Comprehensive Gear Guide for Bst!

[blowfin]

Heca Subby is a nice piece, no doubt. It really comes down to whether you see more benefit from Att +22, DEX +9, or the flat +15 DEX boost from Byakko’s Haidate.

Haidate with the crit. damage augment more than likely pulls ahead of N.Legs. Particularly in Abyss.

Also, I'd opt for Flame sachet over the smart Grenade or even one of the new grips... which i forget the stats of.

I'd also suggest Temperance Torque or Ire Torque(+1) over Ziel Charm. Ire Torque you have to worry about accuracy with the NQ, but not with the HQ. Besides, if you're packing Twilight helm, Anguinus belt and Haidate, you're more than making up the accuracy loss.

Also augmented my heca mitts today with:
2 STR
2 Axe Skill
Crit Dmg. +2

[Reauland]

Also augmented my heca mitts today with:
2 STR
2 Axe Skill
Crit Dmg. +2

. . . That's hawt . . .

Also, Temp torque is a good suggestion, but I'd like to hear some opinions on that. It's basically 7 axe skill (with its commensurate gain in acc and att) versus 12 acc.

Ire torque's an excellent suggestion too, given how much acc we're packing elsewhere, as you point out.

[Xilk]

. . . That's hawt . . .

Also, Temp torque is a good suggestion, but I'd like to hear some opinions on that. It's basically 7 axe skill (with its commensurate gain in acc and att) versus 12 acc.

Ire torque's an excellent suggestion too, given how much acc we're packing elsewhere, as you point out.

I would say the Temperance torque is completely unnecessary for bst now. Ferine necklace covers anything we would use it for and has pet: double attack +2%.


Also, you are completely missing the best part of Ferine Gausape +2 which makes it better than twilight mail for rampage, and maybe even primal rend, but certainly not for cloudsplitter.
"Augments Killer Effects"
I will tell you what testing has shown this to do:
base 5% increase to damage dealt, I have confirmed this for magical and physical damage.
*AT least 2% -pdt
Killer effects + gear and Merits improve this effect.
I confirmed 8% damage+ while killer shortbow was equipped and w/ 5/5 merits.
Also 6.7% -pdt w/ shortbow and merits
This testing was done before the most recent update. I have not tested again since, although I expect this to be somewhat improved from the update notes and releases.
I have seen that where I was averageing 15% intimidation rate before the update, I have seen over 20% after the update.

a straight 8% improvement to damage is better than the 15 STR from twilights for a rampage hit. You only miss that 8% when you are fighting something bst does not normally have killer traits for. ie. dragons, demons, arcana, etc. Note that equipimg Killer shortbow adds these, and you will still get a 1% (or more w/ tatami shield & extra killer+ gear) damage to them. Killer shortbow also improves status resistances.

Whatever your opinion, I think you should at least include notes for this alternative setup. However, I do believe it solidly trumps the options I've listed, and it quite possibly has improved since I and other players tested this.

[blowfin]

I would say the Temperance torque is completely unnecessary for bst now. Ferine necklace covers anything we would use it for and has pet: double attack +2%.

I believe straight Axe skill is more advantageous for Rampage than acc/attack. Why would you want pet: double attack for a WS anyway? Temperance torque is hardly worth making the effort to go and get anymore, but if you have it, it's not a bad option for Rampage.

[Xilk]

I believe straight Axe skill is more advantageous for Rampage than acc/attack. Why would you want pet: double attack for a WS anyway? Temperance torque is hardly worth making the effort to go and get anymore, but if you have it, it's not a bad option for Rampage.

ofcourse you don't need the pet double attack for WS. It just that it has more chr, and another stat that temperance torque doesn't have, meaning its more useful all around.

Please illuminate me on what else the axe skill will give. I don't think it would affect the WS anymore than +7 attack and +7 acc.

fyi, I tested gausape +2 killer effects damage + again after the update. I don't see a change. it is still 7% increase w/ 5/5 merits and 8% w/ shortbow.

