Paladin PvP Guide for FFXIV

The Paladin is one of four Tanks in FFXIV. What makes it unique to its fellow tanks is the combination of self sustains and powerful defensive abilities, which also double as offensive capabilities.

Paladins are the truest form of tanking in PvP. When played well, you can survive far longer then the other tank selections due to the ability to jump into entire groups and then escape the skirmish with ease.

As of patch 7.3, the Paladin has risen to then number 1 tank in Frontline PvP. Not only can you create space for the team, forcing enemy players to burn through their cooldowns, you now have the damage to punish teams with the added benefit being Paladins are a powerful counter to Frontlines recent meta of playing as groups of GunBreakers.

Note: This guide is focused on PVP as a whole; Frontline, Crystalline Conflict and Rival Wings all played differently to one another, however the fundamentals and understanding of a roll translate across all game modes.

The following video guide is updated as of patch 7.1. While the information is still valid, the current 7.3 Paladin is much less reliant on the team.

Strengths

• Powerful engage capable of diving large groups setting up CC and self healing
• The Longest survivability of the four tanks topped with immortality able to sustain in long fights and to stall when required
• The ability to save any parter member from death utilising your Guardian taking all damage in there place
• Your Limit break counters every other role including one shot abilities combined with guardian creates to immortal players
• Your Shield smite ability weakens the defensiveness off the enemy player guard preventing targets from escape
• 2 charges off Holy Spirit in 7.3 provides the much needed healing during escapes
• Imperator rewards aggressive play the more targets struck the more self healing and the longer you can tank for
• Paladin is the one off a few roles to have a Defensive double as a Offensive action with the Holy Sheltron

Weaknesses

• Landing Imperator on a small amount of players will not provide enough healing to sustain against large groups
• Using Guardian forces you to give up Guard in order to survive as you take a team members damage alongside your own
• Brawl heavy role requiring knowledge of other jobs to fully master
• Your sustain can lead to being the last one KO'd which can quickly turn into team staggering
• Committed dives only having one Intervene means once you engage a group you must fight in order to survive as you cannot simply walk away
• A paladin will often be abandoned when making plays to protect the team and setting up openings

4.

Skill Selection

Every job has access to a few common actions, but their utility differs between jobs.

Recuperate Standard-issue Elixir Guard Purify Sprint

3.1.

Recuperate

Recuperate – This is your most important healing ability. MP in PVP is only used for this ability. With a max of 10,000 MP, Recuperate will consume 2,500 and heals you for 15,000 HP. The amount of healing received can be increased and reduced by healing up or down status effects, such as Summon Seraph to increase or Biolysis to decrease. You gain 500 MP per 3 seconds passively, something to keep in mind!

3.2.

Standard-issue Elixir

Standard-issue Elixir – This is your second-most important healing ability. Elixir allows you to gain back all your HP and MP, resetting yourself for the next fight! The listed cast time is 4.5 seconds, which means the cast is actually snapshotted as complete after 4 seconds, after which you can move and opponents can no longer cancel your Elixir. You'll see moments where you get hit, and the position will still finish.

When not under pressure, make sure to top up your resources for the next fight. As with the animations counted in the death timer, you will be out for 20~ seconds instead vs a 4 second Elixir!

3.3.

Guard

Guard – Grants 90% damage reduction and immunity to most crowd-control debuffs for up to 4 seconds. Using another action cancels this guard early. Damage over Time effects that have been applied before Guard will always tick for the full amount and wont be negated with Guard!

Per Patch 7.1, there have been multiple abilities added that work against Guarded targets. Where Shield Smite and Chain Stratagem half the defensive bonus of Guard (90% → 45%), there are also abilities that simply ignore guard when dealing damage; Drill, Assassinate, Enchanted Riposte, Disesteem, Wreath of Fire, Serpent's Tail and Chaotic Spring

Damage per ability is now tight to animations, compared to pre-7.1 where the damage would register when pressed. This means Guard is more reactive than it has been before, but it's also possible now to start ability animations that will hit the moment your Guard ends. Beware of your surroundings and what the enemy is doing!

3.4.

Purify

Purify – Cleanses all common crowd-control debuffs and provides a 2-second immunity to further crowd control, draw in and knockback effects. Use this to prevent yourself from getting CC-chained to death. As of patch 7.3 Purify is now a cost of 2500 MP with every use and can be recast every 4s.

With the amount of crowd-control abilities, try not to be trigger-happy when using Purify. Taking a stun with no follow up from the enemy team, doesn't bring you in danger! If you have no defensive s ready against a crowd-control heavy enemy team, it's recommended to play defensively before making another engage.

3.5.

Sprint

Sprint – Toggle for increased movement speed. This is a GCD and using any other action cancels the buff, so be smart in using it. Sage is a fragile job, as it has the lowest HP out of any job. If you are using off-global abilities repeatedly while running away or chasing, you should try to late-weave them if you can afford to, to avoid canceling too much of the Sprint duration.

