Endeavoring To Awaken --A Guide To Rune Fencer

Tacos give +4/5DEX....
And Black Curry gives 5acc...
Both give a %DEF increase, though I don't think Black Curry is boasting the +150/160 of the tacos.
There's always the reverse with Bream sushi offering +6VIT...
But I can't think of anything else really.

Black curry bun +1 caps out at +200 def.

thinking this might be the best tanking set up, its 1% pdt away from cap and there are like 30 ways to easily cap it, but the counter and parry i think more then makes up for the 1%, thoughts?

ItemSet 320460

Despite the newly added gear, I still prefer the tanking set originally developed by Ruaumoko (I'm using a small variation from his set)

Hi, new RUN here.

I know AF3 set is a must but are there any pieces of AF/Relic that can be skipped?
Thanks!

Loricate Collar +1 should replace Twilight Torque in all tanking sets.

Hi, I'm fairly new to tanking and while I am no stranger to melee mechanics, I am a bit out of my depth when it comes to enmity, specially since I haven't really looked into them post-change.

As a RUN, outside of flash / foil and swinging for dmg, what do you do to hold and maintain mobs on you in the following situation:

1) regular boss tanking
2) Bosses that reset hate periodically
3) AoE (more then 2 mobs?)

Ultimately, it boils down to recast timers for both spells and JA's. We have a large arsenal of JA's that all provide high enmity, but using them all at once can leave you vulnerable later. Your subjob choice will also play into it either by reducing your damage, adding more hate moves, or both. To get more specific to your questions:

1) I'm fond of starting a fight with Battuta and depending on what statuses I might see, Pflug as well. A nice way to get some hate is to use Vallation before the fight when you need to apply buffs, and then after your initial Flash, pop Valiance so it hits your party (you will have to cancel Vallation itself first though). Later, as Valiance wears off, you can use Liement and then Vallation again. You can also throw One For All in there as well, especially as your duration is boosted from JPs, to cover your party's defenses better. Bear in mind that AoE buffs like OFA will give you more hate if it hits more people. Gambit and Rayke are also large hate builders. Dealing damage is no longer good source of enmity, but mitigating your own damage taken will lower your enmity loss.
2) For these enemies, keeping your Fast Cast and Haste values high is important. Knowing what moves to look out for, you can hit your Flash macro as soon as you see the WS has kicked in (example: Flashing as soon as your HP dropping from Omega's Pile Pitch, done right can potentially keep Omega from even budging). Once hate is re-established, conserve those hate tools so you'll be ready immediately when it happens again. Ideally, your recast for Flash and Foil will both be less than 10 seconds. In a clutch, like if it's going to maul your healer, using a heavier hate tool maybe be best.
3) For these enemies, any good self-targeting hate ability is good. For example, in Vagary, you can gather hate on enemies (except Fomors trying to SC) by spamming Foil. In other situations, it's important that you know whether you want any hate at all on the enemy; sometimes, you simply grab a bunch and perform no actions (supertanking) so there is zero enmity on any of them. If you do intend to get hate on everything (like if they're after the wrong person), you might want to use an AoE WS like Shockwave or cast a buff on whoever has hate, and then spam self-targeting hate tools.

It's also recommended to look at gear with Enmity+ to be equipped when performing those abilities. Bear in mind that each +1 to Enmity is +1% so these items, plus Crusade (Enmity+30), can make a large impact on your hate efforts. BG Wiki also lists Enmity values on most abilities and spells, notable options by job include:

RUN main: Flash, Foil, Gambit, Rayke, Vallation, Valiance, Liement, Battuta, Swordplay, One For All, Pflug, Embolden, Vivacious Pulse (based on amount cured), Elemental Sforzo, Odyllic Subterfuge
SAM sub: Meditate. Using Seigan and Third Eye can help reduce enmity lost through damage.
NIN sub: Nothing. Utsusemi will help reduce enmity lost through damage.
BLU sub: Jettatura, Blank Gaze, and a few other spells. Cocoon can help reduce damage taken too (+50% Defense). I don't use this sub, others can offer more information on it.
DRK sub: Stun. Other JAs are volatile enmity only
WAR sub: All JAs are volatile enmity only

If you had to drop merits in any category to make way for Rayke 5/5 for iLv140 content like Kirin/Kouryu what would you drop?

Battuta or Inspiration? Personally I'd drop Battuta down to 1/5 as the base Parrying Bonus is 20% and drop one merit out of Inspiration as that 12% Fast Cast can be compensated by equipment.

It's a really tough call to make for a situation that might be considered niche. If you're going to be fighting Lv140 content Rayke makes a huge difference to resistance rates and keeping the effect going for as long as it can should be priority.

If you're not going to be doing Lv140 content like Escha Sky Gods then you could stick with 5/5 Inspiration and 5/5 Battuta.

Inspiration 3/5 (I already have it at 3/5)
Rayke 5/5
Battuta 2/5

But the hit to Battuta hurts. With even more FC pieces (that I don't have) you could probably cap FC with 2/5 Inspiration.

