https://archive.aureusknights.com/blog.php?246-ehrie Home of the Aureus Knights MMO gaming community. We are the largest and most active Final Fantasy XIV guild located on the Gilgamesh server. We also have a casual games chapter dedicated to fun online gaming in games such as Overwatch, Civ 5 and more! en Thu, 23 Apr 2026 09:20:37 GMT vBulletin 5 https://archive.aureusknights.com/images/SeamusLight/misc/rss.jpg https://archive.aureusknights.com/blog.php?246-ehrie https://archive.aureusknights.com/entry.php?76-Two-Lightsabers-are-better-than-one-Jedi-Sentinel-Basics Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:40:24 GMT I am by no means an expert on those that saw an extra lightsaber lying around, saw their free hand, and thought to themselves, "Why not?" This is the first post that will contain what I've discovered in dabbling up to level 35 in Sentinel. Do not take this guide as an informed opinion. I have not gotten there yet. It's just my experiences and thought patterns on my build so far. I'm doing this now because I was asked and I like the sound of my own voice, er words. Whatever.

Anyways, the Jedfi Sentinel is a single target semi glass cannon. Embrace this. You have little AOE and what AOE you have stinks. You have two reliable defensive abilities that are both on long cooldowns and one requires you to be constantly hit to stay up more than a few seconds which also should not be happening. You have almost no CC, so some abliities that look good on the surface(read: Master Strike) are actually rather bad because they root you in place and require your opponent to stand in them.

Unlike most other clases all three talent trees are different flavors of the same dps lollipop. What I mean by different flavors is that they emphasize a different way of wrecking shit all over the galaxy. Briefly here is what I think each tree's focus(no pun intended) is:

Watchman: The all around tree and in my opinion the best. This tree has the hardest skill combo and is the least forgiving, but the longer a fight goes on this is the tree that will allow you do the most raw damage. Overload Saber is just an amazing ability and Juyo Form is crazy good for damage.

Combat: The "defensive" tree. I say that with italics because we shouldn't be getting hit, but if you are just soloing your way through the PvE game this is the tree for you. Between bonus focus talents for getting hit,a RNG stance that generates more burst and a talent at the top of the tree that can root people in place for Master Strike, this tree has potential. There's just a lot of RNG in this tree.

Focus: The utility/PvP tree. Once dual spec comes out this will be my PvP tree. There's a lot of utility that is useful in PvP in this tree like a second Force Leap, Force Exaustion, a 10% self heal that can be used in a pinch, bonuses to Force Stasis(the only CC we get) and other talents that make your AOEs hit harder.

I started up the Combat tree at first because I liked the bonus offhand lightsaber damage and the chance to burst. I changed to Watchman for two reasons. Sadly the 2nd lightsaber is little more than bonus stats. It does next to no damge no matter how good it is. Sadtimes. Test it for yourself by unequiping it. You'll notice your ability damage doesn't go down by much. The 2nd reason is the RNG on Ataru form procs is really really random. It can make you feel more powerful at times and like a whimp others.

Watchman's damage is much more even and the combo for it is amazing in both PvP and PvE. What is that combo? Simple.

In PvE as long as you are not against an opponent that has a pushback(a lot do the higher you get) lead out with Force Leap. Hit Overload Saber while you are in the air. For the three Proc effts of Overload Saber use them on Zealous Strike, Cauterize and Slash. Once high enough Slash will get replaced in this combo with Merciless Slash. After that it's just a matter of keeping your Focus up with Slash and Zealous Strike and using Cauterize and Overload Saber on cooldown. PvP is much the same combo except never use Force Leap until the enemy has burned their CC on you. After that Force Leap, use your slows and carve em up.

I'll update this some more once I get to 50. ]]> ehrie https://archive.aureusknights.com/entry.php?76-Two-Lightsabers-are-better-than-one-Jedi-Sentinel-Basics https://archive.aureusknights.com/entry.php?20-Justicar-Tanking-Builds Sun, 27 Mar 2011 15:56:37 GMT Let's try this again. So I typed up this awesome, long and well thought post on a Justicar Leveling and Raiding build and the board said that will not be tolerated and ate it. So this time I will be hammering that Save Draft button so I don't lose an hour of work. I know in the last post I said I would discuss healing souls; however, I few guildies asked me questions about my build and how I go about tanking. This post will be about that.

