Sentinel's Scherzo effect on Physical Damage

[Kirschy]

Wanted to get some solid info this song, so I headed over to Quicksands on my RDM and stabbed cacti for a good 45 mins.

First off to note, Gjallar's All Songs +2 does indeed affect Scherzo.

603 Skill /w Gjallar - 730 Damage (27% Reduction)
603 Skill /w I.R.Horn - 750 Damage (25% Reduction)

Not a leap to say Gjallar adds 2% to the damage reduction~

Second, I increased skill to see the changes in damage reduction. The following were all done /w Gjallar:

603 - 730 (27%)
606 - 730 (27%)
607 - 730 (27%)
608 - 730 (27%)
609 - 730 (27%)
610 - 720 (28%)
623 - 710 (29%)
633 - 700 (30%)
666 - 670 (33%)

Fairly simple pattern. Scherzo adds discrete 1% reduction in damage taken every 10 skill.

Important to note that PDT and MDT work in in /256ths. This has been known for years, but shows that Scherzo is working in a different system~ For my next test, I wanted to see how PDT and Scherzo interacted, as there were reports using both cancelled out Scherzo's effect.

PDT -5% - 953 Damage (12/256)
(PDT -5%) + (PDT -5%) - 906 Damage (24/256)

PDT -5% /w 633 skill Scherzo - 953 Damage
PDT -5% + PDT -5% /w 633 skill Scherzo - 906 Damage

This confirms that the two were NOT working together.

Additionalli I tested having another character in range to make sure the damage reduction stayed constant when taking less initial damage. I moved my BRD, Daxam, into range but continued to use Pianissimo Scherzo to keep the test constant.

Kirschy - 500 Damage
Daxam - 500 Damage

I tested this twice, and Scherzo offered NO damage reduction.

Additional testing shows that Scherzo only offers damage reduction if the damage taken is ~75% of your max HP. It probably works on the formula: [Damage Taken > floor(.75(Max HP))]

Scherzo stacks with damage taken- equipment. Damage taken reduction from equipment is applied first, and if the damage taken is still 75% or more of your current HP, scherzo is applied. If damage reduction from equipment brings the total damage taken below this threshold, scherzo will not offer an additional reduction.

Scherzo is confirmed to work on magic damage.

Currently SV'd Scherzo offers 2x duration instead of 2x potency. Not sure if this is a glitch or intended.

[rog]

That's...interesting.

[Aurara]

Obviously means we should test with spike flail!

[Holyman]

It's kinda useless if you have to take 1k dmg for it to function ;/ , considering you would use it on tanks , I don't know many TP moves that can deals that much high dmg or not blinkable to well-geared tank ;x

[Not Kuno]

Sounds great for throat stab attacks, everyone should have over 1k hp in abyssea. >.>;

[rog]

Sounds great for throat stab attacks, everyone should have over 1k hp in abyssea. >.>;

Oh shit, i better get that if i ever do tonberries! -30% damage would easily be -10k or more!

[Arthars]

this song works very well on vunkerl's spider NM

ever since we start using this song, we never get 1 shot by sickle slash again (usually take 2500 damage and 1 shit a THF or NIN ;

[rog]

this song works very well on vunkerl's spider NM

ever since we start using this song, we never get 1 shot by sickle slash again (usually take 2500 damage and 1 shit a THF or NIN ;

...iktomi? I've never taken more than liek, 800 damage or so from that.

[Byrthnoth]

I'm confused. G-horn has 20 skill on it and every 10 skill adds 1%. wouldn't that mean G-horn doesn't work with Sentinel's Scherzo?

[rog]

I'm confused. G-horn has 20 skill on it and every 10 skill adds 1%. wouldn't that mean G-horn doesn't work with Sentinel's Scherzo?

Did you even read it?

603 Skill /w Gjallar - 730 Damage (27% Reduction)
603 Skill /w I.R.Horn - 750 Damage (25% Reduction)

[Foldypaws]

...iktomi? I've never taken more than liek, 800 damage or so from that.

Weird, I thought he was stronger than the Miseraux one, and I've seen that do 1600+ (admittedly to a monk with counterstance up...)

[rog]

Nah, Iktomi is a pushover, and is in Miseraux. The Vunkerl one is harder. And goes through shadows. (though I don't remember it doing quite that much)

Iktomi is in vunkerl, and it's sickle slash goes through shadows...

You are confusing it with athamas.

[Foldypaws]

Iktomi is in vunkerl, and it's sickle slash goes through shadows...

Yeah, you got me before I edited it, I had a momentary brain freeze

[Fereydoon]

Sounds exactly like Earthen Armor. It might be a % of your HP instead of over 1k.

[Byrthnoth]

Did you even read it?

Obviously not! Anyway, any pdt from gear does not necessarily eliminate the song's effect if PDT checks first. So if the threshold is 1k damage and pdt is applied first, then it drops it below theshold. So it may stack afterall.

[Dooom]

...iktomi? I've never taken more than liek, 800 damage or so from that.

Fought it yesterday, Sickle Slash was normally no big deal doing normal damage, though early on in the fight it did 2.3k to one of our drks. ouch.

[ringthree]

It's kinda useless if you have to take 1k dmg for it to function ;/ , considering you would use it on tanks , I don't know many TP moves that can deals that much high dmg or not blinkable to well-geared tank ;x

Abyssea radically changes the HP amounts players have and the damage delivered by many of the mobs. 1k is getting closer to the norm and is only taking some tanks down to 2/3 HP.

Just as an example, we had a DRG with 3.2K+ HP with buffs and Atma. I am not even sure she had fully abyssite-buffed enhancements.

[Khajit]

Obviously not! Anyway, any pdt from gear does not necessarily eliminate the song's effect if PDT checks first. So if the threshold is 1k damage and pdt is applied first, then it drops it below theshold. So it may stack afterall.

so basically future tests need to involve tonberry?

[NynJa]

This leads me to believe Scherzo only has an effect when 1000 or more points of damage is taken!

I cannot currently prove this is true, but the data suggests as much~
The text on Scherzo reads "Mitigates the impact of severely damaging attacks for party members within area of effect."

Is it just PDT, or MDT as well (I guess DT in that case?)

What if its not damage that surpasses a certain amount (in your case 1k), but damage that surpasses a percentage of target's hp?

[Kirschy]

Future tests involving tonberry throat stab could be used to see how pdt + scherzo interact, but I've been busy/lazy/sick, so I won't get it done for a bit.

I imagine scherzo is PDT + MDT, but I can't think of any mobs /w constant magic damage that does over 1k. I guess if one wanted to test, could use the worms in la theine? They probably use Stone V/Stonega III, that damage shouldn't vary, and should be easily survivable /w atma/curor buffs.