String Theory: A Puppetmaster's Guide *NEW*

Yes, both questions you asked are completely dependent on which head / frame you have set. In the master PUP.lua it shows you what each combo is set too.

Does anyone how to manually turn off and on the "PetWSGear" feature in Selindrile's lua? I want to be able to lock my puppet in damage taken gear when in wave 3 dynamis but I haven't figured how to turn the auto gear swap off.

//gs c toggle PetWSGear

Thank you very much. You are a life save.

Assuming not much has changed with the fight, what weapon alternative can I go with besides su4/5 for soloing the Poroggo Ambuscade on VD using Overdrive?

I can slap augments on Taeon and pretty much cover the entire below set except for the weapon slot. I'd have at least regal cor rolls every run.

https://www.ffxiah.com/item-sets/378470

I'm going in with Sakpata's fists. it has same 50 accuracy but also has All Attr +20

I'd maybe aim for the tp bonus ormahzad but thats alot of random and annoyance. sakpata fists is a solid choice.

If those are off the table for whatever reason, you could go Ohtas and change the belt to an incarnation

Has anyone tried any alternative VD Ambuscade "Frog" attachment setups or builds for even better solo results?
When you exit how many seconds do you usually have on your 1hr timer?
For me, it's about 20 seconds. Strangely when I forget to switch back to Taeon body I do WORSE!
I only have Relic Body +2 but rarely use that with a Valor Edge set.

Today I replaced Magni plug 1 with Coiler 2 and Mana Jammer 3 with Steamjacket and my 1hr actually ran out!
Still got the win.

I guess it could have just been due to worse rolls, who knows.

Has anyone tried a VE/SS build? Probably IMPOSSIBLE to survive.

Would need more DT gear and sacrifice your damage output.

This is what i'm using, which is basically the same as what's used in Aerix's video.

Soulsoother head, Valoredge Frame

Mana Jammer 3, 4
Optic Fiber 1,2
Magni Plug 1,2
Inhibitor 2
Flame Holder
Turbo Charger 1,2
Auto Repair Kit IV
Attuner

Does Analyzer with 1hr really make that much of a difference?
Have you tried Steamjacket without any Mana Jammers? Probably a very bad idea.

PS I'm surprised how much smoother it is with Companions Roll from a COR.

My pet ACC was lower than expected with Kusamochi (87%). Might try Grape Daifuku without Drachen Roll and see how it goes.

Maybe swap out Magni 1 for Target Marker or something.

Made this, hope yall enjoy. thanks for your time.
Bozzetto Necronura Frog wizard guide on VD

How did you avoid adds spawning?

By forcing hammer. There's still a small chance it'll do it anyway.

From August 2019 the only gear I changed was I switched in the Mpaca Gloves and Feet. kept 3 pieces of Taeon, all with Acc DT DA. I stopped using food all together. Varied from 20-50 seconds left on OD. pocket Cor did Bst Companions and dia 2

Here's another boring video we didn't need of the Frog ambuscade on VD. It's one of my best solo runs though and I left with 40 seconds on OD and had a pretty average Beast roll. I tried Mpaca Feet and Gloves, but they're very bad for this IMO. Took too much damage.
Is there any attachments other than Mana Jammer that reduces "Thunderspark" damage? That's the only thing that did over 1k to Auto.

Both Analyzer and Steam Jacket affect Quenching Hammer, which is Light elemental damage. Generally I only needed to use those with 2 Automatons feeding TP, outside of that OD Regen and Repair were enough to keep the maton alive.

I'd also recommend using Grape daifuku over Kusamochi since it's probably difficult to cap Accuracy on the boss without Drachen Roll using just Taeon. Perhaps I'm wrong, though, so you could try parsing the maton's Acc next time you solo it?

One solo run I parsed at about 85% acc with full taeon and Kusamochi. Too low for me really, but got a win. On other runs with no acc rolls it was about 90%+. So strange. I had lots of luck with Kusamochi and didn't want to risk anything.

In some of my early runs my OD timer got down to under 10 seconds when I was using Shiromochi instead. Probably had zero to do with my choice of food though. Could have been bad /COR rolls.

Will try Grape Daifuku out in later runs.

Lately i've been doing LS runs with a full COR. A lot more fun and with the Companions Rolls I don't need to use any Dawn Mulsums most of the time (not a fan of running in range for oil!).

For Analyzer i'm trying to figure out which attachment to remove. Thinking either Mana Jammer 3 or Magni Plug 1. I'll do some testing.

