[Spiderman]

I recently purchased a few Arhats+1 and Darksteel+1 for the -Physical Damage. Of course, this is a bit of money for just straight Defense use.

I am wondering - do any of you think these items are worth the gil? When you tank/survive do any of you suggests Arhats/Darksteel, or more Counter gear? Or just keep straight up acc/haste/att etc?

As for what im fighting - I actually bought the set to hold a ton of mobs without dying (so i could be at about -50% with earth staff, since i was just holding them). I have never done salvage, but I want to soon (should I keep the set just for that?). I also would like to use MNK to duo with pld/rdm/smn friend on certain NM's (we both like to solo/duo whatever we can).

Thx

[pathwriter]

It's a worthwhile investment if you're smart enough to use it. It doesn't pair well with Counterstance, for instance, both because Defense actually does matter and because a defensive kit should be seriously impacting your Accuracy. For kiting or when you know you're going to take some hits or for blood-tanking Campaign, it is useful. Because of Counterstance, though, it's a questionable kit when compared to a similar set for a Samurai or Ninja who use it to get breathing room in between Third Eye or Utsusemi falling.

As for what a Monk and Red Mage can duo: virtually anything that can be melee'd. There are some obvious exceptions, such as sky gods (although you could readily use Chi Blast to contribute to the overall damage if your Red Mage friend was going to kite), but a competent Monk and a competent Red Mage are a fearsome duo. I've since given up trying to convince the Red Mages I've met to do Operation Desert Swarm with me, but I'm certain that it can be duo'd with minimal strife. With one exception, I've done every WSNM as a duo. ENMs are an easy target. To be honest, though, it seems like there is less and less these days worth pitting oneself against, but there are certainly plenty of battles you could attempt.

[_Vivik_]

I'm gonna skip the wall o text and say, keep the straight up acc/haste/att set and improve as much as possible. -phys.dmg is good but i have not really found a good use for it, from nin i have +1 Arhat head/body -15% jelly ring -5%, BB -5%(on mnk), pants from ASA -4%, Patronus Ring -2% that's -31% (-51% if earth staff used) but they get used on nin more so then mnk. On monk a good acc/haste/att will get you further, least from what i have observed.

[Cream Soda]

I'll go w/ the above. I have a solid PDT build, but I almost never use it. Only times i rly use it is kiting and chi blast.

[Greeber]

ive only ever used -dmg gear for skilling guard as /pld /rdm and /dnc

[Cyprias]

I've kept mine because it's helped me a lot in rough times. Sure in a cs instance that's different, but if cs is say dispelled and not up, I love this set to death. This paired with /war defender was nice once as well.

I'd say definite keeper, but that depends on your style of using MNK

[Alisha]

Cyprias, on 07 December 2009 - 04:59 AM, said:

I've kept mine because it's helped me a lot in rough times. Sure in a cs instance that's different, but if cs is say dispelled and not up, I love this set to death. This paired with /war defender was nice once as well.

I'd say definite keeper, but that depends on your style of using MNK

i always thought defender was a worthless job ability. it's never saved me,and i never saw a noticable decrease in damage to me. however i'm pretty sure the last time i used defender was before ToaU came out. i remember trying it when i was doing alternating pulls on raptors and i still got raped hard.

[pathwriter]

Defender is a percentile gain. Monk armor is heavy cloth, approximately the same Defense rating as what a White Mage will wear and inferior to what Thieves wear. Monk Defense is therefore at the bottom of the feeding chain and, to make matters worse, stuff like Arhat's gear has pretty lackluster Defense even for its level, much less at 75 compared to Shijin armor (one of our best options in terms of pure Defense). I remember waaaaaaaaaaay back in the annals of time when people still leveled on Torama in Labyrinth of Onzozo and I would frequently be called upon to pull, which is pretty much the dumbest thing ever. Since this was back when /Warrior was the only way to play, I actually pulled wearing a set of Carapace armor so that I could survive getting back to camp. I'll admit it worked and having to Cure-bomb me was certainly one way to secure aggro on the Paladin, but I'm glad it's not the bad old days anymore.

[Cyprias]

What I meant for defender was decreasing damage taken as much as possible in rough situations.

As for use on most mobs, it won't happen often; did help when I needed it though.

I do recall Richard bustin out some nice DMG-% numbers while tanking before, and this type of use for the gear is what I'm referring to; I've had similar beneficial results with it.