Element Staffs

Hello,

I had recently locked this thread per the OP's request but I will leave it open for other information that others may want to give.

Please stay on topic.

Thanks.

I do it and i advise others to, that either reach or are very close to cap.

Whether a staff benefits a buff or not, it is still useful to macro in a gear swap with a spell anyways. Blinking can be annoying, but if you time it right, you can blink right when you cast, thus overriding the animation. This helps to prevent spell-lock you may experience from casting spells with long animations.

A prime example of this would be the BLU spell Bludgeon.

But, I think the point Artemicion was making is that using an Earth/Terra's staff does not do anything to boost the effect of Stoneskin. The only purpose it serves is to minimize damage if you get hit mid-casting. And if that's a concern, you should consider evasion+ instead.

{I don't understand.}


As long as I don't have to bring along an extra piece to make up for the MND on Neptune's/Kirin's, I would agree with this. The problem is with people who don't try to cap Stoneskin and those who think Terra's will actually improve their Stoneskin.

Edit:

wat

I meant, if you are using Earth/Terra's to minimize your chance of getting interrupted during Stoneskin casting, you may have better luck with Evasion+ gear. Sorry for not being clear on that.

Also, I just read the 'Stoneskin' thread. I think this goes hand-in-hand with what they are discussing.

BLM evades like a brick, the mob has to be blind as hell for them to not cap Acc on us. You're much better off using Terra's at that point for the damage reduction, which at 20% has a much better chance of saving your life and may also reduce the damage sufficiently for you to finish casting. The "wat" was not a matter of reading comprehension, I assure you. That said, if you want to stack Eva in unused slots that's perfectly reasonable, it might save you but I'd bet on Terra's saving you more often.

Good point. I'd have to agree with you.

Let me ask you this. Is the interruption caused by a determinate amount of damage taken during casting or by just being hit at all? I've always assumed there's a chance to be interrupted from just being hit, period. But, from what you are saying about Terra staff, reducing damage received directly reduces the chance of interruption. Is this true?

From my experience the higher the damage taken the greater the chance the spell will be interrupted. I've sat around casting AM for shits and giggles on weaker mobs that hit me multiple times for only 10-40 damage per hit with no interrupts, compared to mobs hitting me for 150+ and almost inevitably interrupting my casts.

On the topic of blm evasion, i find its pretty high when im wearing tiara lappas austers staff goliard clogs (gravity build) on all mobs especially lamia ranger im fighting atm (ranged attack). But yeah id still use terra for stoneskin for the reasons mentioned above.

I idle in Tiara and Lappas for the curse proc and the eva, it's not a huge difference but I agree it does help some.

See, I always thought that it was due to the mobs level in relation to your own, with consideration of your skill level as well. Of course, that being said, I have done the same fighting weaker mobs and have still been interrupted.

There is a direct relation between skill level and interruption rate. However, does damage received truly affect spell interruption? TBH, I'm in doubt. It makes sense that just being hit initiates a chance for interruption. A higher lvl mob is more likely to hit you (due to higher accuracy vs mage brick evasion) than a lower lvl mob. This could account for the disparity between low lvl mob/high lvl mob interruption rates.

Hmm, this topic has really gotten my brain a-workin'. XD

This is the way I've always seen it. An IT mob breaking my stoneskin and I receive 5 points of damage is more likely to interrupt me than a Wild Rabbit scoring a critical hit for 10. It's all about their level, your skill level and spell interruption rate enhancements/merits.

Exactly!

When I go BLU/NIN, I rarely get interrupted when casting Blue Magic, but I always have to time my casting of Utsusemi: Ichi, because it is nearly ALWAYS interrupted. I have always attributed this to the fact that my Ninjutsu skill is that of a lvl 37.

None of this is new news. Just giving a common example. :P

It's definitely something worth looking into. I'm not able to go and test it at the moment, but if you can get a friend or two to keep you alive and then kill the mob afterwards you could test this with a lower level but heavy-hitting mob and a higher level but less powerful mob. Cast some time-consuming spells like Stoneskin, Blink, Tier IV spells, and see how often you're interrupted on each. There might be additional variables to account for but it would be a good start.

I'd always gone with what my eyes told me and the damage I took, but given all the level correction stuff we have for Acc and the like anyway it's definitely plausible. There's no doubt that your skill affects interruption rate, but I'm really curious if it's damage or level that affects it from there.

I retract my previous statement. Clearly the whole earth/terra staff thing for stoneskin is situational to what plight you're in but it certainly does make sense to reduce incoming damage to prevent an interruption, either by evading (if possible) or just reducing it as much as possible.

