Ideal - Some may say "Perfect" gear setups (WAR)

So... after doing a lot of playing around with different gear choices, and different fights. I'm still undecided what to do.

I've been debating between 2-3 gear "sets". Below you can find some of the choices, and maybe some WARs can give feedback?

Looking to mostly maximize DPS on high DEF/EVA mobs (Ifrit, Princess, etc)

Weapon: Mog Axe (Acc 30, Crit 15) - 4 Less Base DMG then ifrit's and 30 less attack, but provides pretty much all the acc you should need.

Helm: DL Helm

Body: Cobalt Haub+1 86 Crit ATK (Still missing DL body)

Hands: DL Hands

Belt: Flame Sarg.

Legs: Triple Meld Felt Trousers (26STR 28VIT)

Feet: DL Feetys

Accessories:

Rings: Double STR (Change to 1 Electrum if I am using Ifrit's Axe, and/or when I get DL Body)

Neck: Electrum Gorget+1

Wrist: Ruby Braclet+1

Earring: Expo Earring

TL;DR:

Mog Axe, DL Body, Double STR rings VS Ifrit Axe, DL Body, STR Ring, Electrum Ring.

OR

Ifrit's Axe, Cobalt Haub+1 (Double/Triple stack crit power) 1 STR ring, 1 Elec Ring.

Having a rough time deciding.....Any help, or input from testing appreciated.

For Body I'd personally stick with the AF. Getting Vengeance to cut and reflect 50% of magical damage as well is quite tasty, and Crit Attack Power is quite diminished versus tough bosses due to dLv. I can see a melded Cobalt Haub being more desirable for plowing through a bunch of lower level enemies though.

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Originally Posted by NoctisUmbra

For Body I'd personally stick with the AF. Getting Vengeance to cut and reflect 50% of magical damage as well is quite tasty, and Crit Attack Power is quite diminished versus tough bosses due to dLv. I can see a melded Cobalt Haub being more desirable for plowing through a bunch of lower level enemies though.

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Thanks for the quick reply, however I'm not really tanking, unless I pull hate via dmg.

Also, Crit ATK power +90 seems to be pretty good for STR Pot/MS Weapon skill combo. I just don't know if I can out DPS in DL Body with acc being a problem (without using mog axe)...

I would just use Ifrit Axe and 2 Acc Rings, but I'm stuck with an emnity belt.

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Originally Posted by KumaAkuma

I would just use Ifrit Axe and 2 Acc Rings, but I'm stuck with an emnity belt.

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Yeah If you're tanking it's best to not ever miss a swing. But I don't know if I believe the same is true for DDing on WAR. Looking for the "perfect" balance of STR/ATK/ACC on Antling Princess/Ifrit

Really depends on what you're planning on killing. The testing by Kaeko says that on a boss like Miser (R58) you'll need over 150 crit potency to realize a 10% gain in critical damage. Personally for that case I'd ditch off the cobalt with crit+ and go with the darklight. Assuming that you have your base +23 str and 22 vit set, i believe off the top of my head that you'd have about 335ish str before accessories with those triple melded pants. 1 ring takes you up to soft cap of 350 and allows you to swap out your bracelet and other ring for something else (att or acc). As far as weapon, really situational. I use moogle axe for killing ants because they have high evasion, but ifrit for the miser.

I think any setup revolving around the Mogaxe is going to suffer from the lack of base damage, which also lowers your stat caps. I've also observed too much potential for misses against Princess with anything less than ~400 base acc and I would prefer to eat ATK/STR food over ACC food.

The ideal gearset that I'm aiming for is:
Weapon: Ifrit's
Helm: Darklight Helm
Body: Darklight Cuirass
Waist: Flame Sergeant's Sash
Hands: Fingerless Raptorskin Gloves of Slaying (33 STR, 29 ATK)
Legs: Felt Trousers (16 STR, 18 VIT)
Feet: Darklight Sollerets
Ears: Explorer's Earrings
Neck: Explorer's Choker
Wrists: Rubelite Bracelets +1
Rings: Electrum Ring +1 x2

If I managed to get triple Trousers, I'd swap out my Fingerless Raptorskin Gloves for the Darklight Gauntlets.

