Whats better?

[Tradition]

My Singing merits are capped, and I'm trying to get the best out of String sleeps (I love the range, hate the resists) here...

Should I 4/8 String and Wind merits (a slightly faster Victory March as well as a small String boost), or go 8/8 on String (or Wind)?

[Wolfknight]

For TP, you should have a 6hit setup, so Aurum, Askar and ACP body with acc and stp on it would be nice. Seems like you have a pretty solid set otherwise. For ws legs, I think Ares's and Hecatomb are ideal, but Aurum and Askar are easy to get, Drachen+1 being good enough.

this, also cuch mantle[tp and ws] and heca/aurum/ares body would be better assuming thats a penta set not drakesbane[judging by shadow gorget], and tp neck love or PCC would be better obivously and Askar/Ace helm for tp

[Hiroshima]

For TP, you should have a 6hit setup, so Aurum, Askar and ACP body with acc and stp on it would be nice. Seems like you have a pretty solid set otherwise. For ws legs, I think Ares's and Hecatomb are ideal, but Aurum and Askar are easy to get, Drachen+1 being good enough.

Askar body will be easier to get than Aurum, our LS doesn't have the time for ZNM right now. 0/4 on ACP fight. Nobody wants a DRG or BLM for that fight.

WS legs pose the same issues really, Askar doesn't offer much except 4Dex, Hecatomb being better with 8Dex. Aurum being ZNM. The Drachen +1 offer 9 ACC for multi-hit WS, I think I'm ok with those for now. Until I can get Aurum or *gasp* Ares.

this, also cuch mantle[tp and ws] and heca/aurum/ares body would be better assuming thats a penta set not drakesbane[judging by shadow gorget], and tp neck love or PCC would be better obivously and Askar/Ace helm for tp

I don't seem to have much of an ACC problem, I usually parse between 85-90% (on birds and puks) so I have the PCC on standby depending on what I'm fighting. Trying to buy an Ace's now, and working on climbing Nyzul before farming.

Yeah that's Penta set up, I just got the Radiant Lance today and cleared floor 45 so Drakesbane soon. I'm second in line for Love Torque once we go back to sea.

On WS Body, would you really go Heca and Aurum over Zahak's? Heca has 2 more strength and 10 ACC but the Zahak's +10 Dex offers ~6 ACC plus the chance to increase Crit hit as well as +3% to Crit hit. Right now, Ares is a pipe dream lol.

Thanks for all the input.

[Wolfknight]

Askar body will be easier to get than Aurum, our LS doesn't have the time for ZNM right now. 0/4 on ACP fight. Nobody wants a DRG or BLM for that fight.

WS legs pose the same issues really, Askar doesn't offer much except 4Dex, Hecatomb being better with 8Dex. Aurum being ZNM. The Drachen +1 offer 9 ACC for multi-hit WS, I think I'm ok with those for now. Until I can get Aurum or *gasp* Ares.




I don't seem to have much of an ACC problem, I usually parse between 85-90% (on birds and puks) so I have the PCC on standby depending on what I'm fighting. Trying to buy an Ace's now, and working on climbing Nyzul before farming.

Yeah that's Penta set up, I just got the Radiant Lance today and cleared floor 45 so Drakesbane soon. I'm second in line for Love Torque once we go back to sea.

On WS Body, would you really go Heca and Aurum over Zahak's? Heca has 2 more strength and 10 ACC but the Zahak's +10 Dex offers ~6 ACC plus the chance to increase Crit hit as well as +3% to Crit hit. Right now, Ares is a pipe dream lol.

Thanks for all the input.

Hecatomb would be zahak hands down for penta unless you cap acc, but for drakes should win, and I think Aurum probably best overall ws body for drg, parse from well know drg on KI showed that Aurum body beat both Zahak and Ares for Avg on Drakesbane. If/when you drop SH+1 you need to make up for acc somewhere cuch mantle + PCC does that nicely, though if u get ACP body still one of them since Capping Acc is important, unless you're CAPPED or near cap 93~95 Cuch Mantle > forager same with PCC > Chiv. Also drg/whm is excellent at killing adds and back-up curing for ACP Final really, + angon helps the smn/cor/rng/blu's dmg that or find a zerg group.

[Furionstormrage]

Woodsman or Snipers for pld idle? Been considering this myself, was looking for a few extra opinions.

Doesn't matter in the least bit.

I use Ulthalams/Snipers, but I'm saving/ENMing for Toreadors since they're better.