First and foremost, prebattle prep. Justicars have approximatly eight hundred million self buffs, every single time before you pull you should be 100% sure the following abilities are up if you have them: Cavalier, Mien of Leadership, Reparation, Salvation. You may get other self buffs from your other souls. Cast those too.

In many MMOs, like WoW, there is something called an ability rotation. What that means is a set order most abilities should be used in to gain the greatest benefit of each global cooldown. Does Justicar have that? No, not really. There are some ablities though you want to watch and use each time their cooldown is up. Three of them come to mind:

Precept of Refuge - If you have a shield you should wear out this button. This ability rocks. Cleric shields have garbage for block rating compared to the shiny awesomeness that is Warrior shields. PoR makes up for that in some way. Combine this with the passive talent Commitment and not only are you mitigating more damage, but you are gaining back more mana. This ablitity is just awesome. I try to never have this off cooldown.

Bolt of Radiance - This one is just my opinion. Many Justicars save this ability because it's our only ranged taunt. In AOE fights or fights that I know more adds are coming I very much agree. Otherwise this ability has much DPS than Strike of Judgment, the single target global cooldown filler.

Sovereignty - Another ability that just does more DPS than SoJ. The neat thing about this is if spend two points in Supremacy this can be used situationally to interuppt casters than can be stunned. Not terribly useful in that regard on bosses as they are usually stun resistant, but on trash is a nice thing to have. Otherwise I just use this on cooldown on single target fights.

The other important abliity when single targeting is keeping the debuff from Censure up. Note that the ability has a 6 second cooldown and the debuff lasts 15 seconds so you don't want to be using this on cooldown every time as it does the least DPS of all of our single target abilities. Managing debuffs in this game is a royal pain in the ass though(WTB Big Icons for debuffs or buffs applied by the caster), so if you macro this with SoJ are you losing very much? No.

The last ability I want to chat about before I discuss some builds is the bread and butter of AOE pulls and that is Even Justice. AOE you will Spam this and spam this HARD. It does very nice DPS which translates into a lot of self and group healing which translates into more threat. It chews your mana apar, but paired with Vengeful Justice, there is no better way to hold aggro on big pulls than this baby.


Now, on to builds, first I will chat about the build I used while leveling up to 42. Why 42? Because while Two Handed Justicar tanking rocks and I really love it, past 42 it starts to lose viability for two reasons. First, mobs and bosses just start to hit too hard and the lost mitigation from a shield really makes your healers start to hate you. Secondly, two handed always has mana problems and as you level your abilities will cost more mana. This snowballs out of control by the time you hit level 40. Up to level 40, screw the shield, find a nice two hander and melt face

Two Handed Justice

32 Justicar/14 Shaman/6 Purifier

The Justicar Tree selections are pretty self explanitory. I skipped every single blocking talent and PvP talent. Convictions should be spent on either Doctrine of Valiance, Doctrine of Bliss, Doctrine of Authority, or Doctrine of Loyalty depending on the situation you are in at the time. You have to be very careful spamming Even Justice with this build. Mana is a horrendous problem I found in dungeons. Bring pots, drink and only use Purpose when you know you will get a lot of swings in to gain back as much mana as you can. This build is still a ton of fun. Aggro is no issue whatsoever and in addition to taking damage like a champ, dealing a fair amount, you also heal the group for a fair amont with each swing of your mighty hammer.

I chose 14 points in Shaman because the lower end of the Shaman tree offers lots of defensive abilities. You'll notice every single one of my builds will have Shaman in it for tanking. Is this the only way to go? No, I've seen some where Druid is the second soul and if you can make that work and enjoy it, awesome! I'd love to see it in action. The third soul you take is completely and totally up to you. There's no perfect way to go there. I took purifier while leveling because I wanted the extra wisdom for 5 points and the the extra armor. Procced heals count for Flame Ward, so that basically stays up all the time. Sadly the armor bonus is applied before and independently of Mein of Leadership, so it's not as awesome as it could be. Were it so, no other 3rd soul would touch Purifier.

