GLD/THM, Tank?

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2010-06-21
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GLD/THM, Tank?
 Midgardsormr.Renala
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By Midgardsormr.Renala 2010-09-15 03:18:07  
I'm not going to steal this, Just making this post for others to consider and comment on. I personally think the concept is nice:

http://www.ffxivcore.com/topic/16656-gladiatorthaumaturge-build/

Editting this to quote it so people don't complain or sort.

Quote:
GLADIATOR/THAUMATURGE BUILD
Version 9.15 PM
A Guide and Observations
Compiled by Isador Nikocles
Information by FFXIVCore Forum Members
Contributors Listed at Bottom; Names in Blue Bold Text

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Please don't be a gawping Coblyn and quote the entire first post!
And be sure to read the rest of the thread for more advice!

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Hey fellow swordsmen,

So if you looked at the Cross-Class Skills thread, you probably saw the glowing review of the GLA/THM build. I, myself, was completely taken with the concept and have been spending the Open Beta figuring out how it is I want to go about things. I think I'm at a point where I've almost got a plan going, and wanted to bounce some ideas off everyone. So, without further ado, here are my observations, coupled with the forums' say on the matters.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

- The Concept (GT1)
- The Spells (GT2)
- The Abilities (GT3)
- The Stats (GT4)
- Races (GT4a)
- The Fall Backs (GT5)
- The Hand and Land Disciplines (GT6)
- The Plan (GT7)

- The Bare Bones (GT8)
No talking, just abilities/spells

-Too Long; Didn't Read (GT9)
Acknowledgments, updates, misc.

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The Concept (GT1)
A GLA/THM is one part tank, one part soloer. With solid stats and abilities, the GLA/THM can both grab hate easily as well as survive on the battlefield. The GLA/THM's mainstay is an array of enfeebling and buffing spells learned from Thaumaturge which, when coupled with the Gladiator's high HP, allows the GLA/THM to effectively enrage the enemy while keeping themselves safe. The damage taken as a GLA/THM is never for naught, as they will reflect damage, gain HP and MP from enemy attacks, steal stats, and generally enfeeble the enemy while buffing themselves.

The Spells (GT2)
Amongst the GLA/THM's key spells, first there is Punishing Barbs at Rank 10, which gives a ratio of damage taken=damage dealt ratio, though the specific ratio is under debate (any information on this would be appreciated!). Any damage the enemy does to you, you both get to take. Make sure to have plenty of HP for that! The second key-spell is Stygian Spikes, at Rank 16. These spikes give you MP to a certain percent of damage taken, therefore giving the GLA/THM nearly infinite MP. No need for Exaltation or Aetheryte! The final spells are a quartet learned at Rank 18, the Absorb spells. Take Attack, Accuracy, Defense or Evasion and watch as the gab between your damage and hits compared to the enemy's widens. For when you aren't hitting hard or often enough! Terraheart writes, "Save absorb spells for tough fights/ long grinds. You won't notice their benefits in short fights."

Other helpful spells include the Siphon spells (make your enemy's X-Points your own!), status inducers (Poison kills you too efficiently, why not them too? Though they aren't effective in groups, let the main THM use them), as well as Sacrifice (grants Regen on yourself and nearby party members, scales with MND), and cross-class-wise you could always use Cure (heals yourself, the recast time is negligible, the Action Point requirement is low, AND it generates healthy hate!). Shock Spikes also works well with the GLA/THM-style of play, giving you more damage output.

Lugen writes, "If you are wondering about Stoneskin, it's not worth it at all. The amount of damage blocked is rather small, less than the amount regained by Cure which has the same action cost."

TerraHeart writes, "Moves like slow, poison etc are great but put them away when grouping as the THM can cast em quicker, better and on a THM the move is radial (i.e. in an arc so multihiting)." In addition, on casting, "Always cast spells behind the safety of guard."

The Abilities (GT3)
Naturally, the THM-aspect of the build is its strong point, but there is a reason that GLA is chosen as the pair-up: it utilizes the best abilities currently available to the current disciplines. From a tanking-perspective, Rampart at Rank 4 couples nicely with Defender, allowing you to lessen the amount of damage taken. While you have Punishing Barbs and Shock Spikes enabled the reduced strength is somewhat bypassed, but the damage reduction is still very noticeable and not to be used all the time. Phalanx at Rank 8 grabs hate and does damage, no reason not to have it. I'm sure you FFXI-ers saw this coming but Provoke at Rank 10 is a mainstay for tanks. Several attacks also require MP, which Stygian Spikes supply.

