Another Set Advice Thread

/WAR - provides better epeen because of Berserk and such, DA is nice
/SAM - Hasso, better TP gain, better survivability, greater WS frequency

I personally prefer /SAM, it is much more versatile, and it can help me to survive. Berserk will allow me to do more damage on my weaponskills, but store tp and hasso will greatly increase my weaponskill frequency thus increasing my overall damage.

^ This lol. Plus on /WAR I can be lazy.

Also, just noticed a few sets in here use the Occ Attacks X# times. That worth it? Figured the low base dmg made the WSs meh.

From what I have read, Mythic>OAT>All

OAT = easy 5-hit + uber ws frequency

(This is OATwice, the OA2-4 is garbage.)

Ah well then nvm no one does T3 VNMs lol

(On bahamut anyway)

It has been a loooong time since i crunched greater colibri numbers, but iirc you needed 117 dex to cap crit rate on them. They are lv 81-82 mobs with job class off rdm/rdm (TERRIBLE agility).

In your set you have 100 dex on WS. This means you about an ~8% crit rate on a level 81-82 log agi mob (20% is cap from dex). On anything you fight today, that is probably floored right down at 5%. Dex caps at 20% so you are missing out on 15% crit rate because of your lack of dex. Ideally, you can get 20% from dex, 5% from merits, ~10% from the WS itself at 100tp, +whatever crit rate gear you might have (most of it isnt used anymore like zahaks mail). So from a possible 35%+gear crit rate, you are probably only getting 20% crit rate. We are facing other mob classes with higher agi than rdm often and all are much higher level, so your dex is pretty much in the can. Obviosuly some of this is self correcting when you get additional gear like twilight helm over heca.

Should you FOCUS on dex to an extreme degree? Nah. But when you get opportunites like the belt slot to add a whopping 13dex at the (small) expense of 3 str, i take moves like that. Whenever 2 pieces of gear are in the same ballpark on raw power, lean with the one that adds more dex. This is why pieces like pipilaka and love torque still do well. They add atk/str/acc etc but also add chunks of dex. In pipilaka vs bier's case, its a friggin LOT of dex.

Just noticed the boots. I assumed they were heca. Id change those to especially since you can augment them with more str anyway.

So in your build now:
STR: 96+90=186
DEX: 75+25=100

Swapping out heca for twilight:-2str, +10 dex (and 25 atk)=great trade.
Belt: -3str, +13 dex. Good trade
Feet to heca+1: -2str, +4dex (and acc). Augmented can get up to +4str, +6atk and 4polearm skill. Total upgrade +2str, 6atk, 4polearm, 4dex. WINNAR! (mine are just +3str, 2skill for now ; ;)

Those would net you +27 dex alone and you will be sitting nicely for minimal hits to str. (And get more incidental acc in case you do fight something funky).

Im not saying go balls to the wall dex or anything, but when it makes sense to. On pieces that the dex-based alternative is still pretty good str/atk wise, go for it. Dont start trading str rings for dex rings or anything. Never do a 1for1 trades for str and dex. That just wont pay off (except in the RARE instances that you KNOW you are within 10 dex of capping on a specific mob. At that point, every point of dex is 1% crit rate for the final 10 points. That worked for things like colibri specific builds at 75, but mostly irrelevant now.)

I cheat since im a cat and have 5str/3dex merits (twashtar thf) so i start with a big lead, but my build (currently) has (with 6 from hasso so it matches your numbers):85+76str and 89+52dex. You have 96+90str, 75+25Dex. I am short about 3str from ear because im to lazy to replace assault yet. So assuming i made that change and change strigoi to pyrosoul just to match sets better to compare, i have 80str/52 dex vs 90/25. 10 str for 26 dex isnt to bad a trade, and it still includes things like atk and has a large amount of extra acc for the rare occasions we do need it. This puts (me) at 141 dex which should cap me on any mob with 120ish agi or lower which covers me for most things.

Obviously as an elvaan you arent quite so fortunate in what dex levels you are capable of, but moving even from your 100 dex to 126ish would cap you on a great many more monsters than you currently are.

Obviously, all this talk about dex and such only applies outside abyssea. Inside RR and cruor enhancements will fill you up just fine anyway so its all moot there.

Okay, I'll try working on N boots. Suzu isn't that hard to get a pop set for. I need to wait for that belt to pop on AH before I can buy it. And Shinryu needs to put out something else besides God damn Twilight cloaks D:<

Thanks for the advice and explinations~

Slight Bump.

Just wondering if anyone has found out about what would be better for Drakesbane neck slot; Ire Torque +1, Love Torque or sea gorget?