You could spam Azure for a Divisor, or do Chigre for a Blood Ring if you're worried about the -EVA/DEF, but you shouldn't worry about the -EVA/DEF

[Pendulum]

On WS Body, would you really go Heca and Aurum over Zahak's? Heca has 2 more strength and 10 ACC but the Zahak's +10 Dex offers ~6 ACC plus the chance to increase Crit hit as well as +3% to Crit hit. Right now, Ares is a pipe dream lol.

The only way you're ever going to score a critical hit on penta thrust is with sneak attack and even then it will only work for the first hit.

[Thorny]

The only way you're ever going to score a critical hit on penta thrust is with sneak attack and even then it will only work for the first hit.

mighty strikes

[Shinryuu]

Yup. http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/...tlet/penta.png

Drakesbane, Zahak's probably slightly edges out Aurum. Penta, Aurum probably wins. The lower the hitrate, the more Heca gains on the two, and there'll eventually be a cutoff point.

[Zumi]

For War and Sam, TP head gear, Walahra Turban vs Askar Zucchetto

[Max™]

Are you getting any haste buffs and hitting over like 60% Acc?

Turban yo.

[Wolfknight]

Are you getting any haste buffs and hitting over like 60% Acc?

Turban yo.

I am pretty sure it's not that clean cut, and not nearly that favor of turban. that's really inaccurate statement at for example at 70% acc and 44% haste[march/spell/byakko/swift/dusk x2+askar so 45 when turban], askar acc[only ignoring fstr] is improvement 2.18% increase in dmg, while haste is 1.85% increase in dmg, So ya Askar > turban in most cases, though for more comparsion at 85% acc and only 33% haste[no march, only spell same as above], Acc is 1.7% increase while haste is 1.4% increase, so ya unless pretty high acc and haste, so Again askar > turban. Even at 90% acc you'd need 44% haste for Askar to become slightly worse.
Edit: I am assumung GA for askar giving 3 acc thus 1.5% hit rate increase, my numbers aren't accurate for DWing.

[mdkuser]

For War and Sam, TP head gear, Walahra Turban vs Askar Zucchetto

Turban, unless you use polearm at birds, or you are fighting a MMJ lurker, or are at ~80% hit rate, in which case you'd better eat pizza + use turban anyway . Explaination:

4DEX=3acc, and doing the maths, 3acc wins over 1% haste only if you are below 67% acc ( in term of number of hit). I assumed 14% gear haste w/o head, haste spell, hasso and one march, for a total of 55% haste with turban and 54% with askar. Now take the 4 str into account, it adds one base dmg to your weapon, for gkatana I melee in ~95 str and it would move from D79 to D80 on MMjs, so 1.2% melee damage increase. Keep in mind its just MELEE dmg, and that the 4 str have to make up for the lost number of WS too. I did the maths, assuming 1/3 melee and 2/3 WS, and askar wins only below ~82.5% acc. If you have such a low accuracy as a 2hander, eat pizza, now. And use turban.

What about the crit from dex? Well imo and according to my parses its neglectible, for the following reason: a mob on which DEX matters will have low AGI and low evasion thus turban wins hands down. A mob with high evasion will have high agi so crits won't improve. As far as merit mobs go, mobs with low AGI are MMJ whm, puks, skoffnin, colibris, on whose 115-120 dex is needed to cap DEX crits, but they got super low evasion and you will be caped, so use turban. On MMJ blm blu, drg bst you get average crit rate (13%). 100>110 dex, got me 14% crits so dex has a very small effect. And on NIN and THF its almost impossible to get out of the crit floor (9%), dex does nothing but give +3 acc.

If you have caped accuracy, 4 STR And 4 DEX need to improve your average melee dmg by 6.5% if I recall, assuming 1/3 melee 2/3 WS, which is just impossible, because 4 str improves it by 1.2% and 4 dex would need to give you +15% crit or something retarded. So turban wins.


In a word: If you find a mob with high evasion and low agi, use askar head. That's exactly the case for polarm SAM and WAR on colobri, so askar isnt completly useless ( also, pizza isnt an option on colibris, too bad). On everything else (merits) use turban, except for the lurkers on which you can use askar.

[mdkuser]

I am pretty sure it's not that clean cut, and not nearly that favor of turban. that's really inaccurate statement at for example at 70% acc and 44% haste[march/spell/byakko/swift/dusk x2+askar so 45 when turban], askar acc[only ignoring fstr] is improvement 2.18% increase in dmg, while haste is 1.85% increase in dmg, So ya Askar > turban in most cases, though for more comparsion at 85% acc and only 33% haste[no march, only spell same as above], Acc is 1.7% increase while haste is 1.4% increase, so ya unless pretty high acc and haste, so Again askar > turban. Even at 90% acc you'd need 44% haste for Askar to become slightly worse.
Edit: I am assumung GA for askar giving 3 acc thus 1.5% hit rate increase, my numbers aren't accurate for DWing.

