Scholar Discussion #3 (post March patch)

[Eldelphia]

Well Aemora's comments and some blind luck in Dynamis means I think I'm meriting sublimation now.

http://eldelphia.googlepages.com/sch...body_small.jpg

Have to say it's really, really nice to look at - haven't seen another SCH wearing one on Alexander although I know of at least one other that's dropped and no doubt quite a few around the place. Getting a lot of /checks.

[Ratatapa]

Everyone has been saying that about Enlightenment, however PERSONALLY, first spell I thought of was Sleep II. I spend a lot of time in Light Arts in Dynamis and Einherjar, and the ability to access Sleep II is huge in my opinion. If I'm in Light Addendum and I need to cast sleep 2, I have to change to Dark, pop Dark Addendum to access it. After getting back to Light Addendum, I have blown 2 charges just to be able to CAST the spell. Not to mention if it needs to be AoE, that's 3 Charges. [b]The ability to access Sleep II at no skill or charge loss it great, and only 2 charges to access Sleepga then return to Light Addendum.[b]



(Don't get me wrong, it's still only an unlock)

Um sorry but how i understand it, with enlighment you can only access normal spells. If you want AoE sleep II you wills till need to go to dark arts addemdum and manifestation.

Enlightmant biggest use is for emergency normal Sleeps, Dispel raise RR stuff like that.

I really doubt enlightmant can let you AoE if your on the wrong Arts (unless it also makes Accession think it'S now manifetation whicjh i doubt)

Maybe someone can tell me i'm right or wrong on this

[The Blackrose]

Um sorry but how i understand it, with enlighment you can only access normal spells. If you want AoE sleep II you wills till need to go to dark arts addemdum and manifestation.

Enlightmant biggest use is for emergency normal Sleeps, Dispel raise RR stuff like that.

I really doubt enlightmant can let you AoE if your on the wrong Arts (unless it also makes Accession think it'S now manifetation whicjh i doubt)

Maybe someone can tell me i'm right or wrong on this

Enlightenment allows access to Addendum stuff.

However, correct, you still need to be in the proper Art in order to use appropriate strategems.

[Telamond]

Um sorry but how i understand it, with enlighment you can only access normal spells. If you want AoE sleep II you wills till need to go to dark arts addemdum and manifestation.

Enlightmant biggest use is for emergency normal Sleeps, Dispel raise RR stuff like that.

I really doubt enlightmant can let you AoE if your on the wrong Arts (unless it also makes Accession think it'S now manifetation whicjh i doubt)

Maybe someone can tell me i'm right or wrong on this

Like I mentioned in a post, for emergency AoE Sleeps you can go;
Dark Arts, Enlightenment, Manifestation, Sleep II instead of
Dark Arts, Addendum: Black, Manifestation, Sleep II
All you do is save a stratagem, but I think that's only a benefit, and a greater benefit than Stormsurge.

[Ratatapa]

i guess

[LD]

Well Aemora's comments and some blind luck in Dynamis means I think I'm meriting sublimation now.

http://eldelphia.googlepages.com/sch...body_small.jpg

Have to say it's really, really nice to look at - haven't seen another SCH wearing one on Alexander although I know of at least one other that's dropped and no doubt quite a few around the place. Getting a lot of /checks.

Just got mine last night, shit is hot, right?
I kinda miss just having Ixion on all the time (instead of switching between the two), but speeding through Sublimation is just such an obvious advantage.

[Tsuki]

I find it mediocre at best.
On the other hand, Tranquillity and Focalization at least actually considerably boost your 2h if you macro them properly, even though outside of that the 2 charges cost makes them inpractical to use.

at the cost of losing 1/6 perfectly optimized nukes? :O

[Dawin]

Our SCH body is officially freelot :< gimme gimme rest

*cough* what a jerk, forgetting about lil ol' me. I'm about 0/8 now on seeing SCH from either limbus or dynamis. I think this Saturday's Xarc was the frist time you've done a run without getting the piece you needed /rant

Just wanted to post to say Enlightenment is pretty cool, although it really should allow access to stratagems as well. I played SCH in Xarc the other day and it was really nice to erase my slows and refresh reraise without having to use 2 charges.

The merit would really be great (without being overpowered) if you could use it to Stoneskinsga while staying in dark arts, etc.

[The Blackrose]

Our SCH body is officially freelot :< gimme gimme rest

While I don't know how I didn't spot this, let me just say...

MOTHERFUCKER.

