BLM: Grips worth inventory space?

[madpersian]

Hi,

Since I've been back I haven't made a real foray into checking out the elemental grips, but since updating the rest of my gear I figure it's about time.

I've been thinking of carrying the Dark, Ice and Thunder grips. What's the general consensus on whether these grips are worth the inventory space to lug around? I've been feeling real stretched out carrying my standing, enf, drk, ele, enh, and rest sets and wanted to make sure its actually worth it before I throw 3+ more items into my standard setup.

Thanks for the help!

[arshesney]

Dark grip can be useful for Aspir/Drain/Sleep; regarding nukes the INT on the bugard +1 is going to be better than the 2 m.acc on elemental straps.

[Not Kuno]

No I sold my thunder grip ages ago. I never used it.

[chiyio]

Dark grip can be useful for Aspir/Drain/Sleep; regarding nukes the INT on the bugard +1 is going to be better than the 2 m.acc on elemental straps.

This. In my experiences, when it comes to drain and aspir I try to go Haste, Dark Magic skill, Magic Accuracy. I dont notice any effect from INT.

[Spekkio]

1 int will not grant more accuracy than 2 macc. they're OK, but if you're stuck choking down 7 inventory space for such a minimal gain, you're either tackling something very hard or you need to work elsewhere first.

[madpersian]

This. In my experiences, when it comes to drain and aspir I try to go Haste, Dark Magic skill, Magic Accuracy. I dont notice any effect from INT.

Thanks for the advice folks. Is the w turban by itself worth carrying and macroing for haste or should I be stacking 10%+ before I bother macring haste for drain/aspir?

[Magicide]

+2 M.Acc will have a much greater effect on your overall accuracy than the +1 INT, so in a build where accuracy is paramount it can be worth it. The HP -> MP can help to proc a latent if you're low on zenith or w/e, also. Realistically I can't imagine someone carrying more than a few: Thunder, Blizzard, and Dark are nice for BLM. I use an Earth Grip for Elegy on my BRD as well, but don't carry it on nuking jobs.

[Corvi]

I guess it really depends on your inventory situation. 1INT ~= 0.5 macc. But macc doesn't offer much actual dmg. Unless you are getting a lot of resist on nukes (which you shouldn't if you have 8/8 ems merit and decently geared), most grips are optional. If BLM is your only jobs, you can consider getting them. If you have many jobs and having inventory problem, then don't bother.

Grips that you might consider getting in order:
1) Dark - Drain aspir are NOT affected by INT. 2 macc WILL boost your accuracy and give you more hp and mp on drain and aspir. Not to mention more reliable sleeps. If you are only getting 1 grip, make it a dark grip.

2) Thunder - Thunder4 is your most used nuke on BLM. You will get the most Mileage out of your inventory investment with a thunder grip. Although, I personally preferred the 1 int dmg instead of 2macc if I use thunder4. See 3) for details.

3) Ice - The reason you want to use blizzard4 instead of thunder4 (beside cooldown, mob elemental resistance, and MB) is that blizzard4 uses ice staff which gives 10ems (9macc) and 5int (2.5macc). Thus, in general Bliz is your high macc reliable nuke, vs Thunder, your high dmg nuke. You can boost your reliable nuke further with 2macc instead of 0.5macc from INT.


Corvi
5/5 Morrigan BLM

[madpersian]

My inv situation is bad as I am leveling a few jobs and I'm big on using gear swaps religiously. Looks like I got room for a drk and ice grip per the post above though.

Might as well ask this here instead of another thread, but is there an ideal way to merit a blm if you don't do hnms? Not sure if skill is worth it over potency or not if I don't mess around with hnm or gods.

[fishstix]

Unless you're a main bard or something, go ahead and do both. It's still useful in limbus, znms, dynamis. Also if you had to choose between 2 grips only, I'd choose dark/thunder.

[madpersian]

Just curios what being main brd would have to do with my merit choices? I'm leveling it as my meriting job. Just want to make sure I won't make merit decisions ill regret.

[Pendulum]

Referring to meriting elemental magic unless you're set on brd being your main in which case you would probably do 8 singing and 8 wind (i think it's wind, never played brd lol) for your magic merits.

