What To Merit As PLD?

Very simple, what to focus on? I've been reading on different pages, about chivalry, enmity, etc.. but I am not convinced, specially with the enmity as all your other jobs also get affected. So Far I have use my merits on:

Chivalry 3
shield skills 2
sword skills 2
shield bash 2
sentinel 1
rampart 1
hp 1
VIT 1

Each one of those can be multiple merit points.

Suggestions? Oh, this will be my main job so have that in mind.

Thanks!

Depends what you play PLD for. But any career PLD should cap shield skill (4). Sentinel is a given. I did shield bash cap too, more useful than it sounds. For group 2 do whatever suits you best, Iron will is useless, Guardian is meh, Chivalry is awesome if you're MP heavy and for solo or /RDM. Fealty is extremely useful if you merit it some, I have 4 in that. Great for Mijin/Meteor etc etc.
VIT would be a waste of merits, STR would help you hit for 0 less, and as for HP/MP balance it as best you can, if you're taru be HP heavy, etc. Do sword if you want to, depends if you plan to level other melee.

Edit: Crit+ and Crit- are the best options in other, enmity isn't really a big deal and will just get in the way of other jobs.

Well merits like enmity could be bad for other jobs you level.
I'm going to have my merits like this:
8/8 HP
4/4 Shield skill
3/4 Enmity(I started to merit this before I decided what job I was going to lvl next)
5/5 Sentinel
5/5 Rampart
4/5 Fealty
1/5 Iron Will
1/5 Guardian
4/5 Chivalry
Sword skill isn't too important, neither is Vit.

First question: What is your primary use of the job? Endgame? Campaign? Solo? These will make a very large difference in what you should merit.

I only used PLD for endgame/hnm so my merits were

Group 1:
3 Shield bash recast
5 Sentinal Recast (No matter where you use the job this is one of the most important to merit)
2 Rampart Recast

Group 2
5 Guardian
1 Feality (Not a necessity but a nice to have on certian things like BV2)
2 Chivalry
2 Iron Will

If you plan on PLD main then definitly add in:
8/8 Sword
4/4 Shield

If you are going to be using /nin often (Again this is mostly for endgame set-up)then:
4/4 Spell interruption rate down is not a bad idea

Another situational set of merits is HP and MP.

Most full time plds will do 8/8 HP but that is all personal preference and play style.

At the moment I do mostly campaign battle because I need the Allied notes for my Iron ram set and be able to fight some gods in sky. This is my first and only 75, but I am pretty sure it will be my main job; I plan to level SAM, DRG, BLU and BST to 75 and that's it.

Chivalry I thought it was a no-brainer 5/5 as I heard it is very useful fighting some endgame bosses.

No VIT really? I am all about improving the defensive side of the PLD, so I am not sure about STR and sword skills.

Thanks for the responses guys! Keep them coming.

Really, no VIT. Vit is moot at endgame tanking since the whole point of MOST tanking is to not get hit using /nin, so vit won't be doing much for you there.

Str can help you hit for 0 less often thus giving you some hate from melee dmg, and same goes for sword skill just w/ some added acc on top of the atk.

I have pld leveled but not merited since I'm hardly ever called on to use it, but if i were pld main.

HP/MP (race dependant)
HP 5/8
MP 3/8

Sword 8/8
shield 4/4

Spell- 4/4
Enm 4/4

Sentinel 5/5
shield B. 5/5

Chivalry 5/5
Fealty 1/5
Guardian 4/5

Endgame PLD is far different from exp pt.
Get rid of that Vit pronto. Cap your str merits.
Full Shield Skill, at least 4 sword.
Personally I went 3/3/4 Rampart/Shield Bash/Sentinel, But a lot of Pld's prefer a 5/5 with Ramp/Sentinel or SB/Sentinel.
Sentinel is the most important one though.

For tier 2, it varies a lot depending on your style and what you are up against. Fealty and Iron Will are generally considered the weaker of the tier 2, and a lot of Plds go 5/5 Guardian/Chivalry. With atonement now a key piece of Pld tanking, your tp is more valuable than it used to be, and so Chivalry isn't as key as it used to be. Common builds are 5/3/1/1 Guardian/Chiv/Fealty/IW, although 4/4/1/1 and 5/5 are also both common.

