User:Vellamorn/GuideSandbox

Sandbox for creating/editing guide stuff. Working on making a fully fleshed out DNC guide.

First step - go over other guides, look at formatting, figure out what I want to reuse.

Taking the bard guide formatting for starters, then will rip some of the tables from other job guides (RDM) to clean it up/condense it. Port existing information from DNC guide, add missing sets/info (JSE gear!). Possibly get the JSE gear added to the DNC guide directly first and foremost since the main source of it right now is digging through FFXIAH posts.

If you're nosy and reading this long before I've finished gutting and rewriting it, then I'm not looking for feedback yet!!! I put it in a sandbox for a reason.

General Information

Dancer is a damage dealing job with enormous damage potential, but with a splash of utility. Job Abilities such as Climactic Flourish can allow you to drop multiple damage capped WSes into enemies back-to-back when used correctly. You also bring unique debuffs to the table such as Box Step, buff the party's Job Haste with Haste Samba, or provide healing in a pinch with Curing Waltz.

Job Abilities and Traits

Job Traits
Lvl.	Name	Notes	Value
20, 40, 60, 80, 550jp	Dual Wield	Allows equipping a weapon in each hand, and reduces the delay of these weapons.	10%, 15%, 25%, 30%, 35%
15, 45, 75, 86	Evasion Bonus	Improves evasion against physical attacks.	10, 22, 35, 48
20, 55, 81	Resist Slow	Provides a chance to outright resist Slow and Addle effects.	10, 15, 20
25, 45, 65, 86, 80jp, 405jp, 980jp, 1805jp	Subtle Blow	Reduces amount of TP gained by enemies when striking them.	5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 27, 29, 32
30, 60, 76	Accuracy Bonus	Improves accuracy of physical attacks.	10, 22, 35
77, 87, 97	Conserve TP	Occasionally cuts down TP cost of weapon skills.	15%, 18%, 21%
45, 90	Damage Limit+	Grants a bonus to maximum physical damage. (increases PDIF)	0.1, 0.2
80, 88, 99	Crit. Atk. Bonus	Improves power of critical hits.	5%, 8%, 11
45, 58, 71, 84, 97	Skillchain Bonus	Improves skillchain damage.	8%, 12%, 16%, 20%, 23%
77, 85, 91, 97	Tactical Parry	Grants bonus TP when parrying an attack.	20TP, 30TP, 40TP, 50TP

Job Ability
Lvl.	Name	Notes
1	Chainspell	Reduces Casting and recasting time of spells to 0 for 60 Seconds.
40	Convert	Swaps Current HP and MP Values.
50	Composure	Triples Enhancing Magic Duration Cast on Self. Triples Enspell Damage. Increases Physical Accuracy. increases Recast times by 25%
83	Saboteur	Increases potency of Enfeebling Magic by 100% on normal monsters, and 25% on Notorious Monsters for 60 seconds. Only impacts the base of the spell - not the dStat value.
95	Spontaneity	Make the next spell you cast, or target party member casts, instant with no recast time.
96	Stymie	Forces next enfeebling spell to always land, unless the target has perfect immunity against the status effect.

Merits

Group 1
Name	Description	Notes	Investment
Step Accuracy	Increase the accuracy of Steps by 3 per level.	15 Step Accuracy is nothing compared to gear and Presto. Skip.	0/5
Haste Samba Effect	Increase the effect of Haste Samba by 1% per level.	Haste Samba is a significant part of your support kit!	5/5
Reverse Flourish Effect	Increase TP gained via Reverse Flourish by 30 per level.	This is a flat 30-150 TP added at the end of the RF calculation.	5/5
Building Flourish Effect	Increases Building Flourish accuracy by 2, attack power by 1%, and critical hit rate by 1% per level.	BF sees less general usage than RF does, and is plenty potent without the merit.	0/5
Standard Selections	5/5 Haste Samba Effect, 5/5 Reverse Flourish Effect

Group 2
Name	Description	Notes	Investment
Saber Dance	50% Double Attack, decreasing down 20% over the first 30 seconds, prevents usage of waltzes. Recast: 3min. Increase samba duration by 5% per level.	Does not stack with WAR's DA trait.	1/5
Fan Dance	-90% phys. damage taken, +15 enmity, prevents usage of Sambas. -PDT decreases with each hit taken, down to 20%. Recast: 3min. Shorten waltz recast time by 5% per level.	Multiplicative with -PDT gear, goes over 50% cap.	1+/5
No Foot Rise	Instantly grants 1 finishing move per level. Recast: 3min.	Relic Body gives +50 TP per level.	3~5/5
Closed Position	+3 Accuracy and Evasion per level, when face-to-face with your target.	Relic Feet give you +3 STP per level.	0~5/5
Standard Selections	3+ No Foot Rise; see notes.

