As an update to my last post, I discovered a SCH nuking set that even for an Elvaan with /RDM will get you to the magical 320/120. I had completely forgotten about elemental grips:
Main: HQ Staff
Sub: Appropriate Elemental Grip (2 M.Acc)
Ammo: Phantom Tathlum (2 INT)
Head: Argute Mortarboard (7 skill)
Neck: Elemental Torque (7 skill)
Ear1: Elemental Earring (3 skill)
Ear2: Morion Earring +1 (2 INT)
Body: Scholar's Gown +1 (3 INT, 15 skill)
Hands: Genie Gages (8 skill)
Ring1: Tamas Ring (5 INT)
Ring2: Omega Ring (3 INT, 3 M.Acc)
Back: Gleeman's Cape (5 INT)
Waist: Argute Belt (5 INT, 2 M.Acc)
Legs: Mahatma Slops (8 INT)
Feet: Goliard Clogs (4 INT, 2 M.Acc)
With the 272 elemental magic skill a naked Elvaan BLM with full elemental magic merits starts out with, we add 7+7+3+15+8 skill (head, torque, earring, body, hands) for 272+40=312 and an additional 2+3+2+2 M.Acc (grip, ring, belt, clogs) (considered functionally equal to a point in skill) for 272+40+9=321.
On the INT side, we start with 69 (ouch) and add 2+2+3+5+3+5+5+8+4 (ammo, earring2, gown, ring1, ring2, cape, belt, slops, clogs) for 69+37=106. Add in a cream puff (+7 INT) and a fully-merited Stormsurge Hailstorm (+7 INT) and you get 106+7+7=120. This brings you to 321/120.
It's been mentioned that the two earring slots being wasted on +3 skill and +2 INT prevents the use of some gear that gives big boosts: your novio and moldavite earrings, which give +12 MAB. The calculus gets difficult at that point but it's possible that 318/118/12 is better than 321/120/0. However, for the average person that doesn't have all the gear listed, generally I think the additional elemental skill and INT will be worth it over the MAB, as the closer to 320/120 you get the less you get resisted.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Elvaan SCH - HNM Nuking set?
Kaeko's always-awesome blog has an incredible Most recent post: Scholar Guide (Part IV), in which he discusses the possibility for a SCH to reach the sort of stats that make it viable for nuking on top tier HNM's. As an Elvaan I'm already facing an uphill battle, but being well-geared and well-merited, I've still been able to do respectable damage in many of our linkshell's Tiamat fights. Looking at my gear and stats:
A naked Elvaan SCH/RDM with 5/5 INT merits and 8/8 Elemental Magic merits has 69 INT and 272 Elemental Magic skill under Dark Arts. This is a brutal reality, considering that a Tarutaru SCH has the innate advantage of +13 INT (the little bastards start with 82). As a SCH/BLM I can pump this up to 71 INT (still 272 Elemental Skill), but for reasons that will be discussed in time, this is generally not worth it. As it stands my Elemental resist set consists of:
Main: HQ Staves
Sub: Bugard Leather Strap +1 (1 INT)
Ammo: Phantom Tathlum (2 INT)
Head: Elite Beret (4 Elemental)
Neck: Elemental Torque (7 Elemental)
Ear1: Moldavite Earring (5 MAB)
Ear2: Morion Earring +1 (2 INT)
Body: Scholar's Gown (15 Elemental, 1 INT)
Hands: Genie Gages (8 Elemental)
Ring1: Tamas Ring (5 INT)
Ring2: Omega Ring (3 INT, 3 M.Acc)
Back: Gleeman's Cape (5 INT)
Waist: Penitent's Rope (5 INT)
Legs: Mahatma Slops (8 INT)
Feet: Goliard Clogs (4 INT, 2 M.Acc)
Under Dark Arts, this gives me:
306 Elemental Skill
+5 Add'l Magic Accuracy
69+35=104 INT
Seeing as how M.Acc is treated as equivalent to elemental skill in terms of nuking an HNM, this is the equivalent of a 311/104 build, a far cry from the 320/120 talked about in terms of breaking through an HNM's magic defense.
The nice thing about SCH, and in particular having 5/5 Stormsurge merits, is that by eating a Cream Puff (+7 INT) and giving myself Hailstorm (+7 INT) I can pretty easily break through to the 120 INT barrier: this combo gives me 311/119; far from elite, but certainly respectable.
On mobs you can nuke with Ice, like Khimiara, it's a different story. The +5 INT and +10 Elemental skill of the Aquilo's staff is massive, taking me to a 321/124 build (w/cream puff and hailstorm). Utilization of Klimaform under Hailstorm just allows me to pile on.
As always, though, there's plenty of room for improvement:
On my head piece, replacing my elite beret with an elite beret +1 will give me 1 more skill, and an Argute Motherboard (SCH AF2 head) would give me +3 over my current setup (314/119).
