Paladin: A brief guide for players on a budget by Fujisanka

Preface:
Let me start by saying that this guide is based entirely on my own biased opinion. There are many ways to gear and play paladin aside from the one I will talk about here. What follows is simply an attempt to summarize what I have learned while playing paladin for 90 levels in group, solo, and lowman settings for XP, quests/missions, and even some endgame purposes. Basically this is a summary of what works for people who don't have huge piles of gil to blow on gear or access to awesome endgame grade equipment. This is a guide for those who wish to be cheap bastards while not being gimp. Paladin was my first 75 and my first 90 and I didn't have much money or access to any endgame stuff during my 1-75 career. Heck I still don't have much gil or "endgame" grade gear and I still do just fine tanking in Dynamis, Campaign, Assault, Missions, Abyssea, and XP parties. My play style (and this guide) is heavily influenced by Willriker's paladin guide. It's quite good and worth a read even if some parts of it are a bit outdated. In fact I recommend that all paladins read it as a matter of principal.
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Paladin: A tank job in a group.
Now before someone starts whining about how paladin can DD or main heal let me say that I am perfectly aware that paladin can do those things. I even keep a set of DD gear on me at all times for just this sort of thing and its quite fun to DD with a single sword as pld/war or dual swords as pld/nin or pld/dnc or bust out a Perdu Sword as pld/sam and go to town like a total maniac. However that will not be the focus of this guide for several reasons:
:1. Parties expect you to tank. If the party leader wanted a DD he would have invited a SAM, WAR, DRG, RNG, DRK, or MNK.
:2. Parties expect you to tank. If the party leader wanted a main or backup healer he would have invited a WHM, RDM, DNC, or SMN.
:3. Playing a DD or a healer role requires a completely different set of gear than what you would use for tanking.
:4. This alternate gear is often very expensive or very hard to get.
:5. Wearing a DD or healer loadout basically removes your ability to tank well. See points 1 and 2.
:6. Even when wearing the proper gear for the role a paladin will never be as good of a DD as a real DD job or as good of a healer as a real healer job. Paladin just doesn't have the job abilities and job traits to stand up to dedicated DD and healer jobs in their specialized fields.
So now that we have that out of the way the good news is that paladin is hands down the best tank in the game. When combined with the right gear your natural abilities and base stats let you laugh off the most devastating of attacks that would crush other jobs like so many glass cannons. If you like the idea of making a career out of putting yourself squarely in harms way for the purpose of protecting your party members then paladin is for you. When something goes wrong it is your job to take damage for someone else, to pull a link off of the puller, to pull accidental aggro off the mages, and to be the first person to die so the rest of the party has more time to escape. Getting killed now and then not only comes with the job, its part of the job. Don't worry about the XP loss, in a good party you will almost never die anyway and since just about every party needs a tank you won't ever have any trouble getting plenty of XP parties. The tanking prowess of paladins is needed in most endgame events too (with the notable exception of salvage) so you even have a clear path to endgame content.
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Playing paladin:
The first step is to unlock the paladin job. First you will need to get any other job to level 30 or higher to be able to start the unlock quest. I recommend Warrior as a good starting job. It's easy to play, introduces you to tanking, and makes a great subjob for paladin. In fact its such a good subjob for paladin that its the only one you'll ever need 99.9% of the time until endgame. Once you have a job at level 30 you can go and do A Squire's Test, A Squire's Test II, and A Knight's Test. Congratulations, you can now become a paladin.
Great you're a paladin! So now what? Well, grab a sword and a shield, set warrior as your subjob, strap on some level 1 armor and go kill stuff in your favorite noob zone. Do this until you are level 10 or 11, maybe even level 12 if you want. At these levels you can use whatever gear you want really but leather armor is nice at level 7 and the Xiphos or Spatha are good replacements for your Bronze Sword. The Maple Shield or Aspis are both good replacements for your Lauan Shield.
During this time you will get the following important abilities and spells:
:Invincible: This is your "2-hour" ability. Its a great "OH SH*T!" button that makes tons of hate and makes you immune to all physical damage for 30 seconds. Note that it DOES NOT protect you from magical damage or poison.
:Cure: Basic healing spell. Cast it on yourself to make hate and keep the mob on you.
