This article is only a guide. Information expressed in a guide is usually more opinion than fact and should be taken as such. Guides are written by players, based upon their experiences, successes and mistakes, and meant to aid other players. However, there may be differing opinions than those expressed in a guide.
Strategies and information in guides may not work for everyone.
Contents
* 1 Weapons
o 1.1 Sword
o 1.2 Great Sword
o 1.3 Staff
o 1.4 Club
o 1.5 Ranged
o 1.6 Ammo
* 2 Armor
o 2.1 Shield
o 2.2 Head
o 2.3 Body
o 2.4 Hands
o 2.5 Legs
o 2.6 Feet
o 2.7 Waist
o 2.8 Back
o 2.9 Neck
o 2.10 Rings
o 2.11 Earring
* 3 Misc
o 3.1 Melee Defense Foods
o 3.2 Gearing a PLD/NIN
o 3.3 MP/HP Swap
o 3.4 Gear for MP Recovered While Healing
o 3.5 Notes for the Tarutaru Paladins
o 3.6 Notes about AGI+
* 4 Closing Note
Weapons
Sword
lvl 1 Wax Sword (Wax Sword +1 recommended if have money)
lvl 9 Spatha
lvl 11 Bee Spatha (I seriously think that PLD should get Bee Spatha +1, this sword is very powerful for its lvl and +2 ACC helps)
lvl 18 Iron Sword or
Longsword or
Fire Sword/Flame Sword
lvl 19 Auriga Xiphos
lvl 30 Centurion's Sword
lvl 34 Hunting Sword
lvl 39 Grudge Sword (+1 Enmity is nice, keep till lvl 50 for emergency situations)
lvl 42 Honor Sword (AF1)
lvl 50 Tactician Magician's Espadon
lvl 55 Wise Wizard's Anelace(Gluttony is not the end all be all. You can use this until 66)
lvl 57 Gluttony Sword (This has the highest delay of any sword in the game. Despite this, it also has very high damage along with VIT +7, and is probably your best bet until Macuahuitl +1)
lvl 65 Macuahuitl +1 (Enmity +4 is very nice. This is generally the best sword for endgame tanking.)
lvl 66 Espadon (Get the Espadon +1)
lvl 70 Joyeuse (Double Attack, Piercing Damage)
lvl 70 Company Sword (hidden effect of increased damage for each party member, mostly used for playing a DD.)
lvl 71 Durandal (Cheap. +1 enmity, +7 vit and low delay.)
lvl 71 Hauteclaire (Rare drop from Khimaira, but most comparable to Excalibur)
lvl 74 Sanguine Sword (HP +20, MP +20, VIT +4)
lvl 75 Excalibur (Only the most dedicated will ever get Excalibur. If you have it, you use it.)
Great Sword
Keep in mind that a paladin's main role is tank. While a great sword paladin can theoretically hold hate better with a higher damage output, the B- rating in great swords leads to more misses and a lower damage-over-time.
That being said, here is a list of approved great swords.
lvl 1 Rusty Greatsword (Your only option at this level.)
lvl 10 Claymore
lvl 13 Flame Claymore (Or Burning Claymore, these will help to kill the fire-weak enemies in the dunes.)
lvl 18 Braveheart (Dex+2, Acc+5 is a lot at this level, and will help with a two-handed weapon.)
lvl 20 Mercenary's Greatsword (Carry this with your Braveheart. Att+7 will be helpful when you don't need the Acc+5.)
lvl 25 Federation Sword (The +2 version of the Mercenary's Greatsword which grants +8 MP. Not bad.)
lvl 36 Mythril Claymore
lvl 39 Ice Brand (Huge jump in DMG, Plus the ice damage is beneficial at this level.)
lvl 43 Royal Swordsman's Blade +2 (You're a paladin using a great sword. You need the +3 VIT.)
lvl 55 Royal Guard's Sword (A PLD-only great sword, and it's really good. STR+2, MND+3, CHR+1.)
lvl 62 Mercurial Sword (This GS is great for melee/accuracy built PLD/DNC)
lvl 69 Flamberge
lvl 71 Nagan
lvl 72 Subduer (If you can get your hands on one, it outdoes the Nagan in DPS after it's been broken, but it has no defensive values stat-wise, so be careful.)
lvl 75 Ragnarok (Clearly a pipe dream.)