The Paladin's basic rotation is the combo actions Fast Blade, Riot Blade and Royal Authority. These all share a 5 yalm range dealing 5000, 6000 and 7000 damage in sequence. This rotation is slow, rarely coming into play other when you have no other actions to choose from.

Shield Smite is your very powerful cone AoE with a 8 yalm reach and 8 yalm width at the cones max reach. Shield Smite deals 8,000 damage to every target struck and for the following 10s all struck will take 10% more damage from all sources, even better yet target struck under the cover of Guard will have there Guards defensive bonus cut in half.

In Frontline Shield Smite is mostly used for the AoE damage and increase to damage taken aiming to land this action into as many players as possible, whereas a game mode such as Crystalline Conflict you tend to lean more into the Guard weakening aspect to gain team advantage.

Imperator is your most important ability and a core component to your survivability, having a 25 yalm range dealing AoE damage in a 5 yalm radius. You will deal 4,000 damage per target with Imperator, with each target struck receiving the effect of Sacred Claim for the next 10s.

Each time you deal damage to a player with Sacred Claim, you will heal for 3,000 HP. For example, hitting two players under the effect heals for 6,000, while striking five under the effect heals for 15,000 HP. Imperator also unlocks access to Atonement and Confiteor.

Imperator (in Frontline) is what allows you to tank entire alliances. This is best used as you setup and dash in with burst combos, creating openings for the team while providing you the chance to land the strike on as many as possible. The more under the Sacred Claim effect the better; in fact, the less enemies suffering from Sacred Claim the harder it is to survive.

Holy Spirit is your 25 yalm reach single target magic attack dealing 8,000 damage to a single target that also heals for a additional 6,000. As of the current Patch 7.3 you can now hold up to two charges.

Holy Spirit can act as a means to finish a fleeing target at long range, but also allows the Paladin to retreat by using Recuperate into Holy Spirit.

Holy Sheltron, while also a utility action with defensive benefits, is best used in your aggressive pushes. Upon activation, this applies an 8,000 HP barrier to yourself for 4s. If this barrier is not destroyed within that 4s window, you deal damage to enemies around you equating to 150% of how much barrier was remaining.

Should you deal damage with Holy Sheltron, you are also granted Sword Oath which increases your damage by 15% for 8s and applies a 75% heavy to all enemies nearby for 4s. If the barrier is broken instead of dealing damage, you instead gain a 15% damage taken reduction for 8s.

Holy Sheltron is best used as part of your engage by activating Holy Sheltron and holding until you have 2 seconds remaining before using Intervene to dash into a group of players. This sets up an opening with damage and CC that leads into your follow-up burst.

Atonement is one of the follow up actions after using Imperator which acts as a stronger version of the Fast Blade combo. Atonement deals 9,000 damage to a single target and grants Supplication Ready ( Supplication) which deals 10,000 damage to a single target. This also grants Sepulchre Ready, unlocking the final action in the three part combo ( Sepulchre) which deals 11,000 to a single target.

This combo is mostly there as a extra option to chase a single target without the need to go into your AoE abilities on a single target.

Confiteor is your 25 yalm reach with a 5 yalm radius AoE that follows your Imperator, dealing 10,000 damage to your target and those within 5 yalms, with the added bonus off self healing for an extra 8000 healing.

Depending on the pressure both you and the team create, you either use Confiteor as part of your burst engage combos to finish players of fast, or in longer drawn out fights you would hold onto it more frequently for that extra 8,000 heal since you have 15s to use after using your Imperator.

Intervene is both your engage and CC ability dashing to your selected target within a 20 yalm reach dealing 2000 damage and stunning that target.

Intervene is best used in junction with your Holy Sheltron to surprise enemies with the explosive power from Holy Sheltron which helps apply the pressure a Paladin needs in order to survive jumping large groups.

Guardian is Paladins unique ability that allows you to dash to a party member within 20 yalms, tethering you both together and redirecting 100% of the damage your target player would for the next 8s. Both you and your target must remain within 10 yalms of each other to maintain the tether. Should you go out of range simply closing the gap with re-tether your target.

Using Guardian in junction with your Limit Break Phalanx you become immortal. Combined with Guardian, both you and your tether partner are free to rush into the enemy teams invulnerable for the next 10s. The only important thing to note is your Limit break does not keep you safe from fall damage; should you get knocked off the high ground you can still be KO'd.

Phalanx is the Paladins strongest ability and can be used aggressively, defensively, and to stall. Upon activation you beome immortal to all damage besides fall damage for the next 10s, all party members within a 15 yalm radius of you gain a 33% damage taken reduction for 10s whilst unlocking your Blade of Faith, Blade of Truth and Blade of Valor which remain active for 15s.