:Provoke: Ok you actually get this from your warrior subjob but it is such an integral part of playing paladin it bears mentioning. All it does it make a lot of hate with the mob. That's it. And its so freaking awesome that you wouldn't be able to do your job without it. Use it every 30 seconds. It doesn't matter if the mob is already attacking you or not, use it every 30 seconds. The first rule of paladin is to use provoke every 30 seconds. The second rule of paladin is to use provoke every 30 seconds. Got it? Ok.
Ok so your level 10. This level is when most people start to join XP parties. The usual party spot from levels 10-20 is the Valkurm Dunes. Here is where your job as a tank starts. That means you have to start gearing yourself as a tank so its time to start paying attention to your gear. There is a nice budget minded gear guide at the end of this guide. The main paladin gear guide is also a nice reference.
When tanking in a party at these levels all you really have to do is use provoke every 30 seconds and cure yourself some to make even more hate. Don't worry tanking will get more interesting and complex as you gain levels but you gotta start with the basics. Don't try and keep yourself alive with your cures if you can avoid it, that's the healer's job. Your cures are for hate purposes, not survival purposes. Try to time your cures so that you start casting just as the mob finishes hitting you. (I usually hit my cure macro while the mob's attack animation is still playing.) That way you'll finish casting by the time it hits you again so you won't be interrupted. Practice this timing skill, it's valuable.
By the time you hit level 20 you will have gained two significant new toys:
:Shield Bash: Stuns the target, makes a fair amount of hate, and does an insignificant amount of damage. This is a very cool ability that has several uses. First its a good response to someone else in the party pulling the mob off of you. Not only does it make some hate (which helps get the mob back on you) but the stun effect prevents the mob from hitting the other person for a couple of seconds which can give you time to get off a cure or a provoke for even more hate. It also gives the healer time to heal the other person before the mob eats them. The other use is to buy yourself time to cure yourself if your close to death or to stop dangerous TP attacks like Bomb Toss or dangerous spells like Tornado.
:Cure II: A more powerful version of cure. Try to avoid using it too much as it will drain your MP very fast at this level. In fact I kept using cure I as my main hate making cure until I was almost level 40. Many small cures make hate just as well as a few larger ones and it lets you be a bit more granular with your MP. But sometimes you just need a big infusion of hate or HP, you'll have to learn how to balance that against the size of your MP pool.
Ok so your level 20 and can finally get out of the dunes and head out to Qufim Island. You'll stay in Qufim until about level 25. Your play style won't change much but during your time here but you will get the following new ability:
:Shield Mastery: Absolutely awesome passive ability that makes your shield simply amazing. Not only will you block more often and thus take less damage but attacks that you block with your shield will no longer interrupt your spells.
From here its off to the two jungles of Kazham till you're about level 32 or so. During your time beating on mandies you'll get two new toys and your play style will start to change a bit:
:Cure III: An even more powerful version of cure. Just like with cure II you will need to balance large hate and HP infusions against fine grained management of your MP pool.
:Sentinel: A signature paladin ability. It does three things. First it makes about as much hate as a provoke when you use it. Second it gives you 90% physical damage reduction that slowly degrades down to 40% over the 30 second duration. And third it roughly doubles the amount of hate that all of your other spells and abilities generate while it is active. This ability is so important that it deserves its own section.
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Sentinel:
This is a very powerful ability that can be used in several ways. Knowing how to use sentinel effectively in more than one way and in different situations is one of the hallmarks of a good paladin. Here are the main ways to use it:
:1. Using it as an extra provoke. This probably the least effective way to use sentinel but sometimes you just need that extra spike of hate when a DD decided to use a weapon skill early in the fight and everything else is still on cooldown.
:2. Using it to mitigate incoming damage. A good way to use sentinel is to use it when you are low on HP and at risk of getting killed. The damage reduction it grants can give the healer time to heal you or it can give you time to heal yourself. You can also use sentinel right when a mob starts to ready a dangerous TP attack to mitigate what could otherwise be catastrophic damage.
:4. Using it when you are covering someone. This is a variation of the damage mitigation style but it also helps you pull the mob back onto you. However you risk pulling the mob back instantly with the hate generated by sentinel itself and thus wasting the cover.
