String Theory: A Puppetmaster's Guide *NEW*

I like refresh if youre spamming up in arms. It makes for zero down time pup/blm warps

This time around I managed to see low Quenching Hammer damage aside from one apparent anomaly, but still not sure what conditions cause Quenching Hammer to be consistently high (maybe relative positioning of affected targets + buffs active? Autos don't have buffs with VE/VE though)

Locked equipment slots and increased MDT from -28% to -39% for this last attempt, but used Light/Fire/Water instead of Light/Fire/Wind.

331 Quenching Hammer damage would be expected to be around 485 without Mana Jammer IV (1.466x going from 136 MDB to 61 MDB), to compare with situations where Mana Jammer IV isn't used at all


For the consecutive Waterga IVs before Overdrive, 120/365 = .3287, which is consistent with Steam Jacket reducing damage by ~67.5% (Optic Fiber I/II under 1 light maneuver corresponding to +50% increase in effect, so -45% damage with Steam Jacket under 1 water maneuver increased to -67.5%)

For the Quenching Hammer damage prior to Overdrive, 198/331 = .598 (indicating Analyzer -40% took effect). Then 198 damage was further cut to 151 under Overdrive. MDB prior to Overdrive was 136 and increased to 201 under Overdrive. 1 - 151/198 = .237, which is close to the expected damage reduction of .217 (discrepancy can be due to rounding +/- dSTAT changes during Overdrive).

For consecutive Waterga IVs during Overdrive, 2/239 = .00837, which is consistent with Steam Jacket functionally reducing damage to 0 (-80% with 3 maneuvers + 75% increase from Optic Fiber I/II under Overdrive).

Again still not sure why Quenching Hammer damage was lower (Mana Jammer IV + Overdrive and using Water Maneuver instead of Wind Maneuver is not enough to bring damage down from the 1600s to 151)

I see sporadic big spikes in Quenching Hammer damage as well. Most of them hit for ~220 on my current setup but it will sometimes hit for 1800. I'd just been assuming it was the difference between a successful and failed resistance check.

Regarding Inhibitor behavior I'd seen people mention it causes a delay and at first I thought that meant it was associated with some kind of increased decisionmaking delay inherent to the puppet. But observing a Valoredge frame attacking a single target on it's own I think I now understand what's happening / what people meant.

Using Light/Fire/Water maneuvers the VE frame will start with Bone Crusher. It will then prioritize making the only skillchain it can which is Distortion by using String Shredder. But then it cannot create any other skillchain - so I think the Inhibitor forces it to wait until the window has closed before it starts again with a Bone Crusher.

Probably not really an issue normally but in this frog ambuscade with overdrive active I've seen my puppet have up to ~2k TP before Bone Crusher goes off (which sometimes ends up being wiped out by Hammer) but it never seems to affect the follow-up String Shredder. So I think the delay is not so much the puppet being 'slow' but rather it's just not allowed to interrupt skillchains when equipped with an Inhibitor. Just thought that was neat and made what I observed make a lot more sense lol.

Folks might be interested in what Shudax is up to re: the h2h prime and heady artifice for mighty strikes.

I had no idea that Sharpshot Head on Valoredge Body uses Mighty Strikes. Cool!

Well it has no crossbow to EES, so it has to default to MS

Overdrive + Mighty Strikes I would assume.

Yeah realized after I typed VE would get invincible, harle gets the MS

The reason SS is better than harle is 2 extra light 1 extra fire, that's what I meant to say, not VE

At 10:55 where Quenching Hammer is used, Mao (automaton) takes only 414 damage with neither Mana Jammer IV nor Analyzer (used fire/light/wind maneuvers), so there is no need for either attachment if you somehow avoid increasing QH damage on the auto (only Brygid used to force Quenching Hammer here, not rolls)

Equipment and attachments used in the final part of the video (9:40) with Sharpshot Head/Valoredge Frame

Varga Purnikawa
Animator P +1
Taeon Chapeau (pet: attack/DA/damage taken)
Nyame Mail Path D (substituted for Pitre Tobe +3)
Pitre Dastanas +3
Nyame Flanchard Path D (substituted for Taeon Tights)
Taeon Boots (pet: attack/haste/damage taken)

Shulmanu Collar
Isa Belt
Visucius's Mantle (Pet haste/attack/accuracy/magic damage taken)
Enmerkar Earring
Karagoz Earring +2
Cath Palug Ring
Fickblix's Ring (substituted for Varar Ring +1)

Attuner
Magniplug
Magniplug II
Flame Holder

Speedloader II
Inhibitor II
Coiler II
Turbo Charger II

Auto-Repair Kit IV
Optic Fiber
Optic Fiber II
Inhibitor (substituted for Mana Jammer IV)

For a budget PUP (focusing on automaton dmg):

How does Sakpata's (R0) compare to Pitre Fists (R20 Path C)?

It doesnt. Sakpatas is an alright nuke swap i think but path c is best for anything ws related