WAR Stats, Cross-Class Skills, and Gear - Am I Doing It Right?

Pre-2.1

Full STR (supposedly better eHP due to Bloodbath, Inner Beast, and Second Wind)

Flash (to get hate when TP is low or when Pacified)
Second Wind (admittedly minor self-healing)
Internal Release (more damage translates into more self-healing and faster kills)
Convalescence (self-explanatory)
Provoke (Admittedly I rarely use this but it does allow for longer pulls)

BiS (couldn't find a lot of info on this so I mostly based it on prioritizing Acc. then Parry)

Weapon: Relic +1 pre-Turn 5, Allagan after
Helm: Allagan
Body: Warrior's Cuirass
Hands: Warrior's Gauntlets
Waist: Allagan Plate Belt
Legs: Warrior's Breeches
Feet: Warrior's Jackboots
Ear: Allagan Earrings of Fending
Neck: Allagan Choker of Fending
Wrist: Allagan Bracelet of Fending
Ring1: Allagan Ring of Fending
Ring2: Hero's Ring of Fending

Now I don't even know if my pre-2.1 premises are right for sure but this is what I've been thinking post-2.1:

Full VIT (Inner Beast heals for 1/3, Internal Release adds less damage, something like the 30% damage reduction of Vengeance makes every HP added worth 1.3 HP so you're getting even more bang for your buck, and STR is not really needed as much for enmity)

Flash (Still a big fan of this - not very useful on most bosses admittedly)
Convalescence (Also still feels like a no brainer to me)

BUT

Internal Release (effectiveness cut in 1/2, which along with Inner Beast's decreased healing makes it seem less appealing)
Second Wind (was a rather small heal even w/ a full STR build but maybe it's good enough)
Provoke (Which aside from long pulls, Succubi for example, I almost NEVER have need of)

So I'm contemplating things like Featherfoot (how useful would it really be considering that WAR are not really the evasive type... if nearly every attack is still going to hit me, it's not worth it)

Haymaker (I've seen people talking about this a bit but again, how often will I really evade? If I take both skills together, will it do anything?)

Awareness (Should result in less damage which is good but I feel as though it's very difficult to notice a difference. Of course the same thing can be said about Second Wind.)

Mantra (5% doesn't seem like much but I feel like when you apply the affect to everyone, it could certainly be pretty good, especially if it is replacing skills that I rarely use, like Provoke)

And, lastly, gear:

How has the addition of CT/Ultima/Extreme Primals/PvP gear changed WAR BiS? I've only done Coil Turn 1 a few times and never cleared it but I've been playing since release. Assume, for the sake of argument, that I have infinite Philosophy/Myth Tomes (and therefore will have full access to crafted and/or Myth gear prior to doing Coil). What gear would I then start looking to replace, if any? Mostly I just want to know what to work for.

Also, what kind of food is a good baseline for Coil up to and including T5 and what food would be top of the line?

My goal is to progress further but I'm not in a rush and prefer to be as geared as possible before taking on the next challenge to acquire even better gear so waiting a few weeks to get full Myth or to farm an Extreme Primal drop would not be a big deal to me. So I would be super grateful for any advice I could get on what the best Pre and Post-Coil set up would look like for WAR: Stats, Skills, and Gear.

By no means take my word as gospel but since no one else has replied yet I'll give my two cents since Patch 2.1.

Internal Release: I still use this, for the chance to more easily 100% top me off before the big hit Inner Beast is supposed to be mitigating.

Second Wind: Use during Berserk to mitigate the loss of STR, it's still useful combined with a Storm's Path/Inner Beast.

Featherfoot: I'm getting tired of this ability, I don't think I've ever noticed an increase in my dodges, even for auto-attacks. Most notable raid boss attacks are unavoidable and must be mitigated anyway.


Haymaker: I think DRG and SMN or SCH can put up this debuff and I don't believe they stack. I don't think it's reliable enough to take a slot, nor even a GCD.

