Looking into PLD gear post-60

Firewind · 06-25-2009, 07:53 AM

My PLD dinged 60 recently and while I do have a rough idea as to what gear I'm going to be using on the way to 75 I would appreciate some feedback from the veteran PLDs here.

My only restriction is that because I'm not an an EGLS is to avoid defaulting to gear from endgame activities. I don't mind suggestions but I don't have Sea/Salvage access and probably never will before FFXIV comes out so if you have to suggest EG activity gear please avoid Sea/Salvage gear.

Weapon: Using Bastard Sword. Probably going to go Bastard Sword > Espadon +1 > Company Sword until I can get a Joyeuse. as i said I'm not an an EGLS yet so I'm not sure if there's any point in me getting a Machuahuitl +1.

Shield: Iron Ram Shield. not sure what to use between here and Koenig.

Ammo: Bibiki Seashell. Mostly from lack of anything better to equip there. It's nice to have when skiling up on crabs though. Any suggestions are welcome

Head: Gallant Coronet when tanking for the emnity and +HP for Spirits Within. Trump Crown when resting for +MP. Again I'm not sure if there is anything to use between AF and OHat/Adaman which is why I'm asking for suggestions.

Neck: Royal Guard's collar. Honestly have no idea what to upgrade to here so suggestions welcome.

Earrings: Pair of Spike Earrings. Insomnia/Antivenon macro'd in for MP. I have a Suppanomimi for +Sword Skill, honestly have no idea what to use for the other slot =/

Body: Gallant Surcoat for +HP and +Emnity. Not too sure about getting a Hauby especially considering I'm going to be fighting nothing but birds to 75 thanks to Level Sync so I'll need every bit of DEF I can get since I can't use food.

Hands: Gallant Gauntlets. I don't see anything better than I.R. Dastanas outside of Dyna/Sky/Sea/Salvage gear so I'll be getting those.

Rings: Either Phalanx Rings or +Acc Rings depending on how hard the mob hits. Is it worth camping a Jelly Ring because I have a couple of friends saying they'll help me camp it. I'm honestly not sure if it is worth camping which is why I'm asking.

Back: High Breath Mantle. Probably going to get one of the Amemet Mantles when I ding 61, NQ or HQ depends on which one is one the AH at the time.

Waist: Life Belt but I have people in my LS bugging me to get a Potent Belt instead. Is losing 2 Acc really worth +3STR? Warwolf looks nice for Vorpal/Savage Blade. I've had so many horrible, horrible, horrible Swift Belt parties I'm not sure if I ever want to see the inside of Sacrinarium ever again. Sorry but the WHM should NOT HAVE TO DIE EVERY FUCKING FIGHT BECAUSE THE UBER EGLS THAT IS HELPING WITH THE RUN THINKS THAT ZERGING THE SWIFT BELT NMS IS THE ONLY WAY TO KILL THEM.

It's even more annoying when they whine that the puller didn't pull the entire room because "You should be sack pulling the fomors to kill faster" *facepalm*.

Legs: Gallant Breeshes. Not sure if I see anything better than I.R. Hose between now and 75 without going into EG drops.

Feet: Gallant Leggings. I don't think that I plan to take these off so umm no suggestions needed here.

Kaziel0 · 06-25-2009, 09:08 AM

Well I won't speak for anything else since I'm horribly out of date on being a PLD, but for Neck you should see about getting a Parade Gorget. Not really an "upgrade" per say, but good for when you find yourself running low on MP and need that boost or great for resting MP recovery.

Callisto · 06-25-2009, 09:31 AM

Sword: I personally really like Bayard's Sword as a non-Joyeuse alternative, Evasion Down weapons are always going to be useful in many situations, and most of them proc fairly well. I think I used T.M. Espadon +2 until Macua+1 then that til Joyeuse but I don't quite recall.

Shield: I had an Admiral's but I don't really think it's worth the gil since you grow out of it relatively quickly, I.R. or Sentinel's if you have the rank/IS both do well until Koenig. I'd also recommend getting a Balance Buckler for skillups.

