[Dravinsan]

Ok in this guide I will point out the basics to successfully tank as pld with nin sub job most commonly used for tanking in End-Game situations. Keep in mind every tank finds their own style of tanking. With this guide I am in no way saying that this is the only way to do this. I am only expressing my style of tanking that seems to be very efficient.

Merit Distribution:

First I will go over a question commonly asked by PLDs... "What should I Merit?" Here I will go over what I believe to be the best choices for Merit distribution not only for my race but for every race seeing as some Merits you will choose for PLD will be different depending on the race you chose. Keep in mind I am posting these choices based on the assumption that you are a PLD main so take into consideration some of these choices depending on if you have alot of Melee or Mage jobs. There are some choices that I have listed which are optional. With that said lets get down to the basics of what you should have Merited for PLD/NIN.

~HP/MP~

Galka: 8/8 MP
Elvaan: 8/8 MP or 2 HP 6 MP
Hume: 4 HP 4 MP
Mithra: 4 HP 4 MP
Tarutaru: 8/8 HP

HP and MP merits differ from race to race where Galka suffer the most from a low MP pool Taru suffer greatly from a low amount of HP. Hume and Mithra have a decent amount of both. Elvaan have a great amount of HP without suffering MP wise as much as Galka. Hume and Mithra you could lean either way on really. Those two races are really more personal preference then anything where as the other races you are pretty much stuck.

~Combat Skills~

Sword Skill: 8/8 (Optional)
Shield Skill: 4/4
Parrying Skill: 4/4 (Optional)

These Merits apply to all races of PLD. Sword merits while optional I would still at least go 4/8 they will let you hit the mob more often thus giving you TP faster for Chivalry, Spirits Within and(if your lucky enough to have it unlocked)Atonement. Shield Skill is a no Brainer. Parrying is great since PLD has a decent parry skill cap having 8 more doesn't hurt. I cant count the times a parry has allowed me to get an Ichi off or helped save shadows for me. You cant count on it but its nice to have none the less.

~Magic Skills~

Enhancing Magic Skill: 8/8 (Optional)

The only reason I put this is for Reprisal since your Enhancing Magic skill determines the amount of damage reflected back at your opponent. However this is totally optional and if anything should be one of the last things merited.

~Others~

Enmity Increase: 4/4
Enemy Critical Hit Rate: 4/4 (Optional)

Enmity increase is a great option if your a full-time tank but you should consider not meriting this if you play jobs like whm or blm alot.

Enemy Critical Hit Rate is almost a must in my opinion. The amount that it reduces the enemys critical rate is enough to merit going 4/4 with this. The times you do get hit you don't want to be taking critical hits. It can save your ass and save the mages some MP.

~Paladin Group1~

Shield Bash Recast: 5/5
Sentinel Recast: 5/5

This is a hard area for some(was fairly easy for me)to figure out what they want to Merit.

Sentinel should be 5/5 no question it reduces damage taken by 90% to 40%(Valor Leggings grants an additional 10% to this effect thus granting 100% to 50%)at the end of its duration.

As for Shield Bash its a free stun. You can pop Shield Bash right before casting Ichi and get a free set of shadows off without the mob getting a hit in.

Other options are Cover Effect Length and Rampart Recast. Both are only incredibly useful if you do alot of Wyrm tanking. Cover Effect Length isnt useful at all unless you have Valor Surcoat. That being said both of these abilities being merited are still not as useful as having free stun every 4 min 10 secs. But that's just my opinion.

~Paladin Group2~

Fealty: 1/5
Chivalry: 5/5
Guardian: 4/5

Chivalry should be the first thing you merit on PLD its by far one of the best abilities we get. Think of it as PLD Convert with TP to MP instead of HP to MP. Having a 7 min 70 sec timer on this is pure sex period.

Fealty deserves at least being unlocked. It has its uses is some areas. Being able to resist all enfeebles is great for fights with mobs like Byakko Seiryu or any mob that does Paralyze Slow or Silence. Not to mention greatly reduces damage taken from Mijin Gakure, Meteor and Alexander's two hour ability Divine Judgment. Assumed to work with other avatar style Astral Flow skills. Damage reduction is around 90%.

