Warrior's ArsenalFollow

Gear: 01-20
Gear: 20-40
Gear: 40-60
Gear: 60-75
Beginner and Advanced End Game Gear Sets

The stuff I'm writing up is a guideline, and much like guidelines, they're not laws. If you don't want to take the routes I suggest, don't. I'm one of the biggest voices towards Warriors leveling all the weapons. Not for some sadomasochistic desire for efficiency+1 (Outside Axe/Great Axe. Those are mandatory.), but because it's fun to be able to use different weapons. Bored with Rampage or Raging Rush? Switch to Vorpal Blade. Bored with that? Evisceration. Penta Thrust. There are very few weapon skills Warrior can't use, and seeing the same ones day in and day out can drive you insane.

Luckily, most gear choices aren't going to change between weapon choices, so there's little gear swapping involved.

Please, please, please, don't turn yourself into one of those "MUST GET ONE MORE PERCENT ON THE PARSER" drones. That's the fastest way to drain the fun out of the game.

Also, Warrior's main strength comes from being able to switch between weapons. While you're more than welcome to pick a single weapon / build and be done with it, you'll be a gimp Warrior over all. If you want a job that specializes in single weapons, there are several jobs that do it so much easier. Don't waste your time here. I'll always advocate that people that wish to level Warrior to keep at least a feasible Axe and Great Axe build available on them at all times, and I'll always regard people who so choose not to as people who are actively nerfing their own potential. I'll answer their questions, and help where I can, but just know that WARRIOR IS NOT A SINGLE WEAPON JOB.

Now, with the start of the guide ...

Most HQs won't be mentioned, and up to the individual to figure if the cost is worth it. There are a few exceptions, and will be explained. Items in GOLD are basically manditory items. There are few, but they are key items, and should be sought after at all costs, even if it requires you to stop exping and start farming. There are no exceptions for these. Items in RED are in place for people that happen to have them, and not available to first time through people. I mean, at all. Usually not even to people going through a few times. They're added for completion's sake. Also note gear in RED does not mean it is better than available choices. They're just the harder to obtain items that have some use. That's not to say they're not the best, but I digress.

The first section is just gear by level, and in no way meant to be taken as what you upgrade for level for level. You have to take the stats into account before choosing what you want to upgrade. Luckily, at the end of the guide there will be an explanation on how to go about doing so.

[ 01 - 04 ]
Truthfully, this short range of levels is inconsequential when it comes to choosing your gear. You can basically use the Onion Sword you start the game with, the racial start gear, and be done with it in short order. One thing that will make a nice difference isn't gear, but an Au Luit. The monsters you'll be fighting are too weak, there are no weapon skills until about level 3, and the gear itself you could buy just isn't much, if any, upgrade at all from the things you start the game with. Just slaughter the things outside, and use the drops to start funding your job. Also consider Light Crossbow +1. Having Marksmanship leveled can, and will, help you out when you want to solo, and debuffing/pulling. HQs are preferable on your ranged weapon because they tend to be cheap and worth the slight increase in cost from the NQ.

[ 05 - 09 ]
Another level range where there is little necessity to buy anything, except a Butterfly Axe. This is the first step in being a Warrior, and not just the job you started the game with, or whatever your reason is for leveling this job happens to be (Like of, sub job, et cetera) Soon this will give access to one of the best low level weapon skills in the game, SHIELD BREAK. It lowers the monster's evasion by up to 40 points, which is a MASSIVE amount that not only helps you, but everyone taking a swing at the monster. It should NOT be over looked. Note: Here on out, this guide will be more list like than prose. The first ten levels are pretty sparse as far as all this stuff, and I felt an explanation would help more than just put "N/A" or just the two items I mentioned. Also note, you don't have to go item by item. You can skip here and there, depending how you feel. Explanations will be given where I (Or someone else) feels necessary.

