String Theory: A Puppetmaster's Guide *NEW*

What kind of Herc augs did you settle with for your BLMaton in the end?

At the time I think I mostly did macc mab since was overall higher and iirc mab and macc attachments were more or less equal so figured I could just go more to mab attachments if macc was fine. Though that was mostly theory crafting since I mostly was making sets for science/future when I could use such a pup.

But now, given macc attachments now give a lot more macc then mab, Tali'ah, af2+3 and pet foods etc exists now... I'd probably try for max mab/int and adjust macc in as needed. It's actually kind of crazy how much pet macc your autos can get now

Given my experience with BLM puppet, I can assure you that you'd be wasting your time with Tranquilizers. You'll likely never bring BLM puppet to anything in which you'll need it as the puppet will get likely have sub par nukes on it regardless. Straight MAB all the way for attachments, leave the MACC for the gear/buffs.

What Aerix posted as results on Kei is what you should expect for that content. I can't recall how many times I've ever seen it hit over 60.

I'm not sure what you're saying here? Kei is exactly the kind of content where Tranquilizers/MACC are already relevant--the other being Dyna. And from my experience Kei is a lot more resistant than the Wave 1 and 3 bosses. The only other fights I can think of where MBing is still semi-relevant would be Genbu and Zerde, but the strict elemental requirements would probably make it difficult to use the BLMaton efficiently.

On Kei I was always hitting for 60k+ on Thunder V if my maton was the first to MB and didn't get resisted. And the latter issue is what Tranquilizers and Languor would address. But even without those the resist rates weren't absolutely terrible, just noticeable enough to warrant some adjusting.

Ever since the update the BLMaton has become a lot better than just subpar, hence the current discussion around it.

In any case, clearlyamule has a good point about augmenting Herc for max MAB though. On weaker content you can just nuke in full MAB with Loudspeakers and for harder content it's much easier to simply adjust attachments to include Tranquilizers than it is to carry around several sets of augmented Herc stuff. I guess it's time for me to get friendly with Oseem again.

I'm a little confused here. Are you trying to say that the macc you already get from buffs and the pet mab gear that has macc too is enough? Cause if not I was more conjecturing about what if you needed some more from your full mab set.

My reasoning was as Aerix surmised ease of switching/limiting sets. But also just how much you get out of it. Like you'd get a decent amount more total macc/mab swapping a LS for a tranq and keeping MAB set then keeping LS and putting on some macc pieces or some mab/macc herc. All situational though. meva vary and you trying to ride that line

Yes, I'm saying buffs/gear MAcc is enough. I've showed the BLM puppet nuke capabilities about two years ago and nothing has changed in terms of resists. I personally haven't found much use for Tranquilizers.
I haven't brought PUP to omen in quite a while, and probably won't any time in the near future. Unless an update has increased the resist rate, there isn't much need to change anything. Dyna...I've only bursted on the Bastok mid-boss a handful of times and was satisfied, but it wouldn't be fair to anyone to give feedback on that.
Ultimately, it's your choice to chose which you're most comfortable with. I don't pay for your account.

When you showed that two years ago, did you test it on Kei? Because, as I've already said, when I used it the other day with only Puppet Roll and good MACC gear then I had a decent amount of resists, but not enough to make the BLMaton useless. Just enough to make Tranquilizers a viable choice (whether that's the case with or without Languor I still have to test).

That's not what I'm asking. I'm asking if in full mab gear it was enough. This includes using herc with just mab on it on stuff players need macc gear for. Obviously swapping out a bunch of pet mab gear for macc would help your resists in the same way a tranq would

Yes, on Kei and no rolls because this group would not roll separately for PUP.


Yes, I had full MAB Herc 3/5 with Udug, Adad and Pitre +1 feet.

Must have been Idris Languor, Frazzle 2/3 and maybe food making up the difference as I definitely didn't have enough MACC with Puppet Roll (~40 MACC) and way more MACC in gear (~122). I was using Grape Daifuku and not Marine Stewpot.

Well I guess on that specific fight with those specific buffs/debuffs sure then. Is there really nothing with more meva that someone might want to try blmpup on?

