OFFICIAL BARD MAAT HELP THREADFollow

OK. There are always plenty of Bard Maat help request, so I though that maybe doing one official would be great.

*This post will be updated when new informations will be given*

As a bard, you probably realized that our soloing capabilities are very weak: our power is to buff others, not ourselves, so Maat is not necessarly a walk in the park, especially for my fellow taru friends.


Please note that this is coming from my personal experience, also coming from multiple posts I have researched to know different methods, from multiple forums.

Always keep in mind that Maat often needs a bit of luck, you have a lot less chances to beat him if he gives you 2 Asuran fist in a row, than if he uses 1 back hand blow and 1 Combo 1 minute later.


GEARS

Rare are the Bards that beats Maat with only AF, so here are a couple of combos of gears that can work.

Defense gear

Defense gear worked for me, not only I won it with this setup, but it was also the one that got me the most far in this battle.

Usual Defense Setup:

Carapace Gear:
Head, body and hands. This is a really nice set, since it has already good defense, it has a latent effect of the same base defense (so it's own defense x2) and some more attack.
Earth Mantle is quite good. I personally used af legs/feet, because when you check it, you realize the defense on it is quite adequate.

I also personally used the Minstrel Earring (I think it's this one?) with -30% damage taken.

Carapce latent effect kicks in at 50%, 25% and 15% health (thank you BadCubby) but this armor still have very high defense, even without the Latent effect.

Use Defense food:
I know of boiled/steamed crab being good, but I use Scalops Tropicale, which I've been told are better for defense. As tarutaru, with this setup (and all the best VIT/def I could find, that I didn't mention) I had a nice bunch of defense.

With this setup, try to keep your 2 Paeon on you, use high pots as soon as you can: you don't want him to blow you up at 50 hp, panic and use the wrong item, or eat a crit.

Evasion Gear

I have tried this setup twice, but it did not work for me. Don't take that in consideration though, I know a lot of bards that won it with this setup.

This is will work a lot better if your evasion is capped, obviously.

Try to get a Scorpion Harness (even +1 if you can)
Emperor Hairpin
Evasion Torque, maybe you can borrow all these from a NIN friend.
All the eva gear you can have.
Melody earrings (or +1) are great considering the 10 (or +12) Evasion SKILL they give you when you have songs up.

Use double mambos with this setup, and also use your high potions, same as with Defense setup.

You can also use double Paeon for this, this method did not work for me, so I am taking the advices of those who did :)
TIPS

Ok, there is no *magical* way to win this fight, but a lot of tips can help

-be prepared; don't underestimate this old man, and RELAX
-having your weapon skill over 175 (200 if possible) of dag or sword will help you a lot considering that our melee skill is already weak
-get regen food, and REFRESH food, yeah I know we don't need mp, but think about this: the more things he CAN dispel, the less chances he has to dispel the important things
-my personal tip: go in, use sleep pots (with opo necklace) get tp to 100 (not higher, you won't have enough time), find a skillchain you can do with yourself, when you enter the battlefield, do your first WS, use an Icarus Wings, do your second one to sc, try to give him the right threnody before doing it.
-a lot of people seemed to sleep to 200tp, and use Icarus wing to 300; I never tried it myself, but you can still try.
-2 hour at the begining, you want to have the double effect of your songs as long as you can.
-Finale > Requiem > Elegy > Thenody. With 24 seconds recast, you want to recast it ASAP, and most likely, when you debuff him he will probably re-buff, so less damage done to you.
-Bring more high potions than you think you will need; better safe than sorry
-Always always always keep your hp as high as possible.
-Be sure to re-ssing all your songs before 2 hour goes down
-+1 instruments are a must
-make a macro bar only for this fight, having your normal macros can make you do a lot of mistakes, and you don't want to wait for your casting to be interrupted when your 2 hour is about to wear off ;)
-Don't forget to re-use Elegy and Requiem 2 hour wears off; Elegy slow him very much, especially with 2 hour, and Requiem 6 seems a little bit, but it is very important considering it's 12 hp/3 sec, which is a very good DoT for the time of the fight.
-Use a blink band before the fight, a couple of shadows can always help, IMO though, don't try to re-use it:
*first, you will probably get interrupted, since it is a long item to use
*second, I think that 3 shadows aren't worth that time where you could swing a couple of hits
-Sub BLM in case of loss, you will appreciate to be able to warp yourself

I would recommend you to use weapons with stats, I myself used Stun knife once and Tripple dagger (I think?) which has triple attack +1% and is not that expensive.

I would tell you though, to not use a silence dagger. Some people will say that it's good to Silence him, since he will not Finale you, but IMO, you are better to be smart and Finale him every 24 seconds (which he does not do to you) and let him rebuff each time (that's 2-4 hits). Plus, if you use tons of items, like I said earlier, the chances the good buffs gets Dispeled are lower. But that's all to your own discretion.

And ...

Keep in mind that it's not an easy fight, but it's doable. Don't abandon too fast, we almost all though about it, Good luck to our fellow Bards !

NOTE: please post your methods if I missed some, I will try to edit it later.


Multiple links concerning Maat:

http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/jobs.html?fjob=9;mid=1133346093142485447;num=17;page=1

http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/jobs.html?fjob=9;mid=1134474715116766807;num=0;page=1

http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/jobs.html?fjob=9;mid=1131498342149232872;num=29;page=1

http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/jobs.html?fjob=9;mid=1127496475285363688;num=6

http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/jobs.html?fjob=9;mid=1129241792108193350;num=2;page=1

http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/jobs.html?fjob=9;mid=112708217080756061;num=6;page=1

http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/jobs.html?fjob=9;mid=112627922920517324;num=4;page=1

http://www.killingifrit.com/forums.php?m=posts&q=96368

http://www.killingifrit.com/forums.php?m=posts&q=96132

http://www.killingifrit.com/forums.php?m=posts&q=92793

http://www.killingifrit.com/forums.php?m=posts&q=88272

http://www.killingifrit.com/forums.php?m=posts&q=57731

http://www.killingifrit.com/forums.php?m=posts&q=81927


Edited, Thu Dec 15 22:21:42 2005 by Kaolian

Edited, Tue Dec 20 15:08:29 2005 by JasmyneTaru

Edited, Thu Dec 22 09:14:00 2005 by JasmyneTaru

This would be the key tip! Requiem (soul voiced of course) will be doin most of the damage to Maat. Elegy (SV'd) will slow him down dramatically. And make sure u Finale every buff he puts on, this does two things. Makes him less powerful, (he usually minuets himself or str etude) and also it makes him waste time rebuffing himself, (and he will believe me) instead of hitting you.