My Level 50 build

44 Justicar/16 Shaman/6 Cabalist

This is the build I plan on doing Experts with and Tanking Raids with if I end up being tabbed to tank. The Justicar tree is mostly unchanged. I simply took all the blocking talents and dropped Doctrine of Valiance. Why? Convictions will be spent elsewhere and with a 1 hander it is not worth really ever using. If you choose Shaman the 16 points is pretty standard when paired with Cabalist. I chose Cabalist for the boost to spell power in the first tree and the very nice buff, Dark Harbor. I think i'm in the minority with that choise though. There's lots and lots of options for that third soul if you take one at all. I've seen quite a few 51 Justicar/15 Shaman tanks out there and they seem to be rollin. This is what I like, my suggestion to you reading this is to experiment for yourself and see what you like. If you find something you feel is better, great! Tell me about it, I like to talk strategy.

Next up is one that is a theory, but I want to try once I'm geared just for quicker run throughs in Expert 5 mans.

Little Less Survivabliity, Much More Damage

40 Justicar/26 Shaman/0 Purifier

I am itching to try this. Why? Well the Justicar's biggest and most glaring weakness is you have no way of quickly making up distance between you and your target. This solves that issue by going 26 points in Shaman for their charge ability, Battle Charge. It also grabs some passive abilities that will make Jolt hit like a truck when it procs, which should be quite often. I don't really have much more to say about this build, cause it could be pure fantasy, but I will give it a try and if it works I will post a follow up to this with more thoughts.

Have a build to add to this? Great! Post a blog up for the guild to devour. Commence commenting below. ]]> ehrie https://archive.aureusknights.com/entry.php?20-Justicar-Tanking-Builds https://archive.aureusknights.com/entry.php?11-Oh-Hai-So-you-want-to-be-Cleric Tue, 22 Mar 2011 15:37:42 GMT This space is reserved for my long, boring, and probably something we'll all have a good laugh at in a few months when half my conclusions are horribly incorrect.

Anyways, the Cleric is a unique calling. It is the only soul that can Main Heal, Support Heal, Melee DPS, Ranged DPS, and Tank. Pretty much the only thing a cleric can't do well is straight Support ala a Bard type. Then again, Bards are mana from heaven(literally 40+), so we'll agree to leave the Rogue something to do.

You see a lot of Clerics running around in the launch because of all the great flexibility the calling offers.

Tanking

Let's start with what I know best, and that is Cleric Tanking. Tanking is done with a majority of points in the Justicar Soul. Nearly every defensive ability a Cleric tank gets is from here, the bread and butter being the 14 point ability Mein of Leadership. This someday to be nerfed ability more or less gives us plate armor, a ton more HP and hate generation on the level of a middle eastern dictator.

All that aside the way a Justicar tanks is very different from the way a warrior or Rogue tanks. Justicars are all about self and party heals to generate massive threat and a myriad of damage shields to get us through spikes that a warrior tank and eat or a rogue can avoid.

Common builds for Justicar involve spending either 38 or 44 points in the tree. Both get you very neat defensive cooldowns. Which way you go depends entirely on your playstyle. Do you want to off tank or just tank 5 mans? Go with 38 and get yourself Just Defense and put more points into your off souls. If main tanking is your aim then it has to be 44. The 44 points get you Resplendent Embrace, a 2 minute cooldown that when popped will increase ALL healing done to you by 50% to 10 seconds.

As for off souls, the Shaman pairs the best with Justicar in my experience, but their are others that feel the Druid can be just as well. I chose the Shaman because there are a lot of defensive and healing enchance abilities early in the tree and with 14 points spent there you get another mana cooldown. Mana is an issue as a Justicar tank, especially like me you chose to go with a 2 handed weapon instead of a mace and board while leveling. So keep that in mind.

Your third soul is entirely up to you and what little perk you want to give yourself. Pick a healing soul for a quick zero point self heal or Cabalist for an extra 5% spellpower. You can even go deep into the Shaman tree for the 21 point charge ability to close a glaring weakness that the Justicar soul lacks.

So that's my initial thoughts on Justicar Tanking. Next time, some suggested Justicar builds and healing primer! ]]> ehrie https://archive.aureusknights.com/entry.php?11-Oh-Hai-So-you-want-to-be-Cleric