What's Better?

[JetEnduro]

Pluto's/Aquilo's>Jupiter>Auster's>everything else.
Farm up Obis.
5MACC/5MAB earring set is pretty nice if can't get a novio. Also, you can have Fast Cast gear on idle set(Loq) so it kicks in at start of nuke then switch to regular nuking earring.
I'm not too sure but I remember reading somewhere that ACP body w/ MAB and MACC is best body piece for sch nukes.
Elemental/Enfeebling Torques. Uggly pendant.
That's all I can think of right now. (From a BLM perspective, don't have SCH 75)

[Francisco]

Destroyers or Birdbanes on Greater Colibri?

Birdbanes have higher delay, less base damage and no critical hit rate bonus, but they have 3 Accuracy and they are a piercing weapon, so they get a pretty big boost per punch on birds.

[Kyte]

Destroyers

[Nishida]

What's on your MKD hat?

I'm on the last fight for it haven't gotten yet. Was thinking INT+6 MACC+2..and then turn this into my SAM WS helm after I get better BLM gear.

[Nightfyre]

I'd just make it the SAM piece right off the bat and use Demon Helm +1 then, save yourself the trouble of repeating the fight.

[seiji]

Destroyers or Birdbanes on Greater Colibri?

Birdbanes have higher delay, less base damage and no critical hit rate bonus, but they have 3 Accuracy and they are a piercing weapon, so they get a pretty big boost per punch on birds.

destroyers because WS dmg use normal weapon damage type (blunt)!

[arshesney]

Ok I am Leveling my first mage job (SCH) after a lifetime of melee and I have a question about priorities in regards to buying/camping gear. I mostly plan on Soloing in regards to how I will play my mage so keep that in mind.

Earrings: I know shit is situational but assume a kiting/nuking situation, 5MAB earring/loq earring or should I put the effort in and camp the 5MAB 5MACC set?

In what order should I buy the HQ staves in regards so solo usage?

what are general pieces of gear I should strive for/work to afford. ATM I only do dynamis and have SCH hands.

Edit: I also have the add-on expansion gear ready to be made into mage stuff, so feel free to use that in things I should get.

A good +hp build for Sublimation is good to have, you can build one with ra/ex and some cheap gear like BQ ring, the campaign neck piece (30 hp), gleeman's cape, af1 head, root sabots (35 hp feet piece), af2 body and legs (which have +hp) and garden/feronia bangles.
Possible upgrades are gigas mantle and the bloodbead amulet the taru fomor drops, white tathulm... I wouldn't use mp -> hp gear like cassie or bloodbead ring.

You can start working towards goliard hands/feet and/or vicious mufflers for nuke set and debuffs.

Desert boots + sandstorm work wonders if you're lacking gaiters.

If you ever want to play SCH as support role a solid -enmity set is also required.

[noodles355]

destroyers because WS dmg use normal weapon damage type (blunt)!

But isn't Mnk like a 70/30 TP/WS split? Besides, you'd only be losing +4 Damage on the WS. If the 1.25% piercing bonus on TP could make up for the -4D +38 Delay -6% crit, it could be pretty interesting. Needs more math I'd think...

[Raen Ryong]

But isn't Mnk like a 70/30 TP/WS split? Besides, you'd only be losing +4 Damage on the WS. If the 1.25x piercing bonus on TP could make up for the -4D +38 Delay -6% crit, it could be pretty interesting. Needs more math I'd think...

ftfy

Revising for a maths exam and feeling very pedantic >: o

[Eldelphia]

Earrings: I know shit is situational but assume a kiting/nuking situation, 5MAB earring/loq earring or should I put the effort in and camp the 5MAB 5MACC set?

In what order should I buy the HQ staves in regards so solo usage?

what are general pieces of gear I should strive for/work to afford. ATM I only do dynamis and have SCH hands.

Edit: I also have the add-on expansion gear ready to be made into mage stuff, so feel free to use that in things I should get.