Group I Merit Recommendations:

• 5/5 Haste Samba Effect - Brings Haste Samba from 5% to 10% Job Haste. Outside of low haste situations, this hardly moves the needle for the Dancer themselves. Where it shines is offering 10% job haste to other members of your party.
• 5/5 Reverse Flourish Effect - 150 TP is not an insignificant amount, and this is better than the alternatives available to you.

Group II Merits Recommendations:

• 1/5 Saber Dance - Having access to Saber Dance is critical, but the added Samba duration isn't particularly notable. With gear, Sambas last more than enough time that you won't feel any pressure in reapplying it, unlike those using DNC as a subjob.
• 1~4/5 Fan Dance - Having access to Fan Dance is critical, and more points in this category reduces the recast of Waltz by up to 20%. As the value of Closed Position has diminished with time, this has become a more noteworthy option. Do keep in mind that, with Anwig Salade and Maxixi Casaque +3 you've already taken 4 seconds off the cooldown. More merits primarily affects Divine Waltz II and Curing Waltz IV, or allows you to flex away from Anwig in favor of a higher CHR piece of gear.
• 3~5/5 No Foot Rise - 3 points in No Foot Rise has been the standard for a long time for quickly getting to 1,000 TP, but the flexibility of extra Finishing Moves is worth consideration.
• 0~5/5 Closed Position - With the addition of Macu. Toe Sh. +3 as an option, coupled with current endgame content pressuring you to wear higher amounts of -DT, Closed Position has become a less attractive option than in the past. Dancer Merits are somewhat flexible, and your mileage may vary with regards to Closed Position. If you've decided to wear Empy+3 boots full time, then you can completely disregard this merit.

Support Jobs

Dragoon The go-to end game subjob option for many DD jobs. DRG provides access to its exclusive WS Damage Boost traits, which is a significant damage increase, and further improves with heavy investment into Master Levels. Beyond that, the big draw to DRG is enmity management through High Jump and Super Jump, as well as potential TP generation via Jump and High Jump. It's important to note that Jumps do not provide TP to enemy targets, thus allowing for safer TP gen in situations where you don't want to feed too much TP to an enemy.   Samurai SAM provides a high amount of TP gain thanks to its Store TP traits, providing up to 20 STP with a small investment into Master Levels. Meditate and Sekkanoki are also welcome additions if you're looking to perform solo multistep skillchains. Depending on the events you're running and the composition of your party, you may get more mileage out of the Attack gains from WAR or the enmity management of DRG.   Warrior WAR's benefits are simple and straightforward: 10-12% DA, Berserk, Warcry and Aggressor. WAR shines as a subjob in situations where you aren't attack capped with party buffs and don't need the enmity management tools of DRG. These are often the same situation. The Fencer traits may look tempting, but there practically no reason to single wield instead of carrying a Centovente or other high-value offhand. Remember, the DA traits do NOT stack with Saber Dance!   Thief Previously a more popular subjob for DNC, THF brings you extra opportunities to force crits on Rudra outside of using Climactic Flourish by using Sneak Attack. You can also utilize Trick Attack for enmity management, and you'll gain access to Triple Attack I with enough Master Levels. Arguably, these benefits are less valuable than what the other go-to subjobs bring to the table.   Dark Knight DRK brings solid damage potential to the table thanks to Last Resort and its innate Attack Bonus traits, but pales in comparison to the potential of other subjobs listed above. With Master Levels you'll also see an increase to the above trait as well as gain another tier of Damage Limit+ over DNC's inherent trait, but by the time you reach those levels you'll see more significant gains from DRG. The Attack benefits also begin to fall off as you start to play in high buff, attack capped situations.   Monk A niche option for when you want to get more out of Karambit, and expands your H2H WS options with Raging Fists. Sub MNK also offers you Kick Attacks for added TP generation at Master Level 10. This subjob selection is more of a toy than anything, but worth being aware of.   Rune Fencer Whether you're looking for status protection or seeking to tank for low man content, RUN offers fantastic durability. Runes, traits such as Inquartata and Magic Defense Bonus, JAs such as Vallation and Pflug, and Barspells go a long way toward your survival. With the addition of Master Levels, you've even got access to Valiance and Foil!   Ninja A one trick pony of a subjob, even if the trick is a relatively solid one. Utsusemi can be the difference between life and death at times, but otherwise this job brings you no significant benefits. You may find more value in /RUN if you need defensive tools.

