rudras storm modsFollow

seen this post for a while now, and no reply, so i'll just say my input and maybe that'll cause other's to correct me lol.

as far as a ws set, i'm getting close to a twashtar myself, already have stage 1, working on stage 3 atm cause stage 2 is over camped.

this is what i plan to use

Head: Aias bonnet
body: Loki's kaftan
hands: Raider's armlets +2
legs: Matre Bragezenn
feet: Lithe Boots
neck: Shadow Gorget
belt: Shadow belt
back: Nifty Mantle
earring: Thunder earring
earring: Thunder earring
ring: Thundersoul ring
ring: Rajas ring

ammo: Raider's boomerang
sub: Triplus dagger

i might change out rajas for another thundersoul ring, but i'll have to wait to get the ws. From reading other people's posts loading on attack gear and using stawart tonic doesn't seem to have a big impact on the damage. If this changes i might throw in my atheling mantle instead of the nifty, but for now DEX seems to have the most impact on it. and when i go for stage 2 i'll work on getting aias bonnet. if anyone has any improvements, i'd like to know as well.

I'm eager to get back to Glavoid killin' once the servers are back up. (32 more shells to go, and then I can clear out the 44 scales from my inventory!) Just a few questions on my Rudra's gear set in the works...

Rings: I was planning on Thundersoul/Epona. Ditch Epona's for another Thundersoul or an augmented Jupiter's?

Earrings: I currently only have Dex+2 earrings (Delta and Hollow). I'm working on leveling my Synergy to eventually shoot for Jupiter's Pearls. In the meantime, will Brutal win out over a Dex+2 earring?

Ranged: Maybe this is wrong of me, but I usually use Qirmiz Tathlum over Raider's Boomerang inside Abyssea. (Outside Abyssea I use Raider's.) Since swapping my ammo is thus an option, should I WS in Qirmiz, Thunder Sachet, Black Tathlum, Bomb Core, Thew Bomblet or some other option I haven't considered? Or, should I be ditching my Qirmiz for my Raider's?

I never looked into it, but is the WS damage augment just a straight 2% of the total WS damage number that includes SATA? or is it JUST the WS damage portion? (Think similarly to how boosting FTP only enhances the 'WS' part of SATAWS and does not augment the dex/agi damage for SATA at all). I guess what i mean is, are SA and TA considered 'WS' damage or not when you stack in the calculation? This would heavily impact the 2% mod vs dex/str comparison if it only enhances the actual WS aspect but not 2% of the SATA damage (which the dex/agi would).

If the WS damage ignores teh SATA aspect, it would end up being:
(177*3.25)=575
+2% Aug= 575*1.02=586

THEN add the SA 245:
586+245=831

Crit damage (+1 cratio and 40% Crit damage boost):
831*2.0=1662
1662*1.4=2326

This is compared to 2341 so:
Anwig:2326 (WS 2% doesnt work on SATA)
Anwig:2341 (WS 2% DOES work on SATA)
Aias: 2301 (giving +2 fstr)

But, once you toss in the 4 atk (i know lol4atk), you get ~+.01 pdif atk boost once you toss in level correction. It is REALLY minor, but with that, aias bonnet comes out to:
Aias+atk=2313

Apply that smidge of atk to the additional hits (the numbers above are JUST the 1st hit) and it will actually have a slight edge on the additional hits making this a complete wash imo. Outside abyssea, I would bet it all on aias since dex will be so much lower as well as atk and fstr.

I actually have no idea which way the 2% WS damage thing works. It doesnt really matter here since it would win anyway, but these are all REALLY close. I cant emphasize that enough. If the 2% ignores SATA, were talking about ~10 damage on a 2300+WS (this is only the 1st hit(in game it is generally much higher.
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All that said, this is REALLY REALLY tiny amounts of damage to quibble over. I would just lump it all in and say sidegrade in abyssea with a TINY TINY edge to aias outside. You would have to parse thousands of WS before you could even have a statistically significant number for either hat. If something is that small, I wont loose any sleep over it.

This also brings up my philosophy on augmented gear. Even if the 2% works on the whole thing (SATA) and has a little edge over aias, i wouldnt make it. The difference will never be notable at all. If there is ANYTHING else you can make it for (another job, or a better niche use) then do that instead. 5-10 damage on a 3-5k WS is not ever going to be as useful as a niche piece that has some unique effect. I would make it evasion 10+fast cast for utsu casts before I made it into a rudras piece to add 0.3% or whatever to my WS damage over Aias for example.

Once we get to the point that we are gearing to squeak out single digit points of damage, I stop worrying about it honestly. If it is at the expense of something else (exclusive augmented gear) i just wont do it for damage.

True enough. I just try to avoid the X>Y statements when the difference is exceptionally minuscule AND it comes at the expense of something else (exclusive augment items in this case that could have some non-DD use of greater benefit than 10 damage on a 4k WS). I think a lot of people see X>Y and then rush out to get it without realizing what they might be sacrificing for an imperceptible gain. This is not aimed at the 'regulars' so much as the silent lurkers out there :P

Its like the difference between a 6dex and 7dex ring. Sure it may be better, but unless you have NOTHING else to buy with that 1 million gil, I would hold off and get that 'something else' 1st, even if its for another job or a niche use. Chances are there is something you could get with 1mil that would enhance your char more than +1 dex unless you are really at the leet end of leet already. Thus, i would never really reccommend a 7dex ring to anyone unless they are sitting on millions with nothing to do with it. Same logic Im putting on aias vs anwig. Its not worth the trouble UNLESS you are really at that point of character development (which a lot of regulars here are probably at or quickly approaching).

I just always verbalize this view when talking about minor upgrades to keep things in perspective so that (hopefully) people reading will be able to prioritize better instead of going all out because someone said X>Y for a 0.5% boost and skipping something else much more important with their resources if that makes any sense.