Ranged/Ammo: Lamain Kaman(+1) all the way once you hit 75, Seashell until then. The MP/MDB are small amounts but every bit adds up, and in the odd case that you need to pull something it's a fast shot. I usually just carry Wooden Arrows in my satchel in case I need them.

Head: Iron Ram Helm is fantastic, make that your first I.R. piece. OHat is fine for DDing, Turban is the mainstay at 75 for most things, swapping I.R. Helm for JAs. Do not buy Adaman Celata. In fact do not buy any Adaman gear aside from possibly the body, which is fine, but IMO just a sidegrade from the AF body and not really worth dropping gil on that you could spend elsewhere.

Neck: Parade Gorget, and a Harmonia's Torque to swap into hate moves. Some sort of Acc neckpiece for DD if you want, Chiv Chain works fine, but ideally a PCC/PCA. Shield torque for cures/ichi(Willpower Torque is a super cheap ghetto band-aid version of the Shield Torque if you can't find/afford one, I don't recall how much they run.)

Ears: There's plenty of things that work fine, for XP up to 75 just use attack+ earrings. Knightly Earring is great for casting Cures and Ichi if you have enough gil for one, Buckler Earring is nice but somewhat rare on several servers...I personally use Hades/Loquacious for most things and swap in Buckler for cures/Ichi for extra shield blocks.

Body: Gallant Surcoat until you have some sort of endgame shell for better stuff. If you have A Crystalline Prophecy and no other jobs to get a body specifically for, Nuevo Coselete with Fast Cast/Enmity+5 cannot be beat. Vermillion Cloak is a luxury but it's nice to have for between fights in XP or for Campaign.

Hands: If you can afford Dusk Gloves they go a very long way for many jobs and a good holdover til Homam. Iron Ram hands for extra enmity on JA, if you can get into Nyzul Askar Manopolas are a really nice Homam replacement.

Rings: Acc Rings for melee, I use Ecphoria + Woodsman, about the cheapest reasonable combo I could find. For higher levels/non DD Mermaid + Hercules', at the very least Hercules' is a must. Yes on the Jelly Ring, it's a great bloodtanking piece. If you can find help to get a Bomb Queen Ring that makes a very handy piece to build a Cure swap macro with.

Back: If you can get the ToD for the Resentment Cape NM that's a really nice piece, though not a must. One of the ACP keys(Amber I think) gives a shot at Raptor Mantles that ocassionally pop with Enmity+ which is a nice free gift. Ideally you can save up for a Cerberus Mantle at 75. Gigant Mantle is also nice for Cure swaps, but a luxury, no need to worry about it anytime soon.

Waist: Warwolf for JAs/hate spells(Swift for the spells when you get it), Life or Potent for WS(honestly doesn't matter which, neither will make a huge difference in any direction). Eventually a Trance Belt is nice in place of the Warwolf(though I still carry Warwolf for Rampart) if you can afford it. If you're worried enough about an hMP set Hierarch Belts are useful and pretty cheap.

Legs: Iron Ram Hose is pretty much the main show aside from relic/Homam/etc.

Feet: Gallant Leggings will last you forever, Dusk Ledelsens are also nice for /NIN or just when you need extra haste in general, for other swaps.

When you get into endgame you can start worrying about other sets such as Magic Reduction, but it's nothing to really be concerned with yet.

Armando · 06-25-2009, 09:47 AM

You've got the right idea in general.

Espadon+1 is a terrific weapon. You can also use a Save the Queen. It's a very very underrated weapon. It's particularly useful when doing the whole offensive PLD thing. Firing off Vorpals under the Latent Effect is hot. You don't need the Mac for EXP so you can put off that purchase until you find yourself in a situation where it would be useful.

Iron Ram Shield will pretty much serve you until Koenig. Not much else worth the cost between those two, with the exception of Ice Shield if you're really into soloing, but you'd still have to buy Koenig which is pretty expensive, so you'd probably not want to do that for now.

Ammo: There's not too many non-seashell options here. Basically boils down to Lightning Bow, Lamian Kaman, or Tiphia Sting. But the sting really isn't worth the cost if you don't already have all the cash you'd need for everything else. I'd recommend the Kaman if you're a low-MP race. Otherwise it's purely personal preference, this slot won't make much of a difference.

