Blue Mage: Best thread ever

[dasva]

Proth, I'm using your gear set for Whisker with /RDM, memento mori and enervation and I seem to only be doing about 5.8-6.2k Whiskers on random EP pugils/EP Puks in Vunkerl, I've seen some other BLUs actually do about 6.8-7.3k before and I'm wondering if I'm doing average damage or if my damage isn't up to par. Also seems like 2-3 mobs(out of 20-30) are resisting my CW's (natural selection go!), is that normal? Think maybe Romanus Cape's +4% addle is hurting my m.acc or something. Seems like most mobs I whisker end up at like 1-2% HP surviving, so looking for ways to get a small boost to ensure I one shot them without resorting to soundblast/fantod..

(Atma of Blinding Horn/Hell's Guardian/Lion) Actually maybe I should use Ultimate over HG for the +m.acc? Sure the -MP hurts but with elixers and refresh gear and battery charge I should be fine, right?)

For all your buffs your dmg does seem a little weak but I haven't burned those so can't say for certain. Yeah 2-3 resists is a little high but not crazy. I mean really it should be 1-2 but sometimes will go higher or lower. It might be partly the cape. Yes ultimate will be better. Really you should be fine doing that many at a time very good chance to get ISL.

Also like I said haven't fought them but them surviving on a non resist using a decent set and those atmas combine with those buffs/debuffs is weird. Most things I whisker if I go all out like that are at like 20-30% when they resist lol. Maybe I can see the set and point something out?

[Prothescar]

You should be using both Hell's Guardian and Ultimate. And if you were resisting, they'd be at a higher HP than 2~3%.

[dasva]

2nd lightning atma should be slightly more dmg than 2nd mab atma in his situation unless he has less than 20ish in gear

[Prothescar]

Using base stats of 80 and no spell bonuses because I cba to find what they are exactly with a proper spell set or for whatever race the guy is, and since he says he's using my gear set I'm using that:

182DEX
134INT
115MAB or 165MAB
50 affinity or 30 affinity
+15% from Jupiter's
BA w/ +2 emp feet

Mob stats
Shit that an EP~DC mob in abyssea probably has. Lv90 w/ 70INT or some shit, doesn't matter.

Lightning + Lightning + MAB: 4846
Lightning + MAB + MAB: 5175

Yea.

[Yugl]

It's actually 1.6 affinity, not 1.5, but the result still shows MAB2x winning with your numbers.

5168 v 5175

Edit: Now that I think about this question, why the fuck did I calculate that lol. Just do (265/215) v (1.6/1.3); same result though.

[Yugl]

Actually, I looked at your set on AH and I think you made an error. This person is looking to maximize his damage, so your MAB value is off.

I'm guessing the set is this INT+DEX set: http://www.ffxiah.com/forum/topic/20...-on-blue-mage/

Idk why FFXIAH is showing 33MAB on that set when there is 41; there's not even any latent shit to fuck that up, so shame on FFXIAH. luls.

8 Stoic
6 Hecate
5 Moldavite (Can upgrade to Novio if you like to waste gil)
10 Empyrean Hands+2
4 Romanous Cape
8 Empyrean Feet+2

41 MAB Gear
24 from sub
20 from Memento Mori (Ascetic's is better for numbers, but the post says Memento Mori)
50 Ultimate (Both sets use)
135 MAB

This brings the total to (With Enervation):

Blinding Horn:6140 DMG
PW Atma: 6050 DMG

In fact, that makes sense because the person reported 6.2k dmg with Thunder2x Atma and that would be impossible with the numbers you used.

Edit: I didn't recheck the DEX/INT values, but that shouldn't change the atma choice anyways.

[Prothescar]

Ah, it's because I forgot to add Ascetics/Memento

[dasva]

Yeah I was just doing quick math... 1.3 to 1.6 is a 23.07% dmg increase. Which means for 50 mab to do more you'd need less than +117 MAB. He said using memento /rdm so without gear that puts him at 94 so that's why I said 20ish in gear for the 2nd thunder atma to be better. In this case it's 23 but I just kinda did it in my head rq so didn't have exact numbers. And besides that doesn't work for exact values since rounding will mess with things anyways

[Ophannus]

Yeah 6,188 was like my typical damage on random Peapuks. Also I was using 2x thunder atmas and hells guardian. Interestingly, when I used enervation and soundblast, it added another 300-400ish damage(saw CW go as high as 6500ish with those two on). Was setting a lot of spells for +DEX like headbutt/plasma charge etc too.

