What's Better?

[Byrthnoth]

You're eating Crab Sushi, right? If you are, then your build is fine. Usu legs might help, but they would uncap your Acc on the higher level birds. I wouldn't do Lava/Kulsha over Rajas/Ulth, but I would do Rajas/Toreador/Usu legs over Rajas/Ulth/Byakko's.

[Cream Soda]

I'm looking to improve my Sam Penta set for G.Colibri. Currently looks like:
Tomoe/pole/.../tiphia
hissho/pcc/ethereal/brutal
haub+1/bando/rajas/ulthalam
forage/warwolf/byakko/usu
Hume, full str/crit merits, 0 polearm merits.

Was wondering if usu legs would be better than byakkos, or lavas/kusha better than rajas/ulth?

Could swap earring to fowling and legs to usu if you're uncapping by swapping? How far under cap does he go though? I have full polearm merits and use meat so my build would be diff than his.

[Byrthnoth]

94% Accuracy, should be.

[Cream Soda]

94% average? or 94% on lv 82 birds? If just for 82 birds, I'd say it'd be safe to go for the 94% hitrate build.

[StevenW]

Ok, for Penta Thrusting, Chiv Chain or Spectacles?

Also until I get some sort of acc. headpiece (working on it)

Wyvern helm or Empress Hairpin (DEX)?

[Darlantan]

Wyvern and most likely Chiv. Chain specially if the stp is serving a purpose.

[StevenW]

Wyvern and most likely Chiv. Chain specially if the stp is serving a purpose.

k, I bought spectacles for TP'ing but I'm sure the 3 STR is important for WS.

[Darlantan]

Pentathrust mods arent hot, so if you need the 2 extra accuracy from Spectacles and are not using the stp from Chivalrous for your X-hit, Spectables might even be better to ws with. You might want to wait for an answer from one of BG mathematicians. I am just not used to situations where you dont cap accuracy on your wss, and 3 str for 2 acc is a good trade off, better than for example what you can do with the rings.

I am sure you are working on it, but PCC for tp and Gorgets (keep up with CoP missions) will do much better. Love/Ancient Torque as long long term goals.

[StevenW]

Well, just parsed a merit party using specs for tp, up to 93% acc with only 6/8 polearm merits. I'm glad I bought those. Still debating using them for Penta thrust though.

[mdkuser]

I'm looking to improve my Sam Penta set for G.Colibri. Currently looks like:
Tomoe/pole/.../tiphia
hissho/pcc/ethereal/brutal
haub+1/bando/rajas/ulthalam
forage/warwolf/byakko/usu
Hume, full str/crit merits, 0 polearm merits.

Was wondering if usu legs would be better than byakkos, or lavas/kusha better than rajas/ulth?

there is probably exceptions to what im going to say but, seeing you have to eat sushi at birds merit camp, accuracy will not be such a problem. Evern if it is, well, I'd rather use O hat, acc earring and life belt instead of those, first, before switching rings or legs.

For pure dmg though, STR ring + rajas is better , because it is at least 2 fstr, plus (5+5)*0,2*0,83 rounded down so at least 3 base DMG ( and possibly 4 or 5), and 7 attack/ some accuracy.

For legs, byakkos gives at least 2 base dmg and 11 acc, versus usukane which gives at least 1 fstr, 7 attack, and 1 WSC, and can give 2 fstr, 2 WSC, so usukane wins.

At least what you can compute on your own is ( we can't answer it for you):

-your total accuracy during WS ( assume hasso): need to know your base dex/merits for that.

- your WSC number: need to know your base STR and DEX for that. At this point you calculate WSC like this: add STR+DEX, multiply by 0.2, round down, multiply by 0.83, round down again.

Penta WSCs are "weak ish" but actually not that weak since its in fact 40% kinda since both dex and str are useful for damage. you need to increase your total dex+str by increments of about 10 in order to see your WSC jump by one, which is the case for rajas, byakkos or usukane leg.

[Naash]

Hello, what would be the best piece to repair to +1 in the Blue mage AF?
I have the mats and AF, but I am not very familiar with BLU75 equipment.

[Callisto]

Body is typically the best place to start. The legs are nice, but I'd do them second. The rest is mostly junk.

[Katoke]

Hm, what's better for DRK, Perdu Sickle or Death Sycthe?

Mithra using this gear setup: Pole Grip, Bomb Core, Turban, Brutal Earring, Storm Loop, Homam Body, Homam Hands, Rajas/Ulthama, Amemet+1, Swift Belt, Homam Legs, Homam Feet. STR+5 merits, 3 Scythe merits.

[Jeryhn]

ACP body for SMN. Was thinking Perp -2 and was unsure about the second option. Maybe BP -4 or Acc/RAcc +7? I don't have YYR and doubt I'll be getting it anytime soon if it matters.

Had to go back a bit to answer this one (sorry).
The correct answer is: It mostly depends on what you want to get out of your SMN

Bear in mind, most of your MP-related costs are going to be coming from Bloodpacts, not perpetuation costs, unless for some reason you're really keen on providing a Favor effect with one of the celestial avatars. Otherwise the Perp -2 choice is for SMNs who essentially want to be "cheap" by saving gil, even though they're not really saving anything mostly because you'd save only 4-5 MP on Summoning > Bloodpact > Release, which is nothing. Whether or not you choose this augment, you'll still want to get yourself a Vcloak (and by extension, strive for a YYR, which isn't hard to get), and after the acquiring of it, the worth of this augment is lessened even more.