Head: Gallant Coronet -> O-Hat (if you have it) -> Walahra Turban basically. The Adaman is kind of redundant with AF besides the 10 MP and the 7 Defense, and in most cases you should be using W.Turban. Iron Ram Sallet is better than Adaman, too, so you should really focus on getting that one instead if you want that one instead. If you plan on doing Nyzul or can join pick-up groups on WHM, Askar head is fantastic, since you only sacrifice 1% Haste compared to W.Turban but actually get almost 30 Defense like most other helmets.

Neck: Not much else here. Shield Torque can come in handy against HNMs. Harmonia's Torque if you're trying to maximize Enmity on some actions.

Earrings: Besides what you already have, only possible improvements are Brutal Earring or Assault Earring offensively. Assault Earring has a horrible cost:improvement ratio. Don't buy it unless you're rich. You'll probably need that money for Dusk gear. Oh yeah, and Hospitaler's Earring for Cures.

Body: Definitely Haub. 4 points of Def aren't worth not getting +12.5 Attack, +12.5 Accuracy, +1 fSTR. You should use Haub in every EXP situation (take it off solo though, the -20 Evasion will hurt you there.)

Hands: Fourth Gauntlets until Dusk Gloves. Replace Fourth Gauntlets with I.R. Dastanas if you're not eating Def food and the mob's damage output is causing problems.

Rings: Definitely get Jelly Ring. Sometimes it's not even camped. I'd go Woodsman+Woodsman when possible, Phalanx+Jelly if not eating Def food and the mob's damage output is causing you problems. Also get Hercules' Ring, useful for solo and the +3 enmity can be used for Flash/Provoke/Cures. Possible sidegrade to a Woodsman Ring is Blood Ring. It's a Tier 1 ZNM. Basically lose the -Evasion and enhance a few resist traits. Nothing to be concerned about now but if you can get it later you might as well.

Back: Amemet basically. Don't get HQ for now, cost:improvement ratio is very awful. Should be one of the last things you upgrade.

Belt: Especially for a PLD, Potent Belt is nothing special. It'll parse roughly the same with Life Belt. 2-hander jobs and SAM could make a better argument for Potent. Just keep the Life Belt, save yourself the money. Warwolf is strictly a +enmity swap-in, you want all the Accuracy possible for multi-hit WS which means keep your Life Belt on.

Legs: Dusk. For tanking stuff you can't hurt there's obviously I.R. Hose.

Feet: Dusk. There's also Amir Boots for WS but these'll become mostly obsolete the second you get Atonement, so consider that before investing into them. Aurum is the best you could possibly have, but not exactly the easiest thing to get. But for stuff you can buy, pretty much Dusk.

That's my 2 cents.

Callisto · 06-25-2009, 10:11 AM

derp, totally forgot Haub, lol...I haven't used mine on PLD since I got crab plate.

Edit: If you're going to add in Aurum Feet I think you may as well say Homam, overall for PLD I think the HP/MP boost will outweigh any minor differences that can come up between the 1% haste vs. 2~ Acc when comparing Aurum/Homam.

Firewind · 06-25-2009, 11:20 AM

Thanks for the suggestions and thanks for not instantly defaulting to stuff that needs me to join an EGLS

The Dusk gear suggestions kinda makes me regret selling my Behemoth Hide fom the mog lotto but considering that I'm levelling COR alongside PLD it'll probably be worth getting since they can be used on both jobs. looks like i'll have to get crafting to save up for them.

I did have a rough idea as to how I was going to gear my PLD and I'm glad to see that I wasn't too far off the path. Repeating the ACP final is an option for me for both PLD and COR body pieces. I enjoy that fight and my Redingote is setup as a WHM Hauby anyway so it's not really needed per se unless I'm soloing on WHM.

Speaking of COR I did get a very nice augmented neck piece for it from ACP:

Carapace Gorget Lv45 Attack +4, Ranged Attack +6, StoreTP +2

It's great if Samurai Roll is an option in parties and moar RAttack is nice considering COR's B in Marksmanship.

IfritnoItazura · 06-25-2009, 01:01 PM

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