Animator's Workshop: A Puppetmaster's Guide 2.0

In case anyone was unsure, you do need to skill up after putting merits into automaton skills. Even if it shows capped on auto equipment screen, you still need to skill up until it is in chat log.

Yup, and ranger skill is broken, you will skill up indefinitly. You acc/atk caps with what it should, but for some reason it keeps skilling up

Is the search function broken here, i have been getting error 404 for a few hours now (4+).

Trul said the values from amplifier/mana channeler where her, but i cant get search to work.


I went page by page doing cntr f searches but obviouslly could miss it if it wasnt called amplifier.

Item search works, forum search however is permanently broken.

yeah i was trying forum search, thx

Do you mean the master or puppet? Because the Master gets one tier. Should be 2 in my opinion but we'll see what happens when the changes are made.

I meant more than 1 teir, as is we can get 2 if we sub drk, but thats all kinds of odd.

Technically we should get it at level 100...so come on...you know you wanna give it to us

I agree PUP should at least get 2 tiers. I was saying in the dev thread that MNK and DRG should get 3 tiers like WAR as well.

Just got back into playing pup since I've returned and I have noticed a really odd glitch regarding my automaton.

When I deploy it, while it still shows in the log that it's attacking it shows no animation. My pet will look likes it's engaged but won't swing or anything. Neither attck rounds nor weapon skills show an animation. Has anyone else run into this?

It sounds like a Battlemod effect-filter issue.

Could anything else cause it? I have battlemod downloaded but I don't ever load it personally.

PetFix in windower maybe. Turn it off if you're using it.

guys, i dont know if this was brought up before, i was wondering how much Martial Art is needed to cap delay with just Haste 2
edit: actually, now that i think about it, this is a dumb question because it would depend on the weapon used.

For Godhands, max delay reduction is 108 delay. You will need:

Haste 1 = +156 Martial Arts
Haste 2 = +98 Martial Arts
Capped magic haste = pretty much perfectly capped, none needed

For KKK, max delay reduction is 105.8. Will include the +50 in the base of these. You will need :

Haste 1 = +99(149)
Haste 2 = +43(93)
Capped magic haste = severely over capped.


From one my older posts a few pages back

one more question: from what i read on these forums, mana jammers were changed to give mdt- instead of mdb at some point. The tooltip still says it gives some sort of Magic Defense.
So where's the truth? :D

MDB.

Hello!
Ok i have been working on this little project for some time now, very slowly, i have several weapons, full rao, extra sets of herc gear (un augmented), but im rather confused on what pieces of AF, Relic, Empy i need at 119, or do i need all of it? Weapons i have several, ohtas midnights the ones from the unity PW and the ones from the reisen T2. Kinda lost as to which to use lol. I have looked at both this thread, and the bg guide and im having trouble finding definitive hybrid sets or strictly master TP is that even a "thing" anymore? And lastly, looking for a decent lua for pup, i have motes and can probably figure it out, but som ehelp would never hurt. Thanks all!

FWIW, some friends were CPing in Dho Gates last night and let me take Spiritreaver out to test puppet nuking ability in a practical situation for the first time since I've had some of the new toys (Tali'ah+1 set, Animator P, etc.) I had my alt on BLM sitting there to swap into the party after messing with PUP a bit. Typical Apex Crab/Jagil CP party, two melees doing a darkness SC with a GEO+mages backline magic bursting.

Result? Not great. The MB damage was actually adequate, with MB Blizz Vs landing for 30-40k depending on # of ice attachments. Better than some random pickup mages I've seen. The problem: damn puppet won't always cast Blizz. Sometimes it will choose other much worse spells like Water V (not so hot for crabs and fish!), or Thunder V (terrible since it won't MB on darkness). You also won't get 2 MB nukes from one SC with a puppet, like you will with a player mage with good timing who is paying attention.

