String Theory: A Puppetmaster's Guide *NEW*

that was me and it definitely does, daken doesn't do damage either.

I'd like to see better control over automatons in the future. Maneuvers are hit or miss depending on the frames you are using and makes it feel like you are fighting the game at times. I could see a system similar to scholar working for pup. Give us full control over the automaton so we can do something like /pet "thunder V" <t> but only when we have an ice maneuver up. /pet "silence" <t> only when we have a wind maneuver on etc... similar to scholar gaining spells based on their addendum, we could unlock more control options based on our current maneuvers up. Basically controlling two characters at once.

would probably be way too much overhauling of the auto to do, easier to just add/adjust AI behavior through old attachments/new ones, if they could transplant mage trust AI into the mage autos and move the SC behavior off inhibs, thad be a major improvement in its frankly stupid behavior.

It seems to be more of a natural effect. From the 44th Digest

So regarding my PUP solos: I only have a couple more fights in mind that would be worth making videos for, so I was wondering if any of you guys had any requests for specific fights instead?

So, did anyone arrive at a "new optimal" DD attachment set for SS/VE

Or, a "core set" that doesn't need acc/defensive attachments

For SCing with my maton or pet burn when I'm not tanking, I usually go with:

- Inhibitor 1+2
- Attuner
- Magniplug 2
- Speedloader 2
- Truesights
- Turbo Charger 1+2
- Coiler 2
- Optic Fiber 1+2
- ARK 4

Replace Coiler 2 or ARK 4 with Magniplug depending on whether you have AM3 or if the maton is unlikely to take damage, respectively. Though it's rather hard to tell whether Coiler 2 is better or worse than Magniplug in general if using Light/Wind/Fire, to be honest. But TP gain is kinda meh without any real sources of DA.

Note: for stuff like Apex Bats Speedloader 1 would probably be more useful than Magniplug due to the massive Light SC damage.

I use exactly what Aerix wrote above but full-time Magniplug instead of Coiler II (because it's new!) and do recommend.

I also tried using Heat Capacitor II in my tanking automaton set. The patch made it so that it no longer consumes the fire maneuver, and since I am typically running Fire/Fire/Light when tanking, I've actually enjoyed the burst +1200 TP it brings. Folks should try it and let me know what you think!



I'd also like to hear what attachments people are using for pet-only Overdrive solo's. I've tried using the new attachments, but there seriously just is not enough elemental capacity or slots to fit everything...

Last night I tried a variety of different builds every 45 minutes and would go solo HTB Ark HM (VD) for Rem's Tales, and was honestly struggling to slot in the new stuff without lowering my kill time.

There is basically 9 attachments which I find are generally locked in for pet-only overdrive

• Optic Fiber

• Optic Fiber II
  

• ARK IV (otherwise the automaton will die)
  

• Armor Plate IV (otherwise the automaton will die)
  

• Turbo Charger II
  

• Attuner
  

• Target Marker (otherwise automaton will frequently whiff on anything really high level)
  

• Inhibitor II
  

• Inhibitor I

Which leaves 3 open slots...

Magni I, Magni II, Truesight = no double attack, low skillchain damage.
Magni I, Magni II, Speedloader II = no double attack missing coilers, no Truesight.
Magni II, Truesight, Speedloader II = no double attack, poor self-skillchain.
Coiler II, Magni II, Truesight = low skillchain damage
Coiler II, Magni II, Speedloader II = no truesight.

Generally I found that doing a wind-based build, not taking both inhibitors but stacking both Magni/Truesight and doing Wind/Fire/Light leads to higher WS numbers but really poor self-skillchains so the overall DPS was lower despite feeling more powerful. Doing Fire/Thunder/Light and stacking Coilers and Inhibitors really ended up parsing the best for me. (Daze>Arcuballista>Armor Shatt>Armor Piercer)

Curious to hear others experiences and builds.


... gah, I just want to attach everything. :(

Hmm was Armor Plate IV really required? I did some Overdriving on Fu last night and I've done plenty on D fights though never on VD and had no problems keeping a DD puppet alive with just ARK IV.

Though I do tend to swap into DT- sets off and on for Overdrive.

With Xiucoatl, food and gear improvements, Accuracy should be decent for the majority of content barring super evasive stuff like SovBehe, Vir'ava or Neak. Even pre-Relic+3 days I usually had zero issues with Accuracy on the AAs.

Also, under OD Magniplugs are really insane for damage. I haven't compared the exact numbers yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if Magniplug 1 with OD Light/Thunder/Fire beats out Truesights' passive bonus.

Given that raising the base WS damage also increases SC damage, I'd say it's quite possible Coiler 2 (for multisteps) and Magniplug 1+2 may actually be the best OD setup since it not only raises WS damage but also makes the maton's white damage very powerful (2k+ per DA or so).

Edit: Just tested it on Selkit. With OD, Magniplug 1 makes WSs hit basically equally as hard or harder than with Truesights, but it also increases melee hits by about 300-400~ damage per swing.

It really helps when your auto is also tanking and you only have 1-2 on the mob... especially if you switch out to ws sets at 1k+ tp. Extra so for some mobs like Kyou can still wreck your ***during HF (though using galvanizer really helps with that) and just it using strong nukes with the constant curse

OK, since Selkit takes terrible SC damage, I did some quick testing on Neak to compare Speedloader II vs. Truesights, since I already established that Magniplug beats Truesights.

Base setup:

ARK 4, Turbo Charger 2, Inhibitor 1+2, Coiler 2, Attuner, Optic Fiber 1+2, Magniplug 1+2, Target Marker

Truesights 4-step:


Total Damage (WS+SC+White): 127,882

Speedloader 2 4-step:


Total Damage (WS+SC+White): 143,538

Of course there is some variance due to TP (Dazes were both at 3k) and amount of melee hits, but in general Speedloader 2 seems more valuable unless the enemy is resistant to the SC damage.

