New or Returning Players Discussion 2: SoA Homeless Veterans Edition

[AidenCarby]

I have 1 extra of each I keep in my mail box and I cycle through them all the time lol

[Fwahm]

I'd totally grab a second Trizek ring, but I have no mules, and the mog pell is offering the one trust I'm missing.

It's still tempting, though.

[dasva]

I have up to 9 in my dbox all the time since a bunch of mules... but I can usually pre-use so doesn't matter a lot... depends on your schedule and how well you remember to do things like use them before logging out

[JeanPaul]

You could, I suppose, send a bunch to yourself without receiving them, and then go grind in a place like Marjami, and every time it wears, just warp back to the Frontier Station to grab another ring. Even that sounds pretty tedious to me, though. Pretty great that people with mules can still technically acquire both rings and still have a Red Pell on their main.

[Not Kuno]

Trying to gear and merit my thf as to not be a completely useless piece of shit. Is Exenterator any good? Or is Evis still the go-to ws for things?

[Kanriel]

Trying to gear and merit my thf as to not be a completely useless piece of shit. Is Exenterator any good? Or is Evis still the go-to ws for things?

Stacked Rudra's is top dog by miles. Evisceration is my unstacked WS generally, if TP gets high or I can SC, unstacked Rudra's will be better, though.

[Not Kuno]

Stacked Rudra's is top dog by miles. Evisceration is my unstacked WS generally, if TP gets high or I can SC, unstacked Rudra's will be better, though.

Thanks. That is what I thought but I'm not sure if Evis became better somehow due to something or other. So is the merited WS complete garbage then?

[JeanPaul]

• Exenterator is garbage unless you're looking to self-SC and get a Frag WS in there. You could do the same thing with Shark Bite though, which might be stronger anyway.
• Evisceration is good as a 1000% TP move, great for Abyssea and Dynamis. Definitely use a gorget/belt with it.
• Rudra's Storm is the WS with the highest potential, especially if you're all buffed up. The TP mods are huge so it's a good idea to SA or TA with closer to 2000%, especially if you're going to make a SC with it.
• Mandalic Stab isn't as great as Rudra's, but it does have Fusion, giving THF a strong Light closer. With Vajra, it consistently outshines Rudra's, except in situations where your attack is crazy high.
• Don't merit Assassin's Charge, it really only helps Evisceration and Exenterator, and you'll likely get more from any of the other Group 2s.

[dasva]

Thanks. That is what I thought but I'm not sure if Evis became better somehow due to something or other. So is the merited WS complete garbage then?

Well the last 1hd update made evis pretty good and the rudra's nerf helped make it better by comparison so definitely sees some used again

[Not Kuno]

• Exenterator is garbage unless you're looking to self-SC and get a Frag WS in there. You could do the same thing with Shark Bite though, which might be stronger anyway.
• Evisceration is good as a 1000% TP move, great for Abyssea and Dynamis. Definitely use a gorget/belt with it.
• Rudra's Storm is the WS with the highest potential, especially if you're all buffed up. The TP mods are huge so it's a good idea to SA or TA with closer to 2000%, especially if you're going to make a SC with it.
• Mandalic Stab isn't as great as Rudra's, but it does have Fusion, giving THF a strong Light closer. With Vajra, it consistently outshines Rudra's, except in situations where your attack is crazy high.
• Don't merit Assassin's Charge, it really only helps Evisceration and Exenterator, and you'll likely get more from any of the other Group 2s.

I figured Rudra's was top dog but this is all good to know. SC properties and stuff completely flew out my brain during my break.

Ass Charge is no good? My thf merits (which I guess were standard way back when?) are:

3 Sneak, 2 Trick, 5 Triple Attack
1 Ass Charge, 5 Feint, 4 Aura Steal

[Hitou]

1 assassin's charge is fine, there's no reason not to stack it with Rudra's when it's up. Unless you want to drop it for 100% steal rate on aura steal, ambush is garbage. You could also drop feint to 4 for that purpose, since the chance of TH proc while feint is on is negligible as is. What ever you choose, on one will notice or care but yourself.

