RR And Predator Claws

i just wanted to make sure any smns reading this don't skim through and think the blm ele tier applies to smn spells. i fully support long winded and heated arguments. please continue =D.

There is not MAB cap. Or at least if there is it's higher than +1000. There is however a dint cap. Though it's doubtful we will ever be able to reach it without brew.

I used very poor wording in my post. I apologize for that. What I was thinking in my head was not what I ended up writing. What I should have said was that after a certain point, MAB does not add as much to damage as adding INT. I will not even pretend to be an expert at the math on this one. I just remember reading a thread about magical atmas for SMN and people responding that MM was giving the same or slightly more damage than Baying Moon when used with Beyond and Ultimate. I went out and used the BM/U/B trio and did not see an increase in my damage as compared to MM/U/B.

Aye more mab lowers how much int it would take to add the same amount of dmg though the opposite is true too... wish I had my old comp it had links that actually showed full formulas as well as avatar full stats at least for 75 for most the BPs and such. Even as far as having avatar base melee dmg (ie basically weapon dmg). Hard to do the exact math without that stuff though :(

Summoners!



Is this the best trial staff (the +3 version of this) for Predator Claws?
Is there a "best" staff for PC?

Thx in advance...

No, because attack doesn't help SMN. :x

Recent thread discussing attack.

There are no other competitive options (unless you need Acc), so it's the best.

Attack does affect avatars, just not much.

Got it.
Ty Niniann and Byrth.

If it had pet: STR+, then it would be well worth making, but it doesn't :/

Has there been any testing on a Blood Boon build to see what kind of damage it adds to your avatars Blood pacts with all four gear pieces?

Caller's Spats(2)+10
Diabolos's Rope +3
Gifted Earring +3
Soulscourge +5

I have the Callers set +2 as well.

Also, when using Predator Claws, is Soulscourge now the best staff to macro in?

Wasn't there testing to show that the AF3 bonus proc rate was separate from blood boon+ gear, or that it was still a really low proc rate?

Also iirc the amount of MP reduced from blood boon is random, and blood boon from gear only affects activation rate, so doesn't directly affect AF3 set damage.


Pretty much.

For soloing, I generally use MM/DG/SS.

For physical BPs, I've been using SS/RR/VV, though I guess I should find something else rather than SS according to what I've just read.

For magical BPs, I use MM/Ultimate, Beyond. This is the case even if I am not using Shiva since Beyond has MAB on it anyway. Guess I could give Noxious Fang a try next time I use Levi though.

I play with 5/5 AF3+2, and every other piece of Blood Boon gear out there (such as there are). My set bonus kicksin probably close to half the time, with Predator Clws having done as much as 9K on a regular mob in Aby, and 6K on a NM (can't remember which one).

MM is a good idea for soloing since Convert is a huge ris /rdm. However, I manage just fine without it most of the time. I get 3MP/tick with Garuda out, and that's before I cast Refresh. With a simple Refresh, I'm getting back plenty of MP to maintain my avatar continuously and do 2 BPs every 45 seconds for quite some time.

but...
Copied/pasted from Wiki:
Set: Augments "Blood Boon"
Occasionally increases damage of Blood Pacts when Blood Boon is triggered. Increased amount is proportional to the ratio of MP conserved.

Edit: Never mind. I see...

I did a test a while back on blood boon, lemme see if I can find the link.


Edit: Yea here it is http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/98644-Blood-Boon?highlight=blood+boon

You made that way harder on yourself(and comparatively less accurate) than it should have been. Maintain equipment with no additional BB enhancements, make Carbuncle remain free with no net MP gain, and set of a script to BP over and over while adding chat lines that call out your current MP before and after the BP, then go AFK. You could add a function to use Siphon on yourself every hour or so.

I only had 1 piece of BB (it was right after the first expansion came out and spats +1 were the first piece I got) The reason I wore them, was to see how it effected the trait, weather it added +% to proc or increased the mps conserved. Carby was free (it says so in the analysis) and I don't know how to do the rest of it, I'm not a programmer.

