Which HQ Staff Would You Buy?

So I got my SCH to 51 last night, and I need to pick up the staves. I already have the NQ Light and Dark Staff from my WHM leveling, but if I save up a bit I can afford to get one of the HQ elemental staves.

However, I could also spend that money on better gear as well (unless I should wait and spend the money on better higher level pieces down the road), so I dunno...

So, if I were to buy ONE HQ staff...which one should I get? Or should I get NQ staves and a piece or two of better gear? Thanks for any suggestions...

I went Aquilos > Jupiters > Plutos > Austere > Terra for BLM. I'm not sure if a SCH would do the same but it worked out well for me.

If you are short on the cash stick to NQ's
as in for HQ Id say depending on nukes, to start off I did Aquilo's
It cheap
+elemental magic
+15% ice spells you cant go wrong
+some stats
as second I would pick Pluto's
good for dark based spells such as drain and aspir etc
for healing Apollo's does not do much, stick to NQ light staff

Lvling it up as a blm rdm or sch Id get all but appollo. Since you tend to cast your strongest spells which change in element which one youll want/need varys. Sorta depends on what you do. If you do more debuffs then those elements if you nuke alot all of them. Really though HQ staffs are dirt cheap now. I remember stopping lvling rdm just so I could get a full set back when they were 1-2mil... makes me sad how little there worth now. Endgame on blm I tend only to cast 1-2 elements though as a sch you might want to cast more since you can ensure you get same day/weather effect always... assuming you have the obis which would be better then nuking your strongest probably. And just cause aquillos has int and +element dont make the mistake of using it on non ice spells...

Think about whats you do more with SCH. Plutos is great for drain/aspir/sleep/bio, and resting, if you cure alot, apollos might be what you want. If you nuke alot id recomend Aquilos, your gonna do more dmg on blizzard, and it has INT and +10 ele skill. Eventually youll prolly want them all, if not at least a full NQ set.

Ahem not appolo. Light cures just as well trust me you aint gonna miss that 1mnd at all. Also pluto will only help the intial dmg on bio which wont really be noticable.

I had to get apolo for brd, i dunno, im also finally(after over a year)a 72 SMN and I use cabry alot. Get the set when you can afford it, but if you cant work on a set of NQ.

... no it isnt. 10skill and 5 int doesnt even come close to 15% dmg and 20-30 macc. Hell dualweild int clubs would be better then aquillos on non ice spells.

I'd get all NQ until you have the gil to spend. The full set will do more for you than one or two NQ and a single HQ.

Its meh at best on non icespells NQ staffs of appropriate element will out do that so much it aint funny.

10% dmg isnt gonna lose to 5int... unless your syncing below lvl 51

o_O

Thanks for the suggestions so far. When playing SCH, I typically /BLM and do Dark Arts full time. Start off with Bio, Poison, Frost(or Choke), Rasp (or Shock), Aspir (if applicable), Drain (if applicable), and then just run down the Elemental tier II's...rinse repeat.

If things get rough, I dump some cures and regen (and silena, things of that nature), but outside of Light Arts+Accession+Protect II every so often I'm pretty much just dropping DD spells.

And to clarify, I can afford ALL the NQ staves, I just didn't know if it'd be worth it to splurge and pick up an HQ in place of one of the NQ staves, or just stick with the NQ's and save my gil for now.

You say you already have Dark and Light, so I'd say go for HQ Ice next. Like everyone else has said, the INT and elemental magic will go a long way. (And as a 75SCH, I find myself using ice nukes more than any other atm, due to the INT+ on Hailstorm with Stormsurge.)

After that, I'd say ... hmmm. HQ Wind, probably? I'm saving to buy it myself; if you do any low man stuff, landing Gravity becomes a huge priority. I have HQ Thunder, but I don't use it nearly as much as I thought I would. /shrug

Try testing it and writing the dmgs down. You might be suprised with how things seem stack up against the numbers

If you can afford all NQ and one HQ it's more of a question of what you do most. From what you've described I'd recommend Aquilo's if you're going to get a HQ staff.


Parsed tests or gtfo, eyeballing is deceptive.

/tell Shinsetsu, ask him to craft you beads from ores (tell him Ryogo sent you), then have a Woodworker 100+3 make the staff for you. If you tell the Woodworker that you had the bead made for you to save gil and you want him to SIGN you one, he'll do it for free, if he doesn't, find another woodworker.

