[draugo]

So I am wondering if there is a 50%, 25% or any other cap towards recast on Utsu/various ninjutsu recast options?

Been considering this for a long time and wondering what the ideal unsupported set would be for near perfect recast.

First I would want to consider how much ninja can fast cast for. By my calculations it is about 10% (neck) 10% (katana) + 5% (Body mirke) 5% (loq ear) + 2.5?? (MCP head) for casting time.

Now for recast with all that added, about 16.5%?

If you are going with that would you only need another 9.5% in the proper casting time of your utsusemi macro to reach true and pure capped recast? or can you go beyond the hard cap with fast cast gear?

If you could get your hands on the ideal recast and quickest casting time (gear only) gear set what would it be?

[pathwriter]

Recast time can be reduced by a maximum of 50%. Up to 25% of that can come from Fast Cast effects. One thing worth noting with Fast Cast is that only gear reading "Enhances Fast Cast effect" will reduce recast time. What this means is that the Fast Cast +5 augment for Mirke Wardecors will not reduce recast time one iota. I am unaware of any cap on cast time reduction, but this is the sort of thing that would largely be relevant to Red Mage alone as no one else begins to approach their casting speed when geared for it.

I would be cautious about using Hochomasamune. It's not a terrible weapon, but the question to ask is if you really need that fraction of a second to get something cast versus greater damage or superior tanking stats. Not a bad weapon, wouldn't turn my nose up at it, but I would worry about its longevity as its DPS continues to bog it down with coming level cap increases.

I am totally unsure of how Magoraga Beads intersect with Fast Cast in terms of cast time. It does pay to remember that it doesn't affect recast time. It shouldn't be terribly difficult to cap Haste from gear these days, so Tiercel Necklace likely isn't necessary, at least.

So, figure Hochomasamune, Loquacious Earring, Mirke Wardecors, Anwig Salade, and Magoraga Beads, your Utsusemi cast time should be reduced by about 29-31%, which isn't terrible. Recast with those, however, would only be reduced by 6%. Even coupled with capped 25% gear Haste (which would be tricky to pull off with Anwig Salade equipped, but not impossible), that's not a particularly impressive reduction in recast time. Square-Enix appears to have deliberately left Fast Cast out of the hands of Ninja and other melee jobs, almost certainly exactly because of Utsusemi.

Trying to sort out an ideal set for both cast time and recast time...

Hochomasamune - 10% Fast Cast
Anwig Salade - Fast Cast +4
Mirke Wardecors - Fast Cast +5
Dusk Gloves +1 - 4% Haste
Iga Hakama +2 - 7% Haste
Iga Kyahan +2 - 4% Haste, Enhances Utsusemi
Twilight Belt - 7% Haste
Loquacious Earring - 2% Fast Cast
Magoraga Beads - 10% Utsusemi reduction
Shinobi Ring - 4% Haste

Overall, you'd have 26% Haste (really 25, but hexadecimal problem), a 31% reduction in Utsusemi cast time (21% for other jutsu), and a 31% reduction in recast time, give or take a fraction.

Shinobi Ring is easy to maintain in Abyssea, though sometimes a bit of a nuisance - without it, you'd need to opt for a Haste-oriented bit of headgear. If 100% HP is your preference and you can afford to give up a 4% reduction to cast time (which is rather negligible at the speed Utsusemi casts), substitute Iga Zukin +2 or good old Walahra Turban. Either one would also let you use a less irritating pair of gloves, such as Ocelot Gloves or even Aurore Gloves.

[draugo]

I was thinking you could use fast cast at start then macro swap to haste before casting is finished for those slots that can utilize both.

[pathwriter]

You can. It's a pain in the butt and not entirely reliable on spells that cast quickly like Utsusemi: Ni. It's a little less difficult on Utsusemi; Ichi, but it really is worth noting that the habit of making those kinds of swaps are popularized by elemental nukes cast by Black and Red Mages.

Of course, it really doesn't make a very big difference except that you can start in Anwig Salade and finish in Walahra Turban. That's pretty much it. If you only have Iga +1, you could use a Velox Harness to cap off gear Haste and make the swap from Mirke Wardecors, too.

