End game Paladin, HP > VIT?

[Serantos]

I have been endgame for a while now, in sky killing gods and such. I decided, since the gods are such higher levels than us, VIT isn't as important as HP. Sure you get hit for more, but nothing 15 WHM's cant cure you for... So I'm pretty much trying to prevent the dreaded one shot.

I am a hume... and heres my gear.

I got Gigant Mantle, Marine M Boots, Bomb Queen Ring, Koenig Hands, Rosenbogen, Ocean Sash, and I wear my AF Body and Pants, Adaman on the head.

I think total, without food I have 1648 HP. I get the substantial VIT loss, but again, I feel it's better not to get one shotted, then to have the extra VIT.

Any other views on this?

[Karinya]

Re: End game Paladin, HP > VIT?

I've seen several PLD doing this and I really don't understand it.

I guess it depends on what you're doing though, a lot of my endgame tanking time is in Dynamis where Hundred Fists is the main tank killer. Most HNM are tanked by ninjas anyway (except maybe Seiryu, because of Hundred Fists again). You really can't expect to match a ninja at tanking one mob that attacks slowly for 400 damage per hit.

Some equipment like Koenig has great def, vit and +hp all at once, so wearing as much as you can without losing hate is pretty much a no-brainer. But I can't really see giving up Knightly Mantle for Gigant (let alone Valor Cape, if you're lucky enough to have it) - you're going to get hit substantially harder on every hit, in exchange for having more HP once per fight. I've even seen some people wearing BQR to Dynamis, where the second most common tank (and everyone else) killer is Mijin Gakure and lots of things nuke, often with fire.

Now, of course, if you're just going to unload a pre-charged Spirits Within and drop out, sure, wear all the +HP gear you can afford. But if you're going to take hits for any length of time, +HP gear is going to hurt you a lot more than it helps you. If Max HP are so important, why don't monks tank?

Trying to prevent one (or two or three, with something like double attack + crit + special) shots from HNM is like trying to reach 100% accuracy - it's not ever going to happen. HNM are HNM for a reason and their ability to kill people, including tanks, is a big part of that. That's why you need backup tanks for pretty much every HNM. If it doesn't have at least a chance of killing any possible tank with any possible support/healer team behind him, then it doesn't really qualify as an HNM in the first place.


The exception to all this is if the majority of the damage you're going to be taking is magic, Def and VIT have less effect (they don't work on magic damage). There isn't much gear you can wear for magic defense atm (Aegis, and possibly the pieces of Crimson with high resists might be helpful) so you might as well go +HP. (If it's predictable what element you will be taking, watch your resist to it too - barspells are nice, but they won't save you from wearing a BQR to Suzaku.)

[Weeeekujata]

Re: End game Paladin, HP > VIT?

My recommendations:
1500 HP~(Nothing will 1 shot you except maybe a kirin's GA spell only on you)
Good +VIT(+50~ is what I work on)
Good Def(700+ is good on gods)
Enimity<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Whats the use of all hp/vit if you cant keep hate
I used to use RSE hands and Feet, but I much prefer Koenig hands & AFv2 Feet. I tank them all sword+shield.

Gear in general is situational i just outlined how I do sky.

[Elesirdur]

Re: End game Paladin, HP &gt; VIT?

Your gear sounds good to me. My suggestion (if you havn't already done it) max your Shield Skill and start plugging merits into there. Being able to take a Sword+Shield to Byakko can make a world of difference. Sure, it might not be the 20% dmg reduction of the Earth Staff, but the chances to parry and block a Tripple Attack or Razor Fang are too good to pass up. As Weeee mentioned, Enmity is really important so pickup a Harmonia's Torque and a Hercules' Ring and add them into your Provoke and Flash macros. If you're on the PC, use Archbell's windower's built-in macro scripting ability to get all the gear swaps you need. Ultimatly, when you've got 3+ WHMs constantly cure-bombing you get all the HP you can. When you're running Kirin around, the difference between 1550 HP and 1600 HP may mean the difference between surviving a Stone V or Stonega IV and giving the Ru'Avitau's basement floor a friendly hug.

[csBahamut]

Re: End game Paladin, HP &gt; VIT?

When Byakko wants to Diaga >> Triple Attack >> Razor Fang w/Tripe Attack, no amount of +HP will save you. +HP gear definitely helps, but it's not the end-all answer to everything. Go with what works best for your LS.

[JP_Ikari]

Re: End game Paladin, HP &gt; VIT?

It honestly depends. My endgame gear is practically close to yours except I don't have the Hume RSE2 boots (I'm wearing the Crimson Greeves) and I have my Koenig Helm already. My HP is about 1661 with a tutelary but I only use that gear During Spirits, after that, I'm back to Staff all the way. I have no problem holding and taking hate with +4 enmity. I can't wear anymore than that or else I will keep the hate longer than anyone (I had 12 people yelling at me for holding Byakko through 3 vokes and 3 flashes with my tank partner), as long as you can control your hate and stay alive long enough, you should be ok. I don't see any problems with what you have.

And for NIN only one tanking everything in sky, i doubt that. I wanna see a NIN tank Faust. But for gods, yea, NIN can tank everything, but it's really messy with all my experience (2 nin vs Byakko experience, 2 WHM's died, 3 RNG's, and still no control on the mob. Suzaku, if there's no chain stun, it's really messy (even with PLD Aerial Armor tanks). Seiryu cause of his Hundred Fist, but 1 PLD can pop 2 hour on it and he's dead anyway. And Kirin is very fruity with his GA's).

JP

[Uiruru]

Re: End game Paladin, HP &gt; VIT?

Ya for hnm's its good to have a lot of hp, but depending on what your fighting it is a good idea to have enmity gear ready to swap in for some of that hp gear as needed. Having stuff like Herc Ring, Various Valor of Adaman Pieces a Harmonia Torque and a Aegisjamr (if your lucky) are good things to have avilable to you for the times where your not duo tanking something.

As a Pld its good to have different types of gear avilable to you in different situations it allows you to be versatile.

[Weeeekujata]

Re: End game Paladin, HP &gt; VIT?

on a side note, my friend in caith sith, I think he's in millenium ls now, tanks faust with nin pretty well <_<.

He used to be a summit's leader at one point or something i forgot.