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Originally Posted by carraway

I think any setup revolving around the Mogaxe is going to suffer from the lack of base damage, which also lowers your stat caps. I've also observed too much potential for misses against Princess with anything less than ~400 base acc and I would prefer to eat ATK/STR food over ACC food.

The ideal gearset that I'm aiming for is:
Weapon: Ifrit's
Helm: Darklight Helm
Body: Darklight Cuirass
Waist: Flame Sergeant's Sash
Hands: Fingerless Raptorskin Gloves of Slaying (33 STR, 29 ATK)
Legs: Felt Trousers (16 STR, 18 VIT)
Feet: Darklight Sollerets
Ears: Explorer's Earrings
Neck: Explorer's Choker
Wrists: Rubelite Bracelets +1
Rings: Electrum Ring +1 x2

If I managed to get triple Trousers, I'd swap out my Fingerless Raptorskin Gloves for the Darklight Gauntlets.

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Thanks for the post carraway, I'll probably end up going double electrum rings once I get DL body. I will be testing this for the next few runs.

Looking to get around 97-98% acc and capping STR on Ant at the same time... (ponders the quad meld....sigh)

Question for Carraway: Why use Explorer's Choker and 2x Electrum Rings with ATK food(assuming it's Raptor Shanks) over Electrum Gorget+1, Electrum Ring+1, and Rubellite Ring+1 with ACC food?

Wouldn't this yield a slightly higher yield in damage output while maintaining almost identical ACC?


I still need to do tests my self, but CC is being stingy on the DPS WAR gear.

EDIT: You know what? I was thinking with DL Gauntlets and triple meld pants instead of what you had. lol

With the right configuration, yeah, ACC food could be better.

Yeah, I realized it was more than just the accessories I was thinking would be different haha

I'm finding Mog Axe to work quite well so far. Using double STR rings and Cobalt Body+1 90Crit (Haven't gotten DL Body yet). Sitting at about 97% Accuracy on Princess fights thus far.

47 total acc from gear (388 total) Flame Serg. Mog Axe, Cobalt Haub+1.

350 STR
608 Atk
326 VIT
388 Acc

Non-food stats.

Thinking about switching to jerked beef from raptor for food since I'm probably past the STR cap for Mog axe. That will make up 12 of the 30 Attack from not using Ifrits Axe.

Waiting on DL Body to finally drop to do more testing..

Not going to see much of a gain by switching food, Jerked Beef is a 7% buff, so you're only going to see +42.56 attack. If you're already at the str cap I guess might as well swap foods, just not really going to see a noticeable difference until att gets closer to the 650-700 range pre-food. To get the full benefit of jerked beef, base attack needs to be 728+

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Originally Posted by Deathgiver

Not going to see much of a gain by switching food, Jerked Beef is a 7% buff, so you're only going to see +42.56 attack. If you're already at the str cap I guess might as well swap foods, just not really going to see a noticeable difference until att gets closer to the 650-700 range pre-food. To get the full benefit of jerked beef, base attack needs to be 728+

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Very true, thanks for the exact numbers. That attack range isn't really going to happen on WAR with out an ATK build.

Need to find other options I guess. Or just use Smoked Raptor +1.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by carraway

I think any setup revolving around the Mogaxe is going to suffer from the lack of base damage, which also lowers your stat caps. I've also observed too much potential for misses against Princess with anything less than ~400 base acc and I would prefer to eat ATK/STR food over ACC food.

The ideal gearset that I'm aiming for is:
Weapon: Ifrit's
Helm: Darklight Helm
Body: Darklight Cuirass
Waist: Flame Sergeant's Sash
Hands: Fingerless Raptorskin Gloves of Slaying (33 STR, 29 ATK)
Legs: Felt Trousers (16 STR, 18 VIT)
Feet: Darklight Sollerets
Ears: Explorer's Earrings
Neck: Explorer's Choker
Wrists: Rubelite Bracelets +1
Rings: Electrum Ring +1 x2

If I managed to get triple Trousers, I'd swap out my Fingerless Raptorskin Gloves for the Darklight Gauntlets.

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Im wondering why you are stacking ACC over maxing stats first? I understand that the misses = 0 DPS, but even on Mistress or Coincounter, heck even Princess I hit 98% or better. So out of 50-70 swings at most on the first two I normally only miss one auto attack.

