Random Question Thread XIX: Welcome to Flavor Country

[Kidnoftle]

Raiden Thrust spam?!?!? Quint Spear's DPS is atrocious. It would need to average about four hits per round to keep up with the melee DPS any other weapon you can use. It's silly to sacrifice WS damage for TP damage with it, and GH does nothing for your WS damage. The real answer is probably just not to use Quint Spear or SAM, but if you were going to use Quint Spear I'd say you should aim for Atma that maximize your WS damage.

penta? and I remember discussion awhile back of quint actually being a serious contender in polearm choice (which I'm assuming to still be superior to GK). Leveling sam for shiggles so that's not really up to debate.

[Elysian]

Which weapon skills is Ire Torque +1 better for?

[mcb]

can Tinnin be duo nin (or thf) whm?

[Byrthnoth]

penta? and I remember discussion awhile back of quint actually being a serious contender in polearm choice (which I'm assuming to still be superior to GK). Leveling sam for shiggles so that's not really up to debate.

Thorny claimed this with no math or even anecdotal evidence to back it up. He said he ran a simulation that said Quint Spear was the best option for a Drakesbane spamming DRG, which is of questionable significance to a Samurai. Quint Spear wastes a lot of TP with overflow and people don't actually know how many times it attacks per round (as far as I know). It was also potentially factoring in Eizen grip when it still gave Delay +24% (turns it into a 492ish 5-hit for DRG).

I personally did Quint Spear on WAR while skilling up polearm in a gimptastic Abyssea alliance. You'll outdamage retards with it, but you could go SAM/WAR with a sword and outdamage the same people by spamming Vorpal Blade. If you're going that route, use RR/VV/Stout Arm or something. Quint Spear's DPS is atrocious and the WS frequency boost does not make up for it because your WS damage is shit too. 1k Pentas were the upper end of what I got, and it still took me 2-3 rounds average to get 100TP. It was awesome for skilling up, but I sold it entirely without regrets.

[Koyangi]

For Rani Brew as long as I ready my ele WS after the cast animation of the spell i wont get screwed and it'll absorb, or does that absorb phase last a bit longer after the spellcast?

Thanks Jimbob for your screenshot, but I know that there's a catch to his absorb phases, I dont have Wildifre to 3 shot him with, so if anyone else has good info, I thank you in advance. In addition will fanatics block both amnesia and charm?


Another question, what exactly does the Augment to Impetus do on +1 and +2? Otherwiki has no info on it, thanks.

[Mercilessturtle]

Maybe. But really, how often do you actually use Devotion these days?

All the time. Blms can still nuke after you trigger grellow. The small increase in damage output from giving the blm more mp does a hell of a lot more for the group than the absolutely nothing you gain from protectra 5.

[Atoreis]

All the time. Blms can still nuke after you trigger grellow. The small increase in damage output from giving the blm more mp does a hell of a lot more for the group than the absolutely nothing you gain from protectra 5.

What exactly live long enough that BLM can free nuke w/o getting raped and has enough HP to BLM run on MP?

[Bling]

I've used a Logitech PS2 ripoff controller forever while playing this game. BestBuy seems to have stopped carrying this version and has an xbox ripoff now. The triggers don't work now, and a little looking around I learned that xbox 360 controllers had the same problem but there were fixes for it. Anyone know of one for these Logitech F310 things? Thanks for any help~

[Kidnoftle]

Thorny claimed this with no math or even anecdotal evidence to back it up. He said he ran a simulation that said Quint Spear was the best option for a Drakesbane spamming DRG, which is of questionable significance to a Samurai. Quint Spear wastes a lot of TP with overflow and people don't actually know how many times it attacks per round (as far as I know). It was also potentially factoring in Eizen grip when it still gave Delay +24% (turns it into a 492ish 5-hit for DRG).

I personally did Quint Spear on WAR while skilling up polearm in a gimptastic Abyssea alliance. You'll outdamage retards with it, but you could go SAM/WAR with a sword and outdamage the same people by spamming Vorpal Blade. If you're going that route, use RR/VV/Stout Arm or something. Quint Spear's DPS is atrocious and the WS frequency boost does not make up for it because your WS damage is shit too. 1k Pentas were the upper end of what I got, and it still took me 2-3 rounds average to get 100TP. It was awesome for skilling up, but I sold it entirely without regrets.

