Animator's Workshop: A Puppetmaster's Guide 2.0

Corses have -25% MDT, found that out when I was testing to see if Banish's added effect has a magic accuracy check (it does) or to see if it affected Hahava and Vinipata's Stance DT biz (it doesn't).

Also Belph might have higher MDT than regular corses given how meh SC damage is on him, although that doesn't explain why SC damage+ wouldn't apply.

So what are we looking at for prime Valoredge DD and Overdrive setup now?

anyone else not able to find Rararoon at G-6?
maybe it's a glitch, but he's not showing up

I also could not find rararoon when i looked earlier.... thought maybe it was just me O_o

Depends quite a bit on the target, I'd say. If they have any sort of weakness to magic, or at least don't resist it in anyway way, Speedloaders are great. But I am finding that a lot of those NMs that I use OD on anyway DO have some sort of resistance.

I am a bit curious how well this will work on very high level mobs. Vinipata, for example, is weak both to Bone Crusher and light chains. I tossed around the idea of having an armada of PUP ODing and rotating around to constantly BC his ***, dunno if you could kill him in 3 minutes though.

Tbh, the best use of Speed Loader seems to be farming JP. PUP is really good at multistep chains, and Speed Loader really likes multisteps. Seriously, it was designed in a way that allows the master to have more time to gain tp to continue a chain. If two PUPs could team up, one could use Flame Holder and REALLY get some serious damage going. Really, a Red Mage and a PUP would be ideal. Inundation and three types of weapons used should be a fairly massive boost.

WS order would be V.Smite > Death Blossom > Shijin > Bone Crusher.
If it isn't dead at that point you can do CDC.

Ideally you are abusing triple fire, with both speedloaders, attuner and flame holder. After that the strongest tension spring you can set. Attuner will be negating 45% of a target's DEF, along with Dia 3 and you have 60% of a target's DEF gone. So the 1200 DEF a target might have is now 480. Flame Holder is adding 2.25ftp to every hit of Bone Crusher, so it's adding at LEAST 6.75ftp, and 11.25ftp at best. So you can get some really beefy Bone Crushers. Because the bonus from Inundation and Speedloaders happen in different steps, they are actually multiplicative, which is how you see a 30k Darkness from a 5k String Shredder. With that sort of logic, you could well see a 20k bone crusher giving you capped light.

I haven't done it personally yet, but it is something I am interested in testing out. Theoretically it should work though.
------------------------------------------------------------------

In regards to Regulator, it does seem to have very high accuracy. I have yet to see it miss. It seems to be able to steal almost any single effect, meaning that if a buff only grants one thing, Regulator can probably steal it. The other thing is that unless a buff gets dispelled, you have no way of knowing when it goes away. There is no message in the log.

Anyone else having trouble with Speedloaders? I cannot for the life of me get my puppet to close skillchains with Armor Shatterer while Speedloaders are equipped. Daze, Armor Piercer, String Shredder, and Bone Crusher all seem fine.

Switch out speedloaders for inhibitors, and she uses the WS again. Seems like a bug so far.

Finished Godhands, damage seems to be semi decent. H2H ws still sucks though

it broken. i said something about that on SE forums also.
happpy that iam not the only one that notice it!

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/50782-speedloader-broken-on-rng-pet.-please-fix

A curiosity, if you don't mind my asking; how would Speedloader and Inhibitor interact? I like Inhibitor simply for the extra STP, meaning that my auto is better-suited to SC when I'm doing CP parties with my lsmates who have things like Haste II on them, meaning that otherwise my Automaton falls behind when it's closing SCs (and I have fun when it's not; Ukkos -> String Shredder = Distortion -> Upheaval = Fusion -> Bone Crusher = Light -> Ukkos = Double Light). I'm just worried that without the STP from two attachments it won't be able to keep up anymore, so I'd rather not replace it, but I'm interested in the SC Bonus from Speedloader along with the potential of aiming at the end of the window.

Atm I'm using something like Inhibitor I + II, Optic Fiber, Coiler, and Turbo Charger I + II for my TP building in CP parties (along with Stabilizer II and Target Marker for Acc), so I am wondering if Speedloader replacing the Tension Spring IV I use for damage filler is worthwhile. If both are active, does it still try and go at the start of the window, a la Inhibitor, or would it aim for the end because of the Speedloader?

I've been wondering that too. Only one way to find out!

I was actually using both to do mutlichains myself. I found that almost always the automaton will go with the speedloader logic, but every once in a great while it would go with inhibitor and WS almost immediately after I did. So, I dunno. ***seems random.

What's a way to convince an apex pt to let you in ad a pup?