Guardian is going to be one of your last things you merit but very useful all the same. Pretty much what Guardian does is reduce the rate your VE and CE decays while Sentinel is active. At 4/5 merits that's -76% CE and VE decay.
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Enmity Explanation:

Second I will go over Enmity to give you a better understanding of how you will gain and control your hate.

Player testing indicates that the total amount of enmity for a player consists of two components, a static form of enmity(referred to as cumulative enmity), and a dynamic form of enmity(volatile enmity). The difference between the two is that cumulative enmity stays at the same level and can only be lost by taking damage or losing shadows, while volatile enmity will decay over time, whether any damage is taken or not. So far, almost every single action seems capable of producing at least a small amount of cumulative enmity, and many actions seem to be able to produce both cumulative and volatile enmity. The amount of enmity produced however may differ greatly. Here i will display two graphs i found that will help you understand how these types of enmity work.





Job Ability and Spell Enmity Table:

Here I will list all of PLD/NIN abilities and spells and what the value of CE and VE is for each also I will list the lv. the ability or spell is obtained MP cost and recast before haste or haste gear is calculated.

Job Ability: CE / VE / Level / MP / Casting(sec)

Invincible 1 / 7200 / 1 / 0 / 0.00
Holy Circle 1 / 20 / 5 / 0 / 0.00
Shield Bash 1 / 900 / 15 / 0 / 0.00
Sentinel 1 / 1800 / 30 / 0 / 0.00
Cover 1 / 0 / 35 / 0 / 0.00
Rampart 1 / 300 / 62 / 0 / 0.00
Fealty 1 / 300 / M / 0 / 0.00
Chivalry 1 / 300 / M / 0 / 0.00


Spells: CE / VE / Level / MP / Casting(sec)

Cure -- C -- / -- C -- / 5 / 8 / 2.00
Banish -- D -- / -- D -- / 7 / 15 / 4.00
Protect 1 / 80 / 10 / 9 / 1.00
Cure II -- C -- / -- C -- / 17 / 24 / 2.25
Shell 1 / 80 / 20 / 18 / 1.00
Cure III -- C -- / -- C -- / 30 / 46 / 2.50
Protect II 1 / 80 / 30 / 28 / 1.25
Banish II -- D -- / -- D -- / 34 / 57 / 4.25
Flash 180 / 1280 / 37 / 25 / 0.50
Shell II 1 / 80 / 40 / 37 / 1.25
Protect III 1 / 80 / 50 / 46 / 1.50
Raise -- NA -- / -- NA -- / 50 / 150 / 15.00
Cure IV -- C -- / -- C -- / 55 / 88 / 2.50
Holy -- D -- / -- D -- / 55 / 100 / 0.75
Shell III 1 / 80 / 60 / 56 / 1.50
Reprisal / / 61 / 24 / 0.50
Protect IV 1 / 80 / 70 / 65 / 1.75
Utsusemi: Ni 1 / 300 / 37 / 0 / 1.50
Utsu: Ichi 1 / 300 / 12 / 0 / 4.00

--D-- = CE/VE varies depending on mob lv. and damage dealt.
--C-- = CE/VE varies depending on Player level and amount of HP healed.

Enmity gain can be modified with certain equipment and merit points. Enmity +/-x means a percentual increase/decrease in total enmity gain.

Examples

A PLD has Enmity+50, so his total enmity gain would be 150%, or 1.5 times normal enmity gain. If he would use Provoke or Flash on a mob, and another player with no enmity modifiers would use it shortly after the PLD, the monster would still be facing the PLD. Also, this ensures that the PLD gets the monster's attention back easily. In some cases, a WAR might use Provoke to get hate off a mage, if the PLDs voke is not up yet. If the PLD vokes right after the WAR, he will get the monster back on him, since his enmity modifier is higher than the WAR and thus his provoke gave him more enmity than the WAR.

