STR/PIE/ATK Testing

[Seiken]

I finally got done testing the new stats caps on all the relevant melee classes. SE made some pretty big changes over the stat system. I wasn’t able to go in depth as I wanted (testing dLVL mods, dDMG mods, etc), but I hope this is enough information for most players to get a good grasp on how to improve their overall DPS.

Methodology

I once again went back to using R52 Zahar’ak Halberdiers as my test subject. I followed previous protocol of getting a base “naked” statline and then increasing individual stats one at a time. Only 1-2 WSs were tested per job due to time constraints. Unless specified, Ifrit’s weapons were the default choice. A min/max deviation of 8% from the damage mean was used to determine min/max. For these trials I was less strict (I generally accepted 7.7%+ to shave time off testing).

Results

Strength
Strength underwent a pretty major overall in patch 1.21. For DRG, MNK, and WAR, Strength has the highest return of any stat, point-for-point. On the R52 Halberdiers, I was getting roughly 0.8 dDamage/dSTR. That means for every 1 point of Strength I added, my damage increased by 0.8 for the weaponskills I tested. Furthermore, the “soft cap” for STR has been raised this patch. The new soft cap is around 350. This means that after you reach 350 STR, any additional damage bonus you receive is from the 3:2 STR:ATK bonus (which I reconfirmed this patch). The post-350 bonus is only 0.23-0.25 dDamage/dSTR, which is much less than any other stat modifier.
It is important to note that Auto-attack is soft capped really early on with Strength. I didn’t pinpoint the exact value, but every Dragoon should be above this cap anyways so it’s not that relevant. The point is, STR has its biggest influence on Weaponskills not Auto-attack.

Piety
Piety underwent the biggest stat modification for Dragoon in 1.21. Previously Piety had no influence on WS damage. Now Piety has a roughly 0.68-0.7 dDamage/dPIE. This means for every 1 PIE you add, you will increase your WS damage by 0.68-0.7. Unlike Strength, Piety has a “hard cap” around 310 PIE. This means that you will receive NO damage bonus for any additional Piety added.
It is also important to note that Auto-attack is hard capped really early on with Piety. I hard capped Piety somewhere between 273 and 291, with an extrapolated value at 285. Every Dragoon should be getting Piety above this value so it isn’t that relevant. Still, like Strength, Piety has its biggest influence on Weaponskills.

Attack Power
Attack for the most part remained unchanged in 1.21. There is still no obvious cap on high level monsters and Attack influences both Auto-attack and Weaponskills at roughly the same rate, 0.35-0.37 dDamage/dATK. The only thing that really changed about Attack is that compared to Piety and Strength, it has a much lower influence on WS damage now.
It is important to note, however, that since Attack has no cap, it has the highest return on Auto-attack after STR and PIE cap early on.

Discussion
Patch 1.21 has brought about some pretty drastic changes to stats. While I only tested 1-2 WSs, Strength and Piety seem to be the paramount stats to focus on for increasing Weaponskill damage. This is especially true with DRG (and MNK) since DRG has Keen Flurry and a host of low-cooldown WSs. Attack power still has some impact, but is not nearly as important as it was before. I still have to do some more research into boss fights. But I think WS damage composes the bulk damage (60-70%).

I will try to make a “poor man’s” and a “rich man’s” gear layout for DRG. Assuming you have my base stats of 255 STR, 244 PIE, 532 Attack with Ifrit Harpoon, you would need +95 STR and +66 PIE to cap.

Poor Man
Weapon: Ifrit Harpoon
Head: Paragon Crown (+10 STR/PIE)
Body: Cobalt Habergeon with 2x PIE (+6 STR, +32 PIE, +6 ATK)
Hands: Felt Braces + 2x STR material (+32 STR, +3 PIE)
Waist: HP belt
Legs: Felt Trousers + 8/8 STR/VIT (+ 12 STR)
Feet: Cobalt Sollerets (+3 STR)
Rings: 2x STR (+30 STR)
Neck: Electrum Gorget (+25 ATK)
Net: 348 STR, 289 PIE, 563 Attack (no food)

Rich Man
Weapon: Ifrit Harpoon
Head: Darklight Helm (+20 ATK, +15 STR)
Body: Cobalt Habergeon + 3x PIE (+6 STR, +6 ATK, +48 PIE)
Hands: Felt Bracers + 3x STR (+48 STR, +3 PIE)
Waist: Veteran’s Field Bets (+2 STR)
Legs: Felt Trousers + 3x STR/DEX (+25 STR)
Feet: Darklight Caligae (+15 PIE)
Rings: Flex position for Accuracy or ATK
Neck: Electrum Gorget+1 (+30 ATK)

Net: 351 STR, 310 PIE, 588 ATK, (+ 22-58 Acc)
*I only mention Acc since 1.21 has shown considerably lower Acc for melee, and
Dragoon skills have inherent lower Acc.

Side Notes:
I don’t really want to make a new thread for WAR and MNK, so just replace most of what I said about PIE in here with INT or VIT for MNK/WAR. All 3 had STR capped around 350 and PIE/VIT/INT capped around 310. They all had very similar rates as well. Furthermore here are some interesting testing tidbits~

Power Surge: Adds +39/39/40 or +118 ATK total to Dragoon.

Invigorate Bonus from AF: It’s only about ~300 more TP total for invigorate.