If you're kiting, you may well be making use of SCH DoT a lot and I would use MAB + Phantom or the MAcc earring for those. I'm just working out whether I should bother camping for the earring pair myself. It depends on your merits too. I have 8/8 Elemental which helps me with both Helices and Nukes.

In terms of staves, I'd go for Jupiter's>Aquilos then Pluto's and Auster's. You want to land nukes well and you also want to make good use of Sleep/Drain/Aspir/Gravity.

If you do Limbus, AF+1 Body and Head are nice. Get the relic body and pair it with the AF(+1) head for sublimation. If you're doing a lot of kiting fights, consider a refresh body because there are times when you get into trouble and can't use sub effectively and there are times when sub is down.

For kited fights, if you have access to gaiters, be very happy. Otherwise the expansion scenario pants with movement speed are nice. In fact even though the movement speed isn't as high as desert boots etc, I prefer not having sandstorm on me for nuking. There are fights though where 12.5% is better.

In terms of relic, the pants are nice for aspir/drain (you do a lot of this), the hands are one of the best pieces, so they're nice to have. The head I don't enormously use but you might if you don't have ele skill merits however its paired with MND not INT on it, so I tend to use AF+1. The body is great for faster sublimation and the feet are situational. I'd say after the hands (as you have them) try and pick up a body and then legs.

Consider some enfeebling merits if you can. SCH end up with a B+ most the time so it's not as bad as a BLM but they're useful for landing sleep/bind/grav etc.

Selenian cap or the unpronouncable legs could be nuking or curing pieces. If you intend to use SCH outside of lowman stuff, then cure potency on the head or leg pieces from the mini expansions is really nice but as a SCH you really need to pile on -ENM for curing, especially when spamming Accession.

I have the MAB/MACC Royal Redingote for nuking on BLM, SCH and RDM and it's really one of the best, if not best pieces to nuke in for a SCH. The Ebon Coat is pretty good too but doesn't have the MAcc.

Yigit or Goliard Feet and Hands are both great to have if you can get hold of them. I pair Yigit feet with Goliard Hands.

If you're ever likely to use SCH outside of a select few fights, please, please do consider setting up a -ENM/Cure set because you'll need it.

[Cream Soda]

But isn't Mnk like a 70/30 TP/WS split? Besides, you'd only be losing +4 Damage on the WS. If the 1.25% piercing bonus on TP could make up for the -4D +38 Delay -6% crit, it could be pretty interesting. Needs more math I'd think...

I did math on these the minute they were confirmed to be piercing. Would win, VERY slightly, if you never ws'd at all. the DMG you lose along w/ the delay you gain is enough to bring destroyers to par for DPS, then destroyers just blow them away for WS.

Also, it's closer to 65/35 than 70/30. Though, I'm sure Pchan will come here and say 60/40

[mdkuser]

But isn't Mnk like a 70/30 TP/WS split? Besides, you'd only be losing +4 Damage on the WS. If the 1.25% piercing bonus on TP could make up for the -4D +38 Delay -6% crit, it could be pretty interesting. Needs more math I'd think...

Normaly destroyers have 35%WS/65%Melee split, in perfect condition ( no tp holding). Hades saintis have 40%/60%, and after a bit of math ( see next paragraph), turns out birdbanes will have 32%/68% split.

Destroyers or Birdbanes on Greater Colibri?

