Soloing 5-1

[Taskmage]

Re: Soloing 5-1

More efficient, quite likely, but not necessarily better. The sorcerors have to die asap so that you can turn your attention to cutting the warriors down to get the situation under control. If bludgeon doesn't deal damage fast enough to kill them both before chainspell is up, you've already lost. Using Fire II, Grendal had about 5 seconds of chainspell left after finishing the second mage, so it seems Bludgeon wouldn't be effective in that part of the fight.

[Taskmage]

Re: Soloing 5-1

Turns out the movie was already on our ftp server: ftp.ffxionline.com/incoming/Apple_Pie_M5-1_4th.wmv (Right-click > Save Target As ...)

[Jei]

Re: Soloing 5-1

o.O loading. thanks!

edit

hey.... the NM casted ice spikes and I didn't see apple pie dispelling. How come the spikes aren't hitting him??

[Icemage]

Re: Soloing 5-1

hey.... the NM casted ice spikes and I didn't see apple pie dispelling. How come the spikes aren't hitting him??

I don't know. I seem to remember asking about that once and never got a definitive response. I'm at a loss to explain it myself - maybe Enfire cancels the effect since Fire is strong agains Ice? I have no clue.


Icemage

[Jei]

Re: Soloing 5-1

hmmmm I'm pretty sure enfire doesn't cancel that. I'll go try once my project's done >.>
I'm taking a break to finish up my semeter atm.

[Dragonsword]

Re: Soloing 5-1

Maybe Apple Pie has the barblizzard and barparalyze on such that the effect from ice spike is minimized (notably they were cast at lvl 75 enhancing lvl). If he noted that paralyze plus spike damage effects are minimized, Apple Pie might have decided to save the time for dispel to go for another strike with the sword. Time was working against him instead of the NM, frankly speaking ^^

[Jei]

Re: Soloing 5-1

There was no spike effects hitting him tho, which is why I got curious :O Doesn't look like he would filter anything out.

[Icemage]

Re: Soloing 5-1

That doesn't compute. Barblizzard didn' last that long. I'm looking at the video now and Barblizzard faded right around the same time that Chainspell did - right before he started engaging Archlich Tabar'quon

Grendal-san starts the fight with the following effects:
Haste
Blink
Protect IV
Shell IV
Barparalyze
Barblizzard
Stoneskin
Refresh
Regen
Blaze Spikes
Food
Signet
BC Marker
Level Cap Marker
Phalanx
Sneak
Enfire

EDIT: Looking at the video, Archlich Tabar'quon casts Ice Spikes at 7:26 right as Grendal finishes casting Blaze Spikes.. what isn't immediately obvious is that he ALSO cast Dispel immediately. Watch the video closely - the very next hit he lands on Tabar'quon does NOT have the ice damage animation, which means it's already gone at that point.

Going to look some more and see if Ice Spikes ever gets cast again.


Icemage

[Jei]

Re: Soloing 5-1

I'm pretty sure I saw more than 1 ice spikes. Or I was repeating the same part, dunno >.>

[hongman]

Re: Soloing 5-1

Oh, Im on this mission, maybe I'll be brave enought o try it :p

[Shinhiryu_Kage]

Re: Soloing 5-1

From my experience, Cyclone was a great weaponskill to get rid of the lesser skeletons, once you're going head to head against the Archlich.

Allowing them all to gain up on you and then unloading Cyclone wiped out the entire bunch. I was using Hornetneedle and Enfire at the time.

[hongman]

Re: Soloing 5-1

I thought EnSpells didnt have any effect on WS's?

[Sabaron]

Re: Soloing 5-1

En- spells do not have any effect on weaponskills. Cyclone is a ranged, area of effect, wind elemental damage based dagger weapon skill. It's analogous an Aeroga cast using TP instead of mp. The mention of the Enspell in conjunction with the weapon is slightly misleading.

The best benefit for using an AoE WS like this to take out the mini spawns is that you don't need to unlock from the Archlich to do so and he will take damage while the spawn is destroyed. I'm surprised that Cyclone has such power, but I suppose the 25% boost from INT might give it some more kick. If you wanted to maximize this particular WS, looking at the multipliers, it looks like banking 200% TP is the most efficient.

