Paladin Guide

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Beginner's Paladin Guide

Paladin (PLD) is a tank who uses a sword and shield, and utilize magic to deal damage and heal themselves and allies, if needed.

Paladins possess more tanking tools for themselves and the party, and is generally more tanky due to having a shield that can randomly block (reduce) damage. Their damaging magical spells allows them to additionally deal damage at a range, with their burst at higher levels being nearly entirely ranged. This grants paladin a ton of flexibility, in contrast to how it played previously.

Paladins especially specialize in progress environments, and being able to sustain nearly infinitely if played correctly. They possess a single-target heal to heal themselves or others if needed, with its power rivalling healers, wings that reduce everyone's damage taken, and can even take damage in place of another party member. Though paladins have a lot of support tools, they still are able to deal a lot of damage, especially at range.

Offence

Basic Combos

Single-target

Like other disciple of war jobs, paladins have a basic "1-2-3" combo.

  • At level 64, Holy Spirit is unlocked. Upon completing a combo with Royal Authority, you are granted Divine Might, which allows you to use Holy Spirit at any time, and at a range. Using it will not break combos, but make sure you use it before you complete another Royal Authority combo!
Basic 1-2-3 Combo:
1 (Level 1) 2 (Level 4) 3 (Level 60) Extra (Level 64)
Fast Blade Riot Blade Royal Authority Holy Spirit

  • At level 76, Atonement, Supplication, and Sepulchre are learned. It is its own separate combo, and is granted upon completing a combo with Royal Authority, just like Divine Might with Holy Spirit.
  • It will not break any of your combos. Since they are all on one button, it is impossible to specifically use one attack out of order. Make sure to complete this combo before completing another Royal Authority combo.
Basic Single-target Combo: Divine Might Atonement Combo:
Fast Blade Riot Blade Royal Authority Holy Spirit Atonement Supplication Sepulchre
Will break any existing combos. Will not break any combos if
under the effect of Divine Might.		 All actions can be used at any time without breaking any combos.

AoE

  • Use your AoE combo on as few as two enemies.

  • At level 72, Holy Circle is learned. It has a cast time and is weaker than your main AoE combo, but when you complete a combo with Prominence, you will get the effect of Divine Might, which makes Holy Circle instantly casted and much stronger. Because Holy Spirit also uses Divine Might, make sure you only use Holy Circle in AoE.
Basic AoE Combo:
1 (Level 6) 2 (Level 40) Extra (Level 72)
Total Eclipse Prominence Holy Circle
Will break any existing combos. Will not break any combos if under the effect of Divine Might.

Ranged Attacks

Shield Lob Holy Spirit
Unlocks at level 15.

  • Is paladin's basic ranged attack.
  • Like other tanks' ranged attacks, Shield Lob will generate extra enmity. Unlike other tanks' ranged attacks, Shield Lob is the weakest out of all of them. Try to always stay within melee range when possible, as your melee combo is always stronger.
  • You also want to engage every pack of enemies with this action, and even bosses until level 64 when Holy Spirit is unlocked.
 Unlocks at level 64.

  • Has a cast time and costs 1,000 MP.
    • If you are under the effect of Divine Might, which is granted by completing a basic 1-2-3 combo with Royal Authority, it is instantly casted and becomes stronger.
  • Because it has a cast time when not under the effect of Divine Might, you cannot double-weave abilities after casting it.
  • Instead of engaging bosses with Shield Lob, engage them by casting Holy Spirit, instead. While pulling trash mobs however, use Shield Lob instead, as it is instantly-casted, and standing to cast Holy Spirit will just make you take more damage than you should.
  • Holy Spirit is three times (and later, four times) as strong compared to Shield Lob, and at least twice as strong compared to other tanks' ranged attacks. Entirely replace Shield Lob (unless a lot of movement is needed) with Holy Spirit if you need to move away from a boss due to mechanics.
  • If you know how to, slide-casting is a very beneficial skill to have to maintain mobility.

Burst Windows and Offensive Cooldowns

Paladin's burst windows are entirely contained within Fight or Flight, which is unlocked at level 2. You should always try to fit as many offensive cooldowns as possibile within its duration of 20 seconds. Below is all of the cooldowns you will learn, and what paladin's burst windows will look like through each expansion. Use every offensive cooldown as soon as possible. Keep your GCD rolling.

Disclaimer: Images shown are burst windows mid-fight. Opening rotations do not (should not, and probably cannot) look like the example images.