:5. Using it as part of a hate generation combo. This is my personal favorite way to use sentinel as it uses sentinel's third effect to combine all three of its effects. The basic idea is to use as many hate making abilities and spells as possible before sentinel wears off. A good example would be:
::Provoke > (wait a few seconds and let the mob damage you) > Sentinel > Flash > Cure IV > (wait till provoke is ready again) > Provoke
This will result in a very large amount of hate and let sentinel mitigate a lot of damage by making sure that the mob is beating on you for sentinel's entire duration. Flash not only adds to the hate but also makes it much harder for the mob to interrupt the large cure that follows it by briefly lowering the mob's accuracy. And since provoke has a 30 second cooldown to sentinel's 30 second duration those few seconds you waited at the start ensure that you will be able to get off a double strength provoke before sentinel wears off.
Another combo that I like is:
:Sentinel > Rampart > Warcry
If both rampart and warcry hit your entire 6 person party this will make a very large hate spike and cause the mob to beat on you for a good while and let sentinel mitigate a lot of damage in the process. Rampart also increases your defense to mitigate some additional damage as well.
Generally you can mix and match what spells and abilities you use to make hate while sentinel is active based on what isn't currently on cooldown. Since you won't have all of those abilities I mentioned up there at level 30 when you first get sentinel you can stick to just using provoke and cures while its active. Personally I try to avoid using shield bash while sentinel is active as the time the mob is stunned is time that sentinel is not mitigating damage. (You mitigate more damage overall by using sentinel and shield bash separately.) But if your desperate for the extra hate then go ahead and use them together. Play around with it and find out what hate generation and damage mitigation combos work for you.
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Playing paladin continued:
Now that you understand Sentinel we can move on. After the jungles you can either go to Garlaige Citadel or Eastern Altepa Desert. You will probably be in one or both of them until about level 37. During these levels you get three new things that make paladin really start to shine as a tank.
:Cover: One of paladin's best abilities and also one of the trickiest to use correctly. Basically you are literally throwing yourself in front of a party member that has has hate and taking hits on their behalf. You are a human shield just like the guys in the Secret Service. In order for this to work you need to stand between the mob and the party member the mob is attacking. Literally between them. Then activate cover and target that party member. If you see "Cover!" in the chat box then its working.
:Auto Refresh: Mmm, free MP. This makes your MP slowly regenerate all the time at a rate 1 mp/tick. It doesn't sound like much but this is a huge deal. Once you get this trait you will wonder how you ever lived without it.
:Flash: This is a staple paladin hate generation tool. Cast it whenever its recast timer is up just like provoke. As a nice side benefit it also inflicts a short but powerful blindness effect on the mob usually causing it to miss its next one or two mele attacks. You can exploit this to get off a large cure without being interrupted, to keep a mob from hitting another party member for a moment, or even to make a dangerous TP attack miss. It has a very short casting time too so its rare for flash to be interrupted. And although the blindness effect can be resisted the hate generation always sticks so you don't need to worry too much about your divine magic skill. Note that flash does not conflict with the spell Blind or the kurayami line of ninjutsu. Also note that like provoke flash will not wake a sleeping mob so it can be used to make hate with slept adds or pulls before the current target is dead.
Once you are level 37 there are many places you can go to XP but East Ronfaure (S) is popular as is Western Altepa Desert and even Crawlers' Nest. Sometime around level 52 you will head to ToAU camps and basically stay there until level 75+. You don't get a lot of new toys during these long levels but at least what you do get is useful.
:Defender: This comes from your warrior subjob and gives -25% to attack and +25% to defense. Useful when a mob is just hitting you too hard and you need to mitigate some more damage. Its nice but not really amazing. The nerf to your attack power hurts a bit though. Its recast timer is equal to its duration so you keep up all the time if you like. I generally only use it on mobs that hit much harder than normal.
:Cure IV: The most potent cure paladin can learn. It makes a ton of hate but also costs a ton of MP. Once again balance the need for large hate and HP infusions against making your MP pool last.
:Reprisal: A very nice spell that buffs your shield for 60 seconds. It greatly increases your chance to block attacks with your shield and even reflects a small amount of damage back to the enemy when it activates. It has a rather fast casting time, a fairly low MP cost, and a moderately long recast timer. This is an excellent damage mitigation spell and should be spammed whenever you have hate.