Obsess will boost your defense against single enemies, great for solo combat. Just be wary when there are multiple targets, since the damage from those will increase! Later on we've got other tank mainstays such as Cover and Sentinel, but that's a way's off and aren't as exactly GLA/THM-specific, though helpful. Don't forget, you also have your trusty shield with you! Guard should be up constantly, as it allows you to block enemy attacks and keep that extra bit of damage off you. Aegis Boon, also from your shield, reduces damage taken, as well as convert damage from blocking to HP.

You may also desire to swap a spell or ability you rarely use out for a TP Attack Skill. Skills such as Red Lotus Blade's MP requirement, along with other MP-needing TP attacks becomes trivial thanks to Stygian Spikes. Circle Slash is great because it's an AOE, just be careful while soloing less you accidentally aggro that Iron Coblyn that was gawking. Heavy Slash has extra enmity creation, always a plus. TerraHeart reminds, though, that it has a high action use and is non-spammable. Other Skills are a nice way to fill empty slots, just remember not to use too many of your limited Action Points if there's a more core-GLA/THM skill available.

HecatesLover writes, "You are forgetting that you can only have 10 skills active on your bar at a time." This is not true: you have 30 separate slots between three rows of ten. You can set them in the Skills and Abilities window on any of the three layers, then cycle through them with on the keyboard using the normal directional arrow keys, <need confirmation on how to do so on a controller>. I suggest the skills you use most go in the top bar, then perhaps spells on the second tier and attacks on the last.

There are a few other melee class abilities that you may find helpful to have, but are not entirely necessary. First is the Pugilist's Second Wind, a nice HP restorer to help keep you going a bit longer. The PUG's Taunt isn't very helpful considering you have your own more potent Provoke, and you'll probably have enough hate-gain as is. Second is the Marauder's Defender, which will help keep you alive as a tank. Bloodbath isn't really helpful since you won't be focusing on Strength, and the other MRD abilities are fairly DPS-in-thought. Lancer and Archer don't have much in the way of helpful abilities for you.

HecatesLover writes, "Second Wind has proven to be quite disappointing when used cross class. It isn't a large amount when used as a Pugilist and with the cross class penalty it just isn't that useful. You will be much better off using Cure any time you want to heal yourself." On that subject, TerraHeart writes, "Second Wind is a very good heal, mainly because its free, but more importantly, because it's INSTANT. The 2 secs it takes for a cure to cast can kill you." (Isador0 suggests to test it out and decide for yourself.)

HecatesLover writes, "The second skill...Defender from Marauder. A defense boost is nice but you can't get the enmity bonus unless you are actually a Marauder as your main class."

TerraHeart writes, "Use predominantly gladiator only weapon skills - any cross class weapon skill's damage will be reduced by about 50%. Only take a cross class weapon skill for a debuff."

The Stats (GT4)
For those who haven't divined what the stats mean, here are the current definitions as of Open Beta (subject to change/specifying after retail release):

Strength: Physical Damage
Dexterity: Physical Accuracy
Vitality: Health Points
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Intelligence: Magic Damage
Piety: Magic Accuracy
Mind: Magic Points

Physical stats will require, naturally, the HP to keep yourself alive as the enemy contributes to your damage output and MP, so Vitality is a must. Strength and Dexterity are rather secondary, but important. Adjust as you may between those two. As for magic stats, SS will help keep your mana pool charged, but don't forget to keep some in there for when battles stall: a GLA/THM with no HP is just a GLA with little support. Since most of your magics are adverse, Intelligence becomes rather unnecessary. Piety will be required, so you don't spend half the battle trying to set up buffs and end up dead/too low in HP to count.

So in regards to this, I think that the stat spread per level should prioritize in this order: VIT; PIE; DEX/STR; MND; INT. The problem here lies with the fact that this kind of build won't help you as much while ranking up THM. You definitely will be outshone by pure mages like this, putting two magic stats low, and the GLA's abilities won't be of much help. So my suggestion would be to keep the stats relatively level for those first 18+ Ranks of THM, but keep a few points extra on those preferred ones. After you hit 18 THM, chances are that you'll be set for quite a while as a GLA/THM.

