The Beast Within -- A Guide To Blue Mage

Tumbler Trunks are a good upgrade over mavi legs +2 for CDC and pretty cheap! I'd go for the Athos Legs VW though since those are great (best legs for CDC if you don't have Khepri..especially when paired with your boots)

Not sure if you said you have acces to NNI gear but if you do, think Thaumas are better than Athos's Legs just because even though Thaumas Legs don't have DEX on them, the set bonus from using it with Thaumas Feet/Hands gives +10 DEX and the hands/feet are already amazing for CDC.(Plus the Attack and STR help).

Originally thought that myself, but like you I was forgetting that Athos Legs have that 4% Crit damage bonus. Makes a bigger difference than one would anticipate.

1) Since you mentioned the crit damage bonus on Athos's Tights, here's something I been wondering. Would you use Athos's Tights + Athos's Tabard inside Abyssea or stick to Toci's + Tights (or even Toci's + Kecks)?

2) Another question that's been bugging me was using Thaumas Hat over Ocelomeh Headpiece +1. As of now I haven't gotten Myrmex Mittens and am using Thaumas Gloves, Thaumas Kecks and Thaumas Nails. So using Thaumas Hat would add +10dex from the bonus and +14str and 4 crit hit rate vs Ocelomeh's +13 dex and its 3% Triple Attack from the Set Bonus. Which option do you think (or math) is better?

Tabard can be a good choice in Abyssea since you're definitely capped on fSTR and potentially capped on pDIF as well, but the difference when there is one is fairly small.

You've got the set bonus wrong. It's +2, +3, +5, +5 per item for a total bonus of +2, +5, +10, +15. Thaumas hat in a 4/5 build is 11 STR 5 DEX 4% crit to Ocelomeh +1's 13 DEX 3% TA. The latter is generally better in current builds.

Thanks for the quick reply there, Night. But... did I hit my head or is 4/5 Thaumas not +2+3+5 => +10 for all the stats from the set bonus or where did I go wrong there?

Edit: Will stick to Toci's + Ocelomeh either way, just wondering what I'm derping on here

4/5 is +10 for all stats on the set bonus, a flat 10, it doesn't add extra for the previous tiers.

Night's assessment is your net gain/loss of stats, you're gaining 11 STR and 4% Critical Hit rate by wearing Thaumas head, but you're losing 8DEX and 3% Triple attack. It's not worth the tradeoff on average.

Cause you're already wearing other pieces so the +5 doesn't change, you're only adding another 5 with the fourth piece.

Ah, d'uh, right. Thanks, that was gonna bug me.

Would actually like to reword my previous assessment: it isn't worth it ever on lower level/lower tier content, however it may be worth it if the critical hit rate from Ocelomeh headpiece +1's 8 extra DEX is so small that the 4% on thaumas and small amount of attack from STR is enough to bump up your average.

Talking really high level targets here though, 115+ with 550+ DEF, and it would require some testing on actual accurate dDEX formulas and monster AGI scores to say for sure. Best case scenario is that Oce +1 is +8% crit rate if 1%Crit:1DEX from 40->50 can be believed.

I do love your guys' thoroughness and appreciate all the input. Let me run another question by you:

What are good gloves till Myrmex Mittens? Or rather, a good ranking of gloves. Offhandedly I can come up with Thaumas Gloves, Athos's Gloves and... then I'm stomped, tbh. And since I been derping before, lemme double check. In a 3/5 Thaumas set for CdC hands would gain 4dex over Athos's Gloves but lose out 4 str. So depending on depeding on fStr, out of those 2 Athos would win when fStr is uncapped + proc days, correct?

You'd also be getting 3% critical hit rate via set bonus since you'd be wearing athos legs as well.

Nice spot. Forgot about Athos's Tights in the set already, means Thaumas Gloves would just be 2/5 anyway, falling behind even more. Much obliged.

Edit:
So some derpy posts later I'm looking at my ws set: unchanged... But I feel more confident about it now, so I'm happy.

Really doubt it's ever gonna happen unless fSTR is uncapped or pDIF is severely compromised via debuffs or something. dDEX testing was about as solid as you can get, 5-digit sample sizes. Should be a link to the relevant thread on bgwiki.

Correct, and if you got Athos Tights they'd win regardless unless hitrate was uncapped. Before that you'd be looking at Kacura +1 ~= Mirage +2 > Alcide's +1.

eeh, I only ran the numbers with berserk and rcb, mostly a bare bones self-buff situation.

as for dDEX... idk, only tests I have seen were relatively small sample sizes involving some hasty conclusions, however I'll take your word for it.