Weapons

• 01 - Onion Sword
• 01 - Bronze Axe
• 01 - Light Crossbow+1
• 05 - Butterfly Axe
• 08 - Inferno Axe

[ 10 - 20 ]
Weapons

• 12 - Greataxe
• 12 - Hydro Axe + Hydro Pumps: Not something to look at if this is your first time through and you're just starting off, but if you've found a niche for making money, the proc rate on the Hydro Pumps is actually fairly decent, so you should consider it. *
• 16 - Moth Axe
• 20 - Neckchopper

Ranged

• 12 - Crossbow+1
• 01 - Crossbow Bolt / Bronze Bolt - Interchangeable. Use whichever is cheapest.
• 10 - Blind Bolt - Your first debuff bolt. Fire one or two per mob, not constantly.
• 15 - Acid Bolts - Same as Blind Bolts, highly effective and worthwhile.

* Not applicable if using Marksmanship.

Armor (Back)

• 1-20 - Nothing to write home about. Get what you can afford or quest.

Armor (Body)

• 10 - Scale Mail
• 15 - Enyo's Breastplate
• 17 - Lizard Jerkin

Armor (Ear)

• 10 - Optical Earring
• 16 - Bone Earring+1 - HQ is cheap.

Armor (Feet)

• 07 - Leaping Boots / Bounding Boots
• 10 - Scale Greaves
• 15 - Enyo's Leggings
• 15 - San d'Orian Boots
• 18 - Power Sandals

Armor (Finger)

• 14 - Mighty Ring / Courage Ring

* Vision / Balance Rings aren't nearly as big a boost to your stats as Mighty/Courage Rings at this level range.

milich's explanation wrote:

suppose you have 100ATT, and you add 2x mighty rings to that, fighting a mob 7 levels above you that just checks low DEF. you have...

100ATT:
100/80-.35= .9

111ATT (2 m.rings, +10ATT, +2STR)
110/80-.35= 1.025

for a 15% melee damage increase. assuming really low ACC (50%, which isn't uncommon lowby), you'd need 15ACC to catch up to the % bonus of mighty rings. mighty rings' bonus will be higher if you don't have the mob checking low DEF (and lower if you're soloing; level correction makes ATT more potent).
even at 200ATT, mighty rings beat pre-sniper/venerer competitors.

200ATT:
200/160-.35 = .9

211ATT: (2 m.rings)
211/160-.35 = .96875

for a 7.6% melee damage increase. assuming 60% ACC here (by the time you get 200ATT, your ACC should be coming up as well, hopefully to 70%+), you'd need about 9ACC. the progression to snipers actually fits pretty nicely, as the value of 10ATT sort of segues to around the value of 10~ACC right as sniper and venerer become available. (because the bonus of ACC is more or less linear--it's relative to your ACC%, but not to your level or total ACC, like ATT basically is--the % bonus of snipers stays around the same as you level up, while the goodness of mighty rings drops and drops).

Armor (Hands)

• 10 - Legionnaire's Mittens / Royal Footman's Gloves
• 15 - Bastokan Mittens / San d'Orean Gloves
• 15 - Enyo's Gauntlets

Armor (Head)

• 10 - Royal Footman's Bandana
• 15 - Enyo's Mask
• 15 - San d'Orian Bandana

Armor (Legs)

• 10 - Scale Cuisses
• 15 - Enyo's Cuisses
• 17 - Lizard Trousers
• 20 - Royal Footman's Trousers

Armor (Neck)

• 1-20 - Nothing to write home about. Get what you can afford or quest.

Armor (Waist)

• 18 - Brave Belt

Edited, Dec 2nd 2009 11:54am by lolgaxe

Gear: 01-20
Gear: 20-40
Gear: 40-60
Gear: 60-75
Beginner and Advanced End Game Gear Sets

[ 40 - 60 ]
Weapons

• 42 - Raifu
• 43 - Combat Caster's Axe +1
• 44 - Heavy Moth Axe
• 46 - Eisentaenzer
• 48 - Viking Axe
• 49 - Gigant Axe
• 50 - Leucos Voulge
• 50 - Tactician Magician's Espadon */**
• 52 - Tactician Magician's Espadon +1 *
• 54 - Executioner
• 55 - Darksteel Voulge
• 56 - Darkstel Axe +1
• 56 - Schwarz Axt
• 59 - Heavy Darksteel Axe
• 60 - Tungi
• 60 - Bastard Sword +1 *

* Don't bother without capped skill and merits. This is an option, but requires a lot of previous work.
** Dual Wield II is available from this point on, making the concept more acceptable.

