DRG Merits

[Conrad]

Yes yes, I'm asking about DRG-specific merits, get all your lols out now. Reason I come here is because I only have one or two other DRG75s that I know and talk to, and I wanted a wider opinion. Currently, my merits in specific are:

Jump x1
High Jump x3
Angon x1

Polearm and crits are already capped. I don't participate in many endgame events, as I'm not in an HNM shell. I do, however, have shells for Limbus, Dynamis/Einherjar, and Salvage. Sky and sea aren't out of the question either as passive events, but I imagine I'd be going to those on WHM or BRD.

My original plan was to max Jump and High Jump in Group 1, then in Group 2 do Deep Breathing x1, Angon x2, Empathy x1, Strafe x2. I figure I don't need more than level 2 in Angon if I'm just doing mostly xp, Dynamis, and small-group events. I tend to solo often, hence the DB and Empathy, and I've heard some good things about Strafe. I was hoping that someone with it merited could see a difference that would convince me either way.

Would it be necessary to merit Super Jump also? Since they lowered it down to three minutes I've noticed I'm not spamming my SJ macro as often when I'm in desperate need to lose hate. Should I do 3 Jump/4 HJ/3 SJ, 3/5/2, or something entirely different?

I'm expecting mostly just loldrg though, but if anyone has any insight feel free to tell me!

[Akanei]

5 Jump
5 High/Super depending on if you're using it on HNMs

3 Angon
2 Empathy
1 Deep Breathing (or cap empathy)
--------------------

Jump and angon increase your DOT, so they're more or less the obvious choice to upgrade as a DD.

H/S Jump depends mostly on your play style. If I go merit on DRG, I sub WAR; on HNMs I take SATAs on top of SAing my own WS, so Super Jump was the obvious choice for me. High Jump gives you a lesser hate cut, but also increases your DOT, so it's more suited for exp.

Empathy is great all-around. Protect/Shell, Zerk, you name it; it can either provide more overall damage or give some defense to an otherwise flimsy pet. I'd aim for at least level 2 or not get it at all, that way you can utilize certain buffs together like minuet and berserk.

Deep Breathing mostly applies to /mage, but putting more than 1 merit doesn't really help a whole lot. There's very few situations where you'll be put on the spot to use it. It's useful when you get to, but knocking it down to 10 minutes doesn't make too much of a difference from 15.

Strafe is just overall useless. Doesn't do anything for /mage and it's too minimal for a melee sub, especially if the wyvern uses the wrong elemental breath in the first place.

[fantasticdan]

5 Jump
5 High

3 Angon
2 Empathy
1 Deep Breathing

That's what I would do if I ever finished leveling drg.

Can anyone verify if deep breathing also acts like an elemental seal? I don't think I've ever seen a deep breathing elemental breath resisted.

[Genosync]

Yes yes, I'm asking about DRG-specific merits, get all your lols out now. Reason I come here is because I only have one or two other DRG75s that I know and talk to, and I wanted a wider opinion. Currently, my merits in specific are:

Jump x1
High Jump x3
Angon x1

Polearm and crits are already capped. I don't participate in many endgame events, as I'm not in an HNM shell. I do, however, have shells for Limbus, Dynamis/Einherjar, and Salvage. Sky and sea aren't out of the question either as passive events, but I imagine I'd be going to those on WHM or BRD.

My original plan was to max Jump and High Jump in Group 1, then in Group 2 do Deep Breathing x1, Angon x2, Empathy x1, Strafe x2. I figure I don't need more than level 2 in Angon if I'm just doing mostly xp, Dynamis, and small-group events. I tend to solo often, hence the DB and Empathy, and I've heard some good things about Strafe. I was hoping that someone with it merited could see a difference that would convince me either way.

Would it be necessary to merit Super Jump also? Since they lowered it down to three minutes I've noticed I'm not spamming my SJ macro as often when I'm in desperate need to lose hate. Should I do 3 Jump/4 HJ/3 SJ, 3/5/2, or something entirely different?

I'm expecting mostly just loldrg though, but if anyone has any insight feel free to tell me!

obligitory 'who the fuck cares, you're a drg' post

nosrsly Jump5 HighJump5 Angon3 Empathy2 Strafe1

Deep Breathing seems kinda pointless unless it doubles a healing breath.

[fantasticdan]

Deep Breathing seems kinda pointless unless it doubles a healing breath.

It does.

[Conrad]

Deep Breathing seems kinda pointless unless it doubles a healing breath.

It does.

I should mention I have a Wyrm Armet, which while not doubling HBs, would make stacking it with DB fairly wtfpwn.

Strafe would be a straight +accuracy to breath with no damage boosts, right? It does seem kind of bad, but I can see how it's useful...

Is 1 minute Angon really all that much more useful than 30- or 45-second Angon?

