Bubble Trouble: A Geomancer Guide

dang thanks- that's a change I shoulda made eons ago!

What empy+2 items would you make next after head? Nothing really jumps out at me for +2, but may upgrade a couple items in anticipation of +3 because seems like it will be the go to free nuke set. Maybe a couple pieces for MBs as well.

Hands are the best macc in slot for enfeebling, afaik. I also use the whole set for Shell Crusher.

feet

anyone know how to make a guide page in the forums here. If i know how it works i maybe tempted to try. But my knowledge to how to do this is limited.

I think geo realy needs a new and better guide that keeps getting updated.

The bg wiki page also has allot of info but is lacking a few rare sets :)

Lets get geo unmuled lol

I still have node access, and some of the sets on the guide are mine. I will update my sets over the next few days, but if someone wants to link me sets they have already made I'll just slot those in instead.

The main reason I never finished what Brixy started was because I could not for the life of me find a place to edit and preview BBCode =/

that would be cool, cos my experience with this is 0 lol

The guide should just say save money and get +2 neck call it a day SE hates geo now anyway.

As per Zan:

"Currently updating Compendium of Colure, so never fear. I hear your demands in the forums."

Insanity. I think this general feeling of malaise (see what I did there?) about GEO is more a function of the most recent pre-Sortie endgame content not being as GEO-friendly. Sheol A-C had both major nerfs to Indi- buffs AND a lot of running around that makes Geo- spells more of a hassle (but to be fair, you can pull whole groups of mobs to one place to be in bubble range). Dyna Divergence has the running around factor even worse; it's hard to stay in one place for anything but wave 1-2 NMs and wave 3, AND all NMs strongly resist Geomancy.

But for Sortie? I'm starting to reeeeeally like GEO in there.
1) The combination of buffs (that are not nerfed on non-NMs) with nukes that work very well on the many enemies who are weak to magic (and are important for lots of the chest objectives) is fantastic.
2) Lotsa stuff to Aspir 2/3 too, so MP is a non-issue for me even with no support.
3) And I've not seen any verified explanation of any possible GEO nerfs on the small number of NMs - though from just eyeballing NMs, even if Indi/Geo effects are somewhat weakened they are still quite potent.
4) You do run around a lot, which can be a little annoying for putting a luopon down, but there tend to be enough mobs clustered in one area that your group can stick there near the bubble to take good advantage before clearing that area and running to the next "camp". And of course, that doesn't really hurt Indi-.

Before Divergence/Odyssey, GEO was great for stuff like Omen and Geas Fete. And it looks to me like its time is coming again for Sortie and hopefully the Empy+3 related content.

Btw this was a joke comment not to really be taken too serious. Geo guide for the most part hasn't changed its the content thats been shifted against them. Its a whole story in general but to keep it short everything listed can prettty much be done without go on hand. We really havent had any gear changes worth noting outside of emp+2 and nyame for DT/WS sets.

Understood. But while you certainly understand that it's the content, I do feel a bit of a common sentiment by other players (often non-GEOs) that GEO is "always nerfed" or somehow not doing so well these days. It's refreshing to see that, at least in my experience, GEO is pretty great in Sortie - and for more than just bubble and AFK. That was just a matter of time until the right event came along, but worth noting for those who might not have noticed yet ;)

My 2nd character focuses on support/mage jobs including Idris GEO, 4x RMEA BRD, and COR (along with WHM BLM RDM SCH SMN). And the GEO is usually what I want to bring into Sortie, which is... not something I've usually been able to say for other events in the past couple years. It's a refreshing change.

Sortie is a weird one for sure because SE designed it for solo and made every job "fit" into it. I wanna see what the hard part is like tbh. Also yes im a geo been a geo for like 4 or 5 years.

What's the current -ara BIS set? outside of body as 99% of the time I'm using ara I'm using seidr Cotehardie

This is what Ive been using for Sortie, but if you're not concerned about capping DT, just replace all the azimuth+2 with Agwu assuming it's max aug
ItemSet 387094

Personally, I haven't found much need in Sortie to gimp my nuking stats with Seidr body, mainly due to so many targets being very good to Aspir. Plus, you pick up a lot of MP from Refresh (from gear or buffs) while running around. I just hold onto Radial Arcana for the handful of spots where I might be nuking a lot on non-Aspirable mobs, and maybe throw up an Indi-Refresh before going on a lengthy run to a new wing/camp. And if you were ever still struggling for MP despite all of those tools, Seidr as more of a last resort option.

