[pathwriter]

Ok, Destroyers are pretty well destroyed and Hades Sainti are retired. Faith Baghnakhs might be able to retain niche value for zerging just because of the unique mechanics applied to Virtue weapons.

So, what are the new weapons available for Monk until the next update makes this batch obsolete?

First and foremost are the Magian weapons:

Verethragna - D +27 Delay +51 ~ special model, possibly the new tier of "relic"
Revenant Fists - D +23 Delay +55 ~ alternate branch from Verethragna, can probably be disregarded
Ursine Claws (1) - D +19 Delay +140 Occasionally attacks twice
Ursine Claws (2) - D +0 Delay +140 Occasionally attacks 2-3 times
Ursine Claws (3) - D +23 Delay +86 Double Attack +7 ~ probably negligible
Taipan Fangs (STR) - D +22 Delay +61 STR +6 Attack +16
Taipan Fangs (DEX) - D +22 Delay +61 DEX +6 Accuracy +16 ~ undisputed king of Accuracy

Crafted:
Savate Fists - D +19 Delay +51 Accuracy +5 Evasion +4
Savate Fists +1 - D +20 Delay +49 Accuracy +6 Evasion +5

Additionally, location yet to be determined:

Afflictors - D +22 Delay +96 Critical Hit Rate +3% Additional effect: Kick Attacks +7 ~ ... confusing
Lunaris Claws - D +26 Delay +96 Accuracy and attack varies by moon phase ~ data needed

Personally, I'd be inclined to recommend working towards Verethragna as much as possible just on the assumption that, being an Empyrean weapon associated with the Abyssea series of daylight robbery, they'll become some kind of ultimate weapon eventually. In the meantime, I am curious to know what of these options would end up on top right now. In a situation where Accuracy is hurting, I imagine the DEX Taipan Fangs are a good option to pursue. Savate Fists seem like a waste if you already have a pair of Hades Sainti, though that will be dependent on what it costs to make them and if the HQ is easily available. Afflictors seem to be a gimmick, but I know people will flock to the scissors qatar model.

In spite of a little more Delay than seems reasonable, Lunaris Claws may end up being rather nice, even if they're variable. I cannot figure out which of the first two versions of Ursine Claws is likely to come out on top, but I suspect they're the best options (Accuracy aside) at the moment. Assuming full H2H merits and skill growth remains at 5 per level, we'll have 317 H2H before gear equally a base damage of 37. Faith Torque would raise this to 38. I'm never good at modeling this sort of thing, so any thoughts or papermath?

[Cream Soda]

Kinematics did weapon comparisions over on KI (though I don't think he did the acc claws), but yea, destroyers are way done, at the point where I'd even say they're gimp to use at lv 80. Vere and OAT h2h came to be almost identical, so I'd go w/ Vere to feed less TP, I suppose. The attack2-3 times came out to be behind, but they haven't been mathed out for footwork, may still pick up a pair for that.

[shadowdereapz]

I get the feeling that Vere are gonna be better then all but relic.

[fillerbunny9]

The really frustrating part here is that unless you are going to spend a ton of time camping NMs/running VNMs/doing walk of echoes, you basically should just quit now. Especially if you have aspirations to use multiple jobs. Just starting a weapon requires a solid day or two (non-stop around the clock) of time just to get the NMs to pop at their shortest possible respawn times. After that, you either need a shell that does VNM or to find a VERY solid PUG to be able to take out what you need to power up your weapon of choice. I suppose THIS is how you force players to actually do the content, at least initially.

[Kyte]

How does Footwork compare now with the new gear out (2-3 OAT)? I realize more than likely no one has obtained the new kick boots, but is there any rough estimate?

[Terrous]

Kyte, on 23 June 2010 - 10:17 AM, said:

How does Footwork compare now with the new gear out (2-3 OAT)? I realize more than likely no one has obtained the new kick boots, but is there any rough estimate?

Check out Alla, Kinematics has done all the preliminary math on the weapons.

Looks like the OAT 2-3 with footwork up is pretty good.

[Wildstriker]

Unless you're prepared to do Abyssea everyday (or store for time extension) religiously for a couple of months, I wouldn't do Verethragna and just do the OAT, but that's me.

[pathwriter]

You mean that one that requires drops from Abyssea, smart-ass? 'cause unless you're planning to Footwork full-time, none of the Ursine Claws can be completed without going in.

[Wildstriker]

I said nothing about disregarding Abyssea completely.

[pathwriter]

We all pretty well dismissed Mantis out of hand and gravitated towards Wargfangs. I won't say that Ursine Claws are bad, because they certainly aren't, but the tie-in with Abyssea and the unique model (to say nothing of the Relic II level of DPS) leaves me certain these will be expanded upon. In a few weeks when we've sussed out Abyssea and people are all leveled up to 80 and SJ'd out, then we can spend some time hacking out whether 50 flibbertygibbits are worse than 30 whosits from this place. For my part, making Ursine Claws using the necklace from that rape-you-hard, invisible Qutrub sounds pretty damned painful.

[Phoenyx]

I have nothing to add other than reading the words "flibberygibbits", "whosits" and "rape" all in one paragraph made me laugh pretty hard.

