Which Weapon Should I Get I'm Too Stupid To Pick!

It's also a great cure stick for SMN. Yes, I know that only applies to me, but still...

WS mod works on offhand, presumably also ranged? Untested probably.

Once. It's on 20h cooldown.

How about the Flametongue/Ice Brand/Air Knife's additional WS attribute mods? Anyone tested those to confirm whether they still work if you're offhanding the weapon?

10% Stat for WS on air, ice and flame works from offhand, you don't have access to FBII from offhand. EDIT: it was tested by person winning flame from bonanza several months ago.

That's right but I wasn't talking about the pants, I was talking about Ghorn's Song+4 vs Miracle Cheer's Song+3.

It's... not a big deal, as I mentioned before a compromise I would gladly accept for easier time sticking Ballads with Pianissimo.
Slightly less potency though, that's -1 MP/tic

I was away for a bit but I'd like a little more detail on this.

I think what he meant is that for second ballad to overwrite a song different than the first ballad (so generally you want to apply 2 ballads, not just one) you need duration pants or otherwise you will need to wait like almost a minute until ballad with +1 pants will be able to overwrite full potency/duration Minuet or March. With Cheer you can use +1 pants to match +4 instrument and has no problem at all to overwrite any non Cheer song right away.

Well you need a few things to make a fTP replicating WS like Fast Blade II do silly things. First is the TP Bonus to jack it's damage multiplier up, but you also need either lots of Multi-Attack or some sort of JA to ability to enhance it. This isn't Savage Blade so stacking +WSD isn't that great, you want +TA/DA/PDL.

FBII is 1.8/3.5/5.0 fTP per hit, two main hand hits, WSD is only effecting one of those and no off hand or multi-attack procs. A WAR can guarantee 2 extra hits and has enough TP Bonus to consistently be at 2~3K virtual TP. With offhand (Ikenga or TP Axe) we have 5 total hits, 17.5 ~ 25 fTP worth of hits that can be used to SC with Savage for a capped light. RDM can also reliably get two extra hits on average, just not as consistent due to Temper II TA doing feast or famine, so similar situation. BLU also does that but has better subjob and access to Expiacion for a strong 3, 4 or 5 hit multi-step. Stuff like Savage -> Expacian -> FBII -> Savage, then maybe CDC double light just cause. DNC can do Climatic for DNC silliness, THF has TA but I'm not an expert in it's gear choices to know how much it can reliably get.

Everyone else steps down from here because options seem more and more limited and Savage becomes a more reliable option cause everyone can use Nyame. I can see DRG consistently doing crazy numbers, they have the gear and traits for it I think.

Perma Killer Instinct and extended duration for sub job abilities (warcry 38 secs, berserk etc). Massive MAB for Aymur WS (which is magic).

We think it's just like Utu grip, which works off hand <troll face>

Killer instinct duration, only shield with MAB to boost damage from Primal Rend. It's also in general great for BST, because it boosts duration on JA from sub and makes skillchain windows on multistep skillchain super easy to hit even solo.

Good call on DRG! Great MA/PDL and traits.

Makes your BST god mode. It’s also wonderful for Farsha because of cloud splitter being magic, and it’s usable on WAR with max fencer as well. This shield is best shield for Farsha war, you can also temper II or mythic AM3 rdm and make your own 6 steps for magic burst damage.

This shield is a solid pick.

You can even use it for AM3 yagrush solo 6 step WHM melee dps. You can also use AM3 w/ vajra to reliably 6 step since the skillchain windows are more relaxed.

So uhh, I picked up Flametongue.

I'm working only with Trust buffs mind you.

But I went ahead and tried it out both in the offhand and main hand. On Locus Dhalmels.

Its Fencer results were actually surprisingly high. Like within reach of doing similar numbers to Naegling by itself. (Eyeballin' baby)

The add effect from fire is equal to my STR, and procs on every hit. Fencer by itself, it's 397~409(Monbie STR buff) Dual wield in offhand with Farsha it's 449~461

The add effect is subject to resists, but didn't get resisted often.

Offhanding it with Naegling might be a little bit insane... I felt like wasn't missing Fencer much. (of course this might be from Dual Wield actually capping my delay reduction, which I technically don't have when in Fencer build with just Trusts)

I am pleased with this pick. It is one part fun and memey and another part like... kinda sidegrade/impressed me more than I thought!

Yeah I was looking over Gelti's Body / Legs for BLU and noticed DRG was on it, and there is a reason people /DRG when super buffed. Also noticed that Ikenga Axe has DEX on it...

Yes the siliness will commence...

I'm a little skeptical of the BST utlity here.

