Defender and (minor) attack gear

[Anakron]

Now I understand that the topic is easily answered by "Depends on the party setup, mobs, and to an extent your race," but I'm hoping to get a better answer than that. :p

So I'm a hume PLD, and I finally hit 55 this morning. I've been doing 51-55 mainly on spiders in boyahda, with the occassional crabs when BSTs and SMNs kill too many spiders. I've more or less always kept Defender on, unless I forget. With my TM Espadon +2 (39 damage, 1 higher than normal), I usually hit the spiders for around 15 a swing (with Defender on), and once in a while, I get a 0. Now with crabs, I'm getting 0s a lot more often.

My main question is if the RK body and legs (+2 STR, +2 DEX, +3 ATK on each) would at least allow me to hit for 1 or more, so I can get TP and trigger +Enmity. I understand that these are DD pieces, and that Gaia from 52 to 60 would probably be a better choice in general, but if I always keep Defender on, would the two RK pieces be better?

[Nemes]

If the party is waiting between puls for mp due to the WHM healing you since you take too much damage, use Defender.

If you're having trouble keeping the hate *and* you're not getting hit for a *a lot*, don't use Defender.

If hate is not a problem, then see if the added damage is worthwhile to having the mages having to heal you a little(depends on how they spend mp on healing you)


That's the rules I use for defender for exp parties.

[Dark Aphalite]

In one word, yes.

I used Gaia body until 55 then switched to the RK body and legs and kept them until I was able to replace them with AF.

Not only do they look awesome but they are also pretty good stat-wise for farming and such.

[JP_Ikari]

The RK does look nice cause of that blue color. Hmm, I dunno hehe, but wow, you're exping off Spiders in Boyadah?? I never had a party that wanted to take them cause the BST always takes the spiders anyway ; ;. But I think Defender is somewhat not needed if you're not taking that much damage anymore. What's your DEF now anyway (without food) and your VIT?? Since I'm more concentrating more on VIT items and I'm taking less and less now (i haven't seen a 1hitter in so long, unless you call that crab move a 1hitter) and max damage i'm taking now is 115 (with 355def and 73VIT with FishMith since the Crabs got nerfed ; ; ).

And so far, with the exception of trigger happy BLMs and RNGs, I keep my hate fairly well (but this is off the crabs though, not sure about your situation). I was hitting 19-34's before the crabs DEF up skill, and when they use the DEF skill i'm hitting 12-20's againts the Crabs but i'm 55 now, and been 55 for 1 month (I haven't level'd seriously in 3 weeks plus too many deaths with the Garliage coffer chest run). My equip is RK army shield, chainmail, breeches, and RSE belt (thanks Dark, you actually were right about me hitting more with that belt than the life belt). My str is 58 +8 now I think if I remember right. So I go with Dark here and say yes, I will go with it, if you don't think you're taking too much damage with them. It's always good to play with both and see if either one is worth it.

JP

P.S. My transition from 50-55 was IM Cuirass then RK Chainmail.

[Anakron]

Originally posted by JP_Ikari
What's your DEF now anyway (without food) and your VIT??My base defense is around 290, and I have +13 VIT I think (8 from rings, 2 from earring, 2 from helmet, 1 from back). I made a profile here: http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/profile.xml?90755

I static with 2 RNG friends that like to start skillchains at the beginning of fights (Sidewider > Slug Shot or Sidewinder > [Distortion Ender]), so I do have trouble holding hate. :p Before Sidewinder, I rarely lost hate, so I kept Defender up to conserve MP, but now, I think I might have to leave it off. Though I'm still not sure how much the extra damage from having it off helps (an extra 50 or so attack).

The one thing I have a problem with is having enough TP for Spirits Within. I rest between every fight (unless the RNGs tanked :p) and I find the extra MP from a Dark Staff to be much more beneficial than a 500 or so WS.

[JP_Ikari]

Damn, that's insane, assuming they do their SC's towards the end, that is really hard to hold. I had trouble holding hate with crazy ass RNG's, but the other night, I was able to hold my own with my constant spam off Vokes, Flashes and Cure II's LOL. But at the end of it, we're only able to achieve chain 3. But I was with a BRD, if I was with a RDM, I'd prolly do better. I dunno. Maybe next time I'll bring a ton of Juices (or make my own), so that BRD song + refresh would give me more chains in the party. As for the TP with Spirits, man, I only achieved that with a party that didn't have a RNG and having a RDM in the party. Other than that, I have never been able to do that without healing to get MP back to hold hate even better.

JP

P.S. I notice your Sword and Shield combo. And I'm thinking neither one of the effect works together since the Sword works outside your nation control and the shield works inside your nations control. And cool rings, now if only I am able to afford those (29k for normal version, 150k for the +1, maybe more).

[Anakron]

Yeah, I think it's a combination of their enjoying the big numbers Sidewinders and Slug Shot put up and seeing my struggling to get hate back that motivates them to do it. It's all for fun, though, so it's cool. And nobody's died yet. :)

My sword's usually the one that's active, since Bastok rarely controls anything on Phoenix.

And Phoenix has a few high goldsmithers, so there are almost always Vigor Rings on the AH. But from what I've read about on other servers, they're damn rare.

[JP_Ikari]

Originally posted by Anakron
Yeah, I think it's a combination of their enjoying the big numbers Sidewinders and Slug Shot put up and seeing my struggling to get hate back that motivates them to do it. It's all for fun, though, so it's cool. And nobody's died yet. :)

My sword's usually the one that's active, since Bastok rarely controls anything on Phoenix.

And Phoenix has a few high goldsmithers, so there are almost always Vigor Rings on the AH. But from what I've read about on other servers, they're damn rare.

Ahh, that's cool then. I still can't imagine spamming Slugs and Sidewinders. Also, since you're from Bastok hehe, yea I kinda do hear that part where Bastok rarely controls any areas, same goes to Garuda, except they're goign to control Li'Telor by tonight LOLOL, as for the sword, more HP for Spirits sounds good, but I dunno if I am going to spend my cash for that since i'm saving up for Gluttony.