Actions Unlocked
Level 30 Spirits Within Simply deals extra damage to a single enemy, slightly stronger than Riot Blade.
  • Has a short cooldown of 30 seconds. Because Fight or Flight has a 60-second cooldown, you are able to, and should, use Spirts Within twice every minute - once within a Fight or Flight burst, and once outside of its burst.
  • Despite being single-target, you should use it within AoE. It is free damage.
Level 50 Circle of Scorn Deals AoE damage, and deals extra damage over-time.
  • Has a short cooldown of 30 seconds. Because Fight or Flight has a 60-second cooldown, you are able to, and should, use Circle of Scorn twice every minute - once within a Fight or Flight burst, and once outside of its burst.
  • Despite being AoE, you should use it within single-target. It is free damage.
An example of a paladin's burst at level 50:

Actions Unlocked
Level 64 Holy Spirit Is a ranged spell with a cast time of 1.5 seconds and costs 1,000 MP.
Level 66 Intervene Is a charged action, storing up to 2 charges with a cooldown of 30 seconds per charge.
  • Deals a small amount of damage, but more importantly, gap-closes to the selected target in range. This allows you to immediately close any gap if you need to disengage from a boss for any reason.
    • While you are able to close the distance very quickly to your target, do not pull mob packs or bosses with this action. This is because, in the case of mob packs, you may outpace most other jobs - most importantly your healer. In the case of most bosses, you need to pull them to the middle of the arena, and face them away fromt he party. By gap-closing on a boss, you also surprise your party by immediately engaging. It is considered bad practice to pull with gap-closers.
Level 68 Requiescat Grants you four stacks of Requiescat, which makes all cast times of spells instant, and heavily increases the potencies of Holy Spirit and Holy Circle.
  • Because it deals damage, it should be used after Fight or Flight.
  • Because Fight or Flight increases all outgoing damage, you should use Holy Spirit as often as possible within the its duration.
An example of a paladin's burst at level 70:
  • Requiescat is weaved after Fight or Flight. This is because Requiescat deals damage and grants access to empowered usages of Holy Spirit. Simply spam Holy Spirit to spend all stacks of Requiescat. Both stacks of Intervene are simply used for pure damage. If you know you will be needing to gap-close later, save a charge.
    Requiescat is weaved after Fight or Flight. This is because Requiescat deals damage and grants access to empowered usages of Holy Spirit. Simply spam Holy Spirit to spend all stacks of Requiescat.
    Both stacks of Intervene are simply used for pure damage. If you know you will be needing to gap-close later, save a charge.

Actions Unlocked
Level 76 Atonement
Supplication
Sepulchre		 Sword Oath grants you Atonement Ready after completing a Royal Authority combo. This gives you another melee combo.
  • All attacks in the Atonement combo are stronger than your basic Royal Authority combo. If possible, you should try and fit these attacks into Fight or Flight when possible instead of any attacks in the Royal Authority combo.
  • None of these attacks will break any combos. If you need to stall your attacks to fit the Atonement combo within Fight or Flight, you can begin another Royal Authority combo while you wait. The best-case scenario is to get Supplication, Holy Spirit from Divine Might (along with the ones casted with Requiescat), and Sepulchre within your burst windows.
Level 80 Confiteor A heavy-hitting spell that can only be used after using Requiescat, similar to Goring Blade.
  • Confiteor should be used with a stack of Requiescat. It will lose a ton of damage if you are not under its effect.
An example of a paladin's burst at level 80:

Actions Unlocked
Level 86 Expiacion Automatically upgrades Spirits Within, making it hit much harder and also makes it AoE. Its use cases remain the same.
Level 90 Blade of Faith
Blade of Truth
Blade of Valor		 Blade of Faith is a combo off of Confiteor.
  • Unlike your Atonement combo, this combo can be broken if you use your Royal Authority combo.
  • You can use your Atonement combo, or Holy Spirit if under the effect of Divine Might.
An example of a paladin's burst at level 90:
  • Make sure you commit to your Blade of Faith combo after using Confiteor. If you know that you will need to disengage from a boss due to mechanics for an extended period of time, delay Confiteor and its combo since it is ranged, but try to keep it within Fight or Flight.
    Make sure you commit to your Blade of Faith combo after using Confiteor. If you know that you will need to disengage from a boss due to mechanics for an extended period of time, delay Confiteor and its combo since it is ranged, but try to keep it within Fight or Flight.

