Paladin guide 2.0

[dirtyclown]

So I decided to make a Paladin guide that isn't full of bashing, cookiecutters, and stereotypes. We'll see how far this project gets before I give up completely. Let's begin with the races, shall we?
----------
Races:
Oh lawd, is dat sum racial segregation? Damn right it is. This is the breakdown for all the races, covering their pros and what some may perceive to be cons. Gear choices can make up for any of the deficiencies you might find with your character, and really affect the way you perform, unlike your character's race. All race choice does is let you choose what your ugly mug looks like ingame and adds a bit of a different playstyle depending on which race is chosen. There is no "best" here, kids.
Hume:
"Average" is what this race is supposed to be all about. I'd prefer to use the term "Balanced" with them. Nice HP/MP, decent stats all across the board, and quite malleable as far as gear choices go. Hume is vanilla, plain and simple. Some people like it that way though.
Taru:
My favorite tanks right here. Some would have you believe that they must focus on VIT and HP gear, leaving everything else out. Well, they're dumb. With a Taru you get a Hueg like xbox MP pool. Lowest HP pool of the races, but that's easily taken care of. A smart Taru Paladin (Well, any race) can backup cure in a PT for more hate. With such a nice amount of MP, they can garner alot of hate. Perfect for parties where you must dominate hate, but not so great for ones involving Thieves. (Referring to the curing tactic, not the tanks themselves.)
Mithra:
This is the race I play as, and so far it's pretty much just like Hume with more Dexterity and Agility, less Charisma. Lots of people say that Agility affects shield blocks and parrying, but I haven't been able to test this out personally so I take that bit of info with a grain of salt. Vanilla swirl? O.o
Galka:
I love these guys. They're huge and intimidating, and in most cases they seem to be better suited for tanking. Their one glaring weakness is their MP pool, but that can be fixed with equip macros. Hell, anything in this game can be fixed with equip macros. >.>
Elvaan:
Lanky. Oh God, are they lanky. Not a bad thing, and has nothing to do with their ability to tank (which they do awesomely, by the way). Lower HP than Galka, Higher strength, and better MP. Not spectacular MP, but it works. Again, equip macros for the win.
Random BS:
As I mentioned earlier, the curing tactic that all races can use to some extent is simple. Hook up a macro like so-> /ma "Cure III" <stpc>. Spam this at your puller, the Red mage as he converts, and any melee who steals hate or loses HP from an Area of Effect attack. Keeps you at the top of the hate list, and generates more hate than it would if you were curing yourself. Dominating hate isn't always a good tactic though, sometimes you need to let another PT member take the mob off of you so you can breathe, or for SATA if a Thief is in the party.
-----------
Your role as a Paladin:
You are the distraction tits, the bullet shield, and the annoying kid in the back of the class all at the same time. You can cast the magics that prevent you and others from falling down, and you can scare Undead creatures. You can also get smacked by a freight train and walk away laughing, while everyone else in your PT dies from getting breathed on. Protecting your PT is your #1 priority, and if that means you die in the process, then oh well. Death is a part of our job and should be viewed as part of the game. Don't sweat death. In fact, learn to laugh at it. By the time you start doing suicide runs in Dynamis you'll laugh maniacally every time. Death will be your one and only constant friend. You can always count on death to slap you in the face every once in awhile.
