Monk Gear / Questions / Advice

Figure there's been a few threads made asking whats good for X slot or in X situation etc. so instead of having people make a new thread every single time we can use this thread. Try to keep the flaming to a min , and people don't be butt-hurt if someone says your gear is bad its constructive criticism. That being said ill go first.


Is there any other leg slot item with higher then VIT+5 * not counting the augmented chance of +6 on byakkos since getting +6 vit +5stp and +4 crit dmg would take forever.*

I only know of Kensei which are +5. So in answer to your question, no I don't think so.

Would Bruiser's earring + Faith + H2H merits + tantra hands +2 = another dmg tier?

yes it is .
puts you @ 47.19 Base dmg then +3 and +35 weap *assuming 90 vereth* = 85

There was a discussion in another thread about a neck+earring combo better than this. Basically neck+ear would give you +1 base damage, i.e equivalent to +4 STR, and 10 attack 9 acc. Pretty sure I saw a new necklace with STR4 attack+15. Accuracy wise, there are many better options for both slots. Ziel charm+ tantra earring is 16 acc, so you basically compare 6 acc with 0.5 base dmg and 10 attack. Also faith torque + moonshade earring[regain/acc or regain/att] should be better [ here you basically compare 1 regain to 1 base dmg]

the 4 str 15 atk neck has 5% slow

After checking a lot of comparisons inside and outside Abyssea, it looks like:

Neck order:
Rancor > Calcitrant > Faith

Earring order:
Moonshade > Aesir > Tantra > Bruiser, except for Faith where Moonshade > Bruiser > Aesir > Tantra

Calcitrant+Moonshade beats Rancor+anything-but-Moonshade, but otherwise Rancor+anything beats everything else, and Calcitrant+anything beats Faith+anything.

This assumes the Calcitrant Stole provides +10 kick damage, since it comes 11 levels after our last kick damage upgrade.

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Originally Posted by Motenten

After checking a lot of comparisons inside and outside Abyssea, it looks like:

Neck order:
Rancor > Calcitrant > Faith

Earring order:
Moonshade > Aesir > Tantra > Bruiser, except for Faith where Moonshade > Bruiser > Aesir > Tantra

Calcitrant+Moonshade beats Rancor+anything-but-Moonshade, but otherwise Rancor+anything beats everything else, and Calcitrant+anything beats Faith+anything.

This assumes the Calcitrant Stole provides +10 kick damage, since it comes 11 levels after our last kick damage upgrade.

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what gear sets / merits are factoring in and can you post the ACC levels of all along with the dps etc.

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Originally Posted by Gokku

what gear sets / merits are factoring in and can you post the ACC levels of all along with the dps etc.

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^, if at all possible.

Or a link to an Alla thread, if it was posted there.

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Originally Posted by Gokku

what gear sets / merits are factoring in and can you post the ACC levels of all along with the dps etc.

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In uncapped acc neither rancor, faith or calcitrant should be > to ziel charm and moonshade can be +acc instead of +att. In uncapped acc moonshade (regain+acc) + ziel charm should come ahead of all setups since the crit on Rancor or the +damage or +attack on other gear doesn't contribute to WS frequency. I belive his comparison is capped acc. I think also that rancor in uncapped acc is a lot of sacrifice for little benefit over something like ziel charm.

Also I beileve he is inputting numbers in his spreadsheet so do the same and verify the math behind. I checked the WS frequency calculations long ago and they were correct.

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Originally Posted by Motenten

After checking a lot of comparisons inside and outside Abyssea, it looks like:

Neck order:
Rancor > Calcitrant > Faith

Earring order:
Moonshade > Aesir > Tantra > Bruiser, except for Faith where Moonshade > Bruiser > Aesir > Tantra

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Which moonshade? Regain one or TPbonus one? I assume the regain one since we're talking about melee sets and not WS ones?
And also really? Tantra? o.O
Are you saying that we, like expected, got "Kick Attacks III" job trait at level 91? But still, I find it difficult to believe Tantra is in front of the rest.

