shield as compared to earth staff, a truly pathetic weapon for hitting things. Staffs other than earth staff (and its HQ, terra staff) are still weak for damage dealing, but don't have any defensive benefit - you have to give up shield to wield them, too. So they are generally not worthwhile.

It's possible that if you have it skilled up, club and shield has potential against enemies weak to blunt weapons (chiefly skeletons and magic pots), but I haven't tried this myself. Most of the best clubs are WHM only, but martial wand is available to PLD and has pretty decent stats plus the TP bonus. It won't match the damage of a good sword against opponents not vulnerable to blunt, though. Many of these types of enemies are casters (and pots have a magic immunity WS that can protect them from silence), which is why you don't want to give up shield against them either.

[Timian]

Re: Pld looking for advice

Greatsword is fine, for a pld in DD gear playing a DD-role (and it does happen, from time to time.) Other then that, it's a toy. A plaything. Something you have for fun & farming.
Looking at the most common "high level shields" there're the

Koenig Shield: Def23, Enmity+3, Vit+5, Chr+5, Beast Killer
Tatami Shield: Def24, Str+5, Eva+3, All Killer Effects

With high shield skill, the Tatami (being a size 4 shield) will reduce an enormous amount of damage per block. The Koenig Shield is a size 3, but still absorbs a hefty amount.
The stats provided by the Koenig Shield are also incrediby good for partying as well as NMs.
Now look at the swords most commenly used, at high levels:

Espadon+1: Dmg44, Delay257, Vit+3, Mnd+3, Attack+7
Hrotti: Dmg48, Delay277, Fire+15, Water-15, Breath Damage-10%, Dragon Killer
Durandal: Dmg40, Delay240, Vit+7, Enmity+1
Tutelary: Dmg35, Delay225, HP+30, Defense+14, Attack-10
Company Sword: Dmg varies on number of pt members! (Dmg56, in a regular exp party)

Take any combination of those shield+sword stats, and show me a Great Sword that can match the total gain. As for staffs, they are pretty much also redundant.
Like Karinya said, I might use the Terra's Staff for kiting, at times, but don't scruff at the "Killer" effects on the shields (and the Hrotti).
With the CHR gain you get from Koenig, you'll come to see that they activate quite consistently, something that might make it very viable to kite using a sword+shield, just for the chance of intimidating the chasing mob.

Conclusion: Sword+Shield is the way to go.
Messing with clubs, against skeletons and such, and soloing with staffs, for Spirit Taker are all nice things you'll get to do, as pld, but bottom line:
Using sword+shield you can't go wrong.

[Armando]

Re: Pld looking for advice

Pretty much what the above posters said. Two-hander doesn't mean better damage. Much less with reduced skill. PLD gets some damned fine swords, and can be very damaging. However, two-hander will always mean more damage taken just from the fact that you're losing your shield (Earth Staff is a very obvious exception.)

[Spacer22]

Re: Pld looking for advice

Sword is best. Cause if u use GS u get more dmg but u lose defense.

Ur not a DD ur a tank so Def, is the best way. {Sword & Shield} Till 51 then use the Earth Satff

[Paladin X]

Re: Pld looking for advice

Like the others said, you should really only focus on Sword and Shield when tanking in an XP pt. Other weapons should be skilled up for your benefit, but not in an XP pt, in a skill up pt, as not to slow down your XP pt.

Even when it comes to DD-ing as a PLD, a lot of ppl thing just because its a Great Sword it will do more dmg, but because of a PLDs skill ratings in Sword vs Great Sword (A+ to B- respectively), our swords will churn out more dmg.

While the diffecence isnt so big in the lower lvls, as you get higher, the gap between the lvls of skill in your sword and Great sword gets bigger and bigger, until at 75 there is a 26 lvl gap (276 for sword, 250 for Great Sword). That means that you lose out on 26 Acc and 26 Attack if you choose to use a Great Sword.

There are other good weapons out there that dont have such a big skill gap though. Like others have mentioned, theres Staff and Club, which both are an A- in terms of skill with PLDs (skill cap of 269 at lvl 75).

A good staff to have, besides an Earth/Terra's Staff that is, is the Kinkobo (DMG:68 Delay:412 Crit Hit +5%, Lantent Effect: Delay:329 Acc +10, Enchantment: Subtle Blow)
A very nice DD staff, especially on mobs weak to Blunt dmg (skeletons, Pots)

There arent many good Clubs out there (easily attainable that is), but one is the Morgenstern (DMG:40 Crit hit +6%).

[Jinghles]

Re: Pld looking for advice

your satisfaction lvl is heightened if you can satisfy these conditions:

* as a tank be the highest lvl in a pt ... being low man on the totem pole immediately puts you at a disadvantage ... i find that the best pt's are the ones where everyone is the same lvl

* cap all your A rated skills asap ... you can experiment with B rated skills after you cap your best skills ... but do experiment yourself .. don't just take other people's word for it

* get used to communicating well with people in pt's ... don't be shy in taking command of the party, this do not mean be bossy ... lead with reason and knowledge ... work together in a pt rather than against each other ... i think all tanks should develop leadership skills


personally, i go with sword shield more often than not

it's a waste to not take advantage of a A rated shield skill

i prefer small shields over large



jinghles
48pld ~ taru

[Jei]

Re: Pld looking for advice

from the test done in this thread > http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/pal....size.3.a.html
it seems small or large shields are blocking at a similar rate right now.
So you actually will block a lot more damage with larger shields.

[EuphoricOni]

Re: Pld looking for advice

not dead but on its way out i suppose this is a little late but advice is advice ... i would say keep them even ... like i did when i was war/xxx being as its very helpful to have many skills capped then just a bare minimum ... even though i only have Sw+Sh ... i would however like to cap off GS being as later game there are some that remove buffs from mobs which doing so after a WS with sword just a quick macro change use it to debuff and then reequip your SS ... and maybe spike hate a little from that ... i'm 30 i have no idea on the hate rating for doing such ... but common sense would state it would yeild some hate ... short post hopefully a good one ...