Don't buy HQ staves.

1/4 chance, but using ores not beads... you will save gil.

Good luck!

Actually, you know what? Let's make it easy. Nuke a level 0 mob with a day/weather-neutral spell using the corresponding staff, then with Aquilo's. Barring the random 5% chance of resists that alone should be sufficient proof for you. Doesn't even have to be extensive testing, just 2 nukes (again, barring that stupid accuracy cap).

The problem is you're saying I'm wrong when the numbers say I'm right.

No but I have seen it on my screen and its more then 10-12 spells its thousands upon thousands litterally. Also for that matter theres the dmg forumulas you should check them out. That much int depending on the spell is probably only gonna add maybe 20-40 dmg at best or so... compared to 10% for NQ staf...

Again, reliable data or-

Nevermind, successful troll is successful, etc. Good night!

Hes saying you haven't done anywhere near enough spells let alone any testing to say that. But here check this out and see for yourself http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Calculating_Magic_Damage

As a BLM main, I've casted a ridiculous number of spells. I know that the corresponding elemental staff parses better than Aquilo's for accuracy and potency. Excuse me if I get a little upset at you posting information that is clearly false. If this actually happened, something else had to be at work, be it a resist or a day/weather bonus proc, but even then the correct staff would have added even more damage.

Honestly I would have been happy to debate it with you and run tests, but there's just too much data out there on the properties of the staves. It's a solved mystery, has been for a long time (barring the exact innate MAcc, but that's in the works).

http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Calculating_Magic_Damage
Really this should end all discussion.

Rieyuu is correct about his numbers and assumptions, for himself. He's a level 70 rdm, which means his highest spell atm is Aero III. From personal experience, being a 71 rdm atm, and 65 blm. Without access to higher tier magic or AM. Aquilo's staff will actually provde the same dmg as the other elemental staves. Based on the fact that rdm elemental skill is lower then a blms, he is without merits and 10-15% depending on NQ or HQ works out to the same bonus the elemental skill and int of the aquilo's.

Yes at higher levels the individual NQ/HQ staves will provide more damage, but for a rdm of level 70, with no merits and access to lower tier magic still, aquilo's will do the exact same thing.

That's... odd, to say the least. Especially since Aquilo's has a negative effect on Wind spells. 5 INT and 10 Skill should not be sufficient to even overcome the loss of potency, much less outdamage an Aero casted with a Wind Staff. Even if this is true, the MAcc bonus leads to better damage over time so you should still cast in the correct staff.

Guess I'll be testing this after all -.- I'll post numbers and try to get screenshots if I can.

I'm just saying, that our nukes as rdm 70/71 are doing a max of 400, and that was Water 3 on an EP-DC Dino in kuftal tunnel. If our nukes were doing more say 500-600 and up, then yes the right elemental staff would be the right thing to use. But when 10-20 damage bonus from elemental skill and +5 dmg is the same damage bonus from the proper staves +10% you might as well bump up your elemental skill to lower chance of resists.

Nukes I was doing playing in Kuftal yesterday were in full DD gear, maybe +5 int total and only elemental skill+ was my hat for +10. I could pump those numbers up and do more dmg with Aquilo's, elemental torque, druid's slops and Moldavite. But... gear swaps while just messing around.. ick.
I have capped elemental and the gear to make more use of each staff, of which I have the full set with 2 HQ's so far.

But from the looks of it, Rieyuu either hasn't been playing as long or is working on a 2nd account. So he may not have capped elemental and may not have the elemental+ and mab that I do.

Also... as something else I found interesting, my blm being only 65 with capped elemental magic, I don't have to worry about skilling up my rdm elemental till I actually hit 75. So that shows how much of a difference in the 2 jobs there is.

Just plug the numbers in and check for yourself. Ive lvld both rdm and blm and always done more with correct staff..

And lvling rdm I wouldve been ashamed to only do 400 dmg at lvl 70 on pt xp mobs not lol eps. Too bad that was a long time ago or id have screenshots

fail.

Notice I said in DD gear?
Was rdm/nin dual wielding daggers, phantom tathlum was my only int piece of gear with Warlock's Chapeau as my only elemental+ piece of gear, rest was acc/haste, Scorp harness, swift belt, woodsman rings, amemet mantle +1, spectacles and 2 mp earrings...