Savage Blade!

[WishMaster3K]

Inspired By http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/red...pal-blade.html.
/bow

So I like Savage Blade. A lot. I get major air. In fact, I can probably be about Eye-Level with a Small Elvaan when I do it. That makes me happy in my Taru Pants region.

Frome what I understand, Savage Blade's modifiers are STR 30% and MND 50%.

So does that mean as long as you're not sacrificing STR (IE, equipping Errant) and stacking on MND, it'll be better?

Christ, this WS sucks for Taru just all around..

This is my melee gear macro:

input /equip head "Walahra Turban"
input /equip body "Narasimha's Vest"
input /equip hands "Warlock's Gloves"
input /equip legs "Vendor's Slops"
input /equip feet "Creek M Clomps"
input /equip neck "Merman's Gorget"
input /equip waist "Life Belt"
input /equip back "Amemet Mantle"
input /equip l.ear "Suppanomimi"
input /equip r.ear "Drone Earring"
input /equip l.ring "Jelly Ring"
input /equip r.ring "Venerer Ring"


And that leaves me at:
STR 59+8
DEX 66+4
VIT 59+11
AGI 66+5
INT 73-3
MND 60+2
CHR 61

Attack 308. No food, spells or nothing, I'm just trying to get a base.

In my Savage Blade gear:
input /equip l.ring "Sapphire Ring"
input /equip head "Walahra Turban"
input /equip body "Nashira Vest"
input /equip hands "Wise Gloves"
input /equip legs "Vendor's Slops"
input /equip feet "Creek M Clomps"
input /equip neck "Promise Badge"
input /equip waist "Warwolf Belt"
input /equip back "Amemet Mantle"
input /equip r.ear "Drone Earring"
input /equip r.ring "Sapphire Ring"

Attack goes up to 311
STR is 59+13
MND is 60+19

I'm using the Mansur Epee and Joyeuse (sub), Sword skill at 257.

Where can I feasibly improve on this, bit by bit?

[Armando]

Re: Savage Blade!

So does that mean as long as you're not sacrificing STR (IE, equipping Errant) and stacking on MND, it'll be better?

Yes. However, unless the amount of MND is large, MND should have a lower priority than Attack and Accuracy.

Before I take a stab at this: What are your primary targets (level-wise, not difficulty-wise)? DCs, EMs, Ts, VTs? And what food would you expect to be using?

[WishMaster3K]

Re: Savage Blade!

I swear by Tacos, but if anything, I'd be using either Squid or Bream sushi.

The highest monsters I'd fight would be Imps for solo, but I will be farming Hurricane Wyverns later for the stupid crown.

[Armando]

Re: Savage Blade!

Depending on what you fight I'd recommend meat over sushi. Regardless.

Hands: Tarasque Mitts (obviously +1 if you can afford)
Waist: Lifebelt/Potent Belt OR Swordbelt +1 depending on your hit%
Body: Assault Jerkin, Jaridah Peti otherwise
Head: Ogre Mask, or O-Hat depending on hit%
Earrings: Standard Attack earrings, Assault Earring/Storm Loop if you have them. I'd say Brutal but you obviously don't have it.
Neck: Chivalrous Chain
Feet: Ogre Ledelsens, totally
Legs: I'll get back to you on this one.

A little bit short on time right now as I have class very soon. These were all off of the top of my head so I might've missed something. In any case they're still noticeable improvements over your old set.

The more specific you can be with any questions you have, the better.

[Mhurron]

Re: Savage Blade!

You're pushing Attack up while sacrificing STR gear? Is that just for WS or in general melee as well?

For instance I wear a Narasimha's Vest when meleeing for whatever reason, is it really worth selling for a Jaridah Peti or is the Peti just for WS?

[Icemage]

Re: Savage Blade!

I swear by Tacos, but if anything, I'd be using either Squid or Bream sushi.

The highest monsters I'd fight would be Imps for solo, but I will be farming Hurricane Wyverns later for the stupid crown.

The smart money suggests not meleeing Hurricane Wyverns unless you like dying.

Dread Shriek (paralyze AoE) will decimate you, and Radiant Breath isn't much more fun. Sleepnuke them or face the consequences.


Icemage

[WishMaster3K]

Re: Savage Blade!

Grendal had a video of him sucessfully soloing a Hurricane Wyvern as RDM/NIN. Of course he had the proper medicines, and it's likely he had the right Bar-spells to make paralyze "less" deadly than it already is, enabling him to get off the right meds.

He hasn't responded to my last message, but he always does, so I'll ask him to link us to the video next time he pops up online.

Had had the Joyeuse and Wise Wizard Analace. I swear, if you've seen Grendal's melee gear, it makes you question your own abilities.. The man doesn't have any "endgame" gear, not even a Genbu (lack of time, hence, lack of sky/endgame LS).

After seeing he had the Dance shoes (when ToAU first came out and he showed me how to get to the mire, my first Runic Portal) I started thinking more abstractly.

But then again, Icemage and Apple Pie always would disagree about something or other, lol..

I'll try to find the video since I'm not doing shit else in class.
------------------------------------------
Home work Done.
Post #22.

[Armando]

Re: Savage Blade!

You're pushing Attack up while sacrificing STR gear? Is that just for WS or in general melee as well?

