Age Old Question: VIT vs. STR

[LukeyP666]

I recently re-specced to 30 strength on my Warrior and haven't looked back. I switched before we'd cleared Turn 7 for the first time and the extra DPS is really nice for killing the adds quickly. We do a strange tank swap which lots of people question us about. Paladin starts fight as MT and I OT the first adds, take Defiance off for Bowyer adds, and then we switch after so he can use Hallowed Ground for the Prosecutor. Works really nicely and I'm surprised more groups don't do it like that.

My gear is now easily good enough to tank Turns 6 and 7 (even better since I was bored and spammed some hunts for a Sand for my Noct Lorica) and I switch to Monk for Turn 8. Haven't gotten to Turn 9 yet but my Paladin tanking buddy has first dibs on Tank loot so he'll be MTing Turn 9, and I'll be OTing it anyway.

I would say that if you're in a static, and you trust your healers, then go for it.

[Haibel]

I'm Spec'd 30 str on Pld and vit on war. I main Pld and feel more comfortable with the Higher DPS on then on war. The str also as the benefit of more enmity on flash. Much higher in fact.

[Traek]

Just like before, go full VIT. If you want to build STR go with STR accessories and/or Crafted accessories. Its easier to trade out accessories then back and forth on bonus traits either way.

Whether or not T9 is cleared by others doesn't make much a difference. Even if you are a Soldiery hero, having extra health while you and your group learns T6-T9 or if you are dealing with the dreaded *pugs*, you are giving your group far more margin for error by gearing/stating VIT over STR. Once your group is comfortable, and you start downing things consistently (or attempting and know where the need is) you start playing around with stats.

When I go into SBCoB (and most things) I gear full i110 STR accessories on right side T6-T9. I don't MT Nael but I still suggest VIT for MT here.

[Kamifubuki-Yoakesetsuri]

Go 15 Vit 15 STR or 20 VIT 10 STR. Those are your best options as tank.

[Remn]

best go with 30 Vit for bonus, then play around with necklace, bracelet, and ring if you want to go more STR.

[Umero]

27 str and 3 vit.

[Akkirei]

*Posting on behalf of Kitru*

The only time in which you should use your allocated ability points for VIT is if you are absolutely trying to max your hp (e.g. you're undergeared and need to survive big hits). The reason for it is simple: conversion rates.

Allocated ability points are only time that VIT and STR can be traded on a 1:1 basis. On accessories, you can convert STR to VIT on a 1:1.1-1.2 basis (i90 accs are 15 VIT to 13 STR; i110 accs are 21 VIT to 18 STR). As such, if you've got full VIT allocation and then wear STR gear (30 VIT + 5 * 18 STR = 30 VIT, 90 STR), you're getting less total STR than you would get by going with full STR allocation and just getting 30 points of VIT from your accs (30 STR + 3 * 18 STR + 2 * 21 VIT = 42 VIT, 84 STR; that's trading 6 STR for 12 VIT and only because it's exceeding the 30; if you go with just 1 VIT acc, you get 30 STR + 4 * 18 + 21 VIT = 21 VIT, 102 STR; that's trading 9 VIT for 12 STR; either way, you're getting a better than 1:1 conversion rate by going with full STR allocation and using accessories as your conversion).

In short, you should always go full STR allocation unless you have less than the required minimum hp with full VIT accs (for SCoB, that's ~7200 for PLD and ~9000 for WAR w/ Defiance). Even if you're just barely short of it, I would still go full STR since 110 gear is incredibly easy to get ahold of and you're going to break that barrier soon enough anyways.

This also is a decent segue into discussion of the Topaz accs, which are BiS when pentamelded, even if you're trying to max STR, because of the generally accepted minimum hp requirements:

As a Sea Wolf Roe, with full STR allocation and full STR accs at i110 (no food), I've got 7748 hp (in Defiance) and 544 STR. I would need to devote 2 slots to VIT gear, which is going to drop STR by 36 down to 508, in order to break 9k with food and party buff.

If you go with pentamelded Topaz accs, on the other hand, you will get 15 VIT and 13 STR on every single accessory, which gives 519 STR and 9108 hp in Defiance (without food or party buff). By using pentamelded accs, you're getting 9 more STR and ~500 more hp than you would with pure i110 accs. The only time you want to use i110 accs is if you don't care about one of the two stats, which is either when you're not really tanking (e.g. t7 add tank) or you need to absolutely maximize your hp in order to avoid dying (MT Savage SCoB).

[SeraviEdalborez]

This also is a decent segue into discussion of the Topaz accs, which are BiS when pentamelded

Are we using Topaz as a placeholder word for "Topaz or Ruby", or do we believe Topaz melds are superior to Ruby melds (or in other words, that the 90 parry > 90 skill speed?

Not that I think Speed is that big of a deal, just that Parry is a lackluster stat and Speed still benefits DPS ever so slightly.

[Ooshima]

Are we using Topaz as a placeholder word for "Topaz or Ruby", or do we believe Topaz melds are superior to Ruby melds (or in other words, that the 90 parry > 90 skill speed?

Not that I think Speed is that big of a deal, just that Parry is a lackluster stat and Speed still benefits DPS ever so slightly.

WARs generally would use Ruby because of the 2.38s GCD they want to stand by (the left side BiS pieces are all lacking in SS), and Parry is really useless to them compared to PLD.

PLD could legitimately use Topaz to stack Parry, and it is kind of cheaper to pentameld Topaz than Ruby because STR IV materia is dirt cheap compared to VIT IV

[Millen1]

I made a i90 HQ Topaz set for a PLD in my FC. Maxed out strength, accuracy and I forget if the last meld was det or crit. Crazy expensive set but in an 8 man dungeon or ST, he can rip hate off any other tank and keep it. It is a very interesting set to use. The tank keep the 1st 30 points as Vit and the melds add 75 more strength plus what ever else you want to meld on there. If you have the gil to penta meld 5 grade IV materia, this is an amazing set to do it on. When done I feel it puts the current i110 accessories to shame.