Job Points

Obviously, if you're serious about playing Bard (or any job), you'll end up mastering it. Even if you don't explicitly farm Capacity Points, they add up over time and never decrease!
This means you're going to have all of these eventually, it's just a question of when. A rough priority order isn't particularly helpful, but also can't hurt, so:

RDM guide has a nice table to put here

Dances

Steps, Samba, etc. etc. all go here.

Weapons

Starter

Homestead Dagger

"Gotta Start Somewhere"

• When you hit level 99, purchase this from Craggy Bluff inside the Peacekeepers' Coalition at Eastern Adoulin (F-7) (Waypoint #1) for 3,000 Bayld.
  • Next, go to a Domain Invasion, hit at least one thing or sing at least one song, and get 100 DI points.
  • Tomorrow (IRL), do it again to get another 100, then upgrade to Kali and throw this in the garbage.

Kali

"Carnwenhan Lite"

• Brand new players can purchase this from Zurim in Norg for 200 Domain Invasion points.
  • That's 2 days at the maximum 100 points per day cap.
• Normally drops from Kammavaca, a level 125 Geas Fete fight in Escha - Ru'Aun.
  • This fight can be relatively easily farmed with one (or more) friends who are already geared, or on another geared job you already have.
• Not a melee weapon to write home about, but far better than the Homestead Dagger.
• The main attraction here is the Song duration +5, but the Path D augments are also useful.
  • Specifically, those augments are Magic Accuracy +15, String Instrument Skill +10, and Wind Instrument Skill +10.
  • Keep one of these forever, because it's the best offhand source of song duration when Dual Wielding.

REMAP

Carnwenhan

Mythic: It Just Keeps Going...

Bard's Mythic Weapon - and it is a proper weapon, not an Instrument - gives a whopping +50% Song duration. It should be equipped whenever you're singing.
Also, Mordant Rime is competitive with Bard's other Weapon Skill options. Having a WS that no other job can use is great when you want unique WSes for each member of the party, like in Dynamis - Divergence, Sheol, and Sortie.

Twashtar

Empyrean Two: The Squeakquel

Bard actually gets two Empyrean Weapons! Make Daurdabla first. And possibly only.
If you already have this because you made this for Thief or Dancer, or if you really want to be able to make a solo Darkness Skillchain, go for it.
Otherwise, you can just bring Carnwenhan and/or Naegling and no one will ever notice, much less complain.
Your total damage might end up marginally higher with this, but only marginally, and it requires farming Glavoid, one of the least fun Abyssea NMs.

Mpu Gandring

Prime Two: Big Numbers, But...

For Bards, this is absolutely Prime Weapon Two. Much like Twashtar, make the Prime Instrument, Loughnashade, long before making the actual weapon. (If you ever bother.)
I don't have any firsthand experience with Ruthless Stroke. It's probably very good, like all the other Prime Weapon WSes, and this probably obsoletes every weapon other than Naegling once you get it.
If you're a serious full-time Bard, here's where you put your second 8.5 million Gallimaufry. If not, don't grind this out just for your Bard, though obviously use it if you made it.