[Ophannus]

1) Sanguine Blade:
Romanus Cape vs Potentia Cape?(STR+6 INT+6 vs INT+4 MAB+4)
Thaumas Hat vs Athos Chapeau (STR+8 MAB+4 vs STR+6 MAB+6)
And is Wanion Belt the best waist piece for Sanguine? Should I use TP Bonus Earring over Hecate for more HP restored(damage is the same but I should get a bit more cure out of it)
2) Would it be better to use Zaffre Cape for physical spells over say Potentia Cape or can I save inventory with Zaffre? (Not sure if I hit a new tier going from 482 to 485 skill)

[Tonko]

Potentia is much better.
Athos Chapeau is much better.
Sanguine does not have a STR modifier.
The amount cured is based on your TP and the total damage done. Stack MAB, INT, MND in that order for Sanguine.
Zaffre cape is only worth it if it sends you to the next tier.

Whenever floor(skill*0.11) hits a new integer value.

[Prothescar]

Potentia is much better.

By what possible measure? Romanus is superior until proven that the addle affects the accuracy, and even if it does it has yet to be enough for me to notice during normal play.

Athos Chapeau is much better.

Again, by what measure? Thaumas is superior by a couple of points.

Sanguine does not have a STR modifier.

yes it does. if it didn't, your choices above make even less sense.

Zaffre cape is only worth it if it sends you to the next tier.

Not quite, as it itself is an inventory saver. Usable for debuffs, buffs, and DD spells all in one piece. In a normal BLU physical spell set it's very, very slightly ahead of other options such as Vigilance +1 or Potentia on some spells. 1~2% only.

Edit: assuming the flipped stats of gear vs gear: stats vs stats just confused you.

[dasva]

Um sanguine blade does have a str mod it's just smaller than mnd and does less than int too.

Also he messed up on those stats. He listed them backwards

[Tonko]

Apparently I've been doing Sanguine Blade wrong lol, I thought it was MND INT 30% modifier. My mistake, so STR is better to stack because apparently it is affected by attack? Vs stacking magic attack bonus?

[Prothescar]

No, STR is just a part of its WSC, and attack has no bearing on Sanguine Blade's damage, that's still Magic Attack Bonus. INT isn't WSC, it's Sanguine Blade's dSTAT and happens to be multiplied by a factor of 2 bearing no cap for Sanguine Blade, making it far more potent than either MND or STR.

[Tonko]

So STR MND 30 with INT being more important and MAB helping out.
Got it. Sorry for the bum advice.

[Prothescar]

50%MND 30%STR

Spoiler: show

Now for stuff that's even easier: magical spells and weaponskills. These don't have quite as many variables as physical spells, and it's far easier to find the variables that you do need in comparison. Let's start with magical weaponskills.

You'll need: Your level, your WSC, your weaponskill's fTP, the dSTAT of your weaponskill, and the "tier multiplier" of your weaponskill.

Let's look at the new term:

Tier Multiplier - This is a number that's normally 1, 1.5, or 2 that multiplies the damage of your weaponskill.

We'll use Sanguine Blade for this exercise. Recall that the equation for finding WSC is



WSC = floor(floor(WSC1 * X + WSC2 * Y) * alpha)



Sanguine Blade's modifiers are 50% MND and 30% STR. For this example, let's assume that we have 120STR and 110MND.

WSC = floor(floor(110 * .50 + 120 * .30) * .85

110 * .50 = 55

120 * .30 = 36

55 + 36 = 91

91 * .85 = 77.35

WSC = 77



The dSTAT of some weaponskills may be different depending on which one you're using, however Sanguine Blade uses INT. Usually, elemental weaponskills have a cap to this value, but Sanguine Blade does not. To find Sanguine Blade's dSTAT value, use the following equation:



dSTAT = (Your stat - Target stat) * 2



So for our example, we'll say that we have 130INT and the target has 90INT.


dSTAT = (130 - 90) * 2

130 - 90 = 40

40 * 2 = 80

dSTAT = 80



Now for the tier multiplier. Sanguine Blade's M = 2. While we're here, Sanguine Blade's fTP = 2.75, and your level is 99. We now have everything we need to calculate the base damage of Sanguine Blade! Here's the equation:



Base Damage = ((level + 2 + WSC) * fTP + dSTAT * M) floor every step!