Ranged

• 43 - Combat Caster's Boomerang +1
• 50 - Arbalest +1
• 58 - Armbrust
• 10 - Blind Bolt
• 15 - Acid Bolts
• 25 - Bloody Bolts
• 30 - Holy Bolt *
• 54 - Smart Grenade **
• 58 - Tiphia Sting
• 60 - Bibiki Seashell
• 60 - Heavy Crossbow +1

* At this point, shooting for damage is a really weak option, so if you're going to continue with marksmanship just keep debuff bolts.
** At this point, some ammo slot gear offers decent boosts.

Armor (Back)

• 47 - Jaguar Mantle
• 60 - Behemoth Mantle

Armor (Body)

• 43 - Royal Squire's Chainmail +1
• 45 - Brigandine Armor
• 45 - Iron Ram Chainmail
• 45 - Luiant Haubert - The NQ is worthless.
• 50 - Iron Musketeer's Cuirass
• 55 - Fourth Cuirass
• 55 - Jaridah Peti - The HQ is worthless.
• 55 - Royal Knight's Chainmail
• 57 - Scorpion Harness
• 59 - Haubergeon
• 60 - Fighter's Lorica
• 60 - Byrnie *

* After long internal debate, decided to add it afterall. However, Haubergeon is basically the first armor you get, and Byrnie is pretty over rated.
Haubergeon is bolded because it's THE most important upgrade you'll ever make in the game for your Warrior. You can try to talk yourself out of other essential items, but this one is no exceptions.

Armor (Ear)

• 50 - Storm Loop
• 55 - Spike Earring - HQ is cheap.
• 58 - Assault Earring

Armor (Feet)

• 43 - Iron Musketeer's Sabatons +1
• 45 - Iron Ram Sollerets
• 45 - Luisant Sollerets
• 52 - Storm Gambieras
• 52 - Fighter's Calligae
• 55 - Jaridah Nails
• 55 - Fourth Sabatons

Armor (Finger)

• 49 - Ecphoria Ring
• 49 - Kshama Ring No. 8
• 50 - Ulthalam's Ring
• 54 - Sun Ring
• 57 - Bomb Queen Ring

Grip

• 55 - Mythril Grip +1
• 60 - Pole Strap

Armor (Hands)

• 50 - Enkelados's Bracelets
• 50 - Spiked Finger Gauntlets
• 52 - Royal Knight's Mufflers +1
• 54 - Fighter's Mufflers
• 55 - Fourth Gauntlets
• 59 - Sipahi Dastana

Armor (Head)

• 41 - Voyager Sallet
• 43 - Valkyrie's Mask / Walkure Mask
• 45 - Iron Ram Helm
• 50 - Storm Zucchotto
• 55 - Fourth Armet
• 56 - Fighter's Mask
• 59 - Sipahi Turban
• 60 - Patroclus's Helm

Armor (Legs)

• 43 - Royal Squire's Breeches +1
• 45 - Iron Ram Breeches
• 45 - Luisant Brayettes
• 50 - Pisces Subligar
• 55 - Royal Knight's Breeches
• 58 - Fighter's Cuisses

Armor (Neck)

• 47 - Auditory Torque
• 55 - Royal Guard's Collar
• 60 - Chivalrous Chain

Armor (Waist)

• 43 - Sword Belt +1
• 48 - Life Belt
• 50 - Swift Belt
• 55 - Speed Belt / Velocious Belt
• 60 - Potent Belt

Edited, Jun 21st 2008 12:37am by lolgaxe

Gear: 01-20
Gear: 20-40
Gear: 40-60
Gear: 60-75
Beginner and Advanced End Game Gear Sets

[ Beginner and Advanced End Game Gear Sets ]

Please note that if you have a better option in a slot than suggest, then obviously go with the better option. This is a fairly static progression guide, and unfortunately for the guide people don't start at the same place. Some people get certain items before others.

