WHM headgear optionsFollow

I've checked most of the stickies and all I can find is gear under 60 or endgame stuff.

Just last night I hit 71 and I have been trying to find any options to replace the old AF helm, Hairpins don't seem all that useful, +20 more mp seems only marginally useful and I can't find anything else. Am I just stuck with this silly looking thing until I hit 75? or are there some other options I missed.

Raven/Crow Beret.

Yeah, it's level 50. HQ is reasonably priced and NQ should be dirt-cheap. It's also going to be a lot more useful than AF head in most situations. Who cares what level it is, so long as you can equip it?

Don't forget the Goliard Chapeau! It also has purple pimp factor.

Edited, Oct 9th 2008 10:54am by GuntarHolyflame

I think hes looking for options around 70, and there's really not a lot of options :/

As previously mentioned you can go raven/crow if for whatever weird reason your having hate problems and you dont want any other useful stats, your AF helm which in all honesty is pretty good until 75, or like a Faerie Hairpin which is way overpriced

decisions decisions

I second this. Once you hit 72, Yigit Turban is a great choice. At 75, I generally swap between this and Walahra Turban depending on what I'm casting; Yigit for cures and Walahra for regens, haste, flash, status removal, etc.

Just keep in mind that according to current learnings, the refresh effect of sanction/sigil doesn't take into account %MP+ or Convert amounts while it does take into consideration flat increases, so keep that in mind if you wish to go that route.

I borrowed a Trump Crown from my various lowbie jobs until I got to Yigit, and then Walahra. >_> The crown is a solid piece of gear that I don't intend to ever sell, I love it for CoP areas. >_>

Crow/Raven might have been a better pick, but enmity was rarely an issue for me while leveling up after reaching the 60s (I unretired my WHM at 61), and I didn't feel like buying another piece off the AH or taking my Crow set out of storage just to use 1 or 2 pieces of it.

Damn skippy. You only use Paralyna and Silena in the labyrinth, but maaan do you learn to use it WELL. Probably was my favorite spot on WHM, not much curing, but a heck of alot of statuses. Well, maybe I was am a regen whore...

*mutters about spoonfed ToAU WHM* :P

As for my suggestions, I primarily use my Zenith crown on WHM. W.turban is there, but after all the work to get the crown...
I will wear turban for melee WHM tho :P

It depends on what you're looking for. Me, personally, I look for MP efficiency. Haste, while handy in some situations, is really only useful if you're using the same spell over and over. +MP is always nice, but I personally consider that very last. +MND and +magic skills is also nice to have, but rarely really needed. -enmity is also a pretty good stat for WHM, but if you're savvy it shouldn't usually be necessary.

I tend to focus on MP traits that help keep you nice and full. hMP and Conserve MP are both nice options for this. For hMP, Yigit Turban is great. And the R/E Cobra hat (lvl 68 one) has Conserve MP on it, which stacks nicely from the Conserve MP trait you get from subbing /BLM or /SCH. Sure, it only makes it go off 2% more of the time, but what other piece of headgear will actually improve your spellcasting efficiency?

bwuh? Just.... bwuh?

Which does absolutely nothing when you are casting haste, regen, status removals, etc. Situationally, it's a great piece but macroing in the Walahra turban for the spells I listed and others is definitely going to help you out more than full timing any head piece.

I would be all over Mirror Tiara if it was only thing in the field. Still a fantastic piece for what is it, and maybe something I pick up in the future as a macro swap piece.

You can't go wrong with a 'free' head piece such as
Nashira Turban RareExclusive
[Head] All Races
DEF: 19 Magic Accuracy +5 Enmity -5
Haste +2%
Spell interruption rate down 10%

or
Goliard Chapeau RareExclusive
[Head] All Races
DEF: 20 HP +20 MP +20
MND +5 CHR +5 Enmity -4
MP recovered while healing +2
Set: "Magic Def. Bonus"


I also use
Marduk's Tiara RareExclusive
[Head] All Races
DEF: 17 MP +4% MND +3 CHR +3
Divine magic skill +7 Singing skill +7
Summoning magic skill +7 Enmity -3
Set: Enhances Fast Cast effect

I switch between faerie hairpin, walahra turban, yigit turban, and af+1 hat. Faerie hairpin is part of my max MP build, and I personally think it's worth the price. I suppose it varies from server to server, but on bahamut, they're usually within ~20k or so of each other. I like that I get as much MP from the hairpin as I would from the HQ crown, and at the same time I don't sacrifice a full 55 HP to get it. I'm elvaan, and it's really nice to be able to get ~1150mp without having to resort to /smn, and still maintaining ~950hp. (Do people even use that anymore since /sch?)

I macro walahra turban for spells that have longer recasts, like haste and regens. I macro af+1 hat for cure V, stoneskin, and my repose/slow/para sets. I keep the yigit turban in my inventory because it's part of my max enmity down set, but I really don't find myself getting much use out of it. Marduk tiara seems like a nice macro piece for repose, but I don't think I'd personally get much use out of it for anything else. Yigit is essentially free and is more effective in granting a MND/-enmity balance.