[KimJongIl]

^what he said lol

[evilpaul]

What are the trials to get the huge Accuracy bonus weapon? The wiki article is incomplete and I can't check in-game at the moment. It looks to be Soulflayers which would make kind of retarded.

And do people know how the weaponskill path weapons work? If you complete them do you get DMG+10% on that WS with any weapon or just the garbage one with it on it?

[pathwriter]

To get the Accuracy Taipan Claws, you start off with the standard "Kill 50 skeletons under the effects of any weather," then progress to 50 Goobbues in light-aligned weather, then 50 of anything in Thunder/on Lightningsday, then 75 beasts in Thunder/on Lightningsday, then 100 Aquans, 200 Soulflayers, 200 Arcana, and finally 250 Funguar under Thunder weather or on Lightningsday.

The WS trials will give you a weapon that boosts the damage of that specific WS. For instance, you can get a pair of knuckles which do an additional 10% damage with Dragon Kick. They're D+22, so not terrible, but certainly nothing to get excited about. The trials are pretty easy, though, if you're desperate for a new weapon.

[pathwriter]

So with my account reactivated, I'm wondering what I should work on for a pair of level 80 weapons? Ursine Claws seem the obvious choice for Footwork, but what about a situation where, for whatever reason, I don't want to use Footwork. I was thinking the DEX Taipan Claws.

[Motenten]

The base Taipan claws, whether d22/dl+61 or d23/dl+66, are basically identical for total damage, though the d23's may have a tiny edge from weaponskills.

The +str Taipans gain you about 5% from attack, and around 2% from fStr. Combined effect of perhaps 7.5%.

The +dex Taipans gain you 19 accuracy, for 9.5% hit rate. Minimum gain of 11% if you're not capping accuracy. The problem is the relatively narrow range of usefulness. If you're -really- hurting for accuracy you'll be using pizza. But if you're using pizza on most stuff you're likely to be pushing accuracy cap anyway.

Tossing together some rough numbers: You need 407 acc to cap on Greater Colibri; you need 419 acc to cap on the higher level vultures in Mis Coast; If you go up 3 levels to 80 and need another 16 accuracy to cap, you need a total of 435. Base of 305 plus 35 for base dex plus 45 in gear puts you at 385, 50 shy of 'target', and a 70% hit rate without Focus.

If you use the +dex Taipans you can cap accuracy with Focus up and be at 80% with Focus down. If you use pizza you'd be at about 425 (assuming for now that SE decided to cap the acc on them at +40), so you'd only use half the dex Taipan's acc when Focus was down, and be overkill by 40 with it up.

If you would have been using YCBs with the dex Taipan, and the str Taipan with pizza, you'd end up with basically 10 less attack in exchange for never falling below 90% hit rate going with the pizza build, and flexibility in adjusting gear during Focus.

Also, most the existing endgame events just lost most any real need for accuracy, making the dex Taipans a bit useless there.


So personally I would go for the str Taipans for near-term use, though perhaps work on the dex ones for strategic use in the future.


The other option is the def down additional effect fangs, but they're just painfully bad on the proc rate right now. The overall effect is still useful, but I wouldn't recommend them at the moment.

[pathwriter]

The problem for me in getting the stat claws, once I started looking through them, are Soulflayers and Wamoura. The latter will be less of an issue around 80, but only by margins, and the whole affair of waiting on the right day/weather does not improve my feelings about them. I don't have a host of people at my disposal to go slaughter these rotten things. I suspect I may work at the STR claws given your assessments regarding Accuracy.

I was thinking about just banging out some Store TP Barracudas to act as a stop-gap at 80, though I'd actually be interested to know if they're significantly different from Destroyers given the nature of Hand-to-Hand damage. The long-term goal is likely going to end up with me working towards Footwork (just went 1/1 on Kyoshu Kyahan this evening) and the multi-proc weapons until SE nerfs that.

[Motenten]

Well, apparently the wamouracampa count for the wamoura requirement, so that makes that trial a fair bit easier. There's tons of them in Mt Zhayolm, lvl 73-76.

[rambus]

pathwriter, on 28 June 2010 - 01:10 PM, said:

To get the Accuracy Taipan Claws, you start off with the standard "Kill 50 skeletons under the effects of any weather," then progress to 50 Goobbues in light-aligned weather, then 50 of anything in Thunder/on Lightningsday, then 75 beasts in Thunder/on Lightningsday, then 100 Aquans, 200 Soulflayers, 200 Arcana, and finally 250 Funguar under Thunder weather or on Lightningsday.

The WS trials will give you a weapon that boosts the damage of that specific WS. For instance, you can get a pair of knuckles which do an additional 10% damage with Dragon Kick. They're D+22, so not terrible, but certainly nothing to get excited about. The trials are pretty easy, though, if you're desperate for a new weapon.

where in the hell does that exist?

[pathwriter]

I was trying to be brief. I don't mean Light weather, I mean weather on the light half of the spectrum (that which comprises a Light skillchain), to whit, Fire, Light, Thunder, and Air. Thunder is pretty much the only option for finding Goobbues in.