Carapace armor kicks in at 50%, 25% and 15% health, or thats how it tested for me. I dont know what piece triggers at what percent. But if you can find out which piece kicks in at 50% i would definetly get it. The Carapace set has the best def that a bard can wear {harness for exp. DS 39def, carapace 44 def) , even without latent effects kicking in. The Darksteel set is also good, but it doesnt have as much def, but the -2% or -3% physical damage per piece would probably erase the difference. The DS set is also more expensive, well, it was when i bought it about a year ago. And considering that DS ingots have gone up about 30% on kujata (ima smither, I know for sure), Im sure anything made with DS ingots went up in price also.

Edited, Thu Dec 15 15:40:18 2005 by BadCubby

I would like to make some suggestion on the strategy. I fight maat 1/3 .

Forget about the first trial which is a complete chaos. Basically, the 2nd trial and 3rd trial are doing the same thing except:

I tried sleep and did WS Spirit Within. Double Paeon as suggested on many forum. It turns out timeout for my battle.

On the success one, I didn't sleep at all and use Blade Madrigal and Valor Minuet and use Blink Band. 2 WS later, he gave up. Use Blink Band also.

Also, if you are using Rune Blade, you will NEED MP.

Note: Just want to suggest an alternative way if the traditional strategy is not working for you.

I just barely finished beating him and logged. It was ridiculously easy.

Carapace set, Amemet mantle, wind torque, gleeman's belt, melodies, phalanx rings, Cermet Sword +1.

The Blink Band was a waste of money for me.

The key is to let Requiem do all the work and regen/defend as much HP as possible while augmenting offense with your attacks. Spirits Within makes things oh-so much easier if you can keep your HP up.

I'm severely disappointed with Maat's performance. I was expecting a challenge.

Yay for massive rate-downs ^^

Thanks for your methods, guys.

Fought him this morning on won first try. Gear setup was:

Weapon: Cermet Sowrd +1
Shield: Elegant Shield
Head: Blink Band/Emperor Hairpin
Neck: Spirit Torque/Opo-Opo Necklace
Earrings: Melody Earring and Mistrels Earring
Body: Scorpion Harness +1
Hands: AF
Rings: Two Phalanx Rings
Back: Amemet +1
Waist: Gleemans Belt
Legs: AF
Feet: Raven Gaiters

10 Hi-Potions
12 Sleeping Potions
1 Icarus Wing
12 Seblina Milk
12 Sole Sushi

Zoned into battlefield, slept to 150% with Opo-Opo Necklace. Used Blink Band and popped a Sole Sushi and Seblina Milk. Ran to battlefield entrance and Soul Voice, Paeon IV and V. Requiem VI, Finale and Elegy on Maat.
Hit him with a Spirits Within, dropping him about 15%, popped my Icarus Wing and hit him with Spirits Within again. Continue to Finale every song he sings and re cast if he happens to Finale yours (Seblina Milk prevents this so make sure you have one up at all times).
Continue to whack away at him and use a Hi-Potion when you fall into yellow HP. He gives up at around 20-30%.

My Evasion was capped at 210, Sword was at 175 for Spirits Within (Had a long day beforehand of 9 hours skilling Sword from 120 -> 175).

Good Luck to all those who attempt him!

I have a gallery showing the pics of my fight (1/1) at http://covenantls.net/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=403 . I'm a Taru and my equip is listed in the desc. of the gallery! Hope this helps someone.

Note that I messed up a few times but still managed to win. So you don't have to be perfect! I went for the Spirits Within @ 300% method.

BTW I honestly don't think the Wing Sword helped me much. So don't be too worried about just using a cermet sword (+1).

Good luck aspiring Maat Mashers!

First thing I did was farm up 25 malboro vines. Then I bought 5 stacks of sage and 3 stacks of distilled water from NPCs and got 3 stacks of water crystals from a mule. Then I waited for a LS friend to make me some synths. I got 15hi-potions, 5hi-potion+1, 3hi-potion+2 & 1hi-potion+3. All of that only cost me 11316g (would've cost me 157k if bought from AH). My strategy for the fight was to have the actual fighting last a very short time and to keep my HP as high as I could.

This is what I brought with me:

Main: Cermet Sword+1
Sub: Elegant Shield
Range: Horn+1, Siren Flute, Traversiere+1 & Ebony Harp+1
Ammo: None
Head: Blink Band, Emperors Hairpin(borrowed)
Neck: Opo-opo Necklace, Spike Necklace
Ear1: Melody Earring+1
Ear2: Melody Earring+1
Body: Scorpian Harness(borrowed)
Hands: Choral Cuffs
Ring1: Sun Ring
Ring2: Venerers Ring
Back: Amemet Mantle
Waist: Survival Belt(borrowed)
Legs: Choral Cannions
Feet: Choral Slippers

The 24 various potions I had made for me, 1 Icarus Wing (for 100%TP), 1 stack of selbina Milk (extra HP regen & one more thing for him to dispel), 4 orange juices (for him to dispel), 1 stack of sleeping potions (to sleep to 200%TP), 1 stack of meat mithkabobs and my testimony (53/55 inventory).

