Cleaving - What Am I Doing Wrong?

Maybe I just suck - and feel free to say that if that's the case - but I just can't cleave or I am seriously misunderstanding the process or doing something wrong.

Couple things up top. I almost never play WAR(I leveled it specifically to cleave and that's it). My gear isn't great(Sulevia+2 and AH stuff), but I do have PDT-47%. I'm using Shining One for Sonic Thrust because I don't have a good Great Axe for Fell Cleave, which I know is not optimal, but it's the best I have available right now.

That being said, killing is not the issue. The mobs all die in 1-2 Sonic Thrusts. My issue is surviving. Pulling the entire area of Puks and Dragons in Escha - Zi Tah is not an option cause I die before I even get everything gathered, but even half the area gets dicey. I regularly survive with literally a couple hundred HP and fairly often die. I don't dual-box, so it's just me and support and heal trusts. Should I be subbing RDM for Phalanx/Stoneskin/etc.? Is it that important? I know I'm missing 3% off the DT cap, but will that really make that big of a difference?

WTF am I doing wrong?

Just -DT doesn't cut it, you generally either need shadows, some form of hefty regen, or something like phalanx. When I cleave on DRG I generally keep koru-Moru out and get him to phalanx me before pulling, keeps the dmg I take to like 0-2 dmg a hit.

Engage the first monster then run around to aggro more while still engaged so your trusts are active, mov speed helps too.

I can pull the entire area on bst no problem, capped at 50 on PDT, a protect and regen help but not needed. Killer effects do the trick there.

For WAR you can obviously do the first 2, other than that you may need a phalanx.

Guess I will try that then. Didn't thinking of tagging a mob and letting Trusts do their thing, then pulling when all buffed up.

If I still need some survivability, will defense food or even Defender(while pulling, dropping before killing) make much of a difference? I thought about trying Defender next time I gave it a go.

Yeah, I figured move speed would be help, but I don't have any for WAR unfortunately.

koru moru should give you phalanx 2 at the start if you fight a single monster first to get buffed up

then hit a monster and stay engaged while running around, if you need heals just run back to your trusts and they will throw some cures on you

https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Shneddick_Ring

I know that if I'm cleaving and my Vorseals wear there is a noticeable difference in survivability. If you don't have a lot of vorseals unlocked, that can be part of the issue.

Aside from that, don't pull the full area of puks and dragons. You'll just end up waiting for repops. Pull the area in chunks of three or four to (a) help you stay alive; (b) keep your Exp/CP chain alive; and (c) ensure there are always mobs up to do a pull.

Movement speed is huge; most monsters have equal movement speed to players, which means that, barring monster pathing issues, a large majority of the mobs you pull will be hitting you.

Put on even a little movement speed, and you'll quickly outrange them and most will stop being able to hit you until you park yourself to kill them. It won't prevent all damage since you won't be running purely in straight lines, but it reduces the number of hits you take drastically.

I haven't finished SoA so Shneddick isn't an option for me, but I will definitely keep that tip in mind.

I appreciate all the help everyone! Gonna try and put it to use here again tonight at some point and see how it goes.

As most said, mov gear and making trusts active are going to be two big gains. Better gear will also help. Sulv is probably the 3rd best option, as Souveran would be better for the pull with trusts active. Sakpata probably being the best overall.

However, having done cleaving there on DRK more often than I'd care to admit, I'd actually recommend one of two things that I didn't see mentioned yet. First is switch to a Gsword and spam shockwave. The damage isn't as great but it will help you out for survivability a lot. It has a very large hit radius and also puts everything to sleep. This eliminates any "setup" time to get the mobs lined up and lets just just spam right when you stop moving and the target is in range. Always remember, a dead dps does no dps!

The 2nd and what might be the better option is to pick a different job. WAR is certainly not an ideal job for this and since you mentioned that you rarely play it, this might be a good option. I'm not sure what other jobs you have but both BST and BLU are fantastic for cleaving there. Even if you don't have either yet, it might be worth looking into seeing what gear you have vs need for either of these.

If you're cleaving on dark Knight, Dread Spikes should be sufficient enough that you won't need shockwave.

If you're on warrior, your sub choice is probably not too relevant since you'll have retaliation during the fighting part, so you can afford to sub blue probably and use cocoon and defender. Defense food might help if you care for it. You can also shockwave a small group of monsters, and then go get the rest to make pulling the whole pack easier. Another option is to ditch your vanilla pdt gear and grab something that has high hp + PDT, like souv set. More hp, harder to kill and longer you survive for pulling part.

I have found that the best way is to just have an active trust (like Mon) while pulling.

If you want to get cute and have Monk handy, it's a pretty fun cleaving job if you build for cataclysm. Can use the flee feet to help movement speed. Chakra is a free restore so you can be self sufficient.