Potential Merit Question

[Seraph]

Working on capping off merits on PLD, but also keeping RDM and BLU in mind. The question of "Is it better to get put 4 levels into Crit- or into Spell Interruption-?" has come up. I already have Crit+ merited to level 4, and I don't plan on touching the Enmity merits either way.

So, anyone have experience either way? Crit- or Spell Interruption-? I planned on taking one of the two all the way. It seems like they are both relatively useful for all three jobs, but I can't quite make up my mind. Suggestions?

[BerenTebogo]

Working on capping off merits on PLD, but also keeping RDM and BLU in mind. The question of "Is it better to get put 4 levels into Crit- or into Spell Interruption-?" has come up. I already have Crit+ merited to level 4, and I don't plan on touching the Enmity merits either way.

So, anyone have experience either way? Crit- or Spell Interruption-? I planned on taking one of the two all the way. It seems like they are both relatively useful for all three jobs, but I can't quite make up my mind. Suggestions?

I know it's not the answer you want to hear, but in comparison to enmity merits the two categories you're considering are like meriting your guard skill on a job that doesn't use H2H, it's just pretty much a waste.

Enmity+ merits are amazing for PLD, and RDM get more than enough enmity- for heavy curing, which is really the only situation where it would be a factor, and honestly if you are an avid BLU, with experience on PLD, you'll most likely find yourself delving into the area of BLU tanking, and then you'll already have the +4 merits.

Like I said, I know it's not what you want to hear, but being practical this is the right choice for the jobs you list, the answer I don't want to give you is crit-%, but you won't ever notice it.

[Waef]

I say go with enmity+, as all 3 of those jobs are tanks.

[Apelila]

Spell interruption down if your worried about enmity on other jobs in the future, but as others have said +enmity is the way to go if you're in situations where taking hate is a good thing a lot of the time.

[onigami]

in ur situation i'd personally go with the enmity+4. RDM has a lot of survivability. There are a lot of -enmity gears now if you want to level WHM or BLM.

[Seraph]

Working on capping off merits on PLD, but also keeping RDM and BLU in mind. The question of "Is it better to get put 4 levels into Crit- or into Spell Interruption-?" has come up. I already have Crit+ merited to level 4, and I don't plan on touching the Enmity merits either way.

So, anyone have experience either way? Crit- or Spell Interruption-? I planned on taking one of the two all the way. It seems like they are both relatively useful for all three jobs, but I can't quite make up my mind. Suggestions?

I know it's not the answer you want to hear, but in comparison to enmity merits the two categories you're considering are like meriting your guard skill on a job that doesn't use H2H, it's just pretty much a waste.

Enmity+ merits are amazing for PLD, and RDM get more than enough enmity- for heavy curing, which is really the only situation where it would be a factor, and honestly if you are an avid BLU, with experience on PLD, you'll most likely find yourself delving into the area of BLU tanking, and then you'll already have the +4 merits.

Like I said, I know it's not what you want to hear, but being practical this is the right choice for the jobs you list, the answer I don't want to give you is crit-%, but you won't ever notice it.

Dammit Sath, why does your answer have to make sense? -_-

Yeah, i'll hold off then until my mage jobs are 75 and then probably pump Enmity+ to 4. It's not a huge deal yet, but was something I wanted to figure out before I got there.

[Meian]

I too am having this problem with my jobs: SMN, BLU, PUP, MNK, SCH (BLM is retired) to decide on; I already have crit% just need to figure out the last bit...

For you though, I think enmity+ like everyone else says

[Max™]

As I understand it, the "Other" cat basically goes: Crit + > Enmity +/- depending on jobs > Crit - > Interrupt, since I don't know anyone who said they've noticed the interrupt rate, but at least the Crit - seems like it might be doing something.

[Shuemue]

I too am having this problem with my jobs: SMN, BLU, PUP, MNK, SCH (BLM is retired) to decide on; I already have crit% just need to figure out the last bit...

For you though, I think enmity+ like everyone else says

With your jobs, I'd say save the merits.

[Meian]

I too am having this problem with my jobs: SMN, BLU, PUP, MNK, SCH (BLM is retired) to decide on; I already have crit% just need to figure out the last bit...

For you though, I think enmity+ like everyone else says

With your jobs, I'd say save the merits.

So far that is what I am doing but slowly getting down to that point ;; hopefully these new merits in update will be worth putting into <3

[Kaludneisucks]

For my part 4% crit down seems like something you will never notice. 8% Spell interruption would go well, but again, very minor. For my part i noticed that the Enmity + granted from merits seemed somehow stronger than the enmity + granted by gears. I have no proof of this, just something of a vibe, but having capped Enmity+ merits but -12 enmity in gear, still my WHM was often singled out for slaughter. Anyhow.

