Blu or dnc subjob

[Galka4life]

I party with my 2 bros we are low level nothing serious. What's a better sub for rune for tanking? Dnc or blu and why? I would prefer dance for evasion bonus. Thoughts?

[evanwimbish]

Dancer so you can dual weild swords with rune enchantments, however...... Fun fact- monster intimidate traits are VERY dependant on CHR, I recently set lizard killer on my blu main for delve morimar (because all delve areas are 1 type of enemy, morimar being lizards) and with 80+ 115 CHR (blu/war) I successfully froze the first 3 attacks directed at me from matamata NM... You get this job trait at level 20 or somthing and it comes in very handy as blu main or sub ;)

[Louispv]

Dancer so you can dual weild swords with rune enchantments, however...... Fun fact- monster intimidate traits are VERY dependant on CHR, I recently set lizard killer on my blu main for delve morimar (because all delve areas are 1 type of enemy, morimar being lizards) and with 80+ 115 CHR (blu/war) I successfully froze the first 3 attacks directed at me from matamata NM... You get this job trait at level 20 or somthing and it comes in very handy as blu main or sub ;)

No Killer effects are an unchanging static effect level. No stat effects them other than more "____ Killer+"

[Galka4life]

Thanks for the replies. So Rune with a GS and /dnc sub is a no no? I know sambas don't stack but I thought you could just switch them when you need them.

[evanwimbish]

Job Trait Overview
Game Description: Gives an edge against lizard enemies.
Job Traits are always active.
Further Notes:
Occasionally causes lizard type enemies to be intimidated.
How often a mob is intimidated is based on Charisma.
One has to have hate for this trait to proc (be it beast or player)
Ffxiclopedia.org

[Babekeke]

Personally, I go /BLU on RUN for anything that doesn't want pure DD (and tbh if that's required I'd just go DRG instead). /BLU offers cocoon which is the best thing in the world ever, along with head butt which is also incredibly handy. Couple this with some high enmity spells like jetattura and you're laughing. I never /DNC. Quite frankly, the only thing that /DNC is good for is dynamis, but since we have no reason to RUN in dyna, then it never happens.

Speaking of job traits that you get from each sub, /BLU gets att/def bonus from setting the right BLU spells (though you didn't say what level you are). Either way, cocoon offers more than anything offered by DNC.

[Galka4life]

I'm level 36 lol and I just take on tough and very tough mobs. Like I said, just mess around and play lightly with my brothers. I have noticed that I survive easier with dancer. I through on drain samba and heal with waltzes, which heal for around 70. Pollen only heals 28 hp and cocoon I have to keep adding it. I just saw a level 99 run/whm. He said he can tank with that setup?

[Galka4life]

Also I don't really know how to use runes lol I know they add additional damage but that's about it. Also my damage is fairly weak for a 2 handed sword. So basically,

1. Blu is better for tanking?
2. Can you have whm subbed for tanking? All this is low level stuff mobs outside abyssa lol. level 30-60 3 man party.
3. How to effectively use runes?
4. I am stacked with 20 evasion and I still get hit a lot. I think my parrying is leveled too but doesnt parry much

[Dragomair]

Also I don't really know how to use runes lol I know they add additional damage but that's about it. Also my damage is fairly weak for a 2 handed sword. So basically,

1. Blu is better for tanking?
2. Can you have whm subbed for tanking? All this is low level stuff mobs outside abyssa lol. level 30-60 3 man party.
3. How to effectively use runes?
4. I am stacked with 20 evasion and I still get hit a lot. I think my parrying is leveled too but doesnt parry much

Parry is basically useless. Even with capped parry skill, you'll still rarely parry an attack.

[Galka4life]

Oh boo that stinks :( So what spells at 36 for rune generate hate? With either /blu sub or /dnc or/whm lol.

[Babekeke]

OK, you're a lot lower level than I thought, lol.

RUN gets nothing to really generate much hate until flash at level 45, then tanking becomes much easier. as /BLU there's nothing really til BLU38 (RUN76) when you get Blank Gaze, though Head Butt is always nice just for damage mitigation. Though at the lower levels you probably want to cast as little as much anyway as you'll end up with down time due to /healing.

