That said, some people are going to still want to use it, so lets see what Corsair is going to get and you can make your own judgment.
Quick Draw @ 40.
Damage shots, plus a light-based Sleep and a Dispel? How could you go wrong? Well, you can go pretty wrong, actually. The accuracy for Quick Draw is based on your AGI which for a wide variety of jobs this is going to mean that you are going to miss a whole lot. In the end, these shots are not going to be very effective at all for all but one job, Ranger. Ranger on the other hand has access to a huge amount of AGI gear, much better gear than even COR gets. That means that RNG shots have a very good chance of landing the Sleep and Dispel effects. Even for the damage shots a RNG should be able to get shots with at least the accuracy of a COR if not better. This will definitely require a gun-based RNG because you would be losing TP every time you switch weapons to use QD if you were using a bow or cross-bow. COR might actually turn out to be a decent sub for RNG for this reason. They would get the job-enhanced Hunter's Roll (but this will be nerfed because of the level difference between the RNG main and COR sub) and access to these bonus shots. Of course SAM and WAR would still be better DD sub jobs, but in our world in which RNG are increasingly unable to do their max damage because they will get their faces eaten, subbing COR might be an option. Just remember you are going to need cards for this to work.
Evoker's Roll @40.
The reason that Rob thinks that COR is going to be so great as a subjob. It looks good on paper sure, but it doesn't consider that it will be literally the only thing you will be getting out of your sub job. You will be losing the MP pool from a mage subjob, you will be losing all of the associated spells from a mage subjob, you will be losing all of the abilities from other sub jobs. The only job I can think that would even consider it would be RDM, but even with the extra refresh it just isn't going to be equal to losing all of the base MP and you are going to lose Erase, Curagas, and any JA's that SE does end up giving to WHM. And that all assume you are going to get a full strength Evoker's Roll while subbing COR. It is the same notion as subbing BRD, a little bit better but still just a niche for low-manning things.
Rogue's Roll @43.
A boost to Crit hit rate, which is nice if you would ever use it. Maybe a BRD subbing COR would use it if they don't have to do anything else. It's a nice bonus, but probably won't be used over other rolls.
Warlock's Roll @46.
Magic accuracy is always nice, and if you are a BRD stuck in an all BLM party then this could be a nice roll to have. Ok, Rob outside of RNG that is another place that people might sub COR.
Fighter's Roll @49.
Much like Rogue's roll, this is another damage booster for when the situation is going to occur. The extra DA is going to be nice, but again, it's not going to be make or break.
Resist Paralyze III @ 45.
Hey, it's more than DRG gets. LOL
So, subbing Corsair will probably have a few more niche roles than it does now, but it will still suffer from the nerf caused by level difference in buffer and buffee. RNG could see some good use out of it if they are already using a gun, and depending on their role BRD could use it too. RDM? I just don't see it happening Rob, sorry.
The picture for this post? Why it's a F4U Corsair of course! :)
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Sub-Routine: Corsair
Thursday, July 02, 2009
The Math of Sword and Spell: Tanking Multipliers
Every Thursday Araelus is bringing the science to FFXI.
The Math of Sword and Spell is dedicated not only to the hardcore calculations and statistics of FFXI, but more importantly to helping you use that math without confusing you. You may not know why you are playing better, but rest assured you will be playing better.
This week's edition focuses on how Slow effects are a great boon to tanking, perhaps more than anything else. Also discussed are creative ways to increase Enmity, reduce damage taken, and even use some unusual jobs for tanking, such as Black Mage.
Last week, we discussed some of the ways White Mages and Scholars can benefit the whole party, as well as taking a critical look at Dancer and Summoner (especially in the comment thread). This week we take a break from support jobs and examine the difficult but crucial role of tank. Whether Paladin, Ninja, or something out of the ordinary, tanks are called upon to focus damage from the enemy to a well-defended target: themselves.