The hammer move usually does 1k damage to auto and the only thing that really hurts it. Maybe a few spells for 600dmg or so, but don't remember.

Maybe I'm missing something, but is there a particular reason you were using Shiromochi over Grape daifuku? Ever since they buffed Grape it essentially gives just as much Accuracy as Shiromochi while also providing a good chunk of Attack.

One more !

Inhibitor 2, Mana Jammer 4-3, Analyzer, Turbo Charger 2, Attuner, Flame Holder, Auto repair 4, Optic Fiber 1-2, Maniplug 1-2

Grape Daifuku

Nice! I didn't know this somehow. I know that people said they boosted Grape Daifuku but wasn't sure how or I just forgot. I guess it helps to check and look at the updated item descriptions!

I'll admit I usually use Kusamochi 90% of the time, even with all the V0 Gaol NMs. Probably need Grape Daifuku for anything V5 or higher though. Auto ACC hasn't been an issue for anything in a very long time luckily.

I think this VD fight is the first time in a VERY long time I saw my auto at an 85% ACC parse for one run.

Good job. Your auto seemed to hold up better with analyzer than on my runs without it.

I'm not sure if this is the difference though.

Did you see how much damage the hammer move was doing to your auto? I didn't notice it in the video at all.

Can someone check this?

Without Analyzer, hammer usually hits my auto for 1400 damage (not the 1k like I originally thought).

So it looks like dropping Turbo 1 for Analyzer might be worth it.

Will check out Analyzer more later after work.
Hopefully it's really reducing the Hammer move a lot.

Not 100% sure how analyzer works under overdrive with no earths, but it should cut damage 40% for every other hammer at least.

So I was looking at the capes listed in the gearsets, and I'm pretty sure I just need to scrap my old cape and start over. Would just have to change too much otherwise.

My only cape I have currently is STR+10 Acc+20 Atk+20 Pet: Haste+10% Pet: Acc+20/R.Acc+20/Atk+20/R.Atk+20. In my defense, it was good 3 years ago before I quit playing! LOL

Seems like it's best to go for this one first, since it seems to be the most commonly used one:

Cape: Pet: ACC&ATK+20/ACC&ATK+20/Pet: Haste+10%/Pet: ACC+10/Pet: PDT-10%

Is that double Pet: Acc & Atk+20? I just wanted to make sure before I get started.


Also. I was a bit surprised that with the Dual TP gearsets the cape still seems to be entirely focused on the Auto, with nothing for the Master.

First augment is for the pet using Abdhaljs Thread, second is for the master using Dust.


The augments are arguably the biggest bang for your buck for each category, as the master can typically manage without the DEX/Acc bonuses due to gear and usual DD party buffs, which neglect the pet. HTH also doesn't have to worry about Magian TP bonus offhands like many other DDs, especially since the Dual TP gear is already pretty loaded with solid DEX/Acc on almost every piece. So boosting Acc/Atk for the maton can make up for the lack of pet buffs ever so slightly and also there's often no room for Armor Plates, Stabilizers or Target Marker in the highest DPS attachment setups. The master is also already pretty well-protected at -30% PDT without even using a Hybrid or DT set intentionally.

Of course, these are all just general recommendations, so if you find that they're not working for you in the party setups you usually run (e.g. with Trusts or non-REMA buffs) then don't hesitate to adjust things.

Perhaps slightly redundant and late to the party after being away for the first week or so post-update, but re: Ambuscade discussions...

For attachment loadout, I definitely find Analyzer potent enough defensively to warrant a slot (obvious enough to me from non-scientific observation comparing when it's equipped or not). Personally, I hate Inhibitors so that frees up a slot to fit the Analyzer in. Inhibitor just has too much risk of the automaton screwing things up by holding TP and wasting precious time if fighting with any others, and even solo without having master TP I don't find it to really add that much when under OD and gaining TP like mad regardless (it's a more relevant attachment if you're not using OD, IMO).

I've been doing the following attachment setup on Soulsoother head/VE body:
Mana Jammer III&IV
Steam Jacket
Analyzer
Optic Fiber I&II
Auto Repair Kit IV
Turbo Charger II
Magniplug I&II
Flame Holder
Attuner

Gear (2100JP):
ItemSet 381875
Taeon: DT-4%/DA+5%/Acc&Racc+24~25 (though I forgot a Taeon legs in storage and did several fights just fine with Rao+1)
Cape: Pet: Haste+10%, Acc/Racc/Atk/Ratk+20, Acc/Racc+10, MDT-10%

Strategy:
I dual box a lot of these with Regal COR doing Crooked+Beast and Companion's rolls, call a BST trust for job bonus, cycle light/fire/wind maneuvers, Grape Daifuku.

