Randomest Question Thread

[Greatguardian]

The original answer was correct, however it depends on the WS. Not all magic WSs are treated equally, just like players' magic and magical abilities. Some, like Hurricane Wing, Citidel Buster, etc, have fixed base damage independent of the player target's stats (emphasis on "base damage" since you can still reduce with shell and mdb, etc). Others, like Bahamut flares, or the various Salvage mob AoEs like Mdkuser alluded to, are a function of both the monster's stats and the player's stats, so higher player INT lowers the damage to varying degrees.

So, in short answer to anathema directly. It depends on the WS in question, and it doesn't give you "magic defense" per say but it does adjust the base damage formula for the WS in question when it does affect things. Not sure about resist rates.

That's pretty much exactly what I said, lol. The problem with the original answer was that Mdk declared that INT raised your magic defense, which is not true in the slightest. I'm assuming that the damage Mdk was referring to in Salvage is Nuke damage, or AoEs from Poroggos or something similar. If it's not, then it opens up a whole other can of worms.

Whether or not dINT plays into a TP move's damage calculation changes entirely from move to move. Like you said, things like Hurricane Wing and Citadel Buster all seem to do the same damage regardless. dINT does play into Nuke damage calculations (like we both said), so it does reduce the base damage a Nuke will do to you; But INT has no known effect on resist rates. Monster resist rates have traditionally been assigned a "Magic Evasion" stat to compare to Magic Accuracy. Without knowing exactly what affects this "Magic Evasion" stat, we have no way of knowing how to increase it on our characters aside from Barspells (in certain cases).

Note, I'm treating Magical TP moves and Nukes (Spells, Thunder IV, Thundaga III) very differently. We know INT affects Nukes, we don't know that it affects TP moves.

[BerenTebogo]

Currently on my sea-less WAR for Raging Rush I use

Byakko/pole/x/bomblet
Heca/pcc/assault/fowling
haub +1/hume rse hands (no heca)/triumph/sniper +1
cuchulains/potent/byakkos/marine f boots(no heca)

If I were to replace Nhead with the ACC+25 w/e headpiece (really dont want to do this) how could I replace other gear to end up getting more damage overall on WS? I don't really see realistic options until I have Ares Body again.

I've been planning on doing turban +2 DEX until I get sea and homam then switching to PLD/RDM head unless you guys can show me a way to improve overall for RR.

[Suiram]

I hope I'm not just misunderstanding you again lol You are saying INT affects nuke damage, and not mob WS, but then you say Poroggo AoE (you mean Water Bomb?) which is a WS.

Just so I'm clear, and you tell me if this is what you are saying, too: Increasing INT lowers the damage on some Magical WS from mobs, but not all magical WSs. Examples where higher player INT lowers the damage from a WS would be Mega/Giga/Terraflare, or the various Gear AoEs in Salvage. Examples where higher player INT changes nothing would be Hurricane Wing and Citadel Buster.

This is what you mean?

[Valyana]

So yes, give your tanks INT cell in Salvage.

[Greatguardian]

Orz, I typed too fast. When I said Poroggo AoE in all that mess, I meant he may have been talking about Nukes (both Single Target and AoE) from Poroggo mobs in Salvage. I didn't mean Water bomb, or any of their TP moves. Sorry about that.

I've actually not heard about INT affecting Flare damage. That's pretty interesting. But yeah, it just goes to show that the case of each individual TP move is unique.

[Suiram]

I want to preempt something quickly, just to be safe. Someone reading this shouldn't assume they should ever sacrifice MDB or Magic Damage Taken gear for INT gear when tanking Bahamut. Those WSs have very large constants, so lower player INT just adds a bit more damage, or higher INT just shaves a little bit off, but it's nothing substantial. I just brought it up because it's an example of something where it's known that target INT affects damage from WS.

Salvage AoEs are kind of an opposite situation. The exact damage formula isn't determined to my knowledge, but it's clear in comparing INT cell to no INT cell, or two mostly equally-geared melee, one with cell and one without, that the lower INT is making a difference in the damage.

