String Theory: A Puppetmaster's Guide *NEW*

I wasn't hoping for anything specifically, but I would've loved general adjustments to the frames/heads.

The adjustments they made so far to the jobs contributed in making them more "peculiar" and more "fun" to play.
New attachments and adjustments to the old ones can achieve this role, but attachments are something that you can equip, or that you keep unequipped.
Generic adjustments to the frames/heads would always be with you no matter the types of attachments you decide to equip, if you get what I mean.

I'm not against new attachs or adjustments to the old ones, don't get me wrong.
It's just that I would've also loved something more "general".

Makes sense, I feel the same way. Here's hoping the attachment updates are sweeping enough to address all of our concerns anyway.

They could throw a major curveball and have one of the new attachments make the Automaton copy all the buffs the Puppetmaster has.

That's literally the best attachment they could add.

That would be epic, but I doubt the Dev. Team would do that for us.

Most likely, 2 or 3 brand new attachments of varying tiers, and even higher tiers of already existing attachments.

If that's the case I would love to see an increase to elemental caps to accommodate

If anything we need 16 attachment slots similar to player gear instead of the current 12, but I doubt SE would ever go through the trouble of changing the UI.

Though that would be a terrific adjustment, I agree with you and your doubts that SE would ever go through the trouble of making that adjustment.

There are, however, ways to open up more slots without increasing the number of available slots. I'll use a couple of examples below so you can get a general idea of where I'm going with this.

Optic Fibers I and II
Strobe I and II

If SE are wise, they would make higher tiers of a few attachments. Optic Fiber III and Strobe III are the best examples I can provide since they are mandatory for a PUP tanking build. The single Tier III attachment would give the same benefit to your Automaton as if it was using both the Tier I and Tier II attachments.

What would this mean??? Basically, by equipping the Tier III attachment, you're getting the same benefits as having both the Tier I and Tier II attachments. But now you've got an open slot to add another attachment, giving the master even more customization options.

Other attachments where having a Tier III version would be helpful...

Inhibitor I and II
Speedloader I and II
Turbo Charger I and II
Vivi Valve I and II (for those WHM automaton users)
Amplifier I and II (for the BLM puppets)
Resister I and II
Stealth Screen I and II
Coiler I and II

I once had the same thought as your suggestion, but us FFXI players being the way we are, we'd just equip all three tiers of the same attachment and then still complain about not having enough slots and capacity for anything else :P

ItemSet 365447

Looking for any tips on a master+pet set
(working on kenkonken just currently using godhands)
Cape is 20 DEX acc/att pet haste 10 acc/att
herc feet are acc 40 att 37 AGI 10 TA 3%.

Sets meant to make sure pets atleast capped gearhaste and running 2 wind maneuvers 1 thunder w/ both haste parts and the DA part.

any recommendations?

To add, the auto I use w/ this set is valor head/frame

Seems more like you're just going for the pet haste and ignoring other stats for your own.

I'd say it's probably better off trying to maximize as many stats for both of you as possible. Minimally swap out legs and feet for Heyoka+1, which would also give the auto some much needed accuracy.

Could then use something like Tali head for some Store TP on the Auto. Body... Relic+3 would probably be the best option cause of the accuracy+att+Store TP but that's not necessarily easy to obtain for everyone... Could use Tali body for the extra accuracy and the TA for you.

Trying to think of other options... Hands personally I'd probably do Herc if I wanted a little more of a master bump or another Heyoka+1.

Also not a huge fan of Mache earrings (especially doubling up on them) because of the Martial Arts, I'd probably switch out at least one of them for Brutal and then the other to either Cessance(master focus) or Domesticator's earring.

Overall capping Automaton haste is great and all but I feel like by focusing on that you risk losing out on other beneficial stats for the auto like Accuracy and Store TP.

I'm using the AF body over the relic for the haste purposed but I do agree on the haste portion, Tali body is alot nicer for both and I really dont enjoy using af +3 head because it just feels like I'm giving up alot just for the sake of capping it's gear haste.

I'll have to checkparam for it's acc in this set, I normally save Heyoka for just enmity/acc or mix it in w/ rao for some other tanky stats.

I really really considered the relic body but I felt like 15 stp wouldnt be worth losing the haste

And the two mache's are for the godhands, if I remember right I needed to have two of them on but I could be remembering wrong

Yea I kind of hate the AF Head, the stats are just not that great.

Main reason I say relic body is because STP and att/acc. On lower level stuff, the att/acc may not matter as much but even with Target Maker higher stuff can be stupidly evasive sometimes.

I like Heyoka cause it has a good mix of accuracy for both and the Crit hit rate isn't a terrible master stat either to make up for not using a more master centric piece.

Having Kenkonken has really opened my eyes to just how much that Automaton accuracy is worth for higher tier fights... that and all the delicious skillchain spam.

Ah thanks so much! Gives me an idea of what to do setwise, normally right now it just tanks for me and I fight with it just using earth maneuvers and swapping in a fire/light every 30-45 seconds or so. Made the sets for tanking, DDing, shooting casting etc but just now trying to really fine tune things

For what it's worth, when I parsed myself with Xiucoatl Path C in Dyna Wave 1 and 2 farms, I usually hovered around 10-11% on the scoreboard while my VE/SS maton was around 2-2.5% in comparison. Granted, I usually had some buffs like Sam/Chaos/Haste II (rarely BRD buffs or fulltime capped haste), but Maton was always capped on Accuracy and Haste.

