Mandau Thf/war And Next Update

When SE raises the cap to 90 next update THF(/WAR) will get Fencer, boosting crit hit rate and giving a TPbonus of 40. (If SE doesn't nerf the trait for support jobs)

Any thoughts?

Whys it gotta be a mandau D:

i dont know... boyhood dream? i guess any dagger WS would work but i think mandau users could get the most out of it

Well the only thing Fencer would really give is a +5% crit rate, assuming you have capped ACC for WSs. If you think 5% crit rate matters that much, might as well just go /NIN and offhand Heart Snatcher.

I thought about it and I imagine I'll check it out. But I am not really too enthusiastic about it. I thought it might be cool to use fencer in tandem with the new crit+ trait and 2x (or more if fatality belt latent was understood) crit dmg+ equip pieces. But really fencer will not be that big of an increase. In order to take advantage of it, you'll want to do unstacked eviscerations (unless stacked evisceration somehow comes to eclipse stacked mercy). And you'll have less TP gain without /nin. Depending on what you're fighting, you probably won't gain TP fast enough to do 1-2 SA/TA+Mercies and still have room left over for unstacked eviscerating instead.

I'm sure the TP bonus would be neat for evisceration. I mean maybe all the combined effects and equip will really make it truly powerful. But the TP bonus for mercy is pretty meh. It'll give a longer crit aftermath, but the aftermath does not seem that high anyway.

Toying with evisceration seems fun and all. But I think the true fun will be subbing Nin or Dnc at 90 for another level of dual wield. Stack that with Suppa, DW+3% Mirke Wardecors, and you're in business. Auric dagger's 5% DW would also be a tasty addiction, assuming they don't heavily buff the other daggers in comparison. Remember that DW, like haste, increases exponentially. And the next level of DW for Thf is going to be a whopping 10%.

Speaking of Auric Dagger, going from 33->38% DW is an 8% increase in speed/dmg.

If you didn't lose dual wield it would be pretty nice, crit % is why Destroyers were top for MNK for so long, but with only one dagger... eh.. Even if it applies on WS it's a small bonus, since SA is force crit anyway, might be nice on Evisceration but still not worth the loss of an off hand.

I don't see how /nin could build TP faster than /WAR would without a multi-hit weapon.

Also /WAR was always the favorable sub on THF for pure damage no?

/NIN does TP faster, and will TP faster still with further DW bonuses, which is a constant effect rather than a % proc rate like DA. /WAR may have the occasional higher WS numbers, but lower WS frequency.

When wielding two weapons, during a weapon skill, an extra strike is always performed, though prone to miss like anything else physical. This results in bonus damage on the weapon skill in lines with that of a double attack. This is a little tidbit of Information most people tend to let slip their mind, though it is a huge factor in this damage-oriented argument.

To elaborate on what Darkanaseur said, double/triple/multi attacks have 'decreasting marginal gains' while DW has exponential gains. TP/hit is affected by delay, but not linearly; lower delay weapons (after DW) produce better TP/time.

Also Thf/War is ideal for damage up until the roughly max level. But at endgame for burn party situations, anything meripo-level, Thf/Nin is at least equivalent in damage, even with Mandau. I would actually say it is better, or at least very much equal, before even considering utsusemi. Consider utsusemi and not having to hold back, and you do even more Dmg and get to live.

What Zicdeh said is also true. Little known facts as well: when you SA/TA, your offhand hit as well as any double/triple procs that may occur on either hand at the time, have 100% accuracy. In addition, when stacking an SA/TA+WS, you actually have 100% accuracy on 2 of the hits--not just 1 as is commonly thought.