[L boogie]

Besides our laughable HP, and our ridicolous VIT/Def, Tarutaru PLD looks like too much fun, and too much of a challenge to just pass up on lol.

So alot of people are telling me to either change race, or to just give up, but i like the idea of being an underdog.

I feel extremely comfortable with having a huge MP pool, although it some situations i was i had Galkan HP lol.

Anyways, since the many previous updates is it true a VIT/turtle tanking just doesnt do it anymore? I dont thoroughly understand what, as a Lv.32 tarutaru PLD, what i am supposed to be shooting for now that i am done with the fairly weak mobs that are Mandys, and Crabs. Now it gets a tad difficult the higher i reach in levels, ex. Garlaige Citadel and so on. I did recently pick up a few pieces preparing for my PLD career. I picked up a Bomb Queen Ring, Parade Gorget, and a Jelly Ring along with some other plus items such as a Optical Hat, Swift Belt, and Gigant Mantle etc etc. From what i understand, i need to start building a DD setup for party situations. Now is this really effective even for a Tarutaru? With our huge MP pool i figure i could hold hate even with a VIT/DEF build.

Well i just wanna see what people think.

What do you guys think? I am a little confused and what i should be focusing on as i level up or what gear should i have in mind for future references.

Thank you all in advance. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

EDIT: I am currently a 75WHM, so Healing, and Divine magic isnt going to be a problem.

[Armando]

The only thing that changes significantly across races is HP/MP - a department in which Tarutaru have the upper hand in EXP parties because MP is worth much more than HP (i.e. 24 MP replenishes 90 HP with Cure II.) There is an increased risk of OHKO deaths, but Spiders are awful mobs to party on in the first place, and if you don't overhunt you'll be fine.

That said, you do need to start shifting gears towards more DD equipment. Rule of thumb: VIT is a dead stat. It doesn't help nearly as much as people think. If you can squeeze some in in slots where there's nothing else, fine, otherwise, there's more important stats. You want to get as much Attack and Accuracy as possible without sacrificing Defense. You can boost your offense a lot more easily than you can boost your defenses, and more offense means higher hate overall, shorter fights, and a reduced reliance on MP.

There's not much options to choose from at Level 30, but as you go up, more options open up (e.g. Tilt Belt and double Woodsman Rings at 40.) Refer to this guide for your equipment options up to level 60. : Lv.10-60 Equipment Guide

EDIT: I notice from your BLU thread that you have a Peacock Amulet. That thing should be chained to your neck. You won't need any other neck piece for EXP; the only time you'd want something different is when recovering MP out of combat 50+ with Parade Gorget.

EDIT2: That Bomb Queen Ring and Gigant Mantle may not see much use either; max HP is only useful from preventing one-shot deaths, and the most dangerous ToAU mobs in terms of one-shotting are Eruca. By the time you can can put on that Gigant Mantle you'll probably be done fighting them, and BQ Ring might hurt more than help by tossing any possibilities of resisting Incinerate out the window. Then again I don't know how low Tarutaru HP is at those levels; they might be useful when eating sushi.

[L boogie]

Originally Posted by Armando

The only thing that changes significantly across races is HP/MP - a department in which Tarutaru have the upper hand in EXP parties because MP is worth much more than HP (i.e. 24 MP replenishes 90 HP with Cure II.) There is an increased risk of OHKO deaths, but Spiders are awful mobs to party on in the first place, and if you don't overhunt you'll be fine.

I see what you mean, it does make sense when you put it that way. So your saying i should stick with Cure IIs, Cure III strictly for emergencies/hate. Than when i get Cure IV, use Cure III, and Cure IV strictly for emergencies?

Originally Posted by Armando

That said, you do need to start shifting gears towards more DD equipment. Rule of thumb: VIT is a dead stat. It doesn't help nearly as much as people think. If you can squeeze some in in slots where there's nothing else, fine, otherwise, there's more important stats. You want to get as much Attack and Accuracy as possible without sacrificing Defense. You can boost your offense a lot more easily than you can boost your defenses, and more offense means higher hate overall, shorter fights, and a reduced reliance on MP.

Awesome. Now my only concern is really the earring slots. I have gotten many distinct combos, well let me see what you think overall.

