Scholar Nuking Set

I am in the process of burning scholar to 90 in abyssea and am looking for sets to work towards for nuking, I am 90 whm and Blm so all my skills are capped and I already have some gear to use but have never really looked into whats good for a scholar.

I am currently 68 and havnt had a chance to get any AF yet and am still running around in seers and custom >.> which for healing in abyssea is fine imo but I want to take this job to LS events.

Any advice pointers on gear and merits would be greatly appreciated ^^.

For Group One merits:
Grimoire Recast - If you find yourself changing arts all the time for curing and nuking then this is probably your best option, but since you said you would concentrate on nuking, then I wouldn't worry too much about meriting into this.

Modus Veritas Duration - Since the nerf, you should avoid meritting this. Modus Veritas misses a lot on normal mobs and almost all the time on NMs.

Helix MACC/MATK - Probably the best option, I, myself, don't use helix all that much since I like to sleep and break, but it's useful against NMs since the helix damage really adds up if you can constantly land it unresisted.

Max Sublimation - In Abyssea, MP shouldn't be too much of a concern even when you're nuking. Max Sublimation is useful when you're still sitting at full MP so when you actually need more, you'll get 50MP more. If you are constantly running out of MP and are constantly using sublimation, there won't be any difference, but with convert, Parsimony/Penury and Conserve MP, I don't see how you would be running out of MP that often.

So my advice would be Helix MACC/MATK and Max Sublimation/Grimoire Recast, I merited Max Sublimation myself since I usually stay in one art (I'm lazy). Though if you ballista Grimoire Recast is super effective.

For Group Two Merits:
Altruism - Skip.

Focalization - You shouldn't really have any problems with resist inside and even outside of Abyssea now. If you are then you're probably using the wrong nukes or the mob is just resistant to magic and you shouldn't even be nuking it anyway if not for grellow.

Tranquility - Only time I would even think about using this would be Divine Seal, Accession, Cure IV in Campaign. Even then, you'd probably still die. Skip.

Equanimity - If you are worrying too much about enmity, you can just wear -enmity with nukes, but I would skip this.

Enlightenment - Incredibly useful and 1 merit is definitely a must. Fully meriting this is worth it. If you or a party member is enfeebled, this saves you a stratagem or two.

Stormsurge - Since the rise in cap, 7 stats isn't as 'high' as it used to be now that we have 200 stats depending on abyssites and atmas. Still, this is a better option than meriting the stratagem merits and 7 INT will be useful once again when we get Blizzard V.

So my advice would be Enlightenment and Stormsurge.

As for nuking gear (low resist) set:
Head: With Ebullience, you should use Savant's Bonnet +1/2 since the +1 gives 5% extra and +2 gives 10% extra damage. Nuking without Ebullience, you should try your luck on the trophies in Abyssea to get at least a +3 INT augment which gives a total of 6INT and 2MAB.
Neck: Artemis's can be good if you're in the right moon phase, or you could use Savant's Chain. Uggalepih under 50% MP or Artemis's if you can set up your spellcast for that.
Body: Savant's Gown +1/2, if you can't get that for whatever reason then Yhel Jacket/+1.
Ear: Moldy/Novio/Hecate's
Ring: Augmented Diamond Rings, or Demon's if your lucky, but 7INT Diamond Ring or even Icesoul Ring if you have the money. Both Ear and Ring is the same for BLMs, minus Sorcerer's Ring.
Legs: Cybele Pants/Teal Slops. Teal Slops should give you more damage over time than Cybele Pants.
Hands: Vicious Mufflers
Feet: Savant's Loafers+2 > Augur's > Theurgia/Yigit
Back: Twilight Cape with storms, Searing Cape without
Waist: Appropriate Obis with storms, Cognition Belt without
Ammo: Witchstone
Sub: Bugard Strap +1

Apologies if this looks like a wall of text.