Skill info:
Elvaan Bard level 69 (for the fight)
Sword Skill: 208 (capped)
Evasion Skill: 198 (uncapped - but sooo close ^^)
Parrying Skill: 148 (uncapped)
Singing Skill: 210 (capped)
Wind Skill: 210 (capped)
String Skill: 210 (capped)

----BCNM Strategy----
I entered the BC and began to sleep myself. Slept until I had 200%TP. I then ran within visual range of Maat (not close enough for him to engage me). I activated my Blink Band, then used my Icarus Wing (up to 300%TP now), equipped my Spike Necklace, ate a meat mithkabob, drank some selbina milk & an orange juice. At this point I used Soul Voice and sang Paeon V & Blade Madrigal. Those steps were all done in the order listed and I had mapped out a new set of macros for this purpose. Now is where the fun begins. (about 5 mins have passed inside BC)...

I began the actual fighting by engaging Maat while still out of range for him to engage. Then I sang Carnage Elegy & Requiem VI. We both ran towards each other and I opened with a full HP 300%TP Spirits Within. This took away 1/3 of his HP. I sang Magic Finale next & sang it every time I saw him sing a buff. The rest of the fight was just a hack and slash fest with the spamming of various Hi-potions from me. The worst he did to me was hit me with a Spinning Attack for 170dmg. He never once got me below 500hp. When it was just under 9 mins inside the BC, he gave up and I had won.

NOTES:
1) I tried the fight at level 69 to try and avoid Asuran Fist. I don't think this is a proven fact, but he did not use it on me.

2) I didn't sing my buffs a second time as I was more interested in keeping my HP high with potions. And as you can see the actual fighting was less than 4 mins. My strategy of "Hit him hard and fast" worked very well for me.

3) I forgot to equip the Emperors Hairpin after my Blink Band had worn off. >.<

4) During the fight, I used 2Hi-potions, 3Hi-potion+1, 3Hi-potion+2 & 1Hi-potion+3.

5) Sold the remaining Hi-potions on AH, NPC'd the rest of the consumables and gave my LS friend 50k for synthing me the potions.

----Bottom Line----
I walked away from this fight spending less than 100k and beating it on my first attempt. I spent a lot of time going over strategies and trying to figure out what would work best for me and the way I like to play. One of the most important things is to make a dedicated Maat macro set. I think most everyone that has beaten him will agree to this. Good luck to those that still need to get through this last test.

Edited, Fri Jan 6 12:15:58 2006 by Audion

Heya, been using the Carpace Gear tactic with soul voice + Double paeon, + Panama Au Lait, and had like 25 hi potions, Icarus Wing, Rapier and Blink Band, for my first try ever (BRD67).
I went in, used soul voice right away, used elegy to start fight, requiem, finale, then I unleashed Spirits Within (my sword skill is 175).
Everything went well.. extremely well, this tactic works like a charm... but I got really really bad luck. when I got him down to less then 20%, he suddenly taunted me, and did Asuran Fists, followed by Asuran Fists (twice in 3 seconds). obviously I died.

Now the entire fight he hasnt been using a single weaponskill untill the -2 times in a row Asuran fists-.

Now I havent read it anywhere that Maat can use his WS like this (makes me wonder how hard SAM fight will be, when he uses Meiko Shishui), so I just had to share this with you all. Its not a hard fight, I kinda overestimated it, but I just got unlucky.
Gonna try again asap and show him who's best ^^

I beat him first time and he was really remarkably easy. I was level 67.

Gear was
Emperor Pin(borrowed,
Carapace body
Opo-Opo necklace/Star Necklace
Singing and String Earrings
Jesters +1
Gleemans
Courage Rings
AF hands, legs
RSE boots

As you can see absolutely nothing special about the gear apart from the Emperor Pin

Used Rapier (parrying helps a bit)
Food: Spaghetti Carbonara, drink: Persikos au Lait
Took a Vile Elixir +1 but didn't need to use it
X-Potion +1. Yes, I know they are slow but so is Maat with Elegy on him - he hits at the pace of an arthritic snail.
Icarus Wing
Sleeping Potions

I went in naked with WAR 1 sub.
Slept with Opo-Opo to 150 TP, used Icarus Wing, swapped in Star Necklace and dressed.

Then Soul Voice, double Paeon, Pulled with Elegy, then Requiem VI and Finale.

Spirits Within

Paeon and Persikos heal at over 30HP a tick. Maat hits for 80-90 but is so slow with Elegy that you heal quicker than he takes HP down a lot of the time.

When he Finales take another Persikos (that's what's Finaled off) and use X-Potions to keep HP up. You have ample time to pop them between his hits - I think I used 8 or 9 but took 12 and a few Hi-Potions for emergency, which I didn't use.

If he puts on any useful buff you Finale it - again, you have LOADS of time to do this. Just make sure you re-sing Paeons before Soul Voice wears and keep Elegy and Requiem up.

I am pretty sure that if you concentrate on keeping HP high by popping potions all the time he is much less likely to use an effective attack like Asuran Fists or similar. He used Shoulder Tackle on me, that is all.

I think that throughout the entire fight my HP was higher than his. He gave up when I was about to use my third Spirits Within. I suppose he had about 25% HP - I had over 750 HP when he did so and that was after his shoulder tackle which came very near the end. I reckon that the key is the difference between your HP and his - when that's large enough he gives up.

Elegy is the key to this really. You really do have lots of time, so don't panic. Have decent sword skill (mine was about 200).

Keep calm and you should be fine. I wrote down my plan and I also made a full macro set with all the items, weapon skill, etc just for this fight.

If I can beat him anyone can!





Edited, Tue Jan 31 00:23:09 2006 by Stillet

Edited, Tue Jan 31 00:24:11 2006 by Stillet

Thank you soooo much. This strategy worked perfectly. ^^

Edited, Sun Feb 19 04:46:02 2006 by Kirbster

This is my first post ever, i had to sign up just to thank Liedra. Went in as 67 brd with almost the exact gear as posted. Was just figuring on doing a dry run and dieing just to see how things worked. I was very surprised to kick Maat's butt. Everything worked like a charm...i even forgot my tank food. I just wanted to say thank you and let everyone know to try this out. 1/1 for me!!


http://covenantls.net/gallery2/m..._itemId=403 (link to Liedra's pics of Maat fight)

Edited, Thu Feb 23 12:45:02 2006 by Shailen

I took the DEF+ approach. Gear was -

Rapier
Elegant Shield
Carapace Body
Carapace Hands
Gleeman's Belt
Choral Legs
Choral Feet
Jesters+1 Cape
Melody Earring x 2
Moon Ring x 2
OpoOpo Necklace / Bird Whistle

Items Were -

Icarus Wing
Hi-Potion x 25 (yes this is a lot, but you can sell them back whereas not having enough will cause you to lose and waste time farming your test, etc)
Sleeping Potion x 12
Selbina Milk
Pear Au Lait


Enter with all gear off, once you're in equip everything (and opo-opo necklace). Sleep self to 150% tp, then change to bird whistle and run in.