[Callisto]

Currently on my sea-less WAR for Raging Rush I use

Byakko/pole/x/bomblet
Heca/pcc/assault/fowling
haub +1/hume rse hands (no heca)/triumph/sniper +1
cuchulains/potent/byakkos/marine f boots(no heca)

If I were to replace Nhead with the ACC+25 w/e headpiece (really dont want to do this) how could I replace other gear to end up getting more damage overall on WS? I don't really see realistic options until I have Ares Body again.

I've been planning on doing turban +2 DEX until I get sea and homam then switching to PLD/RDM head unless you guys can show me a way to improve overall for RR.

Acc+25 MKD head is likely a bit overkill, especially with Aggressor up if you have GAxe merits on birds or pizza on mamools in your current setup, especially for Raging Rush I'd stick with N.Head since the money there is from crits(side note: I'd go with Warwolf for RR too). If you do end up with Ares Body then the Acc+25 head would probably be a good choice to swap in there.

I'd get to Sky and work on N.Hands/Feet otherwise...I also use a Thunder Ring for RR(Woodsman for KJ) because I needed more Acc but wanted a tad extra crit chance so went with the Purple Rangz.

Edit: For what it's worth I was doing MKD head for WAR as well and going with the STR/WSAcc and AGI/WSDmg+.

[Caiti]

Acc+25 MKD head is likely a bit overkill, especially with Aggressor up if you have GAxe merits on birds or pizza on mamools in your current setup, especially for Raging Rush I'd stick with N.Head since the money there is from crits(side note: I'd go with Warwolf for RR too). If you do end up with Ares Body then the Acc+25 head would probably be a good choice to swap in there.

I'd get to Sky and work on N.Hands/Feet otherwise...I also use a Thunder Ring for RR(Woodsman for KJ) because I needed more Acc but wanted a tad extra crit chance so went with the Purple Rangz.

Edit: For what it's worth I was doing MKD head for WAR as well and going with the STR/WSAcc and AGI/WSDmg+.

Edit: UUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH WRONG PC WAS DOING ASSAULT RANKUP D:

Do you have Nhead and are replacing it? I have the -1 for both heca hands and feet I just never get to sky because our LS NEVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR does it and I cant find people to sell me the abj (see my FFXIAH listing for like 45 days now)

I figured with 2h weapon +25 ACC would be way overkill but everyone kept saying "BUT YOU CAN FREE UP ZE OTHER SLOTS" I just can't see it though..

[Callisto]

I don't do Kings or Odin so no N.head for me, I'll be replacing Askar Zuchini. If I had N.Head I'd probably just stick with that, at the very least for RR, maybe MKD for KJ or something since I don't have any other jobs that would get a major boost from MKD head aside from maybe COR.

And as much as I hate asking questions about MKD stuff this early, I do have one:

STR+4/WSAcc+15 is a given for me, but I'm assuming DEX+4/Crit damage+2% will be outdone by the AGI+4/WS damage+2% on RR?

[BerenTebogo]

I'd say DEX- it's a modifier for RR as well whereas AGI isn't. Figure 1000 is a rough average for RR on birds if you have good gear / merits / support. DEX+4 > 20 damage PROBABLY. I dunno though ;3

[Callisto]

I'm pretty sure it'd be dependent on your crit rate but not a clue how to math that out myself, lol. The main reason I was leaning towards the AGI one is the WSdmg+2% would work for KJ as well while the crits would only work for RR.

[isladar]

Design me a hat so I can fulltime Ares body on WAR and you can have my share of our brbOdin fund.

[Ashokan]

I'm pretty sure it'd be dependent on your crit rate but not a clue how to math that out myself

Crits has a lower cap @ 5% and upper cap @ 20%. If you believe in a linear model: 5% + (dDEX - 10) * .375%

Then 4 DEX is going to add 1.5% to your critical hit rate.

dDEX being your DEX - enemy AGI. I'm not saying the linear formula is right, but I don't think I've seen anything else proposed and since it's somewhat volatile then it's probably close enough for your purposes.

