should i focus on dex,acc,or att

[Marlon]

I am posting this here because thf imo is one of the jobs that its very important to use equipment swapping. I have read thru other threads, and i am confused about the relationship between dex, acc, and att. As a level44, for tp build i generally swap out my drone earrings for beetle+1, but im wondering if i should also swap out my dex rings for acc rings? I have read that 2str = 1 att, but if 2dex=1acc, for tp build, wouldnt it be better to use venerer, or other acc+ rings, and then just change to dex rings for sata ?

Also, if i'm using sushi, should i use courage(str+2) rings for tp build, or should i use meat, and just stay with dex or acc rings? Thanks in advance

[Jei]

Re: should i focus on dex,acc,or att

imo, for TP build you want a good mix between accuracy and attack. If you eat sushi, you can probably concentrate more on attack. STR won't give that huge of a return imo.

For SATA, dex agi as much as you can. And STR where you can't find dex/agi to wear. STR will give direct adjustment to the damage value of your weapon so it's not all the bad.

[Karinya]

Re: should i focus on dex,acc,or att

IIRC, STR affects the weapon only through fSTR (and with low delay weapons, it takes quite a bit of fSTR to equal one DMG), while DEX and AGI are added directly to DMG when using mainjob SA and TA respectively. So DEX and AGI have a stronger effect on SATA damage. However, they have almost no effect on normal hit damage (DEX slightly affects crit rate, but not enough to make it worth stacking), so you'll probably want to swap them out for acc, atk or STR for normal swings. STR is always at least some use, but is often overshadowed by more powerful bonuses available in the same slot.

Attack has a powerful effect on all physical damage: normal hits, SATA and physical WS (this is why THF/WAR - especially with Berserk on - can do so much more damage than THF/NIN, although of course at the cost of some survivability). It's always important to maintain high attack. Neglecting attack is the #1 source of crappy damage, IMO (especially since the sushi revolution, I see way too many people in acc gear and sushi hitting for 3). For SATA, each point of DEX/AGI increases the effect of attack and vice versa, so it's important to have both.

Accuracy is useful for TP, but doesn't do anything for a single SATA hit (including Viper Bite). It *does* help SATA + multihit WS like Dancing Edge, though. If you're already getting 100 TP at least as fast as your SC partner (or within a minute), consider replacing some of it with attack. Usually the gain in damage per hit is greater than the loss in number of hits per minute. (It *is* possible to go too far with this, but most people are already on the acc side of the balance point except against very high natural eva mobs.)

At higher levels you can find some haste gear. It helps normal swings a little, but has no effect on SATA or WS. It also reduces utsusemi recasts if you're /NIN, which is nice for solo but otherwise not really an issue. (Of course for main NINs this is quite different.)


So to sum up:
Normal hits: Acc and atk (balance), haste (only available at high levels), STR if you can't find anything more important
SATA: DEX/AGI and attack (balance), acc (Dancing Edge only), STR if you can't find anything more important

[Lmnop]

Re: should i focus on dex,acc,or att

The two above posters did an excellent job. I just thought I'd tell you what I ended up doing: using STR rings and Battle gloves for normal melee and Dex rings and +attack gloves for SATA. This sort of thinking bogs your inventory down quick.

Yes, +acc rings are more efficient than +dex rings for tp building, but as long as it's at least partially useful to your TPing, the sky will not fall today. It's not like Meleeing in +AGI rings or your Empress Band. Or meleeing with Drone earrings on >.> (that kills me).

Something slightly humorous about my rise of THF from 30-45: I parsed every single fight, and I swapped foods billions of times. I tried Pipira (significantly lower +attack than pure meat food, but with a Dex/agi boost), sushi (2-3 different types), Rice Dumplings (slightly weaker +attack/str than Meat but +5 acc) and of course, standard meat dishes appropriate for my melee. I also cycled in and out archer's knife offhand the few times I did /nin, I changed other gear to create more of an Acc or Attack focus. No matter what, I always ended up with no conclusive increase/decrease in accuracy or ranged accuracy, or increase/decrease in overall damage dealt. So yea... just do to your best ability... there really doesn't seem to be a "best."

P.S. As Karinya alluded to, VB is only 1 hit that deals double damage, despite animation. DE is 5 hits, and they all have hefty enough modifiers that you want to connect all 5. On Too Weak mobs, DE comes close to Rampage w/out SA or TA ;;