Awareness: Again, barely noticeable. I think it can give you a safety net vs. Auto-attack crits and therefore RNG but you can't 100% anticipate when something like this will happen.

Mantra: Limited range, but decent for periods of high sustained DMG where you won't be topped off for some time, e.g. Titan EM.


Gear:

- Aim to do the EM Primals for Dual Haken.
- EM Primals to replace i70 accessories (i90).
- Ultima to replace i70 accessories (i80).
- Do CT to replace any i70 gear (i80).
- Spend Myth on Armor pieces.
- Continue doing Coil.

ACC cap (473 for Turn 4, 502 for Turn 5?) > Parry > Crit/SkS > Det is my stat priority.

Food:

HQ Sauteed Coeurl (Max VIT, High SkS, some ACC)
HQ La Noscean Toast/Finger Sandwich (High VIT/Parry, some ACC)
HQ Stuffed Cabbage (High VIT/Acc)

Just adding Provoke will always be useful as a cross-class. As of right now, voke is heavily used on: Ultima, all EM primals, Turn 2, Turn 5, and maybe other fights I can't remember. Also, ANY fight that you die on, you can immediately get your hate after a raise.

Pretty sure it 483ish ACC for Turn 5. may be wrong tho.

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Originally Posted by Purrfectstorm

Internal Release (effectiveness cut in 1/2, which along with Inner Beast's decreased healing makes it seem less appealing)

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I find it's not worth having anymore unless you're doing something like a primal fight where Flash is unnecessary. You can replace Flash in those, but by and large, Featherfoot is better choice. The reduction is random (and that can be frustrating), but it's certainly noticeable and contributes more to your role.

I would not use Haymaker due to overlap with Feint and general awkwardness of use. It's a 15% slow for 12 seconds and is really odd to see unless you're using Featherfoot already. Awareness is usually crap because enemy skills cannot crit, meaning you only really want it when you're getting hammered by autoattacks and your healers are pushed to the limit (maybe T4). Over time, Featherfoot is better, so if your healers can make up for randomness, you still won't use Awareness. Mantra is weaker than Second Wind unless you're getting hit for 1200 DPS or so, which is... well, T4 only. Long story short, only time you'd think about Awareness or Mantra is T4, and in those, who cares?

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Originally Posted by Purrfectstorm

How has the addition of CT/Ultima/Extreme Primals/PvP gear changed WAR BiS?

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Hasn't. Changes to existing items, however, has. Allagan Axe is now BIS due to being ilvl95. By and large, though, WAR BiS is still that same fuzzy debate about the value of 25 VIT versus everything else. The boost to eHP via Inner Beast and Vengeance as well as the addition of HQ Sauteed Coeurl have made ilvl70 a wee bit more palatable. You can handily eat any hit in the game without gearing in full ilvl90 now, so the boosted damage and mitigation come at a lower cost.

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Originally Posted by Purrfectstorm

Also, what kind of food is a good baseline for Coil up to and including T5 and what food would be top of the line?

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Normal stuff is La Noscean Toast (good VIT, parry, some accuracy) or Stuffed Cabbage if you need the accuracy (slightly less VIT, semi-useless crit rate, good accuracy). Ideally, the Toast is what you'll use most.

Beyond that, your two-star foods are Finger Sandwich and Sauteed Coeurl. Finger Sandwich cannot be capped on VIT or parry and is ultimately only slightly better HQ La Noscean Toast with full ilvl90 stuff. If you aren't geared to the hilt, it's actually worse than La Noscean Toast and really shouldn't be used. Sauteed Coeurl, however, can be capped on VIT and is the most VIT you can get, plus has accuracy on par with the Finger Sandwich (and La Noscean Toast, since you can't get more than 9 without exceeding cap). However, it also has Skill Speed which you both won't cap and don't really get that much out of (the quicker route to IB is nice, but seriously negligible). Sauteed Coeurl is the upgraded version of the Eft Steak, which is generally ignored in favor of La Noscean Toast. The toast is favored mainly because it doesn't suffer the huge drawbacks of the Finger Sandwich.

