Endeavoring To Awaken --A Guide To Rune Fencer

Thanks for all of your RUN advice guys, particularly on axes and gaxes. I thought I was crazy for gearing for this, but glad I see it has a purpose (though I didn't initially know why I was doing it).

Now to just get the items required. Fortunately I have been able to get many CP/Tanking invites without needing them, but I'll take note of them in the future.

Since I'm on the way to 2100JP I've been getting creative with CP parties. One I was in recently was kinda interesting.

RUN/NIN (me)
BST with lizard doing self impaction
GEO
GEO
BLM
BLM

I ended up dual wielding swords and using Sanguine Blade (4~6K) to heal myself. I pulled with flash, MBed with Lunge (40~50K woot) or Swipe (8~9K) whenever necessary and used Gambit before the SC for super quick kills. Only help I needed from them was the haste spell but otherwise I was completely a self sufficient puller / tank.

Another good use for swords, Sanguine Blade. Doesn't interrupt skillchains and is more then powerful enough to keep you HP up.

I currently have Macbain ACC+16, DA+2 and some STR Auged onto it. Soulclever and Bidenhander.

I am trying to workout which would be the best Greatsword for me to use on RUN. Any advice or should I farm up an Atteir?

Saevel mind sharing the TP setup you used, swords and food included? I'm curious.

Aettir is your best tanking option... After the giant squid, Epeolatry.

Bidenhander can be an inferior Macbain for damage purposes. (Macbain is still best with the right augments. But Bidenhander isn't terrible for its path D iirc. Whichever is the +dmg and store TP path. Though the acc path is pretty good too.)

Soulcleaver.... Is fun for lunges? That's basically it. No enmity+ or -DT/2 to make it useful for tanking... And its base damage is just ok (there's better) so it's not gonna really be all that stellar WSwise.
But it *would* increase your DPS... Every 3min when you lunge/swipe.
(You could be silly and macro it in to lunges... At the cost of your TP... And while you'd get massive lunge damage... I don't think that's worth it. Better to just copper Soulcleaver and use one of the others for your cap pts farm.)

I don't see you mentioning the Reisenjima GSWD and Montante+1, both can be pretty awesome for damage dealing, and arguably cheaper to make than a good Macbain (spent over 15mils gil and got only ***augments, for instance)

Another question when tanking on RUN do you Melee/Idle in the Tanking set between casting spells and using JAs or do you use a TP Set?

I'm not sure I got your question, may you try to rephrase? D:
The way I got it makes no sense so you were probably asking for something else that I missed.

Depends on if you are actually being hit or not. I find I rarely take damage on RUN as nothing can really get past my shadows/stoneskin/battua/ect. If you can't outright avoid getting hit, you want the DT gear on. If not, pretty safe to use TP gear so long as you're aware of what you are fighting, and have the ability to quickly switch to tanking gear if something goes wrong.

So as with everything in FFXI, it varies.

Against high lv content which favors mage setup, RUN aren't going to hit anything in tp set with mage buff+ tanking food anyways, honestly I don't think it matters and tanking in full tanking set 24/7 is just fine imo.

Sorry really badly phrased, when I used to play I mained PLD/NIN and with spellcast would stand in my normal TP set with things like Haubergeon, Homam Legs so I have ACC/Attack to hit the NMs when not casting Flash, Shadows or using JAs for hate.

I'm wondering if I would do something similar on RUN or stand in the tanking set of -DT and Empy +1 between casting Shadows, Flash, Foil, and the JAs?

I use GearSwap for swapping gear during casting and using the JAs.

Aettir should always be in your tanking arsenal, regardless of what other swords you have. dt II-5% is amazing, as it takes you to 55% pdt. However, as a DD option, it is quite inferior.

Bidenhander (IMO) is an amazing in-between dual purpose piece, as it can double as a DT-5% piece and can get as high as acc+30 att+30 and dmg+30 (I think), which is what I have. When fighting monsters that I would like to deal reasonable damage while tanking, I use Bidenhander, so I don't lose out on DT stats by having to switch weapons mid-fight. It's a good option imo. Oh, it also has a huge HP boost, which can come in handy sometimes.