In order to preserve some kind of game balance, not everyone takes damage equally well. What should a designated tank focus on in available gear? What might they ask the party to do in assistance, and how can you help a tank stay alive, besides curing? What can those predisposed against tanking do to make up some of the difference when targeted? Should I try to avoid stepping on Izman’s toes in this article?
“Preventing Damage Outright” might as well be the slogan of Utsusemi, and clearly not taking damage is the best way for a tank to keep on going. But how about preventing the attack entirely?
If you remember back to the start of this column, three categories of effects were mentioned which could be described as benefiting everyone in the fight since they helped the tank: stopping enemy actions, slowing enemy actions, and weakening enemy actions.
Paralyze and Jubaku, if they take effect, are outstanding. The issue is that “if” part. A paralyzed enemy will have some percentage of regular melee attacks and spell casts interrupted. The same is true for activation of Killer Effects, particularly Undead Killer for Paladins. The Bash line of abilities has a high success rate, but long recast timers. Stun certainly lives up to its name, and its 45 second cooldown can be reduced, although the spell might be resisted depending on its target. Violent Flourish is yet another stun effect, but on a 20 second timer, reliant on Finishing Moves, with accuracy depending on monster level, the target’s magic resistance, and use of an Etoile Casaque.
When preventing enemy actions, we have to consider how often a spell or ability will function. Shield Bash is fine, once every five minutes. A continually applied Paralyze might stop one attack in ten or it might never process at all. Taken from this perspective, Elegy and other Slow effects are the most effective means of reducing damage dealt to a tank through status effects on the foe.
Reduction in attack speed can be considered a direct reduction in melee damage dealt to the tank, of course excepting TP move physical damage. But the benefits of slowing the opponent go beyond merely reducing incoming damage. More time between attack rounds means safer buffers on Utsusemi recasts, more time for the tank to cast any spell, and a generally lower level of stress all round. Best of all, Slow, or Slow II, or Jubaku: Ichi can be applied in addition to Elegy.
Just as consistently reducing the speed of an enemy’s attacks can be considered damage reduction for the tanks, so can consistently reducing the accuracy of an enemy’s attacks. Blind and Kurayami lower accuracy by a small amount over a long period of time, and Flash dramatically reduces accuracy for a very short time.
As for preventing magic damage, Silence is excellent. However, some foes should be left to cast rather than attack, especially if their pause to cast aids in kiting. Black Puddings on Mount Zhayolm are an excellent example of monsters that are not very dangerous when left to cast, but should not be locked into meleeing by Silence.
Bind should be mentioned, as it potentially prevents all damage to a tank, but that use is very specific based on monster location and fighting strategy. For that matter, Sleep or having the monster attacking someone else prevents all damage to a tank. More likely, Bind could stop an enemy from moving away from the tank during a sudden moment of Enmity imbalance. Since it is negated by damage dealt to the bound target, a better choice for this task might be Gravity. In that case, these spells are preventing damage from being dealt to someone other than the tank.
Damage Reduction is the next best thing after damage prevention. If you can no longer avoid getting hit, get hit for less damage. Combining damage reduction gear (to remove a percentage) and damage reduction spells (to subtract a flat amount) is very effective. Elemental resistance builds have a similar effect against special types of attacks, since a resist means a percentage reduction in damage.
Keep in mind if you can avoid getting hit to begin with, that is always better than taking damage and reducing the damage after the fact. Damage reduction gear should not take away from your use of the proper Haste+ gear, the correct JA enhancing gear, etc. So the issue here is primarily how much gil you can spare to spend on damage reduction gear. If you are taking absurd damage to begin with, to be sure, a percentage reduction can only go so far. But this should not be the case for tanks (if it is, talk to Izman – or someone – for help).
Along those lines, I’m not going to list out all the available damage down gear, or what jobs can use it, except to note that percentage damage reduction caps at 50% and RDM can get a surprising amount of physical damage reduction without a Defending Ring (44%) as can SAM (47%).
This is especially important if you suddenly realize:
Surprise! You’re the Tank!