8/8 HP, Can vary on race, but 8/8 HP is generally best, but if you have a mage 4/4 Hp/Mp can also be considered.

I mean I have 5/5 STR from my DD's, probably leave this to change for what other jobs you have. VIT kinda blows, STR or INT GO!

8/8 Sword, I have 5/8 because I have other combats. Sword skill is in fact very important because it gives you acc to hit for Atonement and atk not to hit for 0 :)

4/4 Shield (As someone above said for sure if PLD is only/main 75)

4/4 Enmity
4/4 Crit rate(I say this because its just too much to give up, benefiting EVERY melee, 8% Spell int isn't much :/ )

5/5 Sentinel
5/5 Shield Bash

1/5 Fealty, Nice to have
5/5 Chivalry
4/5 Guardian

You can do 4/5 Chiv and 5/5 Guardian also, Nice to have full Guardian with full Sentinel recast merits I guess living with an extra 2:30 on recast is ok to deal with, up to you there.

Edit**

Group two can vary as the poster above me said, Having at least 1 on Chiv and Fealty I would label a must, because it will be nice to have them at least, so a 1/1/4/4 could be done, as much as TP is useful to PLD, Chiv can save your *** when you can't use TP, so maybe even a 1/3/3/3 Fealty being the 1 could be done, Iron Will isn't bad, I just like matching Guardian with Sent recast.

^^ This

Chivalry is more of and emergency tool now since you really dont want to be wasting your TP to get MP back. Let Rdm's do thier job and keep you refreshed and whm's can help out in between with devotion. Even with 5/5 merits Chivalry is still a 10min cool down. You are not going to rely on it.

Also extra merits into Chivalry do not increase its potency. Anything over 2-3 is really a waste. In order to get the full benefit out of the ability you either have to have a very heavy MND build or save to 300TP every time you use it. Both of there options are rather counter productive.

HP/MP merits depends on your Race really.
*Elvaan and Galka can boost up MP a little more than HP
*Taru will want to boost HP
*Hume can go even
I see lots of PLDs for 8/8HP but really, if you are elvaan and got 3HP 5MP you will benefit greater. Why? You can use your MP to build hate on your PT members. This is needed in HNM fights such as Khim, Cerb and Tiamat - not so much Faf or other ground kings.
Basically MP can covert into great volumes of hate rather than losing a little less by meriting HP

Attributes:
You really don't need to focus any of these as a PLD. Use them for another job.

Magic Skill:
Same as attributes. Although they may carry over and benefits a PLD (IE Healing Magic, Enhancing Magic, Divine Magic) It is not needed.

Others:
Enmity+: This is obv. cap.

If you are serious about PLD and you don't have a DD job of any kinda that you will merit you COULD:
Spell Interuption Rate cap or split with Enemy Crit Down.
*These are needed either, but they may help in a tight situation.

Group 1:
Shield Bash - Seriously put a couple points into this. Not does it grant a stun effect, but paired with sentinel it is a powerful hate tool.

Holy Circle - Really... don't bother.

Sentinel - This is an obv. Cap

Cover - Nope........

Rampart - A big close-encounter hate tool, along with Spell resistance. This is very handy on certain HNMs. Don't forget this hate value when used is similar to Warcry, more hate for the amount of people you hit with it. Fights like Fafnir and KB will make this useful.

---------------------------

Group 2:
These depends on which mobs with will be fighting on as a PLD. Here is what I have, and why.

Fealty - 0/5 - Fealty grants a resistance to enfeebling magic effects. Since anywhere I go I have at least someone on WHM or /whm they can erase me, so this is not useful at all. (No this does NOT grant Magical Resistance to spells IE Nukes. Only to enfeebling effects from the Spells)

Chivalry - 5/5 - When done right, a PLD on certain HNM will burn their MP pool on everyone curing the entire alliance to build large amounts of hate. Having a second MP pool in stock is always a handy thing, and at 10min recast you can't go wrong. Anything bar 5/5 is kinda painful if you are really hoping for this to be a benefit.
-Some monsters will require more MP use vs. TP gain
-You can cap and keep hate with cures easier than you can by using Atonement.
*Please note I am not in anyway bashing Atonement, I Use it often. This is simply a very useful back up tool that can help in some ways people may not see.