Fist of Wind AF Bonus: +10% cooldown reduction for +30% total. Note, you can equip the AF boots, activate Fist of Wind, switch boots and still have the bonus.

[JamesAlgrensan]

Another poor man's choice for the waist slot is "Penance" (+2 STR). Also, I think you forgot to factor in bracelets into your setups?

[JusticeReborn]

I will try to make a “poor man’s” and a “rich man’s” gear layout for DRG. Assuming you have my base stats of 255 STR, 244 PIE, 532 Attack with Ifrit Harpoon, you would need +95 STR and +66 PIE to cap.

Poor Man
Weapon: Ifrit Harpoon
Head: Paragon Crown (+10 STR/PIE)
Body: Cobalt Habergeon with 2x PIE (+6 STR, +32 PIE, +6 ATK)
Hands: Felt Braces + 2x STR material (+32 STR, +3 PIE)
Waist: HP belt
Legs: Felt Trousers + 8/8 STR/VIT (+ 12 STR)
Feet: Cobalt Sollerets (+3 STR)
Rings: 2x STR (+30 STR)
Neck: Electrum Gorget (+25 ATK)
Net: 348 STR, 289 PIE, 563 Attack (no food)

Rich Man
Weapon: Ifrit Harpoon
Head: Darklight Helm (+20 ATK, +15 STR)
Body: Cobalt Habergeon + 3x PIE (+6 STR, +6 ATK, +48 PIE)
Hands: Felt Bracers + 3x STR (+48 STR, +3 PIE)
Waist: Veteran’s Field Bets (+2 STR)
Legs: Felt Trousers + 3x STR/DEX (+25 STR)
Feet: Darklight Caligae (+15 PIE)
Rings: Flex position for Accuracy or ATK
Neck: Electrum Gorget+1 (+30 ATK)

Net: 351 STR, 310 PIE, 588 ATK, (+ 22-58 Acc)
*I only mention Acc since 1.21 has shown considerably lower Acc for melee, and
Dragoon skills have inherent lower Acc.

Side Notes:

Power Surge: Adds +39/39/40 or +118 ATK total to Dragoon.

Invigorate Bonus from AF: It’s only about ~300 more TP total for invigorate.

Fist of Wind AF Bonus: +10% cooldown reduction for +30% total. Note, you can equip the AF boots, activate Fist of Wind, switch boots and still have the bonus.

For a while I'd used the above as my gear guide for DRG. But now, with the addition of a the GC weapons with their bonus, I've been rolling out on DRG like this for a bit:

Weapon: Storm Lieutenant's Trident (Accuracy : +20, Crit Rate : +5, Storm gear set (5): Attack Power +30)
Head: Drachen Armet (Crit Attack Power : +40, Str : +2, Pty : +2)
Body: Storm Sergeant's Tabard (HP : +60, Str : +10, Accuracy : +5, Attack Power : +10, Storm gear set (3): Enmity : -20)
Hands: Felt Bracers (Accuracy : +5, Magic Evasion : +11, Pty : +3waiting to find one with +32 STR as recommended above)
Waist: Veteran's Field Belt (Accuracy : +5, Str : +2)
Legs: Storm Sergeant's Hose (HP : +80, Str : +10, Storm gear set (3): Accuracy +10)
Feet: Cobalt Sollerets (Accuracy : +3, Str : +3)
Earrings: Storm Sergeant's Earrings (Attack Power : +4, Storm gear set (4): Crit Attack Power +7)
Necklace: Electrum Gorget +1 (Attack Power +30)
Bracelets: Storm Sergeant's Bracelets (Attack Power : +3, Storm gear set (3): Str +7)
Rings: Rubellite Ring +1 x2 (STR+ 18 x2 = +36 total)

My base stats (with only the above weapon equipped) are STR 258/PIE 241
While wearing this, without food, my stats are at STR 328/PIE 246. I also end up with Attack Power of 579, Accuracy of 389

I'm not sure if or how the bonuses from the GC weapon and gear affect the "primo" gear a DRG should be wearing. But I am definitely open to recommendations on how to best improve overall.

Obviously, I need a bunch more PIE, and I see above that most of it comes from the Body piece, but doing that means I'd be losing the GC bonuses (in addition to the innate bonuses of the gear)...

So what's the overall recommendation? Should I still shoot for Poor Man/Rich Man above, or is there a new gear set to shoot for?

PS - I don't have any of the Primal weapons, and doubt I'd be able to pull one in before Nov 1...


EDIT: I was looking at the above again... it looks like, given my current gear stated above (stats at STR 328/PIE 246), I have a shortage of 22 STR and 69 PIE. So I thought about it and it looks like, if I remove one of my +18 STR rings and replace it with an +18 PIE ring, I now need 40 STR and 51 PIE to hit cap. This would mean, taking the Felt Bracers and Cobalt Sollerets I have, I just need two +20 STR materia melds in one, and a +25/26 PIE double-meld in the other. THen, I keep the current gear I've already got and still hit cap with it. Make sense to anyone else?

EDIT2: Well, the above edit was good in theory, but per this handy materia table I found, PIE materia can only go in Body slots, which completely ruins the entire premise I just laid out. I could still max STR via the Hands slot, but my PIE will be lacking. So, back to square one then. Suggestions welcome!