Starkaiser asks the question, "Do you need PIE for Absorb to work?" TerraHeart has observed that, with relatively low PIE, Absorb still works most of the time. It requires more testing as successful casting may still increase from extra PIE.

Races (GT4a)
Just the same as FFXI, here choosing your race gives you several small differences in base stat allotment. It's also the same as FFXI as these minor differences matter very little. A single point or two going either way will barely even matter at Level 1, if at all. Choose the race you wish to choose. But still, there are differences, and in such a spirit it might be helpful for those waffling on which race to choose. Make of each spread as you will.

Highlander Hyur have a 18;15;17;13;12;15 spread, making them melee-oriented.
Mindlander Hyur have a 16;14;15;16;16;13 spread, making them a jack of all trades-type.
Plainsfolk Lala'fell have a 13;17;13;16;16;15 spread, making them accurate and slightly mage-oriented.
Dunesfolk Lala'fell have a 12;15;12;16;18;17 spread, making them fairly mage-oriented.
Sea Wolf Roegadyn have a 17;13;18;12;14;16 spread, making them solid melee tanks.
Hellsguard Roegadyn have a 15;12;16;15;15;17 spread, making them a jack of all trades-type.
Wilwood Elezen have a 14;18;13;17;16;12 spread, making them accurate and slightly mage-oriented.
Duskwight Elezen have a 15;15;14;18;16;15 spread, making them a jack of all trades-type.
Sun Seeker Mi'Qote 16;17;15;13;15;14 spread, making them melee-oriented.
Moon Keeper Mi'Qote 13;16;12;14;17;18 spread, making them mage-oriented.

The Hand and Land Disciplines (GT5)
This is, of course, a melee build that focuses on the front lines, so you'll be wanting your big suits of heavy mail and plate armor once again. As such, Blacksmith, Armorer and Goldsmith are all helpful for creating and maintaining your weapons and armor. You may need some use in Weaver for both your low-level gear as well as your mage-gear. I find the other Hands to be helpful, but not required unless you feel like picking them up. Though keep in mind none of these are 100% un/necessary, as you have the repairman in Ul'dah as well as the shops and bazaars for gear and items. If you don't want to spend any more time leveling things that aren't GLA/THM (can't blame you, there really is a lot to do), and you're all right with over-paying for gear, they can be ignored.

As for Land, I heartily endorse Mining as a discipline for you. First off, you're going to be getting materials you can use to both fix and create armor. Secondly, the Guild Leves for Miner are pretty easy. So long as you know how to work the gauge, most Leves can be completed in 10-15 minutes with little chance of enemy aggro (I, myself, only had one aggro in Gridania). The Leves also pay well: Rank 1 pay around 500-1000 gil, while Rank 10 pay around 5000-10,000 gil along with bonus items, and that's without bonus pay. The last perk is the increased income from mined items you don't need, which can easily reach around 10,000 gil after a few Leves. You don't even need to be Rank 10 for the Rank 10 missions: I completed them while still Rank 6! The end result is a heap of money, experience, and helpful synthesis items. As for Botanist and Fishing, that's more for the unnamed Hands, though it is fun to fish off the back of the boat to/from Limsa/Ul'dah. All in all, the usual message, do as you please.

The Fall Backs (GT6)
Naturally there will be some level of difficulty with these sorts of things, it's just to be expected. First and foremost, there is quite a but of time invested. You'll need to level three extra disciplines to at least Rank 10, your effective sub-discipline will be near Rank 20, and that's all discounting your Hand and Land disciplines! Most classes could do from this, though, so don't feel like being a GLA/THM makes you the odd-man out in terms of job-grinding. It'll also be hard for you to keep up with other mages as you rank up THM while still trying to keep your GLA/THM build. It is also difficult to strike the correct balance between reducing damage while ensuring your buffs stay useful, as well as the required time before/during battle to buff yourself. Your attack bar will also be chock-full and limited in action.

You also have to realize that there are other tank-builds out there: GLA/MRD or vice-versa will be a common and deserving pure melee tank, there's talk that the shield-only Sentinel discipline will be added in future expansions, and then there's those wacky blink tanks. You will also have trouble with dealing with multiple enemies, considering your lack of AOE and the like. There's also the fact that you have to keep your stat-spread more wide than pure-melee or pure-mage builds, effectively meaning you'll have lower more averaged stats. All this on top of a hard-to-use build means that GLA/THM is not for everyone.