And did you try a combination of faith + Tantra gloves + Bruiser + Ring? 412+7+7+3+5, assuming 8 merits. That bring us to 434.
Ehr... actually earring isn't necessary, you break tier with just the ring. So you could put moonshade or aesir there I guess.
But it depends on the gear you have equipped and wether or not Bruiser brings you up a tier or not, if for some reason it does then it's a nice ear option imho, certainly better than Aesir (altough probably not much) and probably inferior to Regain Moonshade, just like you said.

Still I wonder, would the ring be worth equipping over Rajas? Because I doubt you could swap your Epona for it, but Rajas... not like we really need Rajas that much, we don't have X-hit builds which need the Stp, the Subtle Blow is welcome but unnecessary, and STR+5/DEX+5 are nice but give a lower return on 1hand jobs. So I think it might be worth getting that ring for a bit of acc, a bit of att (more than Rajas would provide) and +1 base damage.

store tp is equally usefull for mnk or 2hander, just so you know. For today's MNK its a bit less interresting because you will often "over TP" thanks to all the multi hit gear, but still good. too many people think rajas is good because of the str/dex, while the #1 reason it is good is due to 5stp .

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Originally Posted by Monchat

store tp is equally usefull for mnk or 2hander, just so you know.

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I never meant to say it's bad or useless, just wanted to say that it's not "necessary" since we're not bound to X-hit builds typically. Damage-wise having more att and more acc will probably be better than having STP in that slot.
Just an impression, haven't mathed it out yet.

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too many people think rajas is good because of the str/dex, while the #1 reason it is good is due to 5stp .

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I quite agree with that, but then again if you don't need those STP for an X-hit build they're not necessarily better than other stats in the same slot.

well ok, but for MNK, 5 STP always changes your TP/hit, therefore it's always useful. On the other hand, 1 or 2 STP does not necessarilly change it.

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Originally Posted by Gokku

what gear sets / merits are factoring in and can you post the ACC levels of all along with the dps etc.

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Full H2H merits, 5 KA merits, full Tantra+2/Black Belt/Rajas/Epona (though I was also messing a bit with Hagneia Stone, as it seems to beat Thew), Vere/Smite, measured with capped accuracy.

Assumed capped accuracy because if you're really hurting for accuracy you can switch to pizza, and if the results are only a tiny bit shy of capped accuracy (eg: ~93%) then it becomes a question of nitpicking about the exact mob stats chosen.

I can build another target that can keep the standard setup in the upper 80's for hit rate and see how things compare with that as well.

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Originally Posted by Greatguardian

Or a link to an Alla thread, if it was posted there.

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No, haven't posted it elsewhere. Made dozens of little fiddling comparisons, but in the end it seemed overly troublesome to detail all the values out. If you'd like to recommend a particular 'standard' gear config and want all the numbers, I can do that.

I'll have to reevaluate anyway, since I verified the increased kick dmg on the neckpiece as +5. Shouldn't shift things much, but Calcitrant will be only barely ahead of Faith instead of well ahead.

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Originally Posted by Zhronne

Which moonshade? Regain one or TPbonus one?

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Regain.

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Originally Posted by Zhronne

And also really? Tantra? o.O

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Since the verification of the effect of the full set bonus, +KA gear gets a tiny boost over previous estimations. It also increases total DPS due to added TP gain, whereas the others only increase melee DPS. In the end it comes out as a half-decent option.

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Originally Posted by Zhronne

Are you saying that we, like expected, got "Kick Attacks III" job trait at level 91?

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I'm pretty sure this was verified on the test server, though the exact value isn't known. I'm assuming +5% KA for now, though an argument could be made to expect it to be +7% for a total of 20% base KA rate, since we were at 13% from the lvl 71 trait. Needs to be tested.

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Originally Posted by Zhronne

Still I wonder, would the ring be worth equipping over Rajas?

