Opinions on superior body gear for SMN?

[Sleigh]

Hmm, from my testing DET scales with BLM potency perfectly, IE if you gain X amount of damage on B2 (50 potency) it almost exactly is 6X the gain on Fire 1 (306 potency after AH3). Are those examples above actually tested or just theoretical?

[SunnyHirose]

But because DET is largely effected by WD/MD I think that the damage vs potency is higher on low potency attacks. Like as if skill potency is a small factor in the DET -> damage factor.

I've seen people suppose this, too, but I've yet to see anything compelling to suggest that the damage isn't fundamentally some damage per potency multiplied by the potency even with small potencies.

What low potency attacks definitely have is lower numerical precision due to rounding. If I see attacks that are on average like 800 HP, then we can assume it's pretty good to within 0.125%, but if I see attacks that are 100 HP on average, then it's only pretty good to within 1%.

[Buff_Archer]

Very interesting, I've got a couple of questions re: Spell Speed & Garuda, and swapping loadouts after summoning.

1. If you summon Garuda with a lot of Spell Speed in your loadout, and then swap your gear to a Crit/Det loadout, does she retain the Spell Speed until resummoned/new area is loaded, or automatically inherit the Crit/Det instead? I know some attributes are retained by pets after gear is changed, though I don't have a good way to directly observe that except when it comes to VIT. I know VIT is retained based on my stats upon summoning because when spiritbonding stuff I'll go to Quarrymill, and equip my highest-level casting gear on left side, and all VIT/CRIT/DET accessories on the right side, summon Titan-egi and he'll have like 11,000ish HP... and then I'll swap out those VIT accessories with gathering accessories (with no VIT on them obviously) and swap out most of my casting gear with crafting/gathering stuff I want to Spiritbond, and naturally my HP will drop significantly... but as long as I don't resummon him or leave South Shroud, his HP stays at what it was from when I summoned him. And then if I reummon or teleport his HP gets recalculated. So that makes me wonder what other pet attributes are fixed even after a gearswap. Like if I popped an INT potion right before summoning Garuda.

2. Assuming Garuda did keep her Spell Speed settings after I swapped to Crit/Det gear for my own casting, would her autoattacks fire more quickly (by a small margin I'm guessing) or would it have exactly 0 impact on her recast time? Having her attacks crit more, might be worth more than a slight increase in their frequency, but then again she has no MP pool to worry about, so would be interesting to know. I wouldn't choose a loadout to optimize spell speed for the sake of Garuda, but if I was able to have different stats with her vs myself I wonder what the difference might be.

3. On that note, does Strength have anything to do with Ifrit-egi's melee attacks, or are they INT based? I'm guessing the latter, but if it used the player's base strength and I could put on STR accessories, summon Ifrit, and then swap my loadout, that would be interesting. While I don't have a way to parse data being on PS4, at least this is something I can play with using the Practice Dummy at my house. I can't imagine it's related to the Summoner's strength or else I would have heard something about it by now. I can experiment with this one at least when I get home.

Obviously changing my gear over and over in a dungeon run to resummon in each zone like I'm Lady Gaga in concert isn't something I would be putting my party through... the question's more academic than anything, and it could be helpful for like an EX Primal encounter or PVP where there is only one zone I suppose.

[Havenchild]

Very interesting, I've got a couple of questions re: Spell Speed & Garuda, and swapping loadouts after summoning.

1. If you summon Garuda with a lot of Spell Speed in your loadout, and then swap your gear to a Crit/Det loadout, does she retain the Spell Speed until resummoned/new area is loaded, or automatically inherit the Crit/Det instead? I know some attributes are retained by pets after gear is changed, though I don't have a good way to directly observe that except when it comes to VIT. I know VIT is retained based on my stats upon summoning because when spiritbonding stuff I'll go to Quarrymill, and equip my highest-level casting gear on left side, and all VIT/CRIT/DET accessories on the right side, summon Titan-egi and he'll have like 11,000ish HP... and then I'll swap out those VIT accessories with gathering accessories (with no VIT on them obviously) and swap out most of my casting gear with crafting/gathering stuff I want to Spiritbond, and naturally my HP will drop significantly... but as long as I don't resummon him or leave South Shroud, his HP stays at what it was from when I summoned him. And then if I reummon or teleport his HP gets recalculated. So that makes me wonder what other pet attributes are fixed even after a gearswap. Like if I popped an INT potion right before summoning Garuda.

2. Assuming Garuda did keep her Spell Speed settings after I swapped to Crit/Det gear for my own casting, would her autoattacks fire more quickly (by a small margin I'm guessing) or would it have exactly 0 impact on her recast time? Having her attacks crit more, might be worth more than a slight increase in their frequency, but then again she has no MP pool to worry about, so would be interesting to know. I wouldn't choose a loadout to optimize spell speed for the sake of Garuda, but if I was able to have different stats with her vs myself I wonder what the difference might be.

