Whats better?

[Thorny]

Pretty sure Axe Grip is going to win out there unless you have a rather abnormally high Crit rate.

And a Q: I'm still a bit off(52 WAR atm) but I have an Amemet +1 and a NQ Cerb, which would be better to use at 75?

Amemet+1 provided you aren't attempting to tank. Cerb for main assist in dyna/etc, any sort of DD tanking. The actual damage difference is pretty close to nothing, but amemet is ahead by a tiny bit if you average the chance of fstr going up to 1/4(realistically it'll either be 0 or 1, but it'll be 0 3/4 of the time.. if it's 1 it would be better).. but if you have other weaker DD around then having less hate means more of their time wasted on utsu and less of yours

[Valyana]

Berserk is a 25% bonus to att, Aggressor is a flat +25 accuracy. My WAR/SAM had 424 attack with just gear (I think this was before I merited gaxe), so Berserk is +106 attack (more with food/Minuet/Chaos).

Against Colibri that's going to be about a 21% increase in damage, while Aggressor will do essentially nothing.

Against Kirin I believe +106 attack will be about a 60% increase in damage, while Aggressor would be about a 30% increase.

[Callisto]

Against Colibri that's going to be about a 21% increase in damage, while Aggressor will do essentially nothing.

Would the case be different without any GAxe merits? I was looking at 3/3/4 when I hit 75 because I know I'll have no combat merits to use, and I'll need to TP in Askar body to keep a 6-hit, I just have a feeling like my acc will be lacking when I get up to that level.

[Valyana]

Without GAxe merits and using Askar body I think you won't cap acc even with Aggressor. Before merits I calculated that I would have 85% base acc, and that's with EBody; switching to Askar would drop that to 74%, or 86.5% during Aggressor, which is a 17% improvement, or a ~25% improvement in damage/time if you also consider the improvement in TP rate.

I think you'd be better off using Hauby and settling for 7-hit. With Haub+1, Aggressor should bring you from 82% to 94.5% acc: 15% improvement in acc, ~23%ish in damage.

So yeah, unless you are very well geared and merited, or are getting Madrigal, Aggressor will be about as strong as Berserk in merits; it just falls behind on high-defense targets.

[Pumaite]

Umbra cape or Shadow mantle for mage idle?

[Raineer]

Umbra cape or Shadow mantle for mage idle?

Mantle if you're going to be checked,

6% || 12% > 5% if you want the one most effective.

[Natara]

Like Thorny said, even Dark Grip is pretty iffy, I use it mostly for the extra 10 MP when resting to full(incidentally @ Thorny, I do use Dark Magic extremely often as RDM, that is a large reason as well)...aside from that really the only 'mandatory' grip is Bugard +1. Whether an elemental grip will add any more macc than the INT/MND is kinda up for grabs at the moment, which is why I prefer my inventory space.

INT vs M acc has been tested for a while by a couple RDMs.
The results were even posted here somewhere.

Roughly, 2.12 INT = 1 M ACC
(The test was done at 332 Enf Skill and +22 INT)


So dark grip is definitely better than Bugard +1. I find it very useful to carry it on my blm and notice much less resistant rate, esp on dynamis-xarcabard mobs (drg, pld, the hard stuff). As for RDM, I doubt you would need it if your other enf gears and enf merits are pretty much there already.



Now back to war question <.<!

Askar Hands or Dusk Gloves

I think Dusk is better but why is everyone wearing askar....?

[zard1977]

Obviously because askar is free and does not slow your movement.

[Callisto]

INT vs M acc has been tested for a while by a couple RDMs.
The results were even posted here somewhere.

Roughly, 2.12 INT = 1 M ACC
(The test was done at 332 Enf Skill and +22 INT)


So dark grip is definitely better than Bugard +1. I find it very useful to carry it on my blm and notice much less resistant rate, esp on dynamis-xarcabard mobs (drg, pld, the hard stuff). As for RDM, I doubt you would need it if your other enf gears and enf merits are pretty much there already.



Now back to war question <.<!

Askar Hands or Dusk Gloves

I think Dusk is better but why is everyone wearing askar....?

Thanks, as for the WAR question, depends on your acc as far as I know, in most cases where acc isn't capped the 3-4 acc will do more than the 5 atk/1% haste...but that is dependent on how your acc is already and how much haste you have. Aside from that, yeah...not having to hit a button to swap out of Dusk to run to the next mob.

[Tordall]

I did a quick search but didn't find anything. For RNG specifically, what's better, axe grip or brave grip?

Axe grip: STR +3 HP +10
Brave grip: enhances critical hit damage (apparently +10%)

It's +10, not +10%. Brave grip is pretty horrid unless your atk or base weapon damage (or ratk in this case) is _very_ low.

[Tordall]

Now back to war question <.<!

Askar Hands or Dusk Gloves

I think Dusk is better but why is everyone wearing askar....?

Generally Dusk gloves are better. However, it depends on the rest of your gear.

E.g. if you can use the +dex from askar in a crit hit build, those are better, or if you're capping out gear haste anyway, then the +dex from askar should be better (say..you're using a rune chopper).

The other time askar helps a bunch is if you're sitting at something like 80% acc, but then you shouldn't really be worrying about haste.

[Arthars]

and no gear swap for running is >>>> dusk

[Natara]

Well I'm pretty used to swapping gears for running only... yigit/gaiters, zenith/crimson pants. I guess I will look into my current ACC. >.>!

[BerenTebogo]

Obvious answer -

Uni +1 > Dusk +1 > Aurum sabatons

For Gaxe /SAM just how much is the difference between though?

[el_tio]

You've got dusk +1 and aurum listed backwards.

But other than that, a rough guess would say (at least with hasso and double marches, i.e. optimal haste situation) that unicorn +1 would improve your overall dmg by around 2% over aurum.

[BerenTebogo]

Aurum better than dusk +1?

Any reasoning behind this?

[Fingerspitz]

1% haste vs. 3 DEX and 5 acc. You'd have to have a lot of haste and very, very close to capped accuracy to make that trade worthwhile.

[BerenTebogo]

1% haste vs. 3 DEX and 5 acc. You'd have to have a lot of haste and very, very close to capped accuracy to make that trade worthwhile.

Ok then - Aurum vs. Unicorn NQ? (Since I probably won't ever drop 30m on Uni feet +1)

[Valyana]

1 Haste vs 3 DEX 5 Acc

5 acc will beat 1 Haste all by itself except in extreme haste or capped acc situations, and then there's the 2-3 acc from DEX; let's say 2.

91.5% to 95% acc is a 3.8% improvement.
57% to 58% haste is a 2.4% improvement.

57% Haste is 5% Turban, 4% Dusk Gloves +1, 6% Speed Belt, 5% Haidate, 2% Aurum, 20% Marches, 15% Haste.

If you add Hasso, 67% to 68% Haste is a 3.125% improvement.
With Hasso and magic cap, 75.75% to 76.75% is a 4.3% improvement.
With Hasso and magic cap, but only NQ Dusk Gloves and Swift Belt, 72.75% to 73.75% is a 3.8% improvement...same as the acc.

I'd say Dusk+1 > Unicorn NQ, so...

[Fingerspitz]

I don't believe in Unicorns. Unicorns aren't real, NQ or otherwise, just when you need that haste the most it isn't there. Even assuming full time latent though Aurum will beat nq unicorn in even more situations than they would hq dusk.