:Rampart: This AOE ability does three things and this makes it rather flexible. First it gives a bonus to defense to all affected party members. Second it grants a stoneskin effect vs magic damage equal to 2x your VIT to all affected party members. And third it makes hate. The more party members that rampart hits the more hate it makes. Due to its 30 second duration and long recast its difficult to really make good use of the defense bonus that rampart provides. However it is very useful for mitigating magic damage when you see that a mob is about to get off a tier 3 -ga spell or an AM spell. Just keep in mind that you will need to be pretty good with your timing due to the 30 second duration of the effect. Fortunately the last effect, the hate generation, is quite easy to use effectively. Just pop rampart when all 6 party members are in range and you get a good amount of hate. Note that for each party member that it "misses" the hate it makes is reduced by ~16.7%. Another subtle use for rampart is to get on the hate list of a mob that you don't have hate with. Such as a link or other waiting mob that is sleeping at camp. By using rampart and buffing the person who slept the mob you get on its hate list which will let your cures start making hate with that mob while it's sleeping. This way it will beat on you and not the sleeper if it wakes up before the party is ready to fight it.
:Warcry: Gotten from your warrior subjob this AOE ability boosts attack power for a short period of time. Due to its long recast most DDs save this as a weapon skill buff but it also makes a good amount of hate. Like rampart the amount of hate it makes depends on how many party members it hits. Although the attack bonus is nice this is really just a hate tool for a paladin. Note that warcry's recast is the same as rampart's so they make a natural hate combo, especially when combined with sentinel. Warcry can also be used to get on a mob's hate list in the same way that rampart can.
Past level 75 you shouldn't really need a guide to tell you how to play the job but I will go over the post 75 toys for the sake of completeness.
:Shield Defense Bonus: Passive ability that makes your shield mitigate even more damage when you block an attack with it. This is an awesome trait and its effect is very noticeable.
:Divine Emblem: This is essentially an elemental seal for divine spells. It boosts the accuracy of your next divine spell and makes some hate. Unless you are trying to nuke with holy this is only really useful for flash to help the blind effect stick. I'm not sure if it boosts the hate made by a divine spell or if it just makes hate on its own when used. But given its long recast it shouldn't be hard to just stick it in your flash macro for a bit more hate every 10 minutes.
:Critical Defense Bonus: Passive ability that makes critical hits scored on you do less damage than they otherwise would. This makes a noticeable difference and its quite a nice thing to have.
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Gear progression:
Remember this a low budget gear list. It's pretty close to what I used while leveling paladin and it works very well. You won't get kudos for being exceptionally well geared by following this guide but you *will* be an effective tank if you pay attention to what you are doing and play the job well. As any experienced player will tell you skill is far and away more important than gear. Play skillfully and you won't ever need expensive gear to be an exceptionally good tank in almost any situation. A lot of the gear I recommend comes from Conquest Points or Allied Notes. So it might be worth it to change nations in the present or past or find a buddy or two with piles of conquest points or allied notes to buy stuff for you. I bought all my stuff myself with my own CP and AN. Keep in mind that you can buy CP gear from other nations if your nation ranks higher than theirs does in conquest. Most CP gear is dirt cheap on the auction house too. You can also buy AN gear from other nations, it just costs more AN to do so.
