Sometimes I just get really random ideas while I’m wandering around in-game. The most recent occurrence of this had me suddenly wanting to make my tank glamour more fitting for Paladin and also to use the Custom-made Cuirass, which is a piece I’ve flirted with in the past but never really committed to. I’m not sure where either of these impulses came from, most especially the Paladin one, since I had become pretty enamored with Dark Knight after I put together my level 70 glamour for it. I suppose it traces back to the last time I played Dark Knight a week or two ago, tanking for some Lost Canals of Uznair runs, when I remembered I’m just not very good at it.

I tank very rarely these days, so I haven’t actually tanked anything since then, but I have been pondering tank glamours quite often in my spare time, and I felt like figuring out something new. Where I ended up uses mostly old pieces, but the Flat Cap is still a bit new for me, since I’ve only recently begun to use it, for whatever reason.

Glamour Components (Required Level: DRK/PLD/WAR 50)
Weapon & Shield: Aettir Lux (Replica) & Priwen Lux (Replica) (Gobbiebag Brown)
Head: Flat Cap (Dalamud Red)
Body: Custom-made Cuirass
Hands: (Replica) High Allagan Gauntlets of Fending
Legs: Expeditioner’s Pantalettes (Dalamud Red)
Feet: (Replica) High Allagan Sabatons of Fending

Even after all of this time, the mid-level Cuirass model (exemplified most commonly by the Mythril Cuirass) from A Realm Reborn is either my absolute favorite or—at the least—one of my favorite body pieces for tanks. We have so few breastplate and chainmail style sets for tanks that I still come back to these lower level pieces for tank glamours again and again. The Custom-made Cuirass, which is available from early class quests for Gladiator and Marauder, is somewhat unique for the version of the Cuirass used for the higher level models in that it has leather rather than chainmail under the breastplate, but what makes it stand out for me is the striking red color, which makes it ripe for glamours built around it.

At some point during Heavensward, I did use the Custom-made Cuirass for a Paladin glamour centered around the Weathered Noct Hoplon, but that look never stuck. I don’t remember what pieces I used back then, but if I had to guess, I didn’t use the High Allagan ones, as those probably would have made the glamour a lot more workable (and likely worthy of a post on the site long before now if that had been the case). The Gauntlets and Sabatons pair extremely well with the Cuirass, in fact, given that the primary colors are the same on each piece, and I’m somewhat surprised it’s taken me so long to put the three pieces together.

The main trouble I had for finishing up this look was choosing something for the Legs slot, though. Like the other Custom-made body pieces, this Cuirass doesn’t actually have any companion pieces, which meant I had to find something on my own. The Guardian Corps Skirt came up, but I’ve been leaning on that a bit much lately, and I wasn’t completely happy with the way it looked next to the Cuirass either. But there are really few options for pants that seemed to fit, as nothing I could find had a fitting color scheme. Normally, I wouldn’t have considered the Expeditioner’s Pantalettes for a look like this, but given that they have some brown leather, they actually proved better able to blend in with the other pieces than anything else that I tried.

While this isn’t a look that’s likely to last forever, I do feel pretty good about it: a tanking Alahra only ever really makes sense to me in lighter armor, even if I do sometimes manage to make her look good in the heavier stuff. Since she tends to look so good in red as well, the Custom-made Cuirass is really a natural fit for her, so if I actually do end up tanking again any time soon, I think I’ll have fun while I’m doing it!