Im not knocking the build or anything believe me, I completely understand it. Just wondering =p

I run

Weapon: Ifrit
Helm: Paragon's (Darklight)
Body: Cobalt Haub +1 Crit Potency (Darklight)
Waist: Veteran's
Hands: Darklight
Legs: Felt Trousers (20Str/22Vit)
Feet: Darklight
Ears: Explorer's
Neck: Gorget +1
Wrists: Rubelite +1
Rings: Rubelite +1

(Darklight) = When I get it =p

Once I get full Darklight, Ill slot some more Str into the pants so that I can hit 350 Str and then replace one STR ring for the explorer's ring?

Any thoughts?

The infrequent misses on my Steel Cyclone or Whirlwind combos, leading to a huge gap in AoE DPS on Princess, are what caused me to gear for ACC. After hitting 402 base acc, I noticed substantially less misses, but I could also drop the two Electrum Rings +1 for Rubelite Rings +1 and eat Stuffed Cabbage instead.

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Originally Posted by Shaydes

Im wondering why you are stacking ACC over maxing stats first? I understand that the misses = 0 DPS, but even on Mistress or Coincounter, heck even Princess I hit 98% or better. So out of 50-70 swings at most on the first two I normally only miss one auto attack.

Im not knocking the build or anything believe me, I completely understand it. Just wondering =p

I run

Weapon: Ifrit
Helm: Paragon's (Darklight)
Body: Cobalt Haub +1 Crit Potency (Darklight)
Waist: Veteran's
Hands: Darklight
Legs: Felt Trousers (20Str/22Vit)
Feet: Darklight
Ears: Explorer's
Neck: Gorget +1
Wrists: Rubelite +1
Rings: Rubelite +1

(Darklight) = When I get it =p

Once I get full Darklight, Ill slot some more Str into the pants so that I can hit 350 Str and then replace one STR ring for the explorer's ring?

Any thoughts?

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I assume you are eating +acc food, otherwise I find it hard to believe you are getting 98% acc with that setup. I started gearing for +acc for the same reasons carraway mentioned, the random Skull Sunder/Steel Cyclone/Whirlwind whiffs were really aggravating.

This discussion will get a whole lot more interesting with the release of Garuda weapons in a few days, and JSE weapons not too long after.

But right now what it comes down to is the need for testing to see if the benefits of damage using ifrits with ACC food are greater than mogaxe with ATK food.

Because base damage affects stat caps, I would argue yes, it's better to use Ifrit's in every single situation, and adjust your gear and food accordingly.

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Originally Posted by carraway

Because base damage affects stat caps, I would argue yes, it's better to use Ifrit's in every single situation, and adjust your gear and food accordingly.

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Oh don't get me wrong so would I. I would rather get some solid testing though with a parser than just based on the numbers. If a cuirass ever drops I will do some testing since without it I am not close enough to cap.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aratharn

I assume you are eating +acc food, otherwise I find it hard to believe you are getting 98% acc with that setup. I started gearing for +acc for the same reasons carraway mentioned, the random Skull Sunder/Steel Cyclone/Whirlwind whiffs were really aggravating.

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I get 98 pct due to the fact that full party + Brd buffs = nice acc without even worrying about it. I like our Brds that can get acc on melee and Ballad on Mages =p

I vastly prefer Paeon over Minuet, unless you can get both.

So it appears Garuda's Axe is parsing better than Ifrit's.

Yeah, I agree. Auto-attack isn't very significant for jobs like DRG, WAR, and MNK compared to total WS damage, so Garuda's wins. And although you're supposed to get the same amount of TP over a period of time, faster auto-attacks do help smooth out your TP gains due to how abilities clip autos.

Also to add to that Carraway, if starting at 0 TP both Garuda's and Ifrit's require 3 hits to obtain 1000TP and 4 hits to obtain 1500TP. Though, the case is that to obtain 1000TP Garuda's takes 11.7 seconds while Ifrit's takes 12.9 seconds. Also, for 1500TP Garuda's takes 15.6 seconds and Ifrit's takes 17.2 seconds.

Yes, over time the TP generation will be the same, but for shorter fights being able to reach 1000 and 1500TP faster will be important. Oh and another thing: WS damage will potentially be higher due to being able to ease up on ACC accesories and replace them with STR/ATK. Crits on WS's will be higher as well.