TL;DR: Don't get Perp-2.

Pet: Acc/Racc is worthless. Get some summoning skill.

I'd also vote against Pet: Atk/Ratk and BP Timer -4, simply because of the existence of Summoner's Doublet (also easy to acquire). Pet: DA/Crit +2% could alternatively turn out to be a pretty nifty Physical Bloodpact piece, but you'd have to get lucky to get those effects to land on a Bloodpact.

That essentially leaves Pet: MAB/Macc+7 as the real true worthwhile augment for SMN on ACP (which affects EVERY Magic Bloodpact you fire), which requires your willingness to devote merits to Merit Bloodpacts. There are very few ways to increase your magical damage compared to the ways available for you to raise your physical damage. The worth you will get from this augment is completely contingent upon the amount of work you're willing to put into your SMN.

However, if you're one of those lazy SMNs who doesn't want to gear for skill, is obsessed with Perp costs, and instead wants to provide constant Predator Claws for Khim or Tiamat so you don't lose EXP on a melee job than actually being a good SMN, then perhaps Perp-2 and Pet: Attack might be for you.

[Andradi]

Hm, what's better for DRK, Perdu Sickle or Death Sycthe?

Mithra using this gear setup: Pole Grip, Bomb Core, Turban, Brutal Earring, Storm Loop, Homam Body, Homam Hands, Rajas/Ulthama, Amemet+1, Swift Belt, Homam Legs, Homam Feet. STR+5 merits, 3 Scythe merits.

Perdu by a long way. Even Moliones's beats death by a decent amount. 528 delay scythe are generally trash, unless you have a aurum cuirass and other gear to 5-hit them. Unless you mean Death +1, in which case I believe perdu is still better, but not by that much.

Also, stop using homam body on DRK, NQ haub is better. Fowling earring better than storm loop depending on acc.

Otherwise a very solid setup.

[Nightfyre]

Body is typically the best place to start. The legs are nice, but I'd do them second. The rest is mostly junk.

Head is good for Mind Blast and Regurgitation if you're into BLU nuking and don't have full Morrigan's or Maat's Cap, but I agree that the body should be your first priority. Shalwar +1... Enkidu's Subligar is better for physical spells and not too hard to get since you can do Gigiroon>Iriz Ima>Dea with a few mages. There are equal/better breath pieces that you could get and may have already... Crimson/Blood Cuisses, Homam Cosciales, Dusk Trousers. You could easily pick up the Trousers by the time you get a second set of AF+1 mats unless it just rains BLU mats for you, and even then Dusk is better so why bother?

Personally I'd go body>head (head only if you'd use it for nukes) and skip the rest unless you want 5/5 whiteboxed AF for town gear.

[Dooom]

However, if you're one of those lazy SMNs who doesn't want to gear for skill, is obsessed with Perp costs, and instead wants to provide constant Predator Claws for Khim or Tiamat so you don't lose EXP on a melee job than actually being a good SMN, then perhaps Perp-2 and Pet: Attack might be for you.

This really makes no sense to me. How does getting perp-2 negate the desire for Vermy/YYR/etc? Especially as you've written off the other pet options are being poor, and it's now very easy to get cheap avatars thanks to favor, so leaving them out for periods is more viable, which surely makes -2 perp even better than it was a few months ago? I'm a bit rushed writing this, but basically, I don't understand your argument at all.

[Wolfknight]

Hello, what would be the best piece to repair to +1 in the Blue mage AF?
I have the mats and AF, but I am not very familiar with BLU75 equipment.

Shalwar +1... Enkidu's Subligar is better for physical spells and not too hard to get since you can do Gigiroon>Iriz Ima>Dea with a few mages.

Also agree with body first, but my experience and luck on enkidu legs has been awful, 0/4 and using zeni else where atm, so for some people the legs are good option if you don't have Enkidu, or Mirage[should beat AF +1 for Big 3, or Cannonball ya?], and also hands/feet are meh much better stuff you can get in those slots.

[requim]

His point was squandering a unique augment on -2 perp cost is silly when:
A) you're giving up another bonus for it
B) you could get penance for the same perp down
C) the vast majority of your MP is typically spent on BP's as opposed to perp cost so it's not nearly as cool for events as it sounds.

Sure, there are definitely times where perpetuation cost can make a difference, but you can already get -8 perp cost on top of auto refresh, sanction/sigil/signet refresh, and then whatever buffs you have.

Also remember if you're using favor, chances are you aren't in an event as a pure DD, since last I heard it gimps your damage by at least 15%.

Honestly the only summons you would full time that come to mind are Carbuncle (already free), Fenrir (that is free with favor), Garuda (also free with favor), or Diabolos (makes himself free!). Dropping 1 perpetuation cost, which only saves you 20 mp per minute, isn't really jumping out to me as a reason to lose out on a solid pet buff piece that you can't get the same stat from anywhere else.

[Jeryhn]

This really makes no sense to me. How does getting perp-2 negate the desire for Vermy/YYR/etc? Especially as you've written off the other pet options are being poor, and it's now very easy to get cheap avatars thanks to favor, so leaving them out for periods is more viable, which surely makes -2 perp even better than it was a few months ago? I'm a bit rushed writing this, but basically, I don't understand your argument at all.

The asker of the question basically stated that going for YYR wasn't a goal or an option.

My point was that getting Perp -2 doesn't negate the importance of acquiring Vcloak or YYR, hence my "lazy SMN" comment.