Stage One: The My Little Pony Starter Merit Build

Woodville's Axe                 Maneater          [Empty]            Combat Caster's Boomerang +1                                     
Maneater                        Iron Ram Pick     [Empty]            Fire Bomblet 
Fourth Division Toporok         Pole Strap        [Empty]            Bomb Core 
 
Celeta                          Chiv. Chain       Spike Earring      Spike Earring 
                                                  Assault Earring 
Haubergeon                      Tarasque Mitts+1  Sniper's Ring      Sniper's Ring 
Hauberk                                           Woodsman Ring      Woodsman Ring 
 
Amemet Mantle+1                 Life Belt         Barone Cosciales   Thick Sollerets 
                                Sword Belt+1

This is pretty much the bare minimum of what you'll want once you hit 75. It's basically no frills, no excitement, and about as basic as basic gets. It's not going to excel by any means, but if it were, it wouldn't be the first step now, would it? This is simply to show you that, if you're not even "here" yet, then you're behind and should catch up to Step 1. A few alternatives were provided, but everything on this list is easy to get. The hardest may be the Pole Strap, and that's barely an excuse since it's AHable. In fact, the entire list can be bought entirely from the auction house. In other words, it'd be hard pressing to believe that if you show up and use less than this gear, that your party won't believe you're a weak link.

Note also, at this point you probably don't have much options available to you to differentiate between "TP Gear," and "WS Gear." As you get further into merits, these two terms will become fairly important, and the amount of space in your inventory will shrink exponentially. Since this is your first merit gear build, it is doubtful you have merits to support switching out gear anyway, so hold off on switching out gear for the moment. The time will come soon enough. It's best to cover your bases before trying to hit grand slams.

Your first goals after this point should be some fairly simple (sometimes) tasks that need to be completed. One would be completing enough missions and quests to gain access to both Sky and Dynamis. While Dynamis is of lesser value to Warrior than Sky, you have to get it before Sky anyway, and you can at least work on two lateral grades in Dynamis. This will open up a lot of options.

First pieces of gear to work on upgrading should be the Optical Hat. The accuracy alone will be an invaluable asset to you.

Next, once those previous missions for Dynamis and Sky, you can work on things like Byakko's Axe to replace your Fourth Division Toporok, an Adaman Celeta over Celeta, and Adaman Sollerets over thick Sollerets. These upgrades are just "more of the same" type upgrades. Also from Dynamis, you can get Warrior's Mufflers from Dynamis-Jeuno, which is basically the same thing as Tarasque Mitts+1 (Which translates to "freed up money"). We're not really moving to a different type of build yet.

Your first, real, required upgrade should be to put all your efforts into getting an Optical Hat. There will almost always be situations where your normal accuracy gear won't be enough for whatever reason. Not a particularly easy mission to complete, but well worth the effort. Also, now that you have Sky, you should begin in a sky shell, and should receive a few of the rot drops.

Stage Two: Teenage Mutant Ninja Merit Gear Playset

Woodville's Axe                 Maneater          [Empty]            Combat Caster's Boomerang +1 
Maneater                        Iron Ram Pick     [Empty]            Fire Bomblet 
Byakko's Axe                    Pole Strap        [Empty]            Bomb Core 
 
Optical Hat                     Chiv. Chain       Spike Earring      Spike Earring 
Adaman Celeta                                     Assault Earring 
 
Haubergeon                      Tarasque Mitts+1  Sniper's Ring      Sniper's Ring 
Hauberk                         Warrior's Muffler Woodsman Ring      Woodsman Ring 
                                Hecatomb Mittens  Ruby Ring          Ruby Ring 
 
Amemet Mantle+1                 Life Belt         Barone Cosciales   Adaman Sollerets 
                                Sword Belt+1                         Hecatomb Leggings 
                                Warwolf Belt 
                                Potent Belt

As you can see, not a massive upgrade yet, but improvements have been made over your previous gear. Also, more rare/ex. Not saying rare/ex automatically makes it better, but it certainly doesn't hurt one's pride either. Also, now that you're doing Sky, and have a few merits under your belt, you can start looking into a WS Build. TP Gear will be Chartreuse, and WS Gear will be in Orange (Until I can figure out less offensive to the eye colors...) Also, the leg slot is pretty debatable, as there are at least three different choices you can go with. Refer to the previous "60-75" section for this. I picked Barone because that's what I used. Likewise, the use of Potent Belt is pretty debatable. If you need accuracy to land full hits, Life Belt is a better choice, and anything accuracy isn't needed Warwolf Belt and Sword Belt+1 are superior.

