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As a forewarning: The XP gained was not super amazing. However, we were able to get up to chain 5 without issue against Prince Wamoura in Mount Zhayolm with three of us. There were no player deaths; although we did get slowed down by losing our puppets a few times. Later on in the night we ended up recruiting another BLM and it helped make the PT flow more smoothly. The goal here was simply to learn to work together and see what was and what wasn't effective. Hopefully the PUP community will be manaburning with each other and with BLMs more in the future.
Does PUP really belong in a Manaburn?
We all know that Spiritreaver can nuke for a crapload of damage. But is it enough? Our spellcasting cooldown timers limit us; and so does our automaton's AI. Both of these weaknesses can, however, be overcome through the use of Activate, Deploy, Deactivate (ADD; although the actual order of commands is Deactivate, Activate, Deploy). PUP has a couple unique strengths to add to the Manaburn situation. For one thing; an automaton can run and cast spells at the same time and a player cannot. This is pretty damned cool when you're working with BLMs and you have a mob with Gravity that your pets can chase around and freely nuke. PUP also holds the unique ability to cast two spells at once; one through the puppet and one through the master (assuming the master has a sub that allows for spellcasting). This means that you can apply critical healing to a kiter or a melee while your puppet continues to nuke without interruption. Using ADD, a group of PUPs will also -never- run out of MP; which means you can continue to kill mobs on your own while your BLM buddies (if any) are resting.
What do I need?
*Spiritreaver head for your Stormwaker
*Magic power. Automaton magic skill, attachments, Optimization merits. Get it where you can. Its your bread and butter.
*A useful subjob. /WHM is strong. /BRD is good for Ballad if you're playing with BLMs. /WAR is decent for melee damage (I'll get to that). /NIN is fairly useless since you won't be getting hit enough to warrant Utsusemi.
*A melee weapon. You may need it. You may not. Don't leave your claws or sainti at home just because you're bringing staves!
*Your AF gloves. You're going to be using Ice Maneuver all the flippin' time and you don't want to Overload too much.
*An ADD macro. Mine goes:
/ja Deactivate
/wait 1
/ja Activate
/wait 1
/ja Deploy
Another exceptionally useful macro is:
NUKE
/ja Deploy
/wait 1
/ja Retrieve
As pointed out by Kleiner, an Automaton will finish a nuke even after being recalled to your side with the Retrieve command. You can use this macro to throw a nuke while letting your pet keep its distance. Super helpful.
What attachments should I use with my Spiritreaver?
Effective PUP Manaburn makes liberal use of ADD. You're going to be depopping and repopping your puppet -all the time- and so this greatly influences the attachments you're going to want to use. Since ADD restores your automaton's MP gauge you can throw all your MP efficency stuff out the window. This is all about power.
*Loudspeakers: An obvious choice. More magic attack power = mobs die faster = more XP faster.
*Ice Maker: This is the ADD cornerstone. Depopping your automaton is going to remove all your Maneuvers anyways so your opening shot should really count for a lot. This is also noteworthy because you can watch the little blue Maneuver icons at the top of your screen as a signal to yourself to press your ADD macro the moment you see the icons disappear from the use of a nuke. An opening shot with this and 3 Ice Maneuvers up will equal or exceed that of a BLM's nuke with the same spell.
*Condenser: Erases a Water Maneuver to prevent an overload. Because of the Ice Maker you'll want to be using Ice Maneuver as much as you can. Before you trigger 3 Ice Maneuver; you should use the Condenser. Water > Ice > Ice > Ice is the perfect opening set-up for a nuke. The Water Maneuver will keep the Ice coming; and if you were going to overload you will instead simply lose your Water Maneuver and keep the Ice power you've built up.
*Mana Channeler: Pairs well with the Condenser; making Water Maneuver a decent action to perform with a newly summoned puppet after ADD. If nothing else, its nice to grab some magic power from a non-Ice Maneuver.
*Tranquilizer: More magic accuracy to make those nukes less likely to be resisted. Unless you are actually having resistance troubles I would forego using this attachment. It is, however, very nice to have against more resistant monsters.
