Final Fantasy XIFinal Fantasy News

Paladin Hate

This is my first time posting on this site so go easy on me. This is aimed to mid range lvl paladins or better, 30 plus or just those that are curious about it. I assume you can make your own macros by this point. We all have our own I just keep em short and sweet.

You must know by now that as a Paladin you have Warrior subbed. You're no good without Provoke. People will kick you out of the party if you show up with anything but your trusty war sub backup. Make sure your Warrior sub is up to date !!!

MIND SET
First off as a paladin you don't get to party with other paladins. So you don't really get to see how others work their trade. So here is my method. Agro/Hate Control is a team effort. Do not think that your stuff is so hot that a BLM or RNG or MNK can not take agro from you. Take a good look over your party before you begin. See who is going to be your main culprit for loss of agro. If you have a well experienced party , this should not be a problem.

I can not stress how important it is to level up with food enchancements if you can afford to. Paladins like Fish Mith/Chiefkabobs and Boiled/Steamed Crab. Lower lvls can use Boiled/Steamed Crayfish and still kinda get away with it. But to be honest I don't lvl without this anymore. If your Mithra you can eat it raw but seriously….were Paladins…Cook is better stat gains.

FRESH RESTED BATTLE BEGINS (NO THF)

This is your time to shine. Depending on your lvl and skills you will execute the following.

1) FLASH SPELL - I flash first so that when the mob gets to me it's not destroying me while I'm loading up all my defense enhancements. Make sure you do this as the puller is in fairly close proximity to your staging/fight area. If your puller is pulling correctly he should not be pulling with provoke. If he is well then he gets hit once or twice till step 2 if the flash doesn't pull it off. If you do not have this Spell yet (which is an absolute necessity) then have your weapon ready when the mob comes in and Provoke.

WAIT 2 SECONDS

2) PROVOKE - Bread and Butter , No explanation needed. You better have a macro for this. A warning on it's recast time is also key.

WAIT 2 SECONDS

3) SHIELD BASH - This is a possible stun. I say possible cause most of the time it doesn't work unless you got serious levels on what you are fighting. BUT, it throws agro and it's another free hit so you use it. As a Paladin your ATK is not as good as other Melee but this will get you a minimal amount of dmg, some more hate, and stun chance so hey why the hell not ?! You may have to save this step if you are fighting things that blow up or throw things that blow up. (Bombs and Goblins w/bombs) It's your call. At lower lvls I would just save it for the goblin bomb's as you can get lucky and DRKs and BLMs don't get stun spell till much later. At the higher lvls the STUN spell is more efficient cast by a BLM or DRK

WAIT 2 SECONDS

4) DEF BOOST - Double Macro for this one. Create a Macro that intiates Defender from your Warrior Sub followed by a wait 3, then Sentinel Ability. If you have the both of these abilties then this order is the best. The flash you cast at the beginning of the pull will be wearing off and you need those boosts. The Flash is pretty potent so unless it's a really good IT mob you won't get hit for like 4-6 seconds. Also you are trying to take the least amount of dmg that you can in this battle start so that the other party members can do there thing. I.E. get into postion and engage, Debuff the mob, Lazy Whm slow to get up, whatever…. I would have a recast time warning posted right into the macro. (as I said above you make your own) Also, Sentinel throws you a bit more hate. YES the mob does not like this and it's a decent amount to even turn a mob around if you were to use it mid fight. I'm not sure if it's stronger then Provoke but it seems to be on the par with it at least.

WAIT 2 SECONDS

5) ARCANE CIRCLE - Paladin Circle makes undead scared of you and it trips them up when the are attacking and casting. Expecially nasty Liches that cast Arcane magic this is a good step. If you not fighting undead , this still throws a very tiny amount of hate for any mob type. I REPEAT this ability give you a tiny bit of hate , why not..10 min recast time bites >< oh yeah that's right party, I blind you all ! MWHHAHAH Alot of times this abilty will not last the distance of the battle. But you want this now cause in the even you loose hate on an undead pull your party member that recieved it has one extra trick up his sleeve.

6) SELF HEAL - at this point you will have taken some sort of dmg. heal this up with the appropriate heal. The more hps cured the more hate. In the event of no dmg has been taken by this point wait till there is some to cure obviously but the first cure better damn well be yours and not the party healer's.

7) PROVOKE - Yes by this time your provoke will have refreshed. Hit your prey with another dose of the Voke Juice.

Comments: The wait period between some of these gives you time for a swing of the ole weapon or two. Even during the usage of some of these abilties you will still be attacking the engaged mob. It won't be like your just atacking, you still will loose swings of your weapon but these steps are better then your mediocre dmg agression. During the course of a decent fight you will be casting FLASH again for sure and provoking as much as you can. Self Heal to half your MPs or less.

If you have a Refresh effect on you or some bard MP regen you can empty your bar. I like to empty my cures before the whm really starts laying into it. As the whm is healing you and taking some agression at the same time your mps can be returning for reuse.

Your Second Battle will be more difficult as you will lack your Sentinel. No one is waiting the refresh time on this before another pull. Just tank on and stick to the other steps. Chain em UP !

All of what I have stated above is when you have no THF in your party. IF you have a THF then the Puller would run by you and Provoke himself. The Puller Provoke is important as the casters will already be sticking effects on the mob as the thf circles around behind you for his Sneak /Trick Agro Transfer. The second you get the agro or the THF misses, you Provoke. Trick Attack is a great way to get an amazing amount of hate at the beginning of the battle and is recommended if you ever hope to hold agro later with this THF tricking on the other guy.

T I P

Crawlers / Scorpions / Spiders - Fight at a 90 Degree angle from the casters so that they do not get hit with the Cone/Spray Effects. This is really important in crawler's next in the tight tunnels. I know it's restricted in there but this is really useful. Poisoning your casters wastes there mps to cure it and the can't rest in battle at all till this occurs.

…………………………………………………………(
…………………………………………………………(………………………..Dmg….Thf
…………………………………………………………(………………………………..Enemy……………………..Casters…
…………………………………………………………(
…………………………………………………………(…………………………………Tank

 

That's my 2 cents. There are probably going to be quite alot of different ideas and comments good or bad about this post. Each player is his own and if you know something that works for you well great , by all means stick with it. This utilizes all the tools. To most of you , you probably do this and I congratulate you for being a solid tank.