"I set up carbuncle so that there would be 0 perp cost while I wasn't gaining any mps" +/- 0 mps idle

I understand that. It was part of the set of instructions to give you a much larger(and less skewed by equipment) sample size.

Why would you tell me to do something I already did? And yes I stated the sample size was small, due to the fact I did it manually and bp timers suck in that way. Did you read any of my post explaining the test? I still have yet to see why you said anything here at all regarding it, as none of it has been helpfull or new compared to what I did other than the line about writing a script for it (which would be nice to get some better data, however like I said I don't program)

I apologize for giving you instructions for making your tests more accurate in a way that would require very little of your own time. I can see how that would come off as not helpful.

It won't happen again.

Like I said, you didn't offer anything that I hadn't already done. Its like reminding you to keep breathing throughout your day, its a nice gesture (though odd) but completely unecessary. You could provide coding for the procedure, and I could let it run all night and get a larger sample size, even with +0 BB to full +BB items equiped. That would be very helpful.

No, it doesn't. I promise. Even with 100% blood boon activation, you would only see about 10% set bonus activation based on testing done so far.

6k is probably not a set bonus activation. Without set bonus, Pred Claws should generally do 1800-2600 on Lv75 content outside Abyssea and 3-6k inside Abyssea. You're probably thinking the set bonus is activating so often just based on the large variation in damage that Pred Claws does. A 50/50 split between 3k's and 6k's is fairly normal in Abyssea, and has nothing to do with the set bonus. My guess is that 6k means the first swing was a crit, 3k means the first swing was non-crit, and 300 damage means the first swing missed entirely. (Kegsay did some testing which revealed that the first swing was responsible for most of the damage from Pred Claws.)

I know this is a wee bit late and im sorry if my question has been answered. But with ATT having so little effect on physical BPs is it better to fly on 5/5 af3+2 and disregard pieces like Soulscourge, karura hachigane(in the case of PC), summoner's pigaches, mujin obi(if i ever get around to getting one), and physical att merits?

Summoner was my first 75 back in 2005 but unfortunately with the needs of my small group its been severely neglected and ive been feeling bad about it. So ive started looking into updating BP sets and such. I tried to read most of the posts in this thread, but ended up skimming most of it since its mostly back and forths of differing opinions lol.

Below is how i generally would go about it with garuda. But would it be easier to replace the feet and legs with af3+2?


And just to throw it in....the toss up here would be between af3+2 hands or summoner's bracers for +10skill will admit skill is a good bit under cap from lack of use :/



Side notes i have 5/5 physical accuracy and Magic attack bonus merits.

The way the game is right now I would say it's better just to stick with af3+2 for the small increase to the set proc rate, given the way attack does so little for avatars, and acc is not an issue anymore, there's nothing for physical pacts out right now that beats the chance to do double damage.

With the 99 content being developed, we'll see if relic hands/AF legs are actually worth using again when it comes out.

As for soulscourge, I use it for physical BPs really because I carry it for siphon anyway, and blood boon +5 is nice for saving MP, wether it affects af3 set proc or not.

I'd agree on 5/5 +2. The avatar attack from Karura and Summoner's Pigaches, & 10-12 skill from relic hands are miniscule boosts.

However, I don't agree on Soulscourge, Mujin Obi, and physical attack merits. Mainly because there are no superior alternatives for physical BPs, except in the case of Soulscourge which could be replaced by a Pet:Attack magian staff. So you should still use those.

Lastly, for god's sake man get a Sacrifice Torque! Go get it right now! Swap it in for any physical BP, and when you need to wake yourself up.

Right now here's my Pred Claws setup:


I do have 5/5 physical attack merits, and I do feel they help, although not to the degree that most would expect for investing 5 merits. I recognize that the damage boost to magic BPs would be much better by avatar:MAB merits, but I just don't use magic BPs enough to care.

Found this on BG regarding the Stage 2 of Summoner's Pigaches +2.

Trial 5028: Summoner's Pigaches +2: Adds "Increases Sp. 'Blood Pact crit. dmg."

I think we may end up having a new pair of feet for our physical pacts depending on how much this adds.