Parrying skillups (NIN solo)

[Sidanoir]

Anyone notice that "large" mobs tend to get parried more? (in terms of sheer size) Its likely coincidence cause I just notice more but always seemed to me that stuff like Tiamat gets parried more than say a little bitty bunny..
Then again Im probably more concerned about Tiamat than the bunny (until the bunny uses whirl claws, ouch!)

one of these days...if I am out of work for like 3 months sick I'll skill up parry until then too much else to do for me

[Isildur]

i've always thought mob types had different stats, wyrms would have different stats than bunnies and shit but that's besides the point....maybe its due to the fact that you're always debuffing Tiamat, whereas you wont have Slow/Paralyze/Blind/Elegy/Etc. on a bunny....unless its Jaggedy-eared Jack

[Sci]

Bit of a necro, but I actually got really bored this weekend and tried this for a bit.

Gear:
Head: Genbu's Kabuto
Body: Kirin's Osode
Neck: Parrying Torque
Hands: Yasha Tekko+1
Earrings: Intruder's & Cassie
Ring: Jelly
Legs: Byakko's
Feet: Suzaku Sune-ate
Waist: Warwolf
Back: Boxer's Mantle
Ranged: Bibiki Seashell

I used Tav Tacos and went NIN/WAR for Defender. With this setup I was usually getting hit for around 40 a hit with Terra's Staff, and 50 a hit with dual parrying knives. I was dualboxing a WHM, so I had Pro IV as well. As long as I used Regen 3 and rested the WHM, I could hold one Puck forever, but if I got two the most I could last is a few minutes before needing to zone. I did this for about an hour and managed to get one level of skill up so it wasn't that bad really. I noticed a large increase in the number of parrys when using dual parrying knives, my skill level was 226 and with gear it went up to 271.

I may have taken slightly less damage if I tried using Arhat's Gi+1, I used Kirin's Osode for the extra def and VIT but I might certainly had enough defense not to care, and the 10 VIT probably didn't reduce damage as much as -9% phy dmg would. I noticed taking slightly higher damage when defender would wear off, so I couldn't use an irregular sub like WHM or RDM without taking increased dmg.

A RDM with capped Phalanx II would make this way more feasible. It would cut damage taken with an Earth Staff in half allowing for at least two pucks at once on a continuous basis.

At any rate, hope this helps.

[divisortheory]

Just so people know, wearing +skill gear does not affect the rate at which you get skillups. There are two different formulas:

Formula 1: Determines whether or not you'll parry at all.
Formula 2: Determines whether or not you'll get a skillup, if you do parry.

Formula 1 uses the number Base Parry Skill + Merits + Parry Skill from Equp
Formula 2 uses Base Parry Skill + Merits only.

So wearing as much +skill gear as possible is always beneficial, since it will increase the rate at which you parry, and NOT decrease the rate at which you get skillups.

[Feon]

Sub job RDM or WAR and get a WHM,RDM w/e to cure you go to Davoi. Behind the Magical wall target the MNKs they seem to be the fastest way to skill Parrying. fyi my parrying is 241.3(At least)

[TB]

Then, I'll have a RDM with capped Phalanx II and maybe a WHM with capped Regen III or BRD using Paeon if necessary to help negate damage I take, depending on how heavy it is... Hoping it'll work well and skill ups could come reasonably quick with 2-5 mobs attacking me at a fast speed. Most important part is being able to reduce the damage enough so I'll get hit for 0-10 max, any more than that and I don't think it'll work.

You should be able to get the hits down to single digits. I just did some testing there for 1 hour.

NIN/WAR full defense gear using Tacos with -40% dmg taken, 90ish vit and 602 defense. Didn't have a RDM, only a dualboxed WHM. Normal hits were 25-35dmg, so with capped Phalanx2 it should be 5-15dmg hits. I don't have a D.Ring either.

I only got a tiny .2 skillup out of maybe 70-80 parrys. My gimpish 215 parrying skill is definately too low for that place.