And also Jump set?

Soul/Spirit Jump (ATK+5 DA+2 on N hat)

Total is...
STR96+38
DEX75+11
Store TP 15(/SAM)+19
Double Attack +21%

Jump/High Jump is basicly the same but Wyrm Belt for the vit+

Wouldnt Rancor collar be best for neck for Drakesbane?

Oh, true. Hm... I can see it being better than sea gorgets... Idk about the others though. Not sure about all the math behind it

Rancor is pretty much the best for almost all crit WSs.

Sadly I recently cleared my hate to help a friend with the Tonberry NM for the key lol... Guess I'll go slaughter some...

does the crit on wivre gorgets go up to 2 or 3?

3. Never seen it though.

if it goes up to 3 i'd probably just try to get that, so i don't have to worry about hate and damage taken :/

yeah, be nice

Okay, first off, 3/3 Ares body pieces!

Now for the question. Ares Body would give me STR+12 ATK+24 (2 STR = 3 attack. 12/2=6; 6x3=18. 18+24= 42 atk.) and Lancer's body gives STR+14 ATK+14 (14/2=7; 7x3=21. 21+14= 35 atk.) but also gives STP+10 Dex/Acc+14 (35 acc total + some crit). Guy in linkshell said Ares be he doesn't have DRG leveled so... Any opinions?

2 STR is 1.5 attack, not 3. Look at the situation and decide if the additional stats on Lancer's matter, then use whichever is appropriate.

Bah right 4 str is 3 atk... I should sleep more than four hours a day...

Okay, so if I got this right, Ares for abyssea and Lancer's for outside.

You get 8.5 more atk with ares (8-9) in exchange for 2str, 10stp, 14dex, and an assload of acc.

It only really stands out for camlanns torment with all the vit. If you are using drakes, the dex for crit and 2str on a 50% str mod WS should serve you better most of the time. If you ever need the acc, lancers curbstomps ares. If you need the STP, it curbstombs ares.

There would be a narrow range on some mobs where your acc is capped, your Ddex WAY over cap (so you could dump 14), but your atk isnt and you dont need the STP for Xhit builds. If you are in a situation the dex/acc/stp wont help then sure, get 8-9 more atk for -2str is an ok-ish trade, but not mind boggling. Everything that doest fit those requirements, lancers will win heartily.

14 DEX is going to average out to about 1.4% critrate on most things (barring Abyssea where you're obviously overcapped) unless you're actually using a DEX build and are in the appropriate range, so don't get too excited there.

Lancer's Body is pimp - especially if you're like me and you have a few jobs that you care about and inventory becomes an issue. The Twilight body seems to look better for Drakes, but I think the actual difference is negligible and Ares is only going to spike higher numbers on EP mobs.

Moving on.. there are a lot of cheap and decent alternatives for Drakes swaps such as cloat boots from Guimauve in (A) Konsch. If your DRG is worth it's weight, you can solo the NM and do not need blue to get them. Str+9.. Hecas are only better for nudging crits cause of the dex.. they also can be augmented to have more strength, but unaugmented Heca+1s are only slightly better than Clouts.

I know Twilight Helm is best thing out there for Drakes, but while making my verethragna I got an Ost Cerveliere (sp) it's 6str, 6dex and 14 fire, 14 light.

My question is.. how do the elemental effects work out for Drakes? Fire and Light are key SC effects for Drakes, do those 14 elemental effects factor in? If so, anyone have any idea how much?

Wondering if this is a valid swap or if I should just npc it.. trying to get the twilight helm.. 0/22. meh.

not sure if you're serious.

What do you think?

good point.

One of Austar's first posts of the day and I'm already down 2 [+]s :(

:( now i feel bad.

Why wouldn't I be serious? 14 light and 14 fire would factor into magic cast.. so.. if I use the appropriate elemental properties for the WS/SC, does it have an effect? I can't find anything on it and was wondering if anyone had a clue or not.

basically does 14 Light and 14 Fire have any affect on Drakes and if so/negligable or noticable?

Those are defensive stats, you're thinking of affinity. Even so, affinity doesn't effect physical weapon skills such as Drakes. It would effect Red lotus/Seraph (if the +14 elemental was affinity). However, this raises a question on my part about skill chains. Are they effected by anything other than the closing weapon skill? (for damage that is)
Edit: Other than JA/JT.~

Thanks for the legitimate answes, I was curious if the elements on it made it worthwhile to swap in.

My apologies to the other people who had to put up with such a "stupid" question - guess I need to get on the ball and change my avatar to some anime pic and be ashamed of how I look in real life.