new BPs

[Tena]

You'd think that for celestial avatars, they'd be able to do more magic damage....

I decided to go for Heavenly Strike as well since I almost never use Rush. Needless to say, it was disappointing at best. I guess it'll be nice to have an alternative to using Nether Blast on kited of flying mobs, espcially if the range is just as long. It would be worth meriting down on the TP since my avatars almost never get 100TP before I use a blood pact.

[Plow]

I came back from wow for this and absorb-tp, here's what I've found.

I had 4 merits, so I grabbed Wind Blade. I intended to do extensive testing at level 1, then more testing at level 2, so I went and got 3 more merits. (Yay for 8k+ hr with shitty geared drk/thf) Anyway~

I got to thinking about it and I remembered the post about the warrior ability which gives tp bonus and~ it's like martial sword. With 1 upgrade, 0tp=20tp, etc. Pretty much seems like you'll get the same benefit by having all of them and using the one appropriate to the day as you might get from fully capping one, and even more so at 300 tp where the tp bonus won't apply.

The most interesting (and exciting) thing to me is this: I tested in East Saruta, in Cape Terrigan, and on Fenrir Prime. My results were consistent across the board, did 620 on fenrir with 0 tp, did about 600-650 with 0 tp in esaru/terrigan.

So, hopefully they'll be good consistent damagers like nether blast, but with tp playing a factor.

Also I was consistently getting over 1000 dmg with 300 tp, but I didn't get to test 300 tp on fenrir because garuda fell to howling moon ; ;

Lastly, after figuring all this out, I went and got Thunderstorm. The damage from Thunderstorm seemed consistently better than wind blade, even testing it on earthsday, while wind blade seemed consistent with most of what others have said here.

[Aodh]

Until the following happens, we won't know (really) how good this could be. 5 Merits into Magic Accuracy then using BPs on Tiamat when he's flying. Pretty much that's the only thing magical SMN BPs are used on other than physical resistant/immune monsters.

I unlocked Wind Blade and Heavenly Strike. From what I can tell fighting EPs (and I'll know more next Tiamat or Kirin) that they're about as effective as the avatar's Tier IV nuke with the chance of the added effect. BUT the TP mod seems to add 1 damage per TP basically, again vs. EP. I have 2 merits into Magic Accuracy, but until I can test repeatedly versus VT/IT/Grands/Kirin, I can't speak to the level of resists.

Generally...
0tp = 500-600 Damage
100tp = 600-700 Damage
200tp = 700-800 Damage
300tp = 800-900 Damage

I have gone over/under these ranges, but generally seems to match what I've seen everyone else post. So for each level upgrade, it would probably be 20 extra damage on the base. But unless I see some other results of someone who fully upgrades, then I'm just planning to unlock them all and leave them Level 1.

Notes: Full AFv2, 280smn skill with armor, evokers ring, YinYang Robe, 5 merits in Physical Acc., 2 merits in Magic Acc., 2 Merit BP unlocked.

[Plow]

Some friends and I are going to try Wyrm KBC with some summoners and flashy shot rng replacing some of the blm's we'd have used in the past to knock him out of the air. (Provided I can get a bit more testing in and be confident that it'll work of course.)

Should be interesting, I'll let you guys know what happens.

[Aodh]

Not if the added TP bonus only adds 20 base damage, I'd rather have them all to be flexible in case I need to use different elements on different mobs. I have 4 other 75 jobs to merit, so I'm waiting on SMN to see if anyone does any testing. I have the 2 I would merit (if it's worthwhile) unlocked.

[Tahngarthor]

These are magical, shouldnt they MB? (God everyones too busy with the new shit to test...) Since they do more damage than avatar IV magics, MBs should be pretty good.

[Coren]

These are magical, shouldnt they MB? (God everyones too busy with the new shit to test...) Since they do more damage than avatar IV magics, MBs should be pretty good.

Whats a skillchain?

