Tizona Vs Almace (119-3)

According to you this is why u don't see any bards out there lol. A bard needs rema just to keep up with an Idris geo. whoa

fixed

There might be some uncommon instances where plebian bards are okay, but generally speaking bard's not too good

Stop fixing my stuff lol

Daurabla 99 bard do you need it?
Ghorn 99 bars do you need it?

1500 heavy metals 60 riftcinders can I have it back? Lol

Buying an aeonic weapon for my brd :(

Idris geo do u need it?

No kidding floppy lol

I have all 3 swords, although non are 119-3 but I am working on Almace right now to take it to 199-3 first. Sequence is not to hard to get but we have a good ls that can hammer down helms in a weekend so reisenjima was not that bad. I have a few friends that agree Almace 119-3 is the best option for first of the 3.

I think the simplest answer is Almace for pure damage, Tizona for utility.

This event came at the worst possible time for me, unfortunately. Major projects due this week and last, and final exams around the corner.

Otherwise, I'd be working on both simultaneously!

Instead, I looked at things pragmatically, and realized I was already half-done with Nyzul and Einherjar, and I was sitting on a Tinnin and Samareya pop as well.

I went on a bit of an Assault and Einherjar blitz, so after a week of sporadically working on it, I'm about 40,000 Nyzul Tokens, a Tyger's Tail, and 29,000 Alexandrites away from being done with the 75 weapon. Still got a ways to go, but it could be a hell of a lot worse.

Hopefully this Voidwatch event rolls back around again soon, so I can work on an Almace too.

Given your situation OP, I'd get the Almace while you can. There's a good chance you might have a lot more of Tizona completed than you think - if you played seriously during the 75 cap. But absolutely take advantage of the VW campaign now if you can. I unfortunately, can't (much). At least it got me a pair of Carmine Cuisses +1.

No, Tizona is still better damage than Almace.

However, since the OP has already done so much for Almace, it's best for him to just pick that. They're both great weapons.

That's surprising to me, I would have thought the lower aftermath threshold, high base damage, lower base delay, superior weapon skill and DEX+50 would have pulled Almace ahead. If I'm wrong, I stand corrected!

They're very close, but Tizona pulls ahead as long as you can fully utilize AM3. Almace's nonexistent AM upkeep is great for shorter fights though.

Mythic AM3 doesn't pack the punch it used to with our high base multiattack rate, but it's still a substantial boost to WS frequency, average TP/WS (small boost in base critrate) and white damage. The ability to proc once on WS also yields a nice boost to WS (and thus skillchain) damage.

I feel that the Almace will has a better advantage for white damage. With 50 DEX and Crit Hit Rosmerta, I am seeing frequent critical hit OTD proc, making white damage substantially higher.

semi hijack but since this is an active thread....

People keep referencing the VW campaign when talking about making almace. But it seems like half the community thinks lights dont do much at all for pouch drops. Of course the price got cut in half within a few days of the VW event but that almost assuredly has to do with the "pull from stock" option which lets you spam over and over without warping to refill. Am I wrong in thinking that option will remain after the campaign ends?

If that is the case it seems like the "no time like the present" to make Almace will continue indefinitely (or until you run out of stones).

Everyone I've talked with says the lights help.. I can't see why they wouldnt

The option will remain afterwards, it came with a patch, it's not part of the event.

As for lights not helping drops, I may agree with you:

I have spammed through about 3400 boxes over the first 4 days of the campaign in order to get my HMPs, with two characters (1700 kills).

I noticed the character not using cells would get less r/e crap but more pouches, systematically, for the first 3 days. 4th day I did not use any cells on any character and I got a higher average pouch drop.

While the sample is not the highest, it does give me something to think about, I suppose.

What people talk about and they "feel" helps with drops may not give the best idea, because before this change people would often go back and it was difficult to spam hundreds and hundreds of them.

However, I have never tried spamming Aello outside of the event, and it may be that some light helps whereas too much is detrimental ?

The only truth to VW drops is that your crappiest mule always gets more pouches than anyone else.

So this leads me to a few follow-up comments/questions:

1. So basically solo-farming VW with one characters is pretty much a wash to get 1500 HMP or the rifts because the drop rate is still abysmally low. Right?

2. Basically if you run out of voidstones, you're SOL other than using voiddust (which btw goes to your on-hand stock, not the amount the NPC holds so if you're full on-hand, you can't use voiddusts). For players that are don't have thousands of stones in stock, farming stones via VW is extremely limited/impossible.

3. Even with stones, it takes thousands of tries (thus thousands of stones) to get anywhere near the 1500 HMP mark. So the only real option given the above is a mix of ambuscade and buying from AH. So, in all honesty, other than the QOL change to use stones from the NPC stock (and a seemingly useless increase of lights when cells are used), VW is pretty much the same as it was pre-update.

VW is indeed pretty much the same. Only change, after all, was to stock, and it only works for those who've been inactive and have thousand of stones.

.. and perhaps an alt with thousands of stones, as well.

Droprate per pouch is around 5-6%, as before, and voiddust do not share the stock improvement, so you're as slow/inefficient as you were before the update.

Getting 1500 HMP is still annoying through VW, and even spamming ambuscade for 100 is not as fun as it may (not) seem.

Personally, I burned 2600 stones and from my experience, you will get about 7-8 pouches in about 3 hrs average or 1 pouch 30 mins average, with cells fed. It can stretch from 2 hrs without pouches to 3-4 consecutive drops.

I rotate the mobs after 3hrs sessions. I have come across sessions where I walk away with 13 pouches from 3 hrs Aello and 8 pouches from Uptala in 1 day. And 3 pouches the next day from a 2.5 hrs session.

Ultimately the distribution will average to about 7-8 pouches in 3hrs.

However, getting the pouches is only half the battle, using them for good drops is the other challenge. Overall, I average about 10 heavy metal pieces per pouch, + or - 10 pieces when using 7-8 in a row.

Even if you run out of stones, you should try your best to farm gils (Salvage spamming) and grab the available heavy metal plates since supply is high and price is lower now. After this campaign, it will probably go back to 150k per piece and only 6-7 stacks selling on AH.

Riftcinders will be easier to get after this even since Ambuscade will let you get 3 for 4500 hallmarks (hopefully subsequent months too), so more people are likely to sell them. 1500 heavy metal plates are tougher compare to buying 60 riftcinders at 1 to 1.5 mil each.

The very least they should do is make the voiddust stones go toward the NPC stock instead of on-hand stock. Otherwise, unless you're sitting on thousands of stones or are ridiculously rich, it is impossible to farm VW solo in any reasonable time.

Just an update - I did finish Almace and I don't regret it at all. Very nice when your white hits do 1500-2000 =)

Congrats. It is indeed a very fun weapon! Those 2000+ crits are yummy.

What's makes it so that high of a single hit?

The Occasionally deals triple damage aftermath and a crit.