String Theory: A Puppetmaster's Guide *NEW*

I recently picked up PUP and bought Animator P II +1. I first need to skillup and by trials and errors I realized that I need P for melee skill up. So I bought another regular P just for skillup purpose right now.

As a newbie PUP, I have a question: for BLM nuking I am sure P II is better. However, is P necessary for tanking situation? Do I need both versions?

Thanks in advance for input.

Animator P will give you more control as the maton will either move into melee range or stay fixed at the distance it was deployed (depending on the currently equipped head). This fixed distance can also be up to 18' or so vs. the 15' it will keep away from monsters with P II, which can occasionally mean the difference between avoiding an AoE or getting hit.

P is definitely necessary for the tank maton as P II will make it constantly move away from its target. It will usually also prevent it from attacking its target altogether. P II is generally only useful for a WHM, BLM, RDM or pure shooting RNG setup if you don't have to worry about precise positioning.

In hindsight: why they *** couldn't they give us an option in the menu that you turn on or off, instead of overbloating the inventory with such items. I've always wondered about that.

Could've done the same with WSs for Trust and automaton.
Turn it on and they use WS, turn it off and they don't, period.

Bah

Thank you Aerix for the input. Looks like P +1 is more necessary. Might keep both.

If anyone of you have tricks for fast skillup on automaton, I am all ears. It seems slower than master skillup.

Currently Melee at 300 range at 350. Been doing skillup in Reisenjima zone.

I did all of maton skill ups in Seekers zone with Ionis and reives (lair or colonization?). The walls/Hives can't evade even with 0 skill and Ionis gives you a skill up boost (not sure if it applies to maton tbh)

Seriously doubt the Ionis skillup applies to the automaton.
With Percolator and Optic Fiberx2 it shouldn't be too hard to cap though.
Hardest will likely be Magic.
I dunno what to suggest for that, I capped that back in the level 75 days, afk in Beadaux under the cursing statue lol

I want to know how to afk skillup but it probably involves lua which i am really bad at. :(

Need auto provok and deploy and light maneuver....

I capped melee and ranged skills and now onto magic. I tried Reive first but sometimes other player came up and demolished it in seconds. I find Apex mobs better - pull trust tank and mage, auto attack, macro in Dark Maneuver, use P 2 +1 and no AoE to pet. One mob would last like 9 minutes and gain 4 levels of skillup. Better than Reive actually.

Add Water Maneuver (with Percolator up) in your automatization to make things faster, imho.
Try Light, Dark, Water (need Optic Fiber 1+2 as well).
With this setup I'm pretty confident you won't overload even if afk and -supposedly- the Optic Fiber bonus should power up Percolator's single water maneuver.
Probably not as much as 2x Water Maneuver, but that would be harder to mantain without overload while afk, I suppose.

If you're scared the refresh from 1 Dark Maneuver isn't gonna keep up, you can decide to idle with more Automaton: Refresh gear, or simply create a script that uses an Automaton Oil+3 every X minutes.
If you're gonna AFK for a looong time, realistically you're gonna need both lol


Staying in the same zone with the Maneuver duration buff capped before you start the script will make things easier, as you'll be able to wait for longer times between maneuvers, making overload virtually impossible even with very long afk time.
If you wanna be 100% sure add a Cooldown use every 5 mins in your script.

Thank you for the suggestion. I tried your suggestion but I don't notice visible difference.

I am not afk long time. Mostly doing work on computer anyway. Just pull a mob every 10 min. not too bad. Close to cap and maybe just another hour will do it.

Another dumb question:

Is there anyway to re-order the list of attachment A-to-Z for ease of finding the desired attachment?

Can't do that, but can filter them by element though, but I'm sure you already knew that.

As for the percolator I dunno about you but it made a huge difference for me in the skillup rate.
But then again I capped many, many, many years ago so who knows, maybe things are different nowadays.

That's too bad. It takes a while to find a particular attachment sometimes. Alphabetical order would make it much easier.

I used percolator. Magic skillup was actually faster than ranged and melee it seemed - from 350 to cap in one morning while working, cooking, cleaning etc.

Maybe I should have done all skillup on Apex instead of doing rng and melee in Reisenjima.

Skillup is finished.

hey guys, i've been using this for my gs base

https://github.com/atperry7/pup_gearswap

and it's not really working good.

alot of the times my swaps dont reset after the a special move / weapon skill so i'm stuck without double attack and -dt.

what are you guys using atm and do you also have issues with this one?

