[Armando]

Do you actually want to be a PLD though? RDM will get Phalanx at 33, and with capped Enhancing Magic that'll put you at a better damage reduction than PLD (-8 damage taken off of every hit.) RDM can provide its own enfeebling, which also serve for hate (Bind and Blind are extremely cheap and quick but gather significant hate if you really need to). Naturally RDM has full-power Enspells to help aid their damage, too.

In other words a lot of what a PLD can do, a RDM can do as well. They're not entirely interchangeable, but they're pretty close. Like I said, it's better to pick a job you actually want to use than picking one just because you think it might duo better.

[Kiege]

I want to level paladin, but when I started this thread I was originally asking about it to duo with other DD jobs she is likely to try in the near future, such as war and drg etc. I asked about duoing it with drk later just to get opinions on which might be less downtime. For the purposes of duoing with her DRK I'll probably stay with my rdm and go /nin on it for better damage and shadows, especially since she's going to either go /dnc or /nin on her drk. The PLD though I do want to level, but will probably only start up once she switches to another DD job.

---------- Post added at 02:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:27 PM ----------

I want to thank you both for all of the information you've given. It's got me thinking about things in different way and hopefully now I won't have to ask as many questions in the future =) Thanks a bunch.

[Ryoii/Nonomii]

The main thing is to play the jobs you enjoy most. FoV, XP rings, and adjustments to XP from EP & DC have made duo XP quite palatable even if you are forced into targeting enemies which will not chain.

Ideally you’d duo PLD with a RDM for Refresh, but you might find a RDM, BRD, or COR who wants to trio with you later on.

Personally I’ve had a lot of fun with RDM/DNC here recently. Composure at Lv50 triples the duration of enhancing spells cast on yourself. This saves you tons of casting time since you cast once every 9 minutes instead of every 3. Lv50 RDM/DNC with Phalanx, Ice Spikes, Hard Shield, Haste, and Enspells is a beast. However, you'll have to work hard on your convert ratio unless you are a Tarutaru.

[Kiege]

Very true. That's more helpful info. I notice from your tag that you like duo/trio, so slightly switching the top to keep from creating an entire new thread, when duoing my rdm which I do like with her drk/nin which sub do you suggest for my rdm? /Dnc is viable though it would keep me from Skill chaining with her like we do now which does a very good amount of damage. How would /nin work in a duo?

[Malacite]

You can still semi-provoke with /DNC if you use Animated Flourish.

[Ryoii/Nonomii]

It varies based on what you are fighting and your goals. It is definitely fun to weapon skill, skill chain, and magic burst, so even if it doesn't end up being the most efficient, it might be the most fun. It is really hard to say which SJ is going to work best.

Lv10+ /WAR - Gives you Provoke to keep hate better
Lv16+ /BLU - Cocoon dramatically decreases damage taken (~33%)
Lv24+ /NIN - Utsusemi: Ichi helps you avoid damage and is perfect if you both sub NIN and swap hate
Lv30+ /DNC - Lets you avoid using your MP for cures

Bouncing hate as /NIN is definately the easiest option. However, it will end up being the most costly. I'm concerned you'll find it difficult getting the scrolls. I'm not sure how much it costs to complete the quest, but right now the scroll is ~200k on my server.

If you continue to target T enemies, /NIN is probably the best option, but if you are targetting T enemies for FoV training regimes, you should still be able to finish one per hour no matter what SJs you use. You'll just have more downtime.

Now if you decide it is more fun to slaughter enemies (EP & DC) while doing FoV and treat duoing as a combination of farming and leveling, you'd probably go for RDM/WAR or RDM/DNC. RDM/DNC will help you heal your partner, and RDM/WAR will help you keep hate and reduce the amount of healing required since you'll take less damage than a DRK.

I don't really see RDM/BLU working until Lv62+ when you want access to Vorpal Blade. However, the hate gained from pulling might make it work well enough. It is just so hard to say without making some calculations. DRK can generate a lot of hate.

The largest majority of my experience comes from taking RDM & SAM to Lv75 in duos and trios. SAM dishes out awesome damage against piercing weak enemies while using a polearm. RDM can also use a dagger to get the piercing bonus. RDM/DNC would work great, but your GF would end up doing all the tanking. RDM/WAR would allow you two to share tanking. SAM/WAR is a natural tank with Provoke and Seigan + Third Eye. DRK without NIN SJ will be a huge drain on MP. However, DRK/NIN shouldn't need much more healing than SAM/WAR.