Now, let me tie all this back into the thread topic. If one of the values of the Terra staff lies in the Damage reduction, does it top Earth in that area alone? Or is it assumed Terra is chosen over Earth since casters should have it anyways for Earth-based nuking?

I think I already know the answer, but as a SCH on a budget, prioritizing purchasing HQ staves is important to me. Right now, Terra is at the bottom of my list. If there is reason beyond the added MAcc that could make it worth getting before any other HQ staff, then I would like to know. :D

The only reason to chose Terra's over Earth is for casting Slow and other earth based enfeebles/elemental spells for the extra 5% magic accuracy. If you are only getting one of the two for damage reduction then get Earth.

Edit: Earth Element Magic Spells

Slow!

It's just for the extra nuking/enfeebling power, the physical damage reduction is still 20%. I went with Aquilo's -> Jupiter's -> Pluto's -> Auster's -> Terra's -> Neptune's -> Vulcan's -> Apollo's, but that's from the perspective of somebody whose only high level mage job is BLM. As a SCH, Apollo's is probably farther up in the chain for you.

I got Quake 2 recently for a laugh, i think dynamis mobs Bastok on Tuesday
were taking 1600 Quake2 vs my 1450 Freeze2 only resisted once in the whole hour too. Results on La Vaule nm Draketrader was 1980 quake2 vs 1810 freeze2 on earthsday. So um for slow, slow II and Quake2 its a nice staff.

Just to explain Quake2 slightly further, lvl1 Quake2 with 0 earth potency merits un resisted on earthsday wearing dorin obi, af2 pants yigit feet morrigan body+hands and maats cap will do more dmg than full morrigan blm with sorc belt casting an un resisted lvl 1-5 Freeze2 with 5 ice potency merits.

Nothing notable in game is particularly weak to earth element but where the mob takes equal dmg from all elements effectively quake2 does have its uses.

I would have to agree.
Aquilo's -> Jupiter's -> Pluto's -> Apollo's -> Auster's -> Terra's -> Neptune's -> Vulcan's

RDM should go~

1. Aquilo's - Bind/Para and cheap! Blizz3 also your most useful nuke.
2. Pluto's - Sleeps!
3. Terra's - Slow!
4. Auster's - Gravity/Silence!
5. Jupiter's - Thunder3/Stun!
6. Neptune's - Poison2 (solo)!
7. Vulcan's - Fire3 (some solos)!
8. Apollo's - HQ Light is equal to RDM compared to NQ light so :o

Please forgive me, but what is the reason for having Apollo's so high up on the list?

For BLM I would suggest in order of usefulness:

Pluto's -> Auster's -> Aquillo's -> Jupiter's, then if you have money to waste in any order Terra's Neptune's and Vulcan's then way off in the lol I won bonanza what should I buy? territory: Apollo's staff.

Pluto's = Sleep/Drain/Aspir/Bio
Auster's = Gravity/Aero
Aquillo's = Bind/Ice
Jupiter's = Stun/Thunder
Terra's = Slow?/Earth
Neptune's = Stoneskin/Poison/Water
Vulcan's = Burn?/Fire
Apollo's = Cure?

Sorry, I should have clarified. I meant my list as an adjustment for SCH, not BLM. For BLM, Apollo's definitely low on the priority list.

Apollo's should be low on the list no matter what job except BST for Charm. The only thing you could possibly get out of Apollo's staff is extra initial damage on Dia/Dia II (lol), Banish and Holy damage. Maybe for a serious WHM build with Afflatus: Solace or Misery, but that is a large stretch. Light Staff and Apollo's Staff (baring the +1 MND difference) is the same as far as curing goes.

Well, the equality on the curing is good to know. Maybe last priority makes more sense. Also, Luminohelix's Acc would be affected by Light/Apollo's, but it's such a trifle spell that having the HQ asap is not necessary. Thank you. :)

I just wanted to say thank you for everyone's constructive criticism. I just recently got SCH to 75 and since it's my first pure-caster job, I'm trying to learn a lot. SCH can be limited on gear options compared to BLM, RDM or WHM, but I find that to be a challenge more than a handicap.

I find this thread very helpful. Keep it going. ^_^

Oh, Bard Lullaby as well for Apollo's. Forgot that one.

So unless you have BRD51+, BST51+ or SCH75 only for Luminohelix, there is no reason to get Apollo's unless you just have too much gil and need to spend it on something.

Apollo's for Repose -.-