I did see that suzaku's scythe ups this by and 3% which was greater than tamer's ring. I'll tinker w/ more gear tomorrw to see if gear values changed at all... I doubt it. there seems no difference in the potency of vermin killer vs bird killer (acquired at different levels I suspected maybe potency may be different, but no.)

edit: I'm curious what augments can be given to the scythe. bst don't have many scythe and this could be situationally useful or fun to tinker w/.

[Gotterdammerung]

augmented wivre gorget from tahrongi has natural stats of acc 5 and can be augmented with subtle blow 4/5 and crit rate 2/3. Makes for a really strong TP and Rampage Neck slot. Soil gorget and soil belt also do real well in neck and belt slots for rampage since gorget effects are stronger for low tp mods and rampage is a flat .5 across the board.



Also quick question about the killer shortbow. Does it remove TP when u equip it? say like biscuit to bow change. do i lose my tp when i make this switch.

And wat about bow back to biscuit?

[Xilk]

augmented wivre gorget from tahrongi has natural stats of acc 5 and can be augmented with subtle blow 4/5 and crit rate 2/3. Makes for a really strong TP and Rampage Neck slot. Soil gorget and soil belt also do real well in neck and belt slots for rampage since gorget effects are stronger for low tp mods and rampage is a flat .5 across the board.



Also quick question about the killer shortbow. Does it remove TP when u equip it? say like biscuit to bow change. do i lose my tp when i make this switch.

And wat about bow back to biscuit?

If you equip ammo like a jug or a biscuit, causing the bow to unequip, you will NOT lose tp. However, when you equip the bow again, you will lose tp.

[Gotterdammerung]

im trying to figure out how to do some tests on the killer traits to see what stacks with what. It seems for brews since stats automatically get raised to 999 that its useless to wear mnd and str gear for cloudsplitter brews. So im looking into filling some of the slots with Ferine body +2 and killer + gear to get a % increase to splitter.

I basically need to test a few things and would actually love help with it Xilk.

Need to test circle abilities (arcane circle, ect ect) to see how the killer trait granted by them works with ferine body +2 if at all.

Need to test traits from subjobs. (pld sam drg drk all give natural killer effects) Basically finding out if Ferine body +2 recognize a killer trait granted from a sub and then will merits and killer + gear enhance that subjob killer trait further.


And also need to test how the + killer generic gear affects monster u dont have killer traits for in general. Like i know its been mentioned that the bow + body will add 1% dmg to even stuff like dragons. But will the flawless ribbon also add 1% to everything? will the bst trousers add to everything, if so what %? Will the tatami shield add to everything?

I also need to test the killer earings and start trying to collect them. There kinda hard to find tho but im mainly interested in the demon earring dragon earring undead earring and arcana earring. To help make up the difference due to the lack of natural killer trait.



So if you can help with these tests or can think of a good way to test these let me know.

[blowfin]

Soil gorget and soil belt also do real well in neck and belt slots for rampage since gorget effects are stronger for low tp mods and rampage is a flat .5 across the board.

Um. The damage bonus from gorget and belt only applies to the first hit of any multi hit WS, including Rampage. So you get a 0.1 fTP bonus for the first hit, and that's all. There's not many good reasons to use belt for Rampage, Gorget is still one of the better items though.

ofcourse you don't need the pet double attack for WS. It just that it has more chr, and another stat that temperance torque doesn't have, meaning its more useful all around.
ofcourse you don't need the pet double attack for WS. It just that it has more chr, and another stat that temperance torque doesn't have, meaning its more useful all around.

Please illuminate me on what else the axe skill will give. I don't think it would affect the WS anymore than +7 attack and +7 acc.

I was under the impression that raw skill for weapons, while not being much better than Acc/Attack at lvl 90, still provide a bigger boost to those stats.

Then again, looking at the wiki, seems i'm incorrect. Only 0.9 of the raw skill is taken into account with accuracy, while 100% is still considered for attack. So Ferine Necklace probably does edge out Torque for Rampage.

