Paladin Tank Rotation, Openers, and Abilities - Endwalker 6.55 (2024)

Last updated on Jan 30, 2024 at 12:00by nikroulah3 comments

On this page, you will learn how to optimise your opener and rotation inboth single-target and multi-target situations. We also cover the use ofyour cooldowns, to ensure you can achieve the best use of them every timeas a Paladin Tank in Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker (Patch 6.55).

Patch 6.3 saw a major rework for Paladin, with Fight or Flight applying to alldamage, DoTs removed, and Royal Authority granting an empowered Holy Spirit.This page details the opener and rotation for Paladin moving forwards.

1. Optionally, pop sprint up to around 18 seconds before the pull to help runup to the boss quickly.
2. Start casting Holy Spirit around 1.75 seconds before thepull to get the global cooldown running early.
3. Run up to the boss after the Holy Spirit castbar is done (you are free tostart moving after the castbar has reached 0.5 seconds remaining).
4. Start a Royal Authority combo, potting after Fast Blade. This generates three Sword Oath and grantsDivine Might.
5. Weave Fight or Flight and Requiescatafter Royal Authority, then use Goring Blade.
6. After Goring Blade, weave in Circle of Scornand Expiacion.
7. Use Confiteor followed by the Blade of Valorcombo, using an Intervene after both Confiteor and Blade ofFaith.
8. Cast a Holy Spirit, which is empowered by the Divine Mightbuff from Royal Authority.
9. Use three Atonement, consuming all of your Sword Oath.

After the opener and between burst phases, the Paladin rotation follows asimple set of rules.

For GCDs:

Your main filler combo is Fast Blade → Riot Blade → Royal Authority. Thisgenerates three stacks of Sword Oath, spent on Atonement,and a Divine Might buff, which empowers your next Holy Spirit.

These actions do not break combo, so it is okay (and suggested) to begin anotherRoyal Authority combo before spending your Sword Oath and Divine Might. Takecare to spend any Divine Might procs and Sword Oath stacks before actuallypressing Royal Authority, to avoid wasting existing procs.

Holding your Atonements and empowered Holy Spirits in this manner ensures thatyour Fight or Flight windows will never have weak GCDs like Fast Blade or Riot Blade.

For oGCDs:

• Circle of Scorn and Expiacion should beused on cooldown after the opener. Since they are 30-second cooldowns and Fight or Flight is a 60-second cooldown, you are able to geta free usage between every burst window.
• Try to hold both charges of Intervene for Fight or Flight.Use them during filler if needed to keep melee uptime.
• Fight or Flight should be used on cooldown. Upon usingFight or Flight, pause your filler combos (Holy Spirits, Atonements, RoyalAuthority combos) and do your burst, then continue your filler combo.

The burst phase begins when you use Fight or Flight,and should look very similar to your opener (at 2.5 weaponskill GCD, the oGCDplacement and first five GCDs should look exactly like the opener).

1. Use Goring Blade, followed by Confiteorand the Blade of Valor combo.
2. Use Requiescat, Circle of Scorn, Intervene and Expiacion as soon as theyare available.
3. After Goring Blade and the Requiescat GCDs, continue from where you left offon your filler combo (i.e. use a Holy Spirit if you have Divine Might, spendSword Oath, or continue a Royal Authority combo).

At three or more targets, replace your Royal Authority combowith the Prominence combo and spend Divine Might on Holy Circle. Continue to use Goring Bladeduring your Fight or Flight window. Ideally, find the enemy with the highest HPto use it on.

Use defensive cooldowns to reduce incoming damage and relieve the burden onyour healers. Since mitigation is calculated multiplicatively (i.e. two 50%damage reductions will result in 25% damage taken), it is moreefficient to spread cooldowns out rather than stack them all on one attack.That said, for many tankbusters, it is reasonable and expected to stack two ormore cooldowns together.

Paladin is also unique in the number of raid and targeted mitigation tools ithas access to, so be sure to keep an eye on both raidwide damage and damagetargeted on a party member.

• In a raid environment, try to use one of Rampart, Sentinel,or Bulwark on every tankbuster. If you notice that thesecooldowns go unused for a long time, you can also use them to mitigateboss auto-attacks.
• Use Holy Sheltron on every tankbuster and liberally onauto-attacks. You gain 50 Oath gauge in around 23 seconds.
• Replace Holy Sheltron with an Intervention on your co-tankif they are taking tankbusters or auto-attacks. If Rampart or Sentinel areavailable and will not be needed soon, use them before popping Intervention tobuff the mitigation effect.
• Reprisal, Divine Veil, and Passage of Armsshine on raidwide damage. Use liberally.
• Keep in mind that multiple Reprisals do not stack, so coordinate with yourco-tank.
• The Passage of Arms buff lasts five seconds after you stopchanneling it, so for raidwide damage, flashing it briefly on the party issufficient. You should almost never need to channel it for the entireduration, other than rarely for safety in raid progression. The block effecton yourself goes away when you stop channeling, so it is also usually notworth wasting it on personal mitigation.
• Hallowed Ground is a powerful tool and should be usedproactively on high-damage sequences like multi-hit tankbusters.
• For dungeon pulls, Arm's Length is also a strong mitigation tool,slowing attacking enemies' attack speed by 20%.
• In dungeons, use mitigation proactively on trash mobs since they hurt a lotmore than bosses. Try to rotate between your mitigation without overlapping Rampart, Sentinel, Bulwark,or Arm's Length too much. Use Reprisal and Holy Sheltron early and often.
• Hallowed Ground is your most powerful cooldown in dungeons.Use it early so you can get two or three uses within a single dungeon.
• Be mindful about mitigation usage when playing with a White Mage, as therepeated stun from Holy can cause you to waste some ofthe duration of your mitigations. If you see them casting Holy, considerwaiting on using your mitigation for when the mobs become stun-immune.
• Cover is rarely used, but it can have niche uses inoptimization, as well as for saving a party member from lethal damage in a pinch.
• Clemency is a contentious subject. It is a significant lossin DPS to repeatedly cast Clemency since it is a GCD. 99% of the time, it isbetter to trust that your healer can keep you alive. Clemency has niche uses forsoloing dungeon bosses (albeit extremely slowly) when the healer dies or in a raidprogression setting, where DPS is less important.
• Use Low Blow for a small bit of mitigation. After Level 50, stunsstop working on most bosses, but it can still be useful for trash mobs indungeons.