String Theory: A Puppetmaster's Guide *NEW*

We're on the same server if you're still on Shiva. I didn't buy mine--I collected mats and asked a crafter to make them for me.

I stopped crafting when it figured out I couldn't reasonably make the shields. That said I haven't tried super hard just look around when I'm about

So I tried with a real COR, but I guess my pup isn't ready enough. My OD wore off at 40% remaining.

If you're "real cor" is level 97 full timing mostly standard DT set except the teaon having DA I barely made it. Also forgot to dia though not sure if that matters

Also funny story I just realized I never did the last slot of augments. Could have another 5 dt... or maybe mdt not sure

An LS mate of mine won using only an Ohrmazd with Acc/DT/STR+DEX+VIT plus COR rolls with plenty of time to spare, so I think it should be possible. Were you perhaps missing too much of the other gear like augmented Taeon?

So I was getting it down to 28% before OD wore and having to take the slow road to win, but switching out Analyzer for Flame Holder I was able to finish within OD duration...barely.

Also have to remember auto AI is weird. I often run exactly the same everything autos together not skillchaining and because of AI being weird sometimes I'll have one literally deal twice the dmg because it did about twice as many ws while next fight it will deal less. So a barely win 1 fight could easily be a plenty of time the next

I didn't use Analyzer while soloing if you look at the attachments in the video. Analyzer is only really necessary to keep your matons alive if you have two or more matons on the boss (due to the extra TP feed).

In any case, you can use all the same attachments as the video for multiple PUPs--just replace the Inhibitor II with Analyzer and you're good to go.

There's a bit of luck involved(for speed, not win). QH resets TP, so the more it hammers the less you get to tp.

I saw you switched Coiler II to Inhibitor II, think it added a little more, if you switch in analyzer...what do you swap out?

Solo setup (SoS/VE):

- ARK 4
- Optic Fiber 1+2
- Turbo Charger 1+2 (unlike the optimal Sharpshot OD setup, I definitely think Valoredge needs the capped Haste due to the lack of a 3-hit build with Thunder Maneuver + Coiler II)
- Mana Jammer 3+4
- Attuner
- Flame Holder
- Magniplug 1+2
- Inhibitor II or Coiler II (if you are getting COR97 Comp Roll or possibly Regal/Rostam Comp Roll)

2+ PUP setup (SoS/VE):

- ARK 4
- Optic Fiber 1+2
- Turbo Charger 1+2
- Mana Jammer 3+4
- Attuner
- Flame Holder
- Magniplug 1+2
- Analyzer

The bolded attachments are the flex slots. For the solo setup it's possible double Inhibitor would perform better than having Magniplug 1, but I found the maton sometimes holding TP even with just Inhibitor II so I haven't bothered to test it yet. Perhaps I'll try it tomorrow and report back.

Edit: Inhibitor 1 isn't worth it over Magniplug 1. Definitely ended up with a slower clear time.

Dia 2, on the other hand, makes a huge difference for damage output over Beast Roll. If gauging the distance for safety while I recorded hadn't been such a pain then going /RDM would have been a much better choice over /COR. GEO Trusts will still force Quenching Hammer even without any rolls.

I'll add I started using manajammer 3/4 and took out analyzer and yeah even with 2 pups on it hp barely moves every. All that mdt and mdb while OD is up makes hammer kind of sad

Yeah MJ 4+3 are usually enough (without SJ), but in some rare cases it can get pretty close. Analyzer just makes it 99-100% safe.

Totally agreed, I have been finding the extra Magniplug speeds up my times too. Too much WS delay with Inhibitors.


This is also great advice. I have a mule with good RDM and unleveled COR, and what I ended up discovering when going in dualbox is that Dia III was a huge boost. If you're going solo and don't have a separate RDM, PUP/WHM or PUP/RDM and Dia II would indeed be probably a better choice than /COR and a variable strength subjob-only Beast Roll. Personally, my now preferred dual-box setup is PUP/COR (Beast Roll) and RDM, and fill party with GEO trusts.

RDM is also helpful to stick Para/Slow/Distract (land pretty easily) and Addle (harder to stick, but can do it). There's enough utility from RDM that I'd also give it serious consideration for a slot in a multi-PUP setup.

If you are able to level your mule's COR at any point: even Barataria Ring + Beast/Companion's Roll is a huge improvement and would likely beat having Dia 3. It might even let you drop Inhibitor 2 altogether for Coiler II, although String Shredder + Distortion does surprisingly decent damage.

Would definitely go cor main, with pup or cor sub rdm, vs rdm main

And hell, right now, it takes less than an hour to get cor 99.

(plus you can cor lightshot!)((actually even sub cor can lightshot loltrollgunthxSE))

Sorry for the late reply, and no I dont have fully augmented Taeon, I went more with the STP herc set for my DD sets. And the COR I used is a Rostum/DP fully geared COR, so Rolls were on point.

Also tried to Duo PUP +1 Regal neck COR (different mule), but I didnt see your comment on Inhibitor so one PUP did 80% of the damage and the other must have been holding TP forever.

Yeah, that's a good point... with current exp campaign I think I will go get the mule a 99COR (rolls onry) in the next few days.

