~First And Final Line Of Defense V2.0~

It's your runner up, with I thiiiink aeonic shield being 3rd though I cant remember the gaps between those 2. As stated earlier Priwens big weakeness is it relies on rerpisal to be competitive, if for whatever reason you're slowed or it gets dispelled your block rate shoots way down, which is what makes ochain so appealing as it has the better block rate and it doesnt rely on reprisal to reach it, though its a good boost for it as well, you can refer to this block table.

https://www.ffxiah.com/forum/topic/46016/first-and-final-line-of-defense-v20/96/#3538417

As for swords, you got options, path C dyna sword's solid, brilliance is still the highest enmity in slot minus burt, sakpata's a great all-rounder with its high HP/FC/DT/phalanx, and of course theres naegling, even excal isnt too bad though donno if id invest money into R15ing it for a side project

@wotasu I updated my post with the ML20 HP increase and was able to get even more FC for Taru. 67% for normal spells, 74% for cures, and 73% for enhancing.

Well, I've started making new sets for Master Level 20. The extra 150~ or so HP has created some leeway in my 3k HP sets. And Austar has pointed out some good improvements in Fast cast sets.

I personally don't feel that I need more than 3k HP, and I've been hovering around 3200 HP in most of my tanking sets. Honestly.. it would haev been so much easier to just stay at higher HP... But there are gains to be had!

I decided to leave my old sets for pre ML people to reference and just make new ML20 sets. The set names are getting rather long...

So, since HP values can vary by race/sub, etc, I'm listing the conditions under which I have the HP values listed in the sets below.
ML20 Elvaan PLD/BLU. Unity Rank #2.
/blu spell set

Augments are in set descriptions.

ItemSet 383027	ItemSet 383028	ItemSet 383029
ML20 HP FC set. 3072 HP 890 MP 68% FC +8FC gain vs old set.	Enhancing Magic FC set. 3027 HP 890 MP 74% FC +10FC gain vs old set.	Cure FC set. 3002 HP 870 MP 76% FC +8FC vs old set.

Significant FC gains. SE just needs to add a little bit more good FC/HP gear... And PLD might reasonably cap FC without weapon swapping.

The HP value in the Cure FC set is a bit low, but considering this is for cures, and PLD cures are AoE, this is unlikely to cost you any Current HP after your cast. I ended up using Odnowa rather than Tuisto mostly because of slot issues. In other sets, Mendicant's is always in ear1, so putting it in ear2 in precast could cause equip failures on midcast as it tries to equip the earring on ear1 to ear2. Moving Tuisto to ear2 causes similar issues. So I used Odnowa and the HP is slightly lower.

So, with my HP standard moved down to 3002~3072 by my FC sets, I can't have my Idle/TP tanking sets sitting at 3181. I'd lose almost 200 HP precast. So, I need to dump HP, but what can I gain doing it?

Not much really. The changes I came up with.. Really feel a bit wasteful. Replacing a +200 HP on one slot for such minor gains...

The first idle/TP set I've reworked is my currently most used one. A slightly odd DEF/PDT/MEVA hybrid. Used for mass pulling/tanking in Sheol C, where defense actually matters. Trying to have enough meva(and a bit of ele resist) to have fair chances of resisting binds/stuns and nukes while pulling, and stacking up defenses to try to 0 out the melee hits of the 10~30 mobs chasing me.

Also uses a rarely utilized stat. Enemy Crit rate-. Since crits tend to hurt quite a bit compared to the regular hits that are typically zeroed out by a good phalanx.

Full augments lists in set descriptions. The +next to stats is the gains vs the pre-ML set.

ItemSet 383030	ItemSet 383031
Idle/pulling set. 3041 HP. -140 855 MP. +50 68%+ PDT 39% DT. +7% 1769 DEF. +8 378 VIT. +6 -12% enemy crit rate. +2% Cape aug: PDT	PDT-MEVA TP set 3025 HP. -140 899 MP. +50 68%+ PDT 48% DT. +7% 1846 DEF. +8 395 VIT. +6 -12% enemy crit rate. +2% Cape aug:Block+

Honestly, The gains are, well. Minor. These changes are more about lowering HP to be closer to the 3k standard than about what I can get for dropping the HP. I want to get those fast cast gains without doing the HP yo-yo.

But I do consider this an improvement. Minor as most of it is. It's also kinda nice to see a use for PLD +2 neck. Pushes the DT in the sets up, and lets me go from Warden ring to Fortified for a bit more enemy crit-. If you're not keen on spending millions of gill for really marginal gains from the +2 neck, you can get a very similar def/DT value from Augmented loricate+1, but you'll need to make up that +60 HP somewhere.

There are so many other sets to go through... I can already see some potential enmity increases on casting and JA sets. And the possibility of hitting another phalanx skill tier while maintaining good PDT and HP. Going to go through things.. slowly. I already spent a fairly ridiculous amount of time just on the sets I worked on today.

Now watch them increase ML cap to 40 this month.