Swords:
:lvl 1: Bronze Sword
:lvl 7: Xiphos
:lvl 9: Spatha
:lvl 10: Royal Archer's Sword
:lvl 18: Iron Sword/Longsword/Fire Sword
:lvl 30: Centurion's Sword
:lvl 39: Grudge Sword
:lvl 42: Honor Sword (optional, but necessary to get for AF armor)
:lvl 50: Tactician Magician's Espadon
:lvl 55: Wise Wizard's Anelace
:lvl 60: Bastard Sword
:lvl 65: Macuahuitl +1 (good for tanking)
:lvl 66: Espadon (slightly better than mac+1 for DD)
:lvl 70: Company Sword (DD style upgrade)
:lvl 75: Soulsaber - With augments from Magian Trials 164, 190, 197, 198, 199 and 200. (great for tanking)
Shields:
:lvl 1: Lauan Shield
:lvl 8: Maple Shield
:lvl 9: Aspis
:lvl 20: Decurion's Shield
:lvl 25: Bastokan Targe/Republic Targe
:lvl 28: Kite Shield
:lvl 38: Jennet Shield
:lvl 40: Light Buckler
:lvl 50: Royal Knight Army Shield/Temple Knight Army Shield
:lvl 52: Master Shield (optional but nice)
:lvl 55: Royal Guard's Shield (optional)
:lvl 60: Iron Ram Shield (this is also good for DD with a single sword)
:lvl 72: Palmerin's Shield (optional)
:lvl 73: Koenig Shield (pricey but generally the best shield you can get your hands on aside from relic)
Head:
:lvl 1: Bronze Cap
:lvl 7: Leather Bandana
:lvl 10: Faceguard/Royal Footman's Bandana
:lvl 17: Lizard Helm
:lvl 21: Beetle Mask
:lvl 24: Iron Mask
:lvl 29: Eisenschaller
:lvl 40: Iron Musketeer's Armet
:lvl 55: Fourth Armet (optional)
:lvl 56: Gallant Coronet
:lvl 68: Iron Ram Sallet (Better than AF and adaman but more time consuming to obtain via campaign.)
:lvl 73: Adaman Barbuta (Slightly better than AF but not as nice as iron ram head, easier to get though.)
:lvl 73: Koenig Schaller (Optional but one of the best end game head pieces due to the shield skill.)
Body:
:lvl 1: Bronze Harness
:lvl 7: Leather Vest
:lvl 10: Scale Mail
:lvl 17: Lizard Jerkin
:lvl 21: Beetle Harness
:lvl 24: Chainmail
:lvl 30: Centurion's Scale Mail
:lvl 40: Royal Squire's Chainmail
:lvl 42: Earth Doublet (optional)
:lvl 45: Brigandine Armor
:lvl 50: Iron Musketeer's Cuirass
:lvl 52: Gaia Doublet (optional)
:lvl 55: Fourth Division Cuirass
:lvl 60: Gallant Surcoat
:lvl 68: Iron Ram Hauberk (Better than AF and adaman but more time consuming to obtain via campaign.)
:lvl 73: Adaman Cuirass (Slightly better than AF but not as nice as iron ram body, easier to get though.)
Hands:
:lvl 1: Bronze Mittens
:lvl 7: Leather Gloves
:lvl 10: Legionnaire's Mittens/Royal Footman's Gloves
:lvl 14: Battle Gloves (optional)
:lvl 17: Lizard Gloves
:lvl 21: Beetle Mittens
:lvl 24: Chain Mittens
:lvl 29: Eisenhentzes
:lvl 43: Gothic Gauntlets (optional)
:lvl 54: Gallant Gauntlets
:lvl 68: Iron Ram Dastanas (Better than AF and adaman but more time consuming to obtain via campaign.)
:lvl 73: Adaman Gauntlets (Slightly better than AF but not as nice as iron ram hands, easier to get though.)
Legs:
:lvl 1: Bronze Subligar
:lvl 7: Leather Trousers
:lvl 10: Scale Cuisses
:lvl 17: Lizard Trousers
:lvl 20: Royal Footman's Trousers (better than Beetle Subligar)
:lvl 21: Beetle Subligar (if you didn't get the Royal Footman's Trousers)
:lvl 24: Chain Hose
:lvl 29: Eisendiechlings
:lvl 45: Iron Ram Breeches (optional)
:lvl 50: Iron Musketeer's Cuisses
:lvl 55: Fourth Division Cuisses
:lvl 58: Gallant Breeches
:lvl 68: Iron Ram Hose (Better than AF and adaman but more time consuming to obtain via campaign.)
:lvl 73: Adaman Cuisses (Slightly better than AF but not as nice as iron ram legs, easier to get though.)
