[Kayalan]

I've been putting together a VIT/DEF build for Cannonball, but can't decide what body piece to use... You think that the jubbah, with skill+ outweighs, say, Narasimha's VIT and higher DEF? Hell, even a cardinal vest has the same 44 DEF rating +3 VIT. Anyway, thanks in advance.

[(Delequiox)]

This is a good question, I personally have been using AF body. I think Narasima may outweigh, but I have no info, nor parse results, and I have never tried it for myself. So idk.

[Star A.D.]

Blue magic skill +15 raises the base damage of physical blue magic by about 3, which will certainly trump a few points of vit or defense. The impact defense has on cannonball is really small point for point compared to str and vit, you won't see noticable increases in damage unless you are talking about huge defense boosts, like cocoon or protect 4/5. 2 defense alone won't amount to anything.

[(Delequiox)]

This is my cannonball build.

[Kayalan]

Needs more cowbell...

On topic: yeah 346 DEF is pretty good, with the right spells equipped and AF pants you can get close to 360 iirc.
I cant tell you what I have atm cause I'm in the middle of Salvage and my DEF is 126 >.>.

[(Delequiox)]

Magus Shalwar: 33 DEF 3 VIT (1.5 DEF)
Prince Slops: 40 DEF

[Kaslo]

Dele your Def is actually a little high... Your target base DEF should be as close to 320 without going under, (this means you can prob take DEF reings out for STR Rings)

320 * .5 Cocoon * .25 Taco = 600 (roughly the cap on pDEF in multiplier)

[Villian]

Did you set in your spells dele? Str seems kinda low.

Edit: I mean what kind of spells did you set in XD.

[(Delequiox)]

Villian :
Did you set in your spells dele? Str seems kinda low.

Edit: I mean what kind of spells did you set in XD.

No, I had no spells equipped whatsoever. And ty Kaslo I'll keep that in mind, I actually only bought the Phalanx Rings for Ballista.

[oxymercuration]

Macroing in Rune Bangles might be another quick and cheap way to get some added defense (at the cost of some MP and other Hand slot armor bonuses).

I don't know if that would work but I thought it was an interesting idea, has anyone tried this?

[(Delequiox)]

Havnt tried, been working on Protecting Bangles insted, there better. :boing

[Majae]

Speaking of Cannonball build, I was interested in seeing the difference between /WAR and /THF with this spell. Obviously Defender replaces SA. I have to be honest here, I didn't notice a lose in my damage output for /WAR. I'm going to do further tests to get some answers.

I notice ppl hype up SACA Cannonball, but even in besieged, I noticed no difference in damage between that, and Cocoon + Defender +CA + Cannonball. When I went /THF for SACA Cannonballs on the undead I was getting 300-500 dmg returns during a lvl 6. I went in last night same undead, same lvl 6 with /WAR and i was getting 300-600+ returns on Cannonball. I never broke 600 with /THF. Also probably a good note is that I'm lvl 71 doing this.

I remember I was just in the ToA area messing around on Colibris, doing 100%TP SACA Cannonballs with a Cocoon+defense build, and was hitting for 500-700 avg, and never broke 1k.

So with the same gear setup, I went out last night and did the same shit, except I was /WAR and as stated earlier, swapped Defender for SA. Well, first one I do, Cocoon + defender + CA + my defense build i used for SACA, and I bust out a 1001 dmg Cannonball on the bastards. That was the highest I did during those 10 or so mobs, but my damage avg was parsed the same as with /THF and SACA. Also, My defense was upwards around 400+ with those bonuses.

My question I guess is why all the hype on SACA for that spell when I'm getting the same damage output, if not higher by /WAR and using Defender + Cannonball? Is it simply for the guarenteed hit on SA? I'm going to keep testing and increase my DEF build set, but right now I'm feeling more /WAR for Cannonball then /THF. Anyone else testing this?

[(Delequiox)]

SA Cannonball will produce significantly bigger numbers than defender Cannonballs.