Can't imagine Relic +1 being BiS now, i'd imagine Dual Haken pre turn 5 then Allagan Axe.

I don't think i've ever seen a pre turn 5 WAR BiS that I can agree with, would like to hear other peoples opinions though.

As for Cross Class i'm currently using Convalescence, Flash, Provoke, Internal Release and Second Wind.

Flash, Provoke and Second Wind are obvious, Internal Release got hit pretty hard but there's really not much else to slot in. I was using Mantra for a while but felt like I was activating it for the sake of it most of the time.

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Originally Posted by ArcaneNova621

ACC cap (473 for Turn 4, 502 for Turn 5?) > Parry > Crit/SkS > Det is my stat priority.

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Acc cap is 482 for t5 I believe.

Personally i'd go Parry > Det > Crit > SkS.

Second wind equals to a cure 1 every what... 120 seconds? Might look cool on paper its not worth a slot on the battlefield. A drop in the ocean.

Featherfoot > second wind on anything that matters... and yes you do evade, i wouldnt say "a lot" but you do.

Internal release has been nerfed and if you like second wind, take it instead of IR.

Haymaker would be good if it wasnt on the GCD.

Provoke is mandatory, you might not use it often but it needs to be on your skill bar.

Awarness is half bugged (prevents critical heals on you).

Mantra is situationally useful (t5 fireballs comes to mind).

For PVE i run flash, provoke, convalescence, internal release, featherfoot.

Food: la noscean toast for tanking, buttons in a blanket for offtanking.

Garuda HM (aka, cake town) auto attacks for about 1k. Dodging a single extra auto attack due to Featherfoot would require Second Wind to Crit while under Berserk to even compete. On harder content (where stuff starts to matter) it scales better, whereas Second Wind's heal stays pretty wimpy.

I generally use it as a combo with with Bloodbath > Berserk > Featherfoot. Figure taking slightly less from Featherfoot Synergizes with the slight self heals of Bloodbath + Berserk and all three are a 90s cooldown.

On a side note related to stats - was there ever any conclusion on Dexterity numbers?

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Originally Posted by Maqaqa

Awarness is half bugged (prevents critical heals on you).
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I like to say this was fixed I've seen some crit heals with it on.

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Originally Posted by Grembo

Can't imagine Relic +1 being BiS now, i'd imagine Dual Haken pre turn 5 then Allagan Axe.

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If you're maximizing VIT -> parry pre-T5, then yes. That setup is as follows:

Dual Haken
Warrior helm
Warrior chest
Warrior arms
Allagan belt
Warrior legs
Allagan feet
Allagan neck
Allagan ears
Hero wrists
Allagan ring
Hero ring

However, if you're dumping the ilvl90 accessories and going with ilvl70 melded, then the Bravura Zenith adds more parry and is therefore better. That setup is just 5 melded Gryphonskin with WAR armor slots and an Allagan belt (falls in at 484 acc after food, who cares).

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Originally Posted by Grembo

Personally i'd go Parry > Det > Crit > SkS.

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Crit is a poor choice for WAR. You get reduced returns from it due to Wrath stacks and Inner Release if you took that. Since skill speed also contributes to mitigation, you should go either PAR -> SSPD -> DTR -> CHR (pure mitigation) or PAR -> DTR -> SSPD -> CHR (damage > mitigation). SSPD also helps you get off that extra hit in Berserk, but it's hard to get enough to be reliable with it. Based on my experience, that extra hit only becomes reliable over maybe 410 skill speed. Below that, you'll frequently get the pulled out of the last attack by the pacification effect. Regardless, that 1 extra hit per 90s beats out the entire comparative value of CHR all by its lonesome, so it's seriously not worth considering CHR.

//EDIT:

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Originally Posted by Vortok

I generally use it as a combo with with Bloodbath > Berserk > Featherfoot. Figure taking slightly less from Featherfoot Synergizes with the slight self heals of Bloodbath + Berserk and all three are a 90s cooldown.