Staff
There is only one staff a Paladin may use without truly dragging itself down. Even this however is debatable.
lvl 51: Earth Staff or Terra's Staff (Terra's is highly recomended if you take this method. Even if the gains are seemingly minimal, it's all you're going to get.)
This staff can be used with HNM's, and often used to be. However, it has been used in other situations.
This method has been confirmed to be used by at least one and argued by a few Paladin. The concept uses the VIT and -20% damage reduction to lower damage below the levels of a sword/shield Paladin. This method often relies on a Paladin using his/her magic to keep hate levels high, since the damage in conparison to a sword using Paladin will be lower. The Weapon skill of choice is often Spirit Taker in order to restore MP.
To use this method, staff skill must be capped beforehand, or else the Paladin's accuracy and damage will fall to very low levels, due to its A- skill. This also works for things like wyrms and Dynamis mobs that you do not actually engage to avoid giving them unecessary TP. In this situation, the Earth Staff is only being used for its damage reduction making its lower damage inconsequential.
Staff Tanking works, though most of the time it is ineffective compared to sword/shield as of recent patches. If you are in a party that wants to fight only monsters that are far too high level for you to be killing effectively and you find yourself getting hit for 100+ per regular attack an Earth Staff becomes a viable option. If you find you are only taking 30-50 damage per hit on VT and low IT mobs, you can use a staff for approximately the same damage taken as sword and shield. This will help you keep your staff capped without having to go to skillup parties.
The biggest negative for staff use might be the loss of Shield Skillups. These are hard to come by and the chance of Shield Skill up is of course reduced to 0% when using a staff.
Also get
Lvl 51 Light Staff & Dark Staff
Light Staff you can use it when PL
Dark Staff is good when fight is over and when PL
-Do not attempt to tank in an EXP PT with either of these however.
lvl 60: Battle Staff (DMG:49 Delay:402 Accuracy+3 Attack+10, Battle Staff +1 if you can find one for a reasonable price)
lvl 73: Kinkobo/Primate Staff (Kinkobo is almost always cheaper due to woodworkers skilling up on them and trying to mitigate a bit of loss. These staves are more powerful than even Claustrum. With capped staff skill, PLD/WAR or potentially PLD/SAM can be a solo machine on many enemies, especially those weak to blunt damage such as skeletons and pots.)
Club
While club is not a viable weapon to use in an experience party due to its generally poor damage/delay, Paladins should be mindful of some of the uses of clubs.
In end-game situations, tanking with a club adds more to a Paladin's repertoire than most swords.
Templar Mace (level 71) Can be used as an alternative to Light Staff, It can be used on higher level HNM's while subbing
/nin. You will still be using a shield, but because your damage and acc using any weapon will be low, the +10% Cure Potency enhances
your ability to gain hate and keeps your HP high in those rough fights.
Buzdygan (level 71) has some MP and VIT and is the most comparable club to Durandal.
Jadagna (level 69) is a new club with the ToAU expansion, and has +29HP -29MP VIT+5.
Morgenstern (level 72) The best club paladins can wear.
Starlight and Moonlight weapon skills to restore your party's MP.
Club damage on bone-type mobs is generally greater than swords due to bones weakness to blunt weapons. Note that using Banish on skeletons allows swords and daggers to do more damage.
Ranged
lvl 55: Lightning Bow or Lightning Bow +1
lvl 70: Rosenbogen or Rosenbogen +1
lvl 75: Lamian Kaman or Lamian Kaman +1
Ammo
lvl 1: Happy Egg
lvl 1: Fortune Egg
lvl 30: RSE Ammo (If you cannot get the above)
lvl 60: Bibiki Seashell
lvl 70: Fenrir's Stone
Armor
- Bone or Lizard set may be used, Lizard is generally cheaper.
- There is debate over the Silver set's higher DEF and the Eisenschaller set's overall higher VIT and AGI as a better set of armor. Kampfschaller is typically considered superior to Silver set.