Actions Unlocked
Level 96 Imperator Automatically upgrades Requiescat, making it hit harder, makes it AoE, and also makes it ranged. Its use cases remain exactly the same, as it still grants Requiescat.
Level 100 Blade of Honor Blade of Honor Ready is granted upon using Blade of Valor. It is an ability, and can be used at any time for up to 30 seconds after. Should be used as soon as possible during Fight or Flight burst windows, but can be delayed outside of the burst window if you will hit more enemies.
An example of a paladin's burst at level 90:
  • Blade of Honor is simply used as soon as possible. If you can save it for when you can hit more enemies (a boss will spawn adds soon), you should save it, even outside of your Fight or Flight windows.
    Blade of Honor is simply used as soon as possible. If you can save it for when you can hit more enemies (a boss will spawn adds soon), you should save it, even outside of your Fight or Flight windows.

Defence

Using your mitigation tools is required as a tank. For the basics of tanking, and how to use each set of mitigation tools, read the tank guide. Paladin uses their mitigation in the exact manner as gunbreaker.

Strong Mitigation

Rampart

You simply take 20% less damage for 20 seconds. It is considered as a strong mitigation, along with Sentinel / Guardian.

  • Dungeon Mob Pulling: Use it first after you finish pulling all trash mobs.
  • Bosses: Used for tankbusters.
    • If a boss will do auto-attacks for an extended period of time, likely from mechanics actively resolving, you can use Rampart to mitigate a lot of damage over-time. Tankbusters frequently follow these periods, and Rampart's duration may even cover it.

Sentinel

Take 30% less damage for 15 seconds. It is considered as a strong mitigation, along with Rampart

  • Dungeon Mob Pulling: Use it first after you finish pulling all trash mobs.
  • Bosses: Exclusively used for tankbusters.

Guardian

Take 40% less damage for 15 seconds. You also get a 1,000 potency barrier. It is a direct upgrade of Sentinel, and its use cases have not changed.

  • Dungeon Mob Pulling: Use it first after you finish pulling all trash mobs.
  • Bosses: Exclusively used for tankbusters.

Hallowed Ground

Simply become invincible for 10 seconds. Has the longest cooldown in the game of 7 minutes, but should not be exclusively saved for emergencies.

  • Dungeon Mob Pulling: Use it as you would as Rampart or Sentinel / Guardian, on cooldown.
  • Bosses: Better saved for trash pulls. Otherwise, especially in trials or raids, still remains useful for if you know you will take a lot of damage, due to failing numerous mechanics, or if you have multiple stacks of Vulnerability Up.

Secondary Mitigation

Bulwark

Guarantees that you block all damage (except critical hits) for a shorter 10 seconds. Functionally reduces damage by 20% on average - consider it as a weaker and shorter Rampart.

  • Dungeon Mob Pulling: Use it after a strong mitigation defensive has been used.
    • It is not recommended to stack Bulwark with other mitigation due to its similar effectiveness as Rampart, though you can at later levels.
  • Bosses: Can be used to replace Rampart or Sentinel for tankbusters.
Reprisal

Decreases damage dealt by nearby enemies by 10% for 10 seconds. This is a debuff on enemies, which means you must hit enemies for it to actually have any effect.

  • Dungeon Mob Pulling: Use it after a strong mitigation defensive has been used.
    • You can stack it with other mitigation, though keep in mind its short duration.
    • It is frequently paired with Arm's Length to greatly increase its effectiveness, nearly to the degree as Rampart.
  • Bosses: Save it for any raid-wide damage. It is ill-advised to use it selfishly.
Arm's Length

Does not decrease damage taken directly, but grants slow to enemies who hit you instead. Slow does not decease movement speed (like heavy), slow decreases the rate of which enemies perform auto-attacks and cast attacks.

  • Dungeon Mob Pulling: Though strong on its own, it is best used with another secondary mitigation tool, such as Reprisal, but not Rampart.
    • Does not apply slow to enemies who attack with magic, making it useless against those enemies.
  • Bosses: Bosses are immune to slow, making it useless for mitigation. Either save it for mechanics with knockbacks/draw-ins, or for the next mob pull.

Short Mitigation

Sheltron

Decreases damage taken by 15% for a short duration of time. Has a functional cooldown of 20-25 seconds, due to auto-attack delay.

