String Theory: A Puppetmaster's Guide *NEW*

Keep in mind that String Theory hasn't been maintained in over a year now, as Fabiano has been inactive.

I'd argue that mine is better as master damage far outpaces the maton's, especially if you are getting any kind of typical DD party buffs. This was largely already the case before the HTH update, but ever since then the gap has widened massively. It's typically just not worth it focusing on pet stats outside of capping Pet: Haste and squeezing in Pet: Acc wherever you aren't losing out on master stats.

Also, I went through my item sets and tried to update all my existing PUP ones. They should be BiS as far as I know unless the title/notes say Old or something like that.

Awesome. Ty sir!

I currently use this as my TP set for Master Only PUP. If I need the accuracy then swapping in Malignance Head/Body is the go to for this for the multi-hit sacrifice (less important with Kenkonken over Verethragna/Godhands/Xiucoatl). I have tried other combination and the x-hit (5-6 hit), depending on weapon, when you factor in multi-attack.
-Malignance Chapeau for Ryuo Somen other head option
-Ryuo Domaru or Malignance Tabard for Tali'ah Manteel +2 are other body options

What are your thoughts?
What is the overall best (capped situation) master focused TP set for PUP to date?

ItemSet 362292
Ryuo Somen +1 - Path C
Ryuo Domaru +1 - Path D

Ideally, you'd wanna use something like this to build 3k TP for AM3:

ItemSet 353251

- Perfect Samnuha Tights are also great, I just prefer the extra Attack, PDT and more STP
- Cessance is perfectly fine instead of Baldr Earring +1

Followed by switching to full STP once AM3 is up:

ItemSet 375075

- stacking STP has diminishing returns, hence Gere/Niqmdaddu rings instead of Chirich +1 (TA/QA won't "negatively" affect AM3 like DA anyway)
- HTH skill from Combatant's may add less Acc/Atk than Shulmanu, but the skill also increases HTH base damage

Malignance may have less STP than Ryuo, but the massive defensive benefits of Malignance are just too good to pass up. The high MEVA makes you largely immune to Amnesia, Stun, Paralyze, Slow, Petrify etc. all of which would substantially reduce your DPS if not removed immediately. The DT makes sure you won't get randomly one-shotted and the high Acc allows you to eat Grape Daifuku without worry.

Aerix, I've recently exchanged my Thur. Ring for a different one, what would you say would be the current BiS to replace that, and what (if any) gear would need to change due to the swapping?

Sets I'd be referring to would be Bruiser, Overdrive, and Pet only TP/WS

Thurandaut Ring (+1) makes gearing a lot simpler for several maton sets, but you only have to make minor concessions overall.

Bruiser:
ItemSet 375079

- Cape has to have Pet: PDT instead of DT to cap with AP4+OFs
- Anwig has to have Pet: Haste/DT
- the above set requires minimal interaction in case you have other things to watch out for, but if you want to optimize: use Ohtas/Domes. Earring/Taeon feet for TP phase, then just swap to Xiucoatl for WS

Overdrive:
ItemSet 375080

- note the Dispersal Mantle instead of Visucius
- technically swapping between TP and WS sets would be more optimal, but due to maton multistep WS speed and its unpredictability I wouldn't recommend bothering

Pet TP:
ItemSet 375081

- Tali'ah head +2 is a good alternative to Taeon head
- this is practically just as good as the Thurandaut set; it's basically just 6 STP vs. 20 Acc, 2% DA and some DT

Pet WS:
ItemSet 375082

- Naga Path D
- alternatively you could make specialized Pet DEX Herc sets for ranged WS instead of using Karagoz/Naga for legs/feet, which would probably win out with a good roll

Aerix, regarding your Pet TP set, in the head slot, wouldn't the Tali'ah head be better than Taeon head? Tali'ah head I believe (I'm not online atm to look) gives Pet: Acc +42 along with Pet: STP +7

Would that not be a better option?

It's definitely a good and cheaper alternative and the Acc is a very valid advantage. You can't go wrong with it for sure. Thanks for pointing that out, I'll add it to the post above.

The reason I prefer Taeon is two-fold: one, because a fully buffed Sharpshot maton with the right gear and attachments is an absolute powerhouse in pet burns and in longer fights it will almost always pull hate or take damage from AoEs. It's not as disposable as avatars, so you don't want to risk losing your maton too easily, hence the DT.

Second reason is because matons don't use STP/x-hit builds efficiently. They will almost always over-TP for a bit before WSing--and while excess TP certainly does a lot for WSs like Arcu, DA will typically grant a similar benefit while also improving white damage. Maton white damage is actually surprisingly good with Magniplugs and honestly one of the main reasons we can parse equal to or higher than SMNs outside of 1hr burns. My bias toward DA mostly comes from my old tests of Companion's Roll with full STP builds, though. Comp Roll made STP matter very little, so the bigger chunks of TP and white damage from DA just won out.

