How to choose materia for each class?

[Taika]

I've heard spellspeed and crit for BLMs. For my SMN spellspeed is the biggest (can increase the amount of ticks in a DoT), and Crit/Det should be roughly equal, Since Crit Ruin III is nice, but Det adds so much to DoT and pet damage that I really don't understand the SMNs that can advocate a purely Crit build... :/

Actually, for SMN, the tested secondary stat weights are CRIT (0.287) > SpS (0.195) > DET (0.192).

If you use Ariyala's to compare different gear pieces and sets you can compare their stat weights (BiS solver --> Show stat weights).

[SeriousxSarcasm]

Actually, for SMN, the tested secondary stat weights are CRIT (0.287) > SpS (0.195) > DET (0.192).

If you use Ariyala's to compare different gear pieces and sets you can compare their stat weights (BiS solver --> Show stat weights).

Ok, I've gotta ask since no one seems to know, What is "stat weights"? Is that how much you get scaled from the numbers? Or is it just people saying "these ones are better"? 'Cause All the guides I look at say SpellSpeed is your biggest ally since the new game updates.My thinking is even with a lower scale the fact that you get more DoT ticks (which is where a vast majority of my DPS comes from) would make a huge difference. And it still doesn't discount Det needing equal attention since it raises your overall Damage, and Crit damage would then scale off of that damage as well (last I checked it was 1.5x more than a normal hit, but admittedly, it's not considered completely accurate). That's just where my reasoning took me, I'm not one to follow BiS religiously tbh lol since half the time you see people explaining why it's often not the best build.

Edit: What I mean by that is that from a purely number standpoint, BiS looks great, but when tested actually in game, there isn't much difference damage-wise over the course of a long fight if you go Det or Crit. Det gives you more stable and consistent damage, whereas Crit gives you big damage, but relies a lot on RNG to do it. Although it's not likely to happen, you could potentially go a whole fight with only one or two crits, and you've gimped your base damage by not putting anything into Det. In the end, most people agree that they work out to roughly the same amount of DPS when actually applied in game, and a balance of the 2 is what you want if your focus is on dealing consistent damage instead of trying for "server-top numbers."

(also just curious, but does anyone know if DoTs can even crit?)

[Taika]

Ok, I've gotta ask since no one seems to know, What is "stat weights"?

They are tested results of how much each stats have effect on your damage compared to each other. For example, SMN stat weights are:

• WD: 11.835
• INT: 1.000
• DET: 0.192
• CRT: 0.287
• SS: 0.195

The base number used as a starting point for the comparison is your main stat: INT. The value of INT is set as 1 and then all other stats are compared to it. For example, 1 point of weapon damage is worth 11.835 INT, 1 point of Crit is worth 0.287 INT, and 1 point of SpS is worth 0.195 INT.


Individual DoT and HoT ticks can crit, yes.

[SeriousxSarcasm]

They are tested results of how much each stats have effect on your damage compared to each other. For example, SMN stat weights are:

• WD: 11.835
• INT: 1.000
• DET: 0.192
• CRT: 0.287
• SS: 0.195

The base number used as a starting point for the comparison is your main stat: INT. The value of INT is set as 1 and then all other stats are compared to it. For example, 1 point of weapon damage is worth 11.835 INT, 1 point of Crit is worth 0.287 INT, and 1 point of SpS is worth 0.195 INT.


Individual DoT and HoT ticks can crit, yes.

Ok tyvm for explaining! (btw, sorry about the ramble-filled reply before. I scribbled it out at 6am just before work, and rereading it, it's an embarrassing pile of word barf LOL).
I might have to rethink my build, but no promises on a crit build. The OCD control freak in me cringes at the idea of building on such an RNG-based stat. D: I can imagine some fights go amazingly well, and other times your numbers are just complete poop. XP I'll see what works. My main goal is to maximize my DoTs, so SpS/Crit might work for that. Although if I go straight SpS/Det I'll have more sustained numbers that (assuming they stack on DoTs the way I assume they do) outweigh crit on it's own... hm.

I'll have to do some testing, after more research it doesn't look like other SMNs have figured out if the stability of Det outweighs the rng of crit by the end of a fight. I'm more interested in the practical application of stats over the numbers-on-paper part of it, if that makes any sense.

