Ark Angel Battles: The Second Coming

[ccl]

Aegis work on Mijin

[pancakesandsex]

If you have a pup with an extremely high acc set for hard difficulty, and maybe very hard with 119 weapon as well, pup/nin does incredibly well for all AA's ive seen, except maybe mithra. (but this was before i got niznas +2 as well as more acc gear.) can either use whm automaton if it's a fight you're worried about getting constantly hammered on, or blm bot for extra damage if not. Either way, just dump your hate to automaton every couple minutes and reactivate, and you can constantly fight without worrying about ripping hate from tank. shadows plus pups naturally high evasion means you don't get slammed by AoE as bad as some other melee, I often wound up with AoE only taking one or two shadows instead of stripping them on hard mode.

I actually wound up parsing top fighter a lot of times, once by a whopping 43% against an Oats monk and apoc dark once i +2ed my ninzas simply because I could dish out damage without having to turn, or risk dying. (hard mode, used blm auto, vs HM). So yeah, rng is definitely not the only job that excels at AA fights.

Could you share your attachment setup and some gear sets (Specifically acc)? Do you have to have Divinator or would eminent animator be enough?

[Systematicchaos]

I'm unaware if Aegis works with Mijin Gakure or not (should?).
If that works then probably Scherzo is not *needed*, but... since it's not a fixed % that the HM uses MG (or is it?)

We always just have WHM Asylum and Sacro. Since Asylum works like fealty for everyone, you resist the hell out of non-elemental damage. If Asylum doesn't last, PLD pops fealty. You can of course stack scherzo to be safe should Asylum drop.

[Psion]

Could you share your attachment setup and some gear sets (Specifically acc)? Do you have to have Divinator or would eminent animator be enough?

As far as gear goes, it was a couple weeks ago, so I can't remember exactly what gear i had then, but I've only added to my acc since then, so I'll post my acc set up now. Before I had an eminent baghnakhs and animator, but I've gotten niznas +2 now. (still have eminent animator though, yet to get a divinator)

Acc set:
Niznas +2 (DMG+7, acc +8, WS dmg +10% augments)
eminent animator
ejekamal mask
cirque necklace
bladeborn/steelflash earrings
foire tobe +1
otronif gloves +1 (acc +10, phys damage -1% augments)
snipers ring
rajas ring
kapaya cape
kuku stone
kaabnax trousers
manibozho boots

Bream sushi used, since I'm not sure if there's any better acc food out there. Keep in mind, I'm a returning player so my gear still needs a lot of work, although i got lucky as hell on niznas and otronif glove augments. I know for sure i need a hurch sash, although i just remembered virtuoso belt is a thing, so i can get that in the meantime. whirlpool mask would be an improvement as well, as would a higher acc neck. (i'm not sure if faith would be better than other options, or if faith is better vs cirque's -20 delay for lower evasion enemies) I'm sure there's better acc rings as well, but other than lavas/kushas set i'm not sure what. I also still need pup JSE cape as well.

Without buffs, but with bream sushi, my /checkparam acc is at 922. (I still need to merit dex as well.) Obviously though, there's still quite a bit of room for improvement. Before my newest gear it was at 880ish I think before buffs, and I had about an 85-90% hit rate on all the hard AA except mithra. (Lesson learned. use a cor, not a bard for acc, and make sure you get a bard that isn't afraid to die from AoE while putting up madrigals. I spent over half the fight without songs because of that.) That one was rough, even with songs my acc was in the mid 30%ish range. I haven't gotten to test my newest gear yet though. But if I get better gear i could add at least 35 acc to my base, before sushi.

