Sir Iron Will's Wisdom is here to bring you everything you ever wanted to know about tanking, and probably some things you never wanted to know and now wish to blot out of your memory, whether you like it or not, Izman is here with the do's and don'ts of tanking, in general, solo or end game. This week, after a short disappearance in the hinterlands of Arkansas, Izman is back to hide from you some more behind his shadows.
Ahh, it seems like it has been forever since last I posted. I did miss last weeks post from being too tired and lazy. To make up for it, today I'm going to go over some of the things I do when tanking subbed NIN, which is for just about everything I do. Most of this you will know because I honestly don't do anything special or different. I'm just going to cover how I gear for NIN sub and how to use the sub to its maximum potential.
Ok, some things you need to ask yourself if your going to use PLD/NIN a lot first. Can I count to three (I can but its really hard to play with one hand and count with the other)? Do I even have NIN sub? Do I have a bajillion Gil for Shihei and the Ni scroll?
If you answered yes to all this then you're on the right track.
In essence, when subbing NIN you are just trying not to get hit. This means your gear will be a little different from other subs if you have the gear to optimize for subbing NIN. For example, a Terror or Wivre Shield with more enmity and less block rate than the Koenig shield with less enmity but a higher block rate.
The weapon I use almost always with NIN sub is the Macuahuitl +1 with its +4 enmity it's to good to pass up. You can use the Joyeuse and others I suppose but on mobs that you can't hit this is the one I love to use. And don't be a cheap bastard and get the NQ version. LOL
I mentioned shields right before swords and there is not really a lot of variety at end game for shields. Koenig Shield is a must have and is a great shield but with NIN sub a Wivre or Terror Shield out shine it. If you're new to subbing NIN stick with the Koenig till you master threading shadows.
At this point, the line blurs from on gear depending on your race, your own style of tanking, and the gear you are able to obtain.
I will go over what I use for /NIN but keep in mind if you're a Taru or Galka this will most likely not be ideal for you. For the most part I just stock up on enmity. If you have Iron Ram gear from the past that is great stuff to use. I know I use the hat and boots all the time. The legs and hands are also very amazing but I tend to use Homam in those spots.
There are a few bodies you can use. AF body if you're a cheap S.O.B. who wont buy Adaman gear, AF +1 body to sell that Adaman piece you bought with a few others that are harder to obtain like Valor body and Ares. There is also the Nuevo body that you put fast cast and enmity on, right?
Hands that are great for subbing NIN are Homam (Iz)Manopolas, Askar hands, I.R. hands, and Adaman (I think).
Legs, the bane of my existance. Homam legs, more Homam legs, I.R. legs, and Adaman once again if you just dinged 73. I think that is about it.
Boots. OK, you win this one you cheap bastards. AF feet are still really great even for NIN sub and the HQ even better but it's only something I macro in when shadows are down. When I do have shadows up, I use I.R. boots with all of its enmity but Adaman, Homam, and Askar are all great choices and the best will vary on your play style.
For rings I use a Hercules' Ring and if you don't own one you get my Cheap S.O.B. Seal of Approval™! I mainly use a Bomb Queen Ring on my other finger but the CoP ring is also amazing. I would wear more but I lost my other 8 fingers in the Dunes to a crab.
Waist is easy enough, a Trance Belt being the better choice but a Warwolf Belt is also very good and very cheap. I wouldn't use anything other then these unless I was a Taru or Galka.
Ears! A lot for choices for ears. I use a Loquacious Earring and a Ethereal Earring but those don't come until later in the game. A Buckler Earring is fine or HP Earrings of any sort and the Cure Potency +5% are all nice until you can get a Loquacious and Ether earring.
The neck slot, the only exposed spot on your body besides your face. Parade Gorget is amazing as well as the Ritter Gorget and the last choice I can think of is a Shield Torque for when those shadows are down.
Bow? Well, the Lamian Kaman or the +1 are the best. And here is where I become the cheap sob that uses a NQ. A Rosenbogen is fine I guess but the point is not to get hit so the VIT and HP become less important than MP and Magic Defense.
The back. A Cerberus Mantle is amazing with its 3 enmity and it is also becoming more affordable. The Gigant Mantle is OK
but I think costs more then a Cerb Mantle now, and a Boxer's Mantle rounds out the top 3 choices besides a Cerberus Mantle +1, but I don't have the 20+ Mil for one of those. If you don't have those then just about anything will work to fill in space.
Well, that's it for the gear part now lets talk about counting shadows.
Threading shadows is the term I use when I cancel my shadows to put up a fresh set. To do this properly you have to cancel your shadows at the top of your screen right before the third attack comes in while you are casting a new set of shadows. This can be difficult at times with lag and spell lock but with enough practice it will become second nature to you.
Some things to keep in mind when doing this is that Ichi will overwrite itself so no need to cancel shadows if you're casting Ichi over Ichi. The only time you will have to cancel is when you're casting Ichi and have shadows up from Ni before. One other short tip is to save Shield Bash to stun a enemy to get a Ichi up in time of need.
Here are some final tips and good things to have with NIN sub: 1. A shield set that you can swap into when your shadows are down. 2. The less blinking the better and your mages will love you, the more you blink the higher your chance of death. 3. Keep in mind to not swap out anything that will make you lose TP.