I'm afraid paying gil might be the most efficient way.
If you find another let me know, I'm interested >:D

Just show them this
or this

How did you get 99k MB on crabs from Pamama? Which attachments? How many JPs did you have? Which buffs? And may I see your set?
I apologize for the storm of questions!

When I tried long time ago (I only had like 200 JPs) my top BlizzardV on crabs was like 30k with both MB attachments.

Plus it was a bit tricky to get the right timing for deploy (especially if I was meleeing myself instead of staying in the backlines).
If you deploy too fast it will cast Thunder V instead of the spell related to the Skillchain currently ongoing.

ItemSet 343517

Ohrmazd have MAB+19, Taeon Tights have MAB+22, Naga Tekko is fully upgraded path D, Taeon Tabard has MACC+21, Rawhide Mask is fully upgraded path D. I was probably wearing a Mecistopins mantle at the time. Visucius's mantle has MACC+20, MAB+20.

Dark: Mana Tanks III and IV, Mana Conserver
Light: Optic Fiber
Water: Mana Channeler, Heatsink, Condenser, Stealth Screen II
Ice: Amplifiers I and II, Ice Maker, Loudspeaker IV

I had over 1200 job points but less than 1900. I was probably eating Grape Daifuku because there was a GEO in the party, but I typically use Rolanberry. I usually try to wait for 3 ice maneuvers, to take full advantage of Ice Maker. Obviously there are times when you want to nuke with less; gotta play it by ear.

Anyway, I typically hit in the 40s-50s, depending on the mob and the nuke. With malaise and languor, that goes into the 70s and 80s. With Blaze of Glory, I'll hit in the upper 90s. For this exact screenshot (without JSE cape, before getting Ukko Sash), I had to pop Overdrive to get those extra ~1k to hit the damage cap (couldn't help myself).

If I can stand in the backline, I wear idle gear (mostly defensive + pet regen/refresh). Denouements, relic hat, and contriver's cape for refresh. If you pop a dark maneuver every so often, you can keep the same puppet out for longer. For crabs, you need a dark maneuver or new puppet every 2 mobs on account of their annoying mp. For crawlers, it's burden that forces you to change puppets. Kenkonken extend your puppet's time even further :)

It's totally possible to punch and nuke. Nuke just the same way (water>ice>ice>ice, deploy, retrieve, repeat). It's hard to get the timing right when closing skillchains, so try to be the one who opens. Also, thunder is preferable because timing is easier. You can start casting before the SC is closed, just like a real mage!

Your puppet hits hardest with Thunder, even against crawlers. If you can choose the skillchain, opt for light. But yes, the timing for deploy is definitely tricky. Go too early and you'll get the wrong nuke. Go too late, and you'll get a weak version. It takes practice just about every time, since you have to learn the unique timing of the WSs being used.

If I may ask, how do you get your automaton to nuke in the first place? Whenever I try, with capped skill, he just stands there and looks at the mob without doing anything. Is it macc issues? Am I missing something altogether? All I know is that mine doesn't even want to try in the first place.

Wut? Is that even a question? Are you saying your automaton isn't MBing or that he isn't casting at all? I think I'm missing something from your post because it's not making any sense to me atm

He's literally not casting at all. I have maneuvers up, and when I hit deploy he'll melee if he's in range, but he won't cast at all. This shows up on my RDM automaton as well; he'll cast buffs and cures, but he won't attempt debuffs or nukes.

What exactly are your automatons skills at? Back in the day they used to do this when they thought they would get heavily resisted. I think an attachment used to make this behaviour which are you using?

Edit: I remember now it used to be the scanner attachment.

Oh, if the scanner attachment does it then there's a good chance that's what's doing it, as I used to keep that attached at all times, and it's probably still on my old blm loadout. Will remove it and check.

Edit: Yup, that did it, he's casting on Apex mobs now.

oSo in my limited searches around wikis I can't really find info on auto weaponskills. Are the mods known, and is stuff like tp bonus worth using for them? What does, say, an average bone crusher set look like?

In my link shell we have a group that 6-8 man kills stuff with pup dd setups. We usually use pupx2-3, corx2,geo and others. We are doing alright on lvl 140 mobs like the escha ruan Ark angels, but are stuck on Maju atm.

His evasion and hp are too high to get close to a kill atm. We got him to 40% but this was with 3 puppets overdriving. We use a corsair and a geo for buffs and we got the blinding the nm part worked out. Only thing we can improve here is using an idris geo but this isnt the option atm. Using Bone Crusher and Chimera Ripper weaponskills to prevent a skillchain on this nm. This is the gear i am working with:

ItemSet 344278

Using pet:acc+23-25 , damage taken+3-4 and double attack +4-5 augments on taeon gear. Only lacking a possible 5 acc, 2 dt and 2 dbl attack from augments atm.