Base Damage = ((99 + 2 + 77) * 2.75 + 80 * 2)

99 + 2 + 77 = 178

178 * 2.75 = 489.5

80 * 2 = 160

160 + 489 = 649

Base Damage = 649


After you have your base damage, we can add some more multipliers. You multiply your base damage by the following factors in this order, flooring after each step:

1) Bonus Multipliers (Such as the bonus to consecutive elemental damage from -ja spells, or a Quick Draw under the influence of Navarch's Bottes +2)

2) Resist (1.0 for no resist, .50 for half resist, .25 for 1/4 resist, or .125 for 1/8 resist)

3) Elemental Staff (1.10 or 1.15 for NQ/HQ respectively, needless to say this part is worthless for Sanguine Blade)

4) Weather/Day (1.10 for only weather or day, 1.20 for both, 1.25 for double weather, 1.35 for double weather and day, 1.03 for Zodiac Ring, 1.05 for Twilight Cape; on the flip side, you'd multiply by 0.90, 0.80, 0.75, or 0.65 for negative weather/day, it's all added to a base of 1.0 if there are multiple factors)

5) Magic Attack vs. Magic Defense (Your magic attack vs. your opponent's magic defense. You start with a base of 1.0, and each point of Magic Attack Bonus adds .01. You then take your magic attack and divide it by your opponent's magic defense: damage * 1.MAB/1.MDB)

6) Magic Damage Taken (+% or -% Magic Damage Taken, for example -9.375% for shell, and +25% against a Flan for a total of +15.625% magic damage taken.


With that, let's assume that we're fighting a monster with a COR, and they place the 20% damage reduction on the monster. We'll assume that there's no resist, and that it's Darksday. You have +50 Magic Attack Bonus and the target has +20 Magic Defense Bonus. They are under the influence of Shell II.



Damage = Base Damage * Bonus Multipliers * Resist * Elemental Staff * Weather/Day * Matk vs Mdef * MDT


Damage = 649 * 1.20 * 1.0 * 1.0 * 1.15 * 1.25 * 0.859375
649 * 1.20 = 778.8

778 * 1 = 778

778 * 1 = 778

778 * 1.15 = 894

894 * 1.25 = 1117.5

1117 * 0.859375 = 959.921875

Damage = 959


Let's do another one. This time, you have no COR or BLM bonus, you get a 1/2 resist, it's on a negative day and you're wearing a zodiac ring, you have 40 magic attack bonus and your opponent has 50 magic defense bonus. The target is 28.75% weak to magic damage.



Damage = 649 * 1.0 * 0.50 * 1.0 * 0.93 * 0.93 * 1.2875

649 * 1 = 649

649 * 0.50 = 324.5

324 * 1 = 324

324 * 0.93 = 301.32

301 * 0.93 = 279.93

279 * 1.2875 = 359.2125

Damage = 359


Pretty simple.

~~~~~

Pretty easy to follow overview of it if you've got any more questions.

[Ophannus]

Proth, wouldn't Physical Potency merits be better than Magic Accuracy merits? I know Physical Potency only affects the accuracy but the added effect of spells won't even take effect if the spell misses. For spells like Sudden Lunge where the tp modifier is "Damage varies with TP" not 'Chance to stun varies with TP" I'm inclined to believe the stun is 100% chance unless the target is immune or has a straight resist chance%. Normally for weapon skills like Guillotine or Tachi Gekko which do not say "Chance of Silence varies with TP" but simply "Silences the enemy" these effects I've heard are 100% accurate and take effect every single time unless the target is immune. I think the only weapon skills which have an additional effect that isn't completely unresistable and the accuracy is based on skill level/m.acc would be ws that don't have "Chance varies with TP". See example below.

Leg Sweep: Description: Stuns enemy. Chance of stunning varies with TP.
vs
Stuns enemy. Duration of stun varies with TP.

So then the Magic Accuracy would only really be useful for things like Cimicine Discharge or other 'debuff' Blue Spels or increasing the accuracy of our nukes. Also I feel like Physical Potency would win out simply due to reducing our dependancy a bit on Sushi and would at the very least be merited simply for Heavy Strike accuracy I would think. I'm kind of new to BLU though , so correct me please if I'm out of line or my logic isn't sound, but having fought things from ADL/Abyssea NMs, Voidwalkers/Voidwatches/random NMs and Dynamis mobs in the past 2 months, I've never seen Sudden Lunge's stun fail to take affect unless it was on a mob immune to the Stun status(Satellite weapons in Dynamis). I was more likely to have Sudden Lunge fail to take effect if anything, but that's a physical accuracy issue. Also since physical spells are based on weapon accuracy and BLU has A-, I feel like the physical accuracy should still be a decent boost especially for multi hit spells since those may still miss hits as well as Heavy Strike etc..

[Ophannus]

Also I can't help but feel like Quad.Continuum is still >>>>>>>> Amorphic Spikes. I almost never see Amorphic outdamage my Quadratics. Hell even on TW Gigantonbugards, QC is 1 shotting them for 2.1k and Amorphics are doing 1800-1900 leaving them with like 5-8% HP. Using like a +72 DEX and +15 INT build and Amorphics are just bleh. Better off doing Req>Quad over CDC>Amorphics then since the closing spell seems to be stronger?

[dasva]

Pretty sure its been shown that with really really underlvld skill those additional effects wont land. Also there are plenty of mobs that lunge has a hard time stunning that aren't completely immune