*Optic Fiber: This one requires a bit more testing. Its noteworthy because it makes a Light Maneuver count as a lesser version of every other Maneuver. This is important because it gives you a way to use all your damaging attachments with something other than a constant spam of Ice Maneuver. This should slow down your overload rate as a result. It also gives your puppet a big enmity spike (and its very noticable). This is actually kind of nice because it can be used to pick out a particular puppet that you want to have hate over the others. This is important for positioning---which I'll get to later.
*Smoke Screen: Accuracy be damned: Your puppet isn't here to melee. But your puppet -is- there to survive. Extra evasion never hurt anyone.
*Accelerator II: More evasion. See above.
What attachments should I avoid?
Flashbulb, Replicator, and Shock Absorber simply are not worth the trouble. Effective use of ADD, the Retrieve command, and Ventriloquy completely erase the need for Replicator and Shock Absorber. At the level that PUP Manaburn becomes viable Shock Absorber doesn't block enough damage to provide any real degree of safety and the use timer to trigger the effect is too long considering the fact that you are likely not going to have your pet activate, deployed, and set with an Earth Maneuver anyways. The same can be said for Replicator. Flashbulb is still noteworthy in that it can provide cover for other members of your party; although the requirement of 45 seconds and a Light Maneuver make this a moot point in most situations.
As pointed out by Nateypoo on the Alla forums, Armor Plate(s) aren't really going to provide any degree of defense against mobs that you will actually want to Manaburn against.
(Nateypoo)
Puppets have an estimated ~200 defense (may be even lower for mages). With the addition of armor plate II and no earth maneuvers, you're probably going to increase that to about 220 defense. Even with the armor plate II equipped, you're pretty much guaranteed the enemy's PDIF is capped against the puppet. This attachment will make literally zero difference in the puppet's ability to defend itself. You can actually test this, now that SE has fudged the damage calculations. Against a decent challenge puck in den of rancor, my puppet was getting hit consistently for 116 damage. It was not until I equipped both armor plates and put two earth maneuvers up, that the damage finally dropped from the damage cap of 116 down to random damage between 110-114 per hit. Yes, you read that correctly. Both defense attachments and two earth maneuvers reduced the puppet's damage intake by less than 3%. Against a mob stronger than decent challenge, it would have easily been 0% change. Even with both attachments equipped, it still hit for 116 on the DC pucks, until two earth maneuvers were applied. This attachment will do NOTHING against a T or VT mob, absolutely nothing.
Your automaton's MP total and MP efficency don't matter at all. Mana Tanks, Mana Converter, Mana Conserver, and Economizer are useless since you'll be using ADD to keep a full supply at all times. Similiarly, ADD will lower your spell recast timer after your first nuke to zero for an immediate second nuke: This will carry you through so much of combat that I can't suggest the use of Mana Booster. It would only effect your 3rd nukes and beyond during combat and, frankly, mobs shouldn't be living beyond three nukes.
Natey offers the following in response to this which is worth mention:
(Nateypoo)
Also, even though MP attachments aren't really needed, I may recommend the mana tanks (and likewise, auto-repairs) if you have room. Increasing your maximum HP/MP may occasionally prevent the usage of drain and aspir, since the trigger percentages are based on the maxiumums.
We have BLMs in our PT. Should we make them aware of anything in particular?
If you have BLMs; make sure at least one of them is subbing /RDM for Gravity. This isn't 100% necessary but it will make everyone's life a lot easier to Gravity kite your target mobs around instead of trying to cooperate with the puppets and everyone else to not break a Sleep or Bind spell. Especially if/when a puppet decides to cast Drain, which is often too fast for you to stop from breaking a BLM's enfeeble. If applicable, let the BLMs know you can throw Cure III without disrupting your ability to nuke and that you can cover them if need be. Also; let a PUP handle Protectra and Shellra. The BLMs need their MP for more aggressive spells. Start in on each new mob with Ice > Ice > Ice built up for a powerful opening strike with your Ice Maker. If you have a Condenser, make that Water > Ice > Ice > Ice as I mentioned above. Communication here is important. You want to begin using your Maneuvers early to have built up enough ice power to begin the assault when your allies do.