I tried this one but it is complicated for me and I have the same issues, gear not swapping back

https://github.com/Kinematics/GearSwap-Jobs/blob/master/PUP.lua

I've been looking through these trying to figure out whats going on with mine too lol.
50% of the time it does swap to puppet ws gear but then I get stuck in it until my next master action.
Still can't get the enmity swaps to work ):

is it dynamis lag? those are some small time frames , good luck.

I am trying to get pet tank gears. Got the HP set from abjuration which is easy. I am having a terrible time to get Magic Evasion for Taeon set - more than a stack (99) of snoworb+1, and I only got magic evasion once and it's only 8. That's seriously screwed up. DT -4 and Regen 3 were done for all 5 pieces with less than a stack of +1 stones.

Why it is so hard to land magic evasion augment? :(

This may sound odd, but I found that if I go through 15-20 stones and I don't see a single augment for the one I'm going after, I leave and come back another day. I have nothing but anecdotal evidence for this, but there has got to be some kind of pattern where one augment type is the "preferred" for whatever reason during that trading session.

A few questions:

1) Howling Fist. I have a R15 Kenkonken, so generally I use Stringing Pummel and don't really feel the need to obsess over ideal HF Herculean augments that I wouldn't use for anything else. But when I do use HF (like in Dyna where I'm currently working on leveling up a now R18 Xiucoatl C, so don't have the luxury of KKK's SP damage+), what are the best non-Herc options? I do have strong WSD Herc helm/feet (without relevant attribute stats) in my current set that might still be better than alternatives.

I have access to all relevant non-Herc gear (Abj+1, Su3+1, all JSE gear, etc.), though I wouldn't be super excited to R15 a Unity piece just for HF purposes.

My current quickly thrown together set, please suggest any (non-Herculean) improvements :)
ItemSet 374689
Herculean Helm: WSD+9% Acc+14 Atk+15 (and Macc/MAB+20)
Herculean Boots: WSD+7% MND+6 Acc+6 Atk+6 (and Macc/MAB+11)

2) Any suggestions for a good "hybrid" master TP/pet tanking set? I want my turtle automaton to not take huge damage, but I also don't want to totally turtle up and have no DPS gear. I'm thinking stuff that's dangerous enough that going 'master only' TP gear would result in puppet HP struggles (or constant reliance on repair), or puppet losing hate way too fast due to taking a ton of damage.

3) Su4/5 weapon (C path) - does "Automaton: Special attack damage + x%" apply to anything other than pet weapon skills? i.e., does it affect pet ranged attacks (which I think have always been some sort of "JA" and not a typical ranged attack)? Barrage? Nukes?

What do you consider your "Turtle" Tank? It matters what Auto/Head/Attachments/Maneuvers you put up, because one setup might need 35+DT and one setup may only need 12 DT.

AP3+4, OF1+2, 1 Light maneuver with Valoredge body, you only need 13.5 PDT to cap. I'll build a quick set I would use for that

Actually looking at it, Just make a DD cape with Pet: PDT 10, and swap in Ambu legs and your good.

Thanks. Another stack gone and, well no 25 magic evasion, not a single one.

I will do just 20 stones at a time at most and see. This is rather frustrating. After certain number of stones, can't SE just let us pick?

Yeah, that's my assumption of "turtle" tank setup. Was more looking to see if anyone has actually min/maxed best swaps from pure master-focused gear to a set that continues to keep very strong (near max) pet DT. It's also a consideration that it's harder to maintain enmity when you aren't swapping for voke/flash (or when, say, the automaton takes some extra damage when it gets hit while you're in WS gear), so wondering if anyone is mixing in Heyoka gear as TP gear to help maintain pet hate as well.

My default master-focused TP set (AM3 up), for reference:
ItemSet 374691
(Herc Gloves have QA+3/Acc+16/Atk+31, I'd toss on Malignance Gloves if I had em)

I was leaning more toward swapping in some of the Rao+1 C gear, since it has strong pet defensive stats but also pretty solid base master stats. Maybe some like Rao +1 C legs... and then, IDK what's next best swap, maybe body and feet are best, but in my case might go hands since I don't have Malignance there (I like keeping that nice master STP/DT-/Meva from Malignance where I can). Could also toss something like a Heyoka +1 body and/or legs in there, keep some pet enmity in the set (and master crit doesn't hurt). Just not sure what's optimal, DPS wise.

It doesn't feel to me like Tali'ah +2 legs are the best call, since they have no big master benefit besides Acc (I'd rather have some STP, the high Meva/DT of Malignance, Crit, even multiattack). And IDK that I'm super excited about having YET ANOTHER inv-1 from a new Visucius's Mantle for master TP but with pet PDT- or DT-. Just wondering what other people might have used effectively.