How about dropping inspiration entirely? i have 50ish FC in gear, is 80% really needed?

It's not that needed in the end, especially given the enmity changes.
Also against mobs that dispel you it's kinda useless.
Still, dunno, I kinda like it :'(

But if you're focusing on being a Kirin-ready RUN then you have to set priorities and at that point, yes, I can see dropping Inspiration completely.

Atm I'm:
3/5 Inspiration
5/5 Battuta
2/5 Rayke

But I'm a gimp RUN who doesn't fight Kirin yet.

I have a hard time justifying more than 1/5 in Rayke, since you're only getting 3 more seconds per merit. Since it's primarily for a big MB, you're basically limited to a big push that's tied to timers on other jobs, namely Strategems (Immanence) and BP: Rage. 12 more seconds (out of 5 minutes) doesn't seem that critical, but then I haven't fought Kouryu yet.

In regards to dropping merits in Inspiration, I'm not sure about you guys, but by not needing extra Fast Cast gear (moreso for recast), I can use more +Enmity or DT in my midcasts, which can be a lifesaving measure (not to mention helping other casters). 4/5 Battuta I can live with, especially as we'll get more Inquartata bonuses from gifts.

For escha Kirin I sit at 4/5 battatua, 1/5 inspiration and 5/5 rayke. Personally I find the FC unnecessary when in a tanking situation beyond the tiny amount that would be needed over gear and magic haste for recasts on spells. In terms of for our longest casting spells ichi or crusade, supplementing spell interupt gear in areas for you midcast can go quite the mileage for those desperate situations. However, even when escha kirin becomes spammy with deadly hold I am usually able to go ni to ni before having an issue on recast. So entirely subjective in that sense but I've been quite content with the merit layout overall and even still at 5/5 rayke really needs to be able to last longer.

Nice post.

So, I wondered why you didn't put Absorb-TP or aspir on the /DRK enmity spells list. Looked on BG wiki and saw abs-tp listed as 1CE/640VE. Which is ***, but I researched and then tested just in case. See here
So,
/DRK: Absorb TP is 320/320 CE/VE. And has a 0.5 sec casttime now.
Aspir is 320CE/0VE.
Decent additions to the /DRK repertoire.

For /BLU, another noteworthy thing are the AoE enmity spells it has.
Geist Wall
Sheepsong
Soporific

All are 320/320 CE/VE. Geistwall has a fairly short recast(30 sec base) so it's nicely spammable. The other two have long recasts.

Can Sheepsong and Soporific be used /BLU? (could check it myself on wiki but I'm lazy!)
I use Geistwall for AoE enmity as well. Range is very small sadly, but once you've hit all the targets you want to hit with Geist wall once, you can generate enmity on all of them by spamming Foil.
It's so incredibly awesome, I tell ya.

I'm a BLU complete noob and quite frankly I don't really want to improve my BLU knowledge more than strictly necessary.
This is the list of spells I equip when I'm /BLU on RUN, was suggested to me by Prothescar and someone else long time ago.
Can anybody suggest a better combination? (for the traits etc)
I hardly have the situation where I need to use Jettatura or Blank Gaze, but for those situation where Foil and Flash are on cooldown (for instance if I had to use them while slowed and stuff) they are useful.
Geistwall instead, like said before, is extremely useful to generate enmity on groups of mobs. Cocoon is for defense, the other spells are there just for JT combinations I think.


My personal take on Inspiration.
It's situationally useful, but against targets who dispel it's like not having it since, alas, it's not immune from dispel like the other wards (if used with 3 runes up).
About what JeanPaul was saying concerning equipping enmity gear by saving FC. If the truth is somewhere in between.
You don't need to midcast in full FC gear to cap the recast of spells, especially if you have haste buffs.
There are plenty of slots where you can eat the loss of FC for Enmity+ and as a matter of fact I already do it.
You need to evaluate the amount of FC/Haste lost vs the amount of Enmity gained.
Can easily put enmity on ammo, neck, back, waist, earrings without big hits to your FC.
In the other slots there are some pieces with haste AND enmity etc.
And honestly even without capping recast of spells, RUN doesn't really have enmity issues, especially if you're /BLU.
Now if we're talking about /NIN maybe, but for /BLU you have so many enmity generation tools that you can spam that capping recast isn't really as useful/necessary as it is on other combinations.

Wish RUN could use those enmity+9 rings from that Unity NM in Lufaise Meadows. I actually farmed both an HQ and an NQ before realizing RUN can't equip them, now they're on my mule >.>''

You mean cacoethic? i do use both on run.

Cacoethic are enmity - not +. I think he means the pld/war one with refresh regen.

Yes. I said Enmity+9 rings dropping from the UNM in Lufaise Meadows!
I meant Immanibugard and Apeile Ring.
Farmed one ring, then another NQ and then 50 mats... and then found out RUN can't equip them.
Yeah I'm stupid, whatever.

