Animator's Workshop: A Puppetmaster's Guide 2.0

Did anybody manage to create a post/thread on the official forums asking for further information concerning the Magic Accuracy level of Automatons and Animators?

Just saw your post Jadey, really nice.
Gonna try to adapt it to the fact I have 1300+ JPs and I'll go test some Crawlers myself when I'm feeling bored :)

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/51271-Do-Ilvl-Animators-add-magical-accuracy


If you already have over 1200jp, consider doing Apex Bats in Dho Gates and doing longer skillchains. Bats take more damage from piercing, and the Ranger puppet is already pretty damn strong at the moment. Attack down is annoying, but Attuner pretty much takes care of that.

The one difference I remember on Bats vs Crawlers from the few times I was mainhealing on BRD/WHM or SMN/WHM (lol) is that those Bats in Dho Gates can deal quite a load of damage, compared to Crabs in Dho and Crawlers in Mho that are really laughable (healing was almost boring!) Well the breath from crawlers maybe, but they're really relaxing all in all.

Now if August is tanking those bats maybe that won't be too much of a deal, but if too much MP is used to heal me/august then that will *** up the songs on Ulmia and Joachim, furtherly reducing my pt's DPS and hence the cp/hr.


Regardless of these useless considerations I'm really thankful for your suggestion and I'll try that too and see which one I like best :)

Thanks for this Trulusia, will contribute there later in an attempt to give more visibility to the post, altough realistically unless some JP player asks the same question it's very unlikely devs will answer us.

Concerning animators, we always assumed them to give a substantial boost to ALL player stats (for instance check here.
Now I'm not so sure anymore.
For some stats it was easy to see even before they added /checkparam <pet>
For example I remember the first time I went from my animator+1 to 110 animator I was shocked by how high the physical evasion of my automaton was against trash mobs in Adoulin zones.
We cannot measure Magic Eva, Magic Acc and Magic Attack, but I suspect the animators do not give these stats at all and the only increase they give is the indirect one we get from the boost in base stats (INT, MND etc).

Even if Animators DO give bonuses for those magic stats, I think it's pretty clear that it's quite a marginal amount, this is especially noticeable in the Magic Accuracy tests many of us had experience with.


My question at this point is: Are Devs aware of this? And if they are, did they keep going this way because of technical limits (they can't put more than a certain amount of stats+ on animators) or because they wanted us to balance automatons out through attachments, which is their tipical reply to all automatons unbalancement issues so far?
Because if it's the latter, it's clearly not balanced atm.

The easiest solution for them, at least when it comes to Macc, would be to change the element of Tranquilizers. Maybe put them in Water slots so you can still equip Tranqs and Louds at the same time? It wouldn't be a real fix, but it would probably be an acceptable compromise at least to contain the lack of macc issue.

The REAL solution would be to add (or increase) the amount of macc/meva/mdb/mab imbued in ilevel animators of course.

Decided to give a few MB a run on Apex Bats for extra feedback on the subject.

Attachments
Amplifier 1+2
Loudspeaker IV
Ice Maker
Mana Channeler II
Optic Fiber 1+2


2 Ice 1 Water No food


2 Ice 1 Water Grape Daifuku +1


3 Ice Grape Daifuku +1

What are the number of attempts it took you to obtain those numbers? Which trusts were you using and were there other players/jobs using specific buffs?
Would also be useful to know which items you were using (with which augments) to boost your pet's stats.

I mean, I've got a 78k Thunder5 on Crabs myself without using Tranquilizer, but that was ONE time out of over 100 Magic Bursted spells.
Which confirms exactely what many people have been reporting here: Automatons have a serious issue with magic accuracy (hence the higher-than-expected resist rate without specific Magic Accuracy boosts.

ok so i know this is probably a very late post considering i havent seen gearset posts in a while, but i was just curious, for a DD master set only in a situation where you dont need accuracy or haste for your pet, why has no one mentioned denouements as an optimal choice for DDing? is there something wrong with using those h2h or are their such better options that they arent worth considering?