- Instead of loading up on MP armor, focus on VIT, AGI, and HP. You can get MP from RDM casting Refresh, BRD casting Mages Ballad, or drinks - recomended - Cooking (30)
- At lvl 35 you get: Auto Refresh. <fun> <exitement>
Shield
There are several different size and styles of shields to choose from, and you may find that you want to have more than one on hand and use whichever best fits a given situation. The effectiveness of your shield-blocking is based upon your Shield Skill. When the Shield Skill activates it reduces the amount of damage taken from a melee hit. The higher your shield skill, the more often it will kick in. The Job Trait Shield Mastery also influences how often shield blocks will occur, and gives you TP for every shield block.
There are 5 distinct shield types. These are, in increasing size: Buckler, Round, Kite, Tower, and "size 5", which is currently restricted to the Relic shield, Aegis. The smaller shields will block more frequently, but will reduce the damage by a smaller amount than the larger shields (except for the Aegis, which is in a league of its own, being a fully upgraded Relic item). See the category listing for Shields for the types of all shields.
lvl 1 Lauan Shield or
Marine Shield
lvl 7 Shell Shield can work well, but some don't like the AGI loss
lvl 9 Aspis or
Clipeus (better than Aspis, but a NM drop)
lvl 20 Decurion's Shield
lvl 24 Turtle Shield +3 Vit or Turtle Shield +1 +4 Vit
lvl 25 Bastokan Targe or
Republic Targe (often preferred over the Kite Shield)
lvl 28 Kite Shield, reward for completing A Knight's Test
lvl 38 Jennet Shield (recommended until lvl49)
lvl 43 Heater Shield
lvl 50 Royal Knight Army Shield DEF:14 STR+2 MND+1
or Temple Knight Army Shield DEF:14 STR+1 MND+2
lvl 52 Master Shield, lower DEF, but +10 Shield Skill can be very helpful
lvl 55 Royal Guard's Shield
lvl 55 Musketeer Commander's Shield, small shield, but with AGI+3
lvl 58 Wivre Shield, +5 enmity.
lvl 60 Iron Ram Shield, +3 STR, VIT, Att and Eva. (WotG expansion)
lvl 66 Diamond Shield
lvl 69 General's Shield
lvl 72 Tatami Shield
lvl 73 Koenig Shield (Generally the best all around shield aside from relic.)
lvl 73 Januwiyah size 4 Tower shield with HP+25
lvl 75 Aegis the difficult to obtain relic shield
Head
Lvl 1 Bronze Cap
Lvl 1 Cache-nez (Enmity +2)
Lvl 7 Leather Bandana
Lvl 10 Faceguard or Royal Footman's Bandana
Lvl 16 Bone Mask or
Lvl 17 Lizard Helm *
Lvl 21 Beetle Mask
Lvl 24 Iron Mask
Lvl 29 Eisenschaller or Kampfschaller
Lvl 36 Silver Mask **
Lvl 40 Iron Musketeer's Armet
Lvl 56 Gallant Coronet (AF)
Lvl 70 Aegishjalmr (Enmity +7)
Lvl 70 Lord's Armet
Lvl 73 Adaman Barbuta
Lvl 73 Valor Coronet (AFv2)
Lvl 73 Koenig Schaller (Abjuration Gear (Martial Abjuration: Head from Seiryu). One of the best endgame pieces due to the shield skill.)
Lvl 75 Walahra Turban to be used when tanking as PLD/NIN.
Lvl 75 Bahamut's Mask (Enmity +8, Enhances "Dragon Killer" effect, overall a better piece than the Aegishjalmr, but even harder to get).
Body
- This is debatable, AGI plays a useful role in shield use. and Kampfbrust has 3 AGI over Centurions 1 VIT
Lvl 1 Bronze Harness or RSE
Lvl 7 Leather Vest
Lvl 10 Scale Mail
Lvl 16 Bone Harness or
Lvl 17 Lizard Jerkin *
Lvl 21 Beetle Harness
Lvl 24 Chainmail
Lvl 24 Bannaret Mail isn't easy to find due to a particular key item needed to synth it, but it's like a second Breath Mantle if you can get it.