As far as attachments go, typical nuking set against tougher foes. loudspeaker II, tranquilizer, ice maker, mana channeler, optic fiber, armor plate I and II, economizer, mana tank I, mana conserver, condenser, and because there's no way to instantly swap automatons and attachments via macro, damage gauge so I can change out the mana channeler, ice maker, and loudspeaker II for power cooler, mana booster, and heatsink. If you're worried about overloads, you can swap out an armor plate for heatsink instead, but i didn't really have any issues. I'm debating whether mana channeler's magic recast increase is worth the relatively minor magic attack boost though, considering how long teir Vs take to cast. q.q

Still working on a stringing pummel build though. Right now, all I have is a soil belt and torque, and a rancorous mantle. (/.\ ) I need to figure out what a better pummel build is and start fiddling with spellcast again... but oh man, does it take forever to get it just how you want it.

As for whether divinator is needed, I would say for very hard mode, yes. Hard mode gave occasional resists even with ice maneuvers, but it wasn't a big deal since even resisted nukes are better than a buggy melee bot that can't even build tp to ws, and if by some chance it survives long enough to do so, said ws whiffs. fortunately their AoE are fairly small, so deploying a nukebot at around 15 yalms is plenty to keep it safe and out of harms way.

[Sechs]

What's "Kapaya Cape"?

[Psion]

sorry, kayapa cape. misspelled. the 8 dex 10 acc one that occasionally absorbs lightning damage.

[Damane]

sorry, kayapa cape. misspelled. the 8 dex 10 acc one that occasionally absorbs lightning damage.

just noticed that pup cant wear Letalis mantle. Since how many years has SE been screwing with the backpiece of PUP?

[Psion]

So many years :/ pup JSE cape is decent at least, although since it doesn't have dex on it, the acc is probably about the same or only 1-2 points higher. It does have 15 attack as well though. <.<

[Hitou]

At least people will be able to eventually trade other JSE capes for the one they want for those not lucky enough to get Dispersal Mantle.

[Alistrianna]

Bream sushi used, since I'm not sure if there's any better acc food out there.

Riverfin soup gives around 90 accuracy iirc. Its expensive though.

[Psion]

Yeah, its like a higher teir pizza, but bream sushi still gives more acc, and isn't 200k per peice, and isn't in horrifically low supply. :s

[Toth]

As far as gear goes, it was a couple weeks ago, so I can't remember exactly what gear i had then, but I've only added to my acc since then, so I'll post my acc set up now. Before I had an eminent baghnakhs and animator, but I've gotten niznas +2 now. (still have eminent animator though, yet to get a divinator)

Acc set:
Niznas +2 (DMG+7, acc +8, WS dmg +10% augments)
eminent animator
ejekamal mask
cirque necklace
bladeborn/steelflash earrings
foire tobe +1
otronif gloves +1 (acc +10, phys damage -1% augments)
snipers ring
rajas ring
kapaya cape
kuku stone
kaabnax trousers
manibozho boots

Bream sushi used, since I'm not sure if there's any better acc food out there. Keep in mind, I'm a returning player so my gear still needs a lot of work, although i got lucky as hell on niznas and otronif glove augments. I know for sure i need a hurch sash, although i just remembered virtuoso belt is a thing, so i can get that in the meantime. whirlpool mask would be an improvement as well, as would a higher acc neck. (i'm not sure if faith would be better than other options, or if faith is better vs cirque's -20 delay for lower evasion enemies) I'm sure there's better acc rings as well, but other than lavas/kushas set i'm not sure what. I also still need pup JSE cape as well.

Without buffs, but with bream sushi, my /checkparam acc is at 922. (I still need to merit dex as well.) Obviously though, there's still quite a bit of room for improvement. Before my newest gear it was at 880ish I think before buffs, and I had about an 85-90% hit rate on all the hard AA except mithra. (Lesson learned. use a cor, not a bard for acc, and make sure you get a bard that isn't afraid to die from AoE while putting up madrigals. I spent over half the fight without songs because of that.) That one was rough, even with songs my acc was in the mid 30%ish range. I haven't gotten to test my newest gear yet though. But if I get better gear i could add at least 35 acc to my base, before sushi.

