So the Skirmish weapon can be melded.

[Molly_Millions]

The DPS is already lower then Ifrit's Axe. Garuda's Axe has the equivalent of a double meld acc/critatkpower on it, so there is little you can do to surpass that.

Other factors can go into raising your dps then just hitting the stat cap's. Not all WS area equally based off your main stat. Mnk for example gets a huge bonus to Howling Fist from crit atk power and will do more damage with lower caps if you pump that up.

If you can't kill Garuda then yes, these are a decent replacement until you can but to think you can double/triple meld str on it and be doing consistent better dps then someone with a Garuda/GC axe is a pipe dream.

I was comparing my current setup to that with a double melded skirmish axe. Garuda's axe never entered the equation. I'm intimately familiar with how stats work on WAR, if you've been reading the threads in here (and I know you have) you'll see I know what I'm doing with my gear.

[Meatdawg]

I was comparing my current setup to that with a double melded skirmish axe. Garuda's axe never entered the equation. I'm intimately familiar with how stats work on WAR, if you've been reading the threads in here (and I know you have) you'll see I know what I'm doing with my gear.

So defensive....

Where am I telling you how to equip your War. You lecture me on how to equip accessories to improve acc (common knowledge that I point out but you have selective reading comprehension) and then QQ when I expose your lack of understanding with basic DPS values....

[Molly_Millions]

So defensive....

Where am I telling you how to equip your War. You lecture me on how to equip accessories to improve acc (common knowledge that I point out but you have selective reading comprehension) and then QQ when I expose your lack of understanding with basic DPS values....

Well, you're trying to say I don't know what I'm doing because I left garuda's axe out of the equatiuon. It was intentional. I don't have Garuda's axe, and have not been focussed on that fight, so I won't have one any time soon. My approach is to cap my base stats, then worry about +attk and crit attack for tanking. I'm fairly certain that nobody could argue that's not a good way to go about gearing my char.


Also, from what i've seen in my testing, Crit attack isn't worth it for most end-game encounters unless you have your stats capped. For example, on Ifrit without STR and VIT capped, the crits I was doing added 1 or 2 more dmg per hit with about +65 crit attack on my gear. Simply capping my stats has a greater effect.

Now if we're talking about Natalan or something like that, my crit attak/crit rate set, does a fantastic job. I do more dps with that setup and my stats are not capped with that gear. So whether you should wear crit based gear or try to cap your stats very much depends on what it is you're fighting.

[Meatdawg]

Well, you're trying to say I don't know what I'm doing because I left garuda's axe out of the equatiuon. It was intentional. I don't have Garuda's axe, and have not been focussed on that fight, so I won't have one any time soon. My approach is to cap my base stats, then worry about +attk and crit attack for tanking. I'm fairly certain that nobody could argue that's not a good way to go about gearing my char.

And my response was more for the general observer (OP) who is debating what to use to better there player.

Seeing as it's stats compares with Ifrit/Moogle/Leutenant by itself, this Axe has a lot of potential in it. With the right melds, and if lucky enough to get Double/Triple, could it become one of the best Axes in the game?

If you arn't killing primals then yes a double melded skirmish could be a upgrade. If you are using the sergeant axe I don't see why you don't just get the Lieutenant one...

[Molly_Millions]

And my response was more for the general observer (OP) who is debating what to use to better there player.

Fair enough, but that's why I only mentioned the Sgt's axe and the skirmish axe.

[Kagato]

I don't know how Garuda got added to the discussion. I thought it was obvious that Garuda's was still better. Lets not even go into Relic.

What I'm saying is that the Skirmish axe, seeing as how you can meld materia to it, can be customized to fit certain scenarios. You can have more than one of them.

Need more STR? Put it on the Axe.
Need more Enmity? Put it on the Axe.
Need more Accuracy? Put it on the Axe.

My point is... by itself, it's a good Axe. With materia, it's a great Axe and competes with other primals, besides Garuda, and Sarge/Leutenant Axes depending on the specific GC stats.

Let me compare to the leutenant's Axes and Primal Axes for example:

Storm DMG: 169
Flame DMG: 173
Adder DMG: 165
Ifrit DMG: 171
Moogle DMG: 167
Skirmish DMG: 169
(Flame and Ifrit have more Damage, meaning that unless you're Flame, the only Axe that does more Damage is Ifrit's)

Storm Delay: 4.2
Flame Delay: 4.3
Adder Delay: 4.1
Ifrit Delay: 4.3
Moogle Delay: 4.2
Skirmish Delay: 4.3
(Skirmish Axe is one of the slowest axes, but again it only loses in Damage from Flame and Ifrit)