Questions about CDC-Set
Hmm i havent updated my BLU sets in a while, but wanted to do it now... and i am totally unsure what to wear for CDC set with what i currently own. My question is mainly only about Head/Body/Hands/Legs/Feet, other slots i have like in 1st post on this guide

i TOTALLY FAIL on luck for Voidwatch drops.. after around 600 fights i got now my 1st HQ body (Anhur.. and it doesnt help BLU w) so i dont own Toci, i dont own any Athos pieces, i dont own Myrmex mittens and since new crafting sucks and especially Staghorn Coral doesnt exist i also dont have Kephri legs+1 *cry*

Currently those 5 Slots are like this in my sets: Oce-head/Loki/Kacura Mittens +1/Mavi+2/Kacura feet+1

ok now my problem.. what to wear... looking for outside Abyssea idc about inside. I have all Thaumas pieces and i have Tessera Saio. What would be best body to wear in my situation? Would Tessera be a good option with 13 DEX/STR and 17 Att or would Loki be better? Somehow doubt it since the crithit rate isnt that high like in Abyssea, so i guess the crit dmg+ wont win over 13STR 2 DEX and 17 att. Or would maybe even Thaumas somehow be a better option for me with a seteffect 3/5 or 4/5 pieces and DA/TA/QA? would be less DEX and STR but multi attacks.

Looking what i currently own Thaumas feet i would add to my CDC set for sure, Legs also not bad cause of att, hands i am unsure if Thaumas would be good with a Set effect or keep using Kacura Mittens +1 (sry if my english is bad :x)

tldr; CDC without all great Voidwatch drops?
(Head/Body/Hands/Legs/Feet)
Oce/Tessera/Thaumas/Thaumas/Thaumas? *<-edited*
or Loki instat of Tessera?
Or maybe even something like Oce/Thaumas/Thaumas/Thaumas/Thaumas?
or dont change much and use Oce/Tessera/Kacura+1/mavi/Thaumas?

Oce\tessera\thaumas\thaumas\thaumas probably

oh yea first was supposed to be that dunno why Kacura sneaked in there *blush* i think this is what i would prefere, but i am not sure ><

Doing very quick and rough math, I'd actually say Loki's would be superior to Tessera with as low as a floored crit rate on anything that's got less than about ~540 def, and that's with very likely overvaluing the attack boost from tessera.

pro, got a set of keprhi wristbands from the giveaway and was wondering would adding the six mab to them outperform mavi bazubands or should I save the honor on the off chance I ever get the kephri bonnet or legs

Quadrastrike is hella fun in merit parties in abyssea. I normally come /WAR and spam CDC but every 3min its fun to Cafflux with 50-70% TP and deal a 7.5k Quadrastrike to 1 shot a mob :)

--Edit--

Just realized Heavy Strike is just as strong with CAfflux, rather use points to set White Wind, ***heals me for 1600+ for only 2 more points over Magic Fruit. Would be kinda logical and neat if Breath Potency gear enhanced White Wind since it's kind of like a Healing Breath as it's HP based.

It's slightly better, but you lose the recast reduction from the Bazubands. I'm saving my honor for head/legs for what it's worth.

didn't even remeber the recast reduction but thanks for the info night

Most you'd get out of the Augment on wristbands would be a Sanguine Blade piece. Not really worth the augment item unless you have like, COR.

Only 2 more is too much!

Not counting that it's over double the MP cost and requires a specialize gear set too

Really? I just lazily used my heavy strike build, since I really only *** with it in abyssea, and with efflux/150ish TP.

As for White Wind, I usually drop fantod/magic fruit/sudden lunge in favor of Whirl of Rage and White Wind. If I'm exping in abyssea don't really miss out on the sudden lunge stun or STP trait and really when mobs die in 1 WS and we're fighting multiple at the same time STP doesnt matter. The AOE 1.5k heal comes in handy to be honest especially when whms in the exp party start to get lazy, it's pretty MP efficient and potent considering I don't even have an HP build or Sanus Ensis for it yet.

it's mp efficient if you need to cure 3 people or more for a large amount since it's double of fruit and need to do it consistently since your whms suck and your other dd are new to abbsyea and dont have regen atma or /dnc or whatnot.

nothing wrong with blu mainhealing which is what you're doing but you're compensating for a lot of the above but like you said Abbsyea lol.

Was talking about White Wind, didn't read the bit about you being in Abyssea though where you'd get a nice chunk of potency just from cruor buffs.

What do you think of W body with +7 str(and possibly accuracy) for Requiescat?