[Delekii]

Im not going to comment on how good or bad they are - but god damn these abilities look so nice

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...enlystrike.jpg

hawt

[safer]

i chose grandfall cause when i logged on few other smn's on my LS had already merit'd garuda/ramuh/shiva, and cause it looks cool D:

the next one i merit will be a light based nuke.. so either ifrit, garuda, or ramuh

i plan (in long run after i merit whm and cor) to max out only 2 bloodpacts 8)

[Khamsin]

Slight necro, but figured its better than making a new topic.

Has anyone tried Wind Blade on Kirin, Grand Fall on Tiamat, etc. yet?

My Thunderstorms do about the same as Nether Blast on Tiamat (in the air), and rarely got resisted (beyond the hard resist that affects even Nether Blast). I've been thinking about the possibility that they may be similar to Nether Blast, only for different elements. If so, the new BPs would have a practical purpose, namely as a substitute for Nether Blast spamming in situations where you would be doing such a thing.

I haven't had a chance to Wind Blade Kirin or Grand Fall Tiamat yet, as I only had Thunderstorm when I last fought Timmy, and have meritted other jobs since then.

I've seen lots of tests by people on TW to VT mobs and such, but not really anything on HNMs yet, other than my own personal experiences.

[Jeryhn]

The new BPs are pretty consistant, but they can definitely be resisted like any other magic spell, whereas Nether Blast will only do less damage when it comes to hard resists/elemental influences. They also improve with TP while Nether Blast doesn't.

If they do the same damage as Nether Blast (haven't had a chance to test on Tiamat yet), Nether Blast is probably still the best to use because of its cheap MP cost. I'd say you'd use them over Nether Blast when you want a chance at a little bit more oomph for a higher MP cost.

[Khamsin]

The new BPs are pretty consistant, but they can definitely be resisted like any other magic spell, whereas Nether Blast will only do less damage when it comes to hard resists/elemental influences. They also improve with TP while Nether Blast doesn't.

If they do the same damage as Nether Blast (haven't had a chance to test on Tiamat yet), Nether Blast is probably still the best to use because of its cheap MP cost. I'd say you'd use them over Nether Blast when you want a chance at a little bit more oomph for a higher MP cost.

Well, my point was that if Thunderstorm (a neutral element with respect to Tiamat) does the same as Nether Blast, then would Grand Fall do more damage? Same for Wind Blade vs Nether Blast on Kirin.

If they do the same damage as Nether Blast regardless, then yes, Nether Blast is the better choice because it is cheaper. But if utilizing elemental weaknesses has an advantage, and depending on how much, then they may be a better choice than Nether Blast for mobs that you previously would have Nether Blast spammed.

[Jeryhn]

The new BPs are pretty consistant, but they can definitely be resisted like any other magic spell, whereas Nether Blast will only do less damage when it comes to hard resists/elemental influences. They also improve with TP while Nether Blast doesn't.

If they do the same damage as Nether Blast (haven't had a chance to test on Tiamat yet), Nether Blast is probably still the best to use because of its cheap MP cost. I'd say you'd use them over Nether Blast when you want a chance at a little bit more oomph for a higher MP cost.

Well, my point was that if Thunderstorm (a neutral element with respect to Tiamat) does the same as Nether Blast, then would Grand Fall do more damage? Same for Wind Blade vs Nether Blast on Kirin.

If they do the same damage as Nether Blast regardless, then yes, Nether Blast is the better choice because it is cheaper. But if utilizing elemental weaknesses has an advantage, and depending on how much, then they may be a better choice than Nether Blast for mobs that you previously would have Nether Blast spammed.

Well, this is first assuming that the Thunderstorm you tested with was resisted by Tiamat (outside of natural CoP Wyrm magic resistance). All of the Prime Bloodpacts should be equal in power.

Basically, Grand Fall and Thunderstorm should do the same amount of damage to Tiamat. Its just that Grand Fall should have a lesser chance to be resisted because of its water elemental alignment.