Skilling up shield

[arkaine23]

Found a quick way for you guys to get your shield up to 170 that I thought I'd share. WHM enhancing magic is not quite as strong as RDM's, but it should still be sufficient. You'll need to /rdm, and a noble's tunic wouldn't hurt. Juice useage as needed might also be helpful.

Ok, find a chigoe in Caederva Mire. After some practice you could try two or maybe even three, but that'll really depend on how much they interrupt your stoneskin cast (Hop[e you enhancing is capped!). Best to err on the side of safety until you've had some practice. Defensive gear and - spell interrupt % gear will be helpful. The more you get on you the faster your MP will be used up, but the skillups will also be faster. There's a pretty good spot I use at the tunnel near where you get the Lamia key for COR quest. Three chigoes spawn there, so be careful.

What you do is /rdm for Phalanx. Maintain Phalanx, Stoneskin, Aquaveil, & Protect IV, and Reraise3. Use a Regen as needed. If you should get into trouble, you should be able to sleep/sleep II/bind/gravity to help you regain control of the situation. And thankfully Chigoes are not hard to kill. And any spikes spell is just plain hilarious to watch.

Ok so buff up and aggro the desired number of chigoes. Let them beat on your for a few hours, facing them but not engaging. Enjoy the rapid shield skillups. It'll slow down around 150, but should go all the way to 170. +Shield skill gear helps but is not necessary.

If WHM had a native parry skill, you could skill that at the same time, by engaging a nearby mob (like a leech or sapling), but never attacking it.

[Kyrial Arthian]

Re: Skilling up shield

Very nice tip. I may yet level RDM to 37 so I can try this, though it's only 5 atm. ;/ I may try it with BLM sub though, since all I'd lose is Phalanx really.

[Tirrock]

Re: Skilling up shield

Flashing just before casting stoneskin should help prevent getting interrupted while casting, at least while fighting one.

I wouldn't fight them as WHM/BLM though. Phalanx as a WHM/RDM would do somewhere in the area of -20 damage a hit, I believe.

[Icemage]

Re: Skilling up shield

You need pretty good gear to pull this off against more than 1 enemy, but it does work (and this trick is also being discussed in the Red Mage forums here as well).

WHM Enhancing Magic is 230 base, and Phalanx gives -1 damage per 10 Enhancing, so WHM75/RDM32+ can cast Phalanx for -23 damage.

If you have AF2 boots, you gain +10 Enhancing, and a combination of Enhancing Torque (+10) and Augmenting Earring (+3) can get you up to 250, for -25 damage.

With an Earth Staff(-20% damage), a Cheviot Cape(-4.7%/-9.4% damage), Cleric's Duckbills (AF2), and Phalanx, I mostly take 0 damage from nearly all non-critical hit Chigo attacks, while removing the Earth Staff leaves me with occasional hits for non-zero damage.


Icemage

[Kyrial Arthian]

Re: Skilling up shield

Just tried this out; it's working great, even with BLM sub. Got 1.4 shield skill from my first flea. I just keep Protect IV, Aquaveil, Haste, and Stoneskin up, and I ate a Shallops Tropicale. I'm using Hermit's Wand (spell interruption -25%), Genbu's Shield (physical damage -10%), Enhancing Torque (for Stoneskin), Druid's Rope (spell interruption -10%), AF pants (VIT+3), and AF feet (AGI+3 spell interruption rate -20%). Cheviot Cape is 800k, so I said screw that. XD My defense is 425 with this setup, and they only hit me for about 10-25 damage/hit when Stoneskin is down, with rare criticals for around 40-60.

[Wenchy]

Re: Skilling up shield

How does a level 36 whm skill up her shield skill? Any tips would be great.


(I didn't start a new thread as I don't see the point when it can fit here. )

[Ayrlie]

Re: Skilling up shield

my mob of choice been dragonflies and wespes in crawlers nest, they take skill up to 175-180

robber crabs in kuftal can go up to 200

[arkaine23]

Re: Skilling up shield

I'd think at level 36, you could take on a mandragora in the 1st jungle. Maintain Stoneskin, Aquaveil, and Regen as needed. Eat defense food and have some mp juice on hand. Gear for vitality, - spell interupt %, and defense. Stay far away from goblins. You could /blu for Cocoon, rather than /rdm for Phalanx given the level those spells are aquired.

[Wenchy]

Re: Skilling up shield

Thank you very much!

[Icemage]

Re: Skilling up shield

At level 36, you really have no need for shield skill. At that level, a staff with BLM sub for Earth Crusher is going to be way superior damage to a club with a shield (plus it's AoE, which is great for farming, insofar as WHM is ever good at farming...).