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Even when combined with Faith to guarantee the +1 base damage (combining with just Bruiser's isn't sufficient), and Rajas's 5 str not adding to fStr, no, it's not. The 5 Store TP shaves about a quarter round off the time to weaponskill, which adds up to more net damage.

standard gear
full hth merits
Full af3+2
atheling mantle
thew bomblet
Raja's / Eponas
Brutal + * tested earriing*
Tested neck
Verethragna 90

also can you explain to me
1% ka * earring even with +5 dmg neck and
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/th...l=1#post185285
that info your looking at a max of 32-33% kick attacks *give or take 1 -2 %*

in any avg parse for me on monk about 25-30% of my dmg is from WS the other 60-70% is from melee
if you factor in the 30% KA rate we should have now , that means about 18% of your melee dmg * give or take a few %* is from kicks , the other 42% is from punch's not counting ODD all which get a +1 dmg bouns.

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Originally Posted by Gokku

also can you explain to me
1% ka * earring even with +5 dmg neck and
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/th...l=1#post185285
that info your looking at a max of 32-33% kick attacks *give or take 1 -2 %*

in any avg parse for me on monk about 25-30% of my dmg is from WS the other 60-70% is from melee
if you factor in the 30% KA rate we should have now , that means about 18% of your melee dmg * give or take a few %* is from kicks , the other 42% is from punch's not counting ODD all which get a +1 dmg bouns.

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I'm not entirely sure I understand what you're asking, as it kind of rambles along. You ask me to explain something, but then don't actually ask a question.

For the specified gear set and, for the sake of comparison numbers (what you seem to be running into in the latter half of the above quote), Faith+Bruiser vs Calcitrant+Tantra (also, /war with Berserk up in Abyssea, and accounting for ODD):

F+B melee/ws split: 57.4/42.6
C+T melee/ws split: 57.2/42.8

F+B melee punch/kick split: 90.9/9.1
C+T melee punch/kick split: 90.2/9.8

So, more damage from weaponskill than you estimated favors that which increases total damage (Tantra) over just melee damage (Bruiser's). On the other hand, less damage from kicks favors Bruiser's over Tantra.


Varied DPS comparisons:

Set 1: Abyssea (capped acc)

Code:

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            Ear                                           
Neck        None        Tantra      Bruiser    Aesir      Moonshade
None        431.206    432.302    432.166    433.367    439.183
Agasaya    433.607    434.71      434.568    435.769    441.569
Calcitrant  435.223    436.364    435.946    437.153    443.179
Faith      433.367    434.469    436.981    435.528    441.33
Rancor      442.207    443.332    443.189    444.417    450.138

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Set 2: Outside, 90% hit rate without neck/ear

Code:

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            Ear                                           
Neck        None        Tantra      Bruiser    Aesir      Moonshade
None        160.615    161.125    162.585    161.769    163.66
Agasaya    168.223    168.755    170.208    169.205    171.102
Calcitrant  162.792    163.325    164.933    164.072    165.803
Faith      166.391    166.756    170.256    167.565    169.312
Rancor      168.987    169.482    170.954    170.136    172.014
Ziel        168.239    168.77      168.694    169.343    171.251

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Inside Abyssea, Rancor wins by a wide margin, as does Moonshade (att/regain version, btw). The next best options are Calc/Aesir, Faith/Bruiser, and Calc/Tantra. Agasaya is on the weaker end of things, along with Faith without Bruiser.

Ouside Abyssea, where accuracy matters at least a little, Rancor is brought back into line with the rest of the options, being only barely ahead of Ziel and Agasaya. Moonshade is also a relatively weaker option since weaponskills don't get quite as much of a boost.

Calcitrant is far weaker due to the lack of accuracy. Faith is also on the weaker side unless paired with a Bruiser, at which point it's on par with the other top contenders.

Obviously, the best choice depends on both the situation and what gear you actually have available to you. Inside Abyssea, top choice is obviously Rancor Collar; lacking that (or not wanting the +damage taken), I'd go with Calcitrant. Outside Abyssea (and needing acc), I'd probably just stick with Agasaya for solid, all-around performance, assuming that if accuracy is an issue I probably don't want the +damage taken of the Rancor. Though if base hit rate dropped to 85% or so I'd switch over to the Ziel (which doesn't show its full benefit here, as you only need 10 acc to reach cap).