[Shuemue]

Is 1 minute Angon really all that much more useful than 30- or 45-second Angon?

Def down 33% of the time instead of 16.5% of the time? I'd say fuck yes.

[Akanei]

Strafe would be a straight +accuracy to breath with no damage boosts, right? It does seem kind of bad, but I can see how it's useful...

Is 1 minute Angon really all that much more useful than 30- or 45-second Angon?

Unless you're still weapon skilling in a drachen armet, you're not going to see a big change between having and not having strafe. Half the time, my wyvern doesn't get to attack breath before the mob dies, anyway. You don't do HNMs, but on those the damage is going to be rather pitiful unless you pop deep breathing, regardless if it's the correct element.

As for Angon: Yes, yes it is. It's an attack bonus which extends to every melee in your party, as well as gives you a possibility of seeing a higher return from not one, but two ws (when it's capped), if you're using it right before your 1st ws. Your change in damage potential alone will outweigh anything strafe or deep breathing will add.

[Conrad]

Is 1 minute Angon really all that much more useful than 30- or 45-second Angon?

Def down 33% of the time instead of 16.5% of the time? I'd say fuck yes.

How about when it's primarily being thrown in xp or dynamis where the recipients of DEF Down are going to (ideally) die within 30-45 seconds anyway? I'd say it might matter against the Xarc NMs or DL or something, but I go don't go DRG in Northland Dynamis anyway, thus making that point moot.

[Akanei]

Sometimes a mob won't live through angon's duration, sometimes a mob will. It's a matter of circumstance. However, it's a matter of being more prepared in that latter circumstance than not.

[Conrad]

I find your theories intriguing and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

So Angon x3, Empathy x2, Deep Breathing x1 wins then? Unless there's a more convincing argument, that makes the most sense to me.

[fantasticdan]

Unless you're still weapon skilling in a drachen armet, you're not going to see a big change between having and not having strafe. Half the time, my wyvern doesn't get to attack breath before the mob dies, anyway. You don't do HNMs, but on those the damage is going to be rather pitiful unless you pop deep breathing, regardless if it's the correct element.

Does AF2 helm affect choosing the right elemental breath as well as increased damage? If it does, would you say WSing in that would add more average damage for wyvern than an o. hat or hecatomb cap would add to WS?

[Tomiko]

I'd say it might matter against the Xarc NMs or DL or something, but I go don't go DRG in Northland Dynamis anyway, thus making that point moot.

I usually go Drg and I think it's very nice to have for Xarc when you're dealing with the NMs since they're most likely not going to go down in 1 minute.

My plan is to do Jump and High Jump after I finish tier 2 merits. Currently my Tier 2 merits are as follows:

3/3 Angon - Capped this first for the reasons mentioned. This is good for soloing/parties/etc since it increases the party's damage.

1/3 Deep Breathing - I did this one next since I figured it would help with Breath damage on HNMs and such. I really like this one for soloing. With Wyrm Armet, Drachen Brais+1, Wyvern Mail & Deep Breathing my Healing Breaths are generally in the mid 600s. With Wyrm Armet, Deep Breathing and Elemental Breaths, I generally see damage around 420.

1/3 Strafe - I did this one because a friend told me he got a 1k breath in a party with full Strafe Merits. Dunno what the circumstances were, but it tempted me enough to upgrade it. Since then I've realized that I don't use melee subs often enough for this to have an effect, so I'll most likely be removing it since it does absolutely nothing when subbing a mage job from what I've seen.

Empathy doesn't interest me since I don't like creating more work for a healer if I don't need to. Plus I'm used to subbing mage and half-assed buffs don't seem worth it to me.

So now my current plan is:
3/3 Angon
3/3 Deep Breathing

Starr went this route as well, so hopefully he'll have some insight to add.

[Akanei]

Unfortunately, it doesn't. I don't WS in o. hat at all (Aces or H.Cap depending on how my accuracy works in exp), but I probably wouldn't WS in that, either way. For most HNMs you can't really keep a wyvern out without it dying rather quickly, or squeezing out links and making healers do extra work, so it's rather unreasonable to use it in that case.

I can't justify it in exp, so much, either, because I swap in something like 31% slow on ws. Can't keep the armet on to strengthen breaths because I almost always get a swing off before wyvern breaths and I don't really want a macro to throw on just that piece after changing immediately back to haste gear (for haste reasons, as well as simplicity sake).

Does AF2 helm affect choosing the right elemental breath as well as increased damage? If it does, would you say WSing in that would add more average damage for wyvern than an o. hat or hecatomb cap would add to WS?

[Akanei]

1/3 Strafe - I did this one because a friend told me he got a 1k breath in a party with full Strafe Merits. Dunno what the circumstances were, but it tempted me enough to upgrade it. Since then I've realized that I don't use melee subs often enough for this to have an effect, so I'll most likely be removing it since it does absolutely nothing when subbing a mage job from what I've seen.