I get 1570 orso accuracy with this. With this i achieve a 72% acc rate and pet ws ranging from 6-8k. When i overdrive i am near capped on acc and ws go to 10-13k. With all this Maju stil has way too much hp. One way i can improve is getting more accuracy++ seals from Reisenjima Quetzacotl. I am at 4 seals atm and not going to get more soon since the server doesnt do quetzacotl much.Does anyone have an idea what i can do to improve the puppet stats without sacrificing its ability to tank? I just want to know if i am missing something, since player jobs have accuracy of 1700-1800 to fight this.

BUMP! We need answers, people!

What are you asking for answers for? You seem to have answered your own question. You are near the cap for Pet Acc and Maju is well outside their reach without 1h.

You'd need around 1900 for Maju to cap. A RDM would add another 80 but you're still missing a lot of buffs melee get such as Madrigals, Precision etc..

You could have someone come Thf as well for feint but that doesn't last too long.

You would honestly get more accuracy on Master if you went with a Full ACC build for that and make the fight easier. Would need a bard and a Rdm though.

Are you not using Target Maker?

Yeah everything is with Target Marker. Yeah a RDM would be the only option i guess, but even with that the numbers wont come close to being acceptable. What i am hearing and starting to experience is that it is not possible to hit acceptable numbers on T4 as a puppetmaster pet no matter what you do.

Doesnt this seem like an unbalance in the game? And as such would it be a valid concern to adress this on the official forums? They could quick fix this by giving us better accuracy gear. Adding/changing abilities should not be possible with how few developers they got atm. If i am wrong feel free to respond and why.

They know and recently commented on the accuracy imbalance. They plan to address it through gear instead of lowering the evasion on monsters.

Not sure how this will change pet balance though, probably won't do too much. Pup would need a run wild sort of ability to even stand a chance at hitting those things properly. Summoner is likely in the same boat.

Now the problem isn't that you have to overcome the evasion of the mob but also the defense. Magic defense just doesn't go to nearly the height of physical defense on those monsters and magic bursts boost your spell accuracy by quite a bit thus why magic is used in nearly every fight there is now with almost 0 melee or pets anymore.

SE doesn't care about balance, the melee imbalance a lone is proof of that. They care about participation % and long cut scenes.

Defence isnt that badly imbalanced tho. The accuracy is the worst thing at the moment. But i would say tho that melee can get up to acceptable numbers with the right support jobs.The 1800 required for this isnt too hard to reach as melee. They can actually kill these NM. There are videos of this on youtube. The requirements for that are very high though.

Using the puppet as a dd on these just isnt possible at this point. No matter what you buff it with or debuff the NM with. And yeah Summoner has it even worse. Over 140 all youll use summoner as is a magic burster that is hampered by a long recast.

Oh jesus. Automatons are the most accurate thing in the game and it honestly isn't even close. Target Marker is the MOST ABSURD accuracy boost in the game. Just from looking at your gear set I can see where the issue is. You're relying on a tank puppet to try and DD, I'm guessing. That's dumb. Maneuvers aren't going to be ideal, just be happy you get any damage from your tank at all.

5/5 Hercs with accuracy and DEX are the best options for armor. My Automaton sits at around 2100 effective accuracy on triple thunder TM on T4s. It's overkill, but one less maneuver cuts the evasion reduction in half. I've posted how target marker works before, but but it's only half the effectiveness against NMs, so you REALLY need thunder maneuvers to make it work using at all. Overdrive gets around this, but that's not ideal.

Another thing you might try, although I'm almost certain it won't work, is using Knockout. It's got the same sort of potency of most other single hit Automaton WS have, but the added effect is -10%(PERCENT) evasion for 30 seconds. So on a mob like Maju, that's -180 evasion if it lands. Pretty sure it has a m.acc check which you won't be hitting, but I've never bothered to test it.

Since you are Shiva I KNOW what you are doing, and the biggest thing is that you aren't going to do enough damage with Automatons. They just don't do much damage without skillchains. Overdrive is the exception, but that's not practical.


Our summoners do just fine against Helm mobs in Reisenjima using physical blood pacts.

Edit: Also worth mentioning is that Automatons have the highest accuracy bonus in the game. It's a straight 10% bonus that applies to EVERYTHING you give them. Skill, gear, stats, food, vorseals. Everything gives you 10% more accuracy than it would to anyone else.