Are Pentamelds still BiS?

[LordHousewife]

I noticed that a lot of top progression teams have started switching out their pentamelds with ilvl 210 slaying accessories. This confuses me as pentamelds still give a total of 60 primary stats over the 47 on the 210 pieces. Are pentamelds still BiS or are 210 pieces the new BiS?

[karateorangutang]

I'm not an authority by any means....

Seems to me teams that are running breaking content would struggle with the DPS checks. If tanks are surviving busters and mechanics are being executed then the only thing that needs to happen is damage. Pentamelds won't deliver as much as the 210 accessories in that department. That being said, as we gear up with esoterics on the left side I would wager that for those of us doing progression on the tail end; that pentamelds will still be BiS.

[Gooner_iBluAirJGR]

If your just going for pure damage or pure health the i210 stuff is better if you stack it i.e. if you're wearing 4 i210 str or vit pieces then you have more str or vit than with 4 penta-melded pieces.

Without doing any maths, I assume the pentamelded gear still gives a better or comperable balance between damage / health but if your trying to stray away from the more balanced approach, I can see i200+ pieces being your go-to

[Ralvenom]

I imagine that the top raiding groups are thinking more about terms of pure dmg. Their tanks have enough vit that they don't need pentamelds. They need the greater amount of strength that the 210 stuff gives.

[Ladon]

We are at the point where you should have enough HP from left side gear now. i210 Slaying give a lot more STR than pentamelded gear so it makes sense to start replacing those accessories once you don't need the VIT from accessories.

[pandabearcat]

I mean there isn't too much math here.

Pentameld = 60 main stat (31 str) ~41 off stat
210 = 47 main stat ~72 off stat

At this point if you don't need the health (and your melee already have theirs) the 210 is already better from str alone.

As for off stats, general consensus is that they're ~1/8th - 1/6th as good as main stat, so pretty much total stat wise pentamelds are still superior, assuming you need the vit.

The obvious reason to use pentamelds, of course, is that

1. You won't fight with your melee dps for accessories.
2. You can already have full pentamelds as soon as you hit 60, if you have the money.
3. You need the vit.

[LordHousewife]

So then does it matter whether I pentameld Slaying or Fending? I noticed that a lot of people typically go for the slaying, but on my server STR IV materia is much cheaper than VIT IV. If I can get the same stats, should I shoot for Fending with STR IV materia?

[RhazeCain]

So then does it matter whether I pentameld Slaying or Fending? I noticed that a lot of people typically go for the slaying, but on my server STR IV materia is much cheaper than VIT IV. If I can get the same stats, should I shoot for Fending with STR IV materia?

TL;DR melding Vit materias is slightly better, but more expensive. Melding Str is vice versa.

When you meld Vit materias it usually goes 3x Vit IVs, 1x Vit III, 1x some secondary stat for a total of 28 Vit (instead of the 29 vit on Fending acc). When you meld Str materias it goes 4x Str IVs, 1x Str III and no room for a secondary stat materia. That secondary stat materia is more valuable to me than 1 VIT. So that's an advantage, and you could even upgrade that Vit III to IV to fully max it.

Also, the secondary stats on the base items matter. Like if it's Fending and has Parry I'm immediately skipping it for Slaying instead. Accuracy might push you one way or another too, depending if you need or don't need that.

Think I ended up with Fending ear and Slaying everything else. Yours may vary.

[Tyrial]

So then does it matter whether I pentameld Slaying or Fending? I noticed that a lot of people typically go for the slaying, but on my server STR IV materia is much cheaper than VIT IV. If I can get the same stats, should I shoot for Fending with STR IV materia?

There really isn't enough of a difference for it to matter. You make out slightly better if you go with Slaying, but Fending are cheaper to meld. The biggest thing is to make sure that whatever you're melding doesn't have parry on it. If you're on a budget and STR materia is cheaper on your server you can go Slaying neck, Fending ear/wrist/rings.

[Keagian]

I'm not completely sure but I'm assuming that the reason most go for Str instead of Fending is because some of the Fending has parry on them which is pretty much an undesirable stat. However if the secondary stats is a none issue then going with Fending would be cheaper to meld.