As far as attachments go, typical nuking set against tougher foes. loudspeaker II, tranquilizer, ice maker, mana channeler, optic fiber, armor plate I and II, economizer, mana tank I, mana conserver, condenser, and because there's no way to instantly swap automatons and attachments via macro, damage gauge so I can change out the mana channeler, ice maker, and loudspeaker II for power cooler, mana booster, and heatsink. If you're worried about overloads, you can swap out an armor plate for heatsink instead, but i didn't really have any issues. I'm debating whether mana channeler's magic recast increase is worth the relatively minor magic attack boost though, considering how long teir Vs take to cast. q.q

Still working on a stringing pummel build though. Right now, all I have is a soil belt and torque, and a rancorous mantle. (/.\ ) I need to figure out what a better pummel build is and start fiddling with spellcast again... but oh man, does it take forever to get it just how you want it.

As for whether divinator is needed, I would say for very hard mode, yes. Hard mode gave occasional resists even with ice maneuvers, but it wasn't a big deal since even resisted nukes are better than a buggy melee bot that can't even build tp to ws, and if by some chance it survives long enough to do so, said ws whiffs. fortunately their AoE are fairly small, so deploying a nukebot at around 15 yalms is plenty to keep it safe and out of harms way.

Great stuff here but boy, convincing anyone to take a PUP is pretty tough itself

[Fwahm]

NQ Bream Sushi actually caps at only +77 acc (plus 5 DEX).

[Psion]

Well yeah, but pup honestly seems to excel in these longer fights these days simply due to its superior hate removal abilities. It's really really easy to hit hate cap within a few minutes, even as pup, so being able to remove it completely every minute really helps the party out more than a monk that proceeds to rip hate off a pld then gets killed in seconds.

The only fight that's given me issues so far is AA MR hard mode, and that was partly due to a lack of proper buffs, and partly due to my lower acc build. I have a feeling it might be doable for pup to pull off even a very hard MR fight if you had something like a dnc or geo to lower her eva, and maybe a cor to raise the parties.

::edit:: and damn, didn't realize sushi had an acc cap. that makes me sad. ; ; I wonder if there's any other sushis with a higher cap, since I easily cap NQ bream. paying 200k for a sharkfin soup doesn't sound appetizing.

[Rocl]

According to this testing Bream Sushi provides the most accuracy as far as I can tell.

[Sechs]

At least people will be able to eventually trade other JSE capes for the one they want for those not lucky enough to get Dispersal Mantle.

Just noticed that Dispersal Mantle also has 15 att which I completely forgot about.
Why the hell am I still using Pantin Cape instead of Dispersal? Tell me! >___>


Psion how are you handling your pup survivability btw? AAs AoE range is not huge and it's not 15+yalms like most stuff in FFXI, which means Pet engaged at his max distance (which is like what, 13yalms or somethin?) should be able to survive, if the target doesn't move >___>
But the question is, how are you repositioning the pet? Each time you deactivate after a Role Reversal, you're gonna have of course to Activate again afterwise and the pet will spawn close to you, not at max distance.
So how do you handle that?

For these reasons I find it a bit unpractical to use PUP against Elvaan (very dangerous AoE Move, pet has no shadows) and Taru (moves around too much, impossible to keep at max range, his AoE tp moves would petri, damage and eventually kill the pet).
Hume and Mithra only have 1 single AoE move (aside from conic ones) and Galka has his jumps uhm...
Anyway yeah, really curious about which AAs you've tried and how you handled repositioning your pet out of AoE range.



Edit:
Of course I didn't mention but for those who don't know, avoiding damage as much as possible on the pet is vital simply because you need to have your pet at max HP when you use deactivate. If that happens, Activate timer (normally 20 mins) gets reset.
If you get damage before you use deactivate you're basically fucked. Well, you can still use Deus Ex Machina, an Oil+3 if it's off cooldown, then deactivate again (after his 1 min cooldown) and activate again to have a mint pet with full hp and full mp, but that takes >1 min and a lot of JA use, it's kinda something that hurts a lot your damage and needs to be avoided as much as possible.