Cassier Earring/Buckler
Beetle Earring +1/Beetle Earring +1
AGI+3 Earring/AGI+3 Earring
Buckler Earring/AGI+3 Earring

You can see where i am coming from. Personally i was going for the Cassie Earring/Buckler combo but now im rethinking my priorities in regards to your "MP is worth much more than HP (i.e. 24 MP replenishes 90 HP with Cure II.)" argument. Perhaps Cassie/Beetle Earring +1 would be more appropiate?

Originally Posted by Armando

There's not much options to choose from at Level 30, but as you go up, more options open up (e.g. Tilt Belt and double Woodsman Rings at 40.) Refer to this guide for your equipment options up to level 60.

Great guide btw. Extremely helpful.

Originally Posted by Armando

EDIT: I notice from your BLU thread that you have a Peacock Amulet. That thing should be chained to your neck. You won't need any other neck piece for EXP; the only time you'd want something different is when recovering MP out of combat 50+ with Parade Gorget.

Done and done. I was gonna use the VIT+2 neckpiece but you make a good point.

Originally Posted by Armando

EDIT2: That Bomb Queen Ring and Gigant Mantle may not see much use either; max HP is only useful from preventing one-shot deaths, and the most dangerous ToAU mobs in terms of one-shotting are Eruca. By the time you can can put on that Gigant Mantle you'll probably be done fighting them, and BQ Ring might hurt more than help by tossing any possibilities of resisting Incinerate out the window. Then again I don't know how low Tarutaru HP is at those levels; they might be useful when eating sushi.

Nice. Ill take that into consideration. In regards to your DD argument, I noticed you said sushi. I am guessing Tav. Tacos or Boiled Crab is out of the question? If so when should i start eating sushi?

[Armando]

I see what you mean, it does make sense when you put it that way. So your saying i should stick with Cure IIs, Cure III strictly for emergencies/hate. Than when i get Cure IV, use Cure III, and Cure IV strictly for emergencies?

Nah, I was just saying that in the long run, having a large MP pool keeps you going longer than a large HP pool since that MP pool recovers a lot more HP.

I generally just use the highest tier cure once I've lost enough HP to not waste any when I cure. Hate gain is linear; curing for 180 gets twice the hate as curing for 90. So in general I prefer to cast Cure III over two Cure II's so I spend less time casting and more time swinging. It depends, though, whenever first get a new cure it it usually restores a very large amount of your HP, and you might not need to cure that much to keep hate. Use your judgement, see how little you can cure without compromising your hate holding abilities.

As for earrings, I recommend double +Attack earrings. It's rather unclear how benefitial Shield Skill +3 is, and AGI+3 earrings are practically placebos. Like I said, MP is more valuable than HP and max HP doesn't mean much unless whatever you're fighting can one-shot you, so Cassie Earring isn't good in most cases.

Nice. Ill take that into consideration. In regards to your DD argument, I noticed you said sushi. I am guessing Tav. Tacos or Boiled Crab is out of the question? If so when should i start eating sushi?

I started eating sushi pretty late into my EXP grind, so I don't know how early it's viable. I would say it's safe to start at 50, though if you don't have downtime you could try as low as 45 or 40. Obviously you'll have to stop when you hit Colibri camps since they eat your food.

In general you want to eat sushi whenever possible (once you're at the appropriate levels); but often parties will be stupid and pick mobs that are too high level for them. In those cases you'll be getting hit so hard that you'll have no choice but to eat defense foods. Regardless of the situation you should still gear for damage; like I said, VIT just isn't a good way to reduce damage, and your "DD" gear should sacrifice as little Defense as possible while giving you a large chunk of Attack/Accuracy.

[Elwynn]

Originally Posted by L boogie

I see what you mean, it does make sense when you put it that way. So your saying i should stick with Cure IIs, Cure III strictly for emergencies/hate. Than when i get Cure IV, use Cure III, and Cure IV strictly for emergencies?

The point was simply that MP > > > HP if you have a choice between one or another. Guess which one tarutaru have? Plus, with Stoneskin (by subbing WHM or RDM), you will have some nice one-shot survivability. Today is the second time I've taken an Aerial Torpedo's self-destruct in the face and survived, with piles of bodies around me. (Unfortunately this time, Burn got the remaining 20 or so HP while I was standing there trying to figure out WTF happened.)