[Xilk]

im trying to figure out how to do some tests on the killer traits to see what stacks with what. It seems for brews since stats automatically get raised to 999 that its useless to wear mnd and str gear for cloudsplitter brews. So im looking into filling some of the slots with Ferine body +2 and killer + gear to get a % increase to splitter.

I basically need to test a few things and would actually love help with it Xilk.

Need to test circle abilities (arcane circle, ect ect) to see how the killer trait granted by them works with ferine body +2 if at all.

Need to test traits from subjobs. (pld sam drg drk all give natural killer effects) Basically finding out if Ferine body +2 recognize a killer trait granted from a sub and then will merits and killer + gear enhance that subjob killer trait further.


And also need to test how the + killer generic gear affects monster u dont have killer traits for in general. Like i know its been mentioned that the bow + body will add 1% dmg to even stuff like dragons. But will the flawless ribbon also add 1% to everything? will the bst trousers add to everything, if so what %? Will the tatami shield add to everything?

I also need to test the killer earings and start trying to collect them. There kinda hard to find tho but im mainly interested in the demon earring dragon earring undead earring and arcana earring. To help make up the difference due to the lack of natural killer trait.



So if you can help with these tests or can think of a good way to test these let me know.

Its much easier to test the bonus for each piece of equipment with magic because there is no randomizer in magical damage.

go bst/sch, /rdm, or /blm (/whm or /blu would work as well, but rather tedious)

1. Find a mob to test on. It usually works best on lower level mobs... easy to control and max stats, and low resists.
2. Cast an offensive magic spell w/out gear on and record the damage dealt. (take note of day of week and mob strengths/weaknesses)
3. Equip Gausape and cast the same spell on the same mob (its better if you do not 1-shot the mob)
4. charm mob, let it recover hp
5. adjust equipment and repeat.

The higher your numbers, the more precisely you can calculate it. You can do this same test while under a circle effect.
However, you don't really need gausape to get a damage boost from circle effects. its already +15% when a circle effect is up. This is true of Killer Instinct as well. I have not checked if it stacked w/ a circle effect, but it would not be hard to do.

Yes, flawless ribbon and tatami shield and bst trousers and tamer's ring when paired w/ gausape will all improve damage vs dragons, arcana, demons, and undead as well. The bst trousers are a bit funny though. they do not seem to help, until you get 3 or 4 other pieces already stacked on, then they kick in. I've made a bug report on this. Its gone to devs and back and I need to do more testing to push it forward again. Especially on the -pdt side. which btw, is as easy as go get hit by 1000 needles. (fantastic for the math too, as gives nice precise and consistent numbers to work with).

The gear I've tested is the shortbow, bst trousers, suzaku's scythe, tamer's ring, tatami shield.
I know another bst has tested w/ panther mask as well.

I've also tested physical damage by slaughtering level 0 mobs in W. Sarutabaruta. In this situation pdif is completely capped. so I can calculate what my highest possible hit *should* be. I can see that my max melee hits go a bit higher than this. 8% higher.

The problem w/ most the killer + gear is that is not very practical. I suppose using brew it would be the best option when you don't have a MAB piece in the slot, but for earrings, and now ring, there are better MAB pieces. Tamer's ring would be pretty awesome if it were not for the conditions on the latent trigger. below 75% hp and 100% tp is just too annoying.
I saw +2% from Tamer's ring. I saw +3% from Suzaku's scythe. +1% from any other piece of gear. Bst trousers didn't stack until you got up to +4% from gear. I am pretty sure it will work w/ the killer effects of /drg, /pld, /drk, or /drg. I could test that easily tomorrow, but again if brewing... /rdm w/ the MAB2 w/ +24% will be better for magical WS.
I'm interested in a few of the new pieces in this update. There is a belt w/ plantoid killer+ and gloves w/ bird killer+ that might be useful to us.