That said, I didn't/couldn't parse Taeon head vs Tali'ah head specifically back then, so it's quite possible Tali'ah might win out. The difference will be extremely small in either direction regardless.

For anyone that has tested it, what would be better for a WS set, NQ Ryuo Tekko path A or Pitre Dastanas +3? I have the tekko already and don't want to spend to upgrade the dastanas if they under perform

For SP and VSmite Ryuo A should win unless you're missing too much Attack. For any non-crit WS you're better off with Pitre Dastanas +3. Although you could probably augment a pair of Herc hands with TA+4%, Acc/Atk and the matching main stat for better results that'll also cost less.

anybody know what sort of gear/attachment/frame setup would be good to "solo" up in arms bc?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7irqF7X-yi8

Currently trying to trio farm Omen using the following party comp:

Cor/Mnk, Pup/War, Smn/Rdm

Pup has 4/5 Rao gear and Taeon body, and the standard pup tank stuff.

Smn is mostly leaning on Flaming Crush spam, hitting for 20~30k

Cor is putting up pet rolls.

Looking for thoughts on this setup for the pup tank, specifically for Glassy Gorger/Thinker to avoid the buff absorb issue.

• VE Head

• VE Body

• Strobe

• Strobe II

• Auto-Repair Kit IV

• Optic Fibre

• Optic Fibre II

• Armor Plate IV

• Barrier Module

• Barrier Module II

• Schurzen

• Mana Jammer IV

• Mana Jammer

• Disruptor

Will mostly stick to Light+Earth+Fire as the maneuvers, for Voke, Schurzen, and Regen.

Unfortunately there isnt enough light space to use ARK4+Fibre1+Fibre2+Flashbulb when using VE head/body, so we decided we would rather lose Flash than downgrade the regen. We will have to see how well the pup holds hate with just voke.

The ideal here is for the pup to not be casting any buffs whatsoever on it, thus nullifying the core mechanic for gorger and making thinker hopefully easier, and Schurzen to help buffer against Pain Sync.

Ok so now for thoughts and a sanity check on the last part of our idea...

The pup is /war for berserk, and the Cor is /mnk for counterstance. Thoughts on abusing these two and basically letting gorger soak up just those two buffs alone, which I believe totals up to 75% defense down?

Can have 60% uptime on berserk, and 100% uptime on counterstance, so it should be pretty easy.

Thoughts on this strategy? Finally this should hopefully result in the automaton using Bone Crusher as its main WS, with those maneuvers, right? Bone Crusher > Flaming Crush is a light SC, so the ideal is to SC that combo as much as we can, when we can.

Some notes for Glassy Gorger:

It's weak to Slashing, so you'll want to use Garuda and Predator Claws as it should perform a lot better than Flaming Crush, even if you can't SC anymore. You won't have to delay BPs waiting for the maton, either.

You can also gear the maton fully for a Bruiser setup without losing PDT with Soulsoother Head/VE body (it only has a little bit less skill). It can work with Rao+1 gear, but Acc/DA/DT Taeon will yield much better results. Although Glassy Gorger is Slashing weak you can also OD zerg it on PUP with VE/Sharpshot as well with rolls and the right gear/attachments. It won't mesh well with a SMN BPing, so you may want to just OD on your Bruiser tankmaton. Just something to keep in mind.

Bruiser (not recommended for fights with heavy magic damage):

• Soulsoother + Valoredge, Light+Wind+Fire

• Strobe 1+2

• Attuner

• Magniplug 2

• Flame Holder

• Turbo Charger 1+2

• Armor Plate 4

• Flashbulb

• Optic Fiber 1+2

• Auto-Repair Kit IV

I've never tried letting Gorger absorb Counterstance, but it seems like a neat idea. Just keep in mind that any buff on Gorger will increase its defenses and damage output as well, so you'll want to make sure it really only absorbs Berserk/CS and nothing else.


Glassy Thinker:

I'm afraid Schurzen won't work at all against Pain Sync, to my knowledge. It only prevents death via physical damage and Pain Sync is breath damage according to BGwiki.

Honestly this one is a bit tricky because a strong WS from your maton during Pain Sync can get your pets killed. It'll cost you damage, but it's much safer if you equip an Inhibitor to your maton, hold 1k+ TP on the master and prevent it from WSing altogether except when it can close into Light after Flaming Crush.

The SC damage will suck in comparison, but at least you can time the FCs so Bone Crusher will never hit hit a Pain Sync. Alternatively you could make a VE/Harle setup tank without Inhibitor as Magic Mortar will deal low damage and pose no risk. The COR could Tactician Roll or shoot and then Savage Blade -> Flaming Crush.

