Best min/max melee setup now?

[Nofacekiller]

With the NIN nerfs and DRG buffs, what do you guys think is the overall top melee setup now? MNK/DRG? NIN/DRG?


I was also wondering if Goad is still going to be a worthwhile utility, since NIN can run out of TP before the bard now. Which makes their current rotation of Goads to delay TP song useless unless they severely throttle their dps.

[Leonus]

Current top melee setup is Mnk/Mnk.

Goad still has its uses, some people say that brds should get it and others say they shouldn't.

The brd in the group I run with doesn't like Goad that much on her. She actually will play paeon when she gets low on tp and prefers for me to use Goad on the mnk in the party.

[kyrios91]

With the NIN nerfs and DRG buffs, what do you guys think is the overall top melee setup now? MNK/DRG? NIN/DRG?


I was also wondering if Goad is still going to be a worthwhile utility, since NIN can run out of TP before the bard now. Which makes their current rotation of Goads to delay TP song useless unless they severely throttle their dps.

Any setup would work now tbh, although NIN/NIN or DRG/DRG still won't be a thing compared to MNK/MNK.
IMO the ranks would be: MNK/MNK >= MNK/NIN = MNK/DRG > NIN/DRG > NIN/NIN > DRG/DRG.

[Nofacekiller]

Doesn't DRG offer more total dps now to the party, what with their dps only being marginally lower than MNK but also increasing BRD dps?

Or is DK/Mantra that important?

[Leonus]

Doesn't DRG offer more total dps now to the party, what with their dps only being marginally lower than MNK but also increasing BRD dps?

Or is DK/Mantra that important?

Drgs dps is in the ballpark of ninjas, still slightly lower I believe, but not by very much at all.

If mnk is doing 530 dps then nin is somewhere in the 505-520 range and drg is somewhere in the 500-515 range.

The nerf to nins overall damage was less than 2% according to the math wizards.

[Pots_Talos]

Current top melee setup is Mnk/Mnk.

Goad still has its uses, some people say that brds should get it and others say they shouldn't.

The brd in the group I run with doesn't like Goad that much on her. She actually will play paeon when she gets low on tp and prefers for me to use Goad on the mnk in the party.

Not really sure on this. Seems NIN drops TP as fast as MNK now, so no matter what peon is going to be played for someone. Goad seems kinda pointless outside of giving it to a WAR during a speedrun.

[Sleigh]

DRG: theoretically the highest DPS contribution in the game now with its damage + BRD's increased damage, converts amazingly to fights of all sorts now, has burst, AoE, the most survivable DPS outside of using CDs, amazing at LB3ing
NIN: can give SE, theoretically about the 3rd highest contribution to raid DPS (his own + TA's raid buff), Goad, low positional requirement of rear once a minute, very good at LB3ing, Perfect Dodge for some survivability
MNK: 20% Mantra, invaluable DK debuff. MNK buffing MNK is theoretically the 2nd highest contribution to raid DPS of the melee, while just MNK by itself is theoretically 4th highest DPS. Unfortunately converts less well to real fights than NIN and DRG in some cases, and is the worst LB3 user (important to consider in a MNK MNK comp over alternatives) due to more of MNK's damage being applied on hit rather than DoTs and CDs.

From a max training dummy DPS standpoint, MNK MNK (counting buffed Bootshine only MNK) and DRG MNK (counting a skilled, equally or higher geared BRD) should be really, really close now, the boost to DRG was enough to cover this gap. In a real fight, DRG converts better than MNK now with disconnects and positional loss and phase changes, and of course being the better LB3 user, so as far as I've seen from a set of T10-13 and the dummy numbers, DRG MNK is better in real fights than MNK MNK now, whereas before MNK MNK > DRG MNK very easily before the buff.

From a real fight max DPS standpoint it probably goes something like this: DRG/NIN > MNK/DRG =/> MNK/MNK > NIN/NIN > MNK/NIN > DRG/DRG

However, assuming you want the DK debuff (which you most certainly do, especially in T13 above all else), any comp without a MNK is not worth the theoretical DPS gain like DRG/NIN in FCoB. Personally I think DRG/MNK is the cookie cutter, most versatile and exceptional melee comp right now, and I reckon Savage content in 2.5 will have DRG/MNK as the most consistent melee comp used.