Like many, your ignoring ws. If you got more than 50% haste ( don't forget the 10% from hasso), then 1% haste is at least 2% more melee hits AND 2% more Weapon skills. Usually people forget the 2% weapon skill part. If you hit more often, you get tp more often and ws more often, doh. The 3 acc will also increase melee and WS the same way, but askar wins only at very low accuracy ( below 67%, just counting the number of hits). Askar compensate a bit with 1fSTR, but this will improve only the melee dmg. And for 2 hander, at least SAM, WS is most of the dmg... which is why askar loses to turban unless you get around 80% or below, a point where you'd better eat pizzaand use turban.

[Andradi]

Daylight Dagger or NQ Misericorde?

/Joy for lolRDMmelee using evisceration.

I assume during the day the extra acc will easily put DD over Misericorde, but at night would the extra dex (WS mod) make up for less base damage? I'm thinking not, but I really don't have a clue.

Don't actually have the dagger yet but have been casually camping oztroja with some friends and wondering if it's worth picking up.

[Argettio]

Daylight Dagger or NQ Misericorde?

/Joy for lolRDMmelee using evisceration.

I assume during the day the extra acc will easily put DD over Misericorde, but at night would the extra dex (WS mod) make up for less base damage? I'm thinking not, but I really don't have a clue.

Don't actually have the dagger yet but have been casually camping oztroja with some friends and wondering if it's worth picking up.

What you fighting?

For campaign you really don't need the acc.

I use this as my RDM melee in campaign

And that is easily capped acc, without composure.

I think it comes down to how easy they are to get, to me, camping a 3-5 day NM for a very average dagger (with a situational buff) seems over the top, unless you positively must have the acc.

And yes I do /DRK. Souleater + Lastresort + evisceration is pretty lol damage wise, but it pulls a lot of hate and drops my HP ~50% so I then Cure to full -> swing dagger -> cure 4 -> swing dagger until souleater has worn off.

Earns a lot of EXP, as I cure for 1-2k HP every time I pop souleater, as well as doing ~80-100 DMG per swing.

[Andradi]

It was more the higher base damage vs. 2 dex that I was wondering about, but anyway.

Campaign battle, mission fights, odds and sods generally. Don't usually go anything other than /nin to Campaign battle these days because the mobs hit a lot harder than they used to, or so it seems. (Higher morale or something after fort nerf? I have no idea.)

If I'm /DRK it's Souleater Vorpal Blade (good fun), although since I unlocked evisceration vorpal has seems a lot less interesting than it used to.

I'm not seriously expecting to get the dagger, but I figured if I stumble on it might be a small improvement on what I'm currently using.

Current TP set here: FFXIGEAR.com for reference. It's patchy, I know. (first 75 for a few weeks etc, still working on a bunch of stuff.)

[Wolfknight]

Like many, your ignoring ws. If you got more than 50% haste ( don't forget the 10% from hasso), then 1% haste is at least 2% more melee hits AND 2% more Weapon skills. Usually people forget the 2% weapon skill part. If you hit more often, you get tp more often and ws more often, doh. The 3 acc will also increase melee and WS the same way, but askar wins only at very low accuracy ( below 67%, just counting the number of hits). Askar compensate a bit with 1fSTR, but this will improve only the melee dmg. And for 2 hander, at least SAM, WS is most of the dmg... which is why askar loses to turban unless you get around 80% or below, a point where you'd better eat pizzaand use turban.

They both effect ws rate so Ignored since you gained that from each of the %s listed, so saw no reason to state it since they both it effect and yes generally if you have 50% haste turban is better but thats not always the case. And I didn't inlcude hasso since it in my examples since it isn't always practical since war could be /nin or using seigan so they could live.
Askar only loses in High Haste/Acc times.
Edit: askar would still be better with pizza unless it's capping your acc or putting at near cap.

[Duber]

Should I 4/8 String and Wind merits (a slightly faster Victory March as well as a small String boost), or go 8/8 on String (or Wind)?

Well, that's up to you. I'd do 8 wind, 8 singing. But If you really want to improve horde with string then go for string.

Wish I could merit any of those but elemental & enfeebling are priority ><

[Cream Soda]

Could use turban in hasso macro and Askar in 3eye macro?

What I used to do with Usu head for focus down and Turban for focus up on mnk before full usu.

[Darlantan]

Blinking is forbidden!