Apex CP Guide

[Psion]

oh yeah, i remember in 75 cap days doing 2.5k bliz IVs to NMs without mbing, like proto ultima.

Like i said, there's still a lot of room for improvement. if i was REALLY lucky on augments with herc im still missing 6 magic damage, 50 int, 100 magic attack bonus, and 105 magic accuracy for the automaton just from gear alone. (assuming all herc had pet: 15 int, 30 magic attack bonus, 30 magic acc, and with mab ormzhad) There's also 33 more pet MAB, and 58 pet magic acc from job point gifts im missing, plus a 1200 JP gift which would give me two more ice capacity. that would allow me to either use tranquilizer II plus a loudspeaker for more magic attack bonus, or more likely, ignore tranquilizer II entirely and use a loudspeaker 4, since i'd have more than enough magic acc to not need it by then.

So yeah, quite a bit of room for growth. :P did i mention he's still missing 38 magic skill? i've yet to cap him, haha. no resist issues at all though with tranquilizer II.

::edit:: an apex party was kind enough to give me a trial. unfortunately, only the leader was willing to try and the rest of the party was clamouring them to kick me before we even started, so i was rather nervous and made a lot of mistakes. sadly, testing only lasted 3 mobs. a few things i learned:

they were wsing every 20 seconds on average, meaning 3 ice maneuver nukes were a no go. 2 ice at best. oni did manage a couple 45k two ice nukes, but there were a few issues from mistakes being made. namely, darkness skillchain is a massive PITA to mb on, as the window is incredibly tiny. you have to deploy the very instant darkness sc animation starts, or its too soon (thunder V instead) or too late (blizzard IV). being in the state i was in, this wasn't very easy to hit.

Second, even if you get that down, bliz V with just turbo charger II equipped is too long a recast. I suggest both turbo chargers to help ensure its cooldown is ready by the next mb timer, or else you might be like my automaton and cast water V instead --; (really SE? you still haven't fixed scanner not working on elemental damage reduction types? crabs take like 25% damage from water element.) This leads me to the next observation which is:

Fast cast. in the raptor party i was using pitre pants with 8% fast cast. this time i had herc trousers, which lead to a notable lengthening of the automatons casting. i suggest an automaton fast cast set with pitre legs +1, naga path C for the other 4 pieces, and ukko sash. That would put it at 25% fast cast gear, giving you a MUCH wider window to land blizzard V mb. thunder MB and light sc is a lot easier, since he defaults to that if it's ready anyways. fast cast gear should also lower the recast of bliz V, hopefully enough that it's ready even in a fast party.

Anyways, that's my observation. 3 ice nukes is possible with kenkonken and 20 second skillchains, but without it you're going to need to rely on 2 ice nukes. that said, with a better nuking set the automaton can probably do 60k+ with two ice, so i'm going to keep experimenting!

::edit 2:: WOW i had no idea how potent overload sets are now. i was getting off 6 ice maneuvers right after activate (5 JP in activate effect) using puppetry dastanas, visucius's mantle, burana earring, buffoon's collar, and since i realized im not meleeing anyways, swapped in midnights for the overload reduction. This is without me having more int than my automaton, and without karagoz farsetto +1...which is definitely my next goal now. ironically you don't want to wear your fancy nuking set while using ice maneuvers, as this increases the automatons INT and makes it harder to overcome with your own int to lower the amount of burden produced. I'm thinking condenser isn't really needed as long as you reactivate the automaton every minute to lower the burden (and refresh mp). This would lower the time needed for 3 ice maneuvers to ~20 seconds, and 10 seconds or so for two ice, which is a lot more in keeping with a fast paced party.