Macbain, which is the absolute most expensive, is both a great weapon and a pain in the ***. I have spent maybe over 40 mil in stones on mine. Best I have gotten was stp6/dmg+35/acc+20 (recently switched to att+10/acc+10, but its a pain in the *** to get acc/att augment above 10). Total, it can get about 304 base damage, and with a good stp augment, it can really get t fast, due to its high delay. However, I find that I am using this great sword lately because of the next Gsword I have.

Montante+1. I love it. The fire damage+ sucks though, since its poor damage and you'll have runes on anyways, so it'll never proc. But that aside, consider: stp+11 (and when paired with Bloodrain Strap, that's a whopping +17 stp in two slots). +34 attack on a job that is starved for attack (including resolution), and Unity Ranking: TA+3~5. Assuming you switch to the top ranking weekly, you'll have 5% double attack fulltime. Not bad for RUN. Price can cost you less than 5 mil (on lakshmi: 100k for hides x50, assuming you don't get direct drop). Only issue is finding a group willing to help you get it, which I did in a few shouts. Overall, I'd say I tend to use this one the most, as it helps me get tp quickly to keep up with skillchaining Dimidation, especially when soloing with Shantotto II. Keep in mind this piece offers no accuracy, so it's not a reliable DD option if you're ungifted or undergeared.

However, lately I have been finding myself just using a DW set as /nin and spamming the hell out of Lunge/Sanguine/Vorpal/Savage for everything that won't require me to tank.

Note: I don't have Zulfiqar, but just from eyeballing it, it seems to be the obvious best option for RUN DD. I'd love to get one and try it out, but as everyone keeps telling me, lolrunGS.

Super newbie RUN here trying to improve my LUA. A couple questions:

• for Futhark Trousers +1's "Enhances Inspire" trait, do you just use them in precast for Valiance and Vallation or do you need to equip them as a fastcast piece to enjoy the bonus?

• with 5/5 Inspiration (and Futhark Trousers +1) I need... 30% Fast Cast only?

Thank you!

• Need them on when you use Vallation/Valiance for the additional FC to be imbued into the FC effect you get from "Inspiration" merits. But if you're casting Enhancing magic you should be precasting/midcasting with them regardless because of their other effects

• No. 5/5 Inspiration provides 50% Fast Cast. Futhark Trousers +1 with 5/5 merits make that a 60% total. They also offer 13% FC if you equip them Precast, but only for Enhancing Magic. Which means you'd need 7% FC for Enhancing and 20% for other magic. You shouldn't keep 5/5 Inspiration though. Personal choice of course but Battuta and Rayke are too good. Get Inspiration as low as possible (which means as long as you can mantain the 80% FC cap)

Another insight on Inspiration.
I think you should be more than able to go to 4/5, the amount of required FC to keep 80% FC midcast with just 4/5 Inspiration merits is so low that you should be able to reach it.

Under 4/5 though it becomes a personal choice, because there are pros and cons.

Pros: Having 4/5 or higher allows you for a wider choice of gear in precast/midcast. You could for instance focus on spell interruption, DT and enmity gear since you need less FC.
Cons: Having 4/5 or higher can be dangerous if you rely on it too much. Inspiration is dispellable, sadly (unlike Vallation/Valiance). Also, it "hurts" your other group#2 merits (Battuta and Rayke). They are so good you'd want to spend as many points as possible on both of them. (Battuta isn't dispellable if used with 3 runes, and Rayke is arguably not very useful if you don't deploy your RUN in endgame content involving SC+MB strategies)

Vice-versa you can apply the same logic to going 3/5 or under.
It would require more FC gear, less freedom in precast/midcast because of more FC gear required to reach 80% cap, but also less reliant on Inspiration (which means if it gets dispelled it's much less of a deal). Last but not least, it allows you to furtherly empowers either Battuta or Rayke.