I personally use them for Nyzul Isle. Seems much faster to me.

see i thought they would be good in general, especially considering you still get regen and refresh for your automaton, atleast 20 accuracy still even though you lose alot of accuracy from the ohtas, and collosal blow is just...... a *** godsend when it procs xD

i dunno, i just thought more people would use em. i finally got mine about a week ago and i was sad when i didnt see anyone in the forums mention them

I was using Amchuchu, Arciela II, Shantotto II, Apu, and Iroha for SC. These are screens of my initial 3 MB.

Using Ohtas so no additional maneuver effects as Midnights would give.
Pet Gear:
Animator P
Burana Earring
Naga Tekko (path D naturally)
Herc Trousers - MAB+29
Herc Boots - MACC+28 MAB+11

Changed Rawhide Mask to Path D afterward as I've no other use for it now. And lastly, I have not yet created a cape for Auto nuking.

Denouements aren't BAD, but even for master-only situations they aren't best.

Condemnders (Reisenjima T2 weapon) are the better choice if you can get those and put solid augments on them. Say, DMG +17 or more getting you into the 130+ range, plus whatever other good DD augments you're able to manage (STR, DEX, Acc/Atk, DA/TA, Store TP, etc). Even if DMG doesn't quite reach Denouements, they are FAR less delay (54 versus 96). Accuracy is not a win for Denouments, with Condemnders having 5 less base Acc but able to get a lot more with augments. QA on Denouements is nice, but not so much that it's unbeatable. Colossal Blow is not really a major consideration since it's extremely infrequent and unreliable (and not very meaningful when you overkill some trash mob).

More rare stuff:
I have a couple friends who managed to get Comeuppances during the Unity dial campaign too (UNM Tumult Curator H2H), which are a also better master-only weapon. Or go beat Tumult Curator for em! ;)

For those with ability to make an Aeonic, Godhands win for master only.


There are some other general utility pieces, but nothing hugely important.

Bathy Choker+1: best regen neck
Gelatinous Ring+1: strong PDT ring option
Assiduity Pants+1: usable by PUP if for some reason you're /mage and want to swap into a Refresh set
Unmoving Collar+1: very niche application, but it's a great all jobs Waltz neck if you're ever /DNC and care to use Waltzes (personally I haven't done PUP/DNC for ages, but I guess it's a use)

As for Handler's Earrings, I wouldn't even bother any more for PUP. PDT is not hard to cap anyway, so use your ear slots for better stuff like Domesticator's/Rimeice.

thanks for that :D thats alot of useful information. sadly i dont think i could take on that unity nm yet (i mean successfully kill/farm) and i havent tried reisen mobs yet but im finally getting enough gear that im confident enough to try so i think i will.

2 questions: 1. i need to start getting herc gear. which t1 nm's are the easist to start out on as a pup and is there any useful strats i should know?

and 2. do we still use the kupo head piece for dt-10 or is the taeon with perfect augments more useful now with acc/DA/DT-4?
i know rao+1 is probably best but i cant afford those. i work WAY to much to farm gil xD im just trying to gear enough so i can tank with midge for the few friends i have and im trying to show alot of people on ragnorak that LOLpup isnt a thing anymore >.> i cant tell you how many times ive out tanked a paladin and they still just say its luck or the paladin is undergeared and im *** tired of it.

also sorry if im asking questions that have already been asked/answered probably 10+ times on here D: just trying to get all the information i can and theres alot to go through on this forum thread xD im glad theres an active pup community though :D makes me feel happy that there are atleast quite a few people who still love pup the way i do

Sorry to ask this again but do we have any good GearSwap files floating around anywhere that I could base one off for PUP?

And best way to skill up Puppet skills?

Oh yeah, suggesting beating Tumult Curator was fairly sarcastic as it is one of the hardest mobs in the entire game, even for super elite groups. But with the Unity dial campaign existing, it's worth mentioning - like I said, I know a couple people who got it last time that campaign happened, so keep an eye out if it comes again.

For Reisenjima T1 Herculean gear:
Top priorities are hands (Taelmoth the Diremaw) and feet (Belphegor). PUP's best role on them is probably using the automaton to tank, especially nice for being immune to Belphegor's charm.