1) Killer Instinct won't change your party members' duration, so it's only giving the BST themselves the extra time on Killer (which is already weaker on NMs). 45 seconds of extra intimidate and DT-10%/dmg dealt+10% from just the BST? It's certainly something, but kinda hard for me to justify losing out on the other weapons just for that.

2) It's the best BST shield for magical WS, but wouldn't beat something like Malevolence (MDmg+118 MAB+44 Macc+35 INT+10). And TBH, most of the time magical WS aren't that great in situations where we're forced to single-wield (Gaol). If dual wielding: already mentioned Malevolence being better, Ikenga is prob better for Primal/Cloudsplitter if you have the TP Bonus, Magian TP Bonus axe is probably better. Agwu's might not win on WS damage, but will lead to higher WS frequency (and it's no slouch either for Primal Rend, with CHR+15 and WSD+5%). Ambu weapons are probably better, or at least competitive, due to having M.Dmg as well as some Mab.

3) People mention subjob JAs, but what subjob JAs on BST that would be affected get used?
* DOES THE DURATION BOOST WORK ON HASTE SAMBA? I don't know, but that looks like the most compelling case, and might be enough to justify picking this for BST.
* Beyond that, NIN DRG SAM don't give much (ooh, Ancient Circle and maybe an additional Meditate tic).
* Who's going BST/WAR to anything these days, and would this shield change that (I'm gonna say no)

I'd give strong consideration to the shield if PLD or WAR were my main concerns, and then BST gets a nice little treat as a secondary thing. But I wouldn't pick it solely for BST (and I'm a 4 REMA BST, so it's a job I clearly have some love for). Same deal for RDM, I prob wouldn't pick the shield solely for RDM, but yeah I'll take the extra Sabo duration if I already had the shield because of WAR or something.

Aero 1 IMMEDIATELY upon SC opening: 33600 - No bonus provided
Aero 1 @ 5 seconds left on skillchain: 38231 - 27 Magic burst bonus applied
Aero 1 @ 1-2 seconds left on skillchain: 34803- 7 magic burst bonus applied.

With MBB1 being capped with gear, this seems to apply like the job traits/JP/gifts/mbb2.

Since I am basically retired from FFXI and don't really see myself NEEDING anything here I will take the plunge and get Air Knife to report back whether it works the same way as FT/IB

None of the other weapons are groundbreaking.

I dont play bst that much, but offhanding Malevolence would imply using Cloudsplitter or Primal Rend, both of which have dmg based TP scaling.

A perfect Malevolence (without Fencer) is: Macc+35 MAB+44 MDMG+118 INT+10 MaccSkl+201
A diamond Aspis with Fencer is: Macc+40 MAB+30 TPBonus+450

Neither Axe EleWS are influenced by INT (atleast according to their pages they arent). Do the MDMG+118 and extra 14 MAB outweigh the 400TP Bonus and the extra duration to KI and maybe Berserk (presuming /war)

I think you kinda forgot about skillchain part. Making all the skillchain windows last 10 sec is huge for solo. Makes 4-6 step solo super easy, even with Fencer, which is pretty much almost impossible otherwise.

Well, think about it. If you love BST, what would you pick?

The shield will boost a whole lot of things for BST. That's the main take. Also, shield plays into BST fencer build which is nice. I'm positive prime stage 4-5 BSTs with 100% killer instinct uptime can be a competitive option for Oddy bosses.

aye but you wont have to cast in duration pants any more for ballad, so you can use the +1 ballad from that to stay at the same mp/tic. Unless you are already casting in ballad pants but IIRC that already creates issues.

probably some bcnm where those damn trust keep getting kill.
Ninja forever soloing job.

I do not understand the bard mindset. They have to sing every 13 mins, and still complain about having to sing. Do you even RDM BRUH?

Good point on Fencer, I wasn't including that. And it's actually 630TP Bonus when you add in BST gifts.

I don't find WAR JA arguments very compelling, because who's going BST/WAR to anything?

Don't get me wrong, there are uses on BST and if that was someone's ONLY job to consider, OK, shield looks like a decent call. But IDK, I think some of these other weapons are much more impactful to their jobs if you care about things beside just BST.

Anyone with shield though: would be great to know if Haste Samba duration is increased with it. That's probably the most useful subjob ability for a BST.

Like what? No Bonanza offers anything groundbreaking. That's what makes the shield interesting.

They are all just fun.

Does the shield have its own block rate btw? Or is it just Size 1 or what?

I got paralyzed with indecision and went to go watch Thunderbolts.

I feel like I just can't until I know the augmented versions.