-------------
Subs:
Oh lawd, is dat sum limited choices? Why yes, it is. Warrior will be your standard choice for exp parties. If you're looking for an experiment, check out this. Armando's onto something here.
/WAR:
You've got Provoke, Double Attack, Defender, Warcry, and Berserk among other things. Berserk is best used for farming, but the others can come in handy for hate spikes or when you really need a boost in defense from Defender.
Warrior is a well-rounded subjob and should be leveled to 37 anyway, it's applicable to a variety of jobs. For exp, sub Warrior. Solo, do whatever the hell you want. Nobody can stop you. Simple enough, eh?
--------
Hate tools:
Invincible, level 1 - 2 hour ability, negates physical damage to 0 for duration, garners hueg like xbox hate spike. Magic damage occurs as normal, so make sure to keep your HP up. You can cast spells without fear of interruption due to 0 damage being inflicted.
Shield Bash, level 15 - Hate spike with added effect of stun every 5 minutes. Can be used to interrupt goblin bombs and various other attacks, including spells.
Cure I-IV - One of your primary hate tools, used in tandem with Flash. Cure your allies as they come in from a pull or from AoE damage for extra hate.
Flash - Blinds enemies and greatly reduces their accuracy. Causes a huge hate spike, and is best used directly after Provoke and before casting a Cure, reducing your chances of being interrupted.
Sentinel, level 30 - Update:Reduces 90% damage received as well as increasing Enmity of actions taken while it is in effect.
Cover, level 35 - Works similarly to Cover in past FF games. This one requires that you stand in front of your ally and after activating the JA, you take all damage in place of your ally. You cannot dodge attacks that come at you with this effect active. There's a nifty macro in the section below that helps with this.
Rampart, level 62 - You won't be seeing this for awhile, but what it does is increase the defense of your allies in the area of effect and give you another hate spike. Update: Grants "Magic Shield" to you and all allies in area of effect.
Holy circle - Increases resistance to undead in the area of effect, and in my experience seems to cause the Undead killer trait to proc more often. I could be wrong, but we'll discuss that some other time. Also adds the undead killer trait to allies in the area of effect. <---Thank you, Empedocles.
--------
Traits:
Undead Killer Level: 5
Increased Damage against Undead
Physical Defense Up I Level: 10
Increased Physical Defense
Resist Sleep I Level: 20
Increased resistance to sleep spells.
Shield Mastery Level: 25
Grants bonus TP when blocking an attack with a shield. Update:Also prevents spell interruption when a block occurs during casting.
Physical Defense Up II Level: 30
Increased Physical Defense
Auto Refresh Level: 35
Gain refresh effect, 1MP/Tick
Resist Sleep II Level: 40
Increased resistance to sleep spells.
Physical Defense Up III Level: 50
Increased Physical Defense
--------
Macros:
"how do i maked macro?" These are relatively simple, and they make things easier once you make a few for key abilities. Greatly speeds up your response time, and it doesn't force you to go through the menu every time. Here's a few examples.
/ja Provoke <t>
/wait 15
/echo Provoke ready in 15 seconds
/wait 15
/echo Provoke ready!
/ja Cover <stpc>
/p Get behind me <lastst>.
/ma "Cure II" <st>
/target <bt>
/attack <bt>

