Endeavoring To Awaken --A Guide To Rune Fencer

Was curious to know what the optimal Resolution set for Run is these days...

Re: being unable to keep Valiance up fulltime, if you're running with a COR you can get a lot more coverage with well timed use of Random Deal and Wild Card:

(1) For first Valiance, use it before you engage with no other JAs waiting on recast (to avoid RD resetting something else), and immediately have the COR use RD to get Valiance back. Then use your other stuff and start the fight.

(2) After your 2nd Valiance (the one RD restored) wears/is about to wear, have the COR Wild Card for guaranteed reset of all non-1hr JAs. Repeat step (1) - Valiance/RD/Valiance will be up again.

Buys you three extra Valiances with no downtime, so you can use it 5 times back to back to start the fight and it won't ever drop until over 16min into the fight. Yes, it does require COR to use 1hr though.

While Valiance is down, which it eventually will be, mitigate damage any other way you can: One For All/Liement, RUN 1hrs, slow damage/TP (especially if close to a %age based ability), have DDs fulltime DT- sets, Sacrosanctity from a WHM, etc.

My LS does a weekly Divine Might v2 run. It's often the case that we have only one solid PLD available to hold AAs while we pick them off one at a time, during which my RUN is probably our next best tank so I'll tank what we pull. We'll have something along the lines of:
[Party 1] RUN RNGx3 WHM BRD
[Party 2] PLD WHM RDM THF, and maybe an extra BRD and/or random DD (with the WHM mostly babysitting the PLD)

I get RUN tanking, have good tanking gear (basically everything but Ergon), and I've fought all AAs separately on RUN (and done DM a time or two on it, once full clear on N, once I died on something I can't recall... MR maybe), but sometimes still find it a little risky. I'm planning to /BLU for Cocoon + the various enmity spells. Really just looking to be sure I'm doing all I should be. So, any tips?

Specifically:

General: what do you this is better for RUN, (1) EV>GK>MR or (2) EV>GK>HM (meaning the 4th one, whether MR or HM, we have a PLD on it instead of me)?

AAEV: I basically just keep 3x Tenebrae up and stay aware of knockback/positioning. Anything else you suggest?

AAGK: Think I died to him once from a SC, any tips other than try to use Foil/Cocoon/Phalanx well? Any suggested runes (I'm really at a bit of a loss as to what to use for him)?

AAMR:
(1) I uuuuusually resist her charm with Tenebrae x3 up and a decent resist set (AF legs, and I toss in Hearty Earring and Aenotherus Mantle +1 when she's in Charm territory), but it's got me a couple times. Think it's worth just using Odyllic Subterfuge when she hits 50% HP? Does One For All help at all to prevent Charm?

(2) So I switch to 3x Tellus after charm attempt for Cloudsplitter. I've still been whalloped by a self-SC and died before. Tips on that?

AAHM: Not really too complicated, but I've eaten Chant du Cygne before for huge damage. Any suggestions? Suggested runes for HM?

AATT: Pretty easy one here, RUN is obviously strong on him and can use 1hrs and One for All to really great effect.

Never done it /BLU, I don't even have BLU unlocked though. /NIN works great for me, haven't had any issues unless I'm being a super idiot and forgetting to use a shihei toolbag.

AAEV: Barsilence and Baraero can save you from getting silenced (might as well conserve echo drops). If you happen to have them, Shadow Ring/Engulfer Mantle can be used to mitigate Arrogance Incarnate. From eyeballing it, Foil seems to help reduce loss of shadows from her Shield Bash.

AAGK: /NIN cripples him. Barring that, I'm find of Barblizzard/Barparalyze and Ignis in case he manages to land a Yukikaze. Guess there's not much you can do, except spam Blink, which, as silly as it sounds, should actually save you from a few WS's (especially during Meikyo Shisui).

AAMR: I think she's the least threatening so I don't worry too much about her. I prefer having one of my friends who plays NIN a lot for this so if I get charmed, there's a back-up tank. Barring that, I can Battuta if he gets charmed, and when I'm focusing on hate he can contribute excellent damage safely. I suppose a THF/NIN could function in a similar capacity. I like saving Subterfuge for Taru, and OFA for Cloudsplitter spam if Valiance isn't up. I did theorize that OFA did help with resist rates cuz I resisted ADL's terror once with it up (also using Flabra Pflug), but that's hardly any evidence.

AAHM: I suppose only thing you could hope to do against Chant is wear something that reduces enemy crit rate. Off the top of my head, only thing that comes to mind is the Ighwa Trousers, but that does sacrifice a good 3-5% PDT depending on what you're otherwise using. For Runes, I like Flabra to resist his slow, since that'll overwrite Haste if it lands. You could also try using any darkness-aligned rune and try to Liement his skillchain, I guess.

Only thing I can add with my limited experience tanking AAs on Rune:

AAEV: Need some kind of Magic Absorb gear due to the speed of Arrogance Incarnate, it comes up too fast to reliably Leiment it.
Stay on top of the dispels and make sure to get Dia's erased.

AAHM: /Nin is pretty easy due to Valiance and Battuta, your only real threat will be at -25% HP when he can start chaining CDC into Skillchains and those can kill ya if you are unlucky/have timers off.

That won't do anything. Darkness aligned runes would only resist compression. "Darkness" is poorly translated, it's not "Dark" elemental damage it's Water + Ice + Earth + Dark damage. The damage type it chooses will always be the one you have the lowest resistance to, so if you had 999 Dark Resist with -100% DT it would simply attack with Ice / Water or Earth instead. The light elemental skill chain is transfixion, "Light" attacks with Wind, Thunder, Fire and Light damage. This is why using L3 Light is so effective on Wopket, his lowest resistance is Wind and that's what the skill chain will attack with. Same with darkness on Tojil, it will attack with water but will attack with ice on Muyingwa.

