Originally Posted by
Howie Roary
given capped A+ h2h at 424 [I think?] with 8 merits, making the total 440, add 7 from faith, 7 from hands, and 3 from bruiser, if I calculated it correctly it squeaks in at 51.03 base damage, is that last tier worth sacrificing rancor regain/attack ear? (assume all I care about is MNK, no TP bonus ear)
424 + 16 (merits) + 7+7+3 = 457, which is 50+3 = 53 base damage. With +32 Taipans and 8 fStr, you're getting barely more than 1% additional melee damage. Anything that can match the attack boost and give an additional 1% damage on top (or 2% ws damage, in the case of regain or Store TP) of that would be a sidegrade. Rancor Collar by itself is about a 2.7% gain (outside Abyssea) over the 9 att of the Calcitrant (about the same as Faith+Bruiser attack), which means any earring upgrade is just a bonus.
The only reason not to use Rancor Collar over pretty much anything else is due to the damage taken. If you don't want the damage taken, there are several alternatives you can fall back on (including Faith+Bruiser), most of which are nearly indistinguishable unless you also need accuracy (in which case Calcitrant falls behind).