Duban S3,4,5

Duban stage 2 is the single best value for Galli.

But what about 3/4/5? I'm sitting on ~4mil Galli and play PLD most everyday. I was thinking about dumping it into Duban and was curious when would it actually matter? I use all 4 REAP shields but most high end fights its Aegis exclusively.

Is Duban 3/4/5 worth it or just a completionist item?

If none of the hardest fights are made significantly easier because your aegis would block more, then its just a luxury item.

On the few fights that blocking matters, the slight increase in magic defense really does nothing either.

Feels like it was designed to solve a problem that didn't exist and you're just trying to think of a void it'll fill.

IMHO at least, someone might argue its required and the best and no paladin is complete without it, but we've both done everything without it already, and I can't think of a reason except completion to upgrade it.

Yeah, that really sums up the reason as to why I never bothered upgrading it either yet.

The best I can tell so far that it may be very useful for is if Oathsworn master trial was done with PLD. From my experiments with going in there, his attacks seem to be a blend/combination of physical/magical damage depending on the animation. In that situation I could see the shield reigning supreme.

However, at this point in time its seemingly done only with RUN because of rayke/gambit enhancing magic ws's used throughout the fight at various points.

While im glad duban got its block increase at S2, i think it really should have been a S3/4 effect because of the above. Just feels like it becomes some mix of ochain/aegis/priwen that only really excels as an ochain rep. Still baffled why it got evasion of all things.

If nothing else it makes it easier to hit capped resist status+(if any of those are possible)

And this is a fair portion of why I was so damn salty when the higher Duban stages came out.. and stage 5 only had half Aegis' MDT. -_-;

I mean, I still made one. And having some MDT II while maintaining capped block rate is nice... but.. if you asked me to point out a fight where this is critical, or required... Well. I got nothing.

I tried stage 5 Duban on a V25 Kalunga, once. Which should have actually been a pretty good use case. But I think I actually took more damage using Duban V than using Aegis. Even blocking the physical portion of Searing Serration apparently wasn't as valuable as that extra 12.5% MDT II.(Keep in mind that at 75% MDT, you're taking twice as much magic dmg as you would at 87.5% MDT)

I mean, it worked, Didn't die or anything. And preventing the stun on some of his melee hits was nice. But all the high dmg attacks hit harder, and were more dangerous. And I can't really even say that it was better for the fight than Aegis, much less that it was a must.

I wish SE would have just given it 40% MDT II, so I could use it over Aegis on applicable fights... /sigh

I'm holding out hope that Prime augments fixes this...but I know that's just copium.

^ This.

They had no problem with Horn getting stacked but fell short with Duban.

I'm only going to Stage 5 because I play PLD every day and I want to be pink. However, I am quite happy with the upgrade from Stage 2 to Stage 3. The added stats, resist status ailments, and MDT II- are all really nice additions especially in Odyssey or Dynamis when you're pulling a lot of mixed type mobs.

And they had no issue with absolutely stomping Ochain. And with just the stage 2 shield... But not Aegis, no. Can't replace that. SE needs to keep making players wear a non-ilvl shield(Cause they refused to ilvl it! I'd have taken an ilvl Aegis.)

That sounds like 30 year anniversary talk... 2032 is just around the corner!

I know I'm probably alone on this and gonna get ratio'd, and obviously I think horn is more useful buuuut...

I haven't put away any instruments since I finished the prime horn.

Gjalla is still bis for enfeebles, marsyas for hmarch, and daurdabla for Horde Lullaby 2.

So while the prime is incredible and I love it, and it really helps BRD play, it didn't actually totally replace any instruments, similar to how shield didn't (totally) replace any shields. Ochain could be argued, but it still returns mp, like how daurdabla is 99% replaced and gjalla is too.

In that context Aegis would still be BiS for Shield Bash.

Ochain still has a use like you said.

I think they deliberately designed both shield and horn so they wouldn't totally eliminate the niches of the other REMA. The problem is they carved out a nice big wide niche for the horn and a tiny little baby one (that wasn't very important in end game, it turns out) for the shield.

I still think shield is BiS in its niche (physical blocking), the problem is that niche isn't important in relevant endgame content.

Though TBH, were you expecting content where you NEED to have this shield? If so, that would really *** over people who wanted to play PLD but didn't have/couldn't get a prime.

This conversation has been had over and over about the physical weapon primes too: what content can you not clear without a prime weapon, specifically?

I think they (including/especially the shield) are not about "I need this or I can't do..." but rather "my character is better off with this than it is without". It's still progression of your power, even if it doesn't allow you to clear something you couldn't otherwise clear.

Go for it man, make the shield. You'll be better off for it, and there's nothing you NEED to make with your muffins anyway.

Stage 3 and you can stop if you only care about a superior block shield and no mp drain to take your auto refresh. I'm not saying 1mil galli is easy for some most people, but if you were doing something that was so hard that this shield was required then I don't think it's a unreasonable to say they aren't ready for that content if they can't cover 1mil galli +240k for the head, legs, and feet for their PLD to shine like the sun.

I fully agree that makes it artificially gated and there is something to be said if other jobs don't have similar requirements. But if it's anything like how it's playing out in my mind, i also don't want people dying in ambuscade gear on v25s or even v20s unless it's an agreed upon carry. I would prefer if you could at least get in the door with a Priwen or something equivalent even if it would be significantly more difficult.

I would encourage anyone who enjoys playing PLD to get it to stage 3. The VIT/MND is good for healing, there is no enmity+ if you're using a PLD as a 2nd tank to hold adds but still serving as the party healer, and the block rate means you'll actually get value out of shield masteries forgotten perk of stopping interruptions so you don't need a sird healing set. I feel like that is actually what this shield niche is since it addresses adds, avoids some status effects because you probably don't have a WHM, only remedy and panacea, and aoe magic damage is less of a factor.

Would have been nice if they gave PLD any WSs with VIT modifiers on 1 handed weapons to dual purpose it. Change the STR mod on savage blade to VIT? I'm not seeing a outpouring desire for daybreak level light affinity and a huge amount of magic damage stat to get their divine magic up to swipe levels, much less lunge.

I made S5 Duban in November 2023, when we didn't know anything about Stage 5. Yes, I had hopes for some "hidden" stats but it was kinda clear at that point there were not going to be any. I still am enjoying using it at this point, and YES, I would do it again if I knew what I know now and I was back in 2023.

Now, does it change "much" or "at all" from S3/S4? Probably not, but all of this has been explained above.