Outside Abyssea on older content you'll be capping accuracy, so it would revert more to the Abyssea set in terms of relative standings, though the margin that Rancor wins by will still be closer to the second set (ie: very narrow advantage).

Thanks for data Motenten :)
Two less items (earring/ring) to be looking for! \o/

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Originally Posted by Motenten

I'm pretty sure this was verified on the test server, though the exact value isn't known. I'm assuming +5% KA for now, though an argument could be made to expect it to be +7% for a total of 20% base KA rate, since we were at 13% from the lvl 71 trait. Needs to be tested.

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That guy was a dope with a small enough sample size after confidence interval that even showing 22% with merits, he could have easily been in the 18% after KAII+merits range. Like literally his test was showing a 14% KA to 30% KA rate swing because it was only 100 attack rounds IIRC.

Meh. Needs a real test then.

Just noticed that Seiryu's kotes augments can yield crit +3% and store TP+5 as well as acc or attack. They definately beat a full AF3+2 build (If acc is uncapped) since AF3+2 gloves are essentially +7 attack with sometimes +1 dmg.

Yeah, they're pretty sweet actually, I TP in them since I haven't finished the +2 gloves. I would say they don't beat out the full +2 set bonus in terms of damage, however that's just personal opinion through observation not facts. Alot of the sky god gear, actually has some decent augments for MNK if you take the time/gil to actually make them.

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Originally Posted by MarkovChain

Just noticed that Seiryu's kotes augments can yield crit +3% and store TP+5 as well as acc or attack. They definately beat a full AF3+2 build (If acc is uncapped) since AF3+2 gloves are essentially +7 attack with sometimes +1 dmg.

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They also give you a small amount of haste and +1% proc rate on set bonus.
Anyway, inside abyssea even just +1% Crit would be enough to be better than Tantra+2, appearently.
Outside abyssea not even 3%crit/5att/5acc would make Seiryu's better.
Depends where you do play most nowadays, I guess.
They are freaking awesome for a Blade:Hi build on NIN though. If you don't have NIN I wouldn't really bother honestly, especially with the level 99 cap coming and a whole load of supposedly better gear incoming.

Hey guys I have a quick question, I just finished Tantra Body+2 (had 9 cards beforehand took forever getting the seals) and I TP in Loki body when Impetus is down and Tantra+2 when Impetus is up but what do I WS in? the non-Lazy solution is to make 2 seperate WS Macro's obviously but idk, would I just be safe overall just using Tantra +2 full time for WS?

Thank you for your time

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Originally Posted by Yandaime

Hey guys I have a quick question, I just finished Tantra Body+2 (had 9 cards beforehand took forever getting the seals) and I TP in Loki body when Impetus is down and Tantra+2 when Impetus is up but what do I WS in? the non-Lazy solution is to make 2 seperate WS Macro's obviously but idk, would I just be safe overall just using Tantra +2 full time for WS?

Thank you for your time

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Which WS are you using? Smite or Fury?

I'm pretty sure Tantra+2 wins either way, both Impetus up and down.

Fury for the time being, the only thing I'm drawn on is the Critical Hit Damage +5% vs STR/VIT 12 hmm.. meh I'll just use Tantra Body for WS full time, if there is a difference it shouldnt be too severe since its a 50% STR/VIT and the MNK body puts 12 in both mods. Loki vs Tantra on Victory Smite is a different matter tho but ill cross that bridge if/when I come to it lol

thanks for the help

No problem. Don't forget Tantra Cyclas +2 also rocks a solid Attack+15 (+21 when you consider the str) in addition to the STR and VIT+. It's an extremely solid piece for both weaponskills.

yea, I'm thinking with Impetus down tho (and I macro Berserk with Impetus so berserk would be down as well) Loki would prolly be the better WS body for Smite since it throws multiple Critical hits so when JAs are down, Loki's should be the top for Smite, Fury's only a 2-hitter (most of the time) so that 5% isn't all too special

Tantra+2 is still better for Smite with Impetus down, and not having Berserk up actually increases the relative value of Tantra's Attack. Attack is a logrithmic curve. The less you have, the more each point is worth.