Special Note For New Players: If you don't have another levelled combat job, spend your first 20,000 Gallimaufry to make Mpu Gandring (Incomplete)!
You can't enter the final fight of The Voracious Resurgence without a Prime Weapon of that stage or higher equipped. And it's only a "Weapon" - neither Loughnashade (Incomplete) nor Duban (Incomplete) qualify!
It isn't fun to waste "two Fili Attire Set +2 pieces" worth of Gallimaufry, but in return you get Cornelia's Ring. Think of it as buying a best-in-slot ring for 20k Gallimaufry to lessen the blow.

Other

Naegling

The Elephant in The Room

Bard can wear Naegling. Easier to make than a "real" REMA, and more useful than some of them too.
There's very few enemies you can't handle with enough Savage Blades, even if you'll often prefer Piercing damage or WS variety.

New players who don't already know about Naegling: Make it, use it, love it. You'll see a huge damage increase immediately.

Daybreak

Sing Softly and Carry a Big Stick

Since BRD isn't on Maxentius, this is the best blunt weapon option available. Fortunately, it's a very good one.
Dropping from Maiden of the Dusk II at a relatively generous rate (far better than the armor, at least), it's not too difficult to acquire once you have Naegling and corresponding engaged/WS sets.

Daybreak provides 30% Cure potency and 1 Refresh for situations where you're healing, along with access to Dispelga for situations where the single-target Magic Finale won't get it done.
Also, sometimes you need blunt damage for Sheol or A Shantotto Ascension or whatever.

Offhands

Disclosure: Frankly, I don't know how to rank all the offhand weapons. So go with what works for you, or find someone smarter than me (easy), get their advice, and then edit it in here so I look less stupid. Thanks!

Kali

• Until you get something better, just Dual Wield another good old reliable Kali.
  • The mainhand one should use Path A or B augments for another 15 base damage.

Centovente

• Don't be fooled by the base stats. Completing the Magian Dagger Trials on the "TP Bonus Path" (ending with Trial 3201) creates a Centovente with a TP Bonus +1000 augment.
  • Unlike all other augments, Magian Trial weapon augments and Sheol Gaol weapon augments work in the offhand.
• This has no native accuracy (as opposed to, for example, 242 from the Dagger Skill on the Kaja Knife + 35 more from its actual Accuracy stat)
  • This means it's best-in-slot for a huge increase in Savage Blade damage on any content where you're not worried about Accuracy...
  • ...but leave it in your Wardrobe, not your offhand, when you're doing high-end content.

Kaja Knife and Tauret

• For when you need more accuracy than Centovente and don't have anything better. There's no shame in a good old Kaja Knife.
  • I wouldn't bother upgrading this to Tauret solely for Bard, but if you already have it you'll obviously be fine using it.
  • To be crystal clear: Your first Pulse Weapon goes to Naegling. You can live with Kaja Knife until you have another Pulse to spare, at which point you will likely have one of the below options instead.

Barfawc

• You can't spell Barfawc without "barf". For a ~60 million gil crafted Su5 weapon, this thing's laughably useless.
  • The "Song effects: damage taken -3%" only applies to you, and only when it's in the mainhand. If it worked on your party members, I'd at least be a little interested.
  • Same goes for the Path C "Song effects: Double Attack +4%". Since it won't work offhand, you're definitely not interested in this.

Blurred Knife +1

• Unlike Barfawc, this crafted weapon is actually good. (And much cheaper - a few million gil on Asura, your price may vary.)
  • Note that this is Superior Level 2, so you need 100 Job Points invested in Bard to be able to equip it!
• You're not here for the Haste proc, but rather the Occasionally Attacks Twice. It's good enough for now.
  • ...okay, you might be here for the Haste proc if you're in the vanishingly rare no-Trusts, no-other-players situation. Maybe you can swap a March for a Madrigal or something at those times.

Gleti's Knife

• Buyable for somewhere between 450,000 and 4,500,000 gil after defeating Ngai. (Probably the low end. Asura's definitely maxed out the discount.)
  • You'll have to unlock Sheol Gaol and then either pay someone to kill it for you or climb your way up to Tier 3 with friends.
• Even at Rank 0 (no augments), this has 6 Triple Attack, plus 2% Gear Haste that sometimes comes up, given Bard's lack of TP gear options.
  • At R30, it gains 11 base damage, 45 Attack, 15 Accuracy and 10 Subtle Blow II.
  • You probably don't want to farm RP on this solely for Bard, but if you're using it for Thief or something you'll benefit from the investment here too.