[Llus]

I might have to rethink my build, but no promises on a crit build. The OCD control freak in me cringes at the idea of building on such an RNG-based stat.

Do run a crit build, because not only does crit affect the frequency of critical hits but also damage done when you do crit which is HUGE. Over a long fight it will be MUCH better than det.

Think of it like this:
if you max out your det and it gives you an increase of 500 every hit, then you max out your crit and you crit 50% of the time between 800 and 1200 extra your median increase is going to be around 600 with crit vs det
these numbers are pulled directly out of my ... um, well - but crit will give you a much better bang for your buck. SE's RNG algorithm is pretty close to a true random and over a long fight this does even out to better numbers with higher crit; my advice is to follow those guides and you will see your DPS improve quite a bit

[SeriousxSarcasm]

snip

But hear me out (I will also be pulling numbers out of my butt, because I haven't done the proper testing, but here is my reasoning). SMN damage isn't like BLM (or most other DPS Jobs). I will never see a 20K Fire IV crit. XD The best I can hope for is a 5K Ruin III LOL.

I believe the average crit rate is around 20%. So if I use Ruin III as an example, say I cast that 5 times when dreadwyrm comes up (base of 2000 would give me around a 3500 crit). Assuming RNG doesn't hate me, I should get one crit from that. 3.5+2+2+2+2 = 11.5K total. Now, lets say I load up on Det. Even if all it gives me is 2400 on Ruin III (maybe more, like I said, I haven't tested the numbers correctly), that is 11.5K, same amount as crit, and is a guaranteed number every time . And with the amount of little DPS ticks everywhere (all my DoTs, my pet damage, Ruin 1/2/3), it seems more reliable in the end, because what do I do with a bad run when nothing wants to crit?

Also what if I equal Crit/Det? If it give me a base attack of 2100, I assume crit would come out at 3675 instead of 3500. Perhaps it drops to a 15% hit rate, but with the amount of DoTs and everything else, it likely won't be a noticeable loss.

Like I said, I'm not ruling out Crit, because I'm sure Det doesn't give that high of a dmg boost, but I just need to test the evidence for myself. XD If/when I see a significant difference in damage output, I'm not going to purposely gimp myself just because I'm allergic to RNG. XD One point in favour of crit is that apparently my SpS buff from my pet comes when the pet Crits (didn't know that before reading the updated guides), so that was interesting.

Edit: also sorry OP, I sorta took over your thread. You probably know more about SMN stats than you ever wanted to LOL.

[mosaicex]

But hear me out (I will also be pulling numbers out of my butt, because I haven't done the proper testing, but here is my reasoning). SMN damage isn't like BLM (or most other DPS Jobs). I will neI believe the average crit rate is around 20%. So if I use Ruin III as an example, say I cast that 5 times when dreadwyrm comes up (base of 2000 would give me around a 3500 crit). Assuming RNG doesn't hate me, I should get one crit from that. 3.5+2+2+2+2 = 11.5K total. Now, lets say I load up on Det. Even if all it gives me is 2400 on Ruin III (maybe more, like I said, I haven't tested the numbers correctly), that is 11.5K, same amount as crit, and is a guaranteed number every time . And with the amount of little DPS ticks everywhere (all my DoTs, my pet damage, Ruin 1/2/3), it seems more reliable in the end, because what do I do with a bad run when nothing wants to crit?

Like I said, I'm not ruling out Crit, but I need to test the evidence for myself. My goal isn't exactly server-top numbers, lol, too busy with irl to ever hope to get that good, so I thought the "safer" stats might work better for me.

Thing is, Det doesn't affect your damage THAT much. Also you're forgetting skills like Deathflare, Painflare, Fester. A critical hit from these skills DO boost your damage significantly.

Also Spell speed has higher effect on DoTs damage than Det, by the way.

[Urthdigger]

snip

Crit doesn't JUST help your huge hits. It helps all your damage equally, including your DoT ticks. So, even if you don't have a single big WTF burst attack that you can crit for epic numbers doesn't mean it doesn't help. Also, it DOES even out to more damage over time if you boost crit over determination. Part of the reason is that crit not only boosts your rate, it also boosts how much a crit helps. You're essentially double dipping in a way.