With that being the case, Empy+2 body is fantastic for free nukes (MAB/Macc+53, Ele skill+23, INT+31).

And speaking of Aspir, this event is making me want to optimize my sets a bit more :) Anything I'm overlooking here, aside from (a) Merlinic hands with Drain/Aspir augment (not having those, I just went for Macc here) or (b) Azimuth Earring +2 (LOL good luck)?
ItemSet 387171

I'm particularly interested in the earrings/rings, because I am not quite sure how to prioritize pure Macc versus Dark skill versus "Enhances Drain/Aspir potency". I know skill has a bearing on max potency, but still have questions (Does that cap? What's the relative strength of skill versus gear with potency+? Etc.) Specifically, I'm not too confident about:

Earrings
Which two of these (assuming no Azimuth Earring +2)?
- Regal Earring (INT+10 Macc+15 via set bonus w/ AF+3 body)
- Malignance Earring (INT+8 Macc+10)
- Mani's Earring (Dark skill +10)
- Hirudinea Earring (potency +3%)

Rings
Best one to pair with Evanescence?
- Metamorph +1 R15 (INT+16 Macc+11~15)
- Stikini +1 (Macc+11 Dark magic skill+8)
- Excelsis (5% potency?)
- Archon (for Aspir purposes, is the "Dark Elemental Macc+5" just acting as Macc+5?)

You can get Drain/Aspir potency +10 on Helios gear, which is BiS in a few slots as long as you don't need more MACC.

Gave myself a little crash course in the intricacies of Aspir/Drain (not a super pro DRK or BLM here lol, and never really bothered to learn this for my GEO in the past). So, if I'm understanding things correctly, Dark Magic Skill equates to maximum Aspir potency at a rate of:
Aspir 3: Skill * 0.8 = potency
Aspir 2: Skill * 0.6 = potency
Aspir 1: Skill * 0.4 = potency

Meaning that, say, Azimuth +2 legs (dark skill +25) give Aspir III Potency+20 or Aspir II Potency+15, as well as the benefits of Skill:Macc (and high base Macc and INT). Or Mani Earring's 10 skill = Aspir II/III Potency +6/+8.

With that being the case, looks to me like Helios would only be potentially worthwhile for hands (Edit: or maybe not, didn't realize Merlinic Hands went up to +10~11 with normal stones). Ignoring Aspir I (which I rarely even cast), max potency per slot would be:

Head: Bagua+3 for Potency+35. Easy one.

Body: Geomancy+3. 21 skill = 16~17 potency on Aspir III, 12~13 potency on Aspir II.

Hands: Merlinic here, with Drain/Aspir potency up to 10 from normal stones (11 max from Fern). Helios I guess is still viable too. Personally, I'm kinda over carrying skirmish pieces at this point and I don't currently have a Merlinic drain/aspir (maybe I'll work on that). So stacking high INT/Macc here to reduce resists seems good enough for my purposes for now, unless I manage to get a good Merlinic roll some time.

Legs: Azimuth Tights +2. 25 skill = 20 potency on Aspir III, 15 potency on Aspir II.

Feet: Another straightforward one, Agwu's for Potency+20.

And for the earring/rings:
Ears I think I like Mani/Regal. Max potency would be Mani then Hirudinea, but for my 2nd earring I'm comfortable with Regal's additional Macc (INT+10/Macc+15, which is probably the realistic BiS... even though a max augmented Azimuth+2 earring sliiiightly edges it out with INT+7/Macc+20)

Rings Evanescence for one ring, and for the other... Stikini+1? Next best potency for Aspir III (Skill+8 = 6 potency), and 4~5 potency for Aspir II (so, same or 1 less than Excelsis's Potency+5) but Stikini has a lot more Macc.

My only remaining question is whether Archon Ring does anything for Aspir beyond being Macc+5. I understand that the Dark Elemental Magic Atk Bonus helps DRAIN potency, but... looks to me like it does nothing special for Aspir - is that right? Happy to be corrected if that is not the case.