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I rather still prefer Bloodbath + Berserk + Vengeance.

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Originally Posted by Vortok

On a side note related to stats - was there ever any conclusion on Dexterity numbers?

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None. I still see no evidence that it has any tiering effects.

What i90 accessories would you dump for Gryphonskin and what would you meld? Vitality and Parry?

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Originally Posted by Purrfectstorm

What i90 accessories would you dump for Gryphonskin and what would you meld? Vitality and Parry?

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All of them, and yes. Normal way is PAR3-PAR3-VIT3-VIT3-VIT2 to cap both parry and VIT. If you're particularly wealthy, you can also meld 1 DPS stat (SSPD or DTR) by melding VIT4-DPS4-PAR3-PAR3-VIT2.

Thanks! Do you think that that setup is the best for T5 then?

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Originally Posted by Purrfectstorm

Thanks! Do you think that that setup is the best for T5 then?

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This is a question you'll have to ask your healers. Basically, the tradeoff from ilvl70 melded with Sauteed Coeurl to ilvl90 Fending with Finger Sandwich is:

+21 VIT
-15% DPS
-slight reduction in mean mitigation (-45 DEX being main contributor)

If you're good at what you do, the loss of 21 VIT isn't exactly crippling. WAR faces no potential one-shot situations unless he screws up and fails to drop IB, ToB, or Vengeance before a Death Sentence hits. However, it does reduce the margin of error for healers by clipping back about 380 HP.

I think my personal preference is towards a bigger margin of error so I think I'll go with the i90 setup you listed instead. Thanks a lot for clarifying this for me! :)

For earrings, there are no Gryphonskin pieces. Did you mean that I should use Rose Gold Ear Screws or Rose Gold Ear Cuffs with the other setup? Because I took all accessories to mean neck, ear, wrist, bracelet, ring1, and ring2. I'm thinking I at least want to have that setup for lower level stuff at the very least.

Rose gold ear screws I believe are the preferred.

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Originally Posted by Leiron

Rose gold ear screws I believe are the preferred.

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Thanks, that makes sense. The other has crit rate which is meh.

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Originally Posted by Purrfectstorm

Thanks, that makes sense. The other has crit rate which is meh.

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Ear screws are the DPS ones, which are in the same vein as Gryphonskin. DPS accessories are used instead of tanking ones because they give you +DEX that you wouldn't bother to meld. Be aware, though, that they're rather large, so if you take pride in your appearance... well, know what you're getting into.

http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/2998/8ekp.jpg

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Originally Posted by Gamemako

Ear screws are the DPS ones, which are in the same vein as Gryphonskin. DPS accessories are used instead of tanking ones because they give you +DEX that you wouldn't bother to meld. Be aware, though, that they're rather large, so if you take pride in your appearance... well, know what you're getting into.

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LOL Yeah thanks. I guess vanity slots are coming in 2.2 though so it's probably the least of my worries :)

Since I'm really committed to playing Warrior to the best of my ability, I've decided to just have more than one gear set - 1 for the extra VIT safety net and content down the road and the other for more DPS especially since I end up helping a lot in easier content where the extra VIT doesn't do much (level 50 story dungeons, HM Primals, etc.) I'm melding Vit 4, SSPD 4, Parry 3, Parry 3, Vit 2. I chose the SSPD route because it feels a bit more noticeable/enjoyable to me and I'm leaning on the side of mitigation. I only have 2 of my accessories finished at this point. I donated a lot to housing and now I'm poor :)

I've been doing spiritbond parties in i55 gear to get the materia I need. I've kind of run low on gil though *blush* Something to work torwards I guess. I'm level 50 w/ all crafts so it has only cost me about 300k per piece so far. Vit 4 is 100k on my server, SSPD 4 and Parry 3 are about 20k. I think I'll have my other 3 pieces in a week or so. Then back to donating towards housing :)