Head is good too, from Oryx (where PUP is also probably best as a tank). Though for head, I tend to use Hizamaru+1 (if I can take advantage of the Martial Arts) or Ryuo path A (for high acc set) more for my master DD set.

Herc legs are fine, but Samnuha or Hizamaru+1 are generally better. They drop from Selkit - frequent hate resets means tanking with a reliance on fairly long voke/flash timers is not that great. PUP's probably best here as PUP/NIN (to absorb some deadly AoE) and acting as a melee DD.

On any master-focused Herculean stuff, you're after Triple Attack (+3~4%) and Accuracy as priorities, then whatever other DD stats you can manage: Atk, Store TP, DA, Crit, DEX or STR, etc. For WS pieces, looking more for STR/Crit/Acc&Atk. I'd suggest Fern stones for armor, as they force the "special" slot (where TA happens) to appear and increase max value to TA+4 (non-Fern max is TA+3). Pellucid stones force the Acc/Atk slot, which isn't bad either. And Taupe stones force attribute and increase max value from 10 to 15 (Taupe tends to be good for WS pieces and weapons).


Yep, good ol' Anwig is still king. Pair it with some mix of Taeon and Rao pet DT pieces. Personally, I tend to like 4/5 Taeon DT-4% with Meva 20+ and Regen+3... But Rao is excellent too, and has advantages like more HP (not just for survival, but helps enmity).

I really liked doing rieves in inner rakaznar almost no one kills them for skilling autos

Why bother with reives for skillups? I'd suggest fighting something where you actually get additional benefit instead of just grinding skill. Go to Reisenjima and solo for CP/stones/silt/beads, go to Escha-Sky and pop Warders, etc.

WHM RDM puppets will cap easily just casting spells on you and enfeebles on mobs. VE and SS (SS body/VE head maybe easiest) will still have satisfactory accuracy with attachments, unless you're SUPER low skill (like, sub-200). Just fight stuff.

Just remember to deploy the puppet and let it act like a dumb trust while you solo. Grab a percolator if you like and add in water manevuers for skill up rate increase. Slap a Repeater and Drum Magazine on Sharpshot for faster ranged skillups (note: Drum Machine was changed in 2015 and has no accuracy penalty, it's purely ranged attack speed reduction now). Turbo Chargers for melee skill.

Pre-1200 JP, are apex mobs still a viable option for leveling?

If so, what attachment setups would you recommend, assuming blm frame (If not, please let me know which/set ups). I have a good idea for post-1200, but given limited options due to available elemments, which would work best.

If apex are not viable, which mobs would be best suited?

I should know this information, I'll admit, but I honestly haven't been able to play pup in ages due to being pigeonholed into
blu/geo...

Missed the above post explaining already. My bad.

Alright i have one last possible stupid question but this is one i cant find ANYWHERE.

so i started working on my master only ambu cape. i went with atk/acc, STR, and im curious as to whether i should go with DA or WSD+

if i remember right, WSD+ only procs on the first hit of the WS, correct? so that would make DA the optimal choice?

Idk i peferd semi afk skill uping personaly

Yes, WSDMG only applies to the first hit. DA would be most beneficial because you can use it for both TP and WS if you want to as a master only cape.

Would Crit hit rate only apply to first hit also? I'd think (without much knowledge on the subject...) if not, that would be better than DA, no?

Critical hit rate and Critical hit damage apply to every hit of a WS that can critcal.

Going back to Stamos' post then, wouldn't that be moreso worthwhile for pummel/smite than DA, which only hits on the first hit?

While you're probably right, DA can proc twice. However, if you want to make something that's good for both WS and TP, then DA may be the larger total increase. It's something that would have to be checked with a spreadsheet.

Given that we can make multiple capes like most all other jobs, I don't see that as being an issue unless you're playing vanilla XI.

It can be an issue if you're unwilling to make more than a couple capes for PUP (due to wanting to allocate resources to other jobs), particularly for a function that isn't highly relevant.