Storm DPS: 40.23
Flame DPS: 40.23
Adder DPS: 40.24
Ifrit DPS: 39.76
Moogle DPS: 39.76
Skirmish DPS: 39.30
(Skirmish Axe has the lowest DPS, losing to GC axes by 0.93 points. It loses to Ifrit/Moogle by .46)

Storm Bonuses: +20 ACC (+30ATK from 5 Storm Gear)
Flame Bonuses: +25 ATK, +5 DEF (+20 ACC from 5 Flame gear)
Adder Bonuses: +20 ACC (+30VIT from 5 Serpent Gear)
Ifrit Bonuses: +30 ATK, +15 Fire resistance, Chance for Fire Damage
Moogle Bonuses: +30 ACC, +15 Crit Rate, Chance for HP Restore
Skirmish Bonuses: +5 VIT, +10 ACC, +10 M.EVA, Any Materia Bonuses you want

So from what it looks like, the Skirmish Weapon has this going for it:

-Damage loses to Ifrit and Flame
-Delay loses to Storm, Adder, and Moogle
-DPS is the lowest by 0.93 or less.
-Much higher potential in stat bonuses due to Materia.

So with all that said, it all comes down to overall potential gained from melds. Since it's base damage only loses to Ifrit and Flame, it already has a very respectable Damage for auto-attack. The concern now is whether or not certain melds can push it to compete with the others since it's DPS is the lowest. Or whether certain melds can make it a better Tank axe.

[Molly_Millions]

So with all that said, it all comes down to overall potential gained from melds. Since it's base damage only loses to Ifrit and Flame, it already has a very respectable Damage for auto-attack. The concern now is whether or not certain melds can push it to compete with the others since it's DPS is the lowest. Or whether certain melds can make it a better Tank axe.

Thx for the comparisons. I know that once I get a double melded one, I'll definitely be doing some parsing to find out for sure whether it's better than some of my other axes.

[Meatdawg]

This is not my work, it is referenced here: http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/107...=1#post5298638

-It is based off the findings of Kaeko/Seiken

Highlighting some of his points of interest here:

"I am using data obtained almost exclusively from Seiken, Kaeko, and Silvano. There is some intersects in their data that I don't think anyone has pointed out yet.

The most important being this, which pretty much rules all of my math going forward:

Assuming AA dmg capped which is a safe assumption:
+.80-.90 WS dmg > +.67-.70 WS dmg > +.35-.38 WS dmg
Primary > Secondary > Attack Power (henceforth AP)

That's pre-cap. Post-cap according to Kaeko/Seiken's data AP basically rules all (and STR due to it's AP 3:2 conversion); we know that thanks to them. Post cap it's something like
+.23 dmg > +0 dmg > +.35 dmg
AP from STR > Secondary > AP"

Then you have:

"That's not including the benefits of AP as a source of raising AA damage, which is generally ~30% of your damage, so AP could be weighted slightly heavier.

Weapons:
wDPS (stat on weapon) determines WS damage.
Damage determines AA damage.

From Silvano:
1 base weapon damage ~ 2.225 damage increase to Auto-Attack and abilities like Jump
.01 weaponDPS ~ .21 damage increase to Weapon Skills. (or 1 wDSP = 21 dmg on WS for those of you who don't like maths).
1 attack power ~ .38 damage increase overall.

This is consistent with Seiken's numbers.

Looking at Silvano's numbers the .21 seems a bit heavy, I'm more inclined to believe it's closer to .18 based on my limited testing, but since he's provided parses we'll go with the .21 for now.

References:
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...-Testing/page2

http://prestigexiv.guildwork.com/for...5cb248b5000525"

Using this he made a Spread Sheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...SQ1hHUEE#gid=3

Now we can populate some of the better axes and you see that double melded str Giantsgall losses out even to Ifrit

[Molly_Millions]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...SQ1hHUEE#gid=3

that's a cool tool! what I don't get though is these columns: STR (Under Cap) Secondary Stat (Under Cap)

Is it how many points the wep adds to you total, but it's only reflected correctly if you're under the cap?



*edit: actually that's exactly how it works. So playing around with that spreadsheet, you could make an axe that very much can hold it's own against other axes with a triple meld. I tried adding the equivalent a good triple meld (two tier IIIs and a tier IV) with +attk and the results is the third highest DPS axe. which is better than Garuda's Axe.

here are the results from the last 4 columns: 376.0 707.4 26.4 617.8

here's the numbers for Garuda's axe: 353.8 733.9 6.9 607.7

[Meatdawg]

I believe if you want to see how str factors in to the weapon. If you add a number it increases the end value damage, but if you want it to be under the cap you have to put it in (30) which basically is just making it negative.

I am confused on that part as well but he says it can factor weapons with stat melds in one of his post that I linked on blue garter.