Crepuscular Knife

• A vanishingly rare drop (like all the Crepuscular weapons and armor) from The Wyrm God II.
• Don't go out of your way to farm this for Bard alone - Gleti's Knife is more than good enough - but if you've got it, flaunt it.
• Quadruple Attack +5% is obviously great. The stealthier nice part of this pointy friend is the Weapon Skill CHR +3% mod. This adds 3% of your CHR as base WS damage, just like the other stats the WS uses.
  • See Weapon Skill Secondary Attribute Modifier for more information, but to oversimplify, just expect +3% damage, ish.
  • It's actually more for Mordant Rime, because your MR set is already stacking CHR for its preexisting modifier and that's what you're getting +3% of. (You go from 70% to 73%.)

Job Specific Equipment

Artifact Armor

Maxixi Attire Set
Item	Upgrade?	Notes
Maxixi Tiara +4	No, +1	This is primarily for the Samba duration, which is maxed out at +1. Step Accuracy is largely unnecessary.
Maxixi Casaque +4	Yes, +3	Take this to +3. This is a critical piece for Waltz abilities.
Maxixi Bangles +4	Yes, +4	Incredible WSD piece, competitive with Nyame and much easier to get! Max this out first and foremost.
Maxixi Tights +4	No	Don't even make them. Skillchain Bonus may sound decent on paper, but realistically you should make Horos Tights instead.
Maxixi Toe Sh. +4	No, +1	Utility piece for Jig Duration and Waltz Potency. In an optimized Waltz set, you won't see further gains over the +1 for potency, thus leaving you with only the Jig Duration.

Relic Armor

Horos Attire Set
Item	Upgrade?	Notes
Horos Tiara +4 Enhances "Trance" effect (80s duration)	No, +1	Swap piece for Trance, and a Waltz Potency piece. Waltz Potency can be capped elsewhere, and Anwig Salade typically goes in this slot.
Horos Casaque +4 Enhances "No Foot Rise" effect (+50 tp/merit)	No, +1	Only a swap piece for No Foot Rise, and thus it can stay at +1.
Horos Bangles +4 Enhances "Fan Dance" effect (+1% min -PDT per merit)	No	Don't even make them unless you're trying to tank with DNC. They have to be worn to maintain the effect.
Horos Tights +4 Enhances "Saber Dance" effect (+1% min DA per merit)	Yes, +4	Priority piece. Incredible WSD pants that compete with R25 Nyame, and are much easier to get. Jig Duration as a bonus.
Horos Toe Sh. +4 Enhances "Closed Position" effect (+3 STP per merit)	Yes, +3	Prior to Empyrean +2/+3 pieces, these were the go-to TPing boots. They are still an overall higher value for STP, assuming Closed Position is in effect, but Empy boots are have -DT% and are much safer to wear. They're still worth making, but are lower priority than they used to be, and will largely be for the Steps discount.

Empyrean Armor

Maculele Attire Set
Item	Upgrade?	Notes
Maculele Tiara +3	Yes, +3	High priority. An incredible WSD piece, a good TP piece, and the Climactic Flourish modifier is extremely valuable.
Macu. Casaque +3	Maybe	A niche body for TPing at low haste values.
Macu. Bangles +3	Yes, +3	Essential swap piece for Reverse Flourish. Worth upgrading to +3, but extremely potent even at +1.
Maculele Tights +3	Yes, +3	+10% PDL has huge potential, but its value is going to depend on the rest of your gear and how often you play in attack capped situations. Worth upgrading to +3, but not urgent.
Macu. Toe Sh. +3	Yes, +3	High priority. Your go-to TPing shoes when -DT is needed and you can't benefit from Closed Position. Additionally, another 6% crit rate for Feather Step.