Don't you take a substantial hit on soft caps using garuda's? I'm curious now how people are parsing with it.

It actually appears that WS damage and soft caps are now based on the weapon's DPS, not the damage.

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Originally Posted by Isaaru

It actually appears that WS damage and soft caps are now based on the weapon's DPS, not the damage.

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I would like to see this tested if true, however I personally don't see how Garuda's could ever out parse Ifrits, just for the sheer fact that anything worth parsing you usually have a bard giving you Paeon, and TP gain is never a problem, mostly waiting on timers...

So obviously taking the bigger numbers for AA is probably better. But after weeks and weeks of testing my gear setups I've decided to use

Mog axe double STR rings, cobalt+1 90 crit, and flame serg.

Sitting at about 351 STR 325 VIT - non-food.

Seems to be getting the best results on Princess fights thus far.

I have a question. From my understanding the soft cap for war is to try to reach 350 str and 310 vit first and get acc close to 400. Does it still works this way?

400 accuracy is a little overkill. I'd say 388-390 is more than fine.

Anymore testing been done on the soft caps for STATS vs DPS / Base DMG.

I find this hard to believe that soft caps change with DPS on weapons instead of Base DMG.

Ugh yes it's stupid but it's true and tested. If you don't believe it, go test it yourself. It's not that hard to do.

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Originally Posted by KumaAkuma

Ugh yes it's stupid but it's true and tested. If you don't believe it, go test it yourself. It's not that hard to do.

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Thanks TIPS.

Anybody care to explain or direct me to a link that explains how soft caps are measured with DPS?

So, with all the current equipment out right now, what's the best-of-the-best for DD and for Tanking?

I would love to know that too. I'm no rich person but wanna have good gear to not be a burden to the Party. I'm not so interrested in Tanking

I support the two lasts posts too. I'd like to know exactly what is ideal for both DDing and tanking.

I would also like to get a better comparison with the GC gear.

Personally, I'm working on getting a Darksteel Hauby with two teir IV Savage Might on it. I'm aiming for 110 crit attack, we'll see how close I get. :P I'll build the rest of my DD set around that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by carraway

I think any setup revolving around the Mogaxe is going to suffer from the lack of base damage, which also lowers your stat caps. I've also observed too much potential for misses against Princess with anything less than ~400 base acc and I would prefer to eat ATK/STR food over ACC food.

The ideal gearset that I'm aiming for is:
Weapon: Ifrit's
Helm: Darklight Helm
Body: Darklight Cuirass
Waist: Flame Sergeant's Sash
Hands: Fingerless Raptorskin Gloves of Slaying (33 STR, 29 ATK)
Legs: Felt Trousers (16 STR, 18 VIT)
Feet: Darklight Sollerets
Ears: Explorer's Earrings
Neck: Explorer's Choker
Wrists: Rubelite Bracelets +1
Rings: Electrum Ring +1 x2

If I managed to get triple Trousers, I'd swap out my Fingerless Raptorskin Gloves for the Darklight Gauntlets.

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What order/grade materia are you doing for the raptorskin gloves?

A lot's changed since I made that post. The gloves I cited were ones I kind of accidentally tripled (bought a x2 meld with STR4 and ATK3, added another STR4 onto it on a whim). If I were to go for triple gloves from scratch, I would actually do STR3 (11) to STR3 (15) to STR4 (as high as possible). Or STR3 to ATK3 to ATK4 (same basic principle). It really depends on how much DL you have to play with, or what your other melds are.

Garuda's Scream is the best g.axe until relic, but the new GC axes are all pretty attractive if Garuda's isn't an option. With the accuracy from Garuda's Scream (or all but the Flame Lieutenant g.axe), you don't need as much accuracy as I listed back then, and can swap accessories/belt appropriately. A x2 (or higher) crit atk belt will be better than Flame Sergeant's Sash unless you absolutely can't get the accuracy elsewhere. A x3 meld crit atk body is probably better than Darklight Cuirass now, from a pure DPS perspective.

For tanking, not that much has changed. Militia Choker is an obvious upgrade. Militia Gauntlets are a nice stepping-stone to Heavy DL.