We don't have any BLMs. How do we do this with just Puppetmasters?
Its important to be organized. When you find a target mob that you're going to engage, begin building up Ice Maneuvers for your initial strike. It needs to be cripplingly effective. Call a time and have everyone nuke at the same time. The timing doesn't have to be perfect, so no need to worry too much. In fact, you can purposefully have one person go early to "steer" the mob toward or away from specific Puppetmasters and puppets. Remember; because you are using ADD it is important that your automata don't get damaged in the opening strike. There are two good ways to keep this from occuring.
1) Spread out! When you pull; have PUPs standing on different sides of the mob so that you can easily tell who the angry monster is gunning for by the direction it charges. This way its easy to determine who can safely ADD and who needs to either do it -very- quickly or forego it and make a Flash or use Ventriloquy (if they have it) to prevent their puppet from getting damaged.
2) Don't stand too far away when you deploy. If you're too far away your puppet will charge directly at the target monster while it casts its nuke. There is a certain degree of trial-and-error that you're just going to have to deal with until you find the sweet spot. Obviously, having your puppet run into point-blank range and then hitting the target for 1300 damage is going to ruin your chance to ADD quickly. The Deploy, Retrieve macro should serve you well in preventing this situation.
After the initial nuke volley is made: Its time to ADD. You're going to screw this up now and again and lose your puppet to being deactivated when its HP is lower than 100%. You'll get better at avoiding this. Your pet will deactivate, (hopefully) reactivate, and immediately begin a second nuke. Try to pop an Ice Maneuver while the second nuke is in the middle of casting. Follow this up by using defensive tools.
If the mob is still alive; its time to move into the frontlines. Provoke, Ventriloquy, and Warcry are great tools for putting the hate on a PUP instead of a puppet. Remember, because your pet was deactivated after the first nuke they only have hate built up from the second one. Break out your melee weapons and pound on your enemy until they croak or your puppets bust out another round of nukes for the kill. Keep one another alive by using the tools that your subjob of choice provide to you. Defender, Cure III, Stoneskin, Blink, whatever. And use those supportive attachments like Flashbulb and Replicator.
Congratz. Your target is dead. Now sit down a moment and let your puppets recover any HP they may have lost in the fray before you pull again. You don't want to go into battle with your puppet with less than 100% HP; or your ADD won't work. And, to make matters worse, they might decide to cast Drain. Repair and Role Reversal are excellent tools to get your pet back to 100% HP quickly if you don't wish to sit down.
What mobs should we camp?
Wamouracampa with a small group are thus far the optimal mob I've found. I have attempted puddings and wasn't pleased with the results. For one thing, Puddings aggro to JA. Thats a real problem when these mobs respawn quickly, tend to stay close together, and PUP uses 6 or so JA per fight. Lots of BLM PTs like to fight out in the middle of the Pudding area and don't take things like JA aggro into account because, well, it doesn't effect them any. Your mileage may vary, though. Its certainly possible to avoid aggroing the Puddings---but keep in mind that a linked mob may open with a -ga3 or Sleepga spell and ruin everyone's day. I can't say I'd suggest trying this at all without the company of BLMs.
**********
More updates in the future, surely. This is a work-in-progress.
Special thanks to: Fellow Odin Puppetmaters, Ellorion and Neraku for Manaburning with me for hours. And a warm thanks for Kilana for coming out and burning with us on BLM; the extra practice and company was much appreciated. Additional thanks for Klein for making life a whole lot easier with informing me that the Retrieve command won't stop nukes from going through; and for the PUP community for supporting this work-in-progress. Oh yeah. And thanks to Spira for making it a sticky. Exciting stuff. Yet more thanks to Nateypoo on the Alla forums for her feedback.
No thanks to: KillingIfrit for eating my first post, my mouse for having a buggy left-click button which makes it exceptionally hard to copy/paste, Jediah of Odin for overpulling Wamoura Princes and casting Warp instead of helping me finish off the mobs. Thanks, ass.
~Myrrial
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