Under ideal circumstances, Enmity is managed such that only the selected tanks are attacked by your enemy. Under ideal circumstances, AV can be defeated. One of these days I would like to play FFXI under ideal circumstances.
In the meantime, we have to deal with the reality that whoever has the most Enmity will be attacked. If that person is not a tank, “hilarity ensues”. In some situations this is acceptable, say to keep a monster moving between two targets, or perhaps you need to give a PLD who keeps getting interrupted time to cast Cure IV, or there is no tank in particular and every melee has some form of damage mitigation.
In most serious situations, however, anyone other than the tanks being targeted is problematic. When hate gets reset and Long-Bowed Chariot starts taking out the backline, that’s not exactly “everything going according to plan”. Every player should have a protective just-in-case equipment macro, in addition to casters who idle in such gear to begin with. Idling Tarutaru Black Mages shouldn’t load up on Zenith Gear and pretend to be playing Ghosts ’n Goblins.
The first thing to ask is “can you afford to lose TP?” and for most mages this should not be a problem. (BLU is always damaging those mage generalizations.) For melees, though, the answer will depend on current TP values, your hits-to-100TP, and whether you are deciding between zero TP and zero HP.
So long as TP can be reset, your emergency macro should include an Earth Staff. HQ is fine if you already have one, but since Terra’s does not offer any more physical damage reduction,1 don’t buy the HQ just for this purpose. Unless the name of FFVI’s stalwart heroine makes you feel safer.
The other should-have item for mages (including BLU this time) is a Cheviot Cape, which offers physical damage -5% during the day and -10% at night. The more expensive Umbra Cape is -6% and -12% respectively. In an extreme emergency (which is probable if you are using this gear macro) WHM, BLM, and SMN have latent earrings for use at or under 25% HP which reduce all damage taken. BRD, DRK, and RNG have the same for physical damage only; RDM and SAM for magical damage only.
Don’t neglect a Jelly Ring for free and a Defending Ring for winning Mog Bonanza, although the former is detrimental if you are taking magic damage and will require some time spent in Bostaunieux Oubliette.
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This week's...
Most Valuable: Elegy wins hands down, and stacks with the Slow effect. Elemental Seal ensures the song landing and Troubadour will increase duration. If you use Soul Voice this is absolutely brutal.
Ignored Ability: Two this week.
The Blue Magic Cocoon increases defense by 50%. A self-only spell, this can raise defense past the display limit of 999. Against swarms of low level or weak-hitting enemies, I’m sure you can find a use for this – if you leveled BLU at all.
The use of Waltzes to transform TP into HP is outrageous for a PLD/DNC, which basically gets HP from being hit, and the main job’s naturally high VIT and CHA boost the HP recovery even more. The Enmity gained from this constant self-curing may allow for its utilization in bizarre situations.
Hazard Symbol: When the tanks die. Don’t die, tanks.
Overworked and Underpaid Job: Popular opinion indicates PLD is the former and NIN is the latter. Taking into account available gear, damage mitigation techniques, and job abilities, both jobs are very powerful and useful, but they’re not necessarily equal. Whether this is a bad thing depends on who you ask.
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We’ve taken a look at how enemy attacks can be halted entirely, tanks can control damage taken, and even how anyone who comes under fire (or Tiamat’s aerial attacks) can survive. Over the past four weeks we’ve discussed a number of ways for players to multiply their impact on the battlefield. In that time a wide variety of interesting concepts came into play, but not all were discussed in detail.
Why could Dancer benefit from slower attacks? Should you have an algorithm for playing Corsair? What’s the best way to Haste an entire party? How is a meaningful comparison to be made between different Phalanx casters? Do Summoners have a reliable way to increase damage per MP spent? Next week, we'll start to answer some reader concerns and address specific spells and abilities, before moving on to melee-centric topics.
Until then, keep your graphing calculators handy!
Notes:
1. The HQ staff does have 25% more VIT than an Earth Staff, that is, it has VIT+5 instead of VIT+4. But both are "Physical damage taken -20%".