You basically have to leave the puppet out for 1min until deactivate is up, then deactivate/activate. I actually did put an Ice Maker on to try to get the most damage I could with a couple ice maneuvers up. If you're with a competent CP party though, they'll be pulling and SCing fast enough that you simply don't often have time to get a full 3x ice. Still, 1-2 works for what it is.

My nuking gear is pretty solid:
ItemSet 337196
*Since Tali'ah gear isn't on FFXIAH yet, I used Nashira as a stand-in: all of the Nashira listed are Tali'ah+1.
*Mantle has pet MAcc/MDMG+20 augments.

Attachments I used were:
Optic Fiber I&II
Amplifier I&II
Tranquilizer III
Ice Maker
Mana Channeler I&II
Heatsink
Stealth Screen II
Mana Tank IV
Auto-repair III
Mana Channeler I&II (I preferred with them on for more damage, but did try removing them to see if the Blizz V cast time would be low enough to get the puppet to use it consistently enough to avoid unwanted Water/Thunder... didn't fix the problem to my liking though)

Moral of the story was that thanks to the spell recasts and automaton AI, you get a lot of unwanted spells. That being said, I was impressed enough at the damage part to think there could be some use here for situations where the SCs aren't rolling in so fast, and you have time to set up a 3x ice and get the right nuke to land. It's just not all that viable for a fast moving Apex CP group.

Useful AF/Relic/Empy is almost all macro JA stuff, and none of it is absolutely vital but can be useful. (Note for anyone reading this in the future, this post does not consider the unreleased AF +2/+3 re-reforged gear. Just Reforged AF/+1, ilevel 109/119.)

Important:
Relic body: (1) Overdrive duration piece, (2) hybrid TP, good acc and pet store TP (though Tali'ah+1 is now also around for a nice hybrid acc/pet acc alternative)

AF feet: for Repair # of debuffs removed (side note, OMG I HOPE incoming re-reforged AF feet remove doooooom)

Empy feet: Tactical Switch additional TP

Empy body and AF hands: for manevuers, but 109 will do - not necessary to 119 them

Not as important, but can be useful:
Relic head (idle)
Relic legs (Ventriloquy, but this is pretty minor)
Relic feet (Role Reversal, but this is pretty minor)
Empy legs (decent TP/hybrid/pet skill piece, especially as a Martial Arts option if you aren't getting full magical haste buffs)


Depends on what you're doing.

For tanking:
PUP's most notable role these days is tanking with the puppet (generally VE body, Soulsoother head for the element capacity). In that case, you'll want to use your Rao gear on C path. Anwig Salade with Pet: DT-10% is still top for head, but if for some reason that's not available to you Rao 5/5 works. Taeon or Herculean pieces can be made into pet tanking stuff too, but if you've got the Rao anyway it's perfectly fine. For tanking weapon, Midnights are very good. Skirmish weapon (Ohrmazd) is also good with good augments, but Midnights is fine.

For melee:
The puppet's really helpful, so in most cases there's no reason to go master-only. Use a Sharpshot or Valoredge frame too, and shoot for capped/near capped pet: haste. Aside from that, I focus less on additional puppet stats than I do on master. But, you can cap pet haste pretty easily in just 3 slots: Ohtas (10%), Visucius's Mantle (10%), Klouskap Sash (8%) (or a different pet haste belt)

You'll prob want to stick to Ohtas for that reason along with the large amount of acc/pet acc. Only Kenkonken really changes that analysis. Even though there are better weapons from a purely master perspective (including your Comeuppances, Godhands, Verethragna), Ohtas will likely result in higher combined DPS.

One circumstance where going 100% master makes sense: CP party where other melees are SCing. Your puppet's just gonna screw that up, so you could gear fully for master and use RDM WHM frame. Of course, you CAN "self" SC with your puppet too ;)

You'll also want to consider how much Martial Arts to use. Assuming 20/20 Martial Arts JP, if you're getting capped magical haste (e.g. Haste+Marches, Haste II+Mighty Guard, etc.) you don't need to use MA gear, as you're already going to be at delay reduction cap and more MA is just going to lower your TP/hit. For non-Kenkonken PUPs, if you're getting only Haste II or less, all of the good MA pieces are generally worth using (Empy legs are debatable due to Samnuha being so good).

