String Theory: A Puppetmaster's Guide *NEW*

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.

It's also even harder for Herc to beat Ryuo+1 D when you aren't capping attack. Ryuo +1 add ~atk+98 (!!!) over base Herc stats by my /checkparam. That's a combined total from base stats, augment, much higher STR, and set bonus with Ryuo+1 hands.

That's... a whole lot of Atk. Oh yeah, and they also come with other great Stringing Pummel stats in STR+39 (23 more than Herc), and crit rate +4%. That's a really high bar for Herc to clear through TA+2 and augments. Only real downside is lack of acc (though without augs, Herc also aren't that impressive in the acc department either) - and that's something you can generally make up elsewhere.

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.

Are the Master and Hybrid TP sets up to date on the guide? I don't see any Malignance pieces added, but the Su5 weapon is there, so I was a bit confused.

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.

Aerix's quoted sets from the last page (while very helpful), were focused on (1) Howling Fist, and (2) a set capping pet DT- and then focusing on master DPS (with some pet enmity).

That's a bit different than Ermah's question. And to answer that...

Outside of Kenkonken AM3 up where Malignance is more competitive, I wouldn't expect Malignance gear to challenge previous BiS for Master DPS purposes (outside of maybe hands/feet if you don't have solid Herculean augments), unless you wanted a very high acc set.

Nor does Malignance do anything for pets if you mean "hybrid" in the PUP-specific sense of master+puppet both DDing, so you wouldn't really see Malignance in that set (which would instead use stuff like Su3 gear, relic+3 body, or some Tali'ah +2 pieces)

Now, if you mean "hybrid" in the more general FFXI-wide sense of a set that shores up your defensive stats while remaining pretty good for DPS, then yeah, Malignance is great. In fact, Malignance is so good for Meva/DT- that it's a very reasonable suggestion to take the relatively modest DPS hit in exchange for those significant benefits and use it as a more full-time TP set. That's pretty much what I do, using all 4/5 of the Malignance pieces I have as my default Master-only TP gear (especially since I do have KKK so will usually have AM3 up).

Hello, I was wondering what kind of attachments and frame you use to solo Lilith on Normal or Difficult with Overdrive?

Also what gear you feel is required?

Thank you.

What kind of numbers do you guys normally hit with your Arcuballistas with/without buffs?

When dual meleeing or when pet burning? The latter massively benefits Arcu because you can afford to optimize for pet WS damage. If you're meleeing yourself it's not worth swapping gear for the maton and gearswap can't detect it for precast.