I've been WHM75 for over two years and I think my shield skill is around 102.

---

Edit: BTW, I do NOT recommend that WHMs try this without /RDM and Phalanx and some very good gear.

I was able to take down 3 Chigoes that aggro'd me on the way to clear the Corsair quest a couple days ago as WHM/RDM but that was with an Earth Staff and Cheviot Cape, and Phalanx (-24.7% damage, then -24 damage). Damage per hit ranged from 0 to about 18, with most hits in the 0 range, but with 3 hitting me it was impossible to finish casting Stoneskin with Fast Cast -15% (from /RDM and Rostrum Pumps) without getting interrupted. Ended up having to Sleep two of them and fight them one at a time.


Icemage

[Kyrial Arthian]

Re: Skilling up shield

Edit: BTW, I do NOT recommend that WHMs try this without /RDM and Phalanx and some very good gear.

I was able to take down 3 Chigoes that aggro'd me on the way to clear the Corsair quest a couple days ago as WHM/RDM but that was with an Earth Staff and Cheviot Cape, and Phalanx (-24.7% damage, then -24 damage). Damage per hit ranged from 0 to about 18, with most hits in the 0 range, but with 3 hitting me it was impossible to finish casting Stoneskin with Fast Cast -15% (from /RDM and Rostrum Pumps) without getting interrupted. Ended up having to Sleep two of them and fight them one at a time.

That's only because you were fighting several at once. You don't need awesome gear or RDM sub if you're only fighting one (or rather, letting one smack you around for shield skillups). I didn't even use Earth Staff, because I got -10% physical damage from Genbu's Shield, and -25% spell interruption rate from Hermit's Wand. And by the time I got low on MP, I always had 100 TP or close to it, so I just engaged and used Hexa Strike for an instant kill (any WS or critical hit will kill non-NM chigoes instantly, just as a DRG's jumps will, and Shield/Weapon Bash job abilities). I'm sure Phalanx and Cheviot Cape and such are nice to have when doing this, but they're not at all necessary, as I've personally shown.

[Icemage]

Re: Skilling up shield

The trick is getting one Chigoe by itself. They wander around a lot so unless you pull one pretty far away from its spawn point to a location where its friends won't bother you, you'll soon find yourself fighting two or three.

I agree, you can take a single Chigoe on solo pretty easily as WHM75/anything. Just make sure you don't engage it, or stray criticals will auto-kill it.


Icemage

[zagex]

Re: Skilling up shield

I take on single chigoes all a time in Caedarva Mire outside the north gate of Nashmau before the first tunnel. There's 2 that spawn around the SE corner of I-9, but since it's such a high traffic area, they might be dead, or there might just be 1, etc... So it's not so hard to aggro one, and run off to the side out of their spawn point. I usually run it to H-9 and go at it there.

Since I'm skilling shield/parry on them as Rdm, I engage them and pray that I don't critical. If I do critical, chances are the other one is going to be there, and I just get aggroed from that one and pray I don't critical it before the first one spawns again. Also if you're not confident about staying alive, paralyze works wonders. I get lazy and don't like to pay attention. Paralyze also helps if your enhancing isn't as high as you'd like it to be, and get interrupted more.

Also the spawn points for those two aren't that large. It might just be that ppl keep getting aggroed by them and killing them, so those two don't have as much time to wander around though. I generally pull them to the middle of the north wall, and haven't gotten aggro from the 2nd one ever.

[Icemage]

Re: Skilling up shield

You can avoid the critical problem by engaging another target and just facing the Chigoe. As long as you're facing towards the Chigoe with weapon drawn, you can get parry skillups, and as long as it's in front of you with a shield equipped you can get shield skillups. Attacking it is not necessary.


Icemage

[zagex]

Re: Skilling up shield

I was doing that, but I had to keep switching targets if the thing I was engaged to moved too far, or if it moved too close. Then it cut into the whole "I'm lazy and don't like to pay attention" part, so I just deal with the occasional downtime from critical two chigoes in a short amount of time.

-edit-
Actually it's not so much that I'm lazy, it's that the reason I'm skilling parry/shield is because I'm bored and can't find anything better to do, so I just engage them and then space out as I keep stoneskin, phalanx, refresh, etc up.
Although now that I think about it, instead of getting mildly annoyed at double critical hits, I could always just engage a different mob on the 2nd chigoe for a while, and then start hitting it once enough time's passed that the first chigoe's respawned again. I think they have like a 5-10 minute respawn time.