I'll tell you this true, though: it won't make a meaningful difference. These kinds of swaps really only work when you've got a pile of one or the other to gain by doing it. Ninja gets so little Fast Cast and it occupies slots that generally don't have Haste in them that you aren't making a significant gain either way.

[Banter]

Fast Cast cap is 50% unless you use some SCH abilities iirc.

[pathwriter]

a.) That is irrelevant to Ninja.

b.) That is irrelevant to Ninja.

c.) That is irrelevant to Ninja.

d.) I'm not sure it is accurate, anyhow.

[Banter]

pathwriter, on 16 March 2011 - 08:04 PM, said:

a.) That is irrelevant to Ninja.

b.) That is irrelevant to Ninja.

c.) That is irrelevant to Ninja.

d.) I'm not sure it is accurate, anyhow.

It was mentioned somewhere, so I figured I'd throw in my two cents.

[draugo]

fast cast or recasts? speaking hypothetically, can get 25% reduction from haste and 25% from fast cast? in some combination of gear spells and sub abilities?

[Banter]

Total fast cast is 50%, recast idk but you can't break 50% total either way so

[gobby]

According to ffxiclopedia, Anwig Salade can be augmented with 5 Fast Cast. The blood pact option gives +3.

[pathwriter]

I must have missed that. Not a major difference either way, but thanks.

[gobby]

This might be incorrect.

Using the formula: Casting time = spell cast * (1-[Fast Cast]/100),
I get these values for Utsesumi: Ichi (a 4 second spell cast):

32 Fast Cast = 2.72 (Everything listed)
27 Fast Cast = 2.92 (Everything but the MKD helm)
22 Fast Cast = 3.12 (Everything but the katana)
17 Fast Cast = 3.32 (Neck, body, earring only)

I haven't taken other spells into account since you'll usually only cast debuffs/elemental ninjutsu when you have Utsesumi up, and since Utsesumi Ni already casts fast enough to go off between monster swings. For the sake of the calculations, I've assumed the neck piece just works like normal fast cast.

A pretty standard delay for monsters is 180 (I think), meaning they'll attack once every three seconds. Hojo: Ni, when unresisted, increases this by a factor of 200/1024 (there seem to be some inconsistencies in the reported value of hojo, but the 200/1024 value is the only one I found that had testing attached) to ~215.15, meaning they'll attack once every ~3.58 seconds.

If this was done correctly, it suggests that there's no need to equip anything more than the Body, Earring, and Neck in order to cast Utsesumi: Ichi between swings even if you're soloing. In fact, you could do away with either the body or the earring and still make it, but it would be a lot closer and those pieces are pretty easy to obtain.

My rationale for trying to exclude the helm and katana is as follows: The helm needs to be switched to a haste helm midcast in order to cap haste (without the ring), which is fine if it works but if you're lagging a little you're going to miss out on a lot of haste, and the katana is already outclassed by other weapons.

The only good reason I can think for using the katana is if you need to keep Migawari up as much as possible (soloing Indrik).

Another possible use is if you find yourself fighting a monster which is naturally resistant to slow, or if you can't land hojo. With 27 fast cast you should still be able to sneak an Ichi in between casts. You'll get hit if you're a little slow hitting your macro, but it should be easy to time it so that the hit lands early enough in the cast that you go uninterrupted. Casting Ni -> Ichi properly will avoid this altogether, though.

A third use is if you find yourself tanking something that hits 100% of the time, where you need to reduce your timers as much as possible (and where you'll presumably switch to either a -DMG taken or evasion following your cast). This was more common before abyssea (sub DRK tanking, etc.). It should be noted that the helm does not apply to the last situation -- fast cast pieces have to remain equipped throughout the casting of the spell in order to reduce the recast timer. You're better off keeping your haste helm equipped.

Summary!
The Neck, Body, and Earring are enough to cover you for most situations!
The katana's use is very situational.
Save your MKD helm augment for something else!

Hopefully I didn't mess the calculations up.

Edit: After rereading this, I think I need to clarify a point regarding the use of the katana. Since the fast cast is not needed in most situations, its only use is the recast. There are too many situations for a blanket response to cover, but I will say this: I've never had trouble with recasts inside of abyssea, except for the few times I've tanked an Ironclad. Outside of abyssea you're probably better off using an evasion katana if your shadows are dropping too quickly.

This post has been edited by gobby: 28 March 2011 - 12:49 PM