Further:
Modified From Studio Gobli:
D = Damage Code, (for Hornetneedle 16)
I'm assuming that everyone has the same STR and VIT and I have removed the ammo damage.
fTP for Cyclone at 200% TP is 2.375
WSC[alpha] for a 50th level Character is 0.92
Assuming 50 DEX and 50 INT, we get (30% * 50 + 25% * 50) * 0.92 = 25.3
For Weapon Skills: Base Damage = (D + WSC) x fTP

(16 + 25.3) x 2.375 = 98.0875 damage

Assuming the Skeleton Warriors are weak, the damage increases by about 2.375 points per point of difference between the RDM's Strength (Assumably Higher) and the Weak WAR skeletons VIT. So the damage on this WS, especially hitting both the Archlich and the lesser skeleton at 200% has quite wonderful output.

If we further make the assumption that the WAR Skeletons are level 35 (using Hume as a basis), that gives them 36 VIT to RDM's 44 STR or a differential of 8 or 19 extra damage for 117. Versus the 50th level Archlich BLM (again, using Hume), the Archlich himself would have 39 VIT for about 12 extra damage, or 110, so with 1 Ancient Warrior and the Archlich in the AoE, you're getting roughly 227 damage per shot at 200% TP or a total of about 96 damage per shot at 100% TP.


For comparison, we have Circle Blade on a Temple Knight Army Sword (32). Circle Blade damage does not vary with TP, so we pop it at 100%. Assuming we're boosting STR here, we'll give the RDM 50 STR.

50 * 35% = 17.5 * 0.92 = 16.1

(32 + 16.1) * 1.00 = 48.1

Each differential adds 1 damage, 14 for the WAR or 11 for the Archlich for 62 [vs. WAR], 59 [vs. BLM] or 121ish total damage. Circle Blade with a bit of strength boost is a better shot at 100% TP, but the bonus 37.5% damage from the 200% TP shot of Cyclone gives it that extra "something".

Hornet Needle output vs. TK Army:

Assuming capped Enhancing Magic (147) the damage output on the Enfire will be

(SQRT(147) - 1) = 11.12 (11)

...discounting weather and day of the week.

on the dagger: (delay 150) 11/150*60 = 4.4DPS + 6.4DPS = 10.8DPS
on the sword: (delay 240) 11/240*60 = 2.8DPS + 8 = 10.8DPS

So, with enfire on the dagger and sword are roughly equivalent in terms of damage.

Therefore in the matter of RDM/BLM with Hornetneedle vs. RDM/BLM with TK Army sword vs. Archlich Taber'Quoan and associates, assuming little or no "wind resistance" , I'd favor the dagger popping WS at 200%.

A reminder that this has absolutely nothing to do with soloing this BCNM and you have to make your own judgments in that respect. If I were going in a group, I'd recommend the dagger which can be a Corrosive Baselard since Hornetneedle is kind of a bear to obtain. Activities like this require large gil investments on lower level gear--in this case things like Walkure Mask and are largely for show rather than being practical. I tried offing the Ancient Sorcerers with Fire II and ended up having to Convert one blast before the first one died (I don't think it was Firesday)--I'm not sure how much of a difference Firesday and being Tarutaru/having some high-end gear etc. would be, but it's hard to kill the Ancient Sorcerers especially if you're not meleeing them (they have Ice Spikes so a Dispel would be nice to start). Who can melee during Chainspell anyway...

[Seijurohiko]

Re: Soloing 5-1

Keep in mind, when comparing the dps of Hornetneedle and T.K. Army Sword, that the dagger will suffer a damage penatly on skeleton mobs due to its damage type being Piercing.

Also, in a solo situation, it isn't very safe to allow too many of the warrior skeletons to accumulate while waiting for TP for Cyclone. They hit as hard, if not harder, than the Archlich himself, and should be taken out as fast as possible to avoid being swarmed. (Though, it might be possible with a defensive build and /blu for Cocoon, to survive having multiple adds on you at once.)

[Jei]

Re: Soloing 5-1

True. Apple pie was spamming so many hi potions already.