The Plan (GT7)
(Disclaimer: this section is rather subjective and more useful as suggestions than a codex)
Let's focus first on what you do after starting. I suggest not starting as GLA or THM, but instead focusing on a Hand or Land discipline. Choosing one will help you earn the money you'll need to get started, as well as help you get a leg-up on disciplines you'll need to keep your gear up-to-date. Remember to start off with the first story line mission to earn a few easy thousand gil, though you will probably need to earn enough to buy a weapon before that to finish off the low-level-nasties in the story quests. After that, do. Not. Blow. Your. Money. Think ahead: buy crafting materials or gear before you need it. Whatever's left over, feel free to experiment with. Just keep in mind most discipline base-items cost at least 500 for the main hand, as well as an extra 500-1500 for the sub, so don't buy them all unless you really need to/are willing to use them at all to earn back that money.

Buy the gil online and I'll hunt you down, use your identity to DDOS the gil-seller's sites, then upload your photo to a dating website for former inmates ♥ Keep our virtual economy healthy! Don't buy gil!

PSA aside, be sure to pick up your shield as well, which you'll need at Rank 8 GLA. You can buy it (Ul'dah has a stand to the right of the main gate that sells 43,000 and 95,000, yikes), craft it (check the web/eventual player's guides), or purchase in the bazaar for a fraction of the NPC retail. You probably won't need your actual armor for some time, as gear earned through Leves as well as the general easiness of enemies allows it. After you have your money in order, I suggest first leveling THM or CON first, as it is arguably harder for mages at first and better to get out of the way (also, your melee skills won't help your mage skills all to much usually).

Feel free to take your time: you won't be needed as a tank for quite some time quest-wise, so don't feel any urgency. You might have a goal, but you're still playing a game. If you get tired of gridning one, try another discipline, etc. Also, it's in your best interest to travel to all three opening City States so you can warp between them. South from Gridania is Ul'dah, then West from there is a small port which you can take a boat to make it to Limsa. TerraHeart suggests leveling THM to 20 to gain access to Sacrifice and Siphon MP. I might also suggest leveling CON to Rank 4 first instead to get Cure, then later to at least 8, at most 16. You'll need to get your THM to at least 18 before leaving it for a while.

A good time to level THM again would be when you start having empty action points in GLA, since you will then finally have the room for new spells. Though I suggest leveling MRD and PUG to Rank 10 before that happens if you want their skills. That's right: I say level GLA last. Considering it will be your main job, having all the bells and whistles ready for you ahead of time will make your journey that much easier. Character-level-wise you'll be more than a formidable foe at this point, able to rise through the lower ranks with ease. Still, there's no reason in waiting til last if it'll take several Ranks to even have enough room to fit all the requisite spells and abilities into your action macros, so if you want to mix it up be my guest.

There's no real one way to go about this. Just do whatever keeps you entertained and make sure to keep looking ahead for new gear. Trust me, it'll be months before you're ready to go back and start leveling THM again. Well, maybe weeks for some people, but really, you know what I mean. Sorry this section was so much more random, but the concept of how to start is all fairly subjective. You might even want to create a throw-away character first to learn the ins-and-outs of the game first hand and make your mistakes then.

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The Bare Bones (GT8)
Too much text for ya'? Here, have a list of the core of what's suggested for GLA/THM.

Gladiator (GLA)
- Rampart (4) [DEF and MAG DEF up]
- Phalanx (8) [Damage and enmity up]
- Provoke (10) [Enmity up]
- Heavy Slash [Damage and enmity up]

Shield (???)
- Guard [Chance to block attacks]
- Aegis Boon [DEF up and blocked attacks heal]

Pugilist (PUG)
- Second Wind (10) [Restore some HP] [Debatable; not necessary]

Marauder (MRD)
- Defender (10) [DEF up, ATK down] [Debatable; not necessary]

Thaumaturge (THM)
- Sacrifice (4) [Regen; Costs HP]
- Punishing Barbs (10) [Damage taken = Damage dealt]
- Stygian Spikes (16) [% of Damage taken to MP]
- The Absorb Spells (18) [Enemy stat down, your stat up]

Conjurer (CON)
- Cure (4) [Heals HP]
- Shock Spikes (8) [Deals lightning damage when struck]

Stat Spread
- Isador's stat spread: VIT; PIE; DEX/STR; MND; INT
- Got your own? Suggest it!

