Another armor check.Follow

Some things I'd say are to not full-time the Hospitaler Earring, only macro it into your cures, and try and get a Smart Grenade for the ammo.

Royal Knight's Breeches are good legs to use for many levels.

Also, I wouldn't use Pallas, I'd say go for the Forth Gauntlets.

Edited, Mar 2nd 2009 8:51pm by Spiddster

Edited, Mar 2nd 2009 8:52pm by Spiddster

Damnit, this turned into WoT like everything else I post. Apologies, important stuff is bolded or different color.

Edited: Xypin tossed in the af feet comment while I was writing this.


Looks pretty good :) Few suggestions.

Noticed you were 75drg at the waist portion of my reply. So... please disregard anything that comes across as no s***. :)


Rings
In 4 levels you can equip the Hercules' Ring, and you can already equip Mermaid. If you wanna be anal, they increase your enmity by a total of five (5%), and can be macro'd into Voke, Ja's, Flash, and Cures. Totally not necessary for xp though, woodsman is definitely doinitrite.

Also, as you mentioned macro'ing AF in for hate, this provides a non-blinking alternative if your healers are giving you grief about it. Which they shouldnt be. <stpt> ftw.

VIT rings. retarded, right? Again, anal, but, according to wiki, hypothesized formula for rampart is magic shield absorbtion = 2*vit. I wouldn't really bother with this for xp either, but if you have the money and want to, you can macro as much vit as possible into your rampart when fighting mage mobs. This, btw, should be your only use for vit rings. Ever.


Earring
If you can afford it, an assault earring is absolute solid gold (still working on money for mine >.<) Spike or coral will outdo minuet unless you have a brd. If you have the money, merman's are even better, not for the 1 extra attack, but because they're the beginnings of a magic damage down build. Merman's is kinda pricey though, definitely don't get that before assault if there's a choice between required.

Head
I used a Walkure mask all the way until O hat. If you're far enough along in CoP, and very very lucky, Voyager Sallet is sex.

Legs
Like Spiddster said, RK legs. Best thing until dusk. Don't have math to back that up, but I'm pretty sure someone did it at one point or another.

Hands
Again, seconding Spidd, get some acc hands, 4th are great. Multi-hit ws's whoring acc and all that.

Waist
Sell the Potent, get a life belt. No str, but two more acc. Potent's kind of a pointless hybrid (plenty of discussion about that on the drk forum, they like to flame war about it). Also, this will provide some gil towards that assault earring.

I get the feeling you're gonna say no to this one because you're a taru and you want the extra str for your drg. If your inventory space can spare it, I'd at least still pick up a life belt.


Weapon
Looking through ffxiah.com, Bastard (+1) looks to be the best option until 66. Keep in mind that epee types get the piercing bonus, so if you're syncing for birds a lot, you might want to pick up the highest dps epee you can afford as well.

Ammo
Again, Spidd beat me to this. Smart grenade. If you don't have WotG, or you threw the smart grenade, or w/e, Tiphia Sting or lightning bow (+1)

Feet
This one's your personal judgement call, but, disregarding /nin tanking while my shadows are up, if I'm using a shield, I'm wearing AF feet, regardless of the situation.


My two cents, hope it helped.


~Cwellan



PS Where are you in CoP? If you're past Ouryu, you can get a swift belt. Until you can really start stacking haste the life belt beats it out to tp in, but an extra 2 (1.8 for you picky people) seconds off flash is nice from the moment you can get it.



PPS I mentioned macroing enmity in for non-sword-swinging hate generation stuffs, including ja's. Keep in mind, during sentinel this is completely unnecessary, as Sentinel puts you at +100 for its duration, which is the enmity modifier cap. That's more of an endgame thing, but good to start thinking about.

Edited, Mar 3rd 2009 12:33am by CwellThor

Unless you are /NIN or not tanking, always always always always wear AF feet. Macro in other things for WS or for recasts, but never never never take off your AF feet.

For weapon, you should go with a Bastard Sword or the +1 if you can find one. Swap to Espadon+1 at 66. Ammo Smart Grenade.

AF feet are only helpful WHILE you're trying to get Utsu up, though, or those times where it's down. It becomes a macro piece at that point. Definitely still keep them around, but don't full time them.

The first and most important thing you will want is a Haubergeon. That is very much a staple for most any job that can wear it. Amemet Mantle +1 is also a piece that you will wear for a very long time.

If you can manage or already have it, Joyeuse is probably the very best sword you can have for DD PLD. You can single wield as /WAR it or pair it (/NIN) with other swords like Company Sword (Joyeuse offhand) or something more exotic like Justice Sword (Joyeuse main hand, Virtue Stones needed).

Other gear like R.K. Breeches, a Life Belt, and accuracy rings (Snipers or Woodsmans) are readily available at the Auction House and will definitely set you in the right direction.

I grew up a turtle PLD also. This is the DD gear I currently use. I know it's not the very best, but I like to think that it's a decent start towards a DD build.

As you progress in a DD build, you will want to add Haste. The Walahra Turban is really quite easy to get. If you are far enough in CoP missions you can get a Swift Belt. If you do Limbus, Homam gear is about the best you can get. The hands are considered to be one of the best for PLD in both DD and tanking situations. The legs and feet are also among the best you can hope for for a DD PLD build.

Edited, Mar 4th 2009 6:29pm by Spiddster