A common problem in EXP parties is that mages get too much hate with a spell and the mob runs over and kills them in a few hits. Often their total enmity is close to the tank's. That's why they try to get enmity decrease equipment. Even as little as Enmity-2 can make a difference in these situations.
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Haste Explanation:

Here I will go over the basics of haste gear haste spells how they work and how they will help you tank.

Haste is calculated as a percentage reduction in weapon delay and magic recast time. That is, with 50% Haste, attacks rounds will occur twice as often. With 66% Haste, attack rounds will occur 3 times as fast.

Example: a weapon with a delay of 509 normally takes ~8.48 seconds before an attack can be initiated. With +50% Haste, this delay would be treated as 254.5, or ~4.24 seconds of wait before the next attack would occur.
Example: The White Magic spell Raise has a base recast time of 60 seconds. With +50% Haste, the recast time drops to 30 seconds.

Haste effects, despite reducing weapon delay, does not reduce TP gained per hit. As a result, Haste accelerates TP gain over time by making hits more frequent but keeping TP/hit the same.

Haste gained from Equipment (including Catastrophe) caps at 25%.

Haste gained from Magical Effects caps at approximately 43.3%.

Haste gained from Job Abilities officially caps at 25%.

Job Ability Haste does not affect spell recast timers.

Recast time reduction from any source is capped at 50%.

The absolute cap of total combined Haste is approximately 80%.

Haste gear is very useful for casting Utsusemi: Ni and Flash. You really want the timers for these spells to be as low as possible.(I like to mix in some Enmity with flash also)The reason for this is on longer fights such as HNM you will be capping your Enmity level throughout the course of the battle. You will also be losing enmity through getting hit(when you get hit)and also losing enmity through losing shadows(when you dont get hit). Haste gear is to ensure that flash is up A.S.A.P. to put you right back up to capped VE and to make sure Ni is up A.S.A.P. to keep you from taking more damage then you need to. Not to mention fueling your attack cycle helping you build TP faster.

Equipment Builds:

In this section I will go over different gear builds to give you a better understanding of what gear you should be using for the spells and abilities you'll be using as PLD/NIN. After each set I will give a brief explanation of what the gears function is and why you will be using it for that spell or ability. I understand that some players will not have access to some of the gear that I will list in these sets so I will try to list some alternate choices that are within most players ability to obtain.

Utsusemi: Ni Blend:

(Head)Walahra Turban: Haste+5%
(Hands)Homam Manopolas: Haste+3%
(Legs)Homam Cosciales: Haste+3% Spell Cast time -4% Recast time -2%
(Feet)Homam Gambieras: Haste+3%
(Waist)Swift Belt: Haste+4% or Speed/Velocious Belt: Haste+6%
(Ring)Blitz Ring: Haste+1% (Only used with Ni)
(Earring)Loquacious Earring: Spell Cast time -2% Recast time -1%

This will take your Flash and Ni timer down about 6-7 seconds not including haste(spell) or March(song).

Haste + Enmity Blend(used for casting Flash):

(Head)Walahra Turban: Haste+5%
(Neck)Harmonia's Torque/Ritter Gorget: Enmity+3
(Body)Gallant Surcoat/Avalon Breastplate/Valor Surcoat: Enmity+2/3/4
(Hands)Homam Manopolas: Haste+3%/Enmity+3
(Legs)Homam Cosciales: Haste+3% Spell Cast time -4% Recast time -2%
(Feet)Homam Gambieras: Haste+3%
(Waist)Swift Belt: Haste+4% or Speed/Velocious Belt: Haste+6%
(Ring1)Sattva/Mermaid Ring: Enmity+2/3
(Ring2)Hercules Ring: Enmity+3
(Earring1)Loquacious Earring: Spell Cast time -2% Recast time -1%
(Earring2)Hades Earring +1: Enmity+2
(Back)Resentment Cape/Cerberus Mantle NQ or HQ/Valor Cape Enmity+2/3/4

With this blend you will cast at max(or close to max haste) while keeping a good bit of Enmity 24~29(with 4/4 +Enmity Merits) 28~33 If you use Macuahuitl +1(If you have Atonement you should never use this sword unless kiting)
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Utsusemi: Ichi Blend:

(Head)Koenig Schaller/Kaiser Schaller: Shield Skill+5/6
(Neck)Shield Torque: Shield Skill+7
(Legs)Homam Cosciales: Haste+3% Spell Cast time -4% Recast time -2%
(Feet)Gallant Leggings NQ/HQ: Shield Skill+10/12
(Earring1)Loquacious Earring: Spell Cast time -2% Recast time -1%
(Earring2)Ethereal Earring: Converts 3% of damage taken to MP
(Back)Boxer's Mantle: Shield Skill+10

This will be the set you cast Ichi in. With it you will have around 316~319 Shield Skill. The reason for this is Sheild Mastery. What this does is give PLD a -100% spell interruption rate as long as we shield block. Thus not interrupting our Ichi mid cast if the mob manages to get an attack in not to mention giving you some tp.

The reason I use Ethereal Earring in this case instead of Buckler Earring(Shield Skill+3)is because if your going to take damage from an attack getting 3% of the total damage you take put directly in your MP pool is nice, and the 3 skill above 316~319 is not enough to merit taking off the Ethereal.

The purpose of the Fast Cast gear in this set is to lower the casting time of ichi which is pretty long as is(4 seconds)so the faster you can cast this the better. If the mob doesnt attack very fast(Monk or Thief types)its very possible to get this cast in between the mobs attack cycle if it has Elegy + Slow II on it.
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Enmity Blend:

(Head)Iron Ram Sallet/Aegishjalmr/Bahamuts Mask: Enmity+5/7/8
(Neck)Harmonia's Torque/Ritter Gorget: Enmity+3
(Body)Gallant Surcoat/Avalon Breastplate/Valor Surcoat: Enmity+2/3/4
(Hands)Homam Manopolas/Iron Ram Dastanas: Enmity+3/4
(Legs)Homam Cosciales: Haste+3% Spell Cast time -4% Recast time -2%
(Feet)Valor Leggings/Askar Gambieras/Iron Ram Greaves: Enmity+1/2/3
(Waist)Warwolf/Trance Belt Enmity+3/4
(Ring1)Sattva/Mermaid Ring: Enmity+2/3
(Ring2)Hercules Ring: Enmity+3
(Earring1)Loquacious Earring: Spell Cast time -2% Recast time -1%
(Earring2)Hades Earring +1: Enmity+2
(Back)Resentment Cape/Cerberus Mantle NQ or HQ/Valor Cape Enmity+2/3/4

This is your Cure, Sentinel and Rampart set. With this set you gain anywhere from 33 to 45 +Enmity including 4/4 Enmity Merits and Koenig Shield. Seeing as haste has no effect on ability timers, and with haste(spell) on you have the lowest timer possible for cure spells, you should be going all out enmity here.

The reason I use Homam legs and Loquacious Earring in this set instead of adding a second Hades +1 or Enmity legs is that while you gain around 4~6 Enmity your also losing 56 MP. Which in my opinion is not a smart move. There is plenty of Enmity in the gear listed above to pull all the hate you will need without losing out on the MP you gain from Loq. and Homam Legs.
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Idle/Standing Blend:

(Head)Walahra Turban: Haste+5%
(Neck)Parade Gorget: 1 MP/tic Refresh Effect
(Body)Ares's Cuirass: 1 MP/tic Refresh Effect Attack+24
(Hands) Homam Manopolas: Haste+3% Accuracy+4
(Legs) Homam Cosciales: Haste+3% Accuracy+3
(Feet) Homam Gambieras: Haste+3% Accuracy+6
(Back) Cerberus Mantle: +12 Attack
(Waist) Swift Belt/Speed/Velocious Belt: Haste+3/6% Accuracy+3
(Ear) Ethereal Earring: Attack+5 3% Damage Converted to MP

This is what I like to call an Idle or "Standing" tanking set. What your shooting for here is enough acc atk and haste to hit the mob at a pretty steady rate, thus helping you build tp for Chivalry, Spirits Within or Atonement. Not to mention giving you 3 MP/tic refresh(counting auto-refresh)and 3% damage you take going to your MP pool. Ares being out of the reach of most players I would suggest idling Hauby or Homam Corazza if you don't have Ares.
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Self-cure Blend:

(Head)Iron Ram Sallet/Aegishjalmr/Bahamuts Mask: Enmity+5/7/8
(Neck)Harmonia's Torque/Ritter Gorget: Enmity+3
(Body)Koenig Cuirass: HP+60
(Hands)Homam Manopolas/Iron Ram Dastanas: Enmity+3/4
(Legs)Homam Cosciales: Haste+3% Spell Cast time -4% Recast time -2%
(Feet)Valor Leggings/Askar Gambieras/Iron Ram Greaves: Enmity+1/2/3
(Waist)Warwolf/Trance Belt Enmity+3/4
(Ring1)Bomb Queen Ring: HP+75
(Ring2)Bloodbead Ring: HP+50
(Earring1)Loquacious Earring: Spell Cast time -2% Recast time -1%
(Earring2)Cassie Earring: HP+50
(Back)Gigant Mantle: HP+80

This is a self-cure set. What its used for is the instances where you find it hard to pull hate from the other tank or you just want to grab a good hate boost but your mages are doing an over enthusiastic job of keeping your HP full. How it works is like this. Swap the +HP gear in(HP+315)and pop a Cure IV then swap back to standing/idle gear. The set retains enough +Enmity to really help the Cure IV boost your CE. The CE generated from it should give you enough hate to pull the mob off the other tank or a boost to help you not lose hate to the Melee/Mages.
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Swords:

As far as swords you have 5 options. Ranging from easy to obtain to omfgwtfbbq hard to obtain

Your 1st option will be the sword you start tanking end-game with and as such is the easiest to obtain. The Macuahuitl +1, it has Enmity+4 and will be a staple for your set until you gain access to better Enmity gear.

Your 2nd option is a tad harder to get. The Joyeuse, This sword is incredible once you have unlocked Atonement, and have access to better enmity gear.

Your 3rd option is pretty hard to get your hands on unless your a part of a LS that does alot of ToAU HNM. The Hauticlaire, it has great dps for a sword although if you have Atonement unlocked I prefer Joyuese over this because you would build TP faster for Atonement spam.

Your 4th option and one of the hardest to obtain. The Excalibur, its the highest dps sword in the game hands down.

Your 5th option and in my opinion the hardest to obtain aswell as the best sword for PLD in the game. The Burtgang, My my where to start with this beast. It has high damage for a sword. -10% Physical Damage taken. It decreases the amount of CE decayed from taking physical damage. Gives added acc bonus at 100% tp atk bonus at 200% tp as an aftermath effect to Atonements already badass damage. Not to mention occasionally attacks twice at 300% tp ws aftermath, and from what i hear at a better rate then Joyuese. Not bad for a sword at all.

Shields:

You only really have 3 options in my opinion as far as shields go.

Your 1st option being the tried and true Koenig/Kaiser Shield. Its a size 3 shield so it has good proc rate with good damage mitigation, Enmity+3/4 and Beast Killer which is great for stuff like Kirin King Behemoth Byakko ect.

Your 2nd option is a pretty good shield although in my opinion not as good as the Kaiser and only slightly better then Koenig. The Terror Shield its a size 3 shield and it has HP+20 and Enmity+4. Not worth the price tag if you ask me. But if you can get your hands on this without having to buy it go for it.

As for your 3rd option we have a long running dream of mine. The Aegis, this is without a doubt the best shield in the game. It makes tanking as PLD/NIN a breeze due to the 50-60% block rate and 75% Damage reduction upon shield block. Not to mention the -25% Magic damage taken. The +200% Shield Bash damage is nice too.

Kiting:

Kiting as PLD/NIN i prefer to use Macuahuitl +1/Koenig/Kaiser Shield combo since as /nin you shouldnt be getting hit so using earth staff is a total waste even if your using shark strap.

