Seekers Of Adoulin Reward Rings - 2022 Edition

Spurred by some recent discussion on the NIN forum (mostly about Shneddick Ring), I'm curious to see general opinions on rings given the current state of the game. To me, this is always a choice that is highly dependent on personal situation and the jobs/tasks/strategies that are important to the person. But there are also points that are broadly relevant. My take below, but absolutely interested in other people's thoughts here!

Personally, I'd lump the reward rings into 4 tiers:

(1)Irreplaceable if you care about the stat:
Orvail Ring: Totally unique crafting piece, so worthwhile for high end crafting characters. Niche use case for sure, but overwhelmingly useful for that niche to the point of being impossible to pass up.

(2)Valuable options in 2022:
Karieyh Ring: This has been reduced a bit in utility with newer WSD options (Epaminondas's, Beithir for most jobs), or something like Sroda Ring for capped attack STR WS for the jobs that can use it. But still, WSD+4% from Karieyh +1 remains a top 2 ring for many commonly used WS by a wide variety of jobs. Aside from that, it doubles as a nifty utility piece with Regain+5 for idle sets (not the reason to pick the ring, but a nice perk). The NQ version (WSD+3%) is a harder sell, but the +1 (WSD+4%) still holds up today.

Also relevant that other WS ring options like Epam and Sroda are quite expensive, and still other common WS options like Regal Ring are not easily obtained. So, I could see someone who can't afford those or get drops using Kari as a great "free" alternative (which you can always drop later to switch to another ring if/when you get the other WS options).

Shneddick Ring: I always kinda viewed this as a piece for mules or for convenience, for the 18% movement speed on one piece instead of having to get a movement speed piece for each job (some of which cap at 12% from other options too). If you aren't able to make use of Orvail, Karieyh, or Weatherspoon... I can see this as the reasonable next choice over the other super-niche options. However... I've seen others make arguments that this is the best choice in 2022 due to the ability to put together 18% movement speed sets with better defensive stats by getting movement in the ring slot and using the legs/feet they would have otherwise used (e.g., Carmine +1 legs) for a stronger Meva/Eva/DT piece.

Personally, I'm not entirely convinced - it's certainly YMMV as to whether you're pulling large groups of mobs and needing BOTH movement speed and strong defense at the same time. And for examples something like pulling a pack of mobs in Sheol, Sortie, Omen... I can see the argument for better defensive gear, but do you really need 18% movement speed for that? You aren't kiting stuff, you're basically rounding up a few mobs in a relatively small area and letting them swing away at you. So, I see this more as a niche piece for a puller who really wants to have both movement speed and max defensive sets at the same time (maybe a PLD rounding up huge pulls of Apex mobs or something).

Weatherspoon Ring: Almost in the top category of irreplaceable, since you can't get light elemental affinity in any other non-weapon slot. By far the best in slot choice for light elemental WS like Trueflight, Seraph Blade, Primal Rend. Doubling as a BiS Fast Case piece is just gravy - I don't know that I'd suggest anyone pick this just for the little bit of additional fast cast these days over the other available options, but if you're already able to make use of the ring for light WS purposes, FC is a nice little perk.

(3) Super situational, probably not worth it for anyone but people who really care about that ultra-specific niche:
Haverton Ring: BiS Snapshot Ring (and one of only two options along with Crepuscular's Snap+3), BiS Ranged Accuracy Ring, and the only DW ring means it does have some possible uses with slightly less orthodox sets. But you give up a lot to get it, particularly for RNG being one of the jobs that would most care about ranged stats having a phemomenal DPS alternative in Weatherspoon. Could be possibly useful for super niche purposes like a THF wanting to do a lot of ranged DPS in Sheol Gaol fights, or even a COR getting some use out of DW, Racc, and Snap (at the expense of other ring options).

Janniston Ring: Cure potency II/Enm- can be useful. Probably need to be a super dedicated WHM to care though, and not get use out of the other options. But I could see this for a WHM only dualbox bot or something.

Thurandaut Ring: Is it a good pet-only ring? Sure. Is it necessary? Nah. Has some niche use for things like PUP automaton-only Overdrive fights, but for other purposes like pet DT sets it's... sort of irrelevant? Easy to cap pet DT without this, so tends to be more useful for pet haste/acc/atk, which you don't really need when PUP tanking. BST's lack of current emphasis on pet DPS means it's not so important for that job (and a hardcore BST who has an Aymur would be really tempted to go Weatherspoon for those sweet Primal Rends). Varar/+1 and C.Palug Ring existing means that there are good alternatives without giving up your one Adoulin reward.

Woltaris Ring: Well, Woltaris +1 giving refresh +2 is BiS for idle, and Sublimation at least gives is some additional utility beyond what Renaye Ring offers. But with Stikini+1 existing for Refresh+1 per ring slot, it's a minimal gain and seems like a waste of a reward. If you're picking for idle piece only, movement speed +18% may be more useful.

(4) No good argument to pick tier
Adoulin Ring: A little bit of everything = not particularly good at anything. Basically, any possible use for this, you could replace with a better 2 ring combo for better results.

Gorney Ring: TH+1 is unique in the slot, but ultimately pretty useless. For non-THFs who care about keeping a TH+4 (maximum level from non-THF or RNG), we already have a very easily obtained all jobs TH+1 belt (Chaac) and ammo (Perfect Lucky Egg), and then you only need a single piece of DM-augmented TH+2 Reisenjima gear to cap. I guess if you reeeeealy wanted that as a placeholder until getting a TH Oseem augment, you could always drop this ring and replace later - but that's a real stretch of a solid use case.

Renaye Ring: If you really wanted refresh +2, Woltaris +1 gives that too and has better additional idle stats (regen/sublimation). Singing/Geomancy skill is irrelevant and can be obtained in other slots, and blue magic skill is of extremely minimal importance (e.g, unlikely chance that this skill from ring slot results in hitting another tier on Occultation, versus next best options of Stikini/+1)

Vocane Ring: I see some people who like this one, and honestly I don't get it. It's the second best DT- in the ring slot, true. But it's not hard for any job in the game to cap DT- without Vocane, especially now that Nyame set exists. I guess there's some use in reducing knockback (for people who don't cheat use Anchor :P), but not enough to make it worth picking this ring, IMO.