Hi
I'm playin as a paladin (yeah it sucks for most of you, but i like it) and now is the best time to choose which a grade is the best for pali. I've got two armors to chose between: Majestic and Tallum and two weapons: Blunt and Sword.
I'm +4STR -4CON 70% of time I'm exping alone (with buffs from ch) 30% in party - I'm hoping to change those propotions in a grade ;)
So in Tallum I've got 182.2 dmg/s and enemy's 28.3 dmg/s to me and in Majestic 180.7 dmg/s and 27.2 dmg/s.
conclusion: Tallum is slightly better for offensive and majestic for defensive pal (though they're very similiarin stats on l2 calc above). Also Tallum got +80% poison/bleed resist and Majestic +50% stun resist.
Weapon - which is better- Dark Legion's Edge or Elysium both +3 with health.
Go Tallum, you will be spending most of your solo time in forest of the dead and pagans temple once in your 70's, the bleed resist will help and more attack speed the better, also maj just looks BAD imo.
If you can some how swing it, try and get a sirris blade with haste over a DLE with health. If you cant afford a small arsenal of weapons, go sword over blunt, the higher crit rate will outpace a blunts accuracy. Idealy id like to get a Sirris Haste and Barakiel axe Health. I know I SHOULD get a forgotten blade focus at S grade, but ****, its just to ugly >.<
I have tried all Agrade heavy sets on my paladin and i've come to the conclution: Maj is best.
Why? Because as a knight you'll be soloing much and primary fighting undead, which often have stun, so stun resist is a must for fast leveling.
Also with Maj you have slightly more p.def.
And about the looks, who cares? But just for the record, Maj looks better than any other armor in the game on human knights.
I have a A grade Pal, I am in MN heavy, DLE +5 crt focus, +3 str -3 con, +3 dex - 3 con, + 2 wit -2 men (I think). thisk work very well for me as I almost always duo with an EE ( I make him work hard). It seems to be the best PVE/PVP setup I have found (even though we suck at PVP).
Yeah go focus, also for PvE, you cant beat tallums attack speed, period, pvp dd build maj may be better suited. Forgot DLE has focus, do that over sirris. I finally got a Forgotten Blade, way better, i just try to not look at it =p
As for paladins sucking pvp, try harder =P with the right build and buffs you should be able to take most class's with a good chance of success.
Just try and score a ++++ dle and stick with a decent lvl EE thats what I do on my tank. As for armor if you plan on being a raid tank get the maj or nm......
For me atm, I am using nightmare. Honestly nightmare is the middle ground of A grade heavy. You really can't go wrong with it. Being a Human Paladin with high con, I naturally resists stuns, and with NM good sleep and hold resists. Good for PvP and PvE.
Tallum Heavy, and an overenchanted Keshanberk or Damascus. And a Feathered Hat. Just because.
For a weapon, blunts are crap. Crappy critical rate, crappy looking (I guess?), crappy everything if you ask me, so an Elysium in my opinion is completely out of the question. A Dark Legion Edge isn't AS bad as an Elysium, but I still think an OE Dama or Kesh will be better. The reason is mostly the Focus SA (and soulshot price, if you're poor). Admittedly, something like a Dama is freakishly expensive, so a Kesh is fine too. Plus, Kesh aren't ugly. Anyways, with an OE Dama/Kesh, your damage won't fall that far behind from a DLE which, by the way, has useless SA's for levelling. Health doesn't give you experience, but Focus sure as hell does. The overenchantment, as well as Focus will more then make up the grade difference. And SSA sucks :( Expensive. Not that getting a Damascus is any cheaper... *cough*
For armor, I'd say Tallum is a no-brainer as the 8% attack speed is just too hard to pass up. It isn't too difficult to avoid stun mobs. You'll have a field day at FotD as well. Oh and, hey! You're a Paladin, holy damage :D You know that'll work out well when you go to an area called Forest of the Dead, which is a place you'll be well-acquainted with for a long time. Team with a BD/SwS, and you're set. Maybe an EE for the "OH-CRAP" situations.
You probably shouldn't be doing anything but levelling till upper 70's, so I'll leave it at that.
I have go a other way for my Phoenix Knight. Going on Full Defense for PvP Support (but have the possibility for having much partys in Clan).
This includes +4Con/-4Strg // +4Dex/-4Strg // +4 Wit/-4INT
for better Surviving Ability and quick outburst from Sacrifice when needed.
I think Dark Crystal Armor is the best who can support a Paladin not only cause of the Shield bonus (Majestic and Tallum support no Shield with a Bonus), it gives a great resistance against Paralyze. When things going wrong and the Tank is rootet he can go in UD or Vengeance and work out of his possition when Enemy/Friends are not too far away... but is he parad... he is simple dead. So i prefer this bonus for the NM/Talum/Majestic Bonus.
As weapon i would ever prefer a Swordweapon... cause its support the Angelic Icon Skill quite better than a blunt. (And the DLE looks very nice ,-) ).
My Pally uses tallum and meteor shower with focus.
The crit rate with it is very good to plus you also hit almost every time. Since you hunt undeads most of the time the blunt still gives additional damage to skeletal mobs.
Blunts dont benefit that much from angelic icon as it dont raises the crit rate like with swords but it raises the damage when u crit with a blunt.
Anyway i have a pve setup not a PvP.