When you get C3 and C4, they will be great ways to keep the hate on yourself. When I was trying to cap evasion in Besieged (where hate usually spins like a top), I would cure people until I got hate, then keep curing myself to sustain it. If a WHM can do that, a PLD can do it better... as long as the MP lasts.

With all the MP that a taru has, my WHM DD build has plenty of MP, as long as I don't have to throw around many cures or raises. And at lower MP levels, 2HP/tick refresh (Noble's Tunic + Sanction/Sigil) can keep me going a long time.

[pearlsea]

Don't care about taru melee haters. Cuteness > performance in mmo's

[L boogie]

Awesome Armando, thanks for the info. I will problably use Rice Dumplings at 32PLD/16WAR and eventually switch to sushi appropreately. As a career WHM i never knew Colibri could dispel food since i was always in the backline. Thanks for the headsup. Altho thanks to WHM, my magic is not only capped (well very close to it) but i also i know alot about hate management but this is gonna be weird.. i am going to try, and steal hate and hold it rather than trying lose it and say clear off the mobs hate list lol. Quick questions about merits though, would it be hard for me as a Taru PLD to have no enmity+ merits?

Originally Posted by pearlsea

Don't care about taru melee haters. Cuteness > performance in mmo's

lol Tarutaru in PLD AF [Yes, Please]

I think they look particularly awesome in PLD AF lol.

[Armando]

Quick questions about merits, would it be hard for me as a Taru PLD to have no enmity+ merits?

No. Enmity+ is just icing on the cake. As long as you have a firm grasp on how to make hate, you'll be fine.

I highly recommend you read Kaeko's livejournal. Kanican
Before he was banned, Kaeko pinned down practically all the details of how hate works thanks to some pretty meticulous testing. You don't have to read all the experiments, but reading the conclusions will help you understand a lot of things.

[Ameroth]

Originally Posted by pearlsea

Don't care about taru melee haters. Cuteness > performance in mmo's

No. But nice try.

[dirtyclown]

Originally Posted by pearlsea

Don't care about taru melee haters. Cuteness > performance in mmo's

I guess it's a good thing that Tarus perform the same as any other race.

Dearest OP, if it hasn't been mentioned already take all of the "Tarus are inferior at PLD for X reason!" comments and toss them. They're untrue and the examples given are usually ridiculous, like the Sickle Slash double crit death. That kills everyone, regardless of race. Secondly, get used to being killed. Death is your #1 pal at all times.

[Celeal]

As for Taru PLD's MP and HP pool, as long as you don't get "one shot" by the mob, the priority is balance between rate of MP usage and recovery. It does not matter what is your maximum MP is: If you or your party cannot refill the MP in time, you will have downtime eventually. Your gear selection should be determined by the rate of MP usage and recovery between you and your party's healer/support as a whole. As Armando mentioned above, if the mob hits very hard, then you may want to increase your "damage mitigation."

Notice I say "damage mitigation," that is more than just Defense/VIT. Your mob's attack in general are physical attacks and non-physical attacks. Your food, gear and tanking approach should compliment with the mob you are tanking and the party setup you have.

[Armando]

Dearest OP, if it hasn't been mentioned already take all of the "Tarus are inferior at PLD for X reason!" comments and toss them. They're untrue and the examples given are usually ridiculous, like the Sickle Slash double crit death. That kills everyone, regardless of race. Secondly, get used to being killed. Death is your #1 pal at all times.

100% true. Except for Erucas. I've had them take off 90% of my Elvaan HP at times, and I managed to bite the dust with them more frequently than with any other mob. I shudder to think of what Erucas must be like for Tarutaru if you don't have people capable of doing a large chunk of spike damage at the start of the fight.

[Zoltar]

just tank for {Burn} parties and you'll be set

[Durahansolo]

Originally Posted by Armando

100% true. Except for Erucas. I've had them take off 90% of my Elvaan HP at times, and I managed to bite the dust with them more frequently than with any other mob. I shudder to think of what Erucas must be like for Tarutaru if you don't have people capable of doing a large chunk of spike damage at the start of the fight.

ERUCA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! Sorry. I remember once a Eruca did a 900 damage one-shot on our poor Elvaan PLD on firesday. We couldn't do anything but laugh after it happened.

[dirtyclown]

I switched my Jelly Ring out and put on a pair of Merman's Earrings when tanking Erucas for my static. There's a bunch of gear available now that makes Erucas far less scary, though. The Iron Ram set for example.