The Blades of Faith, Truth and Valor deal 11,000, 12,000 and 13,000 damage in sequence, and each hit heals you for 8,000 HP. Striking any target with the Sacred claim effect from your Imperator another 3000 heal for every target will be applied meaning you can restore your heal to full within a second after LB.

Going for the max self sustain play you can even hold onto a blade or two after your immortality ends to keep a fight going with some extra healing strikes and since the blades all share a 25 yalm reach with a 5 yalm radius they are very easy to land.

As a Tank, your Role actions of choice are Rampage, Rampart and Full Swing, with Full Swing being a rather nice option on maps with high ground such as Frontline Secure. This skill is nice for its ability to remove Guard; alongside Shield Smite, you then have to options for ruining enemy Guards and preventing escape.

Rampart is a much more beginner friendly option for learning the Paladin in Frontline PvP or to even take your survivability even further playing the long game surviving through enemy bursts to the point they have nothing left.

Rampage is my personal favourite pick as this can be timed perfectly with your burst combo as you engage, and with the Paladin's new boost to damage in Frontline as of Patch 7.3, Rampage burst combos can drop squishy targets who fail to pay attention.

These combos focus on utilising your Holy Sheltron to its full potential starting of with a simple basic three part combo creating openings for the team whilst setting up healing for yourself

• Holy Sheltron - Hold until you have 2s remaining
• Intervene - Intervene once Sheltron time hits 2s
• Imperator - Strike as many as possible

This second combo takes the first one one step further utilising the power of Rampage with your AoE abilities.

• Holy Sheltron - Hold until you have 2s remaining.
• Intervene - Intervene once Sheltron time hits 2s.
• Rampage - Instantly use right after dashing in.
• Shield Smite
• Imperator

Combo three is the same means off engagement that allows you hold onto Shield smite which is very important in Crystalline Conflict but also provide an additional heal as you engage

• Holy Sheltron - Hold until you have 2s remaining.
• Intervene - Intervene once Sheltron timer hits 2s.
• Holy Spirit
• Imperator

The final main combo takes your Limit Break into play which allows you to do one full combo rotation before going into Limit Break to stall for your combo. This is meant to act as a reset, allowing you to repeat the same combo right after and will typically permit you to stay in the fight anywhere from 30s to around 1 minute with ease.

• Holy Sheltron - Hold until you have 2s remaining.
• Intervene - Intervene once Sheltron time hits 2s.
• Rampage - Instantly use right after dashing in.
• Shield Smite
• Imperator
• Phalanx - time activation right as the enemy jump you.
• Blade of Faith
• Blade of Truth
• Blade of Valor - Combo then resets.

Here are a few useful macros for Paladin. First up we have the target macro for Guardian. After selecting the party member in your team, using this macro will put a bind 1 marker on your head and a Bind 2 marker on your party member. This shows your member where the both of you are to stay in range of the cover. After 9 seconds, the markers will devolve again.

/merror off
/pvpac "Guardian" <t>
/quickchat "Covering Target"
/mk bind1 <me>
/mk bind2 <target> <wait.9>
/mk bind2 <me> <wait.1>
/mk bind2 <me>
/micon "Guardian" pvpaction
/micon Guardian pvpaction

A simplified version which works perfectly in Frontline as a duo is the focus target Guardian Macro.

/merror off
/micon "Guardian" pvpaction
/pvpaction "Guardian" <f>

This third version is the mouse-over version, meaning it will try to activate on whatever your mouse is on, whether it be the name entry in your party list or the player's model on your screen:

/merror off
/pvpac Guardian <mo>
/pvpac Guardian <mo>
/pvpac Guardian <mo>
/pvpac Guardian <mo>
/pvpac Guardian <mo>
/pvpac Guardian <mo>
/pvpac Guardian <mo>
/pvpac Guardian <mo>
/pvpac Guardian <mo>
/pvpac Guardian <mo>
/pvpac Guardian <mo>
/pvpac Guardian <mo>
/pvpac Guardian <mo>
/micon Guardian pvpaction

Lastly for Guardian we have the Target-of-Target macro. This is a macro that will, as it says, target your target's target. Meaning it will try to activate on the target of whoever you focus. I recommend this macro to counter single target bursts or Limit Breaks like mentioned earlier. For example once the Samurai uses their Limit Break, using this macro would make you cover their target and (hopefully) save them from death.

/merror off
/pvpac "Guardian" <tt>
/pvpac "Guardian" <tt>
/pvpac "Guardian" <tt>
/pvpac "Guardian" <tt>
/pvpac "Guardian" <tt>
/pvpac "Guardian" <tt>
/pvpac "Guardian" <tt>
/quickchat "Covering Target" <tt>
/micon Guardian pvpaction