Ranged:

As far as ranged goes you really only have one choice which is the Lamian Kaman or the Lamian Kaman +1. They have a nice MP boost and Magic def. bonus to boot.
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A word about Atonement:

Atonement's damage is related directly to the amount of total Enmity accumulated against a monster. Both Cumulative Enmity (from actions like dealing/curing damage and Dispel) and Volatile Enmity (from actions like Flash, Provoke and Invincible) affect the damage.The damage from Volatile Enmity and Cumulative Enmity are both capped independently at 360. Together, the overall damage for Atonement is capped at 720 at 100% TP. TP modifies the relationship between total Enmity and damage so that the same amount of Enmity with 300% TP will produce more damage than with 100% TP. TP above 100% seems to be able to raise the maximum damage to 750. Atonement is magical-based damage (blocked by various magic shields) but not elemental-based, similar to Spirits Within. This means that it cannot be resisted and is not affected by Shell or Magic Defense Bonus, however it can be blocked by certain effects such as Polar Bulwark, Magic Barrier, Spectral Barrier, Rampart, or Mana Screen. +Enmity gear or merits do not affect Atonement damage directly - only indirectly, due to increased accumulation of Enmity. Just like Spirits Within, Atonement deals extra damage to monsters in the Cerberus family.

This being said once you obtain this weapon skill it is best to use a Joyuese to build TP as fast as possible to spam this WS. Not only does it help you hold hate but also does an incredible amount of damage over the course of the fight.

However there will still be some instances where other swords would still be better then Joyuese. Like for instance if your LS does alot of low man solo tanking the -7% physical damage taken would be great. Or on mobs that you wont be engaging ie: Tiamat or when kiting.
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Ill be testing the new fast cast body when its released. So it will prob be added in once i can get my hands on it for stuff like NI/Ichi/Flash. I just didn't want to add it before I got my hands on it to try it out.

I would like to give credit to www.ffxiclopedia.org kanican.livejournal.com and belkinator.livejournal.com for some of the information found here.

I felt this needed to be posted to give most pld a place they could find everything they wanted to know about PLD/NIN without having to search around all over the place to find info.

Good Luck and Happy tanking.
Dravin PLD of Reflect~

www.reflectls.com

[`MbS`]

didn't read it all but sounds ok, only thing I'd suggest is to remove half of the useless merits, as people nowadays have many 75 jobs and a couple merits you listed wouldn't help much pld and you'd rather keep them for other jobs (enhancing, enemy critical rate, etc). Like.. put them in a different area as "optional", so they're not confused with the needed ones.

[Dravinsan]

didn't read it all but sounds ok, only thing I'd suggest is to remove half of the useless merits, as people nowadays have many 75 jobs and a couple merits you listed wouldn't help much pld and you'd rather keep them for other jobs (enhancing, enemy critical rate, etc). Like.. put them in a different area as "optional", so they're not confused with the needed ones.

Not a bad idea added in (Optional) beside some of the merit choices you can get away without having.

[Saul Hudson]

TL;dr

[Avelle]

I have mixed feelings about what you suggest to merit for HP/MP. I think this is purely personal preference. Depending on the gear I wear as a Mithra I have anywhere from 400-500mp which is pleeeeenty. I assume Hume is probably about the same. I wouldn't merit MP on either of those races at all.

I think overall it's a nice updated guide for people new to the job and maybe some experienced paladins looking to reevaluate their current sets. If you're looking to expand it in the future you could include resist sets and perhaps things like food options. I like that you included Kaeko's enmity table in your post as a lot of people who don't frequent BG may not be familiar with it. I think that's about all the criticism I have for 6am and no sleep. :3

[Eurlin]

I don't think it matters much, but isn't the magic haste cap 43.33%?

[Hyriu]

Great

Belkinator?

Except the whole Atonement, thing.