Drain/Aspir potency is a percentage increase, not a point increase. For example, if you've got 500 Dark Magic Skill, +10 potency increases your Aspirs by the equivalent of 50 skill.

Archon Ring is also a 5% increase, using the magic affinity term (like Orpheus Sash and Pixie Hairpin).

(Dark Magic Skill * 0.4 or 0.6 or 0.8) * (1 + DrainAspir Potency/100) * (1 + Dark Affinity/100)

Ah, thanks!

And I guess FFXI wants me to have Inv-1 and use augmented hands ;) Just now I went out to Kabandha for another pair of Merlinic, went 1/1 on the drop, and Oseem gave me 3 Drain/Aspir Potency +9 rolls (best one was paired with Macc+24) from the ~40ish Fern stones I had on hand. Not quite capped, but that'll do.

For some reason I thought it only went up to +6(+7 fern) for Drain/Aspir from normal stones, I must have been thinking of Fast Cast.

This discussion has got me looking at my own Aspir set...
After a couple of tweaks (forgot to put Agwu feet in when I got them...) my set is basically the same as the one discussed above, but with Evanescence/Archon (no augmented metamo+1) and Malignance/Barka (no regal earring). Also using Pixie Hairpin+1 instead of Bagua Galero+3.

Thinking I might just retire Pixie Hairpin for Bagua Galero +3 to get more consistency vs resists. The midcast gear haste is nice too, and further to that, I'll probably just leave Dunna on for the fast cast/MP/macc over the INT/macc from the tathlum.

Quick question. Is the Magic burst damage on our relic gloves and empyrean legs a percentage increase, or is it just flat spell damage increase. I'm guessing it's the latter, but I wanted to be sure and I'm having a hard time finding the info on my own.

Isn't it just the same as every other "Magic Burst Damage +X" present in game?
I never read tests about them nor did I test 'em myself, but I always assumed that to be the case honestly.

What led you to believe things could be otherwise?

Yeah it's no different than what's written on say Ea's set. Just plain MBD

Speaking of which, Bagua+3 would be an awesome piece if Magic Burst II in the Hands slot didn't exist.
Alas it does, so you kinda want to cap MBB1 in the other slots and use the Hands one for the MBB2

I was just updating some sets, and yeah it makes sense now. I think this is our current BiS magic bursting set. It's pretty much the same as what I put together for black mage, with a few accessory swaps. Malignance + Regal earring if you don't have Azimuth +2 yet (I don't have +2 yet either), since the +1 just isn't good enough.

ItemSet 387728

The reasoning for the empyrean legs and body over Ea +1 is the same as I posted on the blm forms. I'll quote myself


Azimuth Coat and Tights +3 are basically carbon copies of their Wicce counterparts (ironically azimuth is slightly better), so you can interchange the two here. And you definitely want to swap quanpur necklace in for earth magic bursting. The +7 earth magic affinity is so good. I'd use acuity belt +1 for magic bursting if I didn't have weather effects, but whenever you're magic bursting it's usually planned for ahead of time, so a scholar should be the norm.


And by the way, since you guys discussed aspir gear a few posts up here's my set. If you really want to maximize your aspir potency like I do you'll try and get something like this

ItemSet 387729

It's worth it to swap in Bunzi's rod if you need additional magic accuracy. It's pretty sick. Aspir III can hit for 1k-1200 returns unresisted. Merlinic can get aspir potency + 11 with Fern stones, and it usually comes with a goodish chunk of magic accuracy (I have average 11 potency and 20-25 ish MaCC on each of my pieces). It's way better than helios's max aug potential and cheaper to get to boot. I only had to throw a stack or two of fern stones for each piece before I got a max potency aug. It was pretty painless.

anymore updated sets now with the empy+3 gear. Im looking at my nuke sets which are atm amalric +1 but i have a feeling agwu or empy +3 is needed to upgrade it. Im not so good with numbers in this game lol so i cant calculate it myself :)'

Already changed my mb set with the one on this page, now to test it lol

For the aspir/drain set i use bhima, it also has a +20 potency on it.

I would say the Empy+3 replaces all the enfeebling gear from the main page as well, w/o a doubt the hands

Edit: all 5 pieces have value going to +3

Geo head/feet
Nuke body/legs
Enfeeble hands

Anyone got an up-to-date melee set?