Yeah boss monsters have access to Light / Dark is super cheap.

By "Darkness" aligned, I meant Tenebrae/Tellus/Gelus/Unda, which is my fault for not clarifying. Being able to absorb an element supersedes all resistances/weakenesses, so one of those 4 runes with Liement would absorb a Light skillchain.

Anyone can post his Dimi ws set, i always get better result (and constant) with Dimi than reso, dunno if its normal.

Proth posted a set back on pg.56 of this thread, might not be up to date since recent updates etc., but something to shoot for at the least.

speaking of which:

Out of curiosity what are the top tier Resolution and Dimidiation sets these days?

I think you might be better off going /NIN and using Savage Blade with ~1600 TP =(

Even with Epeolatry and AM3?

Probably not so much then unless you're actually in a situation where /NIN is needed- although that also tends to be a situation where the PDT is needed as well.


ItemSet 331683

Add in accuracy as needed, although this set already has a good amount in it. Qaaxo are path C, Quia have the STR augment.

ItemSet 331687

This should be about right for Dimidiation

Hmmm. I dunno about using a DA grip with an Ergon. Once AM3 is up that DA isn't gonna contribute much. I'd think Bloodrain would do better.

It would, but that's more of a TP-phase question and I have no idea what kind of hit build he's using so I just used the weapon and grip from his profile.

More importantly:


What the hell?

I tend to throw the duplus on fodder lowbe stuff, but switch to bloodrain for higher content.

ItemSet 331688
I'm lazy/cheap so I have settled for the nilas gloves for the overall utility vs. the nomkah, the head I am still trying to decide if I want to keep the uk' mod with DEX vs. Felistris/Highwing Helm. I probably just need to play more and pay more attention.

Is Dread Jupon better than a path A Qaaxo or Manibozho body for Resolution?

Well I did put it there, soooooo...

That said, there's basically no difference between the 3 (Qaaxo B, Manibozho A, Dread). Depending on buffs/other stuff, Qaaxo B can come out a little ahead if the additional accuracy on Dread isn't needed.

Finally getting around to playing RUN, hit 99 tonight and have started on AF/Relic quests. When it comes to merits, is the advice in the OP still relevant or have choices shifted as of late?

I'm also wondering about the effectiveness of dual swords or dual axes instead of a great sword after the recent WS updates. How would those setups fare?

Also, aside from the Reso/Dimi sets posted lately, are there any up-to-date sets for TP, tanking and the like I should work towards?

Apologies for all the questions, trying to learn the new job.

Sword setups fair well- they're certainly worthwhile if you're going /NIN anyways but they can also be competitive if you have a particularly good pair depending on what buffs you have.

Axe selection is okay, but didn't gain as much from the update. I haven't looked as far into them.

noob question.
do the parrying skill+ / etc bonuses apply when equipped on offhand /NIN ?

cos i was thinking if RUN/NIN could wield 2 ilvl swords, the overall parrying skill bonus would exceed a 1 handed weapon ?

They don't.

don't mind me, i'm just your satanic twin! :P

D:

Let me know what sets people want added to the node. I'll try to update existing ones and add sanguine/dimi/DW within the week.

As always thanks to people posting their sets while I was gone. Work kinda took over my life the last few months.

What does a Swift Blade set look like? I know it was boosted not long ago, so just wondering if its worth using.

Ok, I'm being both blind and a noob here. Ive not tried /blu before but I've read through and it seems to be recommended. However, will someone tell me what BG and GW is?? I swear Ive looked through the spells and not seeing anything with those acronyms... (God Im gonna get flamed for this, lol).

Also, let me make sure I have this correct. In DD situations I want to be /sam (say a skirmish run or w/e). In other situations that don't have AoE spams, when tanking, I want to be /nin. Finally, in situations that shadows wont work (AoE spams) I want to be /blue. Am I following all of this correctly?

I tanked the final Adoulin fights yesterday but I was having some serious issues with keeping the boss off of the SAM. Not sure if that was my fault, I was using every tool I could think of (although I was /war (Ive since read through this thread)), or if the SAM just wasnt managing hate (or even if they should have to). Hoping though the /blu spells will help with that... but I have to figure out what those two are first, lol.

Thanks!

BG = Blank Gaze and GW = Geist Wall.

BG = Blank Gaze
GW = Geist Wall

And as for your other questions, yes. /SAM for the most part is the superior sub if you are expecting to DD, /NIN for single target ability tanking (AA GK/HM etc), /BLU for AoE or things that pierce shadows or AoE tanking.

If I'm having trouble or think I will tanking off a DD, I will /BLU. It has a higher potential to take damage than /NIN but usually better spike emnity. That being said there is no longer a clear winner between /NIN and /BLU in terms of "best" tank sub in my opinion. It has become pretty situational fight to fight.

I'd even go so far as to say /DRK with a decent MAcc set is a better tank than /WAR. /DRK has was my go-to for hybrid roles. It can DD with only slightly worse performance than /SAM and still tank like old NIN/DRK did if you really have to. Although I have not used it much in recent times.

BG = Blank Gaze, GW = Geist Wall. Both are pretty good sources of enmity from subbing BLU. Other primary benefit of BLU is Cocoon, which is easy to keep up and provides an impressive defense bonus. It pretty much makes /WAR useless since Defender is less potent than Cocoon and lowers your attack. Provoke is also a very weak hate tool compared to other options like Flash, and those BLU spells.

/SAM is great for most content, since you can just focus on damage when necessary, but switch to Seigan and Third Eye tank stuff. /NIN is really only necessary when you need to dodge a lot of frequent, powerful melee attacks (AA fights in particular are well suited for /NIN).