WHM/BRD Gear Help!

[ophelia]

Anyone have suggestions? I feel that my Repose is lacking ;_;

http://i44.tinypic.com/14mv2pe.png

Here's a couple of gear I know I need to get:

Divine Torque
Divine Earring
Enhancing Torque
Magnetic Earring

For Bard... I don't know which to use for Elegy/Lullaby, but I use this.

http://i40.tinypic.com/2zfibk7.png

Is Ixion Cloak better for Elegy/Lullaby ( CHR 13 and M. ACC +5 )? Or should I stick with the Mahatma body and Goliard Chapeau?

Need AF Hands +1 I know
Have an Astute cape laying around too, which I only use if I'm subbing whm or rdm.

Suggestions would be highly appreciated!

[finalwolf]

cure in blessed mitts, healing skills really doesn't do much
don't use ixion cape for Cure5, vit plays a factor in boosting the numbers.

Barspells: Augmenting Earring, Enhancing torque, Merciful cape will add +3 more elemental resist.

some nitpickiness, something like a serket ring is useless once the mp is used, if you swap to another ring that will have an effect on your spells, like a trooper's ring -4enmity.

[Classikmage]

For Haste, Esuna, -na spells, Erase, Regen, try using a Capricorn Staff over Seveneyes.

[Gabai]

for elegy/lullaby marduk or af2 head when you get them, assuming you dont have them yet since you're not using it; for now i would say ixi cloak is better than errant/goli. Also balrahn's ring or even insect ring i prefer over the nereid ring, and singing earring over loq.

[GeneJackit]

was anyone else thinking, when you read the thread title, that they should be using song belt?

[revelat10n]

Augmenting Earring if it can add another point to your barspell setup. Add a Swift Belt for Haste, -na/erase and Regen macros. On Repose, besides the aforementioned divine torque/earring, you can also add Templar Sabatons (lol). I personally use Nashira Turban and Manteel for Repose (MACC+10, Haste+5%) as I do not have an Ixion Cloak.

[drwaffles]

Can the Serket Ring, get Aqua/Communion and Trooper's. Also hMP set where?

[ambutter]

Ixion Cape is fine for Cure V... the VIT penalty isn't that substantial, just makes it basically the same as a Prism Cape for Cure V. I'll echo the anti-Serket Ring talk, get a MND and/or -enmity ring. Obvious stuff for barspells, but as long as you're 120+ you're doing alright. I wouldn't kill myself for Divine Magic gear... already an A- skill... just use Apollo's and stack Magic Acc where you can. You don't need to stack all that MND for stoneskin... WHM only needs 104 total MND to cap stoneskin.

If WHM is your primary job I'd sell Ixion Cape and Serket Ring for the Roundel Earring fund. Also ditch Blessed Pumps for Mahatma Pigaches. And if you can manage the macros, I'd start all my cures in Cure Clogs and swap to Mahatma feet before spell resolves.

[Ivve]

It looks like you have a stupid high amount of CHR in your BRD gear that's not really doing as much for you as other stats could in some of those places. What kind of singing/wind merits do you have, if any? Also, where are you aiming to use elegy? Do you use any food? The context of my answers is: no merits, HNM, using something like tav tacos that are boosting CHR by at least +4, and that gil is no object. My response is strictly my opinion on an ideal setup for spell accuracy.

Your goliard/mahatma combo is only giving you +16CHR, where ixion cloak would sacrifice 3 CHR in favor of 5 macc. So yes, ixion is a superior choice here. Personally, I despise goliard hat for debuffing on BRD. You're essentially sporting a noble's ribbon +1 up there like CHR stacking is the answer.

Marduk/Bard's Roundlet/Demon helm +1 with mahatma body are all better choices for elegy than what you're using, in that order. Honestly I'm not sure if I'd use a demon helm +1 with mahatma over ixion cloak, though. I believe cloak would come out on top, but helm is still superior to goliard by far. I believe Marduk and AF2 + body are both going to yield better results than ixion, though since you're getting a boost to both skill and CHR.