[RKenshin]

EDIT: I was just making this post as you posted TB, lol..

I'm going to try out a few of the Puks at once in Den of Rancor the next chance I get the free time.
...
I'll post results here if I get around to it, currently at 251 parrying skill.

So I finally got around to doing this last night and it went better than I could've even hoped. I'm 261 parrying now, and got over 7 levels worth of parrying skill in a little over an hour of Pucks in Den of Rancor. It was really easy and had almost no trouble at all with seven of them attacking me non-stop for the entire time.

Was asked to post how it worked out so I'll try to go over everything now!

Of course this isn't viable or safe to try to do solo, but if you can get a RDM and BRD (BRD not completely necessary) friend to help you then it's very possible for just about anyone with at least average gear to do. /RDM with someone to support you might even work.

For the skill ups I had Protect IV, a Taco, capped Phalanx II (both capped in merits and capped in enhancing skill), Defender, Minnex2, and was on SAM/WAR. Primary reason of going SAM is the lower evasion, but you do not want to use Seigan at all. If you counter a mob it'll have PT hate and anyone that touches you will pull it off you almost right away. The damage I took with all those buffs looked like this:
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/22/ffxi782pd5.jpg

I started off gathering all the Pucks I could to the little narrow bridge so they were all forced infront of me, and I engaged a Tormentor on the floor below me. Do not engage any of the mobs attacking you, or again you'll have PT hate problems. This was the spot:
http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/745/ffxi775wh7.jpg

In the hour or so of Pucks hitting me I played with a few combinations of +AGI and defense, and in the end I wouldn't even bother with anything other than defense unless you can spare it. While it was just eyeballing, I noticed no difference whatsoever between 10 minutes of around +50-60 AGI and 10 minutes of close to no +AGI. I'd argue that it'd just be safer to focus on -damage taken/defense/VIT in that order.

Originally I thought the Minnes would do nothing and I'd sort of hit the defense cap without it, but it actually did make a somewhat noticeable difference in the damage I took. I could still do fine without them, but if you can get them then they're just extra insurance to help make things smoother.

As far as the damage taken though, it was never a problem. RDM never had to convert or anything, even without songs MP would almost always be full. At a few points I even change to Osode and it was still fine; I definitely did take slightly more damage but I could still be kept alive easily without much MP use, so defending ring definitely isn't necessary at all.

I also removed terra's staff at one point for a few minutes and it was still managable with songs. I'm thinking that I could possibly go back there as MNK/WAR to skill up guard, only downside being that countering will produce PT hate on the mobs. To help prevent this I was thinking of popping Blind potions and fighting at the zone, it would be a little more trouble but I think it'd work out. Blind potions are extremely potent, to the point of bringing your hit-rate sub 50% in acc gear on EP mobs, so with that in mind on T mobs and no acc gear I think you could realistically bring your counter rate down to <1%.

Anyway, yeah... If you have the resources and time I really think it's worth a shot to go the Den of Rancor for skill ups. Should be able to get to the cap easily there, I was still getting .2s and .3s at 261. I'm going to try to cap out there if I get the time.

[talentwo]

My parry is only 220 thinking of lvlng pld to either finish or get it close. I've recieved parry skill ups from Byakko all the way down to soloing EP for KS seals. Honestly i think it is random and you just need to tank everything you can, you never know when one will come.

[Elesirdur]

My parry is only 220 thinking of lvlng pld to either finish or get it close. I've recieved parry skill ups from Byakko all the way down to soloing EP for KS seals. Honestly i think it is random and you just need to tank everything you can, you never know when one will come.

Paladin parry cap is 225 and doesn't raise very quickly as you're more likely to have your shield block proc than parry. I only capped my parry about three months ago with over 8 months of play as 75 PLD. Having cap+Boxer's Mantle is very nice; I notice myself parrying much more than I used to.