/equip feet
/ja "Provoke"
/equp feet "Gallant Leggings"

Running voke macro, useful when you're running so you don't get cemented to the floor during the JA animation. Thank you very much for the macro, Armando. I had completely forgotten about it. D:
The list goes on and on. You can macro anything you want, even silly vanity phrases. Just don't put those in your provoke macro, or I'll beat you with a table leg.
Random stuff revisited: Working <st> and <lastst> into different macros can help out alot when trying to tank multiple mobs at once, and can be applied to just about everything you can use. Shield Bash, WSes, etc. By the time you start doing this sort of thing on a regular basis you'll most likely have a good idea of what to use and when. With some experience in this sort of thing, you'll know exactly how much hate each mob needs to have toward you to keep them all on you at once. It's not required for success, but your Red mage will absolutely love you for it.
---------
Equipment:
Here's the worst part. Oh lawd, I'm going to hate typing this. Generally, you'll want to look for VIT or defense increasing gear. However, as you level up you'll notice that defense starts to matter less and less, and VIT starts to take center stage. Around level 50 when you get Defender from your Warrior sub you'll see the change. Rather than sticking with a total defense mindset, look into getting some gear that increases accuracy and strength/attack. If you can find a balance where you aren't taking as much damage, you can afford to put out a bit more damage yourself. Besides, with higher accuracy and more damage output, you gain more hate. More hate is always good.
What's enmity, you ask? Enmity adds extra hate to each of your actions, and over time adds up alot. Enmity gear is helpful for exp situations, but it isn't mandatory. You'll get some Enmity gear anyway through AF, so that doesn't matter. And now, for a huge wall of text. This section will be updated on a somewhat regular basis, but for now here's what we got so far.
Key pieces of gear that are helpful include the following:
Power Sandals level 18, VIT +3 Fire resistance +7 Defense 3. At level 18, +3 to any stat is quite a big number. Pick up a pair of these ASAP, you can wear them for quite awhile.
Kampfschuhs level 29, VIT +3 Defense 9. A clear advantage over the Sandals in terms of Defense. However, you lose the Fire resistance and also gil. If you can afford a pair, go for it. If not, stick with the Sandals. They're good until AF.
Battle Gloves Level 14, Accuracy +3 Evasion +3 Defense 4. Early on, this pair of gloves will help you hit more often, thus raising your overall hate gain. Depending on your race, you might want to switch these out with RSE as they become available.
Rush Gloves Level 50, VIT +4 AGI +1 MND -4 Defense 11. Pick up a pair of these and keep them. Switch between these and AF hands if you need the extra VIT over Enmity depending on the situation.
Life Belt Level 48, Accuracy +10. Higher accuracy means more hits landed, more hate generated, more damage dealt etc. Pick this up even if you only use it for skilling up weapons. It helps alot.
Bibiki Seashell Level 60, VIT +4 Water resistance +3 Enhances Aquan killer effect. Hands down, the best piece of throwing ammo out there. Easy to get too, unlike the Happy egg.
High Breath Mantle Level 36, Defense 5 Enchantment: HP +38, Enmity +5. At level 36, this is the best piece of back equipment you can have. It's incredibly useful and makes your job that much easier.
Grudge Sword Level 39, Damage 26 Delay 240 Enmity +1. I prefer this over the Honor Sword's +2 bonus to VIT and MND. In conjunction with a High Breath mantle, you've got +6 Enmity.
Dragvandil Level 59, Damage 40 Delay 260 MND +1 Added effect Paralysis. This sword wins for farming.
Gluttony Sword Level 57, Damage 44 Delay 295 VIT +7, all other stats -1. This sword's usefulness is debatable. On the plus side, it has very nice damage per swing, but it's larger delay requires a Life Belt to make it really effective. It's seen as a status symbol for the most part, and has it's uses but your mileage may vary. I'd say overrated, but from 57-60 it's the winnar #1.
Macuahuitl +1 Level 65, Damage 37 Delay 227 Accuracy -4 Attack +11 Enmity +4. Hooray for Enmity! You can make up the Accuracy elsewhere if it's that important to you, but for the most part it won't make a huge difference due to the lower delay of the weapon. It's got lower damage than other weapons around that level range, but for the most part it won't matter. Enmity is good for you.
Bastard Sword +1 level 60 Damage 44 delay 258 Not much to say about this weapon other than it's a nice alternative to the Gluttony sword. If you've got cash to spend, pick one up. It's got quite a bit less delay than Gluttony and hits just as hard.
Hospitaler's Earring Cure potency +5%. Self explanatory. Get one ASAP.
Pigeon Earrings HP +20, Water resistance +5. A decent choice if you want more HP but it's uses are mostly situational.
Drone Earrings Agility +3 Wind Resistance +6. If you feel that you are lacking the agility department, these are helpful for giving it a boost. I've got a pair that I use from time to time, and they seem to work pretty well. I don't know if I believe that Agility affects proc rate of Shield blocks and Parrying, but if it does then these should be a part of any Paladin's gear selection.
Elemental Staves A Dark Staff is useful for quick healing, and I think every job should get one if only for use when farming or skilling up. Earth is debatable, as some people prefer to have certain NMs kited with one on as opposed to straight up blood tanking with a sword and shield. You'll never use it in an EXP party, so don't bother with one until later.
Gallant set Your AF is debatable for some, but for me it's useful. Nice Enmity mods on most pieces, and the enhanced effects on a few of the pieces are pretty handy. Extra HP is always nice to have too. Overall, this set is useful for most situations, but you might want to swap in certain pieces of DD gear if you find that you're having trouble or if you just want to contribute more to your party.
Parade Cuirass Level 50, Defense 38, HP +28, Enmity +2. Good luck getting this piece, but if you can, you get the delicious +2 Enmity. This piece will last you all the way to 60, and you can use it for 50 capped fights.
Parade Gorget Level 50, Defense 5, MP+10, Latent effect: Adds Refresh effect. Latent is active when you have greater than ~85% base HP. Gear bonuses do not apply.
Haubergeon Level 59 Defense 45 Strength +5 Dexterity +5 Agility -5 Accuracy +10 Attack +10 Evasion -20