Feet:
:lvl 1: Bronze Leggings
:lvl 7: Leather Highboots
:lvl 10: Scale Greaves
:lvl 17: Lizard Ledelsens
:lvl 21: Beetle Leggings
:lvl 24: Greaves
:lvl 29: Eisenschuhs
:lvl 52: Gallant Leggings (the last boots you'll ever wear, never take these things off if you're using a shield)
Waist:
:lvl 7: Leather Belt
:lvl 15: Warrior's Belt +1 (get the +1, you'll be wearing this for a long long time)
:lvl 71: Warwolf Belt
Back:
:lvl 4: Rabbit Mantle
:lvl 18: Dhalmel Mantle
:lvl 18: Breath Mantle (optional)
:lvl 28: Wolf Mantle
:lvl 30: Mercenary Mantle
:lvl 36: High Breath Mantle (optional)
:lvl 40: Earth Mantle
:lvl 40: Resentment Cape (great for general tanking at any level, optional though)
:lvl 51: Gaia Mantle (optional)
:lvl 55: Republican Army Mantle (exclusive item from Bastok conquest points)
:lvl 60: Knightly Mantle (useful if you need help hitting 100 VIT post level 75)
:lvl 65: Lamia Mantle (good for tanking casters where Resentment Cape doesn't work)
:lvl 70: Valor Cape (dynamis drop, but an amazing back piece if you can get it, optional though)
Neck:
:lvl 7: Justice Badge
:lvl 21: Spike Necklace
:lvl 24: Tiger Stole
:lvl 26: Holy Phial (optional)
:lvl 35: Medieval Collar
:lvl 50: Parade Gorget (well worth the effort to get, you will be using this almost all the time)
:lvl 65: Shield Torque (useful for when you are in yellow HP or lower)
Rings:
:lvl 1: Bastokan Ring (Rare/Ex item from Bastok conquest points.)
:lvl 14: Amber Ring/Stamina Ring
:lvl 36: Sphene Ring/Verve Ring
:lvl 43: Mermaid's Ring (optional)
:lvl 54: Chrysoberyl Ring/Vigor Ring
:lvl 66: Hercules' Ring
:lvl 72: Topaz Ring/Robust Ring
Earring:
:lvl 21: Beetle Earring (not much to wear before this really)
:lvl 29: Dodge Earring (optional)
:lvl 30: Mercenary's Earring (a little on the pricey side but this thing will last you into the 70's)
:lvl 35: Drone Earring (optional)
:lvl 35: Buckler Earring (pricey but well worth it, this will last you well into endgame)
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Notes on gear and food:
For most of your career you really benefit from stacking on more VIT. But as you near level 75 and beyond that starts to change. Basically you only need 100 total VIT to be getting the most you can out of your VIT score. Once you hit 100 VIT your better off focusing on boosting other stats like emnity, HP, defense, AGI, accuracy, and attack.
That said I find it most useful to focus on shield skill, enmity, defense, and HP once I have hit the 100 VIT mark. I would say that the general order of importance for a paladin's stats would be:
:1. VIT
:2. Shield Skill
:3. Enmity
:4. Defense
:5. HP
:6. AGI
:7. Accuracy
:8. Attack
:9. STR
:10. Everything else. (DEX, MND, MP, ect...)
Why rank VIT above shield skill? We despite shield skill being incredibly important the simple fact is that you are not going to block even close to half of the attacks thrown at you and that makes getting to 100 VIT a bit more important overall. (Unless of course you have an Aegis but that is another matter.) Keep in mind that this is for general tanking when subbing Warrior. In certain endgame situations the priorities will change quite a bit, particularly when subbing Ninja. Some endgame fights need piles of HP and others need boosts to movement speed.
Why didn't MP make the list? Well, +MP might sound useful but if you think about it even adding 50 MP is only one extra cure III. Odds are you'll benefit more from adding more of another stat like shield skill or enmity than you will from a single extra cure III. Both in terms of survivability and hate generation. Also in most situations after level 41 you will be gaining MP at a rate of 4-6 MP/tick anyway. Even at only 4 MP/tick you'll get that 50 MP in only 38 seconds. This makes your MP refresh rate much more important than your max MP.
When selecting food early on go for Fish Mithkabobs. These are typically the same price or cheaper than Boiled Crab and give better defensive stats. You can pretty much stick with Fish Mithkabobs forever but technically once your base defense is above 360 you'll get more out of more expensive foods like Shallops Tropicale or Tavnazian Tacos. Personally I don't bother with expensive food but to each his own.
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Closing notes:
Most of all though... have fun! That is after all the entire point of playing any job. ;)
- Fujisanka.Lakshmi
:Many thanks to Reefermadness, Tsakiki, and Allia for training me and helping me to become the best paladin that I can be.