Questions? Concerns? Did I take a logarithm when I should have used the antiderivative? Do you have an idea for a future article? Please leave a comment.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
The Math of Sword and Spell: Party Multipliers part one (RDM & BRD)
Every Thursday Araelus is bringing the science to FFXI.
The Math of Sword and Spell will be a column dedicated not only to the hardcore calculations and statistics of FFXI, but more importantly he will help you use that math without confusing you. You may not know why you are playing better, but rest assured you will be playing better. This week's edition focuses on how Bard and Red Mage can enhance your party's effectiveness.
Last week, we discussed the ways that one player can help everyone participating in a battle. But many job abilities and spells can only target members of your party, especially songs. This week and next: what are the most useful ways to make a party stronger? From the Colibri Killing Fields to the depths of Valgrind and Dynamis, we’ll take a closer look at party force multipliers.
In addition to the same boosts universal multipliers offer, such as Attack and Accuracy, party-specific buffs can increase attack speed (Haste, March), restore MP (Refresh, Ballad, Devotion), and even directly increase experience point gain with Corsair’s Roll.
The key to party force multiplication is that these spells, songs, and abilities directly increase other players’ statistics. Dia can be said to raise your Attack by lowering the opponent’s Defense, whereas Minuet actually raises the displayed Attack value. Most every enfeeble the party can cast can be used, but only a few of the available buffs can be applied to the party at once.
Just as you have to choose one type of Threnody to use, most parties can only benefit from two songs at a time. A similar limitation of use is true of Bar-spells, Rolls, and Sambas. Even the number of active Blood Pact Wards is limited, due to the durations involved, although these generally mimic other spells.
Consider also that the relative difficulty of maintaining every possible buff on every player in the party compared to keeping every possible enfeeble on a single enemy varies depending on how fast mobs are defeated and what jobs the party contains. A merit party with one Bard will need Carnage Elegy on every monster, but probably never five different Etudes for the other party members, yet against HNM would only be casting that same Elegy after it wears off. White Mages battling Cerberus can easily reapply Barfira and then run slightly out of Ululation range for Paralyna, whereas a Red Mage fighting Ouryu may need to keep two elementals slept or utsu-tanked, Refresh or Haste on up to five other players, Paralyze II on the dragon, and so on.
As a result, in every situation you should pick the most efficient jobs, and then buffs, for the party. Among other things, we have to consider: MP cost and recast time – do the buffs need to be maintained indefinitely? Danger level – are you fighting Colibri or low-manning Sarameya? Current player statistics – is Accuracy capped, how much Haste is available, and is anyone using a six-hit setup? Unusual party balance – is this a Black Mage party in Dynamis, Einherjar, or Mount Z? Special circumstances – waiting on three other Bards to rotate before taking down King Vinegarroon?
If this seems a little overwhelming, and not in the good Samurai WS% way, let’s take a step back and consider each support job’s possible roles within the party.
This week, we take a look at the two most demanded support jobs: Red Mage and Bard.
Red Mages should maintain a full range of enhancing magic in addition to their enfeebling duties. Don’t count out seemingly weak spells such as Regen, or forget Bar-spells and Cures.
Refresh – provides at most 410 MP net to the caster, over 7.5 minutes. There is no reason not to Composure this spell, considering that doing so nearly quadruples net MP return. 1 With yourself removed from the Refresh cycle for two rounds, the +25% recast time on one cast shouldn’t matter.
Applied to other members of your party, the straight 150 MP boost, one per second, stacks with Ballad, Evoker’s Roll, and Auto-Refresh effects. This is the spell that made Red Mage invaluable, their Enfeebling skills aside. Please note that Refresh cannot be cast on a Scholar who is charging or holding Sublimation, and it does not stack with juices that give the Refresh-icon.
