Offhand for almace

As much as I tend to disagree with Proth, he's correct here. BLU isn't a job with high attack and thus will almost never be in a situation with capped ratio. Capping accuracy is child's play now. STR is always useful as you need + ~60 STR to cap fSTR on a 90 Almace, that's not going to happen on anything worthwhile outside of Abyssea.

The main source of a CDC BLU's damage is that WS not their spells. You will use your spells to self SC with CDC for additional damage or for setting useful buffs / job traits. You can also use yoru spells to finish something off without having to waste TP on a WS when it's almost dead.

How does the additional TP from an OA2-4 sword factor into the comparisons?

I've asked on various boards and never seen the actual equations being used when sword comparisons are being done. No one has ever offered them up

It has high delay (for a sword), unfavourable effect (procs after DA/TA) and crap damage rating, there's hardly anything good about it.

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Originally Posted by Demonofhunger

How does the additional TP from an OA2-4 sword factor into the comparisons?

I've asked on various boards and never seen the actual equations being used when sword comparisons are being done. No one has ever offered them up

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This is where it get's a lot more tricky as you'll need to specify exactly what is being compared as a consideration. I could tell you exactly how much tp you'll be producing but you'll need to decide whether you're dual-wielding, what tier of dual-wield you have, your equipment, and what exactly you're comparing it to.

Weapons produce more TP per hit the higher their delay. With the higher delay and multi-hitting attack you'll produce TP faster with the OA2-4 weapon than any of the others. Having one myself, I definetly will say it's very fun to see yourself gain 30+ TP in a round.

However, the extra TP gain does not give increase your damage enough to use as a mainstain weapon and should only be considered if you're looking for something to help you proc weaponskills faster or you're spamming Sanguine Blade with MATK atmas.

PLD+Kclub + Sanguine blade +MAB atma/gear = immortal.

Stopped reading at MAB atma. Not sure how I walked past kclub either, I must be tired.

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Originally Posted by Tashan

This is where it get's a lot more tricky as you'll need to specify exactly what is being compared as a consideration. I could tell you exactly how much tp you'll be producing but you'll need to decide whether you're dual-wielding, what tier of dual-wield you have, your equipment, and what exactly you're comparing it to.

Weapons produce more TP per hit the higher their delay. With the higher delay and multi-hitting attack you'll produce TP faster with the OA2-4 weapon than any of the others. Having one myself, I definetly will say it's very fun to see yourself gain 30+ TP in a round.

However, the extra TP gain does not give increase your damage enough to use as a mainstain weapon and should only be considered if you're looking for something to help you proc weaponskills faster or you're spamming Sanguine Blade with MATK atmas.

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I'd be curious to see just how much damage is being lost by subbing a OA2-4 and if doing CdCs a lot more often and keeping Aftermath up longer with an Almace main makes up for it. Considering that there might be situations where CdC may be the only effective way for a BLU to damage some high-def/high-level mobs, anything that supplements Almace CdC use seems to be ideal.

Also, I wonder if the previous assessments were Abyssea-centric. With new content coming that is outside of Abyssea, any calculations involving Razed Ruins and other killer atma is going to be less and less relevant. If new Nyzul is anything like old Nyzul, Blue Magic is going to be crap on boss NMs and we'll need to CdC as often as possible to meaningfully contribute.

I don't have either sword, but I've love to see the calculations and criteria people have used to make this decision.

I know that with the OA2 sword is really all but useless seeing as with the Double Attack sword it is very easy for a BLU to hit over 30% double attack and 3% TA /nin, or 34% DA 8% TA if you're pushing it with /war, and the DA applies to both hands rather than just the sword it is on, and it also proc's on WS's for increased damage. Meaning a 40% OA2 in one hand isn't all that appealing for TP gain seeing as it renders DA / TA much less useful.

But I couldnt say for OA2-4 times, did anyone ever work out the exact distribution of hits for it? I thought it was pretty poor.

On a side note I've been on the test server doing new Nyzul with BLU, and it seems to be the same as level 75 nyzul. BLU is extremely useful as sudden lunge stuns nearly everything you come across. (Though we couldnt find a boss floor to see what we got)

As said, it get's really difficult to calculate the differences in damage between the weapons precisely because the is a lot which must be considered for in order to do so. As such, it's not something which I will be taking the time to actually do but I can demonstrate what exactly the thought process behind it is.

The main areas of consideration would be:
--> The situation you are in.
--> Your statistics including traits, equipment, food, and enhancements.
--> Enemy statistics.

Situation

The situation is important because it determines a BLU's general battle strategy.

For example, in a situation where you are killing monsters for an extended amount of time such as an abyssea merit party the most damage you can be doing on BLU is to cast Delta Thrust, Heavy Strike, and Benethic Typhoon as much as possible whilst meleeing, weaponskilling and self-skillchaining. With the release of the new spells you'll now be throwing EF Quadrastrikes in as much as possible, rather than EFCA Qaud. Cont. Since you will be spending nearly as much time spellcast as you will be meleeing, instantly the 11 STR weapon becomes a much better constant boost.

In the example you've mention of High Def/High Level monsters, I assume you're refering to Voidwatch where your best option is to not melee but to spam Regurgitation, Dark Orb and perform as many BA Everyone's Grudge's as you can.

In situations such as Notorious Monsters, you'll want to avoid using OA2-4 weapons as much as possible because the TP recieved:Damage ratio you're feeding to your opponent is in their favour since the sword has such a low base-damage.

Statistics

Consider:

-->STR vs VIT - Are you already capping fSTR on the monster you're fighting?
-->Physical BLU ATK vs DEF - How much damage will your spells be doing?
-->Melee ATK vs DEF - How much damage will your WS' and melee swings be doing?
-->Additional Attacks and Counter Rates
-->Delay reduction and Haste
-->WS TP Gain - How often will you be recieving additional hits during weaponskills? How much extra TP will you have after WS' over time? How much of that TP will be spent for spellcasts during Chain Affinity?
-->Critical Hit Damage and Rate

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All of this can become extremely specific and time-consuming that it's beyond my own interests. However, there are those who will put in the effort and work and you are able to contact them.

For example: I believe it was Nightfyre of the Fenrir server who took the time to compare the LV90 DA+10 weapon against the STR Shamshir for damage and found the STR Shamshir pulls ahead.

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But I couldnt say for OA2-4 times, did anyone ever work out the exact distribution of hits for it? I thought it was pretty poor.

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IIRC it was 40/20/10 for 2/3/4 attacks respectively. The OA2-3 Sword averaged at 1.7 attacks per round, so the OA2-4 can't be much higher than that.