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Too Long; Didn't Read (GT9)
Did you get all that? Those were my findings, and my current plans. Got any tips or discrepancies? PLEASE tell me! If I got anything wrong, or there is a better way of going about something, I'll more than happily edit it and give credit! This is as much for potential GLA/THM as it is for me. Stat builds, helpful abilities, it's all useful information. Special thanks to TerraHeart for getting this idea going! Contributors and their contributions are to be listed below.

Acknowledgments:
- TerraHeart: Concept; Information on Abilities and Spells;
- Hecateslover: Information on Second Wind and Marauder
- Starkaiser: Bringing up question of whether PIE is needed for Absorb
- Lugen: Information on Stoneskin
- kodo2: Bringing up Punishing Barbs ratio question

Version
- September 12th: Creation; minor editing
- September 12th AM: Added Hecateslover, Starkaiser and Lugen input; minor editing.
- September 12th PM: Added TerraHeart's input; minor editing; added "Races"
- September 15th PM: Edited Punishing Barbs; replaced all instances of "GLD" with "GLA"; replaced all instances of "Leave" with "Leve"; added information in Bare Bones; formatted The Plan.
[+]
 Midgardsormr.Renala
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By Midgardsormr.Renala 2010-09-19 00:46:29  
I editted in alot of info awhile ago, But I decided after looking over the core's thread on it, that the video I missed the first and second time of reading threw would be nice.




I'd also like to get some kinda comments off people who played GLD as to what they think about it. I personally like how it seems to be played out as.
 Phoenix.Avelle
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By Phoenix.Avelle 2010-09-19 03:18:09  
That video kinda made me a believer of Stygian Spikes. That looks really nice. There are a few things though.

Second Wind is level 6, not level 10 like that guide seems to suggest.

Quote:
TerraHeart writes, "Use predominantly gladiator only weapon skills - any cross class weapon skill's damage will be reduced by about 50%. Only take a cross class weapon skill for a debuff.

This statement doesn't seem to be true at all. I have several weaponskills from other jobs and all of them do similar damage to Red Lotus Blade. Phalanx however is incredibly strong, especially at the level you get it. Spinstroke and Circle Slash are both stronger than Red Lotus Blade as well but Trunksplitter (lv 2 Marauder) seemed to deal just as much damage against greens as the other Gladiator abilities.

The guide suggests you get your shield by level 8, I'd suggest you get one just as soon as you possibly can. I had a shield at level 1 and when I stopped leveling my Gladiator around level 13 my shield was only level 7. This is one of my biggest gripes with Gladiator. Not only do you need to get skill points for your sword as everyone else does. You will be going out of your way to skill up shield as well. This really, really sucks and will prove to be a pretty big timesink unless they change this. You'll likely be trying to draw fights out longer than necessary in order to maximize your potential shield gains.

Cures. They toned down the hate caused by spells in Open Beta. Cure may have been a useful hate tool, but it really isn't much of one any longer. Not to mention cure is only half as effective on your Gladiator as it is on your Conjurer. You may cure for 220 on Conjurer but on Gladiator you will only cure for 110 or so. I can't comment on Sacrifice but I would assume it's similar. That said, it's still more effective than Second Wind. Second Wind has a fairly long cooldown so if you need to chain cure yourself, Second Wind won't be the answer. It is however useful as it is instant cast so it's probably worth picking up. Cure's generally aren't that wonderful for minimizing downtime either. Once you go into passive mode it doesn't take long at all to regenerate to full hp.

As far as stats go, Vitality should definitely be your highest priority, but only to a point. Since it adds HP, Vitality is extremely useful early on. However, it does have a cap for each level. You can raise it to 40ish I believe and then until you reach a certain rank any additional point you put into Vitality won't yield anymore HP. You'll eventually get your HP out of those extra points but you must be high enough level to make use of it. I'm not aware of the numbers exactly but I'll throw out an example to better illustrate my point.

LV1 40 VIT cap. Additional points beyond this number don't yield anymore HP.
LV5 45 VIT cap. You can put another 5 points into VIT and see more HP benefits now.
LV10 50 VIT cap. You can put more points into VIT and see more HP.