[dirtyclown]

---------
Parties and you: A guide for the somewhat retarded.
Just kidding about the retarded part. Anyways, as you know, your #1 priority is to keep hate. How you go about that is up to your party. Always ask what the Skillchain will be, and if your party is unsure, then you have 2 choices. Help them figure out one by googling Dranok's Skillchain calc or using one of the many charts, OR running like hell. Because a party that doesn't know what SC they want can be detrimental to your health.
One other thing to note is this:

The really good PLDs know how to keep just the right amount of hate for letting melee turn the mob for SATA, but not lose hate to big WS or MBs.

Hate can be approached two ways. You can either dominate it completely, which basically equates to you spamming JAs whenever they're available and constantly Flashing in order to prevent disaster, or the laid back approach. Knowing when to use different JAs, when to Flash, and when to let the melee turn the mob. Sometimes we need a breather, and sometimes we need to let the Thief SATA onto us. Whatever the strategy might be, you will need to learn how to do this. In time, after you have tanked long enough you will learn what you can do to keep hate at a reasonable level. When that time comes, you'll be a much better Paladin for it. One other thing to remember is that just because you lose hate, does not mean you're bad at your job. Losing hate happens, it's not something you can prevent and that's why total domination is a flawed tanking strategy. It's always good to have a few aces up your sleeve when your BLM decides to burst with Ancient Magic and then proceed to Divine Seal Cure 3 themselves. :D
Thief
For example, let's say you're partying with a RDM, WHM, THF, WAR, and BLM. You're all at level 30, and the THF wants to use SATA to help you gain hate and also to cause damage spikes, killing things faster and netting all of you more exp per hour. What you would do in this situation is let the WAR provoke first. You run around to the back of the mob, and the THF gets behind you. Make sure you're pretty close to the mob so the THF is still in range. Then, don't move and wait for the THF to use Sneak attack and Trick attack. The mob will turn and the damage spike will give YOU all of the hate generated by the attack. Let fly with Provoke, Cure 2, and tank as normal. Different jobs in the position of the WAR will function much the same way, though take care to be quick when a DRK is first voke. They have low defense and will get hurt quite a bit if left alone for too long.
Samurai
Samurai are skillchain masters and if you party with them often, you'll probably be expected to close the Skillchain. Paladins and Samurai are quite compatible for Skillchains..Actually, Samurai are pretty compatible with everyone. Moving on. Update: Samurai have been granted two new Job abilities, and are now beastly. They will give you a much harder time than before, but thankfully Samurai tend to not be retarded with their hate gain and will work with you. If all else fails, use Cover.
Dark Knight
Dark, moody, also answers to the name Batman. These guys are heavy hitters and if you party with them often, expect to be opening alot of Skillchains. I party with a Dark Knight three times a week in my static Party, and she and I have found some nice SC to take advantage of depending on what mobs we're fighting. Things to watch out for with this class is their Job Abilities. If they stack Last Resort and Soul Eater, expect to lose hate in the next few seconds. By the 40s most of them learn to watch their hate and won't pop all their damage enhancing JAs at once. Also by the 40s you've got enough tools to keep them alive and gain hate right back, so it shouldn't be too big a deal.
Dragoon
A knight with a lance in hand, and a cute blue Wyvern that flies around and dies alot. One way you can help with preventing the Wyvern death is by aiming the mobs away from the Wyvern. Lots of mobs use cone attacks, and making sure that they're facing away from your party members and their pets can help ensure that your Dragoon doesn't get a headache. Area of Effect attacks you can't do much about, unless you can interrupt them. Shield Bash helps with this, and picking up a Guardian Ring at some point may help you to interrupt enemies' attacks. Just macro it into your Shield Bash and go. Partying with Dragoons isn't much different from partying with anyone else, although you may find yourself closing skillchains this time around rather than opening them. Also take note about High jump and later on Super jump. High jump sheds a bit of hate from the Dragoon, allowing them a bit of leeway with their damage. Super jump, on the other hand, allows them to reset their hate. With a Thief and a Dragoon in the party, the Thief can SATA onto the Dragoon and the Dragoon erases their hate while you tank as normal. Fun, eh?