Well he was tanking, that's why I questioned it. But again I was swapping into DT off and on.

I'll be honest, I may have let most of the group die for it >.>; Because I was tanking originally and swapped to try to zerg it down before time ran out... Did ~15% of its health... then lost overdrive and timed out. D:

Yea, that is kind of what I believe as well. Especially since Fire/Thunder/Light maneuvers get tripled, and Truesights is just getting the 0 Wind/3 Light Optic Fiber enhancement, it makes more sense that Speedloader gets more mileage.

I guess the next question is whether it's possible for a Fire/Wind/Light OD setup to beat a Fire/Thunder/Light OD setup, where we stack a bunch of Wind attachments to leverage Truesight, instead of Thunder...




Is your Automaton tanking Neak there during that or do you have a trust/tank automaton? Is Armor Plate IV really not needed during OD if your auto is tanking? Maybe I've just been using it out of habit ._.

I also tested Magniplug 1 vs. Speedloader 2 for completeness's sake.

Base set:

ARK 4, Turbo Charger 2, Inhibitor 1+2, Coiler 2, Attuner, Optic Fiber 1+2, Magniplug 2, Target Marker, Truesights

Magniplug 1:


Total Damage: 135,678

Speedloader 2:


Total Damage: 131,849

Conclusion: Magniplug ~= Speedloader 2 given variance. Speedloader 2 is probably slightly better since that massive 37k Arcuballista in the Magniplug screenshot was a fluke.

This means our ideal OD set is most likely:

- ARK 4
- Optic Fiber 1+2
- Turbo Charger 2
- Coiler 2
- Inhibitor 1+2
- Attuner
- Magniplug 2
- Speedloader 2 (or Magniplug if SC damage is bad)

And last two slots are optional, but are typically filled with Armor Plate 4, Speedloader2/Magniplug, Truesights or Target Marker depending on the target. But situationally also Galvanizer, Steam Jacket, Mana Jammer 4 etc.

That was VE/SS tanking with zero defensive attachments aside from ARK 4. Neak is just weak as hell, honestly. Even Selkit is more dangerous to an OD maton and requires AP4.

Yea I'm sure there's a few that require AP4 but the damage reduction from Overdrive itself often seems enough for most things unless they've got something stupidly hard hitting, especially if you pop a Repair on top of it.

I don't think Light/Wind/Fire could ever beat Light/Thunder/Fire because the Automaton would just spam Shatterer > Piercer, which do at best 50% of the damage of Daze and Arcuballista. Not to mention the maton waits out the entire MB window before it starts WSing again after Gravitation.

But I'm gonna go test it on Neak real quick. Will report back in a few minutes.

Has anyone ever tested the amount of DT- that Overdrive adds?

So the good news is, Truesights under OD makes Shatterer and Piercer hit about as hard as Daze and Arcuballista, so it's actually strong enough to zerg down Neak without any issues. But it's still way slower than the multistep variant with Coiler 2 because its TP speed is considerably slower and the maton just spends too much time waiting after Gravitation before WSing again, as I mentioned.

From eyeballing while fighting Neak I'd say OD adds -25% DT, similar to the +25% Haste it grants to the Automaton.

This was just on a whim, but I tested full SS maton with Truesights, Attuner, Magniplug 1+2, Inhibitor 1+2, Optic Fiber 1+2, Drum Magazine, Scope 4, Barrage Turbine, Repeater and 3 Wind Maneuvers without OD on Zduhac. Deployed at 16' distance just to shoot.

Call me crazy, but even taking Zduhac's piercing weakness into account we may actually have a semi-decent RNG maton on our hands now if combined with Companion's Roll for TP gain:

That's with Triple wind? crazy. Barrage Turbine no longer eating up your wind maneuvers is surely interesting to try out.

Keep up the testing and reports! loving it.

With triple Wind maneuvers RNG matons actually shoot almost as fast and frequently as a real player would. Just the TP gain per shot is kinda weak, hence Companion's Roll would be good.

Gonna test it again with OD + Light/Wind/Fire + rolls in a few.

Um, yeah. I don't know what to say. Calcobrena was NOT able to keep hate off of Aurore lol

OD Light/Wind/Fire, full SS, Beast Roll, Companion's Roll, Dia 2:

Well, I guess Sang Buaya is piercing resistant, as the numbers aren't nearly as impressive on it, sadly. :/ RAs were hitting for 1.5k and Shatterer for about 8k with OD.

Not sure if there's any other decent neutral NM to test this on. Ran out of Neak pops, which would've been the best target.

Just gonna confirm definitely this is the setup for Fire/Thunder/Light OD.

Got my fastest kill to date with it going Magni I/AP4 for my flex slots. Definitely need to run AP IV against anything scary though, or I guess stay in tank gear? (ex: Ark HM (VD) chunks the automaton without it). Having the flexibility is nice though. Going to update the guide with this eventually.

Nice to see different setups. I feel its even harder to choose now with the same available slots. It is like put my defensive attachments where?

Well then.



I think a pure RNG maton could be situationally quite useful, like in Soulflayer ambu where AoE dispel wouldn't affect us and hate can be iffy for shooting CORs. Triple Wind without OD and double Fire+Wind with Heat Capacitor 2 (or Scope 4 if you need RACC) in OD.

Setup:

- Inhibitor 1+2
- Magniplug 1+2
- Attuner
- Optic Fiber 1+2
- Truesights
- Barrage Turbine
- Repeater
- Drum Magazine
- Scope 4 without OD; with OD I'd say Heat Capacitor 2 or Speedloader 2 (maton will SC with others either way, so might as well make it worthwhile)