Escha Genbu would definltely be the best target to test it on. High MEVA even vs. Thunder from what I recall, but not super dangerous. Might ask a few people sometime to help me test, but finding that third geared PUP to make skillchains for me is an issue (also Invincible spam) so I'd have to ask a SCH friend.

Just come to overcrowded Asura

Looks like we are getting a new master TP and possibly WS set that will completely blow Bastok Volte out of the water (especially with capped Attack).

Link to post.

Also Siren for SMN... maybe there's still a small hope of new heads/frames in the future.

Eh. I really hate that they put pdl on these pieces. Hate the idea of pdl in general. It's such an easy idiot trap.

Neither piece is that great for tp though. Lovely as hybrid.

People who think PDL will do anything without massive Attack buffs will be mediocre players either way. Doesn't matter what gear they wear.

Also, how are large amounts of STP and Accuracy not great for TPing under AM3? Obviously you wouldn't use either piece with the maton DDing and Tali'ah body would be better in general if you don't have AM3. Doesn't make them bad considering PUP's limited options.

For the 3 people in the game that have and use mythic it's good... I didn't consider specifically am3 set for master only.

And lilith does a bunch of *** moves fully expect pup tanking and/or pup burning.

I admit, I'm a bit biased in my viewpoint since KKK isn't all that common. But unfortunately R15 KKK is very likely the only thing that could allow PUP to reasonably compete with other DDs.

KKK/SP is pretty much the only edge we have over MNK and even MNK relies heavily on Impetus just to keep up with others. We can't utilize Verethragna to the same extent and HF/RF with Godhands or Xiucoatl C are decent, but overall too slow.

Hi All!

I've been reading through the last few pages trying to catch up. I've taken about a year off and have just returned. It seems there are some changes / new attachments.

1) Is String Theory updated to reflect the current meta? (I have all of the gear pieces currently listed on the ST guide - were there any changes or new pieces I should be focused on or going after?

2) Is there a working GearSwap or a player who has gearsets that I can emulate?

3) Is there a summation of current events and what PUP's are doing at said events? (For instance - it looks like PUP can solo VD Ambu this month, is there a summary of all the events we can attend and what role we are playing in said events?)

1) Fabiano hasn't updated the guide since April, so none of the recent PUP changes or new items are included. Currently the new C. Palug Ring is excellent for many purposes and the Gere Ring is fantastic for TP and WS, while the upcoming VU will add a Hybrid/multipurpose gear set for the master.

2) Sorry, my own lua is super messy/customized and isn't great for sharing. Maybe check out the experimental PUP lua that's mentioned in the PUP forums. It also has a Discord for extra support.

3)

- Alluvion Skirmish (Yorcia): easy solo for PUP

- Ambuscade: depends on month, but this month can be solo'd as you know. If you are lucky enough to get into a group, you'd most likely be a melee DD at best cause PUP can't AoE tank

- Delve: annoying to solo, I personally don't do it. In groups you'd tank or melee DD probably

- Dynamis-Divergence: Puller, Midboss/NM tank, melee DD and/or Mega Boss skillchain creator (for dual PUP)

- Geas Fete: some higher end NMs can be solo'd with Overdrive, but otherwise you're either a tank or not really sought after for the tough fights. For easier fights you can fill most roles PUP is good at.

- HTBFs: situational, some can be OD'd; in a party you're mostly pet burn, melee DD or rarely a tank

- Master Trials: I've never been able to get into an MT group as a PUP. Best case scenario would be melee DD or pet burning, but very unlikely to happen because matons are too unpredictable for most people.

- Omen: Tank, Pet DD, Nuker

- UNM135: all soloable with Overdrive. Anything below is situational but mostly pretty easy with Trusts

- Vagary: mostly just boss tank or rarely BLM nuker. PUP isn't really good at clearing all the trash or doing mechanics to pop Perfidien/Plouton

I may have forgotten some stuff, so this is just the general gist.

I dual boxed my C. Palug Ring on Normal.

PUP/COR fire build to force Bone Crusher. Steam Jacket is a must. Drachen roll.

My build (nothing special)

ItemSet 368159

COR/THF Beast/Companion(lucky or 11 really helped keep HP up)

Bring a real THF if you can TH8+ is 50%+ drop rate for gear. /TH4 seems to be 25-33%.