Your next evolutionary step, sort of speak, is going to take time. Quite a bit, in fact. First, you'll need to be doing those Sky runs with whatever shell you're signed up with to accumulate points, or standings, or whatever their rules are. Your ultimate prize from there is a pair of Byakko's Haidate. Of course, the problem here is they're the ultimate prize for, more or less, any job that can equip them that stands on the front line as well. In other words, there will probably be a waiting list. Make nice, and it'll eventually be yours as well.

Also, doing a lot of Dynamis will eventually net you a pair of Warrior's Cuisses. Much like Artifact Feet, the extra Double Attack isn't substantial, but the STR coupled with it make it a decent choice over all, until you get your Byakko's Haidate.

You'll also want to be doing Assaults, along with Chains of Promathia missions during this period of time. What I'm getting at is that your care-free "AH is good enough" days are all but over at this point. It's just how it goes. You're more than welcome to stay at the second stage, as no one is forcing you to go on, but if you've read this far, then chances are you don't want to just sit idle.

As far as Assaults goes, aim at doing the Mamool Ja Staging Points. The first rank one is especially easy with a simple group of three. You're aim is a pair of Amir Boots. Of course, you can do the other Assaults as well, and get Potent Belt this way, but since you can just grab the Potent Belt for a nominal fee off the Auction House, this is kind of a worthless endeavor.

Chains of Promathia, on the other hand, might be a bit more painful. What you'll want to do is progress up to around Mission 4-2, which will give you access to Sacrarium. While the subligar (And the armor associated with it) aren't much of anything (The subligar are a good way to creep people out. Just throwing that out.), you'll want to set up a run for Swift Belt. This belt, while not as useful starting off, will become much more useful in the upcoming stages.

Also, since at this point you've been meritting more, you should use those Imperial Standing Points to buy coins. Lots of coins. Another "not as useful starting off yet/by itself" item is available to you in Walahra Turban.

The two previous items, combined with a third (possibly fourth) item off the auction house will bring you your next step. PROVIDED YOUR ACCURACY CAN HANDLE IT, this is your first Haste Build. You'll have to either parse, have someone parse it for you, or just keep a close eye on it to see if it is an actual upgrade or not, unfortunately. Keep in mind, you'll need all three (or four) of the aforementioned haste gear pieces. 10% Haste through gear is the magic number to aim at when starting here. Byakko's Haidate was added here as well, and you'll probably never take them off. The 5% Haste on them puts you half way to a starter Haste Build to begin with, the +15 DEX is +7~11 accuracy, and a possible boost to your Crit Rate Tier. There's only one piece of gear that can out perform it, but that's at the end.

Didn't color code for TP/WS on legs, because you'll not be macroing out the pieces, truthfully.

Stage Three: My First Haste Playset

Woodville's Axe                 Maneater          [Empty]            Combat Caster's Boomerang +1 
Maneater                        Iron Ram Pick     [Empty]            Fire Bomblet 
Byakko's Axe                    Pole Strap        [Empty]            Bomb Core 
 
Optical Hat                     Chiv. Chain       Spike Earring      Spike Earring 
Walahra Turban                                    Assault Earring 
Adaman Celeta 
 
Haubergeon                      Dusk Gloves       Sniper's Ring      Sniper's Ring 
Hauberk                         Tarasque Mitts+1  Woodsman Ring      Woodsman Ring 
                                Warrior's Muffler Ruby Ring          Ruby Ring 
                                Hecatomb Mittens 
                                 
Amemet Mantle+1                 Life Belt         Barone Cosciales   Adaman Sollerets 
Forager's Mantle                Sword Belt+1                         Dusk Ledelsens 
Cerberus Mantle+1               Swift Belt                           Unicorn Leggings 
                                Warwolf Belt                         Hecatomb Leggings 
                                Potent Belt

Keep in mind this is the first and second steps into a haste build, so keep your options open with your previous Accuracy/Attack Heavy build. You may, or may not, be quite meritted enough to use this haste build to your own satisfaction, and it's good to have a back up just in case. You could also use sushi if you'd like, but on a personal level I try to refrain from doing so.