I used Soul Voice once I ran up to Maat, then did double paeon and drank au lait. Pull Maat with elegy, requiem, then Finale. Immediately I did a Spirits Within, dropping him 15%, then used the Icarus Wing and did it again taking him down to 30% or so.

Maats attacks generally did 60-120 dmg depending on crits. But with Soul Voice elegy slowing him, and paeon and au lait on me, HP stay capped the entire length of Soul Voice. Once he used shoulder tackle which did 220, but I drank a hi-potion and was back up in no time.

As a Hume Bard with a 177 Sword Skill and a Rapier, I did about 20-30dmg to Maat per strike. RequiemVI with SV does 12/tick ... so keeping requiem up and yourself alive is mort important than physical attacks until SV wears off. When you can get another strike in, take it. Building TP to 100% so you get Spirits Within is good, as the dmg is great.

The trouble begins when SV wears off. Try and get Paeon on yourself and Elegy/Requiem on Maat right before you lose SV. All the sudden Maat will do more damage than Paeon regenerates and he won't be as slow. Also requiem damage will drop in half.

At this point make sure you always have Elegy and Requiem on Maat, and that you spam Finale as often as you can. He wastes a lot of time recasting his songs when you finale them.

Make sure you have a macro for Hi-Potions. Use them as you drop by more than 100 below cap. The name of the game at this point is to hack at Maat with your sword building up TP for spirits within while you keep RequiemVI on him. Keep elegy on him, and keep your health capped.

The 3 times I did this run, the same thing happened. When Maat got down to about 20% health he started using stronger attacks. He uses Asuran Fist (sp?) which does 600dmg. The first time I did this I let my health drop down to 800 and he hit me with Asuran Fist + Shoulder Tackle for over 900 Dmg, the Second time he hit me with 2 Asuran Fists for 1200 dmg (more than my cap) but the 3rd time he didnt use Asuran Fist at all. Either way, watch out when get gets to that point, be ready to spam Hi-potions, and pray he doesn't double up his weapon skills on you. This is really up to chance, and is the difference between an easy fight and a tough fight. My friend Dayz, a PLD, also saw this. He got beaten by Maat until today when he fought him and Maat didnt use Asuran Fist at all, so was an easy fight.

Notes :

It was key to have sword above 175, mine was only 177 and I missed 30% of my swings.

Songs I saw Maat cast were
on himself - Minuet, Swift Etude, March
on me - Elegy, Requiem, Finale

Was Lightsday when we fought him, and neither of us got Asuran Fist, don't know if that matters but it's worth considering.

I have uploaded a video of my Maat fight for those who are interested.. I wish i had one for my first attempt, I had no idea what to really expect..

Video vs Maat

It is a hard fight, but there is room for error. I made a lot of simple mistakes, did not finale everything. I notice he sings again after you finale him. So I left him with bad buffs like etudes while I could. I did not use the Opo-opo Necklace method.

Also, one thing I had noticed after the fight when I watched the video, after you sing paeon again you must drink another hp regen food. I was too nervous to realize during the fight, but its okay.

Also. I wouldn't recommend doing Spirits Within -> Spirits Within. I don't know jack about what to skillchain with since.. I never melee. Lastly. I notice he will use ws around the same time that you build up 100 tp (probably coincedence) and when he is about 30% hp left. I was lucky and did not get hit with Asuran Fist this time in the video..

The only advicfe I have to give is to stay calm. My first fight resulted in a pathetic loss because I was overexcited.. (and he use Minuet 4 -> Asuran Fist while finale is on recast ; ;) Also. Running up to where I was in the video asap is a good idea, so you can see what he buffs with.

Stuff Used:

Weapon: Wing Sword (only got wind damage effect once, not really needed)
Shield: Did not use
Instrument: Only Horn +1. I left Requiem instrument in Mog house ; ;
Head: Noble's Ribbon
Body: Scorpion Harness
Hand: Tiger Gloves
Leg: Choral Cannions
Feet: Choral Slippers
Back: Amemet Mantle
Waist: Gleeman's Belt
Neck: Spike Necklace
Ear: Melody Earring x2
Finger: Phalanx Ring x2

Medicine:

Hi-Potion x21 (Used 19, would have used another but fight ended)
Icarus Wing
Pamama au Lait x5-6 (don't remember.. used 2, remember to use after every finale or when recasting paeon)
Sole Sushi (use it first before anything else!)

Skill:

Sword 175
Evasion 201 (cap)
Singing 212 (cap)
Wind 212 (cap)

Edited, Thu Apr 6 13:28:10 2006 by Aitsu

I've been reading posts here for a few days now and have been little worried i would get owned. But i figured owell i got a test lets give it a whirl. Now mind you my swordskill was only 163 so no SW which people say is a must. So i grabbed an opp-opo necklace,spike necklace,blink band and went to work. Here's how i faired:


sleep to 100tp
use blink band
Equip spike necklace
Pop defense food and selbina milk
2hr double paeon
Pulled with Elegy
Fast blade > Icarus wing > Fast Blade
Foe Requiem
Magic Finale

I was kinda excited because he was half dead before he even hit me the 1st time. Elegy is a must. I knew he didnt ws yet and thats what i was fearing. As he starts casting str etude i start finale. He then unleashes a combo for 279. Then he start casting dex etude so that gave me time to potion to full. The fight ended about 30 sec later.