I've found that using Galvanizer on Cait Sith (mentioned last page by Aerix) eliminates the need for Steam Jacket, Mana Jammer IV and Armor Plate IV since the counter rate is very high under Overdrive (looks like >=95% though I filtered dmg), so Enlight is no longer a factor.

Then you can drop the above listed attachments and can use Magniplug I/II, Flame Holder, Attuner, Coiler I/II (Target Marker not necessary for VD). Coiler I and II + DA equipment (22% from 4/5 Taeon and Domesticator's Earring) bring DA rate to ~100% during OD also. Dynamo doesn't help much due to high pDIF situation

I also noticed counter dmg seems to be less than regular melee hits (seen as low as 438 and as high as 862 for counters vs as high as 1263 non-crit with regular hits) so maybe there's some dmg resistance in play as counterattacks are supposed to be blunt damage (?). Also due to using Fire/Light/Thunder maneuvers with VE body this forces String Shredder, which was doing 14-18k, so if you max out Xiucoatl Path C you might see 20k String Shredders. I haven't tried doing Fire/Lightx2 for Bone Crusher as a 2nd PUP yet though.

Total dmg during OD 420-520k (depends on # of Mewing Lullaby) with 27-33% white damage. I've cleared with as many as 40 seconds to go on OD (Normal). For VD you might have to do as much as 800k dmg to clear (including Benediction) so 2x PUP might be able to do it

Haven't got hit with Level ? Holy yet while soloing


Attachments:
Optic Fiber I
Optic Fiber II
Auto-Repair Kit IV

Coiler
Coiler II
Galvanizer

Magniplug
Magniplug II
Flame Holder
Attuner

Turbo Charger
Turbo Charger II

Bone Crusher is doing 22-32k for me. I tried many different set-ups and Bone Crusher spam was clearing the fastest. Sometimes over a minute left on OD. I use OD at about 80% before Bene, third round of maneuvers.

Fire,Wind,Light the whole time. (not sure wind does anything during OD, but Thunder slowed my kill speeds due to not using Bone Crusher constantly)

Yeah. Spam BC for Normal. Took like 30 tries to get the Crown

Quick question, for trial 3099 (long-armed kills) does it matter which salvage it is?

Fairly certain it has to be salvage 1

For what it's worth, during Valoredge OD Earth Maneuver provides a little bit of VIT+ to improve Bone Crusher damage while a Water Maneuver would improve your Steam Jacket for more safety. Neither will interfere with Bone Crusher. Wind does pretty much nothing at all (aside from AGI+) if you have double TC and double OF equipped, as those will passively cap magic Haste with the bonus from Overdrive (+25% magic Haste & tripled Light maneuver for OF).


Coiler 2 under OD with Thunder/Light Maneuver, 4/5 Taeon, Domes. Earring and (optionally) C. Palug Ring will put you at 89.25%-94.25% DA rate alone. Coiler 1 doesn't add very much at that point, so replacing it with Tension Spring 5 or Dynamo III (VE/VE) might increase your damage. It's your call of course, but I just thought I'd mention it

What's the base DA rate under Overdrive? I tried N again and with 17% DA (3/5 Taeon with 14% total + Domesticator's), Coiler (30%) and Coiler (35%), it's at least 18%. I think I'll drop more DA/DT- for attribute+ or skill+ in the future.


I tried kparser to auto-calculate defensive stats and actually the counter rate is << 95% but still high enough to survive on VD (this is based on previous attempts including VD).


Counter dmg ~8% of total:

without any thunder maneuvers itd be whatever 3x light would give from Of id imagine if you use 1 of those in your rotation so assuming no thunders probably round 20%~ due to the +75% increase from OF 1/2

Also assuming 2x coiler, just coiler 2 would be 17%~

All numbers before gear:

OD, Light Maneuver, Coiler 1+2, double OF: 22.75%

OD, Light Maneuver, Coiler 2, double OF: 17.5%

OD, Light+Thunder Maneuver, Coiler 1+2, double OF: 113.75% (overcapped)

OD, Light+Thunder Maneuver, Coiler 2, double OF: 61.25%

Going by the attachment values on BGwiki which are taken from a JP wiki I believe.