  • Dungeon Mob Pulling: Consider the following scenarios:
    • If you know you will be taking a lot of damage because you pulled a lot of mobs, or you know that the mob pulls in that specific dungeon especially hurt (such as The Stone Vigil), you may want to supplement it with a strong mitigation tool like Rampart or Sentinel at first.
    • If you know that the mobs do not hurt too much, or if you know overall DPS of your teammates is low, use it as a connecting/alternating piece of mitigation. This means, use it after you have pulled all of the mobs first, then after a strong mitigation tool runs out, then after a short mitigation tool runs out.
  • Bosses: Use it to supplement other mitigation tools for tankbusters, or use it to negate some auto-attack damage. You could save some Oath Gauge for Intervention or even Cover if you know you may need those actions.

Holy Sheltron

Decreases damage taken by 28% for 4 seconds, then 15% for 4 seconds after. Has a functional cooldown of 20-25 seconds, due to auto-attack delay.

  • Dungeon Mob Pulling: Use it immediately, with or without a strong mitigation tool after pulling mob packs. This is because it heavily decreases damage for a bit, and also gives you enough HP regen equivalent to a use of Clemency. Use it as a connecting/alternating piece of mitigation thereafter.
  • Bosses: Use it to supplement other mitigation tools for tankbusters, or use it to negate some auto-attack damage. You could save some Oath Gauge for Intervention or even Cover if you know you may need those actions.

Party Mitigation

  • Reprisal is an integral piece of mitigation for your party. Refer to its entry above.
Divine Veil

Simply grants a barrier equal to 10% of your maximum HP to party members and yourself. At higher levels, also heals them and yourself with a potency of 400.

  • Dungeon Mob Pulling: Can be used selfishly in mob pulls to a minor effect. Because it recovers a fixed amount of stats, it should be used as soon as possible to immediately put it on cooldown for a boss, if needed.
  • Bosses: Simply used to mitigate raid-wide damage, or if you know multiple people will fail mechanics, help protect those people. At higher levels, its healing can be purposefully used after a raid-wide attack to recover HP and get a barrier for another instance of raid-wide damage, which becomes much more frequent and hurts more at these levels.
Passage of Arms

Increases your block rate to 100% and decreases damage party members behind you take by 15%.

  • Dungeon Mob Pulling: Useless.
  • Bosses: Position in front of your teammates and "blink" (use it, then immediately end it) it to protect against raid-wide damage. It will still decrease damage your party members take, even if its effects were not even visible. If too many of your party members are split, simply skip this.
    • Outside of ultimate attacks from bosses (the boss is untargetable, but is charging up an attack), never channel this action.

Intervention

Decreases damage a party member will take by 15% for a short amount of time.

  • Is largely more usable than Cover, but is less powerful.
  • If either Rampart or Sentinel are active, further decreases damage taken by an additional 10% per effect. This effect is a bonus, and should not be purposefully sought after.

Intervention

Decreases damage a party member will take by 28% for 4 seconds, then 15% for 4 seconds after. Also heals them with an equivalent amount as a single use of Clemency.

  • Is largely more usable than Cover, especially given that it also heals. If a party member is in immediate danger of being KO'd to the point that Intervention will not save them, Cover is preferred.
  • If either Rampart or Sentinel / Guardian are active, further decreases damage taken by an additional 10% per effect. This effect is a bonus, and should not be purposefully sought after.

Cover

Take all damage and detrimental status effects for a party member.

  • If a party member is in immediate danger of being KO'd to the point that Intervention will not save them, Cover is preferred. Proper usage of Cover may even save runs.
  • If the party member is takes excessive amounts of damage that it even puts you at a risk of dying if you cover them, do not cover them.
  • Hallowed Ground will not work with Cover. Other mitigation tools, such as Rampart, will reduce damage taken from redirected damage.

Clemency

Clemency is a very powerful healing tool. It is, however, both frequently and improperly used. You should never use Clemency if a healer is still alive, even if you reach low HP. Trust your healer to keep you alive.

  • If you die, you may consider using Clemency to keep yourself (and even other teammates alive) if the healer is objectively incompetent (not using any of their tools or cooldowns).
  • Clemency is a very useful recovery tool for if the healer is KO'd at any point. You can single-handedly keep yourself and other party members alive with Clemency alone, for the rest of a fight. It also comes with the effect that if you heal a party member, you also receive 50% of that heal, incentivizing that you keep your party members alive. It is recommended to use Phoenix Downs to raise a healer if they are KO'd in dungeons.

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