Equipment Sets

Engaged (TP)

Starter i119 Solo Farmable     Dual Wield optional Kaja Knife Kaja Sword Linos 15 Attack+Accuracy, 4 Store TP, 3 Quadruple Attack Aya. Zucchetto +2 Ayanmo Corazza +2 Telchine Gloves 15 Attack+Accuracy, 6 Store TP, 7 STR+DEX Telchine Braconi 15 Attack+Accuracy, 6 Store TP, 7 STR+DEX Telchine Pigaches 15 Attack+Accuracy, 6 Store TP, 7 STR+DEX Asperity Necklace Brutal Earring Neritic Earring Rajas Ring Hoard Ring Cetl Belt Intarabus's Cape 20 DEX, 20 Attack+Accuracy, 10 Accuracy, 10 Dual Wield, -10% Physical Damage Taken Notes: 20 Accuracy or 20 Attack on the Telchine pieces is fine. The combined Accuracy+Attack augment is rare. The same is true for Linos. You don't have to literally dual wield Kaja weapons. But you can if you want to. Midrange Set Mostly Soloable     (Eventually) Naegling Centovente TP Bonus +1000 Linos 15 Attack+Accuracy, 4 Store TP, 3 Quadruple Attack Aya. Zucchetto +2 Ayanmo Corazza +2 Bunzi's Gloves Zoar Subligar +1 Rank 15 Telchine Pigaches 15 Attack+Accuracy, 6 Store TP, 7 STR+DEX Lissome Necklace Brutal Earring Cessance Earring Rajas Ring Petrov Ring Sailfi Belt +1 Rank 15 Intarabus's Cape 20 DEX, 20 Attack+Accuracy, 10 Accuracy, 10 Dual Wield, -10% Physical Damage Taken Notes: Bunzi's Gloves aren't soloable, but you don't need any RP for augments. They're best in slot even at R0 and worth specifically grouping up to get. If you can afford a Bard's Charm +1, that's a great place to put your extra gil for now. After that, consider some Chirich Rings or Moonbeam Rings. Best in Slot Approximately     (Hands math above) Naegling Centovente TP Bonus +1000 Linos 15 Attack+Accuracy, 4 Store TP, 3 Quadruple Attack Bunzi's Hat Rank 30 Revelation Plate. Rank 30 Bunzi's Gloves Rank 30 Revelation Brais Rank 30 Revelation Sab. Rank 30 Bard's Charm +2 Rank 25 Telos Earring Cessance Earring Moonlight Ring Moonlight Ring Sailfi Belt +1 Rank 15 Intarabus's Cape 20 DEX, 20 Attack+Accuracy, 10 Accuracy, 10 Dual Wield, -5% Damage Taken Notes: Fully DT capped at exactly -50%. No need for Alabaster Earring. Crepuscular Earring is fine over Cessance.