[Majae]

(Delequiox) :
SA Cannonball will produce significantly bigger numbers than defender Cannonballs.

I guess that is the thing, I have yet to see SACA Cannonballs produce "significantly" higher numbers. From everything that I have done, the numbers have been generally equal. Significantly higher to me would be, instead of hitting these 500-600 with /WAR & /THF that I would be constitently getting 800-1000 from SACA Cannonball, and I've yet to see that.

I suppose I'll have to parse out some stuff myself. Its not that I don't want to agree that /THF is better, but I would rather see some factual proof of it then ppl simply following one another saying it is.

[Villian]

/thf with SA on mob = 100% hit if it doesnt turn around, /war = can miss

ePEEN PICS!

[Kaslo]

Majae :
Obviously Defender replaces SA.

:no

This may be the case only when not useing food such as Tacos. However in endgame activities where you are trying to push your numbers to thier maximum potential SA + Taco + Cocoon + Cannonball will always beat Defender + Taco + Cocoon + Cannonball because it gaurantees a hit and DMG boost from def tends to cap at 600 DEF.

[Majae]

Kaslo :

This may be the case only when not useing food such as Tacos. However in endgame activities where you are trying to push your numbers to thier maximum potential SA + Taco + Cocoon + Cannonball will always beat Defender + Taco + Cocoon + Cannonball because it gaurantees a hit and DMG boost from def tends to cap at 600 DEF.

Awesome, now we are getting somewhere. So in this case /THF Cannonball setup seems something strictly endgame as long as your only goal is to push high numbers by combining powerful DEF food, gear, and SA. It seems in xp I surely wouldn't want to eat Tacos to get a DEF boost simply for SA Cannonball.

In which case, as I have found so far, /WAR and /THF on regular mobs I get similar damage results on Cannonball. My Defender boosted CB's do as much damage as a SA+CB's without the Defense foods.

@ Villian - Nice shot of the damage there. How often do you get those numbers returned on the larger HNM's? And do you find it a pain in the ass to line your SACB up well on kited mobs?

I only ask these questions simply because this job is so dynamic. More info, the better and you guys always seem to have much more time to research this then I do with my game time. lol. As always I apprecaite all the feedback and info.

[Villian]

That was 0tp SACAAL cannonball on tiamat. With just SA + cocoon + prot IV + tavz taco i do around like 400-600, SACA around 700-900 with 0tp (sometimes we dont have tanks for adds so sam, smn, blu DD onry) 800-1.1k with 100tp. Cannonball made kiting mob a joke, its very easy to hit them.

[Majae]

I've been having a ton of fun messing around with this spell. I tried the Assault Mission "Troll Fugitives" as 71BLU/THF in the uncapped area, had a decent DEF build with me, and manage to spike a 1110 and a 1004. Those were my highest CB's of the night. Most of the time my TP was between 100-120% for a CASACB. The rest avg around 700-900, and those were with under 100%tp, but with CASA. I am definitly impressed with the potential this spell has. I didn't use any DEF foods on this one simply cause I wanted to test my ACC first with Sushi. These mobs were conning VT to me @ 71, I can't remember what they were to my NIN @ 75 in the same zone. I think they are T at that point.

My build was pretty avg, since I have yet to get some other gear.

Head: AF
Hands: AF
Body: AF
Waist: Warwolf
Ring1: Ruby
Ring2: Rajas
Ear1: Antivenom
Ear2: Insomnia
Back: Amemet
Feet: Rutter Sabatons
Main: Ifrit's Blade
Neck: Chivalrous Chain

Its not the best setup in the world for Cannonball, but it works out. I think I'm going to look into a different neck and back piece as well and possible some different earrings to swap in. Next time I run with my assault static will be thursday so hopefully we do a zone where I can test out some more setups.

Anyway, thanks for all the input guys.

[Dimmauk]

What sword to use for Cannonball build?

Ifrits

Gold Musky (if you are Bastok)

Wing

other

???