question to smarty pants rdms

[bonovoxpsu]

ok, this question is directed to apple pie and really anyone else who feels like chiming in with knowledgable replies. no flaming please, lets keep it clean.

i've dumped countless gil in to trying to achieve monstrous stats. so i figure i'm gonna take it all the way. i'm rdm/blm - and i likes my nukies. a lot. i got the wizard's earring (+5 ele skill) and moldavite. i've now added quite a few equip macros - max int and max mnd. i've got the sexy +3 aquamarine rings for +mnd and i'm going to buy the +3 int equivalents.

so i'm fairly committed. my question is to those who have bought an ice staff (+10 ele skill if i'm not mistaken) - is it worth it? if there's one thing i hate, its enfeebles or any spells missing/resisted/not sticking. part of me is also thinking that i'm going to want/need this for maat - did you find that to be the case?

thoughts?

[Faranim]

I'm not a red mage or black mage, but here's some info that might be useful:

-The job trait "Mag. Atk. Bonus" is the single biggest contributor to Elemental spell damage. Mag. Atk. Bonus is a flat-out multiplier to your damage. Get as much of this as you can.

-Elemental Magic Skill determines if your spells are resisted. More Skill = less resists. For a RDM, I'd imagine this to be of high priority since your Elemental Magic skill is not as high as normal BLM.

-INT is a flat bonus to Damage. Every +1 INT will add a set amount of damage to your total (which is then multiplied by Mag. Atk. Bonus). For a RDM, Half the battle is not getting resisted. When you can land spells reliably without resists, then you can focus on raising INT. This is the least important stat to focus on when talking about Elemental magic.

Ice Staff is great because it does 3 things:
- Elemental Magic Skill will make your spells get resisted less
- +INT will make your spells deal more damage
- Ice Staff enhances the strength of Ice Magic. Any Blizzard Series spell will do +10% more damage.

[Sadeira]

- Ice Staff enhances the strength of Ice Magic. Any Blizzard Series spell will do +10% more damage.

on that note, elemental staves will weaken the element that its namesake is strong against. for example, ice staff will weaken wind magic since ice is strong against wind.

i suggest getting a wind staff with your ice staff to balance out the weaknesses.

also there's this thread
http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/sho...threadid=44467

it has a lot of theories regarding the magic damage formula so you can take a look at it to find out what you want to do.

[Viev]

Yes, I think the ice staff is worth it. With it my ice spells rarely get resisted. I do not use the ice staff in xp parties though. I only use it for missions/hunts/farming. The only staff I used in an xp party was the fire staff for KRT mobs.

The staff you want to bring to the maat fight is the air staff. It's help with the resistances on air spells and it'll also increase your damage on air nukes. Ice staff on the other hand will gives -10% air damage.

[Gman]

So from a nuking standpoint, having a Moldavite and Wizards earring are your absolute best options. Moldavite = +5 MAG ATT, and Wizards = +5 ELEM SKILL. I think you have a nice setup there...what level is moldavite again?

[bonovoxpsu]

nice, i like the way this thread is progressing. wish there was that kind of detailed info on enfeebles.

looks like i'm gonna have to collect all the staves. and i'm definitely gonna grab that ice staff, +10 ele skill is too big to pass up.

i also heard that they decreased the summons mp drain - this true?

[edit] - anyone noticed any help landing para with an ice staff as apposed to a wand with, say +6 int/mnd ?

[kumaeru]

I am no Rdm, but I do plan to be one after I lvl drk...

But if you look on mysterytour etc. there are also some equipment that increase "magic attack" either under or outside nations control. If you do like nuking a lot, getting these items and using them when it applies could be another possibility.

I believe one is a low lvl upgraded bastokan CP circlet.

*edit* just realized using that circlet would mean no AF hat... >.>; might not want it...

[bonovoxpsu]

yuo DARE threaten me to take off my precious!!?!?!?

noes!~ it is teh precious.... yesss, teh precious, it is mines...

/em pets his Warlock's Chapeau...

[AtraposBLM]

lol Bono.

Anyways, for general nuking in an exp party, an ice staff goes a loooong way towards improving your ability to nuke outside of an MB. Apple Pie posted his results where he had about a 95% accuracy rate with blizzard line spells while using an ice staff, in addition to the +10% bonus he got for damage. I noticed similiar results when using a water staff - even without the +10 elemental magic skill from an ice staff, I got full damage every time except twice during the course of a ~3 hour party.

Even as a blm, the +10 elemental magic skill is very much noticeable in the amount of resists it decreases. It's the life belt for spells.