[fantasticdan]

Last I checked activating AC before rudras was actually a DPS loss.

[Diablosword]

What is this mog pell people keep talking about? And where do I get it?

[Fwahm]

What's wrong with Ambush, exactly? 15 accuracy looks more useful than stealing a buff in most situations (considering the most significant buffs aren't stealable).

[JeanPaul]

Assassin's Charge is pretty much useless, the other 3 are all fine in any combination of your choice. Ambush's real strength comes from using the Plunderer's Vest +1 (relic body 119, granting 1% Triple Attack per merit), and won't help unless you're fighting a stable monster like a Behemoth, or you have a tank. I'm fond of Aura Steal at 5/5 with the relic head augment, particularly since I use my THF for WKRs and Delve a lot (several major enemies in Delve have powerful attack boosts you can steal). Feint is cool for TH, though I've noticed the wiki is incorrect about the Evasion Down effect: it's really -150 and drops by 10 each tick, wearing off at -50. The relic augment boosts that by 10 per merit, giving you -200 to -100 for the duration.

Choose what you will, these abilities aren't really game changers anyway.

[dasva]

What's wrong with Ambush, exactly? 15 accuracy looks more useful than stealing a buff in most situations (considering the most significant buffs aren't stealable).

Well yeah but isn't 15 acc. It's 15 acc when you are behind the mob (plus to get the full 15 you'd need to either not fully merit feint which why even thf!?! or not do any aura steal and lose the ability to dispel on thf).

Also not sure what you mean... with 5/5 aura steal I can steal most non 1hr buff unless I get an item lol. Either way both are situational. Ambush will most likely be relevant more often but do very little. Aura steal wont steal things as often but can have a bigger effect when it does

[Fwahm]

Unless I've been told wrongly, a number of higher strength buffs are not stealable, like Magma Hoplon, Carcharian Verve, and Batholithic Shell.

About Feint, it must have been changed when mobs started getting higher and higher evasion or something. It definately halved enemy evasion at 75 cap on the mobs that were teated.

[dasva]

Unless I've been told wrongly, a number of higher strength buffs are not stealable, like Magma Hoplon, Carcharian Verve, and Batholithic Shell.
.

I don't get to come to thf to too many things but .... I think you can steal the spikes from hoplon but not the stoneskin since it isn't dispelable. Fairly certain I've stolen verve before but not 100%... the whole water spear thing though might effect that. I have gotten to do Tojil on thf and I've certainly stolen the attack boost from Batholithic as well as the spikes though I don't think I've managed to get anything else but that could easily just the fact that it's like 5 buffs and it still fails sometimes.

What is this mog pell people keep talking about? And where do I get it?

http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics...28/detail.html

[JeanPaul]

Can definitely steal Verve's attack/magic attack boost, and any buffs from Batholithic Shell, as well as Muyingwa's MDB from Droning Whirlwind. One of the better buffs to steal, actually, is Sharp Strike from the Transcendent Scorpion, since it's like +50% and lasts for a good 10 minutes. It can be worth having is Salvage or Dynamis too, where you can grab buffs from a WHM or RDM and Hide or whatever.

[Kanriel]

Well yeah but isn't 15 acc. It's 15 acc when you are behind the mob (plus to get the full 15 you'd need to either not fully merit feint which why even thf!?! or not do any aura steal and lose the ability to dispel on thf).

Also not sure what you mean... with 5/5 aura steal I can steal most non 1hr buff unless I get an item lol. Either way both are situational. Ambush will most likely be relevant more often but do very little. Aura steal wont steal things as often but can have a bigger effect when it does

5/5 Feint is just going to be TH leveling up rate...and lol @ that making any difference whatsoever. Granted I'm still sitting at 5/5 Feint because I really don't think it makes a whole hell of a difference. But maybe after I recap merits after patch tonight I'll change my merits. I'm thinking 5/5 Ambush, 4/5 Aura Steal and 1/5 Feint, I honestly do find myself using aura steal a bit more often recently, even with a GEO/RDM dualbox.