AF3 Upgrade orderFollow

Just go with the flow.

The best parts to +1/+2 first would be head and legs, but the feet are a very nice eva piece.
First part i got that had a blue border were my feet since i did it with my LS and they wanted TH5.

Personaly, I find the head and hands most useful.

The buffalo that drops the hands can be soloed/lowmanned but he has high defense and HP so it will take longer.

Gieremund that drops head seals can also be soloed. Pallid percy can be duoed pretty easily also.

None of the +1's are very hard to get though.

I haven't gotten any +2's yet (not much play time these days) but a lot of the pop sets can also be soloed/low manned/obtained via gold chests. I have soloed all the NM's for Amhuluk pop set etc.

Body is good if you can't cap haste without the body. If you can (Hat +2, dusk+1, twilight belt, legs +2 bailarines) use loki.

Edited, Jan 11th 2011 9:37pm by LafingCat

There are basically 3 builds (and a 4th situational) that I am considering once we have all the gear.

1: 4/5 AF+Homam feet (26% haste)
2: Loki body/Dusk gloves+1/Ballerines/AFhead/AFlegs (26% haste, 5%crit damage, 7stp)
3: DW Mirke/Dusk gloves+1/Ballerines/AFhead/AFlegs (26% haste, 3% DW)
4: (situational). Same as 1, but swaps AF hands for homam and Homam feet for AF feet. TP set with TH, more eva, and agi for subtle blow. Might use this for a general solo-ish/lowman/tank set at the expense of AF DD hands.

Differences: All use hat/legs so just checking other 3 slots

1: 4/5 AF set=
Body:dex10, dagger5
Hands: Dex8, str8, Acc12, Atk16
HomamFt. Acc6
Net:Acc 31-32, Atk 25, Dex18(crit), Str 8(~2Fstr)

2: Loki set:
Loki: Dex11, STP7, Crit dam5%
Dusk+1: 6atk
Ballerines: atk-5
Net: Acc 5-6, Atk 1, Dex11(Crit), Crit Dam5%, STP7

3: Mirke DW Set:
Mirke: Acc10, DW3%, Dex5, Str5
Dusk+1: 6atk
Ballerines: Atk-5
Net: 12-13acc, Atk 3-4, Dex5(Crit), Str5(1.25fstr), DW3%


Off the bat my gut says #1. That is a TON of acc and atk by a long shot and still has the most dex and str of all sets. It just has a LOT more of all DD stats. It has 26 more acc thank loki set, 19 more than mirke set. 2fstr over loki, ~1 fstr over mirke. 7dex for crit rate over loki, 13 over mirke. 24 atk over loki and 21-22 atk over mirke set.

That is a LOT of boost accross the board. 5% crit rate and STP 7 have a very hard fight to beat out 26acc, 24atk, 8str, 7dex. You would HAVE to be acc capped for it to even stand a chance. 13% hit rate alone is brutal to compete against and that ignores 2fstr and 24 atk and loldex that it still has to overcome. Inside or outside abyssea.....thats looking bad for loki.

I had more hope for mirke, but even I am wondering about that now. Mirke basically pits 3% DW vs 19acc, 0.75fstr, 13 lolDex, and 21-22atk. Again, acc would NEED to be capped for mirke to stand a chance.

Dont have time to try to extrapolate the boosts to STP at this second (depends heavily on dagger combo used and use of boomerang or not) or the crit damage boost. But the sheer acc alone of set #1 just seems insurmountable for both DPS and TP gain. Even if it is (IE acc capped), there is still redonkulous amounts of atk and str to contend with that should easily rival 5% crit damage or 3% DW in DPS. I am really struggling to see the benefit of loki or mirke in ideal 26% haste builds.
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Edit:
Oh and i forgot: 4/5 AF set ALSO gets more triple attack set bonus which is just that much more oomph from triple damage tripples than the other 2 sets with only 2 pieces of AF. Also the Dex for crit rate may actually matter outside of abyssea while the overall critrate will drop like a rock outside of abyssea reducing Loki's boost with far fewer crits.

With that, Im willing to call it the nail in the coffin. I have now convinced myself to go for 4/5 AF+homam feet+twilight belt.

Edited, Jan 12th 2011 11:24am by Banalaty

If were talking about 'ideal' damage sets then it will ALWAYS include twilight belt, AF Hat and legs +2 no matter what because they are just the best TP pieces by a wide margin. This puts you at 18% haste. 7-8% haste is easy to fill with the other slots, particularly if you have +2 body. The only real concession I would consider would be a set using ballerines for 26% haste and just drop to 25% haste and use homam feet for +6acc and +5atk since the last 1% isnt really a full 1% and all that jazz. Those are some hefty hits to make for less than 1% haste. There are a few option also that can result in 25% haste and use a rapidus sax as well (like the above example).

Of course there are TONS of 'good' TP sets that can be cobbled together with various AF+1/2 and other gear (and that is where most of us are). Ocelot and homam among other things. Personally, I am running:
Kila+2/Kila+2(or rapidus)/Raid. Boomerang
Hat+2/Love/Brutal/Suppa
MirkeDW/Homam/Raja/Mars
Atheling/Twilight/AF+2/Homam

Until I manage to get body+1/2 done and hands+2 done. I also dont have ballerines yet.

But realistically, if you can create an ideal set with any premiere gear you want, it will always include twilight belt, AF head+2 and Legs+2 and some rather obvious (and few) real contenders for the remaining body/feet/hand slots for a good haste oriented set. (AF body, loki, mirke, homam hand/feet, dusk, ballerines etc).


Edited, Jan 12th 2011 12:26pm by Banalaty

Problem with a set like that is you can use less slots for haste. 7% haste belt + homam feet + af3 +2 legs free up the hands for af3 hands. goadings stp doesnt beat the attack gains imo and 2% more triple attack enhancement.

It is not worth trying to make goading work on thf as 7% haste belts are too easy to get.