3. On that note, does Strength have anything to do with Ifrit-egi's melee attacks, or are they INT based? I'm guessing the latter, but if it used the player's base strength and I could put on STR accessories, summon Ifrit, and then swap my loadout, that would be interesting. While I don't have a way to parse data being on PS4, at least this is something I can play with using the Practice Dummy at my house. I can't imagine it's related to the Summoner's strength or else I would have heard something about it by now. I can experiment with this one at least when I get home.

Obviously changing my gear over and over in a dungeon run to resummon in each zone like I'm Lady Gaga in concert isn't something I would be putting my party through... the question's more academic than anything, and it could be helpful for like an EX Primal encounter or PVP where there is only one zone I suppose.

1) I believe it was Spur? (forgetting atm) When used it reevaluates your stats and adjusts your pets accordingly. So to answer your question, no it wouldn't keep the buff after using said skills.

2) See 1.

3) No, only Int / Det directly influence pet damage.

[Akariel]

(Don't want to create another SMN thread so asking here even if a bit off-topic)

Is there any discussion/link discussing crafted BiS for SMN? (e.g. what piece and what melds) Are there any crafted gear at all that beats DW and IW when melded?

[Judge_Xero]

Hmm, from my testing DET scales with BLM potency perfectly, IE if you gain X amount of damage on B2 (50 potency) it almost exactly is 6X the gain on Fire 1 (306 potency after AH3). Are those examples above actually tested or just theoretical?

Purely theoretical. I never pursued the reason for the great effect of DET on dot damage. Especially now.

[Judge_Xero]

(Don't want to create another SMN thread so asking here even if a bit off-topic)

Is there any discussion/link discussing crafted BiS for SMN? (e.g. what piece and what melds) Are there any crafted gear at all that beats DW and IW when melded?

Because pet damage relies so heavily on Int and you can't make good use of Spell Speed there are no crafted items that are comparable for SMN.

[Havenchild]

Because pet damage relies so heavily on Int and you can't make good use of Spell Speed there are no crafted items that are comparable for SMN.

I wouldn't say Int doesn't have an affect on overall damage but I will say it's not as big as you or many others are assuming.

I've been at ilvl126 for a very long time using this build: http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/Q53Z, and I have managed to consistently outdps countless other well played SMNs at ilvl130 with better party setups then my own.

I am a very staunch believer that DET has a very big role in SMN damage overall. Bigger I would argue sometimes then INT.

Not many believe me on that front though but whatever.

(Don't want to create another SMN thread so asking here even if a bit off-topic)

Is there any discussion/link discussing crafted BiS for SMN? (e.g. what piece and what melds) Are there any crafted gear at all that beats DW and IW when melded?

Kirimu Boots of Casting is one of the only pieces worthy of being called BIS with 25 crit and 6 Acc melded in.

If you use most of the current 130 gear, you'll find that you're choosing between SS / DET or ACC/ Crit.

This leads you to stacking alot of Crit because you need the accuracy. However, Crit past 540 has diminishing returns from my testing so it is better to stack DET for that purpose. You also should maintain your spell speed somewhere in the 370-385 range to perform optimally (closer to 370 when possible). Dropping beneth 370 will lead to a many slow shadow flare casts and DoT casts.

The shoes in particular will help you pick up your crit to a respectable 525+once you have very high DET and overall will help you pull out really big numbers.

[Judge_Xero]

I wouldn't say Int doesn't have an affect on overall damage but I will say it's not as big as you or many others are assuming.

I've been at ilvl126 for a very long time using this build: http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/Q53Z, and I have managed to consistently outdps countless other well played SMNs at ilvl130 with better party setups then my own.

I am a very staunch believer that DET has a very big role in SMN damage overall. Bigger I would argue sometimes then INT.

Not many believe me on that front though but whatever.

I'm sure your performance as SMN alone should cause people to believe what you say about DET.

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I'm still partial to this build http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/Q574 and I feel it might do slightly better coming in at ~ 7 INT higher, which I suspect comes in at +1% SMN damage and +2-3% pet damage. (Ifrit) (calculated without the use of food)
But practical use would always tell the real story.

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So even if the above set was better, it's only by just under 2% overall so well within the margin of skill vs skill.

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I'm really curious though about what sort of damage your Ifrit can do on a Dummy. Given my terrible gear, I'm doing ~170 with Ifrit (Dummy only). I'm very curious if my Ifrit stat weights would put you around 195-200 with Ifrit.
Rouse/Spur/Enkindle on CD using Crimson Cyclone and Flaming Crush on CD over 4 minutes.

[Delta041]

Getting picked for Earthshaker as a SMN isn't very fun. I'll take the extra VIT from the Augmented Robe.