I get the puppet set up on the frog, stick Dia II on the mob from COR/WHM or PUP/WHM, run away and it's at about 95%. Then pop OD and should usually be fine to win on VD within SP time, or get very close if unlucky with DA procs or not hitting XI/lucky rolls (like, occasionally run out of OD with single digit % of mob HP remaining, and can whittle it down with a few more WS).

I basically never need to use Repair/healing items, just the regen from ARK IV is fine. Could probably lean slightly more toward offense with (a) some gear swaps (Mpaca boots? Taeon or Empy head?), (b) one or two attachment swaps, or (c) VE head/body with a slightly different attachment loadout due to the different elemental capacity... However, I err on the side of being plenty safe while still doing sufficient damage to kill in the OD window (or very close).

If going with others (preferable for more gallantry), good job choices include:
COR: At least 1 COR is a huge benefit, obviously, and the top priority if not going in true solo. Preferably, bring 2+ COR, splitting Crooked Cards between them for Beast/Companion's rolls. If 3 COR, the biggest advantage is just more people to use Wild Card/Cutting Cards (though a 3rd COR can also do Crooked+Drachen instead of leaving that to a 2nd non-Crooked roll if only 2 COR)

Anything over 3 COR is overkill, IMO, and I'd rather include any other remotely useful jobs. Yes, you get more WC/Cutting Cards chances, but that's not super necessary since you can just swap jobs in Mhaura if needed to try a 1hr reset (shouldn't really NEED to rely on WC mid-fight). I prefer:

RDM: Really helpful for debuffs like Dia III, Distract, Para, Slow - all of which are easy to land and help the puppet out.

BST: Good for job bonus for Beast Roll of course (trust can do this too), plus can start off the fight with a nice debuff from slug pet to speed up kills.

PUP: If bringing multiple PUPs, most likely best to cycle one PUP per fight using OD and speed up total time due to less messing around with 1hr resets. But in case something goes sideways, also some insurance to potentially have an extra OD during the fight (without needing lucky mid-fight WC reset).

For what it's worth, using 5/5 Taeon, DT-5% on cape, no Analyzer/Steam Jacket and Inhibitor 2 with Beast/Comp I've had zero issues with solo maton survivability (no Repair/Dawn). And I haven't had OD come close to running out on me, either, even without RDM or BST support and popping it right at 99%. That's with Light/Fire/Water and no Wind, since I keep double Turbo Chargers on for the white damage.

String Shredder doesn't hit as hard as BC, but Shredder+Distortion comes really close. And Inihibitor 2 really speeds up overall WS frequency even if it feels like the maton holds TP for too long sometimes.

Anyone been able to have auto swaps working for pet enmity gear with selindrile gearswap ? And casting pet sets at the same time?

Couple questions:

1) Re: Analyzer, even assuming no issues with TP holding, when OD it up is it really better than other possible offensive attachments? Say, a Coiler II, Tension Spring IV or V, etc.

2) For Bone Crusher... purely on the damage for the WS, does Mpaca's automaton WSD+10%/Acc+50 beat Taeon DA+5%/Acc+25 (on a FTP replicating WS)? Honestly, I'd prob still lean toward Mpaca for the higher Acc when not WSing, and it's not hard to make up the defensive stats from Taeon elsewhere - but not quite sure how the WS damage itself breaks down on this particular WS.

Mpaca gloves have been beating Taeon consistently this month in Ambu.

Wsd 10% for automaton is probably not the same as WSD for players. Meaning it works for whole WS probably, not just first hit.

This is true. Anwig with Haste/DT and Mpaca hands should outperform Taeon Head/Hands and offers slightly more DT to boot.

Thurandaut Ring also allows Domes. Earring instead of Rimeice Earring without uncapping gear haste.

Not correct after all. Check my post on the next page.

Thanks all - that's kinda what I thought, but good to see that seems to be the consensus. I'll keep using my Anwig + Mpaca Gloves set.

I also played around a bit with Taeon Boots versus Mpaca Boots (Auto lv+1/Acc+50), but from very unscientific observation during this month's Ambu I've preferred the DA/DT Taeon for that slot. I feel that the faster TP and chance of DA proc on WS outweigh the automaton level+, but if anyone has a compelling case otherwise please share!

No longer have a Thurandaut Ring myself (Weatherspoon +1 just too strong for mah RNG...), but good call Aerix on that ring+ear swap for those who do have it.