At level 70, which is really going to make the most difference, gear or AA's?

An example would be a Pally with about 400 AAs and his 2.0 or a Pally with about 950 AA's, but geared slightly worse.

There's a lot of different ways this question can be answered. It's mostly going to depend on how you play, who you play with, what zones you play in, and what AAs you have. The most important AAs IMO are the defensive line - CA, CS, ND, PP, PD, etc... A paladin without his/her defensive AAs is very noticible in groups and regardless of his/her gear will strain the cleric and slow down the group overall.

So a slightly worse geared tank with full defensive AAs will often do better tanking then a tank with good gear and only a few defensive AAs. It's not really about the number you have - but what you put your AAs into. It's best to try and balance. If you stop every level or so and get a few AAs or split 80/20 you shouldn't have any trouble staying on track.

Guidelines I used, though not for everyone are as follows:
58-60 combat ability and combat stability
62 physical enhancement
65 planar power and planar durability
67-68 lightning reflexes and innate defense
70 start working on OOW and DoD Defensive

There are a ton of other useful AAs as well, but by the time you reach level 70 you are expected to have the basics and be able to tank most zones and it's hard to get grps if you can't. Paladins are never wanted for dps slots.

Good luck with that!
Even with 8k/1800 ac unbuffed, that wont last very long against most mobs, sure you can tank them, but think how much mana a cleric has to waste to constantly heal you, when i tank in MPG the cleric doesn't have to chain cast CH.

You say that HP aa's are the most important?
ask any pally on this thread and they will disagree dude, the defensives aa's are the most important, i have seen a huge signifiance in my tanking since i have got my defensive aa's, and i haven't even gotten past half way yet!



Edited, Jul 20th 2006 at 3:42pm EDT by wuvarien

first post here but fell that i had to respond. as a pally i find that the def. AA's are more valuable then any hp AA or atk AA. as for gear i try to use the ones with the most AC as i have seen that AC is superior than major HP. you can have 10k hp but without AC you are going to be toast as well and a constant strain on the grp healer. and as for the stun i always thought that it was mainly for agro grabbing anyhow, i find that i can tag agro with or without the stun actually landing, most of the time.

On the contrary, those AAs will make all the difference in the world.

Yes, but as has been noted, the cleric will have to work MUCH harder to keep you alive, since you are not mitigating as well as someone who has those AAs. By not getting those AAs, you are making your group work harder to pick up the slack.

With the correct AAs, RSS is not really that dangerous at all (other than the messed up pathing). Our stun mitigation, while great, is not the holy grail so many think it is.

You are comparing apples and oranges. Our stuns do not relate to lifetaps. Our HEALS relate to lifetaps. We actually have the advantage here as heals are unresistable, while a life tap can be resisted.
Our stuns realte to SK hate spells, in which case we also have a bit of an advantage because both stuns and hates generate about the same hate (which is their primary purpose) but ours has the advantage of also stunning mobs in many cases.

nice bump ^^

Heh...

HP AAs ARE the most important Tanking AAs, especially considering taking on certain roles on raids. The Paladin's AC can be pretty decent, but high end mitigation still falls very short compaired to Warriors (of a similiar gear/skillset.) When grouping, and especially when "soloing" the HP AAs arn't as good as mitigation, and certainly arn't as good as the dodge% AAs, but in any 'real' tanking situation HP shines for many reasons... So my suggestion, since this game is a never-ending quest for more HP, is to definatly get those HP% AAs and get the AAs that up your stats, and get Run3. After that, you should really be set for a while.

It didn't used to be this way, but now adays gear is a definate winner over skill or AAs, and while AAs are nice, the high-end stuff begins to be quite wasteful in compairison to just leveling and gearing.

What others have said is right, however, as you can definatly be getting exp and working on gearing up at the same time. Good gear, though, reigns supreme (unfortunately.)

You're 70? I would get TSS (if you do not have) then work on getting your Class armor (Scribed Plate I believe) and maybe work on your 1.5, 2.0, and getting into anguish for gear.

At least secure your position into level 71 before working on AAs more. For the record, the original Luclin AAs are EXTREMELY cost-efficient compaired to the newer ones (since they are, for the most part, an exp sink for people with too much free time - 2000AAs says enough.) I highly recommend maxing out your combat capabilities (including Critical Hits even) from Archtype before heading off past PoP abilities (again, PoP has some good HP AAs which I highly recommend you max out.)

Whatever mate, AAs and Gear arn't really something that can be compaired, as they work best together in conjunction, but even 2000AAs can't make a badly-geared player as good as a really well geared player with say 100-200aa.

---Addendum---



This kind of nonsense logic doesn't fly past just 'typing it out.' Sure lightning reflexes is cool, but you just are talking about totally ambiguous circumstances. First off, Lightning reflexes does not GIVE a dodge ability, it is simply a mod to that ability, and it is not even that high of a mod. If your fighting a yellow monster and have a 3% chance to dodge, now you have a 10% more chance... oh boy 3.3% chance to dodge... GODLIKE! Same with mitigation. The fact is that to shield your character from ALL forms of incoming damage, the best way to go is HP... pure and simple. Good clerics do not go OoM except in extreme situations. When I go out grinding, I can usually be kept alive by Shammy... who never drops below 85m... so...

Just try to flex your dodge muscles as you get hit over and over with AEs. (oh and ya PS I do have all my dodge, mitigation, hp, ect AAs maxed out, so I'm not saying they arn't worth it... they just arn't as good as HPAA, pure and simple.)

Edited, Jan 1st 2007 4:53pm by tzsjynx

Aye, high HP's never hurt, but as said bou the race car, ya rather have good tires or good suspension? It is always better to have both. Some will agree that raising HP before AC is the only way to go, while some (like me) will say no way get your avoidance and mitigation up first. The real route to take is the route that is going to best apply to your playing style and the wants/needs of your guild fro raids/groups. There are alot of other factors to add into the mix also when talking about gear and augs as they will advance HP or AC and most times both. IMO there is no one path to take for paladin supremacy, just the one that the individual needs to take based upon their own wants =-)

just a edit, and sure to make ya jump more....look at any knight board you want, AC is king, it has been for a long time, and will remain that way till further patches, HP is the old way, im sure ya have a valid point when you say/think they are the way to go, but the truth is that time is gone...mobs are hitting way harder, knights need the AC in either raid/group setting to be able to get past the DSI that are now happening...im sure more than a few people will try to flame me for this, but HP are for the people that cant play their class and are trying to keep from getting killed so easily, instead of wasting aug/gear on HP try the AC route...once ya go AC you will see..and I personally think that the only reason that you say that HP are the way to go now is the fact that you have all of your DEF AA's....hhmmmm..wonder how well you would do without em?

Edited, Jan 7th 2007 1:47am by wamlgon

here is a thought if you cant even out tank a ranger forget the hp or defensive aa's cause apparently you dont have the skill to use them instead focus on dps so maybe you could serve a purpose for being in the goup.