I'd give the following as good baseline sets for non-Kenkonken. All slots showing Nashira mean Tali'ah+1 (which isn't currently shown in FFXIAH).

CAPPED MAGICAL HASTE:
ItemSet 347782
* Body is debatable. Herc Vest could be winner, Pitre+1 is also nice for pet Store TP.
* Visucius's with Pet: Haste+10%, DEX+20, Acc/Atk+20 (and another Acc+10 from dye as you get there)
* Could also swap the Pet: Haste on back for master DA+10, but in that case you'd want to use Tali'ah+1 feet or some other option to maintain capped/near-capped pet haste.
* Varar rings are nice options too, especially for situations where you want a little more acc for both master/puppet

NOT CAPPED MAGICAL HASTE:
ItemSet 347783
* For this set, you'll want more martial arts.
* Dispersal mantle MA+20 or as close as you can get
* Note the addition of Tali'ah+1 boots to maintain near-capped pet haste without needing Ambuscade cape. This can also be a really helpful piece when using a CP+ cape!
* Empy 119 legs are an option too
* As noted above, Varar rings are legitimate options too

For both above sets, obviously can make accuracy swaps as needed. Tali'ah+1 is pretty good for this purpose, since it has good master and pet acc. Other slots to look at would be earrings (Telos, Dignitary's, Zennaroi), rings (Ramuh+1), etc.

Kenkonken changes things due to the large amount of MA on the weapon, but basically the difference is that you can cap delay with Haste II (300/448 magical haste) and an additional ~MA+40 in gear. Many ways to do that. KKK PUPs will also probably like the Tali'ah+1 feet more thanks to the pet haste that you're not getting via Ohtas.


This one I can't help on, I don't use GS.

Capuchin Thank you so much for the response, this well help a ton as baseline. Again thank you! Also for melee instances (solo CP farming in Reisenjima for example) i see Sharpshot or Valoredge frame but which head, sharpshot?

Usually VE head.

Your mileage will obviously vary, but as someone who has been CP farming solo during the xp campaign, I very much recommend bats at Woh gates, map 2, F-10. I find it to be vastly superior to Reisenjima with the sharpshot.

For anyone in need of directions:
Marjami Ravine #3
Head East and then down the vine
Head east again and then south in to a cave and up a vine
Head east and take the teleporting stone

I believe you need to have beaten the WKR for the area to take the tp stone although I'm not 100% sure.

The very end of that cave is safe to camp in.

There are good things about Reisenjima compared to CPing outside though.

1) In Reisenjima you get silt (granted all active players are probably full on silt, but new returning players could use some more I guess)

2) In Reisenjima repops are faster. At Woh Gates 2 sometimes I was killing too fast and that was killing my chains

3) In Reisenjima you have Vorseals. Especially if you have a high regen one, that can allow you to survive with peculiar trust setups, and Refresh helps your trust staying up on MP, which means less *** up with Joachim and/or Ulmia using Ballands and messing your buffs

4) Kills in Reisenjima (or any Escha zone) help with the HP/MP vorseal, which require an insane amount of kills for the last tiers, so every additional kill helps you reaching those numbers.


Just my two cents.
PUP with a nice setup can solo Apex btw, and that's likely the highest cp/hr source if that's what you're talking about.
Personally if I have to solo and want something easy and relaxing I'd rather go to Reisenjima, it's even much faster than Woh#2 and do not need silent oils.