Haste – this speed effect becomes more powerful the more Haste effect its target already has. In most situations, Red Mages can simply cycle both Refresh and Haste on applicable party members, since they have a duration of 2.5 and 3 minutes, respectively. If MP conservation is critical, they should be cycled separately, to not lose 30 seconds of Haste per round.
Regen – in the absence of a White Mage or Scholar, the first tier of this spell restores 8.33 HP/MP on any party member in 75 seconds. If subbing SCH, Regen II restores 6.67 HP/MP in one minute. Although the total HP restored is low, only 125 and 240 HP, compare this to Cure IV’s approx. 4.5 HP/MP.
Using Regen over a long period of time is an excellent means of maintaining the party’s HP. The only drawback is a 12 second base recast timer.
Phalanx II – usually overshadowed by Scholar’s Accession Phalanx, this merit spell is still strictly better if fully merited, although it can never be as MP efficient because of its single-target 42 MP cost. The damage reduction cap may be achievable with gear alone. This is a highly situational but potentially excellent spell, for when Scholar is not available or JAs are locked.
Bards always seem to be in high demand and short supply, because no-one wants to fight without March and Minuet. Linkshells may hand you a relic for Ballad, but don’t forget a Carol to reduce elemental damage.
Ballad – relatively straightforward, with Ballad I providing 1 MP per 3 seconds and Ballad II providing 2 MP. Unless using the Storm Fife or Gjallarhorn, each lasts 120 seconds.2 Since songs have no MP cost, in a party of six MP-users (assuming the Bard does cast), basic dual Ballads will produce a total of 720 MP per cycle, or 6 MP per second. This effect is obviously equivalent to a party-wide Refresh. 3
March – despite the song’s help text, this decreases recast timers as well as speeding up melee attacks. The more Haste you have, the better each additional point of Haste gets.
Madrigal versus Minuet – Madrigal increases Accuracy, and Minuet increases Attack. But which do your melees need?
The answer is complicated and involves WS damage percentages, Store TP totals, and even marginal returns to monster level variation. (Hint: melees, get a Cuchulain's Mantle if you can.) Despite all these factors, since cheap Sushi can provide twice the Accuracy of Madrigal (when it’s required) and Minuet affects both Attack and Ranged Attack, March+Minuet is a safe bet.
Also keep in mind that melees should already have paid careful attention to their gear and may specifically ask for songs. In some cases, double March will overpower the other options.
This week's...
Most Valuable: Haste and March are incredible. The boost to attack speed and spell recast timers, along with making strong players even better, make these indispensable. No amount of Haste will make Provoke reset at 27 seconds, though.
Ignored Ability: Bards get Pianissimo at level 45, and they’d better use it.
Hazard Symbol: Even with Composure boosting self-Refresh and Haste, Red Mages can get overwhelmed trying to do everything. Make sure that you don’t burn out when the chips (and Convert) are down.
Overworked and Underpaid Job: Both Red Mage and Bard, really, except both jobs also have their bad examples of Princess Syndrome.
Stupid Square Moment: It’s a pity Phalanx II has such a high MP cost.
All this and we’ve barely scratched the surface of available force multipliers for your party! Next week, it’s time for the newly super-powered White Mage to shine, as well as the versatile Scholar. What about Dancer? Summoner?! You may be surprised at what these jobs can do.
Until then, keep your graphing calculators handy!
Notes:
1) Going from 110 MP net to 410 MP net is a 272.7% gain.
2) In Dynamis, the Millennium Horn is equivalent to a Gjallarhorn for “All Songs +2”.3) If the RDM's first party-wide cycle includes a Composured self-Refresh, then these six Refresh casts will cost nothing, and the RDM will gain 210 MP net. Including two more cycles of five Refresh casts, the RDM will end up having lost 190 MP net. These three Refresh cycles will have restored 2700 MP total. In the same time, a Bard will have had to sing both Ballads four times, and will have restored 2700 MP as well. A Gjallarhorn would have restored 6300 MP total.
Questions? Concerns? Did I take a logarithm when I should have used the antiderivative? Please leave a comment.
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