Tavnazia has been stingy and we need to schedule a few Beaucedines and San d'Orias.

EDIT:
2 other people who have it leveled managed to score the legs over me (in Bastok). I was ready to stab people that night.

[Alistaire]

When you use Enlightenment, do you get the 15 enfeebling skill from AF Body and AF Legs?

[The Blackrose]

God help me, I'm linking out to Killing Ifrit AND posting twice in a row. However, I stumbled on this thread and can't help but scratch my head...

SCH atteign next Tier nuking? - Killing Ifrit

First of all, this is the first time I've heard of people pushing 330 Elemental. The general consensus from the original BLM threads was that 320 was the cutoff and started entering diminishing returns if you went any higher. Furthermore, I see 150 vs. 120 INT being thrown around without a solid understanding of both Elemental Magic and dINT. 330/120 should not even be looked at. 320/150 is the better outcome, especially when you start touching mobs like Tiamat.

With the introduction of AF+1 SCH can hit 320/120 no problem whatsoever. The addition of +3INT to the Gown and an additional +1INT to the Mortarboard was absolutely smashing. Granted, I had better hopes for the Relic Mortarboard but that has simply become regulated to a macro Fast Cast piece.

Staff: HQ of Choice (+10 Elemental/+5 INT if Aquilo's)
Grip: Bugard +1 (+1 INT)
Ranged: Phantom Tathlum (+2 INT)
Head: Scholar's Mortarboard +1 (+5 INT)
Neck: Elemental Torque (+7 Elemental)
Earring 1: Phantom Earring +1 (+2 INT)
Earring 2: Phantom Earring +1 (+2 INT)
Body: Scholar's Gown +1 (+15 Elemental/+3 INT)
Hands: Yigit Gages (+5 INT) or Goliard Cuffs (+4 MACC)
Ring 1: Omega (+3 MACC/+3 INT)
Ring 2: Snow or Tamas (+5 INT)
Back: Prism Cape (+4 INT) or Gleeman's Cape (+5 INT)
Waist: Penitent's Rope (+5 INT), Witch Sash (+5 INT/+2 MACC) (correction by Alistaire), Argute Belt (Same as Witch), Appropriate Obi
Legs: Mahatma Slops (+8 INT)
Feet: Goliard Clogs (+4 INT/+2 MACC)

Assuming we take the path of Yigit Gages, Prism Cape (I like -Enmity and an additional 20 MP, thanks) and non-Obi (let's use Argute Belt for now. Hey, they gave us a pretty kick ass relic waist), we get:
INT: +47 (+52 with Aquilo's)
MACC: +7
Elemental: +23 (+33 w/ Aquilo's)

We haven't even added in food yet. Since my staple of choice is Cream Puffs, that's an additional +7 INT to add to the mix, bringing me to:

INT: +54 (+59)
MACC: +7
Elemental: +23 (+33)

Assuming MACC acts to Elemental as Accuracy acts to a melee weapon (ex. 200 + (.9 * (skill - 200)) + Accuracy), every point of MACC will have a greater benefit than Elemental because we already exceed 200. Mind you, this is a pretty strong assumption. So that +7 MACC would roughly translate to +8 or +9 Elemental (but if not this is still added in directly).

Therefore the new totals become:

INT: +54 (+59)
Elemental: +31/+32 (+41/+42)

A Hume 75SCH/37RDM will sit at 70INT unbuffed. This will bring him to 134 (or 139) INT. If Ice Magic is in play, Stormsurge will bring that to 141 (or 146).

Full Elemental Magic merits bring an additional +16 Elemental to the table. This puts the final tally to approximately +46/+47 (or +56/+57). Added to a Scholar's base 256 Elemental, that brings it to 302/303 (or 312/313).

Now, add Klimaform into the mix and now certain people on Carbuncle can see why I rapidly masturbate to being able to damage Tiamat. If I could only get the AF+1 mats to drop though, I'd be on those like a fat kid on a cupcake.

Another issue I see with this underlying theme of looking to break tiered damage is the assumption that Scholar is always going to be nuking. In an HNM fight, if you're strictly nuking and not even touching Light Arts, why didn't you come BLM in the first place?

EDIT: I almost forgot to add, Corsair and Scholar is quite the synergistic combination I have seen in a long while. I'm pushing for one of our main CORs to get his Obis finished so we can go around pelting shit with a QD setup with Weather/Klimaform while he drops Warlock's/Wizard's on me. I'll gladly take more MACC/MAB.

