Bubble Trouble: A Geomancer Guide

My brain doesn't math gud anymore? Can someone analyze this for me?

Locked my gear as mastered GEO/RDM to have Geomancy Galero +3 along with Azimuth body +3 and Bagua hands +3 (MBBII+5 and MBB+12)

I made Light with RUN as Dimidiation + Dimidiation

Apex Bat level 136:
* Fire does 1547 damage
* Fire MB with the monster South does 5155 damage
* Fire MB with the monster West does 6916 damage (34% increase from CC +4)



Swapped Geomancy Galero +3 for Azimuth head +3.

Apex Bat level 134:
* Fire does 1936
* Fire MB with the monster South does 6452 damage
* Fire MB with the monster West does 7506 damage (16% increase from CC)


All numbers were measured at least twice. I can't figure out a few things here:
1. Why does my MBs do 3.332...x as much damage as a normal nuke? Did they add stuff to the calculation, or have I just forgotten?
2. If you assume SE's notes are correct, then it looks like I have ~18% of unexplained MBB?

Everytime I try to figure out if I should bother with CC it confuses the ***out of me too.

The numbers just don't maff out

I assume you mean Geomancy Galero +3.

Yep!

Iirc Apex Bats take extra damage from skillchains and from bursts.

Also if your run is using Lionheart, Aeonic aftermath gives bonus damage to skillchains made with it and bursts on it

That would presume the first WS is done at 3000 TP though? He also said he was making Light, not Radiance. Could just be semantics, but I dont think Aeonic AM is in play here.

And where did you see that?

It's not something you see... It's something you feel. Numbers can't explain!

Did you take into account the elemental resistance bonus to MB damage? Apex Bats have 130%(+115% MBB) to fire which with the 35% from the skillchain is +150% MBB.

TBF when I quit we didn't understand resist tiers yet so that whole part of the wiki is Greek to me.

That x2.5 is a different stage and not actually MBB, right?

ok, if that is the case then:

1547*2.5 = 3867.5
1936*2.5 = 4840

Both of those are 1.333x... less than the South number, which is weird because I only have 1.17 MBB in gear as far as I can see and I don't see any merits, job traits, job points, or gifts that affect it.

Without Geomancy Galero +3, 1.333 becaomes 1.5508 (+22, matching SE's note)
With Geomancy Galero +3, 1.333 becomes 1.788... (+23~24, approximately double the expected potency)

I didn't solve the extra MBB mystery, but I did figure out a few things:
1. Cardinal Chant +4 from the right direction gives you an extra 18MBB for normal nukes, 20MBB for -ra nukes, and is increased by 50% by collimated still (to +60MBB total for normal nukes or +72MBB for -ra nukes).
2. Lili was correct that apex monsters just take extra MB damage, to the tune of +1.5 to the MB damage term (so * 2.85).

This job trait was really not thought through.
* It affects -ra spells, which are AoE around the caster, more than single target nukes.
* You only generally want to use an AoE spell when you have multiple targets, and the extra enhancement it gets isn't nearly enough to change that math.
* If you have multiple targets, they aren't going to be in a single direction, particularly with a small radius (10' without collimated or 5' with iirc)
* It would be very weird to want MBB+ on multiple targets at the same time.
* Putting magic burst bonus and magic attack on opposite sides means you would theoretically want to run through the monster when free nuking vs. mbing. MAB should have been north and opposed MAcc.
* Magic Crit is a dead stat because, as I mentioned in this thread, I think they didn't implement it they way they intended, so one of the directions is useless.
* Collimated and Theurgic wear off when you cast any spell, including spells they don't affect. PS once every 5 minutes? What?

They really needed to take another pass at GEO's nuking design, but they made it a strong buffer/debuffer and called it a day.

Well you still burst with ja and ga so ra isn't any different in that respect.

If it's stronger than Fire 5 you'll want to nuke Fira 3. AoE doesn't matter. Distance withstanding.

Not a whole lot of thought into it, no, just like the skillchain chart, just like magic ws are better than elemental magic just like dozens of updates to enmity and level correct. It just is what it is.

At least you got it figured out.

It isn't stronger (even with enhancement, I'm pretty sure) and you can only cast it on things within 10 yalms of yourself (or 5 with collimated up).

Figured out it is! I will probably try to figure out why I was measuring so much extra MBB next. - I couldn't replicate the problem, so this will remain a mystery. I probably just messed something up.

has anyone tested what cardinal chant does if you're exactly on the same spot as the mob?

It creates a mini black hole that sucks in both the geo and the mob.

When I submitted a bug report for Theurgic Focus wearing off when you use ANY spell, they moved it to "Working As Intended", so apparently they couldn't give a ***less about Geomancer's job abilities, because they're still trying to find ways to nerf them on every content.

Water under the bridge at this point, but yeah they have no idea the direction they wanted that job to go so they settled on frailty/malaise breaking everything and said "good enough" (we've lowered the potency on geomancy for said bosses because that's TOO strong)

Always took it as they didnt notice how busted geomancy+ makes bubbles ontop of JA boosts before it was too late(inb4 dont play their own game etc) and they just cant be bothered to just scale the bubbles back cause sweeping nerf is bad, so GEO is in this weird place where it can be considered OP where its bubbles are at full effect so it doesnt need to be adjusted..

Course that spot where it applies gets to be more and more of a joke and everything after escha curbs its debuffs back to being more reasonable, but still its OP in those specific scenerios so jobs fine.

