What's Better?

[FailureMidgard]

Break from the FM/PChan/CS/Starr rage:

When making requests (General announcement), please supply gear info with the question. The reason is that hypothetical statements tend to cause train wrecks as we've seen over the few pages. In many cases, it's insufficient to ask which piece is better without knowing the entire situation.

I kinda agree with you, but I think general questions are ok if the person just wants a general answer. I don't think he's asking which ring should I use for each specific job or each specific WS , he wanted know generally which is better. And the general answer is "if accuracy is uncapped, 1 acc > 3 attack for TPing".

If he wanted a specific answer as to mnk or sam or drg, then yes, he should have asked that. Really, if we didn't have someone as dumb as pchan here, I don't think this train wreck would have ever occurred.

[Tik]

macua+1/koenig/lamian+1/---
aegishjalmer/ritter/etheral/cassie
ACPpldstandard/homam/herc/BQR
luitentants(40hp)/warwolf/af2/homam

Options as I see it, for hate and purely hate, are as follows:
Ear1: Eris earring (enmity+2); Ear2: Loq (Loss of 20 MP, gain 50 HP.)
Hands: Askar (enmity+1, -20 MP, -20 HP, micro-managing here.)
Back: Cerb(+1) (enmity+3-4); Feet: Iron Ram (enmity+3, -31 MP, -31 HP)/Hydra Sollerets (enmity+4, lol)

The ramifications of that on your HP and MP totals, are dependent on your own range of comfort. And I'm sure there's a replacement for Homam legs somewhere in there as far as enmity goes, but I'm too lazy to look for that slot.

[Chen]

you think that would give me more hate curing for less, but with more enmity gear? i have most of that gear you mentioned, cept the eris earring which i don't think pld can equip XD

[Tik]

Ah, I didn't look up Eris, for some reason I thought it was all jobs. My bad then.

And I don't know the specific numbers on Cure IV's hate, or hate gained through the actual HP restored, so I don't know. But from an enmity point, those look to be your best options. Maximizing HP and enmity might be the best idea, especially since you'll very rarely be at the MP cap while tanking.

[Raen Ryong]

You'll get more return increasing the HP cured rather than curing a smaller amount using more +enmity, unless the difference is huge (eg 380 hp with 20 enmity vs 360 hp with 40 enmity).

Quoted from Kaeko's livejournal;

- The amount of CE and VE generated by a Cure of any HP at any target level can be found by...

[ CE ] = [ CE Modifier ] x [ HP Cured ]

[ VE ] = 6 x [ CE Modifier ] x [ HP Cured ]

- The [ CE Modifier ] varies with the level of the target being cured.
- The [ CE Modifier ] at level 75 is 0.7273.

Plug in numbers and work it out. +enmity works as a straight modifier at the end. For instance, comparing 380hp/20enm vs 360hp/40enm as outlined above,

leaving in decimals, unsure how they are dealt with. All final answers are to one decimal place.

380hp/20enm =

CE = (0.7273 x 380) x 1.2 = 331.6
VE = 1989.6

360hp/40enm =

CE = (0.7273 x 360) x 1.4 = 366.6
VE = 2199.3

[Aable]

I have a KC for drk, just hit 75 RNG, no combat merits to spare, dont see playing RNG a whole super lot.
Elvaan Rng
approximate top 5 weapons?
seems like:
Fay Gendawa with super good augments
E/V bow
Cerberus Bow +1
Hellfire +1
Selene's Bow
Other bow I noticed was Shigeto Bow +1, how does that stack up, it has a high base damge.
Any idea what the real difference in damge on a sidewinder/slug shot will be between all those?

[Neosutra]

Kraken/Hellfire+1 >>> Kraken/E.bow >>> Best Fae >>> Dont even look at other stuff.

[Knyghtmayre]

What exactly is the "best fae" bow?
I'm thinking like STR+5 Ratt+15 WS Damage+5%? If so that doesn't even seem like a competition between Ebow and FGendawa...

[Jayhawk]

Is STR+4 R.Atk+9 and WSkill DMG+3% on Fay better than Vali's Bow? If not, better than Selene's?

[Argettio]

Is STR+4 R.Atk+9 and WSkill DMG+3% on Fay better than Vali's Bow? If not, better than Selene's?

AFAIK no combination on the Fay can beat E/V.bow.

Don't know about Selene's.

[Kirschy]

Consider me an average BLM. My normal sets are fine, but when I do events with my elemental setup, I'm unhappy with my parse results. I do well, but I feel like I should be doing better. This is my current Elemental build:

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/5873/blmele.png

I use Cream Puffs~
I have 8 Elemental Merits (+16 Skill)~
I have BLM AF2 Hat and Maha Body~

Obvious initial upgrade is AF1+1 hands. But other than that, I'm not sure which gear to upgrade/sidegrade and if I should concentrate moar on INT, Mg Acc, or Elemental skill .