[pancakesandsex]

Just noticed that Dispersal Mantle also has 15 att which I completely forgot about.
Why the hell am I still using Pantin Cape instead of Dispersal? Tell me! >___>


Psion how are you handling your pup survivability btw? AAs AoE range is not huge and it's not 15+yalms like most stuff in FFXI, which means Pet engaged at his max distance (which is like what, 13yalms or somethin?) should be able to survive, if the target doesn't move >___>
But the question is, how are you repositioning the pet? Each time you deactivate after a Role Reversal, you're gonna have of course to Activate again afterwise and the pet will spawn close to you, not at max distance.
So how do you handle that?

For these reasons I find it a bit unpractical to use PUP against Elvaan (very dangerous AoE Move, pet has no shadows) and Taru (moves around too much, impossible to keep at max range, his AoE tp moves would petri, damage and eventually kill the pet).
Hume and Mithra only have 1 single AoE move (aside from conic ones) and Galka has his jumps uhm...
Anyway yeah, really curious about which AAs you've tried and how you handled repositioning your pet out of AoE range.



Edit:
Of course I didn't mention but for those who don't know, avoiding damage as much as possible on the pet is vital simply because you need to have your pet at max HP when you use deactivate. If that happens, Activate timer (normally 20 mins) gets reset.
If you get damage before you use deactivate you're basically fucked. Well, you can still use Deus Ex Machina, an Oil+3 if it's off cooldown, then deactivate again (after his 1 min cooldown) and activate again to have a mint pet with full hp and full mp, but that takes >1 min and a lot of JA use, it's kinda something that hurts a lot your damage and needs to be avoided as much as possible.

If you're deactivating the auto to shed hate anyway, you should be able to move away, and re-position a new one once in a while without worrying about moving the NM. Also role reversal is the hp switch, not the enmity switch. Ventriloquy is enmity.

Also, when you're nuking with 3 ice up, how hard are they hitting for?

[Psion]

Yeah, as long as you swap hate before you rip it off the monster, it's fine to run out of range for a few seconds to deactivate, reactivate, and deploy, then run back in. I generally only have to do this once every few minutes anyways, and by that time the autos running low on mp, so it serves double duty. As far as nukes go, 3 ice nukes tend to do about 2k-2.2k unresisted in hard mode if i recall right, although I don't swap in nuking gear right before it lands. I should probably figure out how to do that. <_<;. Since the auto casts tier V nukes their acc is fairly decent with tranquilizer and magic merits.

As far as the master goes, survivability is a joke. The only times I ever took damage was when I didn't notice I lost some shadows and the next AoE hit me. I never had issues keeping utsu up, especially with all the haste I was getting. The reason I sometimes didn't notice i was missing shadows was because pup partly evades those AoE a lot so you're often left with 1 or 2 shadows left, lol. Even when I got hit with the AoE though, I was able to survive and get shadows back up to recover. That being said, I'm a galka. EV was actually one of the easier ones to me, and taru I just used whm automaton to help with healing since we didn't have a tank. Saved my ass a few times when I got hit by amon drive and was petrified and hurt, just make sure to keep a light maneuver up at all times so the automaton doesn't ignore you. For EV I used whm automaton, and simply used him as a decoy to eat the arrogance incarnates and split the damage further, and just used deus ex automata > ventriloquy every minute. Arrogance incarnate took care of the deactivating for me. ;x

Honestly, the only AA I found an issue at all was MR, and that was due to her ridiculous evasion. TT I only did on normal so I can't speak how hard he is on tougher modes, but I do remember him being a rough fight due to a lack of tank and the other DD dying near the start and end of the fight and having to fight weakened. I was actually the last one to bite the dust due to oni curing my ass whenever amon drive hit. Somehow we managed to squeak in a win though, thanks to the whm using beni, the monk unweakening, and then my auto using beni after the whm died, lol.

[Kidnoftle]

since it's not a fixed % that the HM uses MG (or is it?)

6%-1%, fairly easy to just gank it so it doesn't use it at all.

[Lyramion]

Also like I mentioend somewhere he won't mijin during Brazen Rush - 30 second to finish him off easy.