Well, I'd take it. More native HP means less HP+ I have to wear. But the timing would be slightly obnoxious. Right as I carefully adjust all these sets...

I do have to wonder if at some point new content will push the desired HP value up though... Honestly, 3K is pretty arbitrary. There's only a few things where that value is specifically useful or safe. (Moblin ambu, etc.)

Although, while we took a step upwards in HP with Master Levels, we also sorta took a step down awhile back going from Souveran as the standard tank/idle gear, to Sakpata's. Caused a shift towards using a lot of HP+ on accessories.

Really, really, need some new Enmity/SIRD/Cure gear that doesn't have (now)trash level meva like Souveran.

why is phalanx received suggested to put on odyssean instead of valorous in the guide?
chests are pretty similar in defense stats and only 4 less HP on valorous. the helmet i could see due to 54 less HP on valorous head but pre sakpata valorous hose had 41 more HP than odyssean and valorous set has all the jobs odyssean has on it +3 more.

Slightly higher hp/vit/def, but on the whole i guess cause ody is the "pld" set, outside of niche uses like phal+5 on boots which are a strong sird piece

Personally I would just go for Phalanx on valorous for all the other jobs that can equip it over odyssean.

Body and feet both have 5% Fast Cast, and feet have 20% SIRD. But ya, all jobs on Odyssean are also on Valorous if inventory is an issue.

Isnt Parry+5 strictly better than Block+5?

Especially if you are /run and benefitting from Inquartata II?

I thought Block+ is applied before the floor, so you likely still are at the block floor anyways on end game content?

Parry+ however is applied after the floor, no?

Though, which is calculated first, a Parry or a Block?

Does parry+/Inquartata *lower* our TP gain rate, such that as parry rate goes up, block rate goes down?

Also, if your accuracy is greater than 50%, isnt counter+10% strictly better than block or parry? Especially as your accuracy approaches the realm of ~90%+, Counter+10% seems substantially better than either block or parry.

M Eva+15, or Status Ailment Resist+10 both also I would say are much more compelling augments over parry or block.

I'm curious, what's the order for all defensive checks like evade, parry, counter, Utsusemi, etc?

Evasion
Parry
Shadow/Blink
Counter
Block
Hit

If you're below the block floor, then sure I guess parry+ would give more mitigation, but I'm not sure what situations those are outside of being forced into aegis?

Thoughts on MEva though? Or status ailment resist+10?

I feel like physical mitigation with Ochain is just our least concern, tbh. We can handle the physical damage, its the magic damage and, more importantly, ailments that really can cause ***to go sideways.

With Odyssey gear you can get some pretty solid magic evasion builds for PLD now. They've made avoiding enfeebles a lot easier now. Make sure you include elemental resistances (ex: Carrier's Sash) in your builds to get the most out of your magic evasion.

I've played around with /RUN a little bit. I've really enjoyed playing with a Resist Charm build and Pflug. Makes a great substitute for Fealty if it's down. Having Foil and a third rune are going to be insane down the road as we get more mastery levels.

Meva is typically the way to go between the two, +resist is really make or break in that you can either load up on so much that it makes it great, or its just a coin flip, while meva is more reliable and covers multiple statuses instead of just the 1 you're focusing on.

Until mob stats get high enough that current meva levels can't keep up, or stuff just simply ignores it later, mevas pretty tough. Between that, rampart, mdt, and specific elemental resist, magic dmg is pretty reasonable to deal with, id much rather block the phys attacks of current stuff, not to mention the added benefit of ailment blocking that comes with it, which is also common

Great stuff, thanks (also thanks to Martel for the excellent info you linked). One follow-up question: for Priwen, think it's worthwhile to use Souveran +1 feet (paired with 4/5 Sakpata and easily capping DT- either way) for tanking and get a bit more block rate? I'm sorta leaning that way but hadn't seen that set posted - though ofc most BiS sets in guides aren't based on using Priwen anyway.

It's also worth noting that the status effect resistance is halved against NMs. So +10 Stun or Silence, etc., only provided +5% resistance against NMs.

Priwen gets extra mileage out of shield skill, due to its reprisal enhancement and how reprisal interacts with skill+. Skill increases your base block rate, and then reprisal multiplies that value.(And reprisal increases skill now as well) Whereas block+ is added in at the end, and isn't modified by reprisal at all.

This being the case, you'd get more block rate from AF+3 feet's shield skill +21 vs Souveran's Block+3. Particularly when using Priwen and Reprisal. Although I dunno how things will look HP wise. AF has significantly less HP compared to Souveran. Something to consider if you're wanting the most blockrate gain for the slot.

Hey Martel,
thanks for sharing those sets, i update my FC gears little different since i dont have moogle belt, and was wondering is it better to tank on Sakpata + Ochain rather than keeping enmity on gears to reduce enmity loss while getting hits? "i'm talking mainly about mass pulls on dyna"?