If you have it, the JSE neck +1/+2 is typically BiS if you are getting enough Attack buffs to cap out PDL, which isn't too hard thanks to HF's natural bonus.

Then: Brutal Earring instead of Ishvara, Gere Ring instead of Regal, Tali'ah body +2, Moonbow +1, DA on cape.

Multiattack does amazing things with HF and is typically always worth stacking over other stats, although WSD is still a decent substitute if you don't have TA Herc.


ItemSet 374699

This set with Pet: PDT on the cape will cap maton PDT with double AP and a Light maneuver--which are imo necessary as you don't want your maton to lose all its DT whenever you swap gear to WS. It also gives a good amount of maton acc, capped Pet: Haste (if you add some on the cape) and some Pet: Enmity. If you are going to melee alongside your maton you might as well make use of Kenkonken's AM3 to let it deal some damage to keep hate. Heyoka + Malignance also provide a good safety net via high MEVA and DT. You can use nothing but Malignance if you don't care about maton damage, however.

Handler's Earring provides Acc for both you and the maton once augmented.

Rings and Telos are up to personal preference. I just went with Dring and C. Palug for showcasing purposes in case you are fighting something with dangerous AoE. But there's nothing wrong with using Gere+Niqmaddu instead if you want more multiattack to DD faster, although it'll make it harder for your maton to keep hate. Alternatively you could use two Varar Rings +1 to provide bonuses for both you and your maton, if Acc is an issue.


Yes, it affects WSs, Ranged Attacks, Shield Bash and Barrage. It does not affect nukes, but the Pet: MACC on Xiucoatl is still very valuable.


Is there a particular reason you're trying for Pet: MEVA on Taeon? If it's just because of String Theory I would advise against it and try to make Pet: Accuracy/Double Attack/Damage Taken Taeon instead for Bruiser maton tanking purposes. The guide hasn't been updated in a long time and I would kinda consider it deprecated with regard to gear sets as there's been a lot of gearing discussion since then.

Pet: MEVA is certainly not bad, but such a Taeon tank is essentially just for turtle tanking anyway, which you can use Rao +1 for. MEVA does provide some safety against nukes and status effects, but when it comes down to it that rarely makes a difference for the maton. DT- gear, Steam Jacket and Mana Jammers typically provide enough survivability against pretty much any kind of nuking, especially if you are wearing Rao +1 and the maton has crazy amounts of HP. Even a Chainspell is typically no problem or easily fixed via Repair.

And as far as status effects go there's really only Doom, Curse, HP Down, Amnesia, Petrify, massive Poison and rarely Gravity to worry about. Doom, Curse and HP Down are generally so accurate that your maton will never resist them even with MEVA (the latter two can be removed via Repair with the AF boots). Amnesia seems to naturally wear off pretty quickly on matons even without MEVA. Petrify, Poison and Gravity are typically a non-issue if you bring enough oils to alternate AF boots Repair and Maintenance.

All other status effects have pretty much zero effect on maton tanking anyway. For example, Paralysis does nothing but stop its melee attacks (which are negligible when turtling anyway), but will never stop a Provoke or Flash. On the other hand, the HP+ on Rao+1 will reduce the amount of Enmity your maton loses with each hit and generally provides more safety against all kinds of incoming heavy damage such as Hundred Fists+Enspells.

I've personally never tanked anything in this game where I regretted not having MEVA Taeon. But that's just my personal opinion/experience.

Cool, thanks for the suggestions! Guess I'll make those updates to a more MA-heavy set, including Herculean hands (QA+3/Acc+16/Atk+31) and feet (TA+3/DEX+7/Acc+34/Atk+36) and see how that goes.

Do you think capped Samnuha Tights are best call for legs slot?

I haven't made a +1/+2 neck due to its somewhat limited other uses, particularly as I usually use R15 KKK and SP when I'm punching stuff. So, I view JSE neck more as a fairly pricey pet nuke piece that's incrementally better than Adad Amulet (and lol Shijin Spiral neck, but yeah). I also tend not to have full attack buffs in a lot of situations when I'm meleeing (like, in a non-DD party in Dyna with iffy buffs), so the PDL+ benefit is somewhat limited for me personally. But IDK, maybe I'll grab a +1 once I finish upgrading my Xiucoatl. At least will give me something to get points on in Dyna when I'm there on PUP.


I totally agree that MEVA is more of a luxury than a necessity, and any DT- Taeon or Rao+1 pieces work fine to tank.

However... one other somewhat practical consideration that occasionally makes me happier with my DT/Meva/Regen Taeon set is that it has less pet acc. Lower automaton TP gain is usually a plus for me when tanking, since most of the time I don't particularly want the puppet to WS and screw up other people's SCs.

