Which Sacrifice?

As AF for Geomancer and Rune Knight is scheduled for the next update. I find it impossible to decide merit points.

SE added Geomancy and Handbell to Magic Skill.

Currently I have Elemental, Enfeebling, Enhancing and Dark Magic raised at max 8 points each for a total of 32/32.

Which 2 skills would you sacrifice for Geomancy and Handbell? O.o

Unless I am mistaken, Elemental Magic skill only really effects the accuracy of the Elemental enfeebling spells like Choke and Rasp, as well as the accuracy of your nukes. Since the best nuke sets now stack super high amounts of INT, it seems less needed, where as Enfeebling still has some sticking difficulty on Delve Bosses, Enhancing would require more gear to cap, and Dark magic skill makes your Drain/Aspir do more I believe. So in the end, I say drop elemental if anything. If your going to drop a second, I would say make the second be Dark magic unless you play DRK, because really drains & aspirs are not going to be effected that so far as I know, where as enfeebling would take a 8% land rate drop depending on the mob.

I thought dark magic also effects blind, Dispel, Stun, etc.

Ok stun yes, forgot that its dark magic. The others no, they are all Enfeebling magic. I guess it really comes down to if you are a stun whore more often than you are enfeebling hard targets. Stun whores need more magic acc for stun once it gets resistant, but enfeebling hard targets is hard enough you really get a boost from merits. In my opinion though, I wouldn't bother meriting GEO, then again, I have no interest in the job. So I thankfully will never have this dilemma.

Dark magic still contributes to blind, dispel being that its element is Darkmagic from what I understand. It is also the reason Stunners equip Apamajas due to spell element being Thunder.

People use Apamajas for stun because it is a Thunder spell, yes, but it is classed under dark magic. Blind and Dispel are classed under Enfeebling, not Dark, thus Dark magic skill has 0 effect on them, however they are dark element. Really if you wanted you could call 'Dark' magic Arcane magic, since its what they use as a name in other games. If you go by that, its a little easier to understand. Stun is an Arcane spell, Blind and Dispel are Enfeebling spells, while Blind and Dispel are dark based spells, they are not effected by Arcane skill, and Stun is wind based, which is why a wind staff works for it.

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Originally Posted by Daemon

I thought dark magic also effects blind, Dispel, Stun, etc.

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Dark magic effects stun. Blind and dispel are Enfeebling, dark magic has no effect on them.

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Originally Posted by Zumi

Dark magic effects stun. Blind and dispel are Enfeebling, dark magic has no effect on them.

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Blind
Spell cost: 5 MP
Spell element: Dark
Magic skill: Enfeebling Magic

Dispel
Spell cost: 25 MP
Spell element: Dark
Magic skill: Enfeebling Magic

Stun
Spell cost: 25 MP
Spell element: Lightning
Magic skill: Dark Magic

If stun is Dark Magic only, then why do people equip Apamajas?
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__...Apamajas_I.png

During times where my Blind did not land with only Enfeebling gear, I've noticed success after equipping both enfeebling and Dark magic gear.

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Originally Posted by Demon6324236

People use Apamajas for stun because it is a Thunder spell, yes, but it is classed under dark magic. Blind and Dispel are classed under Enfeebling, not Dark, thus Dark magic skill has 0 effect on them, however they are dark element. Really if you wanted you could call 'Dark' magic Arcane magic, since its what they use as a name in other games. If you go by that, its a little easier to understand. Stun is an Arcane spell, Blind and Dispel are Enfeebling spells, while Blind and Dispel are dark based spells, they are not effected by Arcane skill, and Stun is wind based, which is why a wind staff works for it.

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Eh I'm not understanding you on this. Spells are classified by Element and Magic Skill. No where did I see stun classified as Wind element. Although Gravity is wind element.

Gravity
Spell cost: 24
Spell element: Wind
Magic skill: Enfeebling Magic

Even White mage spells follow the same.

Addle
Spell cost: 36 MP
Spell element: Fire
Magic skill: Enfeebling Magic

I've played in WoE many times to say that when certain spells did not land, combining gear to increase magic skill and element have shown to work vs only following the magic skill of the spell, with of course INT or MND and Magic Accuracy.

Even equipping Zammzummin staff with Kaikias Cape has made my Gravity land to a very noticeable difference in Delve.

Zammzummin Staff
(Staff)
All Races
DMG:80
Delay:366
Fire Elemental Magic Accuracy+25
Fire elemental "Magic Atk. Bonus"+25
Wind Elemental Magic Accuracy+25
Wind elemental "Magic Atk. Bonus"+25
Lv.99BRD/WHM/BLM/RDM/SCH/SMN

Kaikias Cape
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__...as%27_Cape.png

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Daemon

Blind
Spell cost: 5 MP
Spell element: Dark
Magic skill: Enfeebling Magic

Dispel
Spell cost: 25 MP
Spell element: Dark
Magic skill: Enfeebling Magic

Stun
Spell cost: 25 MP
Spell element: Lightning
Magic skill: Dark Magic

If stun is Dark Magic only, then why do people equip Apamajas?
http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__...Apamajas_I.png

During times where my Blind did not land with only Enfeebling gear, I've noticed success after equipping both enfeebling and Dark magic gear.

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Its actually,Apamajas II is used for stun because it is a thunder affinity spell, which is also effected by dark magic skill. However a dark affinity staff would have no effect on it. The correct staff is thunder. Its just for the accuracy as well as the cast time reduction.