I don't mind spending money, or questing/farming gear. (Morrigan drop rate sucks, don't consider that a possibility right now.)

Stuff I'd probably use an Ele build on Ouryu (Wyrms in general)/Baha/Khim/MMM/JoL/Xarc NMs, etc...

[Argettio]

Consider me an average BLM. My normal sets are fine, but when I do events with my elemental setup, I'm unhappy with my parse results. I do well, but I feel like I should be doing better. This is my current Elemental build:

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/5873/blmele.png

I use Cream Puffs~
I have 8 Elemental Merits (+16 Skill)~
I have BLM AF2 Hat and Maha Body~

Obvious initial upgrade is AF1+1 hands. But other than that, I'm not sure which gear to upgrade/sidegrade and if I should concentrate moar on INT, Mg Acc, or Elemental skill .

I don't mind spending money, or questing/farming gear. (Morrigan drop rate sucks, don't consider that a possibility right now.)

Stuff I'd probably use an Ele build on Ouryu (Wyrms in general)/Baha/Khim/MMM/JoL/Xarc NMs, etc...

If I can count you have 325 skill and 115-120 INT (Depending on spell)

OK this is my opinion:
Get
AF+1 hands
Swap
Demon helm +1 -> AF2
Nashira Crackows -> Yigit Crackows

If you can do all of that, your INT stays the same, you gain 2 MAB, 5 Skill and Enmity -3.

More consistent, more damage, less hate.

Edit: And sans Morrigan's your pretty much complete for BLM.

[Jimothy]

I can't really say for HNMs since I never do them, but on Ouryu this is the set I use (this is including +7 from cream puffs)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...FXI/resist.png

It seems to work well, and even before Morrigan/AF2 belt, Mahatma/Penitent seemed to work fine. On Xarc NMs I generally just put on AF2 hat and omega ring, and stick to blizzard. One thing to keep in mind is that on both of these the damage from the nukes are usually half of a normal mob, so you're not really gonna break 600-ish damage range.

For what you have, I would definitely try out AF2 hat, and if you still feel like you're getting too many resists you might want to try mahatma body on high int mobs like wyrms.

Oh and also ignore nin sub. Just happened to be on it right now.


On the topic of the RNG weapon, if you are talking strictly KC RNG only, a 'perfect' Fay will probably do slightly better than Ebow with STR+5, R.ATT+19, WS damage +5%, considering it has 1 more base damage and if you are only using it on WS it loses the disadvantage of higher delay. Best combo is KC/Culverin but you'd need a satchel full of cannon shells and someone to make them for you.

[Nerull]

Excluding Morrigan's and lucky augments, the only improvements would be:

head -> Relic
feet -> Goliard

[Andradi]

Cape for Spinning Slash on XP mobs: Amemet +1 or Smilo +1?

Ground Strike seems to favour the Smilo much more clearly, higher str mod and pdif (is that the hidden one?) mod over Spinning Slash.

[pchan]

This is my current Elemental build:

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/5873/blmele.png

I use Cream Puffs~
I have 8 Elemental Merits (+16 Skill)~
I have BLM AF2 Hat and Maha Body~

If your concern is resists, stack skill/magic acc. Bahamut is reported to have 115 INT, Jormurgand 120 INT. For those you might want to use the combo AF2 head+mahatma body as it would give 21 magic accuracy. While I don't know the INT of specific NMs, most stuff has less than 90 INT (znm etc) (found info on robonosto's blog) meaning INT performs half as good after 90-100. So merciful cape, elemental grip and even H.body are better for accuracy.

Excluding Morrigan's and lucky augments, the only improvements would be:

head -> Relic
feet -> Goliard

Goliard feet are not an improvement over nashira (for resist, which seems to be his concern).

[Nerull]

Goliard feet are not an improvement over nashira (for resist, which seems to be his concern).

She/he only has 113 INT in that current setup, 120 with food. Dropping the DH+1 for relic would make it 114, 109 if not nuking with Ice (like say for Tiamat or Kirin). That's not enough INT for even Tiamat or Khimaira, much less higher INT mobs like Jorm or Kirin. Goliard feet will be giving 4 INT and 6 magic acc, which I'll generally take over Nashira's 7 magic acc.

[Starr]

Goliard are Magic Accuracy+4 total

[wop]

I have a much easier and better solution. GUARANTEED.

Ask your lazy bards to land threnody on Tia/Ouryu/Jorm/Baha.

There's more to bard than just Ballad/March and Elegy. (95% of bards just do these)

Threnody > all. No matter how pimp your blm army are, could not match a mere Threnody from a bard.

Your gear is fine, minor obvious adjustments / swaps are already pointed out.
Morri slops, AF2 hat, play around with Mahatma Houp & prudence torque. depending on which HNM, Goliard feet.

[Nerull]

Goliard are Magic Accuracy+4 total

Not with only 109 INT they aren't.