Weapon Skill Gear Comparisons - Back

Temporary Disclaimer: I appear to have confused a cap. I've stated in this entire series thusfar that max pDIF caps at 2 when it appears it is the cRatio that caps at 2. This will have a rather significant effect on my WS calculations that illustrate the differences between the pieces of gear. While I have always shown the actual values for the calcuated max pDIF in my examples, I have always calculated the WS damage using a max pDIF of 2 instead of the actual values. I'll work on reading up on this in the near future and make the necessary corrections. But as always, these numbers should serve as a general framework and not the absolute gospel truth.

There are many theories and variables out there about how damage is calculated based on observations and on parsed numbers. It has been stated numerous times that these formulas have been changed since SE "fixed" two-handed weapon calculations so as stated before, Please take these calculations for what they are, a general, ball park idea.

Time for part 4 of my WS Gear Comparisons. Today's line up includes a piece of gear that I've been after for a while, but haven't felt it was worth paying the AH price for it. Will the numbers justify my thoughts?

I have to admit I did this post with a bit of trepidation considering the sheer amount of gushing I did over a Cuchulain's Mantle in this post. I knew at the time of that post, it really came down to a question of just how much Attack figures played in the end result of a weapon skill. I also knew that I was relatively close to capping my attack figures against your typical meripo target and that finding a way to cap my fSTR w/o sacrificing too much attack would be the way to go. I also felt (well before I piled on +9 DEX with Hecatomb Subligar +1) that I had some WS accuracy issues and as most know, if you can't hit your target, the amount of offense you have is pointless.

This is also a matter of your belief in the formulas that have been created through various means and have become accepted as the norm.

The lineup today includes:

1. Cuchulain's Mantle
2. Forager's Mantle
3. Amemet Mantle +1
4. Cerberus Mantle
5. Cerberus Mantle +1
6. Psilos Mantle (wut?)

For those of you too lazy to click the links above, here are the stats of each:



Here's what each piece will do to my current set up:



Here's what each piece will do to my basic numbers against that poor pink bird:



Here's what the estimated Drakesbane numbers will look like:



Pretty significant difference in the wrong direction for that Cuchulain's mantle isn't it? This was rather surprising to me. I had a feeling it would come up short since you really just can't overcome what amounts to losing nearly 15 attack. Sure it caps my fSTR and raises my Acc% to cap, but as I previously mentioned, I was already at or over those caps to begin with. This might prove to be completely different against something with a much higher evasion, but given the pricepoint of a Cuchulain's Mantle currently against the rest of this line up (except for the Cerb Mantle +1), it's really not worth it for a Dragoon. Even that Psilos Mantle kills it.

Also, some have asked to compare Penta Thrust numbers with this mantle since it's widely considered to be better for Penta Thrust.



Now before I go further, I want to point something out here...

Penta Thrust's ACCURACY is modified by your TP. They changed this a while back. You're going to be getting little boosts of Accuracy as your TP gauge climbs. Also note that there are no definitive numbers that I've seen showing how Accuracy is calculated in regards to TP and Penta Thrust. Also, please read this post in regards to my thoughts on Penta Thrust vs. Drakesbane in a meripo.

The results are the generally the same. Penta Thrust barely gains any ground on any of the other pieces. Using a Cuchulain's mantle drops my pDIF rather significantly and since I was already at or near the Accuracy cap, that's just too much to give up. Especially for 3.5 mil.


Conclusion

The Cerberus Mantle +1 is the winner here if you go strictly by the fSTR and pDIF values. However, the fact that a Forager's Mantle and an Amemet Mantle are as close they are was a little surprising to me. Note that the difference between these latter two pieces show up in the WSC value due to how STR is calculated for both Drakesbane and Penta Thrust.

If you take the alleged fSTR cap of 18 into account, there is no difference between any of these mantles unless you have a relic. However, since WSC will take 50% of your STR value and basically dump it straight into a variable, more STR = better and that's where Cerb Mantle +1 wins out...barely.

Stick with Forager's or Amemet+1 if you feel like 15+ mil is a little much for what amounts to +1 STR...