Best gear: Darklight?

[Jinrya-Geki]

Worst gear for Blm/Thm, not one good piece.

[KumaAkuma]

for a DD war maybe. but, again, maybe you get better results with double str melds to powerup AOE WS.
for a Tank war (the most common role atm) HDL are the best. So much enmity.

It's a mistake to think that if you go all out in emnity gear you'll be a super hate tank. If you don't have the attack stats to do damage properly, that emnity gear will do nothing for you on War. Strenght, Attack, Vitality are all damage modifiers from War. Which you need to generate your emnity.

[Tano]

I know that more damage/healing generates more enmity, but what you get from enmity modifier is far greater.

Also STR increases WS damage more then ATK/VIT increases the AA damage, so it should generate more enmity.

I go enmity -> acc -> str for tank, trying to cap vit (softcapped around 330-350 depending on weapon dps, so not really hard)

[Geo]

I think DL gear is a little bit overestimated. Most (I'm saying it right now before you blast me: not all of them) of those pieces are just rare timesinking gear ppl wear just to appear cooler.
Of course a few of those DL pieces are kida unique and useful, and difficult to replace with more "casual" (aka gc/materia/AF) gear, like HDL gloves with +45 enmity that is a rare stat on gloves (only militia set has +10 enmity on the same part, and they're not so much easier to get). But the truth is that most of them are useless (mage gear sucks, really, do you want to talk about Darklight Cowl?) or can be replaced greatly with GC combos (expecially with most of the new GC weapons we are going to get in 1.22c, that will require 4/5+ gc equips at the same time to activate their uberness), AF or melded gear (you can have with much less effort).

Monk is a nice example to explain it better.

Monk

Darklight Corselet

(the only DL equip on Monk that would have to be replaced by GC piece to reach 5 pieces bonus)
Requires: MNK DRG BRD
Defense 153
Strength+20
Accuracy+18
Evasion-7
Attack Power+10
Critical Hit Attack Power+30
Store TP+40

vs Storm GC gear

Storm Sergeant's Tabard

Suits: All Classes
Defense 158
HP+60
Strength+10
Accuracy+5
Attack Power+10
Storm gear (3 or more pieces): Enmity-20

+ only combo bonus stats from other GC pieces:
Earrings: Critical Hit Attack Power+7 (requires 4)
Hose: Accuracy+10 (require 3, so earrings and bracelets, but earrings require body too)
Bracelets: Strength+7 (like Hose)

Storm Lieutenant's Hooks (1.22c):

Damage 133 Delay 3.3 DPS 40.30 Blunt 100%
Accuracy+20 Critical Hit Rating+5
Storm gear (5 or more pieces): Attack Power+30
(Very similar to Garuda's Talons, but with +30 Attack Power bonus)

This gives the body (actually the 5th piece of the combo) those virtual total stats:
Defense 158
HP+60
Strength+17
Accuracy+15
Attack Power+40
Enmity-20
Critical Hit Attack Power+7

So far:
5 more Defense,
3 less Strength
3 less Accuracy
30 more Attack Power
23 less CH Attack Power
7 more Evasion

Different stats
Enmity -20 on GC set
Store TP+40 on Darklight

Something that with a blue name, and cooler appearance would be exhibited way more then a darklight piece.
And, to be honest, you would never use those Storm Lieutenant's Hooks over a primal weapon if you don't have 5 pieces to activate the last stat, so I should have added more stats (like CH rating), but whatever, let's stick to the bonus only.

However this is just a full GC gear versus 1 DL piece. Things are a little bit more complicated if you have a full DL set. But I really believe that a combination of GC, materia and AF is better then a full DL.

Anyone notice he added all the combo stats to the body, but didn't for the pieces they'd be replacing...

Like Explorers Earring (5 Attack). Triple melded Trousers (28STR) HQ Bracelet (4INT)

Not to mention Garuda's weapon... sheesh...silly silly trolls

No Store TP comparison? man...sounds like you're mad that you can't do speed run so you bash the hands down *best-in-slot* DL piece for Monk.

Hmm..