Birdbanes have higher delay, less base damage and no critical hit rate bonus, but they have 3 Accuracy and they are a piercing weapon, so they get a pretty big boost per punch on birds.

assumption: full usukane (19stp) for melee, and 12 stp for WS ( rajas usu feet). Fight birds with caped STR (10 fSTR for destroyers and 9 for birdbanes), WS with 16 WSC (STR+VIT=200). I assume 15% double attacks, 15% kick attacks, 95% accuracy, which gives 2.33 attacks per round.

stats:

destroyers:

delay:348
dmg: 35+18=53
TP/hit=5.8
TP/hit during WS:5.4
average attacks/rounds:2.33
average rounds till 100TP: 6.79 ( from my spread sheet)
average hits till 100TP: 2.33*6.79=15.82
time to get 100TP: 6.79*348*0.4/60=15.76 sec
TP split: 35%/65% ( it varies with attack buffs etc)
average melee hit: 100 ( for sake of easy computations, its higher on birds).
average WS: 100*0.35*15.82/0.65=851.84

DPS=(15.82*100+851)/15.76=154.43 dmg/sec


Birdbanes:

delay:384
dmg: 35+14=49
TP/hit=6.0
TP/hit during WS:5.7
average attacks/rounds:2.33
average rounds till 100TP: 6.38 ( from my spread sheet)
average hits till 100TP: 2.33*6.38=14.86
time to get 100TP: 6.38*384*0.4/60=16.33 sec

average melee hit: 100*(49+9)/(53+10)*1.25=115.08
average WS: 851.84*(49+9+16)/(53+10+16)=797.92
WS%=797.92/(14.86*115.08+797.92)=31.8%
melee%=68.2%

DPS=(14.86*115.08+797.92)/16.33=153.58 dmg/sec

destroyers are 154.43/153.58=+0.5% better than birdbanes in these situations.

Don't farm birdbanes; it would beat destroyers if it were dmg15 because they would then have the same weapon rank.

[Francisco]

Don't farm birdbanes; it would beat destroyers if it were dmg15 because they would then have the same weapon rank.

I already have a pair - but just haven't tested them yet.

If nothing else they might be useful for certain mobs types, and that one area of Apollyon and that sea jailer... Temperance or Fortitude... I forget which is the Zdei type.

Anything where blunt gets a penalty and piercing gets a bonus... I think Jelly mobs, and maybe Flans, Hecteyes and possibly Ahriman type... I'm not completely sure though.

[Argettio]

Anything where blunt gets a penalty and piercing gets a bonus... I think Jelly mobs, and maybe Flans, Hecteyes and possibly Ahriman type... I'm not completely sure though.

Yes on a mob with both blunt resistance and piercing bonus then Birdbanes would be best.

[Cream Soda]

Yes on a mob with both blunt resistance and piercing bonus then Birdbanes would be best.

not so fast there. I've honestly found formless strikes to be better on blunt resist mobs than birdbanes, then I make the swap once formless wears.

[Kinetic]

I have about 1m gil to spend on gear for my SAM. Should I upgrade my NQ Arhat's body and head to +1s, or should I upgrade my Pallas's Bracelets and Ruby Ring to Alkys and Flame? The Arhat's upgrades would put me at -24% PDT for my oshit set (haven't finished ASA yet, that'll be another 4%), and the STR upgrades for WS will put me at 75+54 (no STR merits).

There's not really any buyable TP gear I can get except +1ing my Haubergeon, and although I can afford it right now, I'm a little wary of dropping most of my gil on a purchase that could potentially become obsolete in the next few months. I'd rather hold off on that until I am sure that it'll be worth the 2.5m gil. I'm not in a LS that pays out a bunch of gil every month or w/e, and I tend to die a lot at events, so I'm leaning towards the PDT gear.

Thanks in advance.

[azagarth]

damage then pdt imo.. your a dd not a tank.

[Hyriu]

Alky's & Gi +1 gooo

[Nightfyre]

damage then pdt imo.. your a dd not a tank.

They ought to be both.

Alky's & Gi +1 gooo

This.

[noodles355]

That's pretty interesting on the birdbanes, I really didn't have any idea how to compare 1.25x damage against other stats, or knew anything about mnk +DMG, weapon rank etc.

I'm assuming Hades Santi are also better, right? Coulda been fun for a pup on colibri (if any fight colibri) otherwise.