Not disagreeing that COR main is better than RDM. But for those with friends/mules who don't have PUP or COR (or if you already have 1 COR), I do think RDM is still one of the more useful teammates this month. At least can make some actual contribution instead of someone literally just standing there and giving you more gallantry.

FWIW, I've been using the same attachment setups as Aerix, with one variation: sometimes if I'm the only PUP (solo, or with my non-PUP having friends...) I'm a little more concerned about making sure my puppet keeps hate. So I'll use the "flex" slot for a Strobe II, which especially helps on the initial part of the fight when you're having people do COR rolls, enfeebles, etc. Without it, I've had the frog run around and cause the occasional wipe. With Strobe, nice and safe. I haven't found passing up the Analyzer to be something that's getting me killed, and I don't think I'd prefer trading out one of the other attachments (of which maybe Magniplug I or Turbo Charger I would be the most likely next choices to swap... but that seems like a worse call to me).

So I successfully duo'd VD with myself and a Regal Cor mule. Used the solo pup setup from Aerix above. Thanks guys, now I can get all my mules max points this month.

One question though: if my second box's PUP isn't really geared well enough, do you guys have a secondary RDM pet that I can put him on to maybe buff/debuff while mine does all the work?

Wtf? Relevant bug fixes? In MY ffxi? D:

This new world both scares and confuses me.

Well, I'm glad your prediction about this never getting fixed turned out wrong even though it could have very well ended up like that.

I have a very basic Rao+1 PUP.

If i wanted to solo this with Taeon what augments am i shooting for? Meva?

Accuracy+25/DA+5%/DT-4% are the "ideal" augments for each Taeon piece if you want a hybrid DPS set for your maton. Rao+1 should be good enough to win if you have a COR main to buff you, though.

Also, for people who don't know: always summon Trusts like AAMR (BST) and/or ShikareeZ (DRG) before doing pet rolls, as their presence will guarantee the job bonuses to Beast and Drachen Roll.

Aerix, Do you have ws gear you swap to at all or just keep that same gear on? Gotenn and I have been doing VD very quickly but with that same gear and attachments I cannot get him down without OD wearing at like 15% left

Albiet I can down D solo easily to get my mules points at least.

Generally I lock in a specialized set when I'm OD zerging something, as WSs fire off too quickly to swap reliably (for VE/SS) or I have to be too far away from my maton due to AoEs and can't always watch its actions.

In the case of SoS/VE, Taeon's Acc+DA is already pretty decent due to the fTP transfer that Bone Crusher has, which is further boosted by Flame Holder. So every multiattack proc adds like 5k-7k damage on the frog--plus you don't risk your maton getting caught by Quenching Hammer without DT.

Of course, a properly augmented set of Herculean with Pet: VIT/Acc/DA would certainly do better (if you can get that lucky), but in the case of SoS/VE I only ever use it for its survivability. Meaning if you give up DT-% for damage it somewhat defeats the purpose, in my opinion, unless you are very careful with swapping at the right moment. I don't have a specialized Herc set anymore mostly due to inventory issues and because I almost never use SoS/VE to OD. Under normal circumstances I prefer to optimize everything as much as possible, though. Obviously this is entirely situational as with everything.

As an aside: a Bruiser tankmaton with Attuner/Magniplug 2/FH + 4/5 Taeon + Light/Wind/Fire does extremely good damage on Omen bosses like Gin and can parse pretty close to a non-AFAC/non-Nirvana SMN while also tanking. Did about 20% of the damage last run I used it (with 3 other SMNs). No Overdrive needed.

Sorry, this went beyond your question, but I just wanted to add a little bit of extra info for other people in the thread.

Just tried VD Ambu with my NQ PUP mule and COR main rolls (Comp/Beast) only, no other support or PUPs. Had zero issues beating it and had about 30s left on Overdrive. I'm afraid you must have missed something in your attachment setup or your Automaton isn't gear Haste capped. Also make sure one of you casts Dia 2 on the boss.

For the record, this is what my mule was locked into:

ItemSet 368096

- Anwig: Haste+5%/DT-10%
- Taeon: Acc/DA/DT but not capped/perf augments
- Cape: Accuracy+20/Attack+20, Haste+10%, Accuracy+10, Damage Taken-5%
- Solo attachment setup from above
- Akamochi

My setup:
Same as attachments
Xiu path c
Anwig
Shulmalu
Pup ear (buraka?)
Enmerker
Taeon da4 dt4 acc25
Herc hands pet Dex 5 acc27 atk10 stp11
2x varar+1
Ambu back 10haste 10mdt acc20
20acc 9%haste belt
Herc legs 28acc 16atk 9stp
Taeon öeet 4da 4dt 25acc


Does the stp help much or should I swap to taeons?

I'd suggest using a Rimeice Earring over Burana Earring to cap your maton's Haste (currently only at 24% and it likely needs 26% to fully cap). Also check if your Anwig has Pet: Haste or not.

And it's been a while, so it's probably like 10+ pages back, but I once tested a full STP setup vs. other gear setups and the parses showed that Companion's Roll + Inhibitor made STP gear pretty much obsolete (aside from Relic body, of course). But honestly even without the DA+ from Taeon you should be able to win since you have Xiucoatl C.

Are you sure your attachments are the same? Do you have the Flame Holder equipped? That's a huge part of the damage since the update.