That's it for this week, I'm sure I have missed a few things or there are things I didn't think of but playing PLD really is more dependent on skill than gear, more then most jobs I would think. So go practice threading those shadows until you have 1-2-3 pounded into your little concussed PLD head. Lets all cross our fingers and hope the I.R. body is at least half as awesome as we all think it will be!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Sir Iron Will's Wisdom: Ask A Ninja! (PLD/NIN That Is).
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sir IronWill's Wisdom: Anyone Wanna Merit?
Sir Iron Will's Wisdomis here to bring you everything you ever wanted to know about tanking, and probably some things you never wanted to know and now wish to blot out of your memory, whether you like it or not, Izman is here with the do's and don'ts of tanking, in general, solo or end game. This week Iz tells you what and what not to merit for PLD.
Hello my Paladin people! Today I wanted to talk about merits for Paladin. What these new abilities are and what they can do.
Okay lets with the group one merits for Paladin.
All right the first choice you have is Shield Bash recast merits. This knocks off 10 seconds of Shield Bash every time you put merits in it. Most people merit this if they are going for Aegis so they can do awesome Shield Bash damage every 5 minutes or 4 minutes and 10 seconds with merits. This is a great option if you're aiming for Aegis some day or even if you just like to be on the safe side of eating a magic spell.
Holy Circle... If you merited this or was thinking about it congratulations you're dumb.
Please for the love of Altana don't merit this.
Sentinel Recast is awesome. Most Paladins max this one out. Sentinel is a 5 minute job ability that decreases 90% physical damage you take and generates a ton of emnity as well as making everything else you do while Sentinel is up to generate more emnity than usual! This is one of the best job abilities Paladins get I highly recommend meriting this one.
Cover is next and this one is pretty good but I went a different path. Cover is a great choice. Cover is another great job ability that I will have to admit I don't use as much as I should. It's a 3 minute recast job ability that last 15 to 30 seconds and when you merit it you can add 4 seconds to each tier of merits you put in to it. With AF hat and Relic body Cover becomes a really cool and fun ability to use that can and will save players HP and lives.
Rampart, a 5 min recast ability that last 30 seconds that used to be total trash with sentinel a couple years ago is now also pretty cool and great to have. Each tier of merits also knocks off 10 seconds of the recast just like Sentinel. Rampart is a AoE magic Stoneskin that give defense to the party members in range. Very awesome for -GA spells. With Valor head you get another 15 seconds of this sweetness.
Okay that finishes up the group one merits that you can think about and decide what you think is best for you and your play style. So now on to group two merits that enhance the group one abilties and also give you new whole new abilites to use.
The first choice we have here is Fealty. Fealty is a 20 minute recast ability that give you 100% resist to enfeebling magic effects, status effects of tp moves from mobs, and even reduces dammage from some nasty moves like Meteor! This ability last a whole minute and can be merited down to a 10 minute recast. I wish I could go in to more detail about this ability but I'm slacking on Paladin merits still lol.
Ahhh Chivalry the Paladins convert. This is also a 20 minute ability that can be merited down to 10 minutes. It instantly converts current TP to MP using this formula that I totally did not steal from the Wiki. MP recovered = TP * (0.5 + 0.015 * MND)... Okay I stole it so sue me. Please put at least one merit in this and use it as a emergency only ability like you would any 2 hour.
All righty Iron Will the one no one merits lol. Iron Will is a job trait like undead killer. It is all ways active when you use Rampart. It adds a 19% spell interruption rate down when you use Rampart. I don't know why people see this as a bad thing. Now that you can put 5 tiers of merits in to the group two category that makes it pretty good I think. Lets so some math class 19 * 5 = what? No not 11 Ring you old man. 95% AoE spell interruption rate down.
Pretty awesome if you ask me seeing as I'm all ways nin subbed. I have this one maxed all the way giving me the name Iron Will Izman the ladies man... I added the ladies part lol. Don't merit it unless you plan on maxing it out.
The last thing you can put merits in to to custamize your job. Guardian is another job trait that is active when you use Sentinel. It reduces emnity loss by 19% for each tier of merits you put into this. That means when your getting smacked in the face you lose less emnity than you normally would. And since you can put 5 merits in it and it works the same as Iron Will, that means that 95% emnity lose with full merits for 30 seconds make it keep you at the hate cap long enough
to stack another Provoke or Flash on a mob to make sure you don't lose hate.
Well that's it for job specific merits for Paladin but lets talk about the other merits you can spend to customize your character.
HP/MP. This is something you can't have some one say you're wrong since it effects all your jobs. I personally went half and half cause I'm lazy and really could not decide which I wanted more of. Other jobs should be factored in when meriting this of course.
Attributes, well all I can say is spend the merits on STR INT or MND for whatever your main job class may be. If its Paladin still merit STR it will help with your lolDD build.
Combat skills shield shield shield skill max it! Sword is a choice too if you plan on making a DD build.
Skip magic skills for the last thing you ever merit.
The other category my favorite. Emnity increase max it and do the same to critical hit rate unless you never plan on leveling a melee job and are only serous about tanking. If that's the case don't let me decide for you.
Okay well this is my view and advice on how I have merited Paladin but its not perfect and it is not for everyone. But remember not everyone plays this job the same so the combinations can vary from person to person and its hard to go wrong unless you maxed out Holy Circle so remember this is my personal view on how I merited this job.
#1 ~ Monk
#2 ~ Samurai
#3 ~ Ninja
#4 ~ Dragoon
Chaotic Pellucidity
Teabags and KY Jelly
The Bloggaru!