[The Blackrose]

When you use Enlightenment, do you get the 15 enfeebling skill from AF Body and AF Legs?

Uh... That's actually a pretty good question. If that's the case, hello +30 Enfeebling every so often...

[jimbobsonofgod]

It gives you access to addendum: White/black

It doesn't put you in light arts / dark arts.

People gotta let go of the fact you get the bonus to being in light arts or dark arts while using enlightenment, because clearly you do not. you just get access, so no "double enfeebling bonus from both pants/body."

[Alistaire]

Not so much a matter of "letting go" here, I'm SCH38 considering levelling it, just looking over various things about the gear I have and where I'd use it and that was something I considered and figured I'd ask.

And to Blackrose, you really think 4 INT vs 12 MAB for earrings? Also, SCH can't use Witch Sash, so you're just left with the other options. And what about Merciful Cape?

[The Blackrose]

Not so much a matter of "letting go" here, I'm SCH38 considering levelling it, just looking over various things about the gear I have and where I'd use it and that was something I considered and figured I'd ask.

And to Blackrose, you really think 4 INT vs 12 MAB for earrings? Also, SCH can't use Witch Sash, so you're just left with the other options. And what about Merciful Cape?

Oh fuck, you're right on the Sash. Guess that's stuck with Argute Belt, Penitent's or Obi then.

And yes, on mobs where dINT matters, 4 INT will shutdown 12 MAB. MAB is calculated after-the-fact in terms of resistances, dINT, etc. It is factored in later once the base damage has been calculated. If you're not generating base damage, MAB is a worthless stat. BLM doesn't have this problem because they have A+ in Elemental, allowing them to compound INT and MAB on top of what they already have (and MABIV is +32 MAB out the gate).

I might swap out a Novio or a Moldavite every once in a while, but it depends on the target and their resistances. For example, hell yeah are the Moldy and Novio coming out for King Behemoth.

EDIT: As for Merciful Cape, you're trading 4 or 5 INT for +5 Elemental when you may not even need it. Once you're hitting the ideal Elemental/MACC, you're better off redirecting your efforts towards INT then MAB.

[Dawin]

Elemental: +23 (+33 w/ Aquilo's)

15+7 = 22

[Kaeko]

Therefore the new totals become:

INT: +54 (+59)
Elemental: +31/+32 (+41/+42)

A Hume 75SCH/37RDM will sit at 70INT unbuffed. This will bring him to 134 (or 139) INT. If Ice Magic is in play, Stormsurge will bring that to 141 (or 146).

Full Elemental Magic merits bring an additional +16 Elemental to the table. This puts the final tally to approximately +46/+47 (or +56/+57). Added to a Scholar's base 256 Elemental, that brings it to 302/303 (or 312/313).

Isn't 70+54 = 124 not 134?

303/124 will still have some issues on wyrms without Klimaform. Ideally you want to be able to nuke HNMs without this though.

Try replacing AF1+1 head with AF2 head, and Prism for Merciful. That would give you 315/114, which is more balanced. This would be 315/121 with Taru also. Scholar can reach 320/120, especially on taru, but it takes some extremely rare gear to pull off. Even still, you really want to be above this 320/120 value. It's more like 330/130 to see no resists on CoP Wyrms.

If I had access to AF2 belt and head, my set would be a 326/120 with Cream Puff active. No weather or Aquilo. That should definitely be enough for stuff like Fafhogg - probably still on the cusp on Tiamat w/o Klimaform.

[The Blackrose]

Isn't 70+54 = 124 not 134?

303/124 will still have some issues on wyrms without Klimaform. Ideally you want to be able to nuke HNMs without this though.

Try replacing AF1+1 head with AF2 head, and Prism for Merciful. That would give you 315/114, which is more balanced. This would be 315/121 with Taru also. Scholar can reach 320/120, especially on taru, but it takes some extremely rare gear to pull off. Even still, you really want to be above this 320/120 value. It's more like 330/130 to see no resists on CoP Wyrms.

If I had access to AF2 belt and head, my set would be a 326/120 with Cream Puff active. No weather or Aquilo. That should definitely be enough for stuff like Fafhogg - probably still on the cusp on Tiamat w/o Klimaform.

Was hoping you'd check the math. Thanks, been on a shitty road schedule lately so my thinking's been a little off.

[Kaeko]

My take on SCH elemental resists for anyone interested

Kanican - Scholar Guide (Part IV)

[Telamond]

I love your posts Kaeko <3