[Yuffy~]

meriting HP or MP is a lot based on experience and gear available id say, rather than just race. too narrowminded there.

same goes for rampart against shield bash, it depends too much on the gear and what the guy do with his PLD. also rampart is much more helping than shield bash in a lot of case outside of wyrms (spaming rampart is easier than spaming shield bash) but it can be the opposite with things like aegis or just specific fights. you have put too much subjectivity in this guide, need more objectivity when you try to give advices. stating that you are giving your opinion make it a guide to understand you, not helping people to understand things that you will leave out of the way because you didnt go for them and you left a lot of things out of the way.

chilvalry = you dont take atonement into account and you dont clearly explain.

the sets you give have very little other options and are rather outdated also. so the guide is kinda outdated if we take into account that you skip half of the merit and gear explaining already and give too much space to how enmity works.

need more objectivity, less of your opinion and more up to date gear/merit explanation to be decent, as it is it was up to date about a year ago or so.

[Thelian]

skimmed it, seemed ok from what i looked at.

i read the rest/comment more a bit later

[Dravinsan]

meriting HP or MP is a lot based on experience and gear available id say, rather than just race. too narrowminded there.

same goes for rampart against shield bash, it depends too much on the gear and what the guy do with his PLD. also rampart is much more helping than shield bash in a lot of case outside of wyrms (spaming rampart is easier than spaming shield bash) but it can be the opposite with things like aegis or just specific fights. you have put too much subjectivity in this guide, need more objectivity when you try to give advices. stating that you are giving your opinion make it a guide to understand you, not helping people to understand things that you will leave out of the way because you didnt go for them and you left a lot of things out of the way.

chilvalry = you dont take atonement into account and you dont clearly explain.

the sets you give have very little other options and are rather outdated also. so the guide is kinda outdated if we take into account that you skip half of the merit and gear explaining already and give too much space to how enmity works.

need more objectivity, less of your opinion and more up to date gear/merit explanation to be decent, as it is it was up to date about a year ago or so.

Ok in this guide I will point out the basics to successfully tank as pld with nin sub job most commonly used for tanking in End-Game situations. Keep in mind every tank finds their own style of tanking. With this guide I am in no way saying that this is the only way to do this. I am only expressing my style of tanking that seems to be very efficient.

^ I guess you didnt read that part.

As far as the chivalry and atonement thing. I dont know what having capped chivalry has to do with atonement seeing as the 7 + mins that chivalry is down you could be spamming WS. That is if your even using chivalry every 7 mins which you shouldnt be with brd cycling 2 haste + mp song and refresh.

As far as outdated gear goes if its outdated then please put in some suggestions instead of just saying its "outdated"

Rampart is very nice dont get me wrong. Ive had both Rampart and Shield Bash fully merited and have been playing pld pretty much since NA release so ive done alot of testing with alot of diff merit combinations over the years. Seeing as every self-respecting pld should do everything they can to have nice resist build/-mag dmg gear I just find having shield bash for clutch situations to be more effective. I would like to give Highlulu props on a great Resist build guide which i used a very long time ago to help me gather some peices I was missing. Other then some minor things that have recently come out that should be added in like the Iron Ram gear ect its still a very solid guide that all pld should use.

HP - MP merits are mostly pref yes but I tend to lean toward MP merits I just dont seem to need the HP unless its a mob that spams stuff like Kirin or for something like ultima where having a good -mag dmg kit and alot of HP can save your skin. Ive just found as a pld/nin you really shouldnt be taking enough damage for the HP merits to really be effective .10 MP is alot more helpful then 10 HP, but again thats just my opinion.

Thanks to the people who are actually taking the time to read the post before they comment. Your input is much appreciated. I may revamp parts of the guide later when more ppl post about some things they may want added or switched around. Was mainly just a post so that people with no clue would have somewhere to go and learn that pld is a much more open ended tanking job. And there are many different aspects of the job not just "I need to stack as much +enmity as i can and wear it full time!" Ive seen that alot.

[Ryuumaru]

A nice guide

But in the end, there is no perfect way to play pld. There will always be preferences when it comes to what gear people want to use, and what merits they wish to upgrade.

