You'll Shoot Your Eye Out! - New FFXI RNG Guide

The +3 legs balance out great with the Cohort Cloak +1 (R15)
I've been playing around with it in this months Ambuscade. Pretty great results even with no buffs.

100% AGI Thunder WS <<Yes Please>> That would be super cool!
Honestly, been messing around with Refulgent Arrow using Gandiva(R15) since you get that extra 20 STR modifier + good white dmg while in TP phase. The 60% STR modifier is not bad at all, and the fTP scale is the highest for Archery WS (7.0 @ 3000TP)

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ENi6kHepJ8Znft679
Some Refulgent Arrow spams done at 3000TP
Very consistent numbers all around.

Fail Not (R15)
31291
31248
31888
32137
32469

Gandiva (R15)
31698
31301
29997
28264
29840

Yoichinoyumi (R15)
31494
30384
30820
30820
31177

Tbh this is quite a bad damage for 3000TP WS.
I understand its with trusts, but its also against target with +25% piercing damage. I understand the logic of building 3000TP because your shoots do a lot of damage and WS scale with TP (same concept with Ukonvasara WAR to hold TP, because you do tons of melee damage and WS scale damage with TP too), but that seems way too low for 3000TP WS. Not sure if that lack of ratt or bad ws set, or just ws is bad. Just cant imagine how is that better even against spaming Namas arrow (Namas arrow with R15 Yoichi is equivalent to like 4.62 fTP) or spamming Jishnu, not to even mention skillchain damage or guns.

What does a midshot-crit set look like? I have 4/5 Adhemar, but that's not ideal. What's current?

Also, is Oneiros Knife (boosts crit damage by 10%) still relevant in the offhand?

hello

was thinking since rng got Unlimited Shot
maybe there is a way to use it with Hauksbok Bolt/arrow/bullet

every 2:30 - 3 min depends on merit

wont be bad?

need to edit the lua to something like this
if buff unlimited shot on then equip ammo Hauksbok bolt/arrow/bullet
depending on the weapon used,

what do you think guys? or its not worth time wasting?

Unlimited shot is never worth using. Maybe if you're meleeing you can use it to boost like Arching Arrow for a light opener for savage blade or something. That would probably just slow you down and end up being a net loss anyway

It has timer shared with double shot. Case closed.

Archery is jacked. Anyone who honestly experiments with both a top-tier bow and a top-tier gun in what "should" be a perfect buffing environment and perfect fight has sadly figured that out.

The only solutions I see are either to make archery a true white damage monster to compete with the potency of Marksmanship Weaponskills in combined damage, or a complete re-tooling of WSs/addition of new ones that can compete with the existing Marksmanship options.

The problem with increasing their white damage capabilities is that guns like Annihilator and Armageddon already are capable of producing great white damage while shooting with AM up along with potent WSs...and they even have great hate management tools through their related WSs on top of that.



My crit sets vary based on the weapon I use. If I'm using Annihilator, I know the AM of "ranged attack+10%" will mostly be overkill in a full buff situation, so I mix in some Malignance gear for the +PDL. I can sacrifice ranged attack on the gear itself.

Some key crit rate pieces: Oshosi Leggings/+1(feet), Nisroch Jerkin, Mummu Hands+2(paired with Mummu Ring for extra AGI/DEX along with more crit rate), Kwahu Kachina Belt+1, Begrudging Ring.

Crit damage pieces aren't as easy to fit in (like Theroid Greaves- I find Oshosi+1 outperforms them with AM from Anni,Arma, or Gandiva up). Darraigner's Brais might be workable in many situations. Meghanada Visor+2's Dead Aim+12 can be viable even over the sacred Relic+3 beret in those sets if focusing on white damage and not as concerned about xShot builds.

What about something like this for Archery, add a new JA:

Ability: Double Nock
Description: When using a bow, occasionally uses two arrows to deal double damage
Duration: 1:30
Recast: 3:00 (i.e., can use it whenever Double Shot is down, effectively allowing fulltime Double Shot