String Theory: A Puppetmaster's Guide *NEW*

I heard the melee OD set is really great! Are we no longer using the ranged OD set from the guides? I'd appreciate any input as this is my main job at Mlvl.30!
I adore the job and would really love to min/max it and push it to it's limits.

I haven't had time to test the changes to Automatons since the update, but it's unlikely that the purposes of the frames has shifted. Both the melee and the ranged OD sets have different uses, with the Sharpshot one generally being more powerful offensively but squishy, while the VE one is much better at surviving to deal its damage.

I see, thanks for the info!

I'm not sure too, but between katana and Onion I think. Most likely Onion.

Wrong! Scythe is where it's at!

Welp, SE moved the Dragon Blow report into the "Not A Bug Report" section on the OFs, so I guess that's that and it won't ever be adjusted to become viable (unless there's some other reporting method I'm not aware of). With that in mind, I recommend not to ever pick up Dragon Fangs if you happen to win a Rank 1 in the Bonanza, unless you want it as a lockstyle.

That said, while I usually don't do this, I still feel compelled to mention that I got some absolutely braindead comments in the thread that somehow managed to completely ignore the existence of the HTH rework and any other context.

My favorite part was this:


Oh whoops! Yeah, lemme just go and research or ask around about a weapon and WS that NOBODY ELSE HAS because of the stupid gatekeeping that is Mog Bonanza. Real galaxy brain moment, there.

Shouldn't even waste your minutes reading anything from salty or analhymen. Voluntarily lowering your IQ.

(Anywhere)

On topic, hows the ODD kicks though! 30% or 50%

Ah, I didn't even think to check for that because of Battlemod. I'll test it when I get a chance and report back.

That's just the OF forums in general sadly, this place can have some really dumb moments but for OF that's just about every thread as most people either simply moved elsewhere/quit or got banned

Bit odd that randos felt able to respond so authoritatively when your whole question was just asking SE to check if they made a mistake (which is still fully within the realm of possibility lol I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t bother to check at all). Maybe their dads work at SE?

They both feel the need to interject and be doucheweazels anywhere they can.

No one ever steps up and bans them. Just *** to be ***. (has nothing to do with pup)

should've told him he should have done his own research so he could find out that Banish tier does matter in relation to its -SDT properties

Lol!
Alhanelem

I've always wondered if he has an account here on FFXIAH.
People like him (there's a couple of notorious ones) are the main reason why I and many other people left those boards.

Not to derail the topic but-
Yea was just thinking this. Got a temp ban for calling "alahyhena" out on highjacking everyones thread a while back and was done with it.
Trying to figure out how exactly you leave feedback to the devs if a few certain people over there are ffxi einsteins. Guess SE will take any extra help they can.

I would very much hope SE doesn't sort reports according to random comments, otherwise the OFs would be even more of a joke than they already are.

In any case, since the report was moved to the "Not A Bug Report" section rather than "Working As Intended" I wonder if there was simply something wrong with the style of my submission. I tried to provide context to request an investigation, but maybe all they wanted were straightforward steps to reproduce the issue.

Though as we've established, DB isn't technically bugged, it (presumably) just never received the HTH rework to rebalance it.

You will never be able to get them to understand dragonblow is incorrect because none of them know the difference.

It's a very obvious and simple error, it was designed pre update, and was missed by the update. It can't be expressed any easier than that. The issue is the 3 people on staff that understand that fact will never get to see that message. And if by some miracle they do, they'll never be allowed the one full minute of production time to change the numbers and flip replicate from 0 to 1.

It is a sad state of being, in general. None of em care about a damn thing.

Overhaul was 10/19 and first bonanza with them was 11/20. If they said it was like howling fist, they whiteboarded it pre 10/19

If Bonanza weapons weren't so unattainable for the general population then the issue would likely get fixed relatively quickly, as more people would report the issue.

Sadly, it's unlikely they'll ever make Bonanza weapons available for everyone. I sure would like some on my main rather than a mule.

And for the record, all I'd really want for Dragon Blow would it to be adjusted so it's a competitive alternative to Godhands + HF except with Distortion. DF with the Kick Attacks bonuses is already pretty solid on its own and having DB as an option would help with WS walls and give MNK/PUP a decent Darkness opener/closer.

Tbh your proposition of 4/6/8 would be way too strong still. Howling Fist is not Fast Blade to adjust it the same way. +0.5 fTP to Howling would be good enough.

What Im trying to say is that might be 1 min production time, but would still required some analyst time to not overtune it. This weapon should be good, not best. Tbh its not THAT far behind as it is and it's still unique for that Distortion property.

A single multiattack proc on HF puts it very far ahead of DB and I wasn't even comparing them with proper TA or QA gear in the previous screenshots. DB sadly isn't a good option unless HF is getting hit by the WS wall and you don't have KKK/Vere for alternative WSs—and even then GH+RF is probably still better.

A weapon you have to win and can never earn should do 99999 melee attacks and break the damage cap on ws lol

If it isn't the unquestionable best, no one will ever pick it. And if no one would ever pick it, why make it.

Dragonblow should at the minimum beat howlingfist and that still won't make it desirable

I think this question, combined with the stats on the mog bonanza items, is a perfect example of why FFXI is such a good game and what differentiates it from a lot of other MMOs.