A word about Atonement:

Atonement's damage is related directly to the amount of total Enmity accumulated against a monster. Both Cumulative Enmity (from actions like dealing/curing damage and Dispel) and Volatile Enmity (from actions like Flash, Provoke and Invincible) affect the damage.The damage from Volatile Enmity and Cumulative Enmity are both capped independently at 360. Together, the overall damage for Atonement is capped at 720 at 100% TP. TP modifies the relationship between total Enmity and damage so that the same amount of Enmity with 300% TP will produce more damage than with 100% TP. TP above 100% seems to be able to raise the maximum damage to 750. Atonement is magical-based damage (blocked by various magic shields) but not elemental-based, similar to Spirits Within. This means that it cannot be resisted and is not affected by Shell or Magic Defense Bonus, however it can be blocked by certain effects such as Polar Bulwark, Magic Barrier, Spectral Barrier, Rampart, or Mana Screen. +Enmity gear or merits do not affect Atonement damage directly - only indirectly, due to increased accumulation of Enmity. Just like Spirits Within, Atonement deals extra damage to monsters in the Cerberus family.

This being said once you obtain this weapon skill it is best to use a Joyuese to build TP as fast as possible to spam this WS. Not only does it help you hold hate but also does an incredible amount of damage over the course of the fight.

You won't be able to use for every HNM though as there are fights where you cannot engage, such as Tiamat or KB. So it's best you don't rely on it too much... and learn how to use JA's and flash together with cure spam to get hate cap.

and as far as joyeuse goes... paired up with sushi, it's pretty nice. Though I find myself hitting for 0 more often with Joyeuse, than I do with Hauteclaire. Plus, when you're solo tanking, that -7% physical damage on hauteclaire can really help you out.

[Avelle]

I'm a little confused at the gear being "outdated" as well. What exactly did he miss?

[Dravinsan]

A nice guide

But in the end, there is no perfect way to play pld. There will always be preferences when it comes to what gear people want to use, and what merits they wish to upgrade.



You won't be able to use for every HNM though as there are fights where you cannot engage, such as Tiamat or KB. So it's best you don't rely on it too much... and learn how to use JA's and flash together with cure spam to get hate cap.

and as far as joyeuse goes... paired up with sushi, it's pretty nice. Though I find myself hitting for 0 more often with Joyeuse, than I do with Hauteclaire. Plus, when you're solo tanking, that -7% physical damage on hauteclaire can really help you out.

Thanks for the kudos.

And yeah atonement wont be used for every situation. And ill admit in some Hauticlaire is better. Like you said in solo tanking situations the -7% physical is very nice. My LS always duo tanks everything while swapping in bards for 4-6 songs 2 haste 2 mp 2 atk on tanks is <3.

[Dravinsan]

I don't think it matters much, but isn't the magic haste cap 43.33%?

Thanks for pointing that out fixed it.

[Dravinsan]

Great

Belkinator?

Except the whole Atonement, thing.

Yeah the enmity pics are from Belkins RDM/NIN guide. And I liked the structure he used in his PLD/NIN guide however I didnt agree with all of the gear choices he posted. Added him to the credits part forgot to do that before lol

[wigglestyx]

firST PaGE In a FutuRE stIcKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!


yesh

/hurray for ChiMIChanGAS!!!

Wouldn't it be funny if you post was removed?

... in the future you could include resist sets and perhaps things like food options..

Paladin Resitance builds 101
While the list hasn't been updated in sometime (op has been mia. If someone would like to take it over, we can edit it.), I don't think much gear has been added that drastically affects the current builds listed.


Dravinsan,
Nice write up, topic made sticky keep up the good work.

[Dravinsan]

Dravinsan,
Nice write up, topic made sticky keep up the good work.

Wow thanks much appreciated ill try to keep working to improve it over time.

Also if you would like me to freshen up Highlulu's resist build guide I would be more then happy to

[Furisouls]

Thanks for the work/effort, looks good.

[NikosThePLDMan]

So, Wivre Shield is no longer any good?

[Dravinsan]

So, Wivre Shield is not longer any good?

You could use that if you want however I don't think the added enmity you gain from it vs the def it has compared to Koenig/Kaiser or Terror is worth it.

If your hitting at least +24 enmity on flash and around +33 for cures/sent/rampart you should have all the enmity you really need. While its nice to have the most you can get I dont think the +1-2 enmity you get from that shield is worth the def you lose.