Sometimes it's irrelevant if your group isn't SCing, sometimes TP gain is slow enough anyway that it's a non-issue or easily handled with Tactical Switch, and there are some work-arounds (e.g., using a slot for Speedloader to reduce interruptions). But it's not that infrequent for me that the puppet gets TP quickly enough with Rao (or Acc/DA/DT- Taeon) to be an annoyance that isn't quite so bad with significantly less pet acc on Taeon.

Also comes down in part to how willing you are to deal with the inventory hit of additional Taeon pieces. I have 4/5 DT/Meva/Regen pieces that I usually default to for tanking, and typically for bruiser mode I only use Taeon hands/feet with DT/DA/Acc, pairing them with Pitre Tobe +3 and the (maybe somewhat less than ideal) Tali'ah +2 legs. That's certainly a workable build too.

Hello everyone,

I was wondering how PUP does when not in the tanking role? I'm particularly interested in solo/low man scenarios where the puppetmaster fights with the automaton. How effective is the puppet at tanking while also having the master deal enough damage to clear content solo, or with a trust tank and both are DD?

What kind of content have you cleared solo without the use of Overdrive?

How is your DPS?

Thank you.

Perfect Samnuha Tights and Hizamaru Hizayoroi +2 are basically identical at Acc/Atk cap, but below that Hizamaru is noticeably better according to the spreadsheet. I'm guessing diminishing returns on DA/TA as well as the higher STR/VIT on Hizamaru make all the difference. Incidentally, Hizamaru +2 is also BiS for Stringing Pummel.

Was using an outdated version of the spreadsheet. samnuha always wins unless you're missing Acc.


PUP can do pretty much "anything", but in a more limited capacity than a real player. We can tank, melee DD decently, do single Magic Bursts for capped damage (with buffs/debuffs), curebomb party members and pet burn. You're pretty much just limited by your gear, what your group is comfortable with and your skill at preparing and controlling your maton.

As far as clearing content DD style with Trusts, PUP can largely do whatever other melee jobs (WAR, DRG, SAM, DRK, MNK, DNC, melee COR, THF, PLD, NIN, RUN) are typically capable of soloing. Malignance gear and Trust heals generally make you very hard to kill and the maton can fulfill several different roles to suit your needs. However, with both you and the maton feeding TP the mechanics of certain fights can make things troublesome, such as Amnesia spam.

With regard to having your maton tank while you DD: it can work, but you have to play very carefully as it is easy to rip off hate from your pet if your DD gear is really good. You can also Ventriloquy hate back to the maton or just let it build a head start on enmity. In any case, it'll be more reliably than a Trust tank in pretty much all fights, but that's not a high bar.

In any situation you can face tank without needing a tank, you'll want to use your maton for WS spam or to make multistep skillchains to deal massive damage.


Overdrive is pretty much what sets PUP apart from other jobs with regard to soloing difficult content, but I can see why you wouldn't want to rely on it.

With Malignance gear we can solo certain fights such as melee- and Trust-friendly Omen bosses (Gin, Fu, possibly Kin and Kyou) with a good amount of effort, but if you are entirely solo then time is often a limiting factor due to having to clear lower floors. Most things below that difficulty are doable as well, with some exceptions.


With a DD pet I'd put an R15 Kenkonken PUP a step above Naegling COR--perhaps around Naegling or Almace BLU tier when all are getting the same party buffs. Nowhere close to buffed heavy DDs, sadly, but still decently capable. This is mostly due to the fact pets aren't affected by standard DD buffs. If matons got Sam/Chaos/Songs they'd be a wrecking ball.

Nice, thanks again for the HF tips. And yeah, I've been using Hiza+2 for Pummel for a long time. IIRC, our sets are almost the same (I think last time I saw you post yours you had Herc feet and I use Ryuo+1, but otherwise the same).
ItemSet 374713

How do you divide the gear, so the puppet can still tank, but the master still gains TP at a fast enough rate?

Also, do LUAs on gearswap work with Pup?

Well-augmented Herc feet are technically BiS, but after like 4k Fern stones I've yet to see any augments that beat Ryuo +1 by any significant margin as those boots have crazy high Attack on them. So unless you get super lucky Ryuo are realistically BIS for most people.


I posted a sample set for having the maton tank while you DD as the master just a few posts up. Even if you don't have Kenkonken it should be viable.

As for gearswap, it doesn't work that well with Automatons as it can't detect their WS or JA usage early enough for precast swaps. There are some experimental luas posted somewhere in the forum, but I've never used any of them since I just do those swaps manually.