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While it's often unfeasable or unwise in EXP party settings, there are ways to completely negate certain mob TP moves. It's not exactly common knowledge, so I thought I'd post what I've found here. But, before that, I'll have to explain how mob TP works. Mobs gain TP in the following ways:
- When a mob hits you, it gets TP according to its Delay just like us. The great majority of all mobs have 240 Delay, and thus get 6.4 TP per hit.
- When you hit a mob, it gets your base TP (i.e. Store TP does not count towards mob TP) + 3, minus whatever percentage of Subtle Blow you have.
- When a spell lands on a mob for direct initial damage (even Dia or Bio, as long as they land for more than 0 damage) the mob gets 10 TP, minus whatever percentage of Subtle Blow you have.
As you can see, mobs gain TP pretty damned fast, and you have absolutely no hopes of out-TP'ing the mob unless 1) you don't get hit at all (/NIN) and 2) you have a good mix of Subtle Blow and Store TP. Fortunately, mobs don't spam TP moves like us (most of the time.) As long as the mob has more than 20% of its HP left, it has a low, random chance at the end of each attack round to use its TP (assuming it has more than 100 TP.) This is also the reason for the infamous double attack-sickle slash/screwdriver one-shots in EXP parties. When a mob has less than 20% of its HP, THEN it'll use its TP as soon as it reaches 100 (and I do mean immediately.) Therefore, if the mob had TP beforehand, it'll use its TP the second its HP drops below 20%.
As long as the battle is not extremely drawn out (in other words, as you're sticking to EP-EM mobs) there's a good chance that the mob won't use its TP move until you take it down to 20%. Most of these "strategies" revolve around the fact that we can anticipate the TP move. Some of these strategies require you to start moving BEFORE the TP move begins. Others can be performed simply as a reaction to the "xxx readies such-and-such attack" message if you're quick. Let's start with some easy ones.
Smite of Rage: This attack is notorious for its long start-up. What most people don't know is that you actually have enough time to get out of its range if you start moving as soon as you see it preparing Smite of Rage. As an added bonus, the Weapon stays inactive for about 2 seconds after the move is supposed to execute, and there's plenty of distance between you and it, giving you some breathing time (or even run away!)
Whirl of Rage: You pretty much can't avoid this one, but you should follow the same strategy as Smite of Rage regardless - Whirl of Rage stuns, after all, and the enemy may get a free hit on you. If you put as much distance between you before the attack hits, you should become unstunned just before the Weapon reaches you.
Bomb Toss: Run away as soon as you see this move. If it's a suicide Bomb Toss, you can get out of its range altogether. If you're duo'ing or have a pet, and you run away quickly, the bomb may travel far enough to put your pet/duo partner out of its range. If you're duoing, though, you should encourage your partner to run in the opposite direction - if you're slow to react for whatever reason, then your partner might still get hit, and it's a good idea to avoid the suicide bomb anyways. What's better than a free kill that doesn't cost you HP? Note that while it's often impossible, I've had rare instances in which I actually outrun the bomb if I start running before the Goblin starts readying the move.
Selfdestruct: I haven't tried it recently, but I'm fairly sure you can also get out of this one's range simply by unlocking and running away promptly.
Now, this is the neatest trick I've found so far. I've made it work on Goblin Rush and Death Scissors, but I believe it works on most single-target melee physical TP moves (Bludgeon, Uppercut, Fang Rush, Sickle Slash, etc.) It's actually quite easy to do, too. Simply start moving backwards before the TP move begins (i.e. you know it's at a low enough HP that the next one or two hits will take it down to 20% HP) and you'll get out of the move's range before it hits you. It works even if you're just stepping backwards (i.e. locked on to the enemy.) Obviously, your chances are better if you're not locked on, if you don't mind turning your back on the enemy for a bit.
Gaze attacks: Most people know this already. Turn around before it hits and it won't affect you. Use the fact that you can often anticipate when it'll happen to turn around in advance.