Those are all made up numbers, though I do believe the cap at low levels is around 40. I think the best course of action is to put 1 point in VIT when you level up and see if it adds any HP. If it doesn't, put your points somewhere else. I'm not sure what to do with your other stats. MND adds MP so if you want to do a lot of spellcasting, that will be a worthwhile investment.

Conjurer may be worth taking up to 8 for Shock Spikes (actually seems to stun the enemy quite a bit when a Conjurer casts it on me) or even level 10 for Radiance (restores mp by a portion of the damage you deal). I'm unsure if Shock Spikes will stun less frequently when you're not on the Conjurer job or how much MP Radiance restores. Radiance may be a non issue if you're going for Stygian Spikes but I really don't know.

That's really all I can think of right now. Sorry for erratic thoughts, it's 4am and I should go to bed!
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By Midgardsormr.Renala 2010-09-19 03:29:46  
Phoenix.Avelle said:
Lots of stuff finally.


Well, I read threw what you said and alot of the stuff you said was covered in the core forum post(Which is like, 28 posts or so XD)

Um.. main highlights is shield is something you should have asap. I agree 100%. Cure is good with the one spikes for infinite mp, but shock spikes also has a use as you mentioned. Even when cross-classed it seems to stun A LOT which someone said basicly increases delay of mobs by 20% roughly(I guess they did alot of testing? Not sure..). Um.. the last thing I can say that was covered on core was those damage to mp WS's arn't worth using cross class. They do like, 73-74ish damage which restores like, 3-4 mp total. Whereas, you could use a different WS for like, 200-300.


No one mentioned using MRD ws's though, the only MRD mentioned thing is defender at 10
 Phoenix.Avelle
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By Phoenix.Avelle 2010-09-19 03:58:41  
Midgardsormr.Renala said:
Phoenix.Avelle said:
Lots of stuff finally.
Um.. the last thing I can say that was covered on core was those damage to mp WS's arn't worth using cross class. They do like, 73-74ish damage which restores like, 3-4 mp total. Whereas, you could use a different WS for like, 200-300.

This is what I was afraid of. So with Radiance likely being useless it's debatable whether or not you will want to take Conjurer passed 4 for Shock Spikes, but level 8 isn't exactly hard to grind out.

Quote:
No one mentioned using MRD ws's though, the only MRD mentioned thing is defender at 10

I only passively mentioned Trunksplitter, but I had several weaponskills from different jobs. Concussive Blow from Pugilist, Trunksplitter from Marauder, and even Puncture from Archer are all gained at Level 2 and are far better alternatives than Red Lotus Blade due to it's MP requirement. The reason I picked them up was two fold. 1) If you're out somewhere away from an Aetheryte grinding, you don't have the luxury of running back and restoring your MP and frankly that's a pain in the *** and a waste of time anyways. 2) Having access to only one WS early on means you'll have difficulty dumping your TP until you get access to more Gladiator abilities. I'd suggest taking at least one other combat job to level 2 so you can equip 2 weaponskills on your Gladiator early on in order to get rid of your tp faster. Later on you can replace them with Phalanx, Spinstroke, Circle Slash and the like. While Circle Slash is good damage, you should definitely becareful where you use it. Things like Dodo's, Coblyns, and I think even Aldgoats like to follow you around like the goldfish in Sea so you could very easily get yourself in a lot of trouble (though coblyns for the most part in the early areas are pretty weak).

Also note that there was no discernible difference between Light Slash and Light Stab. I know they deal different types of damage but they always seemed to deal identical damage on everything I fought. This may either not be working as intended, eyeballing it simply isn't good enough to draw a conclusion from, or may not matter much until later in the game.
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By Midgardsormr.Renala 2010-09-19 04:59:41  
Oh I forgot to mention the reason you use Sacrafice over cure for solo, well kinda. It costs 53 hp, but heals for 60+ and then also adds a regen. Cure maybe halved, but if you have 200 mp sitting there and it'd save a cure from the conj, why not get the slight boost in hate and also heal yourself?
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By semimmortal 2010-09-19 07:08:45  
Unfortuantely, the damage (maybe because of stat relocation) as well as the MP returned by using Radiance/Damnation is pretty low.
But Stygian/Shock Spikes are both amazing (MP return/Stun).

Heavy Slash + Phalanx are a must for tanking.

Other spells are OK for soloing, not tanking IMO. Let the main jobs take care of those.
Curing, unless they are high leveled, aren't worth the 2 sec cast for 100~200 hp cure in pt situations...