Now, here's the thing about feet and back armor. There are technically upgrades here as well for both Amemet Mantle+1, and Dusk Ledelsens. These upgrades are barely upgrades, so you can live without them. Forager's Mantle is one STR more than Amemet Mantle+1, which is highly likely to not do a thing for you, and a little higher up the chain is Cerberus Mantle+1 (The NQ is actually a downgrade). This upgrade is more for people who have nothing left to buy.

Then there is Unicorn Leggings. It's 1% Haste over Dusk Ledelsens, but to activate the latent is 75% Health or higher. Considering where you should be with merits (Nearly capping Warrior Specifics, considerable work in Combat, and capped Critical), this is a difficult feat to say the least. The reason to go for these? (A) You've got money to burn and (B) They look better. I know, I know, stupid reason, but it's the reason a lot of people choose them. In short, Dusk are more "reliable" to your haste build, but considering haste's increasing returns, all other things even the haste on Unicorn is "better," and the boots just look better side by side. Your choice here.

After some thought, Byakko's Haidate was removed from "my first haste set," due to the fact that, really, the demand, drop rate, and frequency of fights for the Haidate is pretty steep. It'll take a while, unless you're really lucky, before you see them, unfortunately, and they're not necessary for your first haste set. They are important, but not realistic for your first set.

Stage Four: Big Wheels Haste Set

Woodville's Axe                 Maneater          [Empty]            Combat Caster's Boomerang +1 
Maneater                        Iron Ram Pick     [Empty]            Fire Bomblet 
Perdu Voulge                    Pole Strap        [Empty]            Bomb Core 
 
Optical Hat                     Chiv. Chain       Spike Earring      Spike Earring 
Walahra Turban                  Peackock Charm    Brutal Earring     Assault Earring 
Adaman Celeta                   Elemental Gorget  Suppanomimi 
 
Haubergeon                      Dusk Gloves       Sniper's Ring      Sniper's Ring 
Hauberk                         Tarasque Mitts+1  Woodsman Ring      Woodsman Ring 
                                Warrior's Muffler Ruby Ring          Ruby Ring 
                                Hecatomb Mittens 
                                 
Amemet Mantle+1                 Life Belt         Barone Cosciales   Amir Boots 
Forager's Mantle                Sword Belt+1      Byakko's Haidate   Dusk Ledelsens 
Cerberus Mantle+1               Swift Belt                           Unicorn Leggings 
                                Warwolf Belt                         Aurum Sabatons  
                                Potent Belt			     Hecatomb Leggings

A lot of really notable changes from the previous set up, but they're pretty big ones. At this point you should have been doing a lot of sky, a lot of Assaults, and a lot of ZNMs. Not to mention a truck load of exping. You're going to want to save those IS to get that invaluable Perdu Voulge for your Great Axe build, your assault points for Amir Boots. Along those lines, your work in sky should also produce a Byakko's Haidate for you, and ZNMs are fairly easy enough to snag yourself a pair of Aurum Sabatons. Also, your shell should be proficient enough, now that you've gotten a Haidate, to also take out Divine Might. Also, you should have a collection of Ancient Beastcoins from all those adventures you've been having in Limbus, so get yourself a Brutal Earring. These are the hardest of the easy things to get. A pretty rough road, and unfortunately the rest of the upgrades after this point are even more tedious. You'll pretty much need a full time endgame linkshell.

Also about the final step, along with getting new gear, we'll also be eliminating the less useful pieces of gear and leaving behind your final build.

TO BE CONTINUED . . .

Store TP and Warrior.

Edited, Mar 25th 2009 7:38am by lolgaxe

shot gun

Tactican Magician Espadon links to Gigant Axe.


Nice guide btw

no prob, also make REPUBLIC SUBLIGAR yellow, imo it's manditory for all jobs that can use it!