Another thing many people don't know: BARSPELLS PROTECT AGAINST "STAT DOWN." Don't you hate Gastric Bomb (50% Attack Down from Worms?) Barwatera it. Don't you hate Sonic Wave (50% Defense Down from Dhalmels?) Baraero it. Accuracy Down? Barstonra. Evasion Down? Barblizzara. I've resisted Gastric Bomb a couple of times from T Land Worms soloing as RDM/RNG in Qufim because of Barwater. It's not guaranteed, but nothing kills my EXP chains faster than 50% Attack Down. The lower the enemy's level compared to you, the better your chances of resisting. You can also use Barspells to resist status ailments (Barparalyzra + Barblizzara to resist Roar from Tigers, etc.) but most people know that already. Works great against RDM mobs with Spikes and/or Enspells, or in Conflict to protect yourself against Added Effects, as well.
Another random bit of info that may prove to be useful: WS have more range than the mob's meleeing range. Comes in handy for, let's say, THFs soloing worms with Archery/Marksmanship without /RNG sub. You can stand just out of the worm's attack range and still hit it with your WS.
Of course, you can also avoid melee TP moves by anticipating them and using Flash or Third Eye right before it. Flash gives you a 12 second leeway, but you'd have to nail Third Eye perfectly (probably the best idea is to wait until the mob attacks, Third Eye and WS right after to take it below 20% and force it to use a TP move before it can take off Third Eye with a normal attack.) I'd mention Utsusemi but that's pretty obvious ;P
Another neat trick: Backwards tanking. It's possible to (fairly) safely tank a mob backwards while still hit it. All you have to do is find out how long your weapon's Delay is in seconds (Delay/60). Swing, then turn around immediately. Count the delay manually, then immediately turn towards the mob and back. Note that there will be a slight Delay before your character responds and performs the hitting animation after you turn towards the mob - don't wait for the animation to start before turning your back again. As long as your "turn" is up, you can just turn towards the mob and back immediately, the attack will still get done even if the animation comes out somewhat late. Most gaze attacks have a longer start-up time than normal TP moves, so this is pretty safe. Of course, since you're tanking backwards, you're pretty much giving up any possibility of shielding (and parrying, though that's besides the point.) May as well use a two-handed weapon for both the sake of damage, and minimizing how often you have to turn around.
Keep one thing in mind: if to avoid a TP move you depend on reacting IMMEDIATELY to it, watching the chat log may not always be the best idea. In particular, when things are very spammy, the message that the mob is readying its TP move will come out late. However, the TP move animation should happen immediately (sometimes slightly earlier than the message will show up in the chat log,) so if you don't want to take chances, it may be better to watch for that instead.
I hope this info helps you out!
- When a mob hits you, it gets TP according to its Delay just like us. The great majority of all mobs have 240 Delay, and thus get 6.4 TP per hit.
- When you hit a mob, it gets your base TP (i.e. Store TP does not count towards mob TP) + 3, minus whatever percentage of Subtle Blow you have.
- When a spell lands on a mob for direct initial damage (even Dia or Bio, as long as they land for more than 0 damage) the mob gets 10 TP, minus whatever percentage of Subtle Blow you have.
As you can see, mobs gain TP pretty damned fast, and you have absolutely no hopes of out-TP'ing the mob unless 1) you don't get hit at all (/NIN) and 2) you have a good mix of Subtle Blow and Store TP. Fortunately, mobs don't spam TP moves like us (most of the time.) As long as the mob has more than 20% of its HP left, it has a low, random chance at the end of each attack round to use its TP (assuming it has more than 100 TP.) This is also the reason for the infamous double attack-sickle slash/screwdriver one-shots in EXP parties. When a mob has less than 20% of its HP, THEN it'll use its TP as soon as it reaches 100 (and I do mean immediately.) Therefore, if the mob had TP beforehand, it'll use its TP the second its HP drops below 20%.
As long as the battle is not extremely drawn out (in other words, as you're sticking to EP-EM mobs) there's a good chance that the mob won't use its TP move until you take it down to 20%. Most of these "strategies" revolve around the fact that we can anticipate the TP move. Some of these strategies require you to start moving BEFORE the TP move begins. Others can be performed simply as a reaction to the "xxx readies such-and-such attack" message if you're quick. Let's start with some easy ones.
Smite of Rage: This attack is notorious for its long start-up. What most people don't know is that you actually have enough time to get out of its range if you start moving as soon as you see it preparing Smite of Rage. As an added bonus, the Weapon stays inactive for about 2 seconds after the move is supposed to execute, and there's plenty of distance between you and it, giving you some breathing time (or even run away!)
