BLM Merit Gear

[Staren]

I know from reading that for melee there's an actual cap on acc that you need to get a 95% hit rate on mobs I was wondering if anyone's done this for black mage as in how much magic acc/elemental magic skill is needed to cap on merit mobs. I've been told the 320/120 rule for hnm's and I'm thinking if this is needed for hnms that it would be far too high for exp mobs. It'd be nice if thats the case to rearrange gear for more int and MAB for exping.

[Raineer]

VT and under I'd wager you can damn near get away with merits only >_>

[Kerberoz]

Yeah, you don't need any resist gear for VT mobs as long as you have elemental merits. Magic accuracy doesn't cap at 95% like melee, either. There's always a chance at resist but it's much lower than 5%.

[Staren]

Thank you both ^^ I've been trying to keep gear on i prolly shouldnt have then xD I'm trying to make sure I am as best geared as possible for endgame once I'm ready to merit.

[pchan]

I cannot say it 100%, but w/o elemental merits I don't think you are capped. But with merits and HQ staff i'm sure 100% that you are capped. You don't need other elemental gear. Standard nuke piece give more INT anyway, so less resists.

[Spekkio]

best thing to do is slap the gear on and try it out. nothing like hard experimentation to give you solid numbers. start a little high of your guess and back down towards a more damage heavy build.

[Staren]

I just dinged 75 blm last night so I'll be able to start testing hopefully tonight with the gear I've acquired for when I dinged. I'll see if I can get a parser and post results on the forums in case people are interested ^_^.

[Likos]

Depends I guess.

As others were saying, VT and under you're pretty much in the clear, probably even without full ele merits.

If you're fighting puddings, no matter what they con, I wouldn't worry about ele skill... just pile on the INT and MAB gear.

[cdgreg]

If you're fighting puddings, no matter what they con, I wouldn't worry about ele skill... just pile on the INT and MAB gear.

Ya on puddings where you'll probably do most of your meriting I use max dmg setup. No af2 hat, no af1+1 hands, no ele torque. I'll go an hour without a resist, then see one or two, then another hour, etc. I don't really think there's a point to using more skill gear on puddings.

[Kupo-lox]

NVM, I got confused.

[yotevol]

My main is a 75BLM/37RDM Elvaan.
We can make all the jokes we want about the Elvaan INT (or lack thereof),
but, the fact is- with NO elemental gear, except regular staves and Goliard Cuffs (HP swap gear for Zmitts to activate my Sorceror's Ring), I deal very good damage on regular puddings.

However, in fighting some higher level mobs, HNMs and such, I have to bring forth the Elemental +X gear and Magic Accuracy gear.

I recommend, meritting Elemental Magic quickly to help, followed by potency.
My Elemental Magic is now maxed meritted and I'm only resisted on a few HNMs and Dynamis mobs.

~Yotevol

[Staren]

That seems to make sense I've not seen a resist yet in any of my parties I was just assuming people had elemental magic skill merited when I saw they werent wearing any skill+ gear. Now I know ints important but at what point do you swap it for MAB like for instance using lamiabane over phantom tathlum is this a good idea or bad?

[yotevol]

Well, I forget how INT equates to Magic Attack and Elemental Magic.
Maybe, this will help a bit in understand the INT though.

For my RNG, I can get R Acc, R Atk or STR bonus.
My max damage will be limited by my STR.
So:
(1) If I get all the R Acc gear, then I will hit consistently, but not for much.
(2) If I get R Atk gear, then (if I hit as much) I will hit for good damage.
(3) If I get STR gear, I increase my base and max damage I can achieve. So, I can "theorhetically" deal more damage than (1) or (2).

Now, apply this is INT, MAB and MACC.
In theory, it should work the same.

[Omniyoji]

Now I know ints important but at what point do you swap it for MAB like for instance using lamiabane over phantom tathlum is this a good idea or bad?

Bad idea if you want to use it @ Mt.Z. The latent effect of Magic Atk.Bonus +2 is only active in Mamook, Arrapago Reef, or Halvung (the 3 zones of the 3 beastmen leaders).

But if you're ever in the area, the enchanment offers a nice refresh.

EDIT*
oh if you're referring to testing to see if MAB+2 or INT+2... you could change your gear around to offer MAB+2 and INT-2. If that's not possible there's always the damage formula to help you out.

[Linktri]

Get elemental, enfeeb and INT merits capped for BLM. Puddings can resist Gravity from time to time and it's a bitch when they do. Once you get those merits up, you'll notice a marked difference resists and dmg.

[Vxsote]

First of all, 320/120 for HNMs is a myth, but I suppose that's a discussion for another thread. It's not nearly enough for some HNMs, and yeah, it's overkill for other stuff.

To cap accuracy on merit mobs, the answer is we don't know yet. There has been a lot of useful testing published recently by a JP blogger, and a lot of information translated or commented upon in English. But the last time I checked, we still didn't know what exactly the level difference penalty was, nor how to determine the base rate of resistance. And without a large number of nukes under controlled circumstances, it will be very difficult for us to even confirm what the magic accuracy cap is.

But for all practical purposes, the other posters are correct. If you have full elemental merits and HQ staves, you can nuke most merit level mobs in max damage gear without fear of resists. There will always be a chance of resist (even on bunnies in ronfaure), but they will be rare. And if nuking with max damage gear lets you kill a mob in 3 nukes instead of 4, then it's probably worth taking the chance... even if you get resisted, you can still kill it in 4 nukes.

One counter-example I can think of, however, are aura statues. I don't know if it's just my imagination (I haven't performed controlled tests), but it seems like those bastards are constantly causing me (taru with full skill and INT merits, and above average gear) trouble. But... they also range to lv 84 (IT), so it's plausible that they are more resistant than your typical solo fodder. I usually throw on my relic hat when I'm dealing with these.

[Staren]

I dont mind letting you speak about the 320/120 set here as it will be part of my endgame gear soon enough. I've been trying to do enms and whatnot along with endgame now that i'm blm 75 and needing to get some moolah back from the climb. /cheer I also managed to finally finish my promies so now I'll be able to focus on meritting. I'll grab a parser and test it all out. I need to switch to a more dmg friendly gearset as i learned yesterday on the brothers enm. I just dont have the mp to output the same amount of nukes as other blms and I need to be doing more dmg to keep up my end of the job. So hopefully I can try 3/4 different gearsets i've worked out and be able to post what is optimal.