Paladin Merits?

[EternalMalachi]

I don't know if its because I'm tired or if I'm just blind, but I haven't really seen much discussion in terms of Pld merits.

I'm trying to figure out the proper balance of the Tier2 merits. I currently have 3 in Chivalry and 1 in Fealty, but I'm torn as to Guardian and Iron Will.

I guess, what do y'all have for Pld merits and why? ^^'

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Paladin Merits?

http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/pal...in-merits.html

FFXIclopedia • View topic - Paladin Merits and Armor

Don't know if those 2 links will help but its a start.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Paladin Merits?

What do you want to use PLD for?

What kind of MP recovery options do the groups you'd use PLD with usually provide for their PLDs? (e.g. Do you always get BRD and RDM in tank party? Gjallarhorn BRD? And/or COR? Does the tank party WHM have a good Devotion set?)

Obviously, if you find yourself scraping by MP wise, and do lots of things in small groups, Chivalry maxed out is a no brainer. If you're always drowning in MP, may want to go for more Fealty instead, and set Chivalry at Lv.1.

While Iron Will isn't bad (SIR- doesn't cap, after all), seeing how it only kicks in during Rampart, seems too limited to me to bother with. Guardian should be maxed or nearly so if you have full Sentinel merits--the combination is awesome for speeding up enmity building.

If you have Atonement or plan on getting it, Sword merits are a good idea. Shield, too, if you have the room (though, I'm saving the room for future jobs myself...). Some people swear by Enemy Crit Hit Rate-, but I went with SIR- since I do get severe lag often. YMMV.

[Armando]

Re: Paladin Merits?

Guardian should be maxed or nearly so if you have full Sentinel merits--the combination is awesome for speeding up enmity building.

Is there really a need to max out Guardian? Seems a bit excessive considering Sentinel already greatly slows enmity bleeding by making you really resistant to damage. I could see myself taking it to like 3/5 at most, those last 2 points seem wasted. Or do you also use it as insurance against magic-related enmity loss?

[EternalMalachi]

Re: Paladin Merits?

I haven't worked the tier 1 merits yet, but I'll eventually be going full recast on Rampart and Sentinel. I have max shield merits and max mp merits. My party USUALLY has a rdm, though she occasionally goes smn (No Diabolos yet).

I don't have Atonement yet, either. I also play drk so i have 8/8 scythe, leaving me w/ 8 points when i do get Atonement.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Paladin Merits?

Is there really a need to max out Guardian? Seems a bit excessive considering Sentinel already greatly slows enmity bleeding by making you really resistant to damage. I could see myself taking it to like 3/5 at most, those last 2 points seem wasted. Or do you also use it as insurance against magic-related enmity loss?

I'm going by the theory that it reduces VE as well as CE loss. When fully merited (-95%), it would then prevent loss of 1710 VE--equivalent of almost gaining a Provoke for VE during the 30 seconds it's active , even if the PLD does nothing except switch on Sentinel.

How high to take it depends on how much you value other merits; personally, I have it at Lv.4 and don't plan to change it.

Sentinel: 5
Rampart: 5

Fealty: 5
Chivalry: 1
Guardian: 4

I haven't worked the tier 1 merits yet, but I'll eventually be going full recast on Rampart and Sentinel. I have max shield merits and max mp merits.

A lot of PLDs prefer Shield Bash merits over Rampart, FYI. (Went the Rampart route here, though.) Unless you need the MP merit for other jobs, may want to consider HP merits instead of MP--I've scraped by quite a few fights with less than 40 HP at some point during the battles--and I have 4 HP merits.

[Armando]

Re: Paladin Merits?

I'm going by the theory that it reduces VE as well as CE loss.

It might not be definitive proof, but this would have me believe it only affects CE.

Question: If you fully merit Guardian, the amount of enmity you lose is cut by 95%. Does Guardian affect all actions by a player?

Answer: The way that enmity is lost changes while Sentinel is active. Basically speaking, you’ll see the change in the amount of enmity lost after taking damage from the enemy.

It'd be easy to test anyways. Some third person pulls, both PLDs (one with Guardian merits and one without) pop Sentinel, one with Guardian merits Provokes mob first, wait a bit, PLD without Guardian Provokes mob. If the mob goes back to the PLD with Guardian merits it means VE was decaying faster for the PLD without merits.

[EternalMalachi]

Re: Paladin Merits?

How high to take it depends on how much you value other merits; personally, I have it at Lv.4 and don't plan to change it.

Sentinel: 5
Rampart: 5

Fealty: 5
Chivalry: 1
Guardian: 4

Question: Why did you take Fealty to 5? I figured Chivalry would be more useful in events like Campaign in being able to recover faster through wave after wave.

[Malacite]

Re: Paladin Merits?

Fealty can really, really save your ass I would imagine against some of the nastier mobs that just love to fling status ailments like Byakko.

That's actually a pretty good break down, though I'd like to know if Armando's right about 5/5 Guardian being a waste as Sentinel is already potent. Don't forget that SE is going to introduce new gear, merits and job adjustments as well.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Paladin Merits?

Question: Why did you take Fealty to 5? I figured Chivalry would be more useful in events like Campaign in being able to recover faster through wave after wave.

PLD/DNC for Campaign Battles; the amount of MP needed for survival is a lot lower with /DNC.

Otherwise, my PLD mostly sees action in Proto-Omega and T3/T4 ZNM fights, and I'd usually have RDM, BRD, and WHM (w/ Devotion), so MP isn't as much of an issue. Also use PLD for Sky from time to time, but again, I usually would have enough MP recovery support to make Chivalry not needed.

I used to have Chivalry at Lv.5, but it just isn't as useful as I thought it'd be. Depending on what you use your PLD for, that may or may not be true for you.

[Armando]

Re: Paladin Merits?

Fealty's also cool for its ability to block Astral Flows, Mijin Gakure and Meteors, though I don't know how often it's used to guard against that at endgame.

[Malacite]

Re: Paladin Merits?

How does it block AF/Mijin? It's just status ailment resistance isn't it? Just checked wiki which confirms that but I don't ever remember seeing that before, must be recent amendment.

[Armando]

Re: Paladin Merits?

It's been that way for as long as I can remember.

[Malacite]

Re: Paladin Merits?

hmm, weird. My PLD is only 63 so I wouldn't know.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Paladin Merits?

Don't know about Astral Flow, but pretty sure it's a very large damage cut for non-elemental magic attacks, including Meteor... (Which makes me wonder how about SE's plan to give this non-elemental nuke to BLMs, who excel at... Elemental Magic. Hmmm.)