So to everyone that says SW is a must this is not true. With a blink band and 2hr elegy and requiem on him he's a piece of cake. So just go in with some confidence and be ready to be impresssed with your power

DaProphet:1 Maat:0


Edited, Thu Apr 13 12:15:41 2006 by Daprophet

I thought I'd add my reply since I beat maat first try. I went at lvl 69. I made some mistakes but I guess I got lucky, maat didn't do any huge ws's on me.
I brought charisma gear and battle gear to make sure I'd land requiem and elegy first try but I forgot to equip my battle gear the entire time as well as wore my opo opo necklace and blink band the entire fight, lol. I used a stun knife because I didn't have sword to 175 yet, my dagger was capped though. It only stunned him once.
I did everything noted in these guides, I went in naked, slept to 120% tp used blink band. I ate a Shallops Tropicale and persikos aulait and pineapple juice for finales. SV paeons and pulled with elegy, requiem and finale everytime it came up, I built tp to 200% before I used clycone, then popped a Icarus Wing and did it again. Then I just made sure I was above 600hp by popping hi-potions.
Anyways just before SV wore off I noticed maat was already at 50%, with 2 ws's and the requiem. I also brought hi-potions +3, i think I chugged about 8 of them, he had me down to 250ish hp after using combo on me, he never used ausuran fists on me thank god, im taru. After I did my 3rd clyclone he gave up!
Just thought I'd let others know that it can be done with poor equipment and dagger! :-)

WTF im now 0/6
1st 3 times i was tryying new things. And now Ive got Gear potions and everything down pat. I can keep myself 900+ out of my 1003 HP the entire battle.
Weapon-Rune Blade
Head,Body,Hands- Carapace
Legs,Feet- AF
Rings - Moon Rings
Earrings - Melody
Waist-Gleemans
Back-Jester's Cape+1
Instruments- Flute+1 EbonyHarp+2 and Horn+1.
I have no problem stayying alive I bring 25 Hi-Potion+3s, 12Sleepping Potions (4 per battle), 3 Persiko Au Lait things ,2-3 Tav. Tacos, Vile Elixir+1, and an Icuras Wing.

I sleep to 100 use Blink Band, eat taco, regen food, SoulVoice 2xPaeon. Then I engage WS use wing WS again. The I debuff Requiem, Elegy, Finale.
Throughout the whole battle I use potions and keep myself very healthy for Spirit's within.

Heres the problem in the last 3 fights I have had a Maat WS problem. @ about 40% always I get him and have 100TP around then for a 4th WS during fight. I have full HP and he freaks!. This last time I was only at 800ish HP when he gets to 40%. He asuaran fists me for 650ish! I pop my Vile Elixir+1 and he Asuaran Fists me again! so now Im down to 200HP I pop a Hi-pot+3 and he Asuaran Fists me a 3rd @#%^ing time. He does it so fast my potions dont even register in the chat log.

How can he possibly Asuaran Fist me 3 times in 10-15secs. I have a good enough reaction time to hit my macros inbetween the Fists but it doesnt really matter no matter What I lose.

And its not like those are the only WSs he uses, he also has used Spinning Attack, Shoulder Tackle, One-Inch-Punch, and Tackle(which isnt even a WS) but he uses these around 60% giving me ample time to recover my HP because they only do like 130ish.

Im 0/6 on Maat but 9Asuran fists in 6 fights (8 of them being in the last 3 fights).

Help Me Out Please What am I doing that triggers his Fisting Freakout.

This has been the worst week of my life IG.

I want to share my fights with Maat…1/2. . I’d like you to know I fought him with an EARTH STAFF. Yes that’s right. I am a 70 Tarutaru. The first round was close, the second a pushover. Here’s the gear set ups:

First attempt:
Earth Staff (staff skill 201)
All relevant song+2 instruments (except for paeon, only NQ was available) and Frenzy Fife
Carapace Head, Body, Hands
Tiger Trousers
AF feet
Asura neck-something? Adds a few +1 stats
Melody Earrings (maybe? Not sure. May have used Round 2 earrings.)
Loyalty Rings
Gleeman’s Belt
Amemet Mantle (borrowed)
Blink band

Second Attempt:
As above, but replaced Melody with Shield Earrings, and Loyalty with (borrowed) Sun Rings.

Items (both):
Tav Tacos
Hi-potions x8
Selbina Milk
Reraise Scroll
Icarus Wing
Apple Juice (2nd round)

Created separated macros (some of which were incorrect >.< ) and battle strategy (leaving some things out or forgetting some things too >.< ) It’s tense in there!

Round 1 (aka how to screw things up-skip if you'd like)
Entered with gear on (forgot to take off first…) Forgot to use reraise scroll… Used blink band, ate taco and milk, ran up to arena. Soul Voiced, attempted to use paeon macro but they were set up wrong :/ so quickly went into menu and fixed them while casting. Hit Maat with Lullaby hoping to buys a bit of time—no good. Elegy, Requiem macro failed so quickly casted and adjusted that, Earth Threnody (b/c of Earth Staff). Did a poor job of watching my own debuffs—I think Maat knocked my Paeons off a couple times and I don’t even know about food and milk. Nor did I dispel Maat very well or watch his songs. I think he had march on quite a bit. Recasted songs before SV went out, missing Requiem however before timer ran out.
Now, Mine and Maats HP were slowly dropping, but mine faster of course. I popped a few hipots now and then. I image I was hitting 75% of the time, but maybe more maybe less. SV elegy on yourself is not fun either :/ Maat did some WS shortly after SV ran, I forget which (combo maybe?) I recovered mostly. My TP was slowly gaining, say 150% at this point. As it neared 200, I Sinewy Etude’d and popped the Icarus Wing. However, Maat somewhere around here Dragon Kicked and my HP was in the red, and I had been popping hi-pots one after another around this point too. His HP was around 30-40% I wager when I hit 300tp, and I figured I could finish him off. Full Swing after equipping Frenzy Fife (had forgot to do it throughout the battle tho) for 305 dmg. “Ouch, That’ll hurt in the morning!” Well, not enough I guess, cuz he didn’t give up, and after I tried to pop a couple hipots but I had a) run out and b) was now medicated (tho I didn’t noticed until later) he Asuran Fisted for (only?) 331 HP…I was in the red at that time and I think I had around 300. So close fight, but not close enough.