Sticky'd, you're welcome.

if you're including marks, shouldn't you also mention bloody bolts? they've gotta have more use than holy bolts

You have Cerberus Mantle +1 linked to Dead Eye Gloves.

Gold walahra turban. I'm sure you didn't because you don't want people to think they should TP in it over ohat in situations where they shouldn't (not enough haste etc), but it's so good for recast timers it should be mandatory, besides it being fairly simple to get.

I'd be interested to see what you'd throw in for a soloing set.

That is all I have to contribute. Sorry. XD

I'd also love a soloing gear set, mostly cause I suck at soloing. Maybe better gear will help me out? lol.

PS. I think a color coding system for DD/tanking/WS/soloing/etc. gear like dawgdchi's guide would help this thread's format very nicely.

Edited, May 11th 2008 3:29pm by mazmaz

You could replace IR and tank set by just saying sub NIN and invite another WAR.

Since you've conveniently posted your guide in many posts, you should include some kind of table of contents near the top of the first post and link them to the other posts for easy and fast access, this is the internet you know.

Edited, May 12th 2008 11:39pm by RedshiftOnPandy

I'd suggest making Neckchopper Yellow, it's simply that awesome of a Gaxe imo.

NO EXCUSES!



I forgive you..

FTMFW.

Awesome thread. My request is to gold-ify Spike Necklace. Without PCC/PCA you'll be wearing that sucker for a long time and imo it really is worth it.

Vasio 
Phoenix 
Done:      75WAR/75SMN/75NIN/75SAM/75DRK/75BLM 
Next 75:   01COR 
Subs:      38WHM/37SCH/37THF/37RDM/37DNC/37DRG 
Next Subs: 01RNG 
Need Subs: 

I was going to goldify Spike Necklace, but as the post after yours pointed out I had forgotten Tiger Stole. If someone with MAD MATH SKILLZ would like to quantify which would be the better choice, I'm open to picking one over the other, but as it stands that to me, they're both pretty even.

Edited, Jun 1st 2008 5:54am by lolgaxe

im thinking warrior's stone and warrior's mufflers

Ok, soo... define "handle it"? Is there some sort of a magic number that accuracy should be at? I mean there's only so far I can push accuracy with axe/g.axe merits before getting into the ridicolous expensive items like PCC and Bomblet.

Thanks Falcon Pahnch. I'll be sure to edit in all the information you sent in PMs in an upcoming weekend. As it turns out, I've got a lot of of things I have to get in order in the up coming week, so I probably won't even be doing many posts at all, much less edits to this little guide. If you (or anyone else) can think of anything that needs changing or such, feel free to PM me and I'll get to it at the soonest imaginable time.

no, but you're right that i messed up in expressing that (or, yes, but that doesn't say anything...). thanks for the correction though, what i wrote was bad.

for some reason i'm having trouble thinking of an illuminating way to write this...

how about:

dmg/hit * ACC% = DoT

dmg/hit * ACC%*1.05 = DoT*1.05

with all the values constant.

or...

dmg/hit * ACC% = DoT

dmg/hit * (ACC% * 1.05) =
dmg/hit * ACC% * 1.05 =
1.05 * dmg/hit * ACC%

the point being that raising dmg/hit or ACC% by a certain % raises total dmg by that very same %.

if you didn't get my point immediately and now get it, it probably seems like i'm stating the obvious. it may or may not be obvious to most people, but even if it is obvious (as it was to me), it may just not be "the way you think about the dmg equations" (as i didn't think of them at first).

in my opinion, the best way of thinking about damage is in terms of % increase in the multiplicands of the equation. it's only through this line of thought that STR, double attack, ATT, haste (which is a bit stickier, but meh), etc can be rendered commensurable.

in other words, say for example you've got a 4 STR ring you're thinking of putting on. if you know what fSTR is, your first thought is probably "4STR raises my base dmg by 1, that's cool." but that doesn't tell you much of anything just on its own. what matters is "what % of your initial base dmg is 1? what % would, say, an +5 ACC competitor raise your ACC%?" if you answer those questions, you might discover that the 4STR raises your base dmg with, say, woodville's axe by at best 2%, while the 5ACC raises your ACC% by at worst 2.7% if ACC is uncapped. with the knowledge in hand that % base dmg increases are exactly as potent as % ACC increases or % ATT/cRatio/pDIF increases, you know right off that TPing in that victory ring fails in comparison to TPing in a sniper.