Weapon Skills

Starter i119 Solo Farmable     STR-Focused Kaja Sword Centovente 1000 TP Bonus Linos 20 Attack, 8 STR, 3 WSD Telchine Cap 20 Attack, 3 Double Attack, 3 WSD Telchine Chas. 20 Attack, 3 Double Attack, 3 WSD Telchine Gloves 20 Attack, 3 Double Attack, 3 WSD Telchine Braconi 20 Attack, 3 Double Attack, 3 WSD Telchine Pigaches 20 Attack, 3 Double Attack, 3 WSD Fotia Gorget Kuwunga Earring Corybant Pearl Ifrit Ring Gaiardas Ring Fotia Belt Intarabus's Cape 20+10 STR, 20 Accuracy + Attack, 10 WSD, -10% PDT Notes: Ishvara Earring is likely not far out of reach. Rufescent Ring is a little farther, but still reasonably obtained with Trusts. You can just buy two Ifrit Rings instead of one. You don't have to do that much Legion. Established i119 Midrange Savage Blade     Before Nyame Augments Kaja Sword Centovente 1000 TP Bonus Linos 3 Weapon Skill Damage, 8 STR, 20 Attack Telchine Cap 20 Attack, 3 Double Attack, 3 WSD Telchine Chas. 20 Attack, 3 Double Attack, 3 WSD Telchine Gloves 20 Attack, 3 Double Attack, 3 WSD Telchine Braconi 20 Attack, 3 Double Attack, 3 WSD Telchine Pigaches 20 Attack, 3 Double Attack, 3 WSD Rep. Plat. Medal Moonshade Earring 250 TP Bonus, 4 Attack Ishvara Earring Rufescent Ring Karieyh Ring Fotia Belt Intarabus's Cape 20+10 STR, 20 Accuracy + Attack, 10 WSD, -10% PDT Notes: Cornelia's Ring is an obvious upgrade when you finish The Voracious Resurgence. Savage Blade (BiS) Savage Blade     50% STR / 50% MND Naegling Centovente 1000 TP Bonus Linos 3 WSD, 8 STR, 20 Attack Nyame Helm R30 Bihu Just. +4 Nyame Gauntlets R30 Nyame Flanchard R30 Nyame Sollerets R30 Rep. Plat. Medal Moonshade Earring 250 TP Bonus, 4 Attack Regal Earring Cornelia's Ring Epaminondas's Ring Sailfi Belt +1 R15 Intarabus's Cape 20+10 STR, 20 Accuracy + Attack, 10 WSD, -10% PDT Notes: Linos can roll 6 STR+DEX as an all-in-one for SB/MR/Rudra's to save Wardrobe space. If you need PDL, swap to Bard's Charm +2. -46% PDT. To cap, use Murky Ring or Alabaster Earring Moonshade Earring stays forever, but the other jewelry slots change with your circumstances: Sroda Ring at very high Nyame ranks. Alabaster Earring at high enough augments is better and caps PDT. Hoxne Earring is BiS at Mastery Rank 7+, even over Alabaster. If you have Ephramad's Ring over Cornelia's, update appropriately. Mordant Rime (BiS) Mordant Rime     70% CHR / 30% DEX Carnwenhan (Level 119 III) Crepuscular Knife Linos 3 WSD, 8 CHR, 20 Attack Nyame Helm R30 Bihu Just. +4 Nyame Gauntlets R30 Nyame Flanchard R30 Nyame Sollerets R30 Bard's Charm +2 R25 Regal Earring Ishvara Earring Cornelia's Ring Metamor. Ring +1 R15 Kentarch Belt +1 R15 Intarabus's Cape 20+10 CHR, 20 Accuracy + Attack, 10 WSD, -10% PDT Notes: TP Bonus increases Movement Speed decrease :( Swap in Hoxne Earring at Mastery Rank 6+. I have no idea what the correct offhand here is.

Fast Cast

The Fast Cast cap is 80. Having it capped will give you 80% faster casts and 40% faster recast time. (Going over 80 does not further decrease recast times!)

Gear that gives "Song Spellcasting Time" reduction, like Fili Calot +1, gives you faster casts but not recast reduction.
Therefore, the optimal set has 80 actual "Fast Cast", but you can make up any shortfall with Song Spellcasting Time.

Starter i119 Set 54 FC + 9 Song Spellcast     Solo Farmable Kali Kali Linos 6 Fast Cast Inyanga Jubbah +2 Aya. Cosciales +2 Telchine Pigaches Aoidos' Matinee Loquac. Earring Prolix Ring Intarabus's Cape 10 Fast Cast Notes: You can farm all this yourself. Without Dual Wield, -7 FC from the second Kali. Starter -80% Cast Time Set 55 FC + 25 Song Spellcast     Mostly Soloable Kali Kali Linos 6 Fast Cast Fili Calot +1 Inyanga Jubbah +2 Leyline Gloves 3 Fast Cast Aya. Cosciales +2 Bihu Slippers +1 Aoidos' Matinee Loquac. Earring Prolix Ring Naji's Loop Embla Sash Intarabus's Cape 10 Fast Cast Notes: Without Dual Wield, you'll need higher reforges on the feet or head (or other pieces from the next set). BiS Fast Cast Way Over 80 FC Cap     Fill Slots With -DT Grioavolr 7 Fast Cast Clerisy Strap +1 Linos 6 Fast Cast Bunzi's Hat Inyanga Jubbah +2 Leyline Gloves 3 Fast Cast Volte Brais Fili Cothurnes +3 Orunmila's Torque Loquac. Earring Enchntr. Earring +1 Prolix Ring Kishar Ring Embla Sash Intarabus's Cape 10 Fast Cast Notes: Neck = Baetyl Pendant or Voltsurge Torque, if you want to avoid grinding Meeble Burrows. Legs = Kaykaus Tights +1, if you don't have Volte.

