String Theory: A Puppetmaster's Guide *NEW*

Aye, I was more asking for for the +2/3 options. I have the Dyna-D access, so +2 isn't an issue to get, so basically looking for 2/3 for them. Thank you for the response though. :)

[Edit: access, not clears for +3 yet hence why asking for them as well,]

Ah, in that case;

AF: boots are priority 1 imo due to the additonal stat removal on repair, following legs for extra pet DT though with tali'ah its not as amazing as it used to be, after that is likely body for master WS.

Relic: Body is indeed 1st, legs/feet are your best nuke options, while hands are your best master WS piece, heads mostly an idle so get it if you want it.

On the BG string theory guide I see the sets are DEX/DA.

Since fTP doesnt transfer would ItemSet 366067 be a better set?

DEX/WSD/att/acc herc augments and DEX 30 WSD cape

Since all the damage is on the first hit anyway

Thanks, Nariont. :)

Anyone have numbers of Kenkoken AM3 Bone Crusher with the two new Magniplugs attachments? Normal and Overdrive.

If I had the WS gear for it I'd do it, but from what I remember before the update it wasn't a huge increase in general for it.

The fTP of the first hit is only 1.0625, so WSD isn't going to boost Shijin Spiral all that much. You're better off focusing on DEX/Acc/Atk/Multiattack, like the guide says. Although I'm not sure why it recommends Double Attack when Herculean can roll Triple Attack. Moonshade Earring also seems out of place since TP only affects Plague.

My modified MNK spreadsheet with decent, but not excessive buffs (Capped Haste, Berserk, Sam/Chaos, Idris GEO Torpor/Frailty) put out this as the best SS set when not Attack-capped:

ItemSet 366073

- I compared stats with Herc that had DEX+15/Acc+20/Atk+20/TA+3.
- Cape with DEX/DA
- Perfect Samnuha Tights are really close to Herc Legs with the aforementioned roll, so they're probably a much more realistic option.
- Shulmanu Collar is the best alternative to Pup. Collar +2 if you don't want to invest too much. Depending on your Attack buffs it even beats Pup. Collar +2 (surprisingly).

With capped Attack, all Herc with the above rolls + Samnhuha Tights are BiS.

Bit late, but I finally got around to testing maton WSs with and without Idris Frailty on Selkit (but always with Beast roll). No Overdrive.

tl;dr: It'll likely make a difference on much stronger NMs, but at least for stuff in the CL 130 range, Frailty doesn't do much for matons if you have rolls. I might test again in the future on something stronger, like Neak.

Shatterer/Piercer: Light/Wind/Fire
Arcuballista: 2x Fire/Wind

No Frailty:




BoG/Ecliptic Idris Frailty:




I screenshotted the numbers closest to the average for the WSs (sample size 10+ for each WS).

Should note that if you are forcing Arcu via skillchains vice double fire it would likely make a decently bigger difference

Yeah, but sharaz asked me to test according to how I would typically force WSs when I brought up the possibility of forcing it via SCing. So I just went with my standard method.

Regardless, only Howling Fist or Light/Thunder/Fire Daze > Arcuballista would force it normally, neither of which are typically relevant for pet burns without OD.

So, if you have frailty up in party, you can swap your attuner for something else.

Thanks for your work Aerix.
As I feared. Geo doesn't do ***in PUP burns.
For most content at least.

But for Omen I do think there is some benefit of fraility to Arcuballista specifically.

Just something to keep in mind. Out of curiosity was there dia as well?

Actually before this update I usually did do the light thunder fire for 2 autos 1 cor killing since it was noticeable faster most the time. Probably not ideal now especially if you have Xiucoatl and/or don't need regen from light

I used Dia 2 in conjunction with Frailty. The non-Frailty tests only had the Defense down from Armor Shatterer active.

And there's nothing wrong with making 2 matons multistep with each other using Companion's Roll. I actually forgot that I did do that a couple of times in some fights like the Qutrub VD ambu. So forcing Arcuballista like that does happen occasionally.

In any case, if you have the option to Frailty a mob, you should almost always do it anyway. It'll improve the maton's non-WS damage and SMNs/BSTs need it regardless.

How does companion's offer anywhere near enough regain to multistep? D:

The matons take turns WSing to multistep with each other (Daze > Arcu > Shatterer > Piercer). While the lack of Haste sucks, the increased Double Attack with the Thunder maneuver makes up for it slightly to keep TP coming in. Companion's Roll is absolutely necessary, though.