[Swatt]

I also removed terra's staff at one point for a few minutes and it was still managable with songs. I'm thinking that I could possibly go back there as MNK/WAR to skill up counter, only downside being that countering will produce PT hate on the mobs. To help prevent this I was thinking of popping Blind potions and fighting at the zone, it would be a little more trouble but I think it'd work out. Blind potions are extremely potent, to the point of bringing your hit-rate sub 50% in acc gear on EP mobs, so with that in mind on T mobs and no acc gear I think you could realistically bring your counter rate down to <1%.

Anyway, yeah... If you have the resources and time I really think it's worth a shot to go the Den of Rancor for skill ups. Should be able to get to the cap easily there, I was still getting .2s and .3s at 261. I'm going to try to cap out there if I get the time.

its guard you're thinking of. counter has no skill

[TB]

So I finally got around to doing this last night and it went better than I could've even hoped. I'm 261 parrying now, and got over 7 levels worth of parrying skill in a little over an hour of Pucks in Den of Rancor. It was really easy and had almost no trouble at all with seven of them attacking me non-stop for the entire time.

You know, sometimes I hate you, lol.

Now to find a bored RDM with capped Phalanx2... >_>

[RKenshin]

its guard you're thinking of. counter has no skill

Meant that, mixed up words. Fixed.

[divisortheory]

Is there any reason you need a RDM with Phalanx II, when you could just go /RDM with Phalanx I and regen? Pull 6 instead of 7, and zone from time to time if necessary. It might take a little longer than having 7 of them on you, but still better than not doing it at all.

[Zilong]

Is there any reason you need a RDM with Phalanx II, when you could just go /RDM with Phalanx I and regen? Pull 6 instead of 7, and zone from time to time if necessary. It might take a little longer than having 7 of them on you, but still better than not doing it at all.

Considering Phalanx is heavily modified by Enhancing skill and jobs without enhancing effectively would have sub 10 shield per hit, you'd run out of HP a lot faster.

IIRC, Phal II is like 20 or so damage reduction, and considering you are facing multiple mobs with 2 attack rounds each, 10 more damage per hit will be fairly noticeable.

[RKenshin]

If you go solo with no other support, I think you'd just be better off facing one or maybe two max. Otherwise the down time in between fighting and resting would outweigh pulling more than that I think.

Even just some kind of a healer to support you would make a world of a difference in that though, could still do at least 1-3 without any kind of phalanx and just defense gear... Which still will be more attacks per second than any other mobs you could skill up off of (at least as far as I know).

[Septimus]

Is there any reason you need a RDM with Phalanx II, when you could just go /RDM with Phalanx I and regen? Pull 6 instead of 7, and zone from time to time if necessary. It might take a little longer than having 7 of them on you, but still better than not doing it at all.

Considering Phalanx is heavily modified by Enhancing skill and jobs without enhancing effectively would have sub 10 shield per hit, you'd run out of HP a lot faster.

IIRC, Phal II is like 20 or so damage reduction, and considering you are facing multiple mobs with 2 attack rounds each, 10 more damage per hit will be fairly noticeable.

A Paladin with capped skill and no enhancing skill gear will have a base damage reduction of 19 per hit. A Red Mage with level 1 Phalanx II is yields a base damage reduction of 15, 18 for 2 merits, 21 for 3. So for a Paladin, you are better off subbing RDM and using Phalanx on yourself unless the RDM has a full upgrade.

Even then, with Augmenting Earring, Enhancing Torque, and Gallant Breeches+1 (or Gallant Breeches and Merciful Cape) you can get the same damage reduction out of Phalanx with /RDM that a RDM can get out of Phalanx II. You also get the benefit of Stoneskin and Regen. Maybe en-spells too, just for the fun of it.

(Everyone who doesn't have a natrural enhancing skill is SOL though.)

[SassiAsura]

Signet renders downtime a real joke compared to before no? I usually carry around that stupid staff and my amir boots though.

[Elipse]

EDIT: I was just making this post as you posted TB, lol..

I'm going to try out a few of the Puks at once in Den of Rancor the next chance I get the free time.
...
I'll post results here if I get around to it, currently at 251 parrying skill.

