Explorer's Tabard (Why?)

[Silvano]

So 3 beneficial stats on hauby and 2 on tortoise, 1 of which (piety) you'll more than likely meld to cap on this body anyway.

Hauby > scale mail

The argument was Hauby > scale mail without the accuracy. Literacy is a great thing.

Also, like I says earlier, Stuffed Cabbage give more than enough Accuracy to be fine on any fight with Ifrit's Harpoon; with Mogfork and/or Garuda it's even better (with the +25 ACC and all).

[Riv]

I've got a double melded crit tortoiseshell for +64that i used back before jobs. I use it now cuz i already have it. With it, af head and garuda's beak i have like +150 crit damage. I've yet to really test it though. I don't see how a haub is that much better anyway.

[Meatdawg]

Should always be eating atk food not acc food >< Supplement the acc from brd song or gears.

[Denmark]

I would take ACC food over attack food if I could trade a few ACC gear peices to cap WS stats, that said Haub is still better then turtleshell since STR has a much higher cap then PIE.

[Silvano]

Which can be obtained just as easily with the Scale Mail (as shown above). It really just comes down to preference, imo.

[Rau]

Which can be obtained just as easily with the Scale Mail (as shown above). It really just comes down to preference, imo.

Does you guys have parses or ball park DPS on things like Mistress or Garuda?

I would like to see how these builds are working for you guys.

[Silvano]

Last DPS I have recorded is for moogle and that was 69.00, 57614 damage, but I think that was only AF, before any melding happened.

[Serra-Angel]

It's like Silvano just said, it all comes down to preference. If you manage to get enough str or pie from other gear to swap one base stat ring for +18acc, the +7acc from the hauby won't be doing much. If you plan on getting crit att + on the body I can see the hauby being a better choice since you're gonna need pie rings and probably won't have room for an acc ring. I went with the scale mail for the extra points of att (and not wanting to look like everyone else at that time). Also, eating acc food seems unnecessary as long as you get the full party buff and gear somewhat properly. Missing one or two hits with chaos thrust isn't a big deal since it opens up 3 extra hits with full thrust, feint and disembowel. Concerning the Explorer's Tabard, I'd say don't use it.

[Kagato]

As a FFXI Dark Knight, this is extremely familiar territory and thus, this is the golden rule in this situation:
"If you aren't hitting the target, you aren't doing damage."

Such a simple and obvious rule, wouldn't you say? Therefore, make sure you can hit the target before you focus on doing more damage. After all, you can have enormous power, but if you can't use that power then there's absolutely no point to it. Focus on your accuracy until you can hit often. Then, and only then should you worry about how much damage you do.

As far as gear is concerned, use the gear that allows you to hit the target often and hit the target hard. Obviously if you can hit the target often, go with whatever gear raises your damage. If you can't hit the target, go with the gear that raises your accuracy.

After that, choose the food to eat. Still not hitting the target? Eat ACC food. Hitting the target consistently? Eat ATK food. So when all is said and done, your party will be glad that you brought gear and food for both situations.

[Frein]

STR is more potent than PIE even if neither is capped. This is why Hauby > Scale Mail even without accuracy. It's unfortunate because I think scale mail looks sweet in this game.