Q: H2H @ 90 - Some advice pleaseFollow

Having recently got MNK to 90, I am currently still wearing my Latent Broken Destroyers.

The obvious choice is of course Relics/Empy etc. But I do no want to invest that much time into any weapons at this stage.

My first thoughts are to obtain Taurine Cesti

So, what would you consider to be, say... the Top 5 H2H for a lvl 90 MNK?

Thanks

Taurine will be awesome until the next level update in August.

Don't do it Sand! You worked too hard on Fire Taipan to replace it for a measly 4 dps!

Well, it still depends on situation and your other gear. On Kine's spreadsheet in my setup, I actually get Fire Taipan +2 slightly edging out Taurine. But let's look at it a little more:

Fire Taipan +2: DMG+29, Delay+61, STR+9, Atk+20
Taurine: DMG+28, Delay:+48, STR+6, Subtle Blow+10, Enhances Boost

Points in favor of Fire Taipan+2:
From a WS perspective, they're better than Taurine with a DMG+1/STR+3/Atk+20 advantage. So if you're not meleeing the target full time and focusing on WS (for example, not tanking an Abyssea NM or feeding it TP, but building TP with Regain and on other mobs, moving in to WS the NM), you'd probably be better off using Fire Taipans. Taurine's Boost enhancement is the wild card, giving ~5% attack bonus to Boost. If you can hit Boost every time before you WS that pulls them closer... but sometimes it can be tricky to time it just right, and even then you slow down DoT a bit just through JA use lag.

Points in favor of Taurine:
1) They're a nice piece to cap Subtle Blow for when that comes in handy. Could cap SB (50%) in many setups - say, Job Trait (+20), Taurine (+10), Tantra Crown +2 (+10), Rajas (+5), Agasaya (+5). Heed Ring and Tantra Crown +1 are in the mix of possibilities here too.

2) High crit rate (from Atma, gear, whatever) benefits Taurine a little more than it does Fire Taipans, just due to the lower delay/more chances to crit over time.

Conclusion:
They're both really close, so much so as to be practically sidegrades unless you're focusing mainly on WS and not doing much TP (Taipan+2 win), or if Subtle Blow is particularly important (Taurine win). Not really something to sweat if you can get one or the other, and situational but practically a toss-up if you have both.

The HUGE consideration if you're planning for the future though... Taipan+2 will likely get future magian trials, Taurine presumably are what they are now and won't change. In which case the next stage of Taipan+2 will leave Taurine in the dust.

Edited, Jun 13th 2011 2:16am by Anza

My post wasn't really about how it depends on gear (though I did mention that obviously it does vary based on gear). It's actually my whole point though, that you shouldn't just think about DoT numbers as if they are everything, because they aren't. My post discussed situational factors that might change your decision since the overall DoT is so close between the two:

Using WS for damage and not TPing on an NM? Might want to use Taipan+2.

Care more about Subtle Blow on something you're TPing on? Taurine look nice.

Considering likely future magian trials (but not up to working on Vereth/Rev Fists)? Might want to get working on Taipan+2 as opposed to sitting back and being satisfied with the Taurine Cesti that might edge them out now, but probably will be made obsolete fairly soon.



Yes, but the OP is using Destroyers and stated he isn't interested in dedicating himself to Empyrian. So kind of outside the scope here.

Congrats though - almost there!

Edited, Jun 13th 2011 3:57am by Anza

Yes, very good points. I agree. I think I got a little tunnel vision when responding to the majority of your post. Fire Taipan +3 and/or +4 will definitely leave Taurine Cesti in the dust. If there is an upgrade to these trial weapons in the level 95 update (which is fairly soon), then I would suggest not even wasting your time trying to acquire Taurine Cesti.

Update - 50/50
Couldn't help myself. I just had to post it lol. =D