If you're curious on my personal configuration well... I'm not 100% sure lol but I think I have Inspiration 3/5, Battuta 2/5 and Rayke 5/5.
(Used to have Battuta 5/5 and Rayke 2/5, but had to swap them around given the utility of Rayke in some fights)

Starting monday next week, could anyone on Sylph could help me out to do some Shedu for Flyssa swords? Sarama for the Montante? Hidhaegg for Combuster or Sovereign Behemoth for an neck upgrade? Just need the NQ drops tbh, can buy the rest of mats for HQ :)

Need two flyssas.
As a matter of fact I need a second one myself. Sadly shedu is a pain, need competent people and I'm struggling myself to find them :'(

As do I. I need need them on my main (THF/COR/RUN) and can bring my Idris GEO alt along. And if we go between 11:30pm-3am eastern time, I can bring my friend WHM along. Just need to find a strong DD or two to carry the damage.

Flyssa/+1 swords are PLD/DRK/RUN only ;)

The best strategy I found (without relying on 1hr) is:
BLU x2 (must be two really strong BLUs, standing in front)
GEO x2 (Vex, Precision, Torpor, Frailty or Fury, entrust whatever)
WHM
Buffer slot (can be BRD or COR)

According to the Acc of your BLU (if they're 2100 and have good acc and you use 2x Madrigal one of which marcato-ed) you can probably drop one between torpor and precision and go for an attack bubble.


With this setup you don't care for Fulmination, you kinda hope to kill it before it can use Fulmination. One Fulmi can sometimes be fine, but most likely than not if he starts using Fulmination you're gonna wipe.
Using WSs/LightSC during Hundred Fists "procs" Shedu and resets his Hundred Fists.
You kinda have to hope for the proc to happen or your DDs are gonna die. CDC spam from 2 BLUs works very nice in that regard, not 100% reliable but close to that.


Other setups can work but to be really reliable you need to use SPs and reset after each pop.
Personally I got one Flyssa in my DB and a plethora of Shedu's Mane (like 60+).
I'm waiting to see if February campaign will se a return of the "double box from UNM" campaign, would be awesome.



Personally, while I sure love challenges and I'm against extremely faceroll content, I think SE kinda went a bit overboard with these last UNMs. The 3 ground kings first, and the 3 ToAU kings after (plus Tumult Curator).
UNM wasn't supposed to be and shouldn't be content for this kind of players, it should be something more accessible.
It's not even like the drops are that game-breaking to justify such a difficulty behind them.

Regardless, the content it's a few months old already, about time SE performs some small nerfs on them.
They don't need to go overboard on nerfing, but a couple of SMALL nerfs would be very welcome.
Just my two cents of course, I know a lot of players won't agree with me and my vision.

Aettir Rank 12 with 205 Plutons (plus 1 you have to trade to begin):

Acc+58
Meva+41
WSD+8

Can post SS if ppl want.
Gonna try to max it though. Hot damn those are some high numbers though. The Meva is what I've always wanted for RUN lol.

I would've liked something else than WSD for a tanking sword... like an additional 2% PDTII or more enmity or whatever else really, but can't complain with MEva and Acc of course.

Guess it's gonna cap at 60/50/10?

So yeah... Dimidiation anyone?

That's an absolutely incredible all-rounder of a Great Sword. Compared to some of the other JSE weapons Aettir made off like a bandit.

Yea I would have liked MDT2-10 or extra Inquartata or something but +50 mag evasion is nothing to sneeze at. Still basically a staple tank piece. The acc+70 is a large boost but ultimately I spend more time casting than swinging on RUN, and I often have to hold tp for the SC or something. Still the buffs make it slightly more competitive as an offensive sword in addition to its tanking properties, so yea it's a great all-around sword now.