Round 2
Traded Loyalty for Sun Rings. This time I entered naked, remembered to use reraise scroll, and added apple juice to the finale-protection list. Blink band, taco, milk. Macro’s were fixed this time. Ran up to arena, SV, 2x paeon, elegy, requiem, threnody. Watched his buffs better this time, I recall finaleing, I think, 2 marches and a minuet, leaving dextrous and quick etude later on. Also noted him finaleing my reraise and maybe a milk, tho I know 1 juice wore of its own and I redrank, maybe a milk as well. I also managed to recast all songs before SV wore.
This time things were quite different. Had very little problem with HP. I used 2 or 3 hipots (I think 2…), that’s all the whole fight; HP nvr dropped into the yellow: the defense minimized his dmg and paeon kept up with things. I think he finale’d a peaon, but that was shortly before I recasted anyway. I switched to Frenzy Fife shortly after second recast set. I used 1 hipot midfight or so, and another after One Inch Punch. His HP was dropping faster this time, and mine not as fast. I do know I parried once ^^. His HP was around 30% when my TP was 160 or so and he did One Inch Punch for not too much. Now, as I was approaching 200 TP, I was just about to use Icarus Wing for 300 tp and wallop him when…the jerk gave up! He had I suppose 20% hp or so.

Evaluation:
I have to say, the fight left me rather unsatisfied despite my victory, lol. The fight lasted 6 mins 31 secs. Some things to note: I only had the +CHR from the Gleeman’s belt, and my songs always stuff on him just fine. I DID NOT sleep for TP. Also, in round 3 he used only 1 WS the whole time (compared to 3 the former). I NEVER used a WS at all the whole fight…and at 180 tp or so with a staff, and figuring Maat’s hits on me, that means I hit him like (only?) 16 times, give or take.

Why such a different between first and second? Some of it might be luck. And if gear effects Maat’s stats, that may have made the difference. Also it was earth day, and I don’t know if that effected elegy or the earth staff dmg or power in any way (albeit surely small).

But anyway, I hadn’t really heard of this being done with an earth staff, and a fellow bard strongly disbelieved I could do it, heh, but I wanted to try and well it seemed to work well. Of course it took some skilling to get staff to 200, but not too much. I think the def build was good; I was fairly proud his Asuran Fish did “only” 331. But what is most important perhaps, is that with this way of slowly but surely dwindling his HP, Bard truly is Bud Light’s “Mr. Requiem Damage Dealer” (insert musical notes here). But man, I really wanted to hit him with another 300tp full swing…oh well, maybe I’ll face him again : )


Edited, Jun 23rd 2006 at 11:59pm EDT by milkdemcows

Ok
So I beat Maat today, about a half an hour ago actually, and I kicked his Ass to the curb! : )
On my first try too! :D

I followed a TON of the strategies on this Forum.

First, I went the Defensive route.

Carapace Head
Carapace Body
Choral Cuffs
Choral Cannions
Choral Slippers
Loyalty Ring +1 x2 (Chr +3, Def +2)
Melody Earring x2
Jester's Cape +1
Gleeman's Belt
Bird Whistle, Spike Necklace (Which I forgot to macro in but Meh x.x)

For weapons I used...

Rune Blade
with an Elegant Shield

Now for Items, I brought with me 14 Hi potions, 2 Hi potions +2, and 2 Hi potions +3, one Icarus Wing, 3 Pear au Laits, and 3 Melon Juices (Ill explain the refresh)
Although, I only used I think 4 Hi potions throughout the fight, the Huge regen you can get with Paeon makes things very easy.

Now many brds have tried the Evasion route, In my opinion, that route sucks.
I know it can work, but brds have some of the lowest AGI in the game of ALL the jobs, they werent meant to evade that well lol. Another thing to know about the evasion route is that it costs a LOT more if you plan on buying the equipment, and Evasion can only take you so far.

My skills were at...

-Combat-
Sword - 201
Evasion - 201 (capped, 211 with Melody Earrings activated)
Parrying - 86

-Instrument-
Singing - 212 (capped, 217 with Choral Cuffs)
Stringed - 212 (capped)
Wind - 212 (capped, 215 with Choral Cannions)

I actually managed to evade one of Maats attacks and also Parry another one of his attacks with these stats.
With these stats too, I was hitting for about 40 damage and would hit about 4/5 of the time, and Maat would hit me from 70-80 damage. I think one time he did hit me for 90 damage though and one of his Crits did 170 dmg.

Food I used was...

Tav. Taco (Cant remember how to spell it, but pld tanks use this mostly as their food)

Now the reason I had the Melon drinks were for two reasons...

1- Another thing for Maat to Finale, so instead of Finaling your Regen, he'll Finale your refresh

2- This will activate your Rune Blade latent effects, which pwn the Cermet Sword +1 in my opinion, not to mention, the Rune Blade looks 100 times cooler lol

The Rune Blade's Latent Effect is Dmg 43 and Dex +5, its regular stats are Dmg 39, Delay is 236 with and without the latent activated.
The Cermet Sword +1 wins in delay, I think its 219, but the Dmg on the Rune Blade easily makes up for it, and when the Latent is activated, then its a LOT stronger than the Cermet Sword +1.
Another thing to note is that both swords cost about 100k.

Before talking to Maat and entering the BC, unequip everything, this way your stats reflect his, its a rumor, but if it helps, then I say go for it.

Also remember to be very calm, you WILL have butterflies in your stomach at this point.

Now as soon as you get into the BC...

- Use your food.
- Then run to Maat but don't engage.
- Then use Soul Voice.
- Sing Army's Paeon x2
- Then use a Pear au Lait.
- Then use a Melon Drink for your Rune Blade.

Now this is where the fighting begins...