Almost every single MB weapon IS the best at what it does, and fills a tiny niche for the thing it was built for, DB included.
-The WHM staff gives you a Reraise from which you have no weakness. It's the only item in the game that does this (directly, there's an argument for Kupo gear [another MB item] but that's not the same).
-MNK h2h give Chakra bonus and lower chakra CD per counter, completely unique to this weapon
-DRK gives Souleater doesn't drain HP, completely unique to this weapon
-Shield gives JA duration, completely unique to this item
-These claws in question give DB, the only Distortion WS for h2h
-Aoe shadows on the katana, unique to only this weapon
-15 minute songs, unique only to this instrument (I've presented my arguments for why this is good elsewhere, I won't belabor the point)
-PDL based on enmity, unique in this slot, for GSword
-STQ lowers Sentinel cooldown while covering, and increases cover duration, both unique to this weapon
...etc

You could argue these things aren't the best in general use, but they're undeniably the best at what they do, and could at least POTENTIALLY allow you to do something unique with the job that you cannot do without them.

That is what makes FFXI so special. There isn't a weapon or piece of armor which is the best item for that job for that slot all the time. You are constantly changing gear for each JA, spell, based on what the enemy is doing, based on the jobs you have with you, buffs and debuffs you have on you, etc.

Some of the bonanza items are still kinda crappy in the bigger picture, but they at least are the best at what they do, even if (Cover) what they do isn't really the most important thing for the job and is a weird niche...Like absorbing fire damage on your DD, or whatever. If you need to spam self-cures, the Chakra h2h might be your best option.

Broken good BIS weapon like that being behind bonanza gate, would probably make people quit faster than abyssea or ilvl. This h2h is still very useful for Distortion property. Same as Onion is great slashing option for DNC. Both are very good example of horizonal progression. It's actually GOOD examples of how to make items in FFXI, not bad.


With proper gear on MNK (should be similar on PUP), you can push it to avg ~36k at 1000TP+ and 56k at 3000TP. Avg Howling isnt that much ahead (and is only higher at 1000TP because of TP bonus on Godhands)

Ain't no one quitting. Blustering and bitching, zero action.

Scared to even complain where they'll see it.

I was already using a lot of the good DEX/WSD gear (full R25 Nyame, Epaminondas, Niqmaddu, Neo Animator) in some of my previous tests, so adding more WSD would only have diminishing returns. Even then, I wasn't even breaking 40k with 3k TP Dragon Blows at capped Attack, so I doubt adding more DEX and PDL would allow for 36k at 1k TP or 56k at 3k TP in most circumstances.

I know Valoredge Ranged OD set is:
Valoredge Head/Sharpshot Frame
<1>Optic Fiber <2>Optic Fiber II <3>Auto-Repair kit IV <4>Coiler II
<5>Inhibitor <6>Inhibitor II <7>Magniplug <8>Magniplug II
<9>Attuner <10>Speedloader II <11>Turbo Charger II <12>Armor IV

What are we doing for melee? I didn't see this in either community guides and I know melee and ranged OD are useful in different situations. Thanks!

Are the the Karagoz earring and the Mpaca feet full time pieces? How do they work? When you activate the automaton it is +2 levels because of those pieces but do you lose those levels upon switching to a gearset like your idle set that doesn't have those pieces in the set?

Is the automaton constantly gaining and losing 2 levels as you swap from an engaged set to an idle set?

Fwiw, Speedloader II usage depends on whether skillchains actually do decent damage or not. And that setup is missing Flame Holder.

So you want either Speedloader II + Flame Holder (drop Magniplug 1) or Magniplug 1 + Flame Holder (drop Speedloader II) depending on what you're fighting.

Melee VE gets the most out of Mythic AM3, so you can drop Coilers entirely for that setup (as they'd prevent triple attacks). Thunder Maneuvers are also generally not great because they'd force String Shredder. So Light/Water/Fire for magic defense or Light/Earth/Fire for some extra VIT is usually the go-to.

- VE/VE (adjust for SoS/VE if you need Benediction or more Water capacity)
- OF 1+2
- ARK4
- TC 1+2 (attack speed matters more here)
- Attuner
- Magniplug 1+2
- Flame Holder
- 3 flex slots for Inhibitors, Tension Springs, Coilers (if you don't have Kenkonken) Steam Jacket, Armor Plates, Stabilizers, Mana Jammers, Analyzer, Barrier Modules etc. depending on the situation

Certain setups would use something like Inhibitors + Dynamo III (if Blunt+Slashing works) or Tension Spring V + Steam Jacket + MJ4 if fighting something where only Blunt matters, but there's a lot of incoming single element magic damage. There's a number of variations and there's no one-size-fits-all solution.

For several Automaton setups the Karagoz earring is very good and if you have a well-rolled +2 it's going to be part of many master sets, too. The Mpaca feet are also decent, but sometimes you need other stats in the feet slot, so look at the sets on page 1 for reference.

As for what the level +1 does:


And yes, the Automaton's level changes on the fly when you swap those pieces in and out. They can not be made permanent by Activating with the gear equipped.

Thanks for the info Aerix

Hello pups. I have been watching the YouTube channel of
Xaero324, he does some really cool things as pup solo with trust and I notice that in several videos he uses setups that aren't listed in the String Theory Automaton Attachment Sets for some of the content he does. So I was wondering if some of you more experienced pups might be willing to share some of the setups you guys use that aren't listed in the BG guide. What gear is being used, what attachments, what content is the setup being used in?

I look forward to learning more from the pup community.