As is mentioned in the actual set description for the main FC set, Gold moogle belt is not required. Creed belt still keeps the set above 3k HP.
Getting hit for 0 is also pretty good at preventing enmity loss. <,<

Basically, you can lose less CE for taking damage, or you can just take less damage. And Sakpata's is good at the latter. Although it's honestly really hard to say which option will reduce CE loss more overall.

Also, with crusade up, my Sakpata set up there still has +73 enmity out of a max of +100(for CE loss reduction purposes.) So going full souveran could only yield at most 13.5% more CE loss reduction.(27 enmity+ / 2)

have you tried asking the DPS to not hit as hard or to wear some DT gear so when you do lose hate they dont get wrecked? Burtgang and Chevy Pants are your only options for hate bleed stymie. If you're really fixated on holding the entire pile, tagging as many as possible before hitting Sentinel>Palisade should solidify your hold on it. After that its nothing a few cross alliance Majesty cures cant handle, but i mean at this point, unless you're talking about Halphas/Orc Wave 2 NMS/Volte Mobs, your need to hold every monster isnt as critical as it once was.

Playing with better/smarter DDs/hybrid DDs that can either kill the mobs before or soon after taking aggro or knowing when to team up on targets because they can't do that. It's not solely the responsibility of the tank to worry about every dipshit pretending every bit of content is Odyssey C segment farming and they need to solo mobs everywhere, even when they're not capable of doing so.

Tbh, Odyssey fodder probably hit as hard or harder than Wave 1/2 Dyna fodder.

yea mainly for Volte mobs since we run dyna with 1 tank, and sometime ppl attacking the whole group at the same time so its kinda hard to save all, i do use sakpata when i engage and keep hate with flash & atonement, i guess will try that set on next dyna and see, thanks for the replay guys

i would highly suggest to run with a group not made up of button mashing moron DPS trying to out big number each other. But it keeps the healer busy right? I presume its healer instead of healers if you're running 1 tank. Seems sus AF that ther's enough DPS to go after 4-8 Volte separately but only 1 Tank.

One tank can easily hold 1.5-2 fetters with one healer, if they're buffed properly. Our RUN gets mambos and minnes, but PLD can do basically the same thing by just stacking more Minnes (I haven't tried PLD mambo tanking). We just snipe the problematic volte in the pull (COR, WHM, NIN, BST) and then AE everything down, then kill the leftover NMs.

Pretty much hit the nail on the head. Most of the time you're better off with going for straight magic evasion/elemental resistance.


This is also really important to keep in mind.

Theres also something worth mentioning about not wanting to have to make 30 different capes for one job.

For slightly lower tier content, like soloing escha NMs and etc, Meva will really start to shine as you begin consistently evading status effects and whatnot and can focus on just spamming WSes.

And I draw the line at around 10 capes for the same job, I just cant justify going so granular I start waffling between an MEVA cape vs Status Resist cape vs Block vs Parry.

I am gonna roll with my one TPing idle cape and *** anyone that tries to make me go inventory -20 for every niche little situation.

Every problem can be solved by just Savage Blade'ing harder :3

I'm curious to see what sort of endgame DPS sets people are rocking (that still don't totally throw tankiness out to the wind)

I have Excalibur, but from my experience Savage Blade spam (SCing with Ayame) was king for solo DPS on content.

I left right when Sheol Gaol was first introduced, looking at Sakjpata's / Nyames, its looking like most of Nyame's Path B blows everything else out of the water for Savage Blade spam.

And Sakpata's 5/5 looks hard to beat, though Flamma feet look like they are still king. Sulevia hands seem to have been finally usurped by Sakpata hands though.

I think honestly the big one is indeed Sakpta feet vs Flamma feet.

Sakpta gives:

-2% Double Attack
-6 Store TP
-4 accuracy (much less dex)
+59 Attack
+10 Subtle Blow
-6% DT
+2 M.Def
+17 Eva
+64 M.Eva

I think the M.Eva and the Attack are the big selling points. More raw white damage while meleeing, and if you end up going 5/5 Sakpatas stacking all that M.Eva is going to really matter and Flammas starts to fall behind.

Being able to consistently resist stuff when soloing means you can push the type of content you solo up higher. Especially if you go /run and throw some runes on there for even more M.Eva.

Melee set:

ItemSet 383162

Cape Augs
- Hp+60
- Double Attack +10%
- MEva +10
- Meva +20
- Meva +15

I think stacking the ***out of MEva would likely net the best DPS for soloing annoying fights... which are most of the fights we care about.

Savage Blade:

ItemSet 360396

Pretty sure most of these item slots are difficult to dispute. Only one I am unsure of is ammo slot really, but I think Aurgelmir Orb +1 comes out ahead. Focal Orb may perhaps be better though with its DA+2%

Edit: Oh I missed that Coiste Bodhar is odyssey augmentable, that one likely beats everything else once it has a few ranks on it.

Flamma feet has 8 more accuracy than R20 Sakpata, not 4. Also, keep in mind that 34 DEX can also have a notable effect on white damage as well.