I don't like making sweeping generalizations about x stat being better than y stat, so let's just say 12 Attack beat 5 STR, 10 Attack beat 4 STR, etc. For one-handers anyways. It's a matter of quantity.

That aside, I would use those changes both for TP and WS. However, since I was mentioning gear mostly off of the top of my head I didn't notice Narasimha's Vest has 4 Acc or that Jaridah is 5/5 (I thought it was 6/6 Acc/Attack). In retrospect you can keep Narasimha's vest if you like. But Assault Jerkin definetely owns them both if you have it.

[WishMaster3K]

Re: Savage Blade!

I got the mask so far. I'm in class so I can't test it. I think i'll keep my Suppanomi, because it gives 5 Sword skill and, well, yeah, you already know the reasoning behind that.

RDM can't wear Assault Earring, Armando. /slap I'm not on PLD when I do Savage Blade.

[Armando]

Re: Savage Blade!

Oh, that's right (both on Suppa and on Assault.) My bad.

[Icemage]

Re: Savage Blade!

Grendal had a video of him sucessfully soloing a Hurricane Wyvern as RDM/NIN. Of course he had the proper medicines, and it's likely he had the right Bar-spells to make paralyze "less" deadly than it already is, enabling him to get off the right meds.

He hasn't responded to my last message, but he always does, so I'll ask him to link us to the video next time he pops up online.

Had had the Joyeuse and Wise Wizard Analace. I swear, if you've seen Grendal's melee gear, it makes you question your own abilities.. The man doesn't have any "endgame" gear, not even a Genbu (lack of time, hence, lack of sky/endgame LS).

After seeing he had the Dance shoes (when ToAU first came out and he showed me how to get to the mire, my first Runic Portal) I started thinking more abstractly.
But then again, Icemage and Apple Pie always would disagree about something or other, lol..

I'll try to find the video since I'm not doing shit else in class.
------------------------------------------
Home work Done.
Post #22.

I think you misunderstood the intent on my response. It's not that it isn't possible to melee Hurricane Wyverns. As RDM/NIN, you most certainly can if you come equipped for it.

It's just not productive. As I mentioned, Dread Shriek is incredibly debilitating even with Barblizzard and Barparalyze active.

When you're going after the Wyvern Skull necessary for the Opo Opo Crown, chances are that you're going to need to kill quite a few wyverns, and they're pretty tough customers. When doing activities like this, maximizing safety is always a primary concern - and leaving yourself open to TP attacks is not safe. Sure, with good skills and the right meds, you can survive most of the time, but all it takes is one mistake or a bad string of luck on Dread Shriek - which doesn't take much since RDM's fighting style feeds so much TP to enemies.

I suppose you could do it more safely with something like Ceremonial Dagger to hit for 0 and not give TP and using enspells for damage, but that would be pretty slow going.


Icemage

[WishMaster3K]

Re: Savage Blade!

Another good point of that post is that after 3 Wyverns, he wasn't hit with Dread Shriek once .

[arkaine23]

Re: Savage Blade!

I savage in:

input /equip l.ring "Sapphire Ring" MND
input /equip head "Optical Hat" ACC
input /equip body "Pln. Khazagand" ACC
input /equip hands "Ogre Gloves +1" STR
input /equip legs "Jet Seraweels" MND
input /equip feet "Ogre Boots +1" MND/ATT
input /equip neck "Chivalrous Chain" ACC/STR
input /equip waist "Potent Belt" ACC/STR
input /equip back "Amemet Mantle +1" ATT/STR
input /equip l.ear "Brutal Earring" DA
input /equip r.ring "Rajas Ring" STR/DEX
input /equip r.ear "Suppanomimi" Sword skill

MND +16
STR +20

I'll have to look at my attack in this gear, but I'd guess its around 350ish. Sword skill is 271.

This build keeps most of my TP gear accuracy. I add 10 acc in hat vs W. Turban and 4 acc from belt, lose 5 from ring and 6 from legs. So this is for harder mobs. VS weaker stuff I use a build that has more MND.

[Armando]

Re: Savage Blade!

Ok, I'm taking a closer look at RDM's gear selection. Gonna point out a few things I missed before:

Head: Pahluwan Qalansuwa is very nice if you can get it. +7 Acc, +5 Attack

Legs: Dusk Trousers are the absolute winners, giving you a huge Attack+14 in the leg slot. However, they're very expensive. An alternative is Pahluwan Seraweels, with STR+3 and Accuracy +4. However the difference Vendor's and Pahluwan isn't very big, so unless you're going for Dusk Trousers, upgrading this slot should be pretty low in your priority list.

Body: Pahluwan Khazagand is a cool-looking alternative to Narasimha's Vest, with Acc+10 and increased crit rate. However, with Assault Jerkin as an alternative (and possibly easier to get as well) as well, this one is kind of dubious unless you already have the Assault rank and points or you think the Jerkin is too ugly.

Rings: A Sniper's Ring would improve your Acc nicely without being too expensive or harming your Evasion. (By the way, why do you switch out your Venerer for Sapphire Ring when you could keep the Venerer and switch out Jelly Ring instead?)

Other than those things, my previous recommendations are about as good as it gets for the other slots without being too hard to get.

You know, I didn't know RDM could wear Pahluwan. That's pretty nice.

[hongman]

Re: Savage Blade!

Martial Anelace does wonders for Savage Blade.