Fair enough, thanks~

[Mercilessturtle]

What exactly live long enough that BLM can free nuke w/o getting raped and has enough HP to BLM run on MP?

Almost everything? It only takes 5 or 6 nukes to run out of MP, and that is assuming they started from full MP (not likely since they were just spamming crap spells to trigger grellow). I am honestly at a loss to understand how you can suggest that a blm will die from nuking, it is awfully late to still have no idea how enmity works. And of course, in what way is "absolutely nothing at all" going to beat "sometimes getting a little more damage from a blm"? Protectra V literally does nothing at all.

[Aerynlia]

Capped Devotion has the same timer as Emnity Douse, so don't worry your pretty little hard out about overnuking.

Edit:

To add my own question, I thought I had read recently that Anguinus Belt is better for most WS but couldn't find the post talking about it. Am I remembering correctly, and if so which WS do not follow that rule? Thinking about dropping some ele belts if I can get away with it.

[Limlight]

what would acceptable atma for blm be? I'm burning blm on my mule, however ultimate is not an option yet. Hopefully I can remedy this soon.

[Darkmagi]

I'll give explanations since this question tends to result in arguing. For group 2: 5/5 shellra V and 5/5 devotion. Wasting a merit on protectra 5 is stupid, it is only +5 defense. If you actually need that +5 defense for something, cast your single target protect 5. Martyr isn't useful often enough to really bother with, but dropping a point in devotion to unlock it would be ok if you manage to use it ever.

For group 1: 5/5 barspell is the obvious choice. For your other 5 do as many cure cast merits as it takes to make up for your lack of gear, and then remove them as you gear up until you are down to no cure cast merits. Put the others into either: regen would be ok if you do something outside of abyssea ever, otherwise divine seal recast is a better choice.

I may be having a stupid moment, but what are you capping cure cast time with as /blm without merits? Martyr is still likely more useful than devotion in abyssea honestly, emergency cure in the extremely rare event that you ran out of mp (or timer isn't up which is more likely, due to slow or something). BLMs damage is pretty minor at best, and devotion isn't exactly going to speed up a kill drastically. Even if you are managing to cap cure cast time without merits, the rare times you lag and don't swap gear on time will make cure cast merits more useful than divine seal merits.

[Mercilessturtle]

The only time you would ever be /blm is duoing something where you need stun. If you are duoing then you don't need 50% cast time reduction since you aren't using curagas and the single target cures cap out lower. Lag does not make cure cast merits do anything. When lag screws up your gear swaps it screws up your midcast, not your precast. So the problem is that you complete your spell in your cure cast gear instead of your potency gear, not that you start casting it in your potency gear. Like I said, 1 point in martyr is fine if you can manage to use it ever. It isn't that devotion is so great, it is just that protectra 5 does absolutely nothing at all, it is just throwing away merits.

[Darkmagi]

Stunning the occasional TP/dangerous spell is going to be more useful than anything gained by /rdm or /sch unless you need dispel. Duo situations are quite common for most people as well, and sleepga is quite useful in the event that you get a lot of adds.

Edit: Missed the thing about single target cures capping out lower. Any testing on this? First time I have seen it mentioned.

[Syntex]

Thanks Jimbob for your screenshot, but I know that there's a catch to his absorb phases, I dont have Wildifre to 3 shot him with, so if anyone else has good info, I thank you in advance. In addition will fanatics block both amnesia and charm?


Another question, what exactly does the Augment to Impetus do on +1 and +2? Otherwiki has no info on it, thanks.

I would like to know this too.

[Fievel]

Gives 1%(I think its 1%) crit dmg per swing along with the other buffs

[Radec]

I would like to know this too.

Adds 1% crit damage per hit landed, to go with the 2.5att and 1%crit rate.

[Chun Liroy]

How much TP does conserve TP save?
And how much does the drk JA convert MP>TP? Is it 20mp>20 tp or is it a %?

[ryskar]

Any point in using agility gear for Trick Attack in abyssea? Assuming cruor buffs will give me most of the agility I need. I ask because I just got a denali body from Nyzul tonight, but I'm leaning more towards just using my full AF3+2 set for SA/TA.