And for the grips, I don't think they're worth the space but then I don't fight the most resistant of mobs. They're complete overkill for stuff like puddings etc though. Happy that I sold the thunder grips I got a hold of in the first few weeks after release for decent money.

[Scorp]

I keep thunder grip on me all the time, though I only use it for activating latent ring. I should probably look at using dark grip for this in future though.

[el_tio]

This is a bit of a tangent, but with everyone saying INT gives MACC, didn't SE say the exact opposite last fan fest? I'm confused--anyone know what I'm referring to?

[SephYuyX]

Kanican

1) +1 MACC ("Magic Accuracy" the stat) is equivalent to +1 Skill

There is some debate as to whether 1 skill really equates to 0.9 magic accuracy over 200 base skill (as is the case for melee skills). Statistically it is incredibly hard to tell the difference between 1.0 and 0.9 without a massive number of trials, so the current testing is unable to support or refute this idea. For the purposes of this post, I will consider them equivalent unless future testing suggests otherwise.

2) +1 MACC increases the chance to land the spell successfully by 0.5% if the chance to land successfully is below 50%. If the chance to land successfully is above 50%, +1 MACC increases the chance to land the spell successfully by 1.0%.

This makes no reference to any "base magical accuracy" stat. It only states that if you add +1 MACC the chance to land the spell unresisted will increase by 0.5% or 1.0% depending on the land rate prior to adding the +1 MACC.

3) HQ Elemental Staves grant roughly a 20 to 30 MACC bonus.

It should be noted that this 20 to 30 number has long been assumed on JP Wiki.

4) +1 INT is equivalent to +1 MACC when the difference between the caster's and target's INT is at or below +10. +1 INT is equivalent to +0.5 MACC when the difference is above +10. It is currently unknown if there is another "tier".

This is meant in the context of spells that are based on an INT to INT check, which is true for say Elemental Magic. Other moves like Paralyze rely on a MND to MND check. Even still more complex, the stats of the mob and player don't always have to be the same. Certain Weapon Skills such as COR's Leaden Salute are based on an INT to AGI check. It depends on the individual move in question, but the general concept is likely to be the same.

5) The chance to successfully land a magic spell unresisted is dependent on the level difference between the caster and the target.

A similar penalty is imposed for melee accuracy.

So,
1 INT = .75 MACC (on average, 1 and .5 depending per above)
2 INT = 1 MAB
1 MACC = 1 Skill
1 Skill = 1 MACC (.9)

[Kerberoz]

Can't ever see wasting an inventory slot on only 2 macc for a single element.

And to the question about haste... yes, it's worth it without stacking. The recast effect doesn't get increasing returns from stacking like the delay effect does. Wouldn't waste inventory on anything but a turban and a belt though, really.

[Secksi]

Can't ever see wasting an inventory slot on only 2 macc for a single element.

And to the question about haste... yes, it's worth it without stacking. The recast effect doesn't get increasing returns from stacking like the delay effect does. Wouldn't waste inventory on anything but a turban and a belt though, really.

I carry goliard too, would trade it for and carry nashira manteel if I could though.

Oh yeah, original question. I carry dark grip only, it's useful for drain/aspir/sleep and hp down set.

[semco]

I do have a Thunder grip which I use for kicks like in ISNM, but only use Dark grip as a routine, most of the time I am using a Burgard Strap +1 in that slot.

[Arthars]

like someone said

i personally only have thunder and dark grip for my blm and rdm.

dark grip for obvious reasons, i wont explain here

thunder grip because thunder is a higher damage nuke, but lose out on mag acc due to the imba-ness of HQ ice staff. So i use thunder grip

No ice grip because HQ ice staff is reliable enough for me to use extra 1 int for damage.

[rog]

Kanican


So,
1 INT = .75 MACC (on average, 1 and .5 depending per above)
2 INT = 1 MAB
1 MACC = 1 Skill
1 Skill = 1 MACC (.9)

90% of the time 1 int will be .5 macc, not 1. averaging them together doesn't make sense.
you can't compare int/mab like that. shit's situational, etc.

1 skill was proven (with 95% confidence) to be 1 macc, and not .9 by someone else, though i don't remember where that was posted, it shouldn't be too hard to find anyway.