Storm Sergeants Hooks VS. Lieutenant Hooks

[Lstkaws]

I was wondering whether or not to upgrade to Lieutenants hooks over Sergeants hooks. The INT bonus on Sgt. hooks puts me close to cap. Will this ultimately be more valuable than the bonus stats on Lt.? Another thing to consider is I would have to add another piece of GC gear. Legs would be the only choice worth looking at.

Current Set up

GC SGT Hooks
GC SGT Tabard
Raptor gloves of slaying dbl meld str +36
Legs Single meld +str dex
GC earing
GC Bracelet
Explorers bandanna
Explorers Mocassins
STR ring
ACC ring

May dbl meld a head piece for INT which would get me closer to cap w/o sanction. If i can get close to cap I can see Lt. hooks being better. What do you guys think?

[charlemagne]

Honestly I'd reconsider your whole gear set, you have some poor choices in there.
ACC shouldn't be an issue for you in a party so both the acc ring and the explorers bandana are letting you down. The crit hit rating on the bandana is worthless, I've seen testing on crit hit rating and it gives a tiny tiny increase in actual crit rate. Not a hope in hell of that ever compensating for the loss of INT from the af piece.
The acc ring is basically losing you 18 str or int over a different ring choice for acc you shouldnt need.
The moccasins well you're essentially increasing att by 2 over af for a loss of 3 INT, none of the other stats on the two are worth a damn.

As to the weapons themselves. Lets assume you add the best choice for that extra gc piece which would be the sergeants ring for the INT. The ring will give you either -18 str vs a rubellite or -10 INT vs an INT ring.
That leaves you with +1 dmg +.3 dps and +30 ATT against -15 emnity and +40 INT.
If you had a rubellite ring+1 in that ring slot and are under the str cap the ring alone is as much use to you as 27ATT as below cap 2str=3att in terms of damage dealt.
So with the str ring the choice now becomes +1 dmg,+0.3 dps +3 att against -15 emnity +30 INT ( from sanction minus the 10 INT you would have had for the gc ring)
Doesn't add up to me, I'd stick with the sergeants hooks every time.

[charlemagne]

Just noticed that you were actually considering the hose as the extra GC piece. I wouldn't for a moment accept only getting 10 str from that slot. A bare minimum you should aim for from the leg slot is double melded felt trousers giving you at least 20 str.

[Ruisu]

The moccasins well you're essentially increasing att by 2 over af for a loss of 3 INT, none of the other stats on the two are worth a damn.

This. Please stop using those damn moccasins. The AF boots are miles better, if only for that increased FoW movement.

[Skies]

What IS you belt slot, mister?
I don't exactly identify it there, and if you didn't really already spend it, why not put a GC belt there?

[Lstkaws]

Thanks for all the feedback. I will stick with storm sgts. hooks for the 40 int. I will change my head piece and double meld int which with sanction will put me at or slightly above cap. I will swap out the acc ring for str, maybe a set of +1s (this should get me close to cap). I will also work on double melding my trousers.

I will ditch the moccasins, any suggestions other than AF? I will use AF for now, but is there any other else for the feet slot that would be better? I currently have explorers belt in waiste slot.

Any other suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks Guys!

[charlemagne]

To be honest unless you're lucky enough to het the darklight feet to drop I'd just stick with the af feet. For the belt I use the veterans field belt ( def 19 str+2 acc+5) but will be changing that for a peisteskin hunting belt ( def 17,hp+8,vit+2,int+2) in order to meld it with sanguinary might ( hp and crit attack). Sanguinary might is expensive on ridill though so thats an expensive option if you're considering double melds.

[Skies]

I will ditch the moccasins, any suggestions other than AF? I will use AF for now, but is there any other else for the feet slot that would be better? I currently have explorers belt in waiste slot.

That is a sufficiently good belt. Only thing I can say is that it's a perhaps underrated place to stash a GC piece in case you need to pad for a set bonus, none of the belts is too ground-breaking.

[Ruisu]

Replace the bandanna with your AF, and the moccasin with your AF as well. Until you get Darklight gear, you should be alright.

As for the hooks, I guess? They have only 1 extra base damage, but you lose out on that +40 INT with sanction, though that requires you being able to port back and fourth every 3 hours/death. So if you're not really willing to do that, then I suppose the LT hooks are superior.

I'm still anally pained that Ul'dah's Jamadhars have 137 base attack, but that's just me.

[Frein]

The crit hit rating on the bandana is worthless, I've seen testing on crit hit rating and it gives a tiny tiny increase in actual crit rate.

Are you aware that both Crit Rating and Crit Potency were buffed recently?