But, sh*t's situational. Maybe you're taru and you don't have any need to sacrifice hp for mp, so you'll wear turban full time. Maybe it's not worth it to you to sacrifice inventory space and the ABC to eek out 3 more MND from af+1 hat compared to yigit hat. The only wrong answer is optical hat.

It's actually much more than that. Marduk Tiara is a really great piece. The MP+4% on it generally works out to about 40-50 MP and it has zero HP down. When I got it, Zenith Crown went straight to storage and it became my new Max MP piece. Actually until I got Goliard Chapeau, the only time I took off my Tiara was for W.Turban when haste was needed or Yigit Turban when I was resting.

While I don't disagree with you, I just don't think I'd personally opt to use it that way. In fact, if I didn't also have BRD leveled, I don't think I'd even consider putting the money into the upgrade. What I'm essentially doing is spending 2m (in my server's economy) for +20 HP and -15 MP in my case, since I use the faerie hairpin rather than the zenith crown. I guess I just feel the money would be better spent elsewhere.

Not saying it's not a good piece, just one that I think I'd be more inclined to macro than wear full time.

I would like to get my hands on a goliard head, though. On top of having some nice stats, doesn't that have the best hmp you can get in the head slot?

Mostly because I have other macro pieces for the same purposes. The headpiece for me is the first piece to get macro'd out in favor of stat gear. All I do is cast one or two spells, usually a regen, a haste, or a protectra, and then depending on the fight and the next spell I'm casting, I'll go to one of my other pieces. It's a good piece, but it doesn't have the most/best of any one stat except divine skill, and I did say it's a good macro piece for repose and banishes/flash. It doesn't even have the best mnd/enmity down balance -- that's a toss-up between the yigit turban and the goliard chapeau. I would just personally rather have MND+4 and enmity -5 at the cost of assault points and one more inventory slot over MND+3 and enmity -3 at a price tag of ~2m, plus the time/effort of getting the requisite pieces in salvage. I just don't feel it's worth the time, effort, and money when the only stat it really has over anything else is the 2/3 additional divine skill over an elite beret (+1), and depending on the rest of your divine skill gear, that +7 might not even push you up to that next tier of effectiveness. Especially if you don't have another job that can utilize the piece. I have BRD, and this piece plus oracle's pigaches will move me up a tier in my march. As soon as I get the 25, I'll put the money into upgrading this piece, but it's taken me months to get to this stage because of bad luck on drop rates. I can't imagine anyone putting in this much work and money for a piece that's inferior to a simple combination of a couple of other pieces.

I didn't intend to compare tiara to goliard, just saying it's a nice piece in general. I'd be more inclined to compare yigit to goliard if I were deciding on just one piece to use. Nearly the same MND/enm ratio, with goliard having the added benefit of some HP/MP while idling (just in case you're in one of those really good parties getting 8-9/tic refresh between your BRD, your COR, your gear and your sanction [if applicable]) and more hmp. Those two are comparable. I would say marduk's tiara lends itself more to a faerie hairpin/elite beret/yigit or goliard combo. Added benefits of slightly more divine skill, a couple more inventory slots in your bag, and no HP penalty at the cost of slightly less mp, the possibility of that extra divine skill going to waste if it doesn't bump you up a tier, and the actual price tag.

That being said, this is just my personal feeling about what I would use on my own character. I'm not denying it's a good piece, because it is very nice. It just might be a little bit nicer for people who are using different gear swaps, people who can't afford to or don't prefer to sacrifice a little HP, etc. I'm really not too crazy about middle-of-the-road gear, which this seems to be. Yeah, it's good to cut down on inventory space, but you do sacrifice a little bit in all areas except divine skill. I'll take the hit to the inventory to get that extra couple of points of MND, that extra -enmity, or that extra +15 MP and not worry about it. I knew when I decided to level WHM as an elvaan that I was going to have to work harder and use my gear as intelligently as I could to keep myself ahead of some other races who are naturally better suited, so I'm not really afraid of going 65/70 into any situation. For me, it's a matter of optimizing performance before inventory.

Edited, Nov 4th 2008 11:33am by lauplebaud

I hadnt considered this and might get it to replace my Clerics cap :O

Whilst there are stats to beat most things on goliard and I agree with macroing headgear in and out, I think that the Goliard Hat is a bit like the Tamas ring, it isn't that it excels in one thing, but the complete package is pretty damn good. It's also (for some) more accessible than Limbus or Salvage gear.

I still advocate macroing spell appropriate gear but if you got this hat and never macroed in any other gear I'd understand why. HP, MP, HMP, -EMN, MND on one hat... = win.

I use mirror tiara a lot, I swap in turban only for spells that actually benefit from the haste. Meaning I tested the recast time with/without. It gives me a second off of erase and cure v, but I don't get anything off of my -na spells. Perhaps when I get hq blessed Q_Q. I forget if I gain a second on haste, I can't log in to check right now anyway.