Ditch those AF2 pants for Marduk ideally but AF+1 in their absence, especially if you didn't put merits into singing/wind skill. From what you posted about only using the astute cape when you're subbing WHM or RDM, I've drawn the conclusion that this is your gear for NIN sub. I don't know if that's correct, but if it is there's even less reason than normal to use those pants since the MP is of no benefit to you. I can see the value of idling in them during events as /WHM (RDM), however.

Loquacious → singing earring.
Nereid → Balrahn's ring.

Make those changes and see how much total CHR you have. If you're around 120ish CHR, you really have no need to concern yourself with stacking more unless you can get substantially more on a piece vs. direct macc or skill. For me, the magic numbers were combined singing/wind 500+ and ~120ish CHR. I noticed a huge cut to resists when I got to that point.

[Bakthi]

I've been looking at Medicine Ring lately, and...it really doesn't look THAT bad to trigger the latent, at least for a Mithra, even taking into account lowering it extra to compensate for auto-regen. At least, it doesn't look that bad if you have Spellcast. I look at the price of Roundel vs Medicine Ring and wonder why I hardly hear of anyone using the latter.

[Sai]

You don't need to stack all that MND for stoneskin... WHM only needs 104 total MND to cap stoneskin.

It's not bad to stack more MND than needed if you do Salvage, since you're gonna have some gear cells locked for a while.

[Argettio]

Relic Feet for bar-spells, is about the only thing that hasnt been covered.

[TelosIllumini]

Marduk/Bard's Roundlet/Demon helm +1 with mahatma body are all better choices for elegy than what you're using, in that order. Honestly I'm not sure if I'd use a demon helm +1 with mahatma over ixion cloak, though. I believe cloak would come out on top, but helm is still superior to goliard by far. I believe Marduk and AF2 + body are both going to yield better results than ixion, though since you're getting a boost to both skill and CHR.

Ditch those AF2 pants for Marduk ideally but AF+1 in their absence, especially if you didn't put merits into singing/wind skill.

Loquacious → singing earring.
Nereid → Balrahn's ring.

Make those changes and see how much total CHR you have. If you're around 120ish CHR, you really have no need to concern yourself with stacking more unless you can get substantially more on a piece vs. direct macc or skill. For me, the magic numbers were combined singing/wind 500+ and ~120ish CHR. I noticed a huge cut to resists when I got to that point.

^ this. Personally, for BRD debuff, my main focus is getting my CHR up (I'm elvaan so that's not a bother) and then I focus on singing > wind. I haven't bothered with Ixion cloak, I just use Bard's roundlet + houpelande for those slots because I honestly didn't notice any significant difference on landing my debuffs. Besides, for BRD on (ToAU) HNM, you're usually asked to come /BLM for ES + Troubadour -> Elegy so sticking elegy won't be an issue.

Side note: good thing they fixed that resistance nerf XD

[Gergall]

For HNM where you only need to play Elegy once in a while (especially with Troubador), you can always Etude yourself some extra CHR.

This isn't a realistic option in merits where you have a new mob to elegy every 30 seconds.

[TelosIllumini]

No, but for meripo monsters usually die too fast to bother with sticking elegy on each and every one of them if you focus on keeping up the chain and buffs, especially if you're pulling on BRD (you fetch a monster, buff DD, fetch another one, buff mage, rinse repeat). Add to that the fact that meripo monsters rarily resist elegy with a standard setup

[Sirenia]

Cure clogs for sure. Have them macroed in before casting cures and macro out into Blessed or Rostrum before the spell ends. And like others have said relic feet for enhancing and blessed mitts for cures.

[zagex]

No, but for meripo monsters usually die too fast to bother with sticking elegy on each and every one of them if you focus on keeping up the chain and buffs, especially if you're pulling on BRD (you fetch a monster, buff DD, fetch another one, buff mage, rinse repeat). Add to that the fact that meripo monsters rarily resist elegy with a standard setup

For pulling @ birds, I find that a -bane throwing weapon helps. If you're late on a pull, the the bird won't stop to cast the spell on you, and instead it'll fly straight at you.