Archer

[Asai]

What do you guys think of Bowman's Tunic?

About on par with Rainmaker's but you can't socket 41+ materia in it. That'll make or break it.

[Teron]

About on par with Rainmaker's but you can't socket 41+ materia in it. That'll make or break it.

Right. My bad.

[Niiro]

I'm wondering if STR increasing damage on ARC has to do with an fSTR factor in the damage formula similar to XI, increasing base damage.

VIT reduces damage taken after all, it's got to be measured against something.

[Spider-Dan]

I think DEX would fill that role for ARC.

Seems less convoluted (and more consistent) if the damage increase was from STR's ATK. I mean, DEX still gives accuracy for ARC, right? So why wouldn't STR give attack?

[Niiro]

Because as far as we know STR still doesn't give ATK. All we have is SE's word on the matter since, for some reason, STR doesn't increase the ATK stat in the attribute window.

Either the ATK increase is there but not displayed (makes no sense but entirely possible, this is SE after all) or STR effects damage in another way.

If it was just straight up ATK it wouldn't be too difficult to measure.
-shoot a bunch of mobs to get a control
-equip +X STR, repeat (if even 1 STR is enough to increase the damage stop there, but if it's like other stats you'd only get 1 ATK per 5 stat so you'd start at +1 and increase STR until there was a difference)
-note increase in damage
-equip something with 1 ATK, repeat

If the damage increases are the same then the STR is simply increasing ATK, if they're different then some other factor is at play.

[Spider-Dan]

So has anyone done any testing to confirm/refute +STR as +ATK for ARC?

[tachikoma]

The only test I have is that DEX is better then STR, that each is more effective on high lvl mobs/NM's then ATK, and that DEX is only marginally better then STR like +10DEX is equal to +8STR (guessing I can't remember the exact numbers but its close to 10dex=8str)

that was the parse results from 1.19+ taken with several hundred shots with each setup etc controlled results vs r50's/r46/r54

[Spider-Dan]

Does anyone have any ideas for how I can run a control vs. STR vs. ATK test? I'm having a hard time with gear config.

[tachikoma]

Does anyone have any ideas for how I can run a control vs. STR vs. ATK test? I'm having a hard time with gear config.

Raptorskin gloves and a lower tier attack power materia, could get away with a top tier 2 with the gloves giving just around 20attack power, then swap just the gloves with a STR materia of the same amount keep all gear constant except the glove swap.

use light shot only, test with 1 WS (no combo's). I'm sure carraway will see this post and give you a better writup but thats what I'd do.

PS: why not compare DEX, ATK as dex has shown to be more effective then STR

[Niiro]

How exactly does Raging Strike work?

Is there any detailed info about it?

[Dakin]

How exactly does Raging Strike work?

Is there any detailed info about it?

Adds a base X amount to your next ability (Not Auto-attack, but Archer light shot does benefit from the buff).

Not sure of the amount, but basically it's worthwhile to use raging strike whenever it is available. Even if you use Barrage, Quick Nock, Light Shot, Wide Volley, etc, it adds the same X amount of damage. I believe only the first arrow is boosted when used with Barrage and Quick Nock.

[Niiro]

Now I'm even more confused, the description makes it sound like it increases attack in 3 increments based on landing Light Shots and remains until you miss.

There's never any indication of it "stacking" and it doesn't wear after using a WS.

[Enygma55]

That's how it worked pre 1.20. Now its just a permanent buff that's stack-able up to 3x. It buffs all your arrow dmg by a bit and wears off once u miss a shot (which is never in a full pt)

[Grey Jorildyn]

Thing is I am not sure it works and I haven't thought to go out and test it. There are other abilities that stack up to 3x and they represent each addition to the stack with a roman numeral. Raging Strike doesn't do that however, so are we sure it is stacking properly? Might have to make sure.

[Spider-Dan]

Adds a base X amount to your next ability (Not Auto-attack, but Archer light shot does benefit from the buff).

Not sure of the amount, but basically it's worthwhile to use raging strike whenever it is available. Even if you use Barrage, Quick Nock, Light Shot, Wide Volley, etc, it adds the same X amount of damage. I believe only the first arrow is boosted when used with Barrage and Quick Nock.

Um, wrong. Maybe you're describing 1.19 Raging Strike, or something.

Raging Strike is a persistent buff that lasts until you miss an attack (this includes missing a hit in multi-hit WS). According to the help text, it increases your attack power every time you land Light Shot, up to a maximum of three stacks; the R36 trait increases its power by 50%. However, this attack boost doesn't display in the gear screen, and I haven't seen any test that indicate the exact amount of the bonus.

[Spider-Dan]

Thing is I am not sure it works and I haven't thought to go out and test it. There are other abilities that stack up to 3x and they represent each addition to the stack with a roman numeral.

Don't those abilities all stack on re-use? Raging Strike stacks on successful hits.

[Grey Jorildyn]

Oh I see. Nevermind what I said!

Edit: no nvm, I know what I meant. I mean when you hit with a light strike, you don't see "Raging Strike II/III" pop up. I almost feel like it should for the sake of consistency.

[Niiro]

I might go do some simple tests because I can't say I really notice a difference with/without it. Would be nice if the increase showed in the stat window like Power Surge, but nooooooo (fknSE).

Also thought it was stupid how their combos work (considering while solo) until I realized they're not even worth using at lower levels since the combo WSs barely do more damage than Light Shot.

Quick Nock seems oh so very far away.

[tachikoma]

Decided to test some arc: str vs dex vs control and found that having 241 vs 295 STR was a bad decision vs lvl 50 mobs. I found almost no difference in both cases in dmg. I am pretty sure I was hitting the STR cap vs the lvl 50 mobs. Same issue with DEX and that brings me to a thought that I had:

Should we be stacking attack power instead of str/dex etc especially vs moogle fight? So hard to test that controlled since i'm trying to keep blood for blood on cooldown and it heavily skews light shot dmg

[Dakin]

Now I'm even more confused, the description makes it sound like it increases attack in 3 increments based on landing Light Shots and remains until you miss.

There's never any indication of it "stacking" and it doesn't wear after using a WS.

Yeah, my mistake. For some reason I had Blood for Blood in my head instead of Raging Strike.