i don't know if this kind of thing is too basic, but if it helps, i highly suggest people come to think of dmg as a long multiplication equation, that basically looks like:

base dmg * pDIF * ACC% * attack rounds per minute increase from haste = DoT

once you get a feel for base dmg (it's usually the number on your weapon + somewhere between 5 and 10), pDIF, ACC%, and the increasing returns of haste, you can start to really make informed, eyeballed gear decisions.

for example, i didn't do any math at all when i first started answering the question regarding spike necklace vs tiger stole. i just have a feel for how much ATT you have at that level, and what kind of base dmg you can expect. from there it was easy to (correctly) estimate that tiger stole wins early on, then loses to spike necklace.

----

anyway,

mazmaz,

do you see what i mean in trying to answer your "what's the magic number?" question? if you know where your ACC%, your base dmg, your cRatio (level corrected ratio of your attack to mob's defense) and such are at, and also what kind of % bonus you'll get from the item in question, you'll get commensurable numbers.

like in the ohat vs turban example above, i pointed out that they both can vary from like 5.5% to 7% increase. it's easy to see how ohat varies (ohat adds 5 over whatever number between 20 and 95 your ACC% was pre-ohat--though the bonus gets cut off at 95% of course). haste on the other hand has increasing returns, that you calculate a little differently.

not wanting to type out more numbers, i googled this. to do the math yourself and see what's up with haste, note the following things:

delay/60 = seconds between attack rounds
X% haste yields (delay*(.01(100-X))) = delay

divide the time between attack rounds into 60 to get att rounds per minute.

quick illustration:

360 delay,
6 seconds b/w att rounds
10 att rounds per minute

add 16.666666% haste
.01(100-16.666666etc) = .8333333etc
360 * .8333333333etc = 300, new delay
5 seconds b/w att rounds
12 att rounds per minute
for a 20% increase in attack rounds/min

anyway, i'm sleepy and going to go have a cigarette and go to bed. is this helping any? the point is that the magic number gets created by the rest of your circumstance. also, 80%-85% ACC% is usually around the magic number.

Edited, Jun 3rd 2008 4:08am by milich

most of it should be explained by the stuff i'm corresponding with lolgaxe about in PM, though it seems both he and i don't have much time to post. here's a general dmg equation explanation post:

http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/jobs.html?fjob=13;mid=1202348488216514635;page=1;howmany=50#m1202468409223497798
(the part labeled "background")

if you have any specific questions, feel free to ask here or PM. i have no idea what's too basic or not basic enough, but i know that the terms fSTR, pDIF, blablabla aren't hugely known outside of certain forums.

edit:

by the way, I'M NOT TRYING TO ADVOCATE THAT PEOPLE TURN FFXI INTO A BIG CALCULATOR GAME. the point of getting a feel for certain ACC%s, certain %bonuses from haste, certain base dmg increases, etc, is to make the kind of informed decisions number crunchers make w/o needing to crunch (m)any numbers.

it's like buddhism. throw away the raft when you get to the island, stop taking the medicine once the disease is gone, that kind of sh*t. oh, and apologies for my chronic post editing. now i'm going to bed.

Edited, Jun 3rd 2008 4:13am by milich

Sound like you have your introduction..(roughly).

Great guide, I just don't think there is enough Beer and T&A. No T&A makes Mackie sad!

As far as my contribution to the guide:

Stuff.

There you go, great job bud.

Just read through your hase build setup and was surprised you havent put "rune chopper" in there for ~wotg~ and ~toau~ areas as refresh sanction gives full effect of all rune weapons fulltime,

My current hastebuild is-

walmart turban
dusk gloves
boots
byakkos haidate
rune chopper

and im 1 away from gear haste cap when i merit on war also sometimes take choper to endgame events with a few ethers or refresh drinks and its just as spectacular there too