I find that so annoying, that debuff bubbles have 2 types of possible nerfs and you never know which content has one of those nerfs and which doesn't.

At that point it might have been better to have a small nerf to some specific bubbles, and make so they always behave in the same way in ALL content.

Yes, can't have geo actually do its debuffs and use its jas at their advertised values. You know, the whole point of the job.

Geo now needs a big fat "job does not work as advertised" disclaimer.

except in escha, and some older ambus(think they keep putting in a nerf for every v1 revisit? V2 may be untouched but its V2) UNMs, old HTBs, adoulin era content and everything prior to that

It's a weird place to be at for sure especially if its a new geo or group as none of this is told in-game, its just slapped on there and players get to figure it out if its not vaguely stated in an update note

TBH

The Penalties were the main reason I started playing BST more. But limiting groups to 6 people kinda ruined that for me.

This is coming from a non Idris GEO who is a master procrastinator.

I agree the penalties are not consistent at all. I feel like this is one of the only games we have to do math/testing for values versus the devs stating it outright in change notes..

So different subject. I am hoping to finish Idris soon. I legit want to R15 it and pair it with Daybreak for magical WS spam.

With AM3 up, what is our best TP set looking like (not talking glass cannon stuff)? Options are kind of slim. Nyame Path B DA is kind of a hindrance right?

5/5 Empy+3 looks like a great set in regards to accuracy and defensive stats. The best thing about mage jobs is that they really do get an insane amount of MEVA on their armor.

Kind of annoyed GEO wasn't put on Bunzi.

Pre Ody, GEO/DNC was pretty fun to play, and waltzs will get you on the hate list. While not as useful on newer content, feels pretty sweet destroying wave 3 as melee geo. (Flash Nova/Seraph Strike)

It's not that it's a hindrance, or that it makes DPS lower. Even under Mythic/Ergon AM3, DA+ is still a gain in avg hits per round. It's just a veeery small gain compared to normal. So other options are better. Mainly STP(If only GEO had some..) Although, in the case of DW, your offhand will still benefit normally from DA+. So there's that.

Ideal AM3 TP set? A path Nyame. lol. But honestly, B path Nyame is still probably going to be your best alternative. GEO just... doesn't have good TP gear options. Empy if you actually need that acc, sure. But otherwise, take the DA on Nyame(B) for your offhand swings.

If you're dualwielding, you need to cap that as /NIN and you have mainly two paths: 1) 10% DW on Cape, 2) Shetal Stone + Suppanomimi.
If you go for path 2, you're gonna need some way to cap haste.
5/5 Nyame doesn't cap haste.

Most likely you're gonna want Lots of Nyame if anything for the DT, but some slots that can help you cap haste are the hands slot.
Gazu Bracelets+1 alone provide 15% Haste (and lotsa acc).
Then there's the Null Masque, providing 10% haste and lotsa nice stats (DT too!)

Other notable non-nyame options are Blistering Sallet +1 (lotsa acc, 8% haste, some DA and PDT) and Jhakri legs +2 (almost no haste, but lotsa acc and STP, one of the few STP options for GEO).


Last but not least, of course there's also the RoV Lehko's ring which can be very nice to cap haste, if you have it.

On GEO specifically, I'd just sub Dancer and keep up Haste Samba; frees up the cape slot for Null and you can hit 9 dw in the earrings. You're supporting the party more than anything, so your relatively insignificant contribution to DPS as /NIN is inconsequential when compared to /DNC, but the added utility /DNC brings to a sub-handcuffed job like GEO is a much better option imo.

I only really consider ninja sub to be an option for jobs like COR that need whatever defensive assistance in something like Segs when you might pull hate after a Savage Blade or something. Otherwise, I feel it's kind of outdated. The issue with /DNC on GEO specifically is you won't be able to hit 50% Waltz Potency set without getting Merlinic Dark Matter augments.

Geo is not a real geomancer like in other ff games. In ffxi geo is the outcome of blm having a baby with a bard.

The geo part of the mechanics is not present at all. Imagine doing extra damage based on the floor on you are standing on?

They already gave that mechanic to SCH via Storms. Which is weird, since Geomancers are Element-Mages, storms would have been a perfect spell line for GEO.

It would have been pretty cool if GEO casted Hailstorm, instead of just gaining the effect, your geomancy bubble radius was literally snowy (like a snowglobe), an any monsters within the sphere either benefited or was penalized by the current weather. They could have tied the current Geomancy effects to these elements instead (Firestorm aura gives fury, Sandstorm gives defense or evasion etc). Instead of whatever the hell Frailty/Malaise aura is supposed to be.

But yeah. they decided to mash stuff together and just left it as-is

I was speaking about how Geomancer works in FF Tactics. They unlock spells based on the surface that they stand on. But you brought up a great point. Geos should automatically benefit from storms as well.

It sounds like fun but then every nm will be on the same ground and it'll be either stupidly broken and nerfed or useless and not meta and why bother.

It'd be about the debuffs not the damage and we really don't need another slow, paralyze, petrify, poison, bind etc

Geo does that, and those bubbles never get used

They dont get used because a 25% paralyze rate (capped skill + idris, no JA buffs) is *** dogshit compared to these buffs and debuffs:
Attack +61.70%
MEVA +125
Acc +100
Def down -41.80
Macc down -125

Hope that helps

it's not just a geo problem, all the buff jobs are very focused on only a few of their spells/abilities because they are so much better than the rest. ffxi has never been about perfect job balance, so why worry about it now?