Iron Will - 1/5 - A questionable merit. These adds 19% spell interruption rate per merit while under the effect of Rampart. Looking at it, its not very useful.

Guardian - 4/5 - Decreases the Amount of enmity lost while under the effect of sentinel. 19% per merit. With 4 merits in it that is a 76% decrease in enmity lose under sentinel. This is Very good for longer fights such as HNM or Mega bosses.

I suggest Chivalry and Guardian for Group 2.

As previously Mentioned:
Shield 4/4
Parrying 4/4
Sword 8/8
If your serious about PLD and PLD only. If you have other jobs that are taking up your weapon skills slots then just do shield, as it is a must. Sword merits will increase the rate you gain TP by adding some ACC, Parrying will help keep and recover shadows and shield will help recover.

Wow guys this is really helpful. I am a long way to go still but now I have a better idea where to put my merits on. Leveling SAM is taking some time so I am not meriting that much on PLD. I guess I should just dedicate more time into it.


Crap this reminds me I still need to get Utsusemi: NI

Thank you all.

A VIT set is always needed for a PLD. Merits no, but VIT is the main Formula piece for Rampart effectiveness and has a base benefit in Cures. Don't cast it aside entirely, just no need to merit.

Related note to above post,
Similar to how you benefit from having a Vit set for putting up rampart, having a mnd set is highly beneficial for when you use chivalry, as it is a huge modifier.

Also, str merits are just as beneficial for pld as other jobs as it prevents all those hit for 0s.

<troll>FULL MERITS IN HOLY CIRCLE RECAST OR GTFO</troll>

UM, anyways--I've asked this question to numerous PLD75 friends, and this thread is enormously helpful; thanks to all who have/will have contributed. ^^ /salute

I plan on being a full-time PLD ONRY main, this is what I've planned on so far:

HP/MP

• 8/8 HP (since I'm doing 5/5 on Chivalry)

Attributes

• 5/5 MND (for Cures/Chivalry/Stoneskin when /RDM/possibly Reprisal spike damage)

Combat Skills

• 8/8 Sword Skill

• 4/4 Shield Skill

  Here's the debatable part--I've heard, since I'm PLD main, it's nice to do the following:

• 4/4 Evasion Skill

• 4/4 Parrying Skill
  for as much damage mitigation as possible. If this isn't advisable, then I'll probably do another 8/8 in Staff :P (DON'T HATE, I like Spirit Taker!! It's like a mini-Chivalry!!)

Magic Skills

• 8/8 Enhancing Magic
  Another debatable one:

• 8/8 Healing Magic, or

• 8/8 Divine Magic?
  Healing Magic makes sense--slightly higher cure potency--but I really want to know how much Divine Magic affects PLD, really. Does it decrease resistance to Flash in terms of less full resists and/or increased duration?

Others

• 4/4 Spell Interruption Rate

• 4/4 Enemy Critical Hit Rate (when I get Atonement, switching to 4/4 Enmity +)

Group 1

• 5/5 Sentinel Recast

• 5/5 Rampart Recast

Group 2

• 5/5 Chivalry
  I didn't want Fealty because... I'd rather have -2:30 on instant TP>MP than a 1-minute duration for a ~20-minute recast time ability. :<

• 4/5 Guardian

• 1/5 Iron Will

Anyways, I'm open to any and all feedback! Greatly appreciated.^^

5/5 MND wat? D:

Edit**

Enhancing is only useful /rdm, well and Reprisal but really.

Mostly for cure potency.

My Current Merits:
HP/MP: 4/4 4/4 - (I'm Hume)
Str: 5/5
Shield skill: 4/4
Magic: i'd save this for another job u'd want 2 lv,
Crit rate: 4/4
Spell Int: 4/4
Sent: 5/5
Ramp 5/5
Fealthty: 1/5
Chiv: 4/5
Guardian: 5/5

---------------

Only Thing with my merits is now that i've done more with my Pld from when i finished its merits would find that meriting Shield Bash would be much more benfical in long term for myself and for my shell i'd be running with! (saveing Mp by Bashing abilitys *khim for exp*) over the ability rampart!