[frodnonnag]

I too am having this problem with my jobs: SMN, BLU, PUP, MNK, SCH (BLM is retired) to decide on; I already have crit% just need to figure out the last bit...

For you though, I think enmity+ like everyone else says

With your jobs, I'd say save the merits.

So far that is what I am doing but slowly getting down to that point ;; hopefully these new merits in update will be worth putting into <3

i'd say, for smn atleast, tier 1 would probably be best as 5/5/0/0/0, capping phys atk and acc, unless you have ALOT of summoning magic and you are willing to merit summoning magic skill, then you could get away with trading a few phys acc merits for magic atk.

as for magic skill, its better to taste based on your jobs and researching what each magic skill does exactly for the job. from summoner experience, you will need minimum +30 skill, which can be attained through AH, but more is always better for acc.

[Ksandra]

I too am having this problem with my jobs: SMN, BLU, PUP, MNK, SCH (BLM is retired) to decide on; I already have crit% just need to figure out the last bit...

For you though, I think enmity+ like everyone else says

With your jobs, I'd say save the merits.

So far that is what I am doing but slowly getting down to that point ;; hopefully these new merits in update will be worth putting into <3

i'd say, for smn atleast, tier 1 would probably be best as 5/5/0/0/0, capping phys atk and acc, unless you have ALOT of summoning magic and you are willing to merit summoning magic skill, then you could get away with trading a few phys acc merits for magic atk.

as for magic skill, its better to taste based on your jobs and researching what each magic skill does exactly for the job. from summoner experience, you will need minimum +30 skill, which can be attained through AH, but more is always better for acc.

think he was referring to the crit/enm/spell interruption merits which are basically useless for his jobs.

[frodnonnag]

think he was referring to the crit/enm/spell interruption merits which are basically useless for his jobs.

oh, then in that case, pure enmity- will most likely help all his jobs, unless he's blu or mnk tanking for some odd reasons.

[Shuemue]

think he was referring to the crit/enm/spell interruption merits which are basically useless for his jobs.

oh, then in that case, pure enmity- will most likely help all his jobs, unless he's blu or mnk tanking for some odd reasons.

Really isn't that odd for a blu or mnk to be tanking these days.

[RKenshin]

Honestly if you're not going to merit +enmity, I wouldn't bother with the other merits.

4% crit down is so unlikely to make a difference it's sad, and it's just about the same with 8% interrupt. -Enmity is only useful for exclusive mage jobs, but at this point in the game in top linkshells, most tanks worth their salt have mastered hate control and working the hate cap to the point where anyone other than decked DDs pulling hate is incredibly rare. So even as an exclusive mage I wouldn't touch it.

Enmity on the other hand is incredibly useful for tanks when stacked effectively.

[Valyana]

4% crit down is so unlikely to make a difference it's sad

Really? Base crit rate is so low that i'd expect -4% to make a huge difference in the number of crits you take. If, say, a mob would have a 10% crit rate on you and you have -4% in merits, that's like 40% fewer crits.

It may not affect your total damage taken that much, but it should help to avoid bad luck double attack crit one-shotting.

[Starr]

I'm in the same boat but I have so many merits to get before I start worrying about it I won't bother to think about it til.

[RKenshin]

4% crit down is so unlikely to make a difference it's sad

Really? Base crit rate is so low that i'd expect -4% to make a huge difference in the number of crits you take. If, say, a mob would have a 10% crit rate on you and you have -4% in merits, that's like 40% fewer crits.

It may not affect your total damage taken that much, but it should help to avoid bad luck double attack crit one-shotting.

I'm thinking more towards the fact that it's so infrequent to take damage with perfection of NIN tanking and support, and even if you do odds are it doesn't matter if the mob lands a critical or not. Especially if you're PLD and use that as a hate tool for curing. This is mostly speaking from my experiences/observations so of course others may feel differently, but the number of instances where not only do you get hit, but it was a critical, and it was a critical that wouldn't have happened with 4% merits, and it was a critical that wouldn't have happened with 4% merits that also caused problems to the point where not getting critical hit would've made a big difference somehow.... It's just lower odds on top of lower odds on top of lower odds, etc.

And over most HNM fights with one (or maybe more) co-tank(s), you're probably not even going to get the bonus.

[aurik]

I have -4% crits taken merited and I love it. Since the pool of crits taken is already small, 4% is a solid chunk of those. Very very handy for fighting chariots where a double-crit can cause havoc.

For dedicated HNM tanks, enmity+ is clearly the way to go. For melees that take melee hits here and there, -crit seems like the only thing worth meriting.