Edit: Fixed "So my advice would be Enlightening and Stormsurge." lol

Could throw Nebula Pigaches +1 into the mix for feet too

P.S.:

Helix Magic Acc./Atk. 5/5
Max Sublimation 5/5

Focalization 4/5
Enlightenment 1/5
Stormsurge 5/5

Thanks for the replys, the merit advice is good seeing as I'll have 20 to use as soon as I hit 75, and theres no need to worry about burning to 90 as I already said all my stats are capped and enfeebling and elemental are fully meritted, Ive been playing a long time as blm and whm so burning sch is more for fun when I duo with my friend, especially on the long sections of ToM staves >.>.

nothing wrong burning sch to 90, specially when skills goes caped with arts, unless you want to pt all the way to 90 on kuftal/gustav/dunes/sky/lufaise .etc all the way,m GL with that

Yeah, I know, it is one of the few jobs that are not severely gimped by burning. It is just sad to see Abyssea as the only way to level 30-90 nowadays.

Equanimity is a different category of -enmity that stacks with gear, for a net total of -75% enmity (according to kaeko)

This would probably be your best option during 2hr. 2 Stratagems makes it utterly useless the rest of the time.

I did 5/5 stormsurge 1/5 enlightenment 4/5 equinimity. Wouldn't really fault anyone for 5/5 enlightenment though since the others are super niche.

Literae Coat is another good "Free" alternative (3 INT 7 MAB on mine)


Zodiac ring with W/D bonus applied > 7 INT


Still the best, 5 MAB > 9 INT


Theurgia is the best 98% of the time, 4 MAB > 8 INT

Yeah but really most the time you are going to be using ice nukes now so most the time you wont be getting the day bonus. Also even then it's actually really close.

Also realy close.

eh... I'm not quite sure, its definetly close if you don't breach the DINT 1/2 cap, BUT assuming you're using the 50 INT on MM and the ~45+ (?) from curor buffs, any additional INT from gear is going to be 1/2 as effective given its surely beyond 1/2 cap.

Also SCH/RDM has a substantially lower amount of MAB traits, so MAB is going to be more effective (generally) than on BLM.

I would concede that Beyond cements Ice nukes as the most preferred nukes when the mob doesn't resist them "inside", but in other (non abyssea) activities a proper weather/day set will certainly boost and favor other elements. Plus it's pretty fun watching your Stone 5 get bigger numbers than another BLMS Bliz 5

I don't even know why wiki still has that dint cap BS on there. I've set to see any caps in the testings I've done outside of brew and that was flat out cap no 1/2 amount. And not just standard blm nukes but blu spells and elemental ws too. I mean ***you'd think with as long as it has been up there if it were true someone would've actually found a value...

Well not just beyond... there is the whole higher tier extra int from stormsurge the fact you probably aren't making all the staffs.

Also if your stone 5 is beating the blms bliz V they are doing it wrong.

Also the MAB difference isn't as bad since gear wise you are getting more now and well so much of it is coming from atmas now. The numbers I ran for that was assuming a 100dint and 100 MAB btw. Very rough I know but hard to tell what people have these days.

Oh I made 6/7 of the staffs just have ~4 more trials on fire. Tons of fun BTW, especially Stone nuking on pots (which have 50% MDT).

Masochist... also don't you mean 6/8? Well at least for dmg wont get into cure and macc ones. Still the vast majority of the people are going to stick with 1-2 dmg ones.

True Strike and I was thinking I'd keep my Pluto's staff as its usually used for sleeping and draining pretty equally, if we should ever need more acc for sleeping stuff, and with the additional 10 HMP... it's hard to find a something more valuable that justifies the -inventory.

I did lvl DRK first so I'm sure at sometime I'll end up /wristing and pickup the full 8/8.

This is my current nuking set:



Still working on the obvious upgrades but it works for me at the moment.

Under hailstorm I swap out the cape and belt for twilight cape and obi.
And I have Uggy pendant for if my MP ever gets to latent.

Diamond ring has INT+3 Augment

Try and always be under hailstorm when you're nuking with ice, the 15% weather bonus from the cape and obi is probably at least 300% more potent than 6INT and 3MAB.

my $0.02


In all your testing did you come into any idea of where the cap is?

I bit late, but there have been a lot of values found.

The cap varies by spell, for example Stone I caps at I believe 32. Plus the 10 base damage, for a max nuke of 42 excluding multipliers. Test it.

The cap gets higher and higher with each higher level nuke, Tier IIs require a dINT of somewhere in the 100s to cap. Tier III~V have dINT caps we for the most part cannot reach outside a brew so no one gave a damn to find it.

The majority of magical WS have a dINT cap of 48, although not all follow this.