ItemSet 347826

This is what I still use for my capped magical haste set on PUP. Don't find Herculean helm too impressive melee wise, so I stick with Taeon Chapeau with attack/acc, pet haste +5, and TA +2. Putting me at 24% pet haste. Debated swapping Herculean feet for the new feet, but I have QA +3 on mine, so losing that much multi-attack would be a huge loss.

I'm finally getting around to building a cape just for WS and trying to figure out which augment to get from sap. I'm assuming WS damage, but is crit hit rate (Or something else) better?

Crit rate, none of PUP's WS get much out of WSD (but Smite and Pummel can both crit). Pair it with STR (Thread), Acc&Atk (Dust), and more STR (Dye).


Delayed response, but agreed. Taeon is certainly a viable option - Nice idea to pair TA+2 with Pet Haste on Taeon Chapeau. Herc isn't overwhelmingly impressive but CAN still make a very good piece (e.g. TA+4 and good acc augments). Still a little bitter to be the only light DD job that didn't get on Dampening Tam and Adhemar Bonnet...

That being said, the Ambuscade stuff does have its uses too and gives PUPs some additional legitimate options. Tali'ah is not bad at all with its high Acc and pet Store TP. And I tend to find myself frequently in non-haste capped situations, so Hizamaru Somen+1 is actually what I use most frequently.

Ryuo Somen (A: STR+31 DEX+27 Acc+40 STP+6) used to be a solid option too, especially for high acc sets. May still have a place in a master-only, high Acc, capped delay set. Use Tali'ah+1/Taeon for hybrid master+puppet set; use Hizamaru+1 for uncapped delay; or use Herc depending on augments.

I'll be the first "noob" (I -HATE- these new stakpuke gear if I had not mentioned it previously...) to mention it. Post update + Last months Ambublahblah, anything worth swapping out for apex bat in Ra'ka CP farming?

Currently in 4/5 Merc with ~7 to 11 pet: sTP + junk on each
109 ver. of Pitre body. (*** Hahava is a stingy *** and I refuse to pay 2.5m for one... will upgrade asap unless better)
SoA Pet ring/Epona
2x Mache earrings
Ambu cape w/ the pet stats.
Forget the belts name offhand, not logged in so i cant check.

Also: If someone could help me figure out spellcast (TP/SP + VS WSs, whatever else is useful), I'd appreciate that. I have NO idea what I'm doing in regards to using that despite trying on my own for about a month. I'm an idiot when it comes to ***like that :\

I know questions like these get to be a pain in the ***, and I know people get sick of answering them, but I see some of the sets people use, and I'm just not at that point in regards to other useful jobs available to do Rei T4s yet, as well as some other content.

Anyway, any help is appreciated.

Looked over new gear.

Adad Amulet: BiS Pet nuking
Shulmana Collar: BiS Pet DD
Udug Jacket: BiS Pet nuking/ master:resist sleep/dt(Incredible)
Enmerkar Earring: BiS Pet:Tanking/nuking/dd
AF Head, meh
AF Body, meh
AF Hand, Maneuver piece
AF Legs, BiS Tanking and healing
AF Feet, BiS nuking

Accessories seem like the real winners this month for PUP. Maybe pet nuking can stop sucking now? But it's most useful for when you are getting CP, which you probably aren't going to need by the time you get some of this stuff.

Hey Capuchin, for these sets what are your augs for the herc gear? I currently have a set with pet store tp, but that is mainly for pet only situations.

For hybrid, would it best to go TA+ and Acc+?

Thanks!

Yeah, TA+3~4 and some Accuracy is what I prefer on herc hands/feet. The pet store TP Herc is pretty great for pet only though, assuming you don't need a pet haste in those slots.

As discussed above, Herc head is maybe not as strong a piece relative to other options. So that slot (assuming no need for MA from Hizamaru+1) is one where you might forego Herc altogether in favor of something like Tali'ah +1 (good master/pet acc and pet STP+6) or Taeon if you don't feel like spending a lot of time trying to get good enough Herc augments to be worthwhile.