Lvl 29 Eisenbrust or Kampfbrust Recomended: use this armour til lvl(39)
Lvl 30 Centurion's Scale Mail ***
Lvl 36 Silver Mail **
Lvl 40 Royal Squire's Chainmail
Lvl 42 Earth Doublet
Lvl 45 Brigandine Armor
Lvl 50 Iron Musketeer's Cuirass or Parade Cuirass
Lvl 52 Gaia Doublet
Lvl 55 Fourth Division Cuirass
Lvl 58 Beak Jerkin +1 (Yes, it looks like a Lizard Jerkin, but remember that it's the stats that matter, not the looks. Nobody's asking you to wear it in town.)
Lvl 60 Gallant Surcoat (AF, most popular body piece due to balance of vit, hp, and enmity)
Lvl 70 Lord's Cuirass or
Lvl 70 Heavy Cuirass (No VIT+, no Enmity+, no HP+, but it has Defense 60, significantly more than any other pre-75 armor, and it's significantly cheaper than Lord's.)
Lvl 73 Adaman Cuirass
Lvl 73 Koenig Cuirass (Abjuration Gear) or Kaiser Cuirass (HQ verision)
Lvl 75 Valor Surcoat (Rare AFv2 Drop from Dynamis - Xarcabard)
Hands
Lvl 1 Bronze Mittens or RSE
Lvl 7 Leather Gloves *
Lvl 10 Legionnaire's Mittens or Royal Footman's Gloves
Lvl 16 Bone Mittens or
Lvl 17 Lizard Gloves *
Lvl 21 Beetle Mittens
Lvl 24 Chain Mittens
Lvl 29 Eisenhentzes or Kampfhentzes (Tank) or
Lvl 27 Savage Gauntlets (Mithra only; +4 VIT and +16 MP don't hurt, though the 4 less DEF than Kampfhentzes may. Usable up to AF gloves.)
Lvl 40 Iron Musketeer's Gauntlets (Don't Bother with these, they are useless for PLD. Kamphhentzes work wonderfully until AF)
Lvl 50 Storm Manopolas (A fully valid selection, even for PLD. Enmity +3 is nice and evasion can never be a bad thing.)
Lvl 50 Rush Gloves (the +4 Vit is wicked and useful until AF is available, also the added agi may come in handy)
Lvl 54 Gallant Gauntlets (AF)
Lvl 62 River Gauntlets (Mithra only; VIT+6 tops anything else available before Relic, and HP+60 can only help Spirits Within.)
Lvl 70 Lord's Gauntlets/King's Gauntlets (Level 70 Pld JSE good stuff if you can find it. Not necessary)
Lvl 72 Valor Gauntlets (AFv2)
Lvl 73 Adaman Gauntlets
Lvl 73 Koenig Handschuhs (Abjuration Gear (Martial Abjuration: Hands from Genbu))
Lvl 75 Homam Manopolas (Useful for Enmity and Haste for PLD/NIN.)
Legs
Lvl 1 Bronze Subligar or RSE
Lvl 7 Leather Trousers
Lvl 10 Scale Cuisses
Lvl 16 Bone Subligar or
Lvl 17 Lizard Trousers *
lvl 20 Royal Footman's Trousers
Lvl 21 Beetle Subligar
Lvl 24 Chain Hose
Lvl 29 Eisendiechlings or Kampfdiechlings
Lvl 40 Royal Squire's Breeches (Perhaps a better option than Eisendiechlings, but definitely not better than Kampfdiechlings)
Lvl 50 Iron Musketeer's Cuisses (Definitely the piece you want from 50-58)
Lvl 55 Fourth Division Cuisses
Lvl 58 Gallant Breeches (AF)
Lvl 59 Sipahi Zerehs (Compared to AF: Same AGI, +2 STR, more HP, a bit less defense, and no +2 ENM. Enhancing skill who cares.)
Lvl 70 Lord's Cuisses
Lvl 73 Adaman Cuisses
Lvl 73 Crimson Cuisses (Abjuration Gear with movement speed increase, godsend for kite fights)
Lvl 73 Koenig Diechlings (Abjuration Gear)
Lvl 74 Valor Breeches (AFv2)
Lvl 75 Homam Cosciales (Fast Cast and Haste for PLD/NIN.)
Mangez des Pommes 
