Paladin Tank Gear and Best in Slot — Dawntrail 7.55

If you prefer to save gil and not pentameld, simply follow the melding guide. Below you can find several sets depending on how many Tomestones you want to commit to early gearing. For all sets, Caramel Popcorn is the best-in-slot food option, though Mate Cookie can be used as a cheap alternative until market prices go down.

The full crafted gearset is only recommended for those players who plan on playing the raid tier after release with limited access to the new currency. Eventually you'll want to buy tome gear for the extra item level increasing health and DPS.

The 1350 set also known as the 3-Week set is mostly for the early bird Week 1 / RWF players, with no time to farm up additional Tomestones.

The 1800 set also known as the 4-Week set is for players who have time to cap their Tomestones on the release week of Savage.

These gear sets can only be acquired by completing the AAC Heavyweight (Savage) along with upgrading your Tomestone gear.

With the arrival of Patch 7.55, the new Phantom Occultum relic weapons have customizable stats that make them BiS for both Dawntrail Ultimates. This set uses both the Palazzo sword and Occultum shield for a very small gain over its alternatives.

Using the Palazzo weapon simply requires one additional Direct Hit meld into the weapon, with no other changes made to the Savage Best-in-Slot.

The optimal progression set using the Phantom relic simply requires changing the sole Tenacity meld to Direct Hit, with no other changes made to the Savage Best-in-Slot.

With the arrival of Patch 7.55, the new Phantom Occultum relic weapons have customizable stats that make them BiS for both Dawntrail Ultimates. The Edenmorn sword is still used over the relic weapon.

FRU uses a combination of Arcadion Light-Heavyweight, Augmented Quetzalli, and Mistic Memory gear. This option is for those progressing the fight who do not yet have the FRU weapon.

The relic shield used can be the Majestic Manderville one from 6.45 or the Phantom relics from Dawntrail. The Omega sword is still used over the relic weapon. With the introduction of The Lunar Subterrane, certain pieces of iLevel 635 gear are available for a mild DPS increased compared to previous sets. Certain pieces of synced iLevel 760 gear are also used to maximize substats.

Portions of this gear set can only be acquired by completing the Abyssos raid tier. A guide for the content can be found in the link below.

The relic shield used can be the Majestic Manderville one from 6.45 or the Phantom relics from Dawntrail. With the introduction of The Lunar Subterrane, certain pieces of iLevel 635 gear are available for a mild DPS increased compared to previous sets. Certain pieces of synced iLevel 760 gear are also used to maximize substats.

Portions of these gear sets can only be acquired by completing the Abyssos raid tier. A guide for the content can be found in the link below.

The relic shield used can be the Majestic Manderville one from 6.45 or the Phantom relics from Dawntrail. The Heavens sword is still used over the relic weapon. With the introduction of Lapis Manalis, certain pieces of iLevel 605 gear are available for a mild DPS increased compared to previous sets. Certain pieces of synced gear are also used to maximize substats.

Portions of these gear sets can only be acquired by completing the Asphodelos raid tier. A guide for the content can be found links below.

The relic shield used can be the Majestic Manderville one from 6.45 or the Phantom relics from Dawntrail. With the introduction of Lapis Manalis, certain pieces of iLevel 605 gear are available for a mild DPS increased compared to previous sets. Certain pieces of synced gear are also used to maximize substats.

Portions of these gear sets can only be acquired by completing the Asphodelos raid tier. A guide for the content can be found links below.

We’ve decided to not include full gear sets for The Unending Coil of Bahamut anymore, as your gear choices make very little difference in how much damage you do due to how gear syncs and removes melds. The item level listed below will outline what item level is required to max out both substats on gear for the fight. All gear above the specified item level will work:

• Item level 470

With that being said, the biggest difference that can be made to your gear set will be equipping a Shadowbringers Relic weapon. Due to the nature of how substats are allocated on these weapons, it enables you to utilize more substats than what’s intended on a normal weapon. The substat caps you want to aim for UCOB are as follows:

• Sword: 91 Critical Hit / 91 Determination / 91 Tenacity
• Shield: 36 Critical Hit / 36 Determination / 36 Tenacity

The Shadowbringers relic, due to its point-by-point stat customization, allows you to get some skill speed for free in content where it syncs down, putting us at 2.46 GCD in UCOB. However, this is only a minor gain, even if played optimally, and so 2.50 is more generally recommended for comfort and consistency. If you would like to play with the faster GCD, allocate enough stats to reach these values:

• Sword: 87 Critical Hit / 91 Determination / 65 Skill Speed / 91 Tenacity
• Shield: 36 Critical Hit / 36 Determination / 26 Skill Speed / 36 Tenacity

We’ve decided to not include full gear sets for The Weapon's Refrain anymore, as your gear choices make very little difference in how much damage you do due to how gear syncs and removes melds. The item level listed below will outline what item level is required to max out both substats on gear for the fight. All gear above the specified item level will work:

• Item level 500

With that being said, the biggest difference that can be made to your gear set will be equipping a Shadowbringers Relic weapon. Due to the nature of how substats are allocated on these weapons, it enables you to utilize more substats than what’s intended on a normal weapon. The substat caps you want to aim for UWU are as follows:

• Sword: 97 Critical Hit / 97 Determination / 97 Tenacity
• Shield: 39 Critical Hit / 39 Determination / 39 Tenacity

The Shadowbringers relic, due to its point-by-point stat customization, allows you to get some skill speed for free in content where it syncs down, putting us at 2.48 GCD in UWU. However, this is only a minor gain, even if played optimally, and so 2.50 is more generally recommended for comfort and consistency. If you would like to play with the faster GCD, allocate enough stats to reach these values:

• Sword: 97 Critical Hit / 97 Determination / 43 Skill Speed / 97 Tenacity
• Shield: 39 Critical Hit / 39 Determination / 17 Skill Speed / 39 Tenacity

We’ve decided to not include full gear sets for The Epic of Alexander anymore, as your gear choices make very little difference in how much damage you do due to how gear syncs and removes melds. The item level listed below will outline what item level is required to max out both substats on gear for the fight. All gear above the specified item level will work:

• Item level 595

With that being said, the biggest difference that can be made to your gear set will be equipping a Shadowbringers Relic weapon. Due to the nature of how substats are allocated on these weapons, it enables you to utilize more substats than what’s intended on a normal weapon. The substat caps you want to aim for TEA are as follows:

• Sword: 130 Critical Hit / 126 Determination / 78 Tenacity
• Shield: 53 Critical Hit / 53 Determination / 28 Tenacity

For those with the Manderville or Phantom Relic weapons, the stat distribution cannot be finely tuned but the priority remains the same. Keep in mind, the Relic weapon is NOT mandatory to clear these fights. It only provides a buffer for mistakes. It’s up to the player to make the decision if the grind is worth it.