Yeah that's exactely the problem on RUN tanking, and the reason why Aettir was still good even before.
On the majority of fights it doesn't matter to land hits on the enemy to keep hate, and very often you don't have DD buffs to allow you do do that anyway.
Even if you could, more often than not you have to hold TP so that the SCHs can make their sexy SCs for the mages to MB on.
Last but not least, on some fights you are so busy spamming spells/runes/gambit/rayke/whatnot that you hardly get time for melee swings.

In many other lowmen situations though, and especially on subjobs like /WAR I guess, meleeing is more relevant and being able to hit more often and do more damage it's gonna be awesome.

In all other situations having MEva +50 is gonna be awesome as well :D
Too bad for the lack of increased PDT2 but I guess they didn't want to make Aettir go too much into Epeolatry's territory (still, with 5/25 difference I think there was space for a couple more points without reducing Epe's position at all)

I agree, I actually mentioned on OF that Aettir should have been PDT-10 instead of 5. Dunna is +5 Geomancy, half of Idris's +10. Aettir could get PDT-10 and it would not make Epeo any less of a legendary weapon in comparison. Honestly, I think MDT2-10 would have been nice, cuz it would be nowhere near Aegis, but it would make single runes more effective for vallation on top of 60% MDT, which would widen our elemental defense in any given fight. I also asked for MEva job trait, like blu gets, but I guess this is their answer. It's not a bad alternative to MDT2, but not as consistent. I'm always /blu so I turtle tank and spam spells to lock hate down, and very few things hit me for more than double digits except on crits, so extra PDT or Inquartata would have been awesome but not strictly needed. Multiple element stuff was/is RUN's greatest weakness, esp since Aegis exists, so I was hoping for more magical defensive stuff.

TBF with the amount of Meva, MDB and now this additional Meva that RUN gets, multielement fights aren't as bad as I'm usually led to think.

Still not as good as an Aegis of course, but still aeons better than any other job.
And that's before you factor a scenario with 3 different runes + a 4th different barspell.

If you're fighting stuff /WAR and bothering even thinking about your damage output, it's probably not dangerous enough to need Aettir's extra 5% PDT II and Meva. Better off with something like Zulfiqar (T2 Reisen GS) for massively higher DMG and still very reasonable acc (assuming decent augs), plus whatever other augment goodies you get.

I can't recall my exact augs off the top of my head, but something like DMG+32 Acc+20 DEX+9, making for a total of:
DMG+329 DEX+9 Acc+35 Atk+15 DA+2% WSD+2%

Unless I was really starved for acc, I'd easily choose the MUCH higher DMG and a little bit of DEX/DA over Aettir's added Acc+35/WSD+8% and tank stats that aren't really all that relevant anyway in situations where you can actually try for DD.

Not that the Aettir is BAD, and the Meva+50 in particular is very cool for tanking. But let's not get too carried away about the offensive potential with some of the other stuff we have.

JPs make a big difference. The Meva boosts from JPs total to +70, and the MDB to 56. I'm somewhere in the 600s myself, but even now I notice a difference against middling stuff. I wish barspells were more potent but oh well.

EDIT: Yea I never considered it a real alternative to other GSwords for DDing, just makes it better as an all-arounder. Definitely not a first choice as a DD sword.

^ what Oyama said.
My favourite SJ remains /BLU honestly, but BLU requires more "mantainance", just your Refresh alone often doesn't cut it, and it means even more time lost casting spells instead of meleeing.

/WAR offers another 30seconds enmity tool and some interesting passive traits and stats.
It's not the subjob I'd pick for fullturtle tanking, neither the sj I'd pick if I wanna go all DD, but it's a nice option for "all rounder" situations.
Less time spent casting spells, more time spent meleeing, all of this while mantaining 55PDT and now having the additional boons of 70 acc, 50 Meva and 5% WSD.

It's nice for those sort of situations. I can think about some in lowmen content.



Oh and speaking of GSWD options, while my Zufilqar is quite nice, when ACC is not an issue (it often isn't, in easy content) my weapon of choice is Montante+1