Idle

In general, your idle set should first aim for -50% Damage Taken, then some combination of Magic Evasion/Elemental Resistance, Status ailment resistance, and Regen or Regain.
Magic Evasion is more valuable than Physical Evasion, because the worst outcomes are getting slept, petrified, or one-shot - and that's usually via a magic AoE or conal.

A few things to know:

• There are two pieces with a chance to outright nullify magic damage ( Warder's Charm +1 and Shadow Ring). These are valuable once you've hit the DT cap, as an additional layer of protection.
  
  • The Ring's twin for physical nullification is Shadow Mantle, which you should never wear because Intarabus's Cape exists.
• Having nonzero positive Elemental Resistance unlocks an additional beneficial "resist tier", giving you a chance to take 1/8 damage from an elementally aligned attack.
  • With zero resistance, you can't take less than 1/4. With negative resistance, you can't take less than 1/2.
  • This means the first point of resistance to each element is disproportionately valuable. Consider Carrier's Sash even if you're already wearing Warder's Charm +1.
• Bard should avoid Staunch Tathlum +1. Wear an inferior Linos instead to avoid losing TP on swaps.
• Bard's only idle Regain piece is Null Masque.
• Shell V provides -29% Magic Damage Taken. Since the caps are -50% Physical Damage Taken and -50% Magic Damage Taken, you only "have" to wear -21% MDT to cap if you can rely on having Shell up.
  • This is why you often see -10% PDT over -5% DT on Intarabus's Cape.
  • As a coward and an inveterate min-maxer, I personally aim for 50 MDT as well, just in case. This is not necessary, but feel free to join me.

Starter i119 Idle Solo Farmable     34 PDT, 21 MDT Linos 15 Magic Evasion, 5 Physical Damage Taken / 6 Fast Cast, 8 VIT Aya. Zucchetto +2 Ayanmo Corazza +2 Inyan. Dastanas +2 Aya. Cosciales +2 Bihu Slippers +1 Flashward Earring Eabani Earring Ayanmo Ring Flume Belt Intarabus's Cape 20 INT, 20 Evasion+Magic Evasion, 10 Fast Cast, 10 Physical Damage Taken, 10 Magic Evasion Notes: Don't buy the other Ambuscade piecesAya. Manopolas +2 description.png just to idle in. You're reforging more JSE soon enough. The Linos can just have Fast Cast forever. It's fine. You can farm a Defending Ring if you really want to, but time has finally passed it by. Midrange Idle Not Solo Farmable     50 PDT, 38 MDT Linos 15 Magic Evasion, 5 Physical Damage Taken, 8 VIT Bunzi's Hat Bunzi's Gloves Aya. Cosciales +2 Warder's Charm +1 Alabaster Earring Eabani Earring Murky Ring Shadow Ring Carrier's Sash Intarabus's Cape 10 PDT (same cape, really) Notes: Warder's Charm +1 is easier to get than Loricate Torque +1, and also more useful long-term. Your first two Limbus runs guarantee a Matter each for Murky Ring and Alabaster Earring. If you want to fully cap MDT without Shell V, add Bunzi's Robe and Bunzi's Sabots. The Linos can also keep Fast Cast with that. Endgame Idle -50% DT     (then MEva) Linos 15 Magic Evasion, 6 Fast Cast, 8 VIT Fili Calot +3 Nyame Mail Fili Manchettes +3 Fili Rhingrave +3 Nyame Sollerets Warder's Charm +1 Eabani Earring Fili Earring +1 3-5 DT (unnecessary) Shneddick Ring +1 Shadow Ring Carrier's Sash Intarabus's Cape 5 Regen?! Notes: This is -51% DT (capped) in the five main slots alone. Adamantite Armor exists, if you're lucky. I have ever seen someone wearing Gurebu's Ring. Shneddick Ring +1 doesn't need to be fulltime if you do fancy Gearswap things. I never have. Status Resistance Options Some Pieces     (Not Nearly All) Volte Cap Volte Jupon Volte Bracers Volte Hose Volte Boots Warder's Charm +1 Hearty Earring Etiolation Earring Warden's Ring Shadow Ring Carrier's Sash Notes: Insomnia Earring and Shrieker's Cuffs exist... But honestly, stack MEva. Anything beyond Death resistance / "all ailments" is going too far.