Empathy doesn't interest me since I don't like creating more work for a healer if I don't need to. Plus I'm used to subbing mage and half-assed buffs don't seem worth it to me.

Apologies for posting twice in a row but I'm rather skeptic of the bolded part.

How can you pop a 1k breath when elemental breaths are based on the current hp of the wyvern? It'd need around the ballpark of 5.5k HP to do that without deep breathing; half that with it. He'd have to be partying on, like, qutrubs, pop deep breathing and the wyvern would need almost 1400 hp (which you'd need mantra to do).

Anyway, the nice part about empathy is that you can pop it with the wyvern at full HP and it won't drain yours, while still transferring buffs.

[Tomiko]

Yeah, when I heard about it my common senses didn't kick in so I let the "omg Strafe owns" get to me and make me waste 3 merits.

I like the part about Empathy not taking HP if the Wyvern is at 100%, but like you mentioned in your previous post, that doesn't happen all that often due to aoe and equipment changes. If they made it a seperate ability from Spirit Link, I'd be more willing to try it out.


Edit: Off topic, but the Galka in your sig needs his sword replaced with "The Club" lol

[Akanei]

On /whm I usually stick to just popping link to get protect and shell on the wyvern. I'll throw up regen and hit link when the wyvern's under 50% HP, as well.

In exp, as long as you're not causing your whm/rdm to want to just let you die, you may as well just pop link whenever you please. Since wyvern's won't pull hate on crap like colibri, you won't even be draining HP to do it, anyway.

As for HNMs, Deep Breathing's more useless for me than Empathy. Typical Prot/Shell goes up, then if I happen to have the wyvern up, I throw over bard songs. I just don't put a heavy emphasis on keeping it alive.

[GSDragoon]

While you don't do HNM stuff, like me, angon can still be very helpfull. For CoP dynamis, it's very nice for all the mini bosses. Limbus, there's plenty of uses in the central zones and against the protos.

Wyvern breath accuracy, meh. Everyone I've talked to said it sucks. Adding buffs to your wyvern, pretty useless, especially since you have to use spirit link, and take damage. How often is your wyvern not alive with a 20 minute recast anyways? If you are subbing a mage job, you can spam spirit link all you want to keep it alive. Then there's a once every 20, 15, 10? minute x2 breath. 99% useless. An extra 234 damage(assuming af+1 legs and relic helm) once every blue moon isn't doing anything for you but an e-penis screenshot. If you are in a situation where you need a double healing breath, you will just end up dieing in the time it takes you to use the ability. Angon is really the only one that looks remotely usefull to me.

Strafe would be ok, if attack breaths didn't get resisted almost all the time. Even with af or relic helm and using the element the enemy is weak to, it really doesn't seem to help much. At least not against "anything that matters". Besides angon, I wouldn't put any merits into other category 2 spots unless you are maxed out everywhere else. I'd even do str and hp over them. Love HP merits.


As for the wyrm armet making the wyvern use the correct element for attack breaths, I always thought so. I have the +1 version and I kinda think it's broken. I almost never pay attention to breath damage because it's usually resisted anyways(as stated above) and it's based off the wyvern's current HP. So if you're fighting anything with AoE, your wyvern's breath attacks are going to suck no matter what you do.


For category 1, I wouldn't bother with spirit link or super jump. Jump and High jump for more damage. I put a few into high jump first because it's got a longer timer and reduced the recast more than jump, if that matters. It reduces hate anyways, so it's all good.

For other merits, if you got polearm and crits capped, you can always go into str and hp. Maybe staff some if you use it much.

[Akanei]

Adding buffs to your wyvern, pretty useless, especially since you have to use spirit link, and take damage.

Anyway, the nice part about empathy is that you can pop it with the wyvern at full HP and it won't drain yours, while still transferring buffs.

edit: to kinda extend on this, i usually pop stoneskin before linking and take off as little HP as possible on a link, with hq armet. that or i pop deep breathing for it. in exp, doesn't really matter as long as your mage is on top of it (not many merit spots put your wyvern at risk, anymore, anyway)

[GSDragoon]

Adding buffs to your wyvern, pretty useless, especially since you have to use spirit link, and take damage.

Anyway, the nice part about empathy is that you can pop it with the wyvern at full HP and it won't drain yours, while still transferring buffs.

edit: to kinda extend on this, i usually pop stoneskin before linking and take off as little HP as possible on a link, with hq armet. that or i pop deep breathing for it. in exp, doesn't really matter as long as your mage is on top of it (not many merit spots put your wyvern at risk, anymore, anyway)

Stoneskin: 29 MP and a long casting time
Healing breath: 7 mp and faster

Also, since I meele in homam boots and WS in hecatomb, that's 50 HP spirit link has to cure. That or I have to waste too much time and effort with gear swaps for something that it's really worth it.