pld/dnc vs pld/warFollow

can a pld/dnc using a merc. GS using waltz and aspair sambas for curing and mp refresh do better then a pld/war

If it's not soloing, you're giving up a LOT of hate potential from WAR. In my experience, Provoke beats Animated Flourish hands down (when /dnc - dnc is a different matter). Using TP for cures isn't as enmity efficient either. Especially since you're giving up WS's. And PLD CAN kick out good WS's if they gear for it correctly (read: just like the WARs/SAMs/DRKs do).

People have used /dnc and people have used /war. /war is a little easier to pull off and lends itself very well to DD PLD. /dnc doesn't lend as much to DD PLD (it DOES give an accuracy bonus) as it requires (you HAVE to be hitting the mob for tp if you're going to use waltzes proficiently).

/dnc is great for solo activities until 68ish, when /rdm really starts to shine.

Almost every piece of the anecdotal evidence we've had points to /war doing better than /dnc. And if you're using a GS, you might as well have an offensive job leveled. Especially if you're trying to tank. Using a shield is paramount to getting the damage mitigation you need in order to tank effectively.

in a party situation, no. Also, give up the GS. With shield mastery not only will you take less damage, but you will also gain tp FASTER (5tp/block) and retain the ability to cast spells without interruptions by blocking. I have played around with pld/dnc in sky farming. It really isnt that bad, but for any major mob or serious tanking event you will want /war or /nin.

In campaign, on the other hand, pld/dnc is the ultimate combo really for maxing out your tags. You would still want to keep the sword/shield combo for faster TP.

I'm also on the Pld/Dnc side, in experiences parties unless your vorpal blade is averaging something around 500+ damage, you will do better using that tp for cures.

It's true that animated flourish is weaker than provoke but that's only one hate tool of /Dnc, the sub comes also with Sambas(your own form of refresh after 50), and your chances to get the better of your tp in the long pink-pink-slaughter improve dramatically with /Dnc unlikely with /War which have only a very few chances to reach to 100 before feather tickle.

Mind you /War will always return more damage, although /Dnc will have greater hate control, it's for you to decide what is more necessary for each party.

Sincerely.

Ken.

I leveled PLD before DNC was around, but I might have to try it next time I'm in a sync pt to get some buffer. tbh I don't see it being superior to /war outside of Colibri, I don't actually accept colibri invites on PLD anymore... I prefer Imps and its easy to find an Imp party. Maybe if a PT ends up going to MMJSP or a lower level Ay{tab} defoliator/diremite PT would work well.

Edited, Sep 8th 2009 11:03am by Yashnaheen

I think my PLD's GS skill is at....23 or 33 or so? ._.; Again, I do not suggest or recommend copying my slothlike behaviour, but I see absolutely no feasable use for GS that Sword/Shield wouldn't outshine. I'm sure there IS one, but I haven't figured it out or run into it yet, so I'll get to playing skillup fun whenever I feel the urge to.

So far solo/EXP/Soboro NM/Balor swift belt nm/Campaign/Besieged (so far these are the only things I've used PLD for) the only logical choice was Sword/Shield. Maybe there's some special NM's or ....maybe it has use for low level farming? I'd still think any TP gain from blocking with shield would outshine the GS...or at least I'd wish for it. GS' long delay absolutely KILLS me.....

I actually really enjoy /nin too. It is actually fairly easy to tank without a provoke ability... provided your pt understands how "hate" works. If they don't, /nin can be very, very, VERY frustrating. When it works, though, it's awesomesauce. Really helped for Unstable Cluster. /war I'm on 99.4% of the time in XP, so don't get me wrong, I do <3's mah /war. /dnc is very very useful, though, as anything that disables all of /dnc's abilities disables all of /war's. Used correctly, I really think you could use /dnc is most situations you use /war. I'm not confident in the sub enough yet to suggest it should be used in ALL the situations, as I do love WS'ing...but I always try and remember that my primary function is to hold hate from the mob.

DD Pld is awesome in every single regard, but if I need free mass healing on top of my cures to be some kind of true blood tank, who's going to try some sort of DoT tp build method sans WS' which I admit loses some of the appeal...but you're going to be dealing respectable tp damage while not losing hate except when you want to, and not worrying about dying because that's just not gonna happen unless you're camping something much too strong for you.

....unfortunately, if you have ToAU installed on your HDD then you likely exp at these 60+ levels in the ToAU areas, where mobs are often found to be squishy, die quickly, AND GODDAMNIT WHY DO YOU KEEP TAKING MY FOOD AND TP AUGH I HATE YOU because it's just more efficient than most non ToAU options. The old zones still do their jobs, mind, but to convince someone to go there with you is like convincing someone to help you through CoP; you'd swear you were ripping out their teeth with your bare hands. So you're probably going to go /war because the double attack is too good if you can cap ACC or come close at any rate. You have att boosting skills, hate generating skills with small recast timers, and even another def boosting skill if you need it. The job of the ToAU mob is to die a speedy death. The old kuftal tunnel crab parties of yore would have REALLY LIKED /dnc just for how much easier it would make the PLD's job.

tl;dr: I love /war, I love /dnc, don't forget about /rdm and /nin, and Great Sword sucks.

indeed And It works well for plenty of situations where u can gain TP but your Physical dmg is horrid or your too low a lvl for it to matter. I Tanked Ouryu off 3 blm with an initail hate share from my nin/war. But as was stated once you have TP the cures dont stop. Hate is far greater than war. As far as efficency goes. You can spend 40 tp and Curaga your entire party for some big hate numbers.

15 second steps, 30 second Animated flourish 30 second spectral jig= Voke Yes its a tad more difficult to play but you will see better over hate control and survivability...

And then theres lvl 59. Hauby lifer belt woodsman builds with ws flying everywhere Vorpal comes around early 60's and for parties your better off just DD anyway. acc bonus while nice will not beat out a dd pld /war. 800+ vorpals on imps is outrageous and just good clean fun.

Long story short, sh*ts situational.

Edit OP, a pld/dnc Merc does a geat job in Campain for DD heals and all, but it cant take 3 mobs like a Joy/shield /dnc can. I gain tp faster than a sam breaking his trial. belive it. Shield mastery FTW

Edited, Sep 14th 2009 9:57pm by Nihcru