The only way to generate much hate as RUN before then is through curing yourself or provoke (or animated flourish as /dnc at level 40run); though using the runes themselves does help to generate hate too, so spamming them could help, but then you're not doing much damage.

Maybe having your brothers play or sub nin would be a better way for you to kill stuff faster? At least then if you lose hate it won't matter too much and you can concentrate on getting hate back, rather than having to worry about them dying.

At 45 you could also sub nin yourself. flash is good for both holding hate, and also for allowing you to cast utsusemi :)

The other thing with sub choice comes down to what weapon you're using: GS is slow, and doesn't get any decent WS until much later on. Sword is better, but you still only get Fast Balde for a while, though flat blade can be useful for stunning mobs with a nasty attack (bomb toss etc). Axe is probably the best once you get access to rampage, though I'd probably sub a sword if you are /nin or /dnc, as they often have acc/att stats on to make up for the lower skill. The other flaw that sword/axe have over GS is a lower skill cap which will mean lower damage when using Lunge and Swipe.

As for your earlier question about not knowing what runes are for...

Runes primarily offer you an elemental resistance to the element that is weak to the element of your rune. Light and dark offer resistance for each other.

Runes also offer you a slight en-spell damage (at 99 I get about 48 extra damage per-hit using a GS) of the element of the runes you are using. If you use a mixed set of runes, it deals part damage of each rune, and each one can be resisted separately; eg if you are fighting a mob weak to fire but strong to ice, and you have 2 fire and 1 ice runes up, the ice ones will do more damage to it than the fire one does, but you only get the number of the total damage dealt.

Runes also enhance valliance and vallation. get as many runes up as you can, then pop vallation (also a useful hate-grabbing tool, so use it after engaging a mob) or when you get higher level, valliance (a very good hate-grabbing tool if it hits more party members). This will offer you a lot of -magic damage taken, for the element weak to the element of your rune. It will only give you resistance vs 1 element though, so if you have mixed elements, it's the one with more runes up, or if all are different, it's the most recent one. Pflug works similarly, but gives resistance to enfeebs, rather than _MDT.

Finally, Runes enhance Lunge/swipe. Lunge does more damage with more runes up, while swipe only uses 1 rune anyway, but choosing the right element can make a lot of difference.

On a mob like goblins, since they're weak to fire, but you also want fire resistance for bomb toss, I suggest using 3 water runes, then vallation, then change to fire runes for lunge/swipe, then back to water runes again.

As for /WHM tanking... no, not really. You'd be better off with /RDM or /SCH for faster casting, but frankly I steer clear of it. Removing status ailments? /DNC can remove most. Need haste? if you're in a pt, hopefully one of your friends is whm or rdm (or /whm or /rdm at higher levels) or even SMN. At 99 you can get 10% haste from refuelling anyway. If you're solo, use Trust to haste you. Need cures? You need to gear up better XD or skill up enhancing for better phalanx (this is at 99 - at lower levels /DNC is better for cures, especially if your WS all suck anyway).

[Galka4life]

Man you are awesome lol. You explained everything in great detail, I really truly appreciate that! So, should I stick to /dnc pre 45 and then blu? Or just stick to /war and just worry about /blu til flash?

[Babekeke]

Probably best sticking to /DNC, though it could vary depending on what jobs your brothers are playing.

[Galka4life]

Awesome thank you for your insight and help. May you have a great day :)

[Louispv]

Job Trait Overview
Game Description: Gives an edge against lizard enemies.
Job Traits are always active.
Further Notes:
Occasionally causes lizard type enemies to be intimidated.
How often a mob is intimidated is based on Charisma.
One has to have hate for this trait to proc (be it beast or player)
Ffxiclopedia.org

You might not want to quote a website that hasn't been updated since 2011, or a page that hasn't been updated since 2005. Especially when the entire argument for CHR was "Well, Koenig gear has lots of CHR..."

You especially shouldn't be quoting anything, when you can go spend literally 5 minutes fighting absolutely anything and see that it's an unchanging percentage no matter what you're fighting, or how much CHR+ you're wearing. Monsters in Morimar, 10%, Rock lizard in South Gustaberg, 10%, anything in between, 10%.