Hey guys. I'm fairly new to FFXI. A friend convinced me to start playing at about the time that the first Abyssea expansion was released. I usually just play with a small group of friends so I was wondering if someone could give me some realistic upgrades that I can set my goals toward.
Let me preface this by saying that I plan to get black belt when possible. I have the adamantoise egg (got lucky in a shout group). I just don't have the tongue or the beard yet.

TP Gear:
Weapon: Verethragna (85 version) - I also have Fire Taipan Fangs +2 but I think they are worthless now
Ammo: Thew Bomblet
Head: Tantra Crown +2
Neck: Agasaya's Collar
Ear1: Brutal Earring
Ear2: Tantra Earring
Body: Tantra Cyclas +2
Hands: Tantra Gloves +2
Ring1: Rajas Ring
Ring2: Epona's Ring
Back: Atheling Mantle
Waist: Twilight Belt
Legs: Tantra Hose +2
Feet: Tantra Gaiters +2

WS Gear:
Neck: Thunder Gorget
Hands: Heafoc Mitts
Waist: Thunder Belt

MDT Gear:
none

PDT Gear:
none


I've currently saved up to a lil over 2 mil gil. Being a post-abyssea player, I have come to realize that I'm very ignorant of items that can be easily farmed (or bought) from pre-abyssea. I know the Faith Torque is something I should go for, but I'm not sure that my little group of friends can even do that fight. I also plan to complete the Wings of the Goddess storyline for Moonshade Earring if that is possible to do with like 4-6 people. I think the biggest things holding me back right now is my lack of alternate gear sets.

Also is Guarding skill worth raising? I've read multiple times on the alla forums that it's completely useless. Yet I saw a reference to it on these forums implying that it was good. Can someone give me some closure that it really is a waste of time to skill it up? Here is what I've read about it on the allakhazam forums:
"i capped guard, and can attest that it's worthless."
"If you're capping guard, realize that you're only doing it for blue numbers."
"But I suggest you find something better to do with your time. Guard sucks."

Faith Torque NM should be easily duoable with a WHM. I solo'd it countless times on RDM at 75, and at 99 it's really a joke. You should really look into Rancor Collar, though. It's a better piece all around for the neck slot, including for WS, assuming you go cap your tonberry hate (pretty quick in Abyssea - Konschtat).

If you've finished ToAU missions, grab an Aesir Ear Pendant instead of Tantra Earring. If you haven't, Merman's should still be better in the meantime until you get Moonshade.

Once you get Black Belt, you'll be able to trade in your AF3+2 hands for Melee Gloves+2 for a net gain.

WS: If you have MKD (Moogle Kupo D'etat), I'd finish that and get a WSDMG/Str head for Victory Smite. Aias Bonnet is also better than Tantra, as is an Augmented Shura Kabuto (+1 ideally). You'll want some Shura Haidate (+1) with some augments on them. These Abjurations should be exceedingly easy to get in a small group or even duo depending on how solid your healer is. The content was easy at 75, so again 99 makes it a pushover.

PDT: Finish this! It's important. Arhat's Gi +1, Arhat's Jinpachi+1, and some Dark Rings from Konschtat will help a lot. Try and find two PDT-5/6 rings, hopefully with at least MDT-5 on them but if not it's not a huge loss. You don't want to have more than 2 dark rings total because otherwise your macros won't be able to tell the difference and may equip the wrong ones.

MDT: If you don't have any luck getting MDT on your PDT Dark Rings, get some Merman's Rings. If you have spare gil, get a Minerva's. There are also Merman Earrings and Avalon Breastplate to work with. You generally only need 23-25% in gear to cap with a decent WHM.

Both PDT and MDT: Twilight Torque. Real easy to get, very handy.

Most important thing isn't just to have these gear sets but to use them too. PDT gear won't do you any good if you're not actually swapping into it.