Monk
Ah, these guys. Potentially your worst nightmare for keeping hate later on in the game. Until then, they're a solid damage dealer and probably the most effective SATA partners for Thieves. After 40 you'll be opening up Fusion for them (Burst with Holy for extra laughs). There's not really much to say other than stay on your toes.
Blue Mage
I've only partied with 2 Blue mages so far, unfortunately. They can deal quite a bit of spike damage as well as pretty decent damage over time. Keep up on top of hate, and hopefully your Blue mage will be willing to work with you on hate management instead of being retarded and spamming spells nonstop.
Ranger
Can't believe I forgot these guys. Rangers, along with Monks have potential to be very annoying to keep hate from. Especially if they pull with Barrage. D: You might need to swap in a High Breath Mantle along with DD gear to make hate management easier. Otherwise, tank as normal and make full use of Spirits Within if you have it.
Bard
A party with a Bard is quite nice. Except when nobody listens, then the Bard develops an ulcer. When partying with a Bard, you'll most often have to run back to where the mages are sitting to get Ballad for MP. I personally prefer having acc/atk+ songs on, but it's not the tank's place to complain. MP regen is more important than striking your problems until they are no longer problems anymore.
Black mages
Delightfully squishy little powerhouses these are. The more intelligent ones you have nothing to worry about, they most often are quite adept at managing hate and won't intentionally overnuke and will even run behind you for Cover before casting a huge MB. The dumb ones will get themselves killed often. Don't worry about them, it's their own fault.
Warrior
Hate monster. That's it. A good Warrior can do incredible amounts of damage over time and have alot of potential for amazing spike damage as well. Most often they can time their WS to kill a mob outright and not pull hate off of you. Keep up with them and you'll have no trouble.
White/Red mage
Sorry to lump these two together, but they're quite similar in most regards. I run with both in a static party, and they compliment each other very well. Two things to remember: Most of the time, they know when you've got a status on you, because they've got logs set to show that information in their chat window. The other thing is to never demand Haste. If they can squeeze it into their cycle they will, and most likely if they're not casting it on you or someone else they're waiting for the timer to cool down. Patience is your best friend. As for Refresh, every Red mage at least learns how to make a functioning Refresh order for their parties. More often than not, you're at the top of it, so don't be an ass and demand it. Red mages are slaves only to their spell timers.
Summoner
To start, Summoners are not healers. They can do it, but that is not their main function. They can support the party with Blood pacts that cast various buffs, like Blink and Phalanx. They can participate in SCs with their avatars and are capable of MBing with their avatars as well. Overall a very versatile class, if somewhat underrated.
For the rest, you get to make your own conclusions. Every party combination can work with the right mix of skill and planning, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. All that holds you back is the willingness of other players to try something new, if you can find a group that wants to experiment, then go for it. Having fun is the #1 reason to play. Good luck.
--------
Foods
This is delicious cake, Desu~ You must try it, Desu~
EDIT: Shallops is made of fail, stop using it. Accuracy and attack food is the way to go. Black Curry, Bream Sushi, Dorado Sushi, and probably Sole are better for you than any other defense related food. Also, at early levels you can replace Kabobs with Jack o lanterns if you really feel that you need moar accuracy. Use tacos when you really need that little boost to HP/MP, otherwise don't bother. Obligatory somepage link

Jack-o'-Lantern
Stacks: No
Duration: 180 mins
* Charisma -10
* Resist vs. Dark +25
* Accuracy +10
* Evasion +10
* Arcana Killer

Tavnazian Tacos
* HP +20
* MP +20
* Dexterity +4
* Vitality +6
* Agility +4
* Charisma +4
* HP Regeneration While Healing +1
* MP Regeneration While Healing +1
* Defense +25% (Cap: 150@600 Base Defense)

Bream Sushi
Stacks: 12
Duration: 30 mins

* Dexterity +6
* Vitality +5
* Resist Sleep
* Accuracy +16%
* Ranged Accuracy +16%