A Merciful Cape (Ix'MNK drop) gives +5 elemental skill, but sacrifices 5 INT from my current Gleeman's Cape (316/114) (cumulative 319/114).
An Argute Belt (SCH AF2 Accessory) keeps the +5 INT of my Penitent's Rope and gives me +2 M.Acc to boot (313/119) (cumulative 321/114).
Replacing my Moldavite Earring with another +2 INT earring sacrifices MAB for another 2 INT, which would probably help on HNM's (311/121) (cumulative 321/116).
Replacing my Scholar's Gown with a Scholar's Gown +1 gives me +2 additional INT (311/123) (cumulative 321/118).
That's not horrible, but still not quite the 320/120 that's said to be required to nuke effectively @HNM's. Also, it's worth mentioning that I can drop a +2 INT earring for an Elemental Earring which takes me to 324/116, then trade out our Merciful Cape for our Gleeman's Cape, which gives us 319/121. Not horrible, but far from elite.
With a black mage sub, the 321/120 is possible, and /BLM may be superior as a pure nuker at Tiamat.
A naked Elvaan SCH/RDM with 5/5 INT merits and 8/8 Elemental Magic merits has 69 INT and 272 Elemental Magic skill under Dark Arts. This is a brutal reality, considering that a Tarutaru SCH has the innate advantage of +13 INT (the little bastards start with 82). As a SCH/BLM I can pump this up to 71 INT (still 272 Elemental Skill), but for reasons that will be discussed in time, this is generally not worth it. As it stands my Elemental resist set consists of:
Main: HQ Staves
Sub: Bugard Leather Strap +1 (1 INT)
Ammo: Phantom Tathlum (2 INT)
Head: Elite Beret (4 Elemental)
Neck: Elemental Torque (7 Elemental)
Ear1: Moldavite Earring (5 MAB)
Ear2: Morion Earring +1 (2 INT)
Body: Scholar's Gown (15 Elemental, 1 INT)
Hands: Genie Gages (8 Elemental)
Ring1: Tamas Ring (5 INT)
Ring2: Omega Ring (3 INT, 3 M.Acc)
Back: Gleeman's Cape (5 INT)
Waist: Penitent's Rope (5 INT)
Legs: Mahatma Slops (8 INT)
Feet: Goliard Clogs (4 INT, 2 M.Acc)
Under Dark Arts, this gives me:
306 Elemental Skill
+5 Add'l Magic Accuracy
69+35=104 INT
Seeing as how M.Acc is treated as equivalent to elemental skill in terms of nuking an HNM, this is the equivalent of a 311/104 build, a far cry from the 320/120 talked about in terms of breaking through an HNM's magic defense.
The nice thing about SCH, and in particular having 5/5 Stormsurge merits, is that by eating a Cream Puff (+7 INT) and giving myself Hailstorm (+7 INT) I can pretty easily break through to the 120 INT barrier: this combo gives me 311/119; far from elite, but certainly respectable.
On mobs you can nuke with Ice, like Khimiara, it's a different story. The +5 INT and +10 Elemental skill of the Aquilo's staff is massive, taking me to a 321/124 build (w/cream puff and hailstorm). Utilization of Klimaform under Hailstorm just allows me to pile on.
As always, though, there's plenty of room for improvement:
On my head piece, replacing my elite beret with an elite beret +1 will give me 1 more skill, and an Argute Motherboard (SCH AF2 head) would give me +3 over my current setup (314/119).
A Merciful Cape (Ix'MNK drop) gives +5 elemental skill, but sacrifices 5 INT from my current Gleeman's Cape (316/114) (cumulative 319/114).
An Argute Belt (SCH AF2 Accessory) keeps the +5 INT of my Penitent's Rope and gives me +2 M.Acc to boot (313/119) (cumulative 321/114).
Replacing my Moldavite Earring with another +2 INT earring sacrifices MAB for another 2 INT, which would probably help on HNM's (311/121) (cumulative 321/116).
Replacing my Scholar's Gown with a Scholar's Gown +1 gives me +2 additional INT (311/123) (cumulative 321/118).
That's not horrible, but still not quite the 320/120 that's said to be required to nuke effectively @HNM's. Also, it's worth mentioning that I can drop a +2 INT earring for an Elemental Earring which takes me to 324/116, then trade out our Merciful Cape for our Gleeman's Cape, which gives us 319/121. Not horrible, but far from elite.
With a black mage sub, the 321/120 is possible, and /BLM may be superior as a pure nuker at Tiamat.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Yes, it can be done
I'm not sure if I've ever heard of Apollyon NW being solo'd by a SCH, or an Elvaan, but even if I'm not anywhere near the first I'm pretty damn proud of this one. Not only did I complete it, I did so with 15 minutes to spare! Easy run, no glitches, with some very fortuitous vortex pops: 1st mob on the 1st and 2nd floors, 3rd mob on floor 3, and 1st mob on floor four. I should have farmed the 4th floor, really, but wanted to get the win out of the way. I had a ridiculous amount of time left ^^.
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