I'd say DEX- it's a modifier for RR as well whereas AGI isn't. Figure 1000 is a rough average for RR on birds if you have good gear / merits / support. DEX+4 > 20 damage PROBABLY. I dunno though ;3

To my knowledge DEX isn't a modifier on Raging Rush. I think you're thinking DEX effects the likelihood of crit hits?

[liggy 0]

is whats better? II gonna lead in page counts this time over random question II?

okok, was wondering if there was a separate/different resistance rate for magic bursting ele/enf magic vs regular nukes and enfeeble? not counting when HNMs "build up" resistance to a spell after repeated use.

curious since usually you can land silly debuffs on NMs from subjobs with no skill, more frequently, but that's just eyeballing.

[BerenTebogo]

Crits has a lower cap @ 5% and upper cap @ 20%. If you believe in a linear model: 5% + (dDEX - 10) * .375%

Then 4 DEX is going to add 1.5% to your critical hit rate.

dDEX being your DEX - enemy AGI. I'm not saying the linear formula is right, but I don't think I've seen anything else proposed and since it's somewhat volatile then it's probably close enough for your purposes.
To my knowledge DEX isn't a modifier on Raging Rush. I think you're thinking DEX effects the likelihood of crit hits?

I think I just popped into my head Callisto was using thunder rings so = mod. So, more important question, Callisto why are you using 5 DEX rings for an increased CHANCE to crit over +5MOD and +to fSTR?

[Callisto]

I'm maxed on combat merits(Sword/Marks/Shield) so I can't add any GAxe, and I wasn't comfortable with my Acc for RR, so I wanted an Acc ring in one of the two slots either way. My acc rings are Ecphoria/Woodsman until I have a large abundance of gil for a Tor so I figured I'd go ahead and lose 1 Acc in exchange for a shot at more crits and went with the Thunder.

[BerenTebogo]

I'm maxed on combat merits(Sword/Marks/Shield) so I can't add any GAxe, and I wasn't comfortable with my Acc for RR, so I wanted an Acc ring in one of the two slots either way. My acc rings are Ecphoria/Woodsman until I have a large abundance of gil for a Tor so I figured I'd go ahead and lose 1 Acc in exchange for a shot at more crits and went with the Thunder.

Ah ok, that makes sense. But also begs the question: Do you use potent or warwolf w/o Gaxe merits? And triumph/fowling/assault? I'd say Fowling and Potent would really help you feel a bit better about life.

[Raen Ryong]

When you're using Raging Rush your base damage is going to be very high as well (high D weapon + high fSTR + lots of WSC mod) so adding a further 1~4 isn't going to be huge, whereas criticals act as a multiplier for the whole so I think working on criticals over time will produce better results.

[Callisto]

Ah ok, that makes sense. But also begs the question: Do you use potent or warwolf w/o Gaxe merits? And triumph/fowling/assault? I'd say Fowling and Potent would really help you feel a bit better about life.

I use Warwolf/Hollow for RR, Fowling/Potent/Woodsman for KJ, where I try to get a bit more straight Acc since it can't crit and I use Warrior's Cuisses instead of Haidate which dumps a decent amount of Acc, I think overall those two sets come out pretty even on Acc.

I need to get Triumphs at some point for SC, I use Fowling/Brutal but I don't really have anything to replace Brutal for when I use Warrior's Charge.

[BerenTebogo]

I disagree to a point.

Right now as Hume WAR/SAM I have 68 base DEX. Average WS setup for RR is this:
DEX+5 head
DEX+6/10 body
DEX+4 hands
DEX+3 legs
DEX+15 legs
DEX+5 rings
DEX+5 belt
DEX+4 Back

That's +46 without Ebody which is 114 total. With Ebody you have 118 as hume WAR/SAM without any +1s or any DEX ring business. Granted not everyone can have that but I count this as the average: "I play WAR enough to consider it my main DD job" setup. Go with STR rings and Triumphs if you have Gaxe merits - sniper +1 / toreador / or w/e + fowling + potent if you don't.