In other words, it is encouraged for future main tankers to take the mage jobs as high as possible and unlock as much skills/spells/tiers as they can.
Can main tank without them, but will make things easier for you and your party.

And yes, there are caps for stats as you rank up (not physical level).
There are tests done by the crew at core, and as expected race doesn't matter.
Cap is approximately 2 * rank^(1.036287) +28 (according to one poster, mines ending up with 2.3348 * rank + 26.82, but his looks more accurate as stat caps looks like it's exponential on the graph).

Cap calculation might be BS, but I find it helpful when trying to redistribute my stats for my THM (needed VIT+INT+MND+PIE, and apparently DEX is factored into Damnation >_>;)
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By semimmortal 2010-09-19 07:14:38  
Phoenix.Avelle said:
Also note that there was no discernible difference between Light Slash and Light Stab. I know they deal different types of damage but they always seemed to deal identical damage on everything I fought. This may either not be working as intended, eyeballing it simply isn't good enough to draw a conclusion from, or may not matter much until later in the game.
Not sure, but maybe it depends on the weapon type.
Like for example a Dagger, Light Stab would be more effective due to the true nature of the weapon (80% Piercing I believe), and Falchions, being Slashing type, would make Light Slash more effective.
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By Flionheart 2010-09-19 07:38:37  
Gladiators simply don't have enough MP to supprt THM as a sub imo. Maybe it's because I'm a galka, but my MP is capped pretty low as GLD and any extra points are coming into play.

A mix'n'match between PUG and MAR abilities are the best tank with. For shorter fights of leves then THM is pretty potent, but I'd personally take Second Wind and Defender over Spikes and Sacrifice.

Of course if MP recovery every becomes viable outside of Aetheryte or ending leves then It may be pretty good. I don't even use Red Lotus due to the amount of MP it scavenges, I tend to use Concussive Blow or Trunksplitter.

When I get into a fight I normally get my shield up, provoke, Rampart, Phalanx or Haymaker and then provoke again, or Spin stroke if It's not up.
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By semimmortal 2010-09-19 08:04:25  
Well, to be honest, GLD/THM works more like a RDM/WAR.
Might work for the teens towards the late 20's, but later mobs start to hit more than we cure (whether it's by Second Wind/Bloodbath, or cure. Haven't got high enough to try the higher tier cure as I'm now just exploring the map/paths).

Basically, just like FFXI, blood tanking is going to suck soon again lol.
Unless we get utsusemi... which I hope not!

Maybe the Sentinel class will be a real one and be the real tankers leaving GLD to go dual wield dd or backup tank.
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By Flionheart 2010-09-19 08:06:27  
semimmortal said:
Well, to be honest, GLD/THM works more like a RDM/WAR.
Might work for the teens towards the late 20's, but later mobs start to hit more than we cure (whether it's by Second Wind/Bloodbath, or cure. Haven't got high enough to try the higher tier cure as I'm now just exploring the map/paths).

Basically, just like FFXI, blood tanking is going to suck soon again lol.
Unless we get utsusemi... which I hope not!

Maybe the Sentinel class will be a real one and be the real tankers leaving GLD to go dual wield dd or backup tank.

Sentinel is levelled up with shield skill, I'm a level 4 sentinel, and a level 17 GLD
 Phoenix.Avelle
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By Phoenix.Avelle 2010-09-19 12:43:05  
semimmortal said:
Phoenix.Avelle said:
Also note that there was no discernible difference between Light Slash and Light Stab. I know they deal different types of damage but they always seemed to deal identical damage on everything I fought. This may either not be working as intended, eyeballing it simply isn't good enough to draw a conclusion from, or may not matter much until later in the game.
Not sure, but maybe it depends on the weapon type.
Like for example a Dagger, Light Stab would be more effective due to the true nature of the weapon (80% Piercing I believe), and Falchions, being Slashing type, would make Light Slash more effective.

I went from Weathered Gladius to Bronze Dagger and still saw no difference in damage between the two attacks.
necroskull Necro Bump Detected! [39 days between previous and next post]
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By deadfire 2010-10-28 17:47:53  
Gladiator/Conjurer work loads better thanks to Shock Spikes stun high rate also the cures. While you can use a action to resotre MP if you switch to main Conjurer.
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