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__...pamajas_II.png


Blind and dispel are enfeebling magic. Dark skill has no effect on it. A dark affinity staff however does.
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__.../Trial3518.png

Dark skill and dark affinity aren't the same thing and are not interchangeable. Magic accuracy can be use for all types of spells to land them. There is a point where just stacking enfeebling magic doesn't cut it you need magic accuracy too.

Only reason I'm confused with your statement about magic skill, and not affinity because I know the elemental staves have shown to give a higher stat boost to magic accuracy of the element it represents. However I thought magic skill also contributes to Accuracy and not just affinity bonus equipment. Just not as high as Affinity gear.

Bind
Spell cost: 8 MP
Spell element: Ice
Magic skill: Enfeebling Magic

I also thought weather, such as SCH storms, would contribute to element of the spell.

When Meriting BLM, I've read articles that Placing Merits into Ice and Stone would further increase accuracy for Paralyze and Slow.

Trial and error I've played WOE so many times that when casting Blind with Enfeebling, high INT, magic accuracy gear. I've noticed blind land better when using Dark magic skill gear such as Archon ring, crimson fingers. And yes I've only switch over to dark magic gears as a last resort after failing to land 3-5 times.

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Originally Posted by Daemon

No where did I see stun classified as Wind element.

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Sorry, that was a mistake, I meant Thunder.

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Spells are classified by Element and Magic Skill.

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This is what I was trying to explain. There is a Dark element, and a Dark skill, they are not in any way related to one another. If you renamed the Dark skill, Arcane Magic, it makes things easier to understand. Stun is a Dark(Arcane) Magic, but is of the Thunder element. Blind and Dispel are Enfeebling Magic, but are Dark element. Dark Magic skill has no relation to Dark element magic, the only thing it correlates to are the spells in its category, in this case, stun, while as you see, some spells in said category can have different elements than dark as well. Think of it like Divine, though it is a much weaker example, Divine is the same as White Magic Skill, like Dark Magic Skill is the same as Arcane. Just because a spell if Light based, does not mean Divine enhances it, likewise, just because a spell is dark based, it does not mean Dark skill enhances it. Because they are simply categories for spells, not effecting a certain element in any way.

You are pointing out their elements, but their elements have nothing to do with it. If you read Dark Magic Skill as Arcane Magic Skill, everything would look as it should, and as it is, and becomes easier to understand.

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Originally Posted by Daemon

Trial and error I've played WOE so many times that when casting Blind with Enfeebling, high INT, magic accuracy gear. I've noticed blind land better when using Dark magic skill gear such as...

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Breaking this off here real quick.

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Archon ring

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http://www.bg-wiki.com/images/1/1c/A...escription.png
This says Dark Elemental Magic, meaning, magic of the Dark element, not Dark Magic as in the skill, or category of magic. This does boost those spells which have a dark element attached to them, but if you used this same ring for, say, stun, it would do nothing at all, because it is lightning based.

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crimson fingers.

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http://www.bg-wiki.com/images/4/45/C...escription.png
These do nothing for Blind or Dispel, as it effects the skill, and thus, category of magic, rather than the element of the spell.

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And yes I've only switch over to dark magic gears as a last resort after failing to land 3-5 times.

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The most likely cause of this is due to the fact you cast the first few times causing immunebreaks to occur, then you can land it as its resist has been lowered by a large amount. Besides that, enfeebles have a minimum rate of a 5% chance to land, so its also possible you simply got lucky, I mean, I watched a COR/RDM land Paralyze on Kalasutrax after spamming it 30 times on RDM, they got lucky, and I had a trash land rate because of its insane resist rate to Paralyze.

I see. My confusion was this. Elemental Magic covers Fire, Ice, Wind, Water & Earth.

I assumed Dark Magic skill would also cover Dark Elemental magic accuracy as well being that no specific Merit Point Catagory exists for both Dark and Light elemental Magic accuracy.

You also don't get Enlight or Endark.

Simple breakdown.

Every spell has a skill associated with it. If a spell gives a certain skill up, dark, elemental, enfeebling etc. then that's the spell's skill.

Every spell also has an element (color of the icon). Elemental spells are obvious, earth, wind, etc. Other spells also have elements, gravity is wind, paralyze is ice, etc. This is why WHMs (should) cast barparalyzra AND barblizzara for maximum protection against paralyze. Barparalyzra affects the amount of times you'll be paralyzed (or duration, I'm not really 100% sure), if hit with it. Barblizzara affects your outright resistance to paralyze altogether.

Elemental accuracy affects every spell of said element, regardless of which skill it is. For instance, elemental ice accuracy would affect the accuracy of: paralyze (enfeebling), Blizzard IV (elemental), and bind (enfeebling), along with any other spell with a similar colored icon.

Skill + gear, such as, elemental skill +, or enfeebling skill +, etc, give bonuses to that entire line of spells under that skill (you can tell by what skill ups you get from casting the spell).

"Magic Accuracy +" affects them all, regardless of skill or element.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Daemon

When Meriting BLM, I've read articles that Placing Merits into Ice and Stone would further increase accuracy for Paralyze and Slow.

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For RDM merits yes. BLM merits are potency though, not accuracy. They actually add 2 MAB to that element, per merit.

Thank you guys for being kind in your responses. Before I said that I came to the forums to learn from everybody in return also help people in the community. I am not perfect nor am I the best player, but a neverending student learning on a daily basis regardless of playing the game for a long time.

You guys are helping me on my quest to creating 2 strategy guides for beginners and for level 99s needing direction to be on their way to playing end game content beyond Delve.

Seriously I appreciate all of you.

Beginners Guide
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/th...eginners-Guide

Revelations Strategy Guide FFXI
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/th...egy-Guide-FFXI

I'm not a writer but I am doing my best to make it happen.