If you *really* want to be dedicated...getting all the staves is the thing to do. However, that's more along the lines of what a BLM or a SMN should do. You should focus on the main nukes you'll be casting, i.e. your strongest nukes. Those being Thunder, Blizzard, and Fire. Those should be your priorities, as well as getting a Dark Staff (if you don't already).

Another concern would be for Maat. Getting a wind staff for your maat battle would be very wise. Not only does it add +10% damage to your Aero III and significantly reduce the amount of times it'll get resisted, I believe the wind staff is also the staff that increases evasion (can't hurt). I wouldn't advise bothering to keep it around after your maat battle though. The Aero line is *rarely* the line of choice for nuking out of MB.


Also, you may want to consider looking into purchasing both an elemental torque and an enfeebling torque. Both help enourmously towards landing nukes and debuffs.

With Ice Staff, Elemental Torque, Black Cloak, and my BLM AF1 gloves...I got a grand total of 5 resists over the course of an entire EXP party. Not bad, if I do say so myself.

[Patchinko]

Wind Staff has evasion+10, yes, so it's great for G5.

I don't have much more to add. The elemental staves definately seem to effect more than just elemental spells (Dark Staff obviously boosts Drain and Aspir and experimenting with Ice Staff, I've seen less resists than I did with Rose Wand+1). I'd say to be the best, catching them all wouldn't be out of the quetion. @.@

[Apple Pie]

i also heard that they decreased the summons mp drain - this true?

Yes! For example, Ice Staff saves 2MP/tick for Shiva. Aquilo's Staff(HQ Ice Staff) saves 3MP/tick.

As for Ice Staff, yes, it is worth buying as many people stated. I often usually go to Boyahda Tree and mainly hunt Steelshells (LV73-76). Although they are weak against ice, my Blizzard II didn't always do full dmg even on MB. It was sometimes half-resisted. However, with Ice Staff, it hardly fails to do full damage.

Theoretically, with our AF hat, Elemental Torque, Wizard Earring (/BLM needed) and Ice Staff, our C+ elemental magic skill is more than A+ at LV66 --- (205 + 10 + 7 + 5 + 10 = 237). So, for RDM/BLM lovers who like to MB, I strongly recommend Ice Staff. According to my statistics taken by FFrep, our MB is able to contribute to 7 - 10% of total damage (including both physical and magical).

By the way, yesterday Drain once asborbed 214 HP from a Steelshell with Dark Staff (not MB though). No one tried to heal me after I converted as a result ;

[Synbios]

Originally posted by Apple Pie
Yes! For example, Ice Staff saves 2MP/tick for Shiva. Aquilo's Staff(HQ Ice Staff) saves 3MP/tick.

As for Ice Staff, yes, it is worth buying as many people stated. I often usually go to Boyahda Tree and mainly hunt Steelshells (LV73-76). Although they are weak against ice, my Blizzard II didn't always do full dmg even on MB. It was sometimes half-resisted. However, with Ice Staff, it hardly fails to do full damage.

Theoretically, with our AF hat, Elemental Torque, Wizard Earring (/BLM needed) and Ice Staff, our C+ elemental magic skill is more than A+ at LV66 --- (205 + 10 + 7 + 5 + 10 = 237). So, for RDM/BLM lovers who like to MB, I strongly recommend Ice Staff. According to my statistics taken by FFrep, our MB is able to contribute to 7 - 10% of total damage (including both physical and magical).

By the way, yesterday Drain once asborbed 214 HP from a Steelshell with Dark Staff (not MB though). No one tried to heal me after I converted as a result ;

Throw in a Master Caster's Bracelet in that gear line. Uberest gloves for RDM.

[Apple Pie]

I know that but it only works where other nations rule and I have to be rank 8 in Windurst to get it (-_-)

Well, I'm moving to Windurst to do M5-2 alone as soon as I become rank 10 of San D'oria and check how it helps to improve my elemental and enfeebling spells. I'm not sure how long it takes me to get 40,000 conquest points......

[kumaeru]

Originally posted by Synbios
Throw in a Master Caster's Bracelet in that gear line. Uberest gloves for RDM.

Ya and on midgard its usually Sandoria that dominates the conquest (now for example... ). I know only a very few Rdms and Smn that do have every staff and switch accordingly. I dont see any Blm's that do this... Most Blm's stick to their Ice/Dark staves.

[Shiia]

Not sure if I should go buy my Ice staff or my Fire Staff. I rarely nuke and the skill chain that we are currently doing is mostly Light and I only use FireIII for MBing should I have the time. 75 I can burst with thunderIII but well... that will take some time to reach there lol. Guess I need to buy elemental torque aswell sometime in the future. But after buying Ocean Rope, Marine F gloves, Mysthic wand+1, Full erant gear (except head! @2000 till 72)... my wallet is really light.