So i done my first ever pup tank in Dyna - D Jeuno (or ever in general), and all went well until the light orb thing, where I'd run to the back of the stairs and hold the mobs until it went down. Turned out that I wasn't able to make it fully around before getting blasted by its aoe and died, causing 2 wipes.

Can anyone give me some tips on this, and other strats I may need to know for any of the zones? I'm sure with 2 other much better hearted pup tanks, I won't be doing it often, but having some general knowledge before going in would help better than doing things in the fly.

I was using the turtle tank frame from the wiki and damage to my auto wasn't an issue, it was actually making it to the safe spot behind the stairs that screwed us. But yeah.. returning after so long REALLY *** me over and made me rusty (not to mention lack of gil to upgrade many things I need, but that's a different issue all together)

Any help would be appreciated, especially video. Thanks much.

I'm not sure what you are describing Jiko.

Are you talking about sac - pulling the Light circle?
My group tends to kill the Light Circle instead of sac pull it, because we want to kill the dark circle behind it.

The light Circle has alot of Blue mage mobs on 1 side and puppetmasters on the other.

The blue mages do some nasty AoE.

If you are talking about AoE from the circle itself, I expect you should be out of range. Send your puppet to attack the circle, then pull it back immediately as everything links to puppet.
I've never had the circle do an AoE move so Quickly just from a pet pull.

I"m not sure what you are refering to as a safe spot behind stairs. You should certainly get yourself well out of range of the circle.

Its also possible you get Aurix to pop and do his AoE bomb toss garbage. So I'm just not sure what you are describing.

You should ask Paisely, he has experience about what to do and not do.

Just make sure to position yourself well when it comes to your automaton and AOEs. Also, we had that but that was probably overkill, you "might" need a healer to make it safer, at least while you learn.

I'll explain better after work what I'm referring to, but it was definitely the light circle that got me, which shocked the hell out of me.


I'll talk with him later tonight. I just feel bad for whatever happened, and would love to learn how to do it better, espically since it was my first time in any dyna-d. X.x

Xilkk: So this was what I was doing.


Deploy koumei on light orb
get people angry and attack him.
run around behind the stairs


stick koumei at said location and tank them while i run to the back but not in range of the angry guys behind him to avoid blu stuff.
light orb used the aoe move and i died around that spot shown.

Recovered and died basically right next to the light orb after doing the above again.

I was a sad pup. :( hope the beautiful, totally accurate pics helped describe what I meant better

The pictures are great. Thank you.

When I've sac pulled the light circle, I don't go behind the stairs.

the ice and fire circles are gone, so I might pull back to the MH.

I'm never in range of the light AoE.

The AoE should only go off if your tank/dd killing the circle are doing it wrong.
Tank is either too close, or losing hate to the DD's. still you are safer being closer to the blu's than the light circle. it has a 30' range.

I"m not sure if going upstairs would be safe or not. I would pull the other direction. though you certainly have a faster retreat after circle is dead where you are standing, rather than the MH.

I don't really think it was your fault...
but blue mages have maybe 13' range,
light circle 30'

stand closer to the crowd you tanking and further from the light circle.

Nope, was about at the point drawn on the pic, but by that time, the plds should have had the circle anyway.

We did end up pulling them to the MH, and it seemed to work, but the circle was almost dead anyway, although thinking about it, it does seem like the best way to go at it from the start. <thinking face emoji>

[edit] I started typing before your edit, lol.

I don't sac pull, if you have your 2H available use valoredge head for invincible on pull and when that wears use overdrive.

also, don't deploy on the circle itself and it won't do anything. deploy onto an NM one and let your RUN pull mobs off one at a time.

by deploying on the circle you guarentee they all link to puppet. and you need to in order to spawn the ??? Disjoined Mithra

Also, if you aggro a mob you have to die after circle is dead
if you aggro circle and mithra only, then you deactivat pet and you don't have any aggro.

so you definitely want to aggro the circle w/ pet.

They all link the puppet anyways, you can super tank them on the auto. You don't have to touch the circle until they're all dead.

.. sure, that's every circle ever.. in fact if you are going to kill them all you can pull 1 group at a time.

the whole discussion has been sac pulling light circle.

this specific circle will link regardless of touching the circle, though

and killing them is faster anyways.

you won't pull the ??? Disjoined Mithra if you don't attack the circle.

tim (Wadow A little late but a single auto can 2 step reliably and sometimes 3 step but doing better is going to either require a standard stp/haste set or at least 2 autos