Paladin:Basic Hate Guide

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Paladin Basic Hate Guide
A Basic Guide to Paladin Hate Control
By Kukai Durandai
Note: This guide is based off of my own experience as a 62 Tarutaru Paladin. It is meant to be a short, simple, but informative guide for the beginner who wants to learn and the novice who needs to learn how to better handle him- or her-self on the field of battle. This also assumes a typical EXP party setup. Some situations will call for variations in your strategy. Please be flexible, and please listen to your party members requests. Communication is so important. You are all in this together for a common goal.
==Why is Hate Important?==
There are lots of guides out there that define it in more detail. What you need to know is that this is the lifeblood of the Paladin job. Using hate techniques you will effectively keep the mob's attention on your heavily armored self and keeping it from killing the squishies in your party.
==Hate Management Tools==
Just about every Job Ability, Job Trait, and Spell you get is designed for one thing: to assist you in keeping hate. But each one has its own amount of hate-generating power. Here's the list in approximate effectiveness:
#Invincible
#Provoke
#Cure Spells
#Flash
#Sentinel
#Shield Bash
#Your DMG output
#Defender
#Everything else
==Basic Things to Know==
*It is OK to heal yourself - in fact, this is great for generating hate!
*The White Mage has your back - don't deplete your MP all the time
*Think of Cover as Re-cover, as in use it when you can't recover hate right away.
*Cure spells only give you as much hate as you cure. A Cure II for 90 HP gives you more hate than a Cure III for 10 HP.
*Please don't use Berserk.
*Please don't use anything other than Sword and Shield.
*Please buy the BEST armor you can afford CLOSEST to your current level and fill every slot (there's nothing like your tank showing up to a party with no pants!)
==Two Basic Objectives==
You have two basic objectives when managing hate:
===Getting Hate===
:Get the mob off the other party member(s).
===Keeping Hate===
:Make the mob attack YOU and only YOU.
:Seems simple enough, right? Without going into diagrams of the various party setups, I can simply tell you that this is much easier said than done. In some situations, this will be cake. In others, you will be fighting for every ounce of hate your poor character can muster. (Why do I hear snickering Rangers in the background?)
==How it Works==
In my experience, I see greater results when I stagger my abilities. I always keep a trick up my sleeve if I need to grab hate quickly. If you use all your abilities at the beginning, you will start off with nice hate, but when your DD's start doing their damage, you will be hard-pressed to keep the mob hating you. Here's how a standard, easy progression goes:
===Invincible===
:This is pretty situational. Either you're about to die, your WHM is about to die, you can't get hate back.. or your WHM is out of MP. Don't be afraid to use this when you need to, but please don't use it when everyone's full and you just wanna look like a stud.
===Provoke===
:Attained as PLD10/WAR05
:Obviously you use Provoke first. This is the only macro I use, as it is on a 30 second timer (if you use another macro while the timer is active, it will discontinue the timer). That way I can use Provoke EVERY 30 seconds EVERY time it is up. Get the importance?
===Flash===
:Attained at 37
:Pretty much the same as Provoke, (only generates half as much hate.) use it whenever it's up.
===Cure Spells===
:Attained at Levels 5, 17, 30, and 55.
:When you get hurt, Cure yourself. Simple, right?
====When to Use====
::You're not putting on a bandage because it hurts, you're healing your wounds because it ticks the enemy off. Know when to use it, and when to hold on to it. If the mob has 2% health left, your WHM has plenty of MP, and the mob hates you.. why Cure yourself?
====Timing is Crucial====
::Open the Magic menu, select a Cure spell, highlight yourself, and wait for the mob to attack you. Right as the mob strikes, hit the confirm button and cast your Cure. You should cast uninterrupted (barring any TP attack abilities or stun features). Pay attention to how the mob attacks you. Try to memorize the interval. Get someone to cast Slow on the mob.
====Keeping Full====
::Some inexperienced WHM's will insist on keeping you at full HP themselves. Don't be afraid to nicely ask them to leave you a little Curing room for hate. And you really never want to be full, because how can a Paladin with full HP cure him- or her-self and expect to get any hate?
====The More the Better====
::Remember, the more HP cured the better (regardless of which level of Cure you use). Just don't deplete your MP every fight and expect the party to let you rest. Oh and sometimes using Cure on a party member you can't grab hate from also helps (and adding Cover to that makes you look like a hero).
===Sentinel and Shield Bash===
:Attained at 30 and 15, respectively
:I always stagger/alternate Sentinel and Shield Bash. I'll use one when the other one has about 2 mins left on its timer. Both are good for grabbing hate, but Shield Bash has the added bonus of stunning for a few seconds. Follow-up with a Cure III or IV and you get a nice hate spike. It's nice that Sentinel has a defense boost, but it's more important for hate-grabbing.
===Damage Output===
:Your damage output definitely helps you keep hate as well. For this reason, a Paladin will typically get a Life Belt at level 48 (and ignoring the Royal Knight’s Belt), and, at level 55, save up 300% TP to unleash 400-500 points of damage with the Spirits Within weapon skill. Please don't think that means you can use Berserk or 2H Weapons.
===Defender===
:Attained as PLD50/WAR25
:I haven't had much success with Defender and grabbing hate. It's a nice DEF boost on those hard mobs, but for us weaker races it's less tempting to use for the decrease in atk power. Use your judgement.
==Closing Thoughts==
I guess you could call this a rough draft, or work in progress. This is also my first work. Comments are definitely appreciated. Everything in this guide is probably pre-endgame, as I haven't gotten there yet. There are lots of other awesome guides on Wiki. Read them, take what you like, and apply it. Remember, be flexible, be amiable, get EXP, make friends, and HAVE FUN. You’re paying for this game, remember?
--Kukai47 04:06, 18 June 2009 (UTC)
PLD 62, RDM 54, WHM 52, BLM 39, DRK 38, DRG 33, WAR 32