Sakpata And PLD

someones never heard of the DT cap. if you want a magic focused dmg reduction set (sortie, some gaol fights) you want to focus on MDB and MEVA after 50% MDT.

This is why I'm confused. DT-50, MDT2-25, MDT-7, but with pieces that have remarkably low M.Evasion.

Those boots and hands alone have almost an entire other piece of armor worth of MEVA less than sakpata, it's pretty wild. In fact, the hands are less than half of the sakpata gauntlets, and the boots are nearly half as well. So they've got almost an entire piece of armor worth of meva less each in addition to a third the MDB.

It’s just an aegis set. That’s all. Focuses on capping mdt and 50% dt. No PLD should be using aegis in odyssey. Its meant for bosses that use magic abilities and spells in sortie.

how so? because it doesnt have over 100 magic evasion? i was using Sakpata gloves in the set b4. Ive tested the bosses while wearing the Sakapata set and sets i make. seems set i make do better. but i dont have any rp into my skapata set. maybe thats why i noticed the difference in maxed REMA gear vs basic Sakapta set.

Its basically for sortie boss B and F. when you cant use shell to cap mdt. (if youre doing magic strat)

By what metric? Better how? For Sakpata Hands/Feet, even at R30, don't provide any benefit to taking magic damage when compared to them at R0.

The AF hands and Relic feet are just really bad choices compared to even R0 Sakpata - it's not even a question/debate if you look at the stats:

Sakpata Hands+Feet (R0): 13 MDB, 262 MEVA, 14 DT (=>14MDT)
AF Hands+Feet: 6 MDB, 130, 14 MDT (no PDT/DT)

So those two pieces of Sakpata set have more than twice as much MDB, and 132 more MEVA - which is more than an Idris Indi-Attunement amount of MEVA.

It's really not even close. If you're doing magic strat why bring PLD in the first place?

It hasn't got anything to do with Shell, any tank set in the modern age will cap MDT without it. MDT does nothing when you go beyond 50%. You have 30-40% more than that. Aegis (and Duban) only works because it has MDT II. There is zero functional benefit to several pieces in that set over other, better things when the goal is to reduce magic damage.

I learned this the hard way v Kalunga several years ago. I ended up getting wrecked because I didn't understand, at the time, how meva calculated into reducing magic damage and got wrecked by fetters when switching into my DT-capped SIRD set. I was fully DT capped with Aegis. After I died, they went after the COR, who was taking a fraction of the damage I was. It was...embarrassing to say the least. I forget the numbers exactly, but I was getting hit for several hundred and they were just consistently getting hit for 41hp.

Once I switched to full time Sakpata and made a partial SIRD set that retained the main pieces (I think I have ~65% with Sakpata on), I had no more issues. That was at r0. The stats on the augmented set really don't give you much to help with damage aside from 5% block rate and a tiny bit of VIT.

I had tanked it several times at this point without many issues, it just happened to be that time had the right combination of fetters being out and me getting locked into low-meva SIRD long enough to get destroyed. My "testing" prior to this would've shown my sets were fine until they weren't, once I made that change, surviving him even at v20 and v25 was fairly trivial.

I had a long day and my brain is tired right now, but making an "Aegis Set" is the wrong thinking.

I can't think of any set that is defined by 1 weapon or 1 piece of armor. They are meant to be set for a specific situation or ability.

(Holy Water sets might be a thing, and to a lesser extent, those maximum Orange Juice armor is for Lulz, but those don't count.

There is nothing wrong with having a magic focused damage reduction set in modern endgame, that isn't the problem. Obviously that kind of set will focus around Aegis (or stage 4/5 Duban) for PLD.

The best way I've found to explain the value of MEVA(and Resist All gear) to newer players is by pointing out that hitting the full resist tier is just as powerful as capping MDT with Aegis. It's relevant to all players, not just PLD.

Full resist is -87.5% magic damage, capped MDT(with Aegis) is -87.5% magic damage, and they stack. If a given fight has enough magic damage to consider using Aegis, you should be considering your MEVA as well.

Something like this is a fairly easy and solid set to achieve these days.
ItemSet 394062

PLD has lots of options, though. Could swap in a Warder's Charm, or do Gurebu's/D.Ring/Burt. Just make sure you have some hard Elemental Resistance against whatever element matters.

This is a very nice idle set. I also highly recommend Shadow Ring if you're concerned about taking magic damage. Warder's Charm is a good swap too if you're looking to nullify just magic damage specifically (20 meva from the resist plus the chance to absorb)

Yeah ... guys 50% DT isn't anything special, it's like the default assumption going into any fight where damage mitigation matters. The real stats you need to pay attention to are HP, DEF, MDB and MEVA. Those are what are going to actually reduce damage since it's piss easy to hit 50% DT now.

PLD can't wear Engraved Belt. We have to settle for Carrier's Sash if we want ele resist on the waist.

Wouldn't Plat. Moogle Belt be a reasonable alternative? More HP, -3% DT, and 15 meva.

Would mean changing the neck to warder's, which also docks you on light/dark resist if that's a factor. Otherwise it's a well enough alternative

thanks for the conversion. now it makes sense. ill create a sakpata set for aegis.

Oops - yeah, I forgot about that. Set edited!

I'd also swap that Vengeful ring for Gelatinous Ring+1 and use Malignance Sword for MDB+8 and more INT and MND

For a general, non-MEVA focused set that would be fine, but unless you are already firmly in the full resist tier, 9 MEVA will likely provide more mitigation than some MDB and INT/MND.

MDB and things like the Shadow Ring absorb are great, but they cannot hold a candle to resistance. Each resistance tier cuts the damage you receive by half over the previous tier. Conversely, if missing 9 MEVA means you slip by one resist tier, you're taking twice the damage you would have.

I mean, resists are great, don't get me wrong. But I don't think you're giving shadow ring enough credit here.

Shadow ring is 13% chance to nullify.(Most absorb/nullify effects tend to be more like 5% so this is notable.) Even in the resist rate sweet spot where meva is 1:1 meva:resist rate, Shadow Ring still yields a greater chance for damage reduction than 9 meva. And more dmg reduction at that.

Furthermore, Shadow Ring is a separate check from meva/resist rate, and thus is an additional layer of defense even when resist rate is below the floor or overcapped.

Vengeful ring will only ever be worth using over Shadow ring if the attack in question is one that Shadow ring can't proc on. Like non-damaging/enfeebling effect, etc.

Yeah, that's fair. I should have left it as a comparison between MDB and MEVA.

Your misunderstanding the purpose of MDB vs MEVA. While MEVA might reduce the average damage, MDB will absolutely reduce the maximum damage you take. MagAttack is divided by MagDefense, this makes MDB really useful for ensuring an attack can never be life threatening. Healers today have plenty of MP restoration and cost reduction, MP is no longer a restrictive resource. The 3s GCD after every spell is a far bigger limiter then MP and you want to ensure you don't cause a wipe as a result of a natural 1.

Which fight(s) in XI are you visualizing here? Where 8 MDB would be the difference between a PLD in the above set surviving vs. getting instagibbed before the healer can react?

I admit, I've been unsubbed for a few months, but I didn't think things had changed that much. /s

I'm not trash talking MDB - the above set with WHM Bar* is sitting at nearly 80 MDB already; But unless your resist rate is floored or capped, stacking MDB at the expense of MEVA means you're taking slightly lower damage per magic hit but more of those hits will be for double damage. That leads to more frequent spike damage, not less.