[Krausus]

Whoa, really? If this is true I might have re-evaluate my gear decisions then.

no not really, attack effects all damage but doesn't have a high return. STR will have a higher return until you hit the soft cap (generally around 350) at that point +att yields a higher return then STR. Check out the DRG forums there is a nice thread that will give you a better idea of the effects of stats

[Tango]

I have crunched numbers and enmity boosting is always going to win out in a gear comparison to a DPS slotted piece, of course if your target is mistress and you can keep hate with more DPS then your goal is more DPS to the point where you can just barely keep hate. When I run with my #1 DPS who can do 170+ on mistress I have to run max enmity setup to hold hate. When I run in pugs or with the lower tier DPS members in the shell maxing at 150dps I use my DPS-DL set on WAR.

And no flanchard is better then sentinel legs/boots. sorry just plain wrong, see above for justification.

[Mirana]

you can't actually compare 1 piece to one complete set

Yes i agree DL Bracer is junk , Felt Bracer with 2 or more meld materias is better
That's why we need a mix&match cloth for the stats

as the OP give example about MNK
IMO think it's good to use
Head : DL Eyepatch / Silver Tricorne with 2 or more meld with int IV materia
Body : DL Corselet / Rainmaker's Tunic with 2 or more meld with Savage Might IV
Hand : AF / Felt Bracer with 2 or more meld with Heaven fist IV or Str IV
Legs : AF / Felt Trouser with 2 or more meld with Ironman's will ( is it this one with Vit & Str stat) or Int set
Feet : DL Caligae / AF

Can't say that DL is best , it's upto the user choice of gear or set they prefer

[GreyJorildyn]

Garuda's Scream + Explorer's Choker + Double +18 ACC rings is the standard for a war that doesnt suck.

I wasn't aware accuracy rings were "the standard". Capping stats first seems to be the standard, then accuracy and attack. If you want some accuracy eat some accuracy food. Why? Because you can eat food and get +34 accuracy (electrum rings +1 x2 = +36), but you cannot eat food and get STR+36 (ie. Rubellite Rings +1 x2). The accuracy rings with scream and choker are almost overkill on most encounters. Can't go in thinking the way you are geared is the best way all the time. Most mobs aren't as evasive as Garuda, and with ~420 accuracy, minuet, and food, I've no trouble hitting her. Don't need nearly that much for Princess or Miser's Mistress

I guess your standard is different, which doesn't make it "the standard" btw. This post of yours shows how much improvement you need to make:

I notice alot of people bashing on DL gear, but no one is really examining DL gear in detail, that being said I am only going to make 1 comparison that I noticed someone else make but I think did not do it justice.

So you've got a double melded STR glove for your war? Grats. The highest you could possibly get would be +40 with a double meld. Not a bad number, not bad at all.

Now let's look at Darklight Gauntlets for war. +9 str +25 vit +50 attackpower. Not bad, not bad.
BUT ASH IT DOESNT HAVE +40STRZOMGSTATCAP!
True, true. But lets look at the piece as a whole.
+9 str, thats basically a higher end Tier 2 STR materia, so thats 1 meld.
+25 vitality, thats basically 2 low-mid end Tier 3 VIT materia, so thats 2 melds.
+50 attack power, thats basically 2 low-mid end Tier 4 Attack materia, so thats 2 melds.
Now right here we have 5 melds that you would need to get this gears stats.

But Ash thats still not +40 str!
Yes yes I know. But lets examine what stats a war needs most. STR, VIT, Attackpower. Pretty much the 3 stats you get on those DL gauntlets.

Now I'm not gonna go do any testing and I'm not gonna pull random numbers out of my ass. But just from looking at the stats in comparison, for overall effectiveness the DL Gauntlets are superior IMO.

A similar comparison can be made of all the war DL pieces I'm sure, but its 5 AM and I'm not in the mood to type much more.

I'll tell you right now that if you were capped on STR and VIT with your +40 str hands, and then decided to use darklight gauntlets instead (probably for "cool" factor) and did not adjust your other gear (ie. swapping a rubellite ring for an amber ring), then you will be way over vit cap, way under str cap, and gain a lot of attack that will not make up for the 31 str you just lost.

Now if you wear those and finagle your other gear to keep your stats capped and you gain just the attack +50, then you're good to go and actually pulling ahead of where you were. This is not a game where you can just do piece-for-piece swaps because one piece is better and then call it a day. Not even close and if you think that, you're doing it wrong.

[fusional]

i stopped reading when i realized you were comparing half a dozen items to one and calling the half dozen items combined better than the one.

face
palm