Cataclysm (FC style) party...

[Dhragon]

So, I've almost capped my staff skill and I was chatting with an in-game friend of mine and he made the comment of being able to do a Cataclysm spam party the same way War does Fell Cleave. I've had no luck finding any info on suggested gear builds or atma loadouts. I'm hoping someone here has tried this and can help give me a bit of direction. Also, would a Rdm be "needed" or would a Whm be good enough as my only support (once lights are built)?

Thanks for the insight. :)

[Corwin]

You'll want MAB gear and Atmas, and a good WHM is really all you need for support.

[Greatguardian]

Ultimate, Smiting Blow, and Cosmos are what I use, with Pluto's staff as well. I'm told Martial Staff may be a contender paired with Smiting Blow but I haven't mathed it out personally, since I haven't cleaved in a while.

Cataclysm damage is static though, so it's easy enough to try WS'ing at 100TP with different combinations and see what does the most damage. As far as sets go, INT and MAB are what you want. Denali legs, MAB Demon Rings, Uggalepih/Artemis neck, Hecates/Novio, K Osode, etc etc all work fine.

WHM is plenty of healing if they're quick and the pulls aren't overwhelmingly huge. A RDM for Phalanx 2/Phalanxga is always helpful if you have the spare resources, and Sleepga makes things super easy. If it's not obvious, you want Counterstance off while cleaving. I highly recommend /SAM for Sekkanoki, Hasso, and Meditate. With Soothing Light chests and Temp Items, you should be able to spam 300TP Sekka Catas and Ascetic's Tonics pretty much every pull.

[Dhragon]

Awesome, thanks for the great info. I've got some of the gear pieces mentioned and I'll try and work on some of the others (although, I don't have a Sky LS anymore). This really helps me a lot.

[BorkBorkBork]

The main problem your going to run into is that your melee damage will be pretty low but you can expect your ws to hit 1600-2000+ pretty easily. Just having a whm is fine, but like GG said use those atmas and load up on MAB gear.

[hiko]

Awesome, thanks for the great info. I've got some of the gear pieces mentioned and I'll try and work on some of the others (although, I don't have a Sky LS anymore). This really helps me a lot.
osode can be found fairly cheap in bazaar or can make the ACP with mab (if you dont have a better use for it)
for no mab slot can use INT or/and STR (both are 30% mod)

[Dhragon]

So, if I can't find a osode, would Acc & MAB be the good choice on the Mirke? I have it setup for use on my Cor, but that was only because I already had better gear for the other jobs. And now, I don't even need it on my Cor. Lol

[Martinius]

catacleaving is a lot of fun. get MAB anywhere you can, and anywhere else, put either str or int (they are equal modifiers, so whichever you can get more of in a slot). when i catacleave, i go mnk/sam. ideally you are starting with 300tp from a restore chest, so assuming it's not the first pull, you go cataclysm > meditate > cataclysm > let swings and mobs hitting you get you to 100 > catclysm = almost everything will be dead. you might have one or two stragglers who resisted a cataclysm, so then just finish them off.

you can use counterstance, but i don't, because after that first cataclysm, you're gonna have 10-25 mobs beating on you and there's no point in doubling their dmg (w/ prot5, you take maybe 40-70dmg a hit from mobs).

mnk doesn't have the tp gain of wars b/c we don't have retaliation, but it's still super fun to do. yesterday my cataclysms were doing 1980dmg and 2.2k w/ ascetic's up, and i still need to get denali legs, mahant sandals and demon rings (several hours of cleaving in tahrongi yesterday, we got dick in decent rings).

[Babekeke]

Atma of the Baying Moon looks like a good one for this. Att +30 for your tp swings, and MAB +30 for the WS

[Nynja]

Just be careful of your target. Anything dark resistant is a no-no.

[Martinius]

baying moon is a waste of an atma unless you don't have ultimate or griffon's claw. sacrificing 20 MAB for 30 attack on a weapon with as low dmg as pluto's staff or martial staff means you'll hit for 80 a hit instead of 70 on one mob, while dropping your cataclysms by more than a 100 on all mobs. in addition, you'd be giving up +50 MACC, which helps you avoid significant resists against mobs.

the best atma combination for catacleaving is cosmos/smiting blow/griffon's claw (2handed ws dmg+). otherwise, you should only use cosmos/smiting/ultimate.

[Raksha]

the best atma combination for catacleaving is cosmos/smiting blow/griffon's claw (2handed ws dmg+). otherwise, you should only use cosmos/smiting/ultimate.

20% bonus from griffin's claw is not gonna be better than 50MAB from atma of the ultimate. For example assuming you manage to somehow get +100MAB (from job traits and gear and other atma), 50 MAB will still result in a 25% damage increase vs the 20% on griffon's claw.

Cosmos, smiting blow, and ultimate is looking like your best bet.