The Automaotn also had zero issues keeping up with my TPing for skillchains despite my wearing no Pet: STP gear, so that should give you an idea how worthwhile it is to gear for the Automaton beyond useful hybrid pieces like Tali'ah body+2 or Heyoka+1. Of course, that might change with the update, but right now I wouldn't recommend it.

Here's the TP gear I was using:

ItemSet 353038

Cape is Acc/Atk+20, PDT-10%, Pet: Acc+30, Atk+20, Haste+10%

You're right, in a super buffed situation master TP is going to be more important. In fact at that point would probably be better to ignore really gearing for the pet wouldn't it? Even with Kenkonken.

Most of the bonus damage you're even going to get in a situation like that is going to be the skillchains rather than their actual damage. STP would probably pull ahead more in the case of using ws like Arcuballista since it benefits a good deal from overflow.

Yeah, in situations I couldn't skillchain with my maton I swapped to this TP set:

ItemSet 352751

Cape: DEX+20, Acc+30, Atk+20, DA+10%, PDT-10%

Ryuo Head: Path C, Ryuo Legs: Path D

Alternatively I could've used Samnuha legs, but I already have pretty decent TA, so I opted for the Ryuo+1 STP and +Attack set bonus instead. The PDT-4% was also nice in Dyna with all the hard hitting stuff on Wave 2.

What WS are you finding best in dyna? I know it depends on the run but in jeuno for instance theyre all fairly equal.
Depending on TP dragon/nado kick win most of the time but if I actually have buffs smite pummel and shijin all are around 16kish.

I actually use Shiji mostly(godhands mainly) but it's alot more consistent for me since and fusion/light is nice w/ fudos and reso's

Automatons really need a damage boost. Just because it does well solo overdrive, people act like it's in an alright spot. It really isn't

That and/or it needs it ftp and sc elements reversed, as is arcu/daze/chimera ripper are the hardest hitters, but all have level 1 sc properties, doesnt help our weaker ones take priirity due to manuevers used either

Solo ws wuse i generally find howling to be most consistent, using VS if i see lights to open/close, would think godhands would lend itself more to howling dmg wise

Yes, especially since even with a weapon like Kenkonken which should be boosting their damage output it is incredibly lackluster compared to the increase I've seen master side.

Poor damage, and doesn't play well with other players on the DD side. Unless you expect people to cater to the Auto's poor AI.

Yeah it does, just eyeballing feels like it's falling short alot, and the howling set prob is my best one haha but eyeballing is a bad guage

Kenkonken needs to be reworked period.

New WS idea, Stringing Metsu.
Also puppet gets Metsu

Shijin is not a great choice as it will always underperform on Godhands because the TP bonus does nothing for damage. I'm surprised it's doing well for you, but perhaps you haven't geared for the other WSs as heavily yet to make them pull ahead?

With KKK, SPummel will always be your best WS. With Godhands I'd recommend Howling Fist while stacking tons of WSD, i.e. Foire Tob+3, Pitre Dastanas+3, Hizamaru legs+2, Herculean, Ishvara, Regal/Niqmaddu (not sure if Karieyh/Epami would be better), Moonbow Belt+1, Ambu Cape with WSD, Tjukurrpa Medal (maybe?), Brutal+Moonshade Earring.

For any other weapon, VSmite will be your #1 choice because of its excellent STR mod and Light SC properties.

Also, while you guys are right about KKK not being an as amazing boost for the Automaton as it should be, an augmented KKK SPummel does excellent damage (for an HTH WS, at least...). Typically far more than anything else we have at our disposal. So it's kind of a silver lining.

This would also help. Kenkonken is basically the only Mythic that doesn't enhance any ability. Martial Arts is meh and at this point the overdrive suppression isn't enough of a draw... So basically we don't get much aside from the Triple attack from AM3. That said I don't think there's any abilities it could really enhance for PUP that would make it feel like the other Mythics.

However, even without something special like that, Aerix is 100% right, Stringing Pummel gets a very large boost even before being augmented. The base damage jumped really quickly and with AM3 it only gets better. It's always been a pretty good weaponskill and Kenkonken really starts to show it pulling ahead of Victory Smite, aside from skillchain properties.

ItemSet 356003
This is what I'm using for Howling but it just never impresses me(maybe because it doesnt look cool)
Herc body VIT 11 WSD 10% pet mab/macc 25
Herc hands WSD10% CHR 9
Herc feet CHR7 acc/att 5 WSD 7
Cape STR 20 VIT 10
Helm STR 9 WSD3 att 27 acc 4

Unless you are leaving out some of the stats. You are severely attack/acc starved in that set.

Howling would probably benefit more from Fotia in your set.

Nope, the DM aug's are nice but have nothing but WSD 7-10%, I hoped the supposed 50% attack bonus would kind of make up for it but I think I'm expecting a bit too much from it