The Divine Protector: PLD Guide 2025

That's the base block rate of the shields size, skill on the shield isnt played into it afaik

Yes, both Ochain and Duban have the same base block rate. However, Duban's superior stats—Shield Skill, VIT, Magic Evasion, MDT II, and overall utility make Ochain largely obsolete. Ochain is only relevant if you already have it and in niche situations where you need MP recovery. Otherwise, Duban is the clear winner.

The ~108% listed on BG Wiki for Ochain and Duban indicates their exceptionally high block rate, nearly guaranteed under standard conditions. It’s not a literal 108%, but rather a representation of their reliability. For example, against an Apex Archaic Cogs lvl 145, I observed a block rate of 93.48%. The difference is influenced by factors such as your Shield Skill, the monster's combat skill, and potentially other modifiers, showcasing their effectiveness even against high-level enemies.

Does anyone happen to have BIS Imperator set for pld?

Edit: assuming typical aminon fight buffs.

Ran Kastra's sim and here's what I'm getting. Let me know if any corrections should be made. Thank you all.

Guide Completion Announcement
The main structure of the guide is now complete.
There are still some small errors, missing sets, or additional equipment pieces, but the core content is finished.

About Formatting & Readability
Due to BBCode and forum limitations, making the guide shorter while keeping all this information readable and visually clean is nearly impossible.
I aimed for a balance between information density and clarity.
A plain-text version wouldn't be any easier to read—if anything, it might be worse.

This guide is not meant to be read from start to finish in one go.
Instead, it is designed so you can go straight to the sections that interest you.
Use the Table of Contents and "Back to Top" links to navigate quickly.

Feedback & Further Improvements
I welcome constructive feedback, suggestions, and discussions about sets and strategies.
If you have ideas to improve the guide, feel free to share them!

That being said, I have no interest in engaging with negativity, trolling, or pointless arguments.
I prefer to focus on improving the guide rather than getting caught up in unnecessary debates.

Final Thoughts
Thanks to everyone who provided constructive feedback, and I hope this guide will be useful to the community!

You’re welcome o/

Small typing nit for ya:
In the cure IV enmity generation table against 10 mobs, you're missing the ÷ 10 on the headers for
CE(+57/+30 Enmity) Final VE(CE × 6)

First time lurking here. Every VE and CE values are wrong in every place where they were multiplied by enmity.

189 Enmity gives 2.89 multiplier not 1.89

Thank you for pointing out the error! I have now updated the guide and corrected all the values. I appreciate your help in making it more accurate.

Guide Update Announcement

Ongoing Improvements
The main structure of the guide is complete, but I will continue refining and expanding it. The next updates will focus on:

- Adding Low and Mid-tier sets for Weapon Skills (WS).
- Expanding gear options for key Job Abilities (JA).
- Improving setups for certain spells.

Goal of These Updates
My goal is to make the guide more accessible by providing viable gearing options beyond just high-end setups. This will help players at different stages of progression find effective builds without requiring top-tier equipment.

Feedback & Contributions
As always, I welcome constructive feedback! If you have suggestions or notice anything missing, feel free to share. I will keep refining the guide based on useful input from the community.

Thanks for Your Support!
I appreciate all the feedback and discussions so far. I hope these updates will make the guide even more useful for everyone!

Great guide!

I saw the inputs for some of the gearswap but I was wondering if you or anyone has whatever the most up to date pld.lua file that they could direct me towards?

Just coming back and trying to get my gearswaps in order! Thank you

There isn't really a "most up to date" PLD lua as they're all different. There's some generic ones people share you can copy/paste gear into, but for the most part people will take one they like and modify it how they like. You can find various ones on google, and if you don't want to search around, here is mine.

**Edit** to save replying to you in the DRK and BST threads as well, here are a DRK and BST lua.

Super taff sur le guide ;)

Hey!

Thanks for your feedback on the guide! :)

I do have a PLD lua, but it's very specific and also manages some mechanics for an alt, so it's not really suitable for a returning player. However, if you still want to check it out, here’s my GitHub where you can find it:

Gearswap

If you have any questions or need help adapting it, feel free to ask!

Lifesaver, thank you Boposhopo


appreciate the link as well Tetsouo, will check it out!

Still best DPS to spam Knights of Round on Aminon at 1k? Caliburnus + Imperator any better?

If you're able to go at 1k every time, KOTR is the best. If you're holding to higher TP for safety, Caliburnus pulls ahead, in my group's experience. Might be even better at higher stages, we just have a stage 3 ATM.

We've noticed and maybe it was just having double 11 tact/miser that day and its anecdotal, but darksday he may have some regain or something so we hold tp a little higher, everyone is pretty much ripping at low tp and doing all they can to get tp back, impact spam, sodas/wings, dropping shell5 with regal gloves etc

would love to have a SOLID use case to make a stage 5 sword, but havent found much on it yet to justify

BiS for RDM dMND enfeebling, the only reason I’m making it. For my PLD well I rather use my GS to screw around.