So I finally got around to doing this last night and it went better than I could've even hoped. I'm 261 parrying now, and got over 7 levels worth of parrying skill in a little over an hour of Pucks in Den of Rancor. It was really easy and had almost no trouble at all with seven of them attacking me non-stop for the entire time.

Was asked to post how it worked out so I'll try to go over everything now!

Of course this isn't viable or safe to try to do solo, but if you can get a RDM and BRD (BRD not completely necessary) friend to help you then it's very possible for just about anyone with at least average gear to do. /RDM with someone to support you might even work.

For the skill ups I had Protect IV, a Taco, capped Phalanx II (both capped in merits and capped in enhancing skill), Defender, Minnex2, and was on SAM/WAR. Primary reason of going SAM is the lower evasion, but you do not want to use Seigan at all. If you counter a mob it'll have PT hate and anyone that touches you will pull it off you almost right away. The damage I took with all those buffs looked like this:
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/22/ffxi782pd5.jpg

I started off gathering all the Pucks I could to the little narrow bridge so they were all forced infront of me, and I engaged a Tormentor on the floor below me. Do not engage any of the mobs attacking you, or again you'll have PT hate problems. This was the spot:
http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/745/ffxi775wh7.jpg

In the hour or so of Pucks hitting me I played with a few combinations of +AGI and defense, and in the end I wouldn't even bother with anything other than defense unless you can spare it. While it was just eyeballing, I noticed no difference whatsoever between 10 minutes of around +50-60 AGI and 10 minutes of close to no +AGI. I'd argue that it'd just be safer to focus on -damage taken/defense/VIT in that order.

Originally I thought the Minnes would do nothing and I'd sort of hit the defense cap without it, but it actually did make a somewhat noticeable difference in the damage I took. I could still do fine without them, but if you can get them then they're just extra insurance to help make things smoother.

As far as the damage taken though, it was never a problem. RDM never had to convert or anything, even without songs MP would almost always be full. At a few points I even change to Osode and it was still fine; I definitely did take slightly more damage but I could still be kept alive easily without much MP use, so defending ring definitely isn't necessary at all.

I also removed terra's staff at one point for a few minutes and it was still managable with songs. I'm thinking that I could possibly go back there as MNK/WAR to skill up guard, only downside being that countering will produce PT hate on the mobs. To help prevent this I was thinking of popping Blind potions and fighting at the zone, it would be a little more trouble but I think it'd work out. Blind potions are extremely potent, to the point of bringing your hit-rate sub 50% in acc gear on EP mobs, so with that in mind on T mobs and no acc gear I think you could realistically bring your counter rate down to <1%.

Anyway, yeah... If you have the resources and time I really think it's worth a shot to go the Den of Rancor for skill ups. Should be able to get to the cap easily there, I was still getting .2s and .3s at 261. I'm going to try to cap out there if I get the time.

Hey Ruk,

I went there today as Nin/War to give this a try. I took a rdm with level 2 Phalanx II.

I was getting hit for I'd say about 15-20 a shot and it became quite overwhelming for mp on the rdm. (doing 4 puks at a time). So what I'm wondering is how you got the damage so low. Did the bard make that large of an impact?

Here is my setup:

I'm Taru with no vit merits. I used Protect IV, Taco, Defender and level 2 Phalanx II. (Rdm enchancing skill was 278 I think, i was dual boxing my friends account and didn't go looking for much enhancing gear).

Weapon: Terra Staff
Ammo: Bibiki Seashell
Head: Arhat's +1
Neck: Parrying Torque
Ears: Merc. earring (2 vit with war sub) and mermans (evasion down, had nothing else to put here)
Body: Arhats Gi +1
Hands: Seiryu's Kote
Rings: Jelly ring and Verve ring (3 vit, found it on mule)
Back: Boxer's Mantle
Waist: Warwolf Belt
Legs: Byakko's Haidate
Feet: Fuma Sune-ate

I know you have defending ring, but are their other changes i could make gear wise that will make an impact?