- Sing Carnege Elegy first, this is the most important defensive tool a brd can do in this fight. It makes Maat REALLY slow.
- Then sing your Foe Requiem VI to him, this is one of the best offenseive tools a brd can do to Maat. With Soul Voice, it will do 12 HP/3 secs to Maat.
- Then Sing Magic Finale, this is another extremely important thing to do, as it makes Maat have to re-sing his buffs on, which will take him time, which means you can cause more damage to him.

The songs that Maat sang to me were...

- Battlefield Elegy (yuck, this made me attack slow, and have a bad Finale timer x.x and I probably could of had the record if he didnt sing this...)
- Foe Requiem VI
- Magic Finale

Some of the buffs I noticed he used were...

- Valor Minuet IV
- Dextrous Etude
- Swift Etude
- Advancing March

These are the ones I noticed, he mighta pulled one off that I didnt see.

In the end of the fight strategy, just keep whacking him with your sword, sing Finale whenever you can, and try to rebuff yourself and debuff Maat before Soul Voice ends.

One last thing to remember, beating Maat takes luck. You can be the most {Impossible to Gauge} bard out there, but if he decides to Asuran Fists your ass, then theres a good chance you might lose.
The only weapons skills I had to deal with were Howling Fist for 220 and Spinning Attack for 80, thank god. <.>

If you do lose, dont get discouraged, getting your Test is very easy, and you can use getting your test to try to skill up more of your stats to use against Maat.
And getting back your lost exp is easy, you're a brd lol.

If missed anything, then Ill be sure to /slap myself.

Goodluck to all you brds out there :)

Remember, {Bard} {Power} {Impossible to Gauge} Maat {Too Weak}!


Edited, Jul 15th 2006 at 3:36pm EDT by Creelo

Edited, Jul 15th 2006 at 3:39pm EDT by Creelo

For everyone who is about to fight Maat, i just finished him and i won without any problems at all.
It IS possible to win without the opo necklace and, tho rare, its possible to win without potions but i wouldn't recommend it.

My setup:
Cermet Sword+1 (sword skill 177)
Elegant Shield
All Regular xp instruments
Carapace Helm
Spike Necklace
Melody Earrings x2
Jaridah peti
Carapace Gauntlets
Ametrine ring x2
Feral Mantle
Gleeman's belt
Darksteel subligar
Vampire Boots

Ok, this was by far an easier fight then i thought it would be due to all of these horrifying posts. I only used 1 hi potion and i didnt need to. I was at 675hp and decided to use it to get out of yellow although it wasn't neccasary. Anyway, i went in, ate a steamed crab and used a icarus wing. Got closer to maat and used my 2 hour and doubled up on paeons and pulled him with elegy. Used a Selbina Milk and Yag drink (mostly to block Finale) and began the fight with Spirits Within. I used Finale whenever he casted somethin on himself and made sure i kept all songs up. He went down without any problems at all but im guessing i got really lucky. He used 2 WS, one inch punch and tackle, but luckily he missed them both. I hope everyone else wins without too much trouble.

p.s. i heard in a rumor that maat has the stats that you come in with so before i entered, i unequiped everything and requiped it all when i got insied the Burning circle. I'm not sure if its true or not but it only takes 10 secs so why not. Also i heard that Maat uses strong WSs like Asuran Fists more frequently after 7-8mins go by so killing fast without sleeping yourself for TP may be the best method to use.

Edited, Jul 24th 2006 at 9:37am EDT by DaMufnMan

Tried him at 69 Hume BRD and I'm 1/1 on Maat. He did NOT use Asuran Fists on me, so it may be true that at 69 you do not have to worry about that WS.

Cermet Sword +1
Elegant Shield
Horn +1 and Ebony Harp +1
Carapace Helm
Opo-Opo Necklace/Peacock Charm
Melody Earrings
Carapace Breastplate
Carapace Gauntlets
Phalanx Rings
Amemet Mantle +1
Gleeman's Belt
Beak Trousers
Choral Slippers

This guy DOES hit hard on regular hits even with defense gear.

First, make sure you have a macro set JUST for Maat. It makes things easier. I put all the pre-battle stuff (like sleeping potions) on CTRL and the Battle actions on ALT (songs/potions).

I went into BCNM with Opo Necklace on and slept to 150% TP. Then I ran up so that I could see Maat and use my Selbina Milk and Apple Juice (so he will dispel this instead of my Paeon). Then I used an Icarus wing and did Soul Voice > Paeon IV + Paeon V, ran forward, pulled with Elegy, immediately used Finale, then Requiem. From this point on, whatever he dispelled. At 300% TP I got as much HP as I could and did Spirits withing for a bit less than 500 damage. Maat didn't have much HP left (about 40%).

I kept dispelling every chance I could, and after my 6th or 7th Finale, I recasted all my buffs and debuffs, and from that point on my job was just to stay alive until Maat gave in.

I even forgot to equip my Peacock Charm. And yes, my accuracy was pretty bad at 181 Sword skill. Maat's accuracy was not bad at all.

Beat Maat last night on my dry run. Level 70 Taru BRD, sword skill 201, evasion skill was around 160.

I thought I'd be doing this a few times so after getting my testimony the night before, I thought I'd just go in and see how it was, get rid of some of the butterflies, whatever.

Company Fleuret
Elegant Shield
Whatever HQ Instruments

Carapace Helm
Wind Torque
2x Melody Earring +1
Scorpion Harness
Choral Cuffs
1 Loyalty Ring, other slot was empty
Amemet Mantle
Gleeman's Belt
Choral Cannions
Choral Slippers

Went in naked, popped a Tavnazian Taco and re-equipped myself. Sang Paeon while I was getting situated just to fill HP. Popped a Selbina Milk, ran in, engaged out of range, SV Paeon x2, Elegy, Requiem, Finale, and then started in on the melee. Missed my first Fast Blade, but a few minutes and a Combo for ~225 and a Dragon Kick for ~350 later, he gave up. I was pretty floored... no meds, no TP wings/Opo Necklace, no Blink Band.

