What is Carve and Spit for?

[Calib0s]

My only real problem with Carve and Spit is that it is almost never in your best interest to use the MP restore. Using DA + CAS is a +350 potency gain - that's worth almost 3 DAs of bonus damage for Soul Eater.

Conversely, the mana restore is only worth 50% of a single DA. The only time it should ever be used for the MP restore is in a dire emergency (i.e. you don't have enough MP to turn on Grit, or you will drop Darkside if you don't) which you should have planned better for in the first place.

[Giantbane]

My only real problem with Carve and Spit is that it is almost never in your best interest to use the MP restore. Using DA + CAS is a +350 potency gain - that's worth almost 3 DAs of bonus damage for Soul Eater.

Conversely, the mana restore is only worth 50% of a single DA. The only time it should ever be used for the MP restore is in a dire emergency (i.e. you don't have enough MP to turn on Grit, or you will drop Darkside if you don't) which you should have planned better for in the first place.

AoE after blood price has ended, mana is better spent on AoE damage, so it makes more sense to use carve for mana regen here.

On hunts you usually want to maximize threat in a short period of time to make sure you get full contribution. Use carve for mana regen to spend on DA + Powerslash.

Extended fights with no down time and you're out of TP and running low (ish) on MP. It's better to restore mana to use on unmends, free unleashes & dark passenger (almost positive these are the highest damage/mana spent moves we have).

And then there's the fact that not every run is going to go perfectly and if you find yourself running low, it's better to regen via carve than to flip off Darkside for a while.

But that's why I like the ability, standard usage is going to use dark arts with it, but the secondary function of the ability is there if we need it.