Guard also sucks. I would not bother, personally.

In general? We're level 99 and the vast majority of the game's content was designed for level 75. That's a huge gap. You can pretty much duo-trio everything from those days now aside from PW, AV, and a couple more gimmicky fights.

Also totally not sure on this but 99 Fire H2H may be competitive with an 85 Vereth if you use Shijin Spiral. Shijin is just much, much more gear dependent. I'd focus on upgrading your h2h to 90 in the midst of all this. Dragua's pretty easy, just time consuming.

Thanks for the quick reply. Couple of quick things:

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You'll want some Shura Haidate (+1) with some augments on them. These Abjurations should be exceedingly easy to get in a small group

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What are augments?

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You can pretty much duo-trio everything from those days now aside from PW, AV, and a couple more gimmicky fights.

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What are these acronyms "PW" and "AV"?

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Originally Posted by Peldin

Thanks for the quick reply. Couple of quick things:

What are augments?

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http://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Tatter_and_Scrap_Synergy

You can use synergy to add additional augments onto Sky and Abjuration gear. All you'd ever want to know is on that wiki page.

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Originally Posted by Peldin

What are these acronyms "PW" and "AV"?

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Sorry. Absolute Virtue and Pandemonium Warden. The game's two superbosses from the 75 cap. They're both doable with 6-8 with the right setup these days.

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You can use synergy to add additional augments onto Sky and Abjuration gear.

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Do I have a long road ahead of me if my synergy is 0?

if only there was a free synergy bot to level you 1-80 in 2 days.... if... only... *pssssssst there is*

Hi
I heard Fujito are considering to fix "down" about impetus of TT cyclas +2.
sorry if my english is wrong.

I think it's meant to put the new nyzul body clearly on top.

Thaumas Coat
lvl 99
DEF:63 Accuracy+12
"Double Attack"+3%
"Triple Attack"+3%
"Quadruple Attack"+3% Haste+4%
Set: Increases STR, DEX, AGI, MND
MNK, THF, RNG, NIN, BLU, COR, PUP, DNC

They clearly intended nyzul gear to be good, unlike failwatch. For info it's about the same as 18ish% double attack on body (on average only because you will get bad combo and good combo).

@Gukumatz:

Thanks for the note about that. It appears that Mizuki-Ito posted something about this today (as usual, no official translation has been made yet; will see if one shows up).

It appears to be that the devs were considering the possibility of removing or reducing the +Crit damage on the Tantra+2 body, but that instead they went with reducing the base crit rate of Victory Smite. I'm not fully confident of my translation, though, so it's still possible that an additional nerf is in the works.

momkahpa mittens

STR+5 Haste+3% DA+3%

There has never been any on the AH, drops from WoE #15. Is that farmable with a party (like most <12 walks)? Anyone got it? how hard is the walk?

best alternative to tantra for non accuracy set ups, and best zerging gloves.

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Originally Posted by Monchat

momkahpa mittens

STR+5 Haste+3% DA+3%

There has never been any on the AH, drops from WoE #15. Is that farmable with a party (like most <12 walks)? Anyone got it? how hard is the walk?

best alternative to tantra for non accuracy set ups, and best zerging gloves.

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Flux 15: You only need to kill the last boss to win, so it's not as hard as it initially seems. Don't have anyone actually in a party due to party hate from the mobs. If you form a party once everyone is at the last boss, leave 1 person out of the party for when you see 'a fiend thirsts for blood!'.
It's a caturae mob (they all are in flux 15) and if you go straight for the boss you have no temps (yet. See notes about the future updates for WoE), so it's not going to be an easy fight.
Can you do it in a party? Maybe with a pimped out PLD, a pimped out WHM and some pet jobs for DD, all working as a team. If you really mean just 6 people you might struggle though, as you'll have 1 person as your SAC, for when the adds come, so that person will be weakened for most fo the 30 mins and won't be much use.
The worst thing is when some idiots see you go in and join you and stay in a party, agroing the whole zone, kiting them to you and basically MPKing you. Unfortunately, it happens.