Addendum: the SMN could get Tactician Roll from the COR and 3k TP Shell Crusher all your bosses at the start to inflict a 9 minute -25% Defense Down without putting yourself at risk. Glassy Thinker would probably Erase it at some point, though.

Anyone else seen these videos? Thoughts? It's not solo but it's absurdly impressive.

I saw them like week agoand yeah it was impressive af and automaton solo Vinipata is super fun to watch :D

wow nice vids, would love to know more on sets and support used here.

That's quite impressive indeed. Didn't think HELMs were that tame while lowmanning, but I guess with Overdrive and Malignance that's not a huge surprise anymore.

Now I'm sad I never bothered to attempt this for my PUP vids before Aewyl did it lol

I've been having trouble with my BLM puppet magic bursting lately. Even with amplifiers and only deploying as the skillchain is happening in a party, the Automaton usually casts Thunder V regardless of the chain. I didn't have this much trouble before, so it's really confusing. Although now I'm wondering if it's just because most of the skillchains I was bursting were light so Thunder V as default didn't matter.

Any tips, tricks, or reasoning for the difficulty? I tried a few other attachment layouts, such as scanner or tactical processor just to see if they would make the AI smarten up when bursting, but no luck. I really enjoy magic bursting when I can, so I'd love to be able to make this consistent!

From my limited attempts at mbing puppet you need to deploy about a second after the sc is closed for amplifiers to kick in, any sooner and it wont register. Similar to the sc attachment where it waits about 2~ seconds to close the initial sc

This. If I’m playing it safe, I wait until I see the skillchain animation start before I deploy. You can get it to register before that but it can be tricky if you’re not used to it. YRMV

Thanks, I'll try that! That probably is the difference, as my success with magic bursting consistently came from laggier scenarios than what I was subject to yesterday and today.

I'll give that a shot. Appreciate the help!

Aside from potential MP concerns due to free nukes there's actually no serious drawback to keeping your Automaton deployed on the enemy. Amplifiers have a hidden effect that will reset the maton's global nuking cooldown if it registers a skillchain, so as long as it's not stuck doing something else it will always be able to MB. In fact, keeping your maton deployed is somewhat beneficial as it'll slowly extend Maneuver duration and make it easier to maintain triple Ice without overloading.

Another thing to note is that equipping Scanner will prevent the maton from spamming Aspirs on dark-resistant enemies such as Kei. And, although the BLM head has built-in AI that will target elemental weaknesses, there's a chance Scanner may improve that aspect as well.

To a degree doesn’t this depend on how quickly skillchains are going off? I’ve been in situations wheee I’ve left my little guy deployed and he’s missed mb windows when they’ve been 10-15 seconds apart. It is pretty fun to see your auto squeeze in a tier II nuke right at the end of a window though and still do 30k+ lol.

+1 on the scanner also.

Yes, if skillchains happen too quickly the maton may have trouble keeping up, but from my experience that's the case whether you Retrieve/Deploy or just keep them deployed all the time.

It's just one of the innate maton limitations due to how often the AI checks for changes. It's the whole reason Tactical Processor exists and it's usually the solution to that problem at the cost of some damage.

I've been under the impression for awhile that I should be expecting bigger numbers on average from Victory Smite/Stringing Pummel, but lately I've been seeing my Shijin Spiral numbers be pretty consistently higher. Is that weird? Or do I just need a really good gearset for Victory Smite/Stringing Pummel to be the consistently better WSs?

Shijin Spiral:
https://www.ffxiah.com/item-sets/375631

Victory Smite/Stringing Pummel:
https://www.ffxiah.com/item-sets/375632

Neither of my gearsets are amazing as you can tell. In both cases I am using a 10% DA Cape, as I don't have a 10% Crit cape yet. If I swapped in a few improved crit pieces would I really expect to see a big difference? Or was I just misinformed about Shijin Spiral being a weaker WS to the other two? Even with 2000-3000% TP to pretty much guarantee the crits I find the crit WSs rarely do more damage.

attack bonus would be the short of it, pups already atk starved and that VS set isnt helping that any

Hmm, I'll try swapping the heyoka legs/feet out for the Pitre stuff since the attack boost is pretty big. Maybe that'll make the difference.

Thanks for your input.

To be quite honest, ever since the HTH patch Victory Smite has been fairly underwhelming on PUP even with R15 Verethragna unless you're specifically going for Light skillchains.

Howling Fist, Raging Fists (with high Attack buffs) and Stringing Pummel (with R15 Kenkonken) are typically the best WSs for raw damage. Shijin Spiral is really solid as well because it's very consistent.

Does this assume you are not tanking, or you are equipping Armor Plate and/or Mana Jammer?