I'm looking at the self skill chain, Cyclone to Cyclone for Detonation. Can someone veryify for me that the macro to do this is:

/ws "Cyclone" <bt>
/wait 1
/item "Icarus Wing" <me>
/wait 3
/ws "Cyclone" <bt>

Mainly I'm concerned about the wait commands. I want to make sure that I don't get a "You can't do that now" error, without waiting too long and missing the SC.

Thanks!
~Pixi

Was kinda worried about facing Maat today. I been reading all these threads about how much trouble Maat was for them. I believe I was lucky for Maat only did Combo and Raging Fists.

Gear and Preperation:

Darksteel Cap
Carapace Body
Chroal Cuffs
Gleeman's belt
Choral Cannons
Choral Slippers
Amemet Mantle
Shield Pendant
Behemoth Knife
Elegant Shield
Melody Earring X2
Ametrine Ring X2

188 Dagger Skill
201 Evasion +10 from earrings for a total of 211
65 Parrying

I didn't wear any equipment when I went into the burning circle. I ate a Tav Taco and used Reraise Scroll. Popped Soul Voice did double Paeon. Run in engaged Maat and hit him with Elegy and then Requiem. I popped around a total of 5 Hi-potions +3 the entire fight. I keep Pear au Lait and Pineapple Juice on me for him to dispel.

Battle!

Maat was hitting me for 57 damage up to 101. He did one critical hit which hit me for 197 damage. I recasted Paeon X2, Carnage Elegy and Requiem before Soulvoice ran out.

I waited till 150% TP and used Cyclone. I used an Icarus Wing and did another Cyclone for I thought it did a Detonation Skill Chain, but it didn't (either I was too slow or it didn't work).


Resolution:

I believe I was extremely lucky. I never got hit by Asuran Fists. It did seem I was getting hit a lot harder then what people normaly do. I did try and time my potions so I would use one right after I swung so I get the most swings in as possible while keeping my hps above yellow (even thou the Carapace Armor doesn't kick in till your hp's at different stages).

I still feeling giddy from this fight. This is one of the most exciting fights I have been in for I was solo without even a subjob.



Goodluck to all you other bards out there working on this!

I'd just like to give my little bit to the thread to explain how I beat Maat. I know many people have explained their strategies, but maybe I can help someone else by telling about mine.

First off, gear. I was on a tight budget and would have brought better stuff, but to my surprise I was in no real danger at all with what I had.

Head: Choral Roundlet
Neck: Opo-opo Necklace
Ears: Melody Earrings
Fingers: Phalanx Rings
Hands: Choral Cuffs
Body: Carapace Breastplate
Back: Jester's Cape +1
Waist: Gleeman's Belt
Legs: Choral Cannions
Feet: Choral Slippers
Weapon: Rune Blade
Shield: Varlet's Targe
Intruments: Ebony Harp +1, Horn +1, Flute +1, all macro'd in to their appropriate songs

Other stuff I brought: 20 Hi-potions, a Hi-potion +1, and 4 Hi-potions +3. Pear au Lait, which I didn't use. Icarus Wing, which I didn't use. Sleeping Potions for the Opo-opo Necklace, which I could easily have gotten by without. Selbina Milk, which I used both for HP regen and to give the old guy something to dispel while I thwacked him about the head and shoulders with a large trout -- I mean, my sword. Shallops Tropicale, good tank food.

I used 11 Hi-potions. Sounds like a lot, I know, but I used them whenever I got below 800 HP just to be safe. I didn't want to be caught off guard by a bad WS. I also used the Hi-potion +1 and one Hi-potion +3, both as a way to catch up on my HP after resinging songs and not being able to use a NQ Hi-potion for several seconds.

As far as strategy goes, I'll just break it down as others have done. After entering the battle, I:

1. Used food.
2. Slept myself to 100 TP.
3. Hit him with a Finale, which was a mistake, as I wasn't ready to engage.
4. Engaged, rapidly drinking milk, popping Soul Voice, putting up both Paeon IV and V, hitting him with Elegy, and of course casting Requiem.
5. Used Spirits Within.

The rest is simple. Re-apply Paeons and debuffs, use whatever you're using to give him something to cast Finale on. Use TP when you have it. Don't let your HP get low. Don't panic. That makes you forget things.

Other random, possibly useful information:

I had Sword and Evasion capped. My Parry is 157 and I parried 2 of his attacks. I didn't miss much, and didn't evade a single attack.

He hit me for about 85 points, average. Once he hit me for 79, once for 100. He hit me for 88 about 5 times. It sounds like a lot when you only have 900 something HP, but coupled with mad regen, potions, and Elegy, this is really nothing to worry about. His WSs hit for 105 and 108...again, this is kind of pathetic. He landed a critical for 127 once, easily outdoing the WSs.

All in all, it was very easy. Come prepared as I've explained and you'll (probably) have no trouble. My HP never got below 700.

Hope this helps someone.

just beat Maat earlier today. and as others have said, gear up for some defense.
Carapace Gear
Phalanx Rings
Blink Band
I opted to throw my Leaping Boots on for a little better evasion.


my biggest advice is, don't sweat it. once it's over and you look back on it, the fight is incredibly easy. just sit back and relax, if you're 70 you don't lose any xp so what's the big scare? watch what he is buffing and make sure to use your de-buffs and hi-pots as needed...let Requiem do most of your dirty work. expect to lose the first match, unless you've seen him before. i had no idea what to expect, but when i came back for my 2nd try, i knew what he was gonna do.

i went in with 10 hi-pots.
a stck of milk for Finale blocker(which didn't work, he kept taking away my paeons >< )
no food.
i 2hr'd, sang my Paeons, then decided to use my blink band....doh! that was a big chunk of precious SV time.
my sword skill was 163!
i ended it about 7min later around 50% hp. he was down to 15%.

it was not a picture perfect Maat fight by any means, but i got the job done. i just want to let some of you hopefulls know that you don't need to skill up for weeks, or max out everything in anticipation for this fight. it can be done with just a little preperation and planning. good luck!


Edited, Oct 12th 2006 at 1:32am PDT by Aerias