I'd totally equip an Enmity+9 ring over my Weatherspoon ring in Midcast.

Derp...i thought +

Edit: Is there no fast cast gear available in waist/back slots?

I am a bit confused which to use while I am still gearing up... i119 vs i109 gear in tank set for specific pieces like example debating between Runeist Trousers +1 vs Erilaz Leg Guards(109) forgive my noob-ness but in a situation like this... which is the better defensive piece?

Erilaz+1.

Your goal should be 55-75% PDT in full 119 armor. And you should be aiming for 15/15 AF1/2/3 119. Pretty much every piece has some use, if only to swap in for JAs.

So, for instance, you're looking at Runeist Trousers +1 versus 109 Erilaz legs. You're losing 24 defense and 2 MDB. Qaaxo Tights also beat out 109 Erilaz.

It's easy enough to upgrade a full set of AF3 119 that I'd just do that ASAP. You'll ideally tank in 4/5 pieces, and it's a great start. So those in a 50% pdt armor set, an enmity set, enough Fast Cast pieces to hit cap, and you can start tanking.

edit: also, as far as holding hate, it's more of an issue on the "little stuff", where melees can still do enough damage to pull from you if they aren't cautious. RUN has a lot of hate tools available, and a lot of enmity gear, if you have the space. On the big stuff, you're using SCHs, BLM, SMN, GEO... survive-ability and maybe keeping the mob from your WHM are your goals there.

I get that, that's exactly my question. The answer is not Erilaz +1.. that's\ obvious... My question is which is better until I can get the Vagary clears... I never get any groups for those (timezone issues) so I still have no clears, so I can't just brute force those buying memories...

So, I know the goal is capped PDT in i119... but till then is my goal full i119 with uncapped PDT or cap PDT even if I need to rock 109s for it?

Oh, gotcha, I misunderstood your goal, I think. I'd probably use something like this:

ItemSet 339139

And you can use these pieces on multiple light-armor jobs, so it's a pretty good investment. This set is actually over on PDT, so you have leeway to add more accuracy or whatever. I *think* you could tank fine in this set with good support.

Why don't people use Onca suit in dt sets? That set is worse than using an Onca suit, you can see the difference yourself with /checkparam or by comparing the gear themselves. The mix and match is less DEF, less ACC, less DA+ etc. Added benefit of Resist stun +90. Onca suit + Iuitl mask+1 or Blistering sallet +1. RUN and PLD probably wouldn't use it if going full turtle build due to options having absorbtion or special stats like lower enmity when being hit etc. I was just comparing it to that set you posted there.

Onca Suit is fine, but I assumed that Elizabet was a returning player from pre-Vagary. The set I posted is far easier to get and Emet Harness +1 is a must-have for RUN anyway. Also, my set is a guideline. It is over on PDT and so you can swap out pieces, or still use if you don't have D-ring/Vocane Ring. edit: Onca Suit is DEFINITELY not worth targeting if you are going to play rune fencer seriously. Spend that time getting Vagary clears instead, because you'll want 4/5 AF119, ideally 5/5.

Yeah, particularly with a PDT set, it's hard to qualify an ideal set. For one thing, not everyone wants to go with Vocane Ring (I sure don't). There's also potential using GearSwap to switch into more offensive gear for when you've got ample Utsusemi shadows or Seigan Third Eye.

runeist trousers +1 are pretty useful considering that bad statuses are sometimes a bigger threat than regular ol' physical damage.

Agreed on all of that. I also really like Runeist Trousers +1 on anything with nasty statuses. Generally I have a resist+ set containing AF body/legs, Erilaz+1 hands, Hearty Earring, and can add enfeeble-specific back/rings as needed.

That being said, I think it's pretty easy to give a general rule of thumb "all purpose" tanking set goal:
* 4/5 Erilaz+1 (all except head)
* DT- rings (depending on what you have - like Jeanpaul, I'm personally not a fan of using Adoulin reward on Vocane though)
* Twilight Torque, Evasionist's Cape (try hard for good DT- augs!), Flume/+1 Belt, Refined+1 grip

Do whatever you want with head. There are good DT pieces (Futhark+1, Lithelimb, Iuitl+1), or you might use that slot for a more offensive-minded piece (Dampening Tam, Adhemar Bonnet) depending on how much you're totally turtling up.

Obviously there are tweaks for certain situations, but you're never going to be in bad shape with the above set.

I wouldn't be overly concerned with alternatives in the meantime, since they're just going to be outdated... Use what 119 stuff you have and really try to get Vagary clears. Though with the 100% Rakaznar Skirmish KI event coming, it's not terribly hard to get some Iuitl+1 with PDT/MDT augments to hold you over. Qaaxo legs C path (PDT-5%) are also handy for almost all light DD jobs (best in slot for most of them), even if RUN does get a better empy leg armor - I still use my Qaaxo legs pretty often as I have them in a lot of my PDT/idle sets for other jobs.

went through 17 stacks of crystals the other day and never got dt-5 aug on cape, my soul hurts lol