Whirl of Rage: You pretty much can't avoid this one, but you should follow the same strategy as Smite of Rage regardless - Whirl of Rage stuns, after all, and the enemy may get a free hit on you. If you put as much distance between you before the attack hits, you should become unstunned just before the Weapon reaches you.
Bomb Toss: Run away as soon as you see this move. If it's a suicide Bomb Toss, you can get out of its range altogether. If you're duo'ing or have a pet, and you run away quickly, the bomb may travel far enough to put your pet/duo partner out of its range. If you're duoing, though, you should encourage your partner to run in the opposite direction - if you're slow to react for whatever reason, then your partner might still get hit, and it's a good idea to avoid the suicide bomb anyways. What's better than a free kill that doesn't cost you HP? Note that while it's often impossible, I've had rare instances in which I actually outrun the bomb if I start running before the Goblin starts readying the move.
Selfdestruct: I haven't tried it recently, but I'm fairly sure you can also get out of this one's range simply by unlocking and running away promptly.
Now, this is the neatest trick I've found so far. I've made it work on Goblin Rush and Death Scissors, but I believe it works on most single-target melee physical TP moves (Bludgeon, Uppercut, Fang Rush, Sickle Slash, etc.) It's actually quite easy to do, too. Simply start moving backwards before the TP move begins (i.e. you know it's at a low enough HP that the next one or two hits will take it down to 20% HP) and you'll get out of the move's range before it hits you. It works even if you're just stepping backwards (i.e. locked on to the enemy.) Obviously, your chances are better if you're not locked on, if you don't mind turning your back on the enemy for a bit.
Gaze attacks: Most people know this already. Turn around before it hits and it won't affect you. Use the fact that you can often anticipate when it'll happen to turn around in advance.
Another thing many people don't know: BARSPELLS PROTECT AGAINST "STAT DOWN." Don't you hate Gastric Bomb (50% Attack Down from Worms?) Barwatera it. Don't you hate Sonic Wave (50% Defense Down from Dhalmels?) Baraero it. Accuracy Down? Barstonra. Evasion Down? Barblizzara. I've resisted Gastric Bomb a couple of times from T Land Worms soloing as RDM/RNG in Qufim because of Barwater. It's not guaranteed, but nothing kills my EXP chains faster than 50% Attack Down. The lower the enemy's level compared to you, the better your chances of resisting. You can also use Barspells to resist status ailments (Barparalyzra + Barblizzara to resist Roar from Tigers, etc.) but most people know that already. Works great against RDM mobs with Spikes and/or Enspells, or in Conflict to protect yourself against Added Effects, as well.
Another random bit of info that may prove to be useful: WS have more range than the mob's meleeing range. Comes in handy for, let's say, THFs soloing worms with Archery/Marksmanship without /RNG sub. You can stand just out of the worm's attack range and still hit it with your WS.
Of course, you can also avoid melee TP moves by anticipating them and using Flash or Third Eye right before it. Flash gives you a 12 second leeway, but you'd have to nail Third Eye perfectly (probably the best idea is to wait until the mob attacks, Third Eye and WS right after to take it below 20% and force it to use a TP move before it can take off Third Eye with a normal attack.) I'd mention Utsusemi but that's pretty obvious ;P
Another neat trick: Backwards tanking. It's possible to (fairly) safely tank a mob backwards while still hit it. All you have to do is find out how long your weapon's Delay is in seconds (Delay/60). Swing, then turn around immediately. Count the delay manually, then immediately turn towards the mob and back. Note that there will be a slight Delay before your character responds and performs the hitting animation after you turn towards the mob - don't wait for the animation to start before turning your back again. As long as your "turn" is up, you can just turn towards the mob and back immediately, the attack will still get done even if the animation comes out somewhat late. Most gaze attacks have a longer start-up time than normal TP moves, so this is pretty safe. Of course, since you're tanking backwards, you're pretty much giving up any possibility of shielding (and parrying, though that's besides the point.) May as well use a two-handed weapon for both the sake of damage, and minimizing how often you have to turn around.
Keep one thing in mind: if to avoid a TP move you depend on reacting IMMEDIATELY to it, watching the chat log may not always be the best idea. In particular, when things are very spammy, the message that the mob is readying its TP move will come out late. However, the TP move animation should happen immediately (sometimes slightly earlier than the message will show up in the chat log,) so if you don't want to take chances, it may be better to watch for that instead.
I hope this info helps you out!