--------
Shields and you: A half-assed guide
Ok, so you've got yourself a skill called Shield Bash. Obviously, this class has an emphasis on the use of a sword and shield. There's a bit more to shield selection than just grabbing whatever's available and going with it though. Shields have 4 different sizes, and 4 different amounts of damage reduction/proc rate. Everything you've ever wanted to know about shields, complete with numbers that probably won't mean much to a casual gamer can be found here.
For those of us who aren't adept at skimming through data tables, here's a summarized version of that link.
Size 1 shields: low rate of damage reduced, higher proc rate than other shields.
Size 2 shields: more damage reduced than size 1, but lower proc rate.
Size 3 shields: higher rate of damage reduced, lower proc rate than smaller shields. This is the size of most shields after 30 that you'll be using, and for the most part are the better choice in terms of reducing damage you take.
Size 4 shields: Highest amount of damage shaved off, but lowest proc rate out of all shields. The difference between size 3 and size 4 isn't noticable as far as I'm aware, and in some cases may be a better choice than size 3. Shield choices should be situational anyway, just like other gears. Pick up a size 3 and a size 4 and see which works better for you.
--------
For now, this is the end. I'll be updating periodically, so be sure to check back. Special thanks to NeighborTaru for inspiring me to work this into a somewhat legible form.

[Empedocles]

Very good

The only semi-edit I can think of is that Holy Circle adds Undead Killer trait to those that do not have it already, as well as enhancing your own.

[LoneGamer]

What is considered a good balance between resting for MP and maintaining TP for WS at low levels?

[dirtyclown]

I'd use beverages for parties at lower levels. If one of your WS is needed for a Skillchain, then try and conserve MP as much as you can and get in a few ticks for MP between fights. Raising cooking a bit helps out alot with MP issues early on, and you don't have to lug around 12 bottles of juice, just a stack of crystals and your ingredients. I wish I could be of more assistance with this, because I joined a static as Paladin and my static leader generally kept me out of Skillchains so I could rest freely for MP. I've found that this is true for alot of Paladins, at least the ones I talk to. Most of the time it's up to the Paladin in question whether they want to be vocal about participating in the SC or not, otherwise they'll just get left out of it entirely.

[LoneGamer]

Yeah, I guess juice works.

[MadCrom]

Great Post

Rate up!

[Celeal]

Good job! Very nice guide ^^b

P.S.
I think it would be nice if you include information about shield in your equipment section. With the increased proc. rate from shield, and different size of shield, etc, I think it is important for PLD to know which shield to use.

/salute

[dirtyclown]

That's my first planned update for the guide, actually. I thought Shields were fairly obvious as far as what to use, but I didn't take into account that new players probably don't know about shield sizes. That as well as a full list of our job traits and a section dedicated to what exactly Shield Mastery does is next on my list of things to do.

[Tevabond]

Great Guide!! im planing on maining paladin and i think this helps a lot!

couple quick questions at lvl 25 theres a repuiblic targe and 28 theres the jennet shield (I think i may be wrong on name) one is big one is small. the targe adds HP which is better...same def btw



P.S. HI EMP! (That was Kat.....)

[Davitron3000]

couple quick questions at lvl 25 theres a repuiblic targe and 28
theres the jennet shield (I think i may be wrong on name) one is big one is small. the
targe adds HP which is better...same def btw

Jennet Shield

Republic Targe

I like the Jennet Shield. Can't go wrong with + Vit on your shield at that level.
Jennet Shield is size 3 and Republic Targe is size 1. Either shield would probably
work, but I hate the way those size 1 shields look...

Also, according to somepage the Jennet Shield is level 38. Kite shield is level 28.
I would probably use this over Republic Targe also, for the nostalgia of the Paladin
Quests you did to get it, and cosmetic reasons (plus I just like the size 3 shields
for the block rate/damage reduced stats)

[Arwenne]

Awesome guide! Very well written.

[Tevabond]

Also, according to somepage the Jennet Shield is level 38. Kite shield is level 28

WOOOPS thats the shiled i ment not the jennet...the lvl 28 size 3....yea thats the one....w/e thanks for the info

[dirtyclown]

And there's the update I was talking about. Added in job traits and info on shields.

[Tsikuro]

You don't even mention the JA 'Sentinel'.