Hauteclaire

[Lmnop]

Re: Hauteclaire

yes, so now add on this sword and 90% DR Sentinel to your already impressive shielding rate. 'Nuff said? Of course not. Get a BLU or SMN in your party to give you Stoneskin (As Karinya pointed out in another thread). With all that defense and damage taken -%, your Stoneskin will last for YEARS. Ok, 30 seconds.

[Icemage]

Re: Hauteclaire

I was under the impression you could reduce more damage with just Koenig shield and high shield skill than you can with Earth Staff since the shield updates.

Koenig Shield > Earth Staff, except in those cases where individual hits do outrageous amounts of damage and you can't afford to take those hits (Tiamat/Jormungand with Mighty Strikes up, Geush Urvan, etc.).

On the other hand, Aegis beats everything, and unless there's some weird hidden flaw in Hauteclaire, then Hauteclaire + Aegis beats anything else you can wield as a Paladin, bar none.


Icemage

[Karinya]

Re: Hauteclaire

Except for kiting. Even Aegis can't shield block an attack from behind. If you're kiting something that does physical damage, earth staff may still beat hauteclaire/aegis. (If it does magical damage too the aegis will win, of course.)

In some cases you may hold hate better with Excalibur/Aegis than with Hauteclaire/Aegis (since you'll do significantly more damage), but Hauteclaire/Aegis will take less damage which is usually more important. Anyway, who's crazy enough to try to upgrade two relics? Even if Khimaira becomes a claimed-in-0.2-seconds hnm, it's still orders of magnitude easier than upgrading an excalibur.

[Icemage]

Re: Hauteclaire

Aegis is also -25% Magic Damage, however. In a kiting fight, most of the time what little is hitting you tends to be magic, not physical, so Aegis still > Earth Staff when kiting in most fights except for perhaps Vrtra.


Icemage

[JP_Ikari]

Re: Hauteclaire

I guess seeing every PLD that fights Grand Wyrms go /NIN, this is a big help in more ways than 1. But still can't cover that 25% you lose from EStave. As for hate issues upon losing Mac +1, just cover it in another area of your body (if you still don't tank with HBM, you should start doing so), or even start thinking of merriting enmity. That's how I see it. Kiting is a different thing all together. Obviously you can't shield block while running, so it's still smart to use an Estave on that. But like someone said awhlie ago, this sword makes every other equipment turn situational.

JP

[Lmnop]

Re: Hauteclaire

I suppose it's a good point that this sword being dual wielded with something else somewhat offsets the loss of a shield if you're doing dual swords. Would be interesting to see. Of course, I have to make small correction: 20% on Earth staff, not 25.

[Hankthetank]

Re: Hauteclaire

Actually you can block while kiting and using a shield, you just need to be extremely familiar with your kiting area.

1. Face the mob
2. Go into First person view
3. Run backwards
4. Kite while running backwards and facing the enemy.

In first person view you can run backwards at full speed when not engaged. In first person view the game still considers the direction you are facing as the "front", so you can technically run at full speed away from the mob while still facing the mob and having the opportunity to shield block.

Its pretty cool, not the most useful thing, but neat none the less.

Sincerely,
Hank

[Armando]

Re: Hauteclaire

Actually, you don't have to be unengaged, just unlocked from the mob. Not sure if you meant to write that instead or not, but I figured I'd point it out. It's a cool trick, I like to use it to make mobs miss their close-range WS.

[Malacite]

Re: Hauteclaire

If going /NIN, I'd actually offhand this for DD purposes (Main hand Company Sword), otherwise offhand something like durandal for +VIT and/or Enmity?


Still, this + Aegis = zomg! ^^b

[Karinya]

Re: Hauteclaire

I don't think it would be worth giving up the extra attacks and TP gain of Justice or Joyeuse, in a PLD/NIN DD situation. Acc is normally not important against mobs that you would actually use that setup for, anyway.

On the other hand, its DMG is second only to Hrotti and Excalibur I think (except on Windsday when Mighty Talwar is in there too), so you could go Hauteclaire/Justice.

[Shinhiryu_Kage]

Re: Hauteclaire

I haven't fought Khaimara (sp?) yet.

What is that HNM like? More importantly, where is it..... w