Fealthy is good but wouldnt fully merit it!!

@Anye: Your choices are somewhat inefficient if levelling multiple jobs, but if you are literally only going to be Paladin then there is no problem with them really. Evasion is going to do literally 0 and Parrying probably more or less the same so might as well go 8/8 Staff if you want to.

Go Enhancing 8/8; combined with MND 5/5, it'll make your /rdm a lot stronger defensively (opening more solo opportunities if this interests you).

I'd take Enmity 4/4 over Spell Interrupt+ anyway honestly... Spell Interrupt does very little when it's not stacked to all heaven, especially since most of the time you will hopefully be shield blocking which is 100% spell interruption down anyway.

I would try to include at least 1 Fealty in your group 2s especially if you want to try solo things. It is very helpful in a pinch to be able to completely negate mob status effects, whether we're talking about petrify from Jailer of Faith or something like Fulmination from Khim. You'll also find Chivalry becomes considerably less tempting when you get Atonement, trust me :p

Wat D:

Most of this is what I was really getting at D:

*slowly* You see, the more potency I put into Cures, the more HP I regain, and the more enmity I receive, especially when used in cure kits. :D

-edit- RUM STOP MESSING WITH MY MIIINNNNDDDD

lolpun

Ahhh, I see what you're saying. I'm mostly "solo" /RDM or /DNC because I don't do endgame, so I'll definitely take your advice to heart; also, now that I think on it, Enmity+4>Spell Int, so I'll make a note of that as well. Thanks for the constructive feedback^^ /salute

5 MND base gear adds 4 HP healed to your Cure IV as Pld/War D: (64 MND+5 VIT70) with capped healing skill and 0 to cure III and lower D:

The more MND you get in gear, the less that 5 MND adds, like if you have 85 MND, then 90 MND you only gain 1 in Cure IV :/, once you hit 84 Total MND, adding +5 adds +1 to Cure IV.

http://members.shaw.ca/pizza_steve/cure/Cure_Calculator.html

Was playing around with this.

Pretty cool

Edit**


WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTTTT

You said you don't do EG but you are worried about hate? D: Now I am just mad confused DDDDD:

For srs? I didn't know this.

-edit- we should either just take this to PMs or re-re-re-edit our posts for a conversation:I didn't say I'd NEVER do endgame, just that I don't do it NOW.

Plus, like I mentioned in the other thread, I still help out lsmates with mission/quest fights, NM fights, etc.

Cure V is where MND does stufffff(more stuff at least)

I'm Elvaan too, so I get to that 85 real fast D:

Can you explain it, though? I'm looking at the current Cure formula from Wiki:It just says "MND."

I see, take what to PMs? D: Are you going to take advantage of me DDDD:

And in EG, I'd reckon 5/5 STR would net more hate then 5/5 MND, even 5/5 Dex to land atonement may do more. Not 100% sure but I'd reckon so!

I'm sure you're right, but I'm not exactly prioritizing my DD set just yet, and besides, I'm saving my Attributes until last, anyways.

Sorry, but could you answer my question from earlier? I'm awfully curious.

That's for Cure 1 :o

Cure IV is;

h = floor(((3*(MND + Healing Magic/5) + VIT) / x) + y) + Equipment bonus) + Day bonus + Weather bonus)
where h = amount of HP healed; x = 4/3; y = 165
but if
h ≤ 270, then h = 270
330 < h ≤ 390, then x = 4; y = 275
390 < h, then x = 13; y = 1064/3 (~354.6)

What ends up happening in a certain range 5 mnd = 1 Cured until you break a a MND tier which is up around 150 MND then its +2, I have to go to work so I'll have Raen explain math to you rq, but use that Calc its easier :O

Edit**

You will almost certainly be in the 330~390 range so if you want to do the math use that.

Why Cure potency is now a big deal?? I would never think on meriting MND for PLD. Usually there is always a healer around and for hate management whatever you get from Cure IV should be enough. If that is a concern just macro some MND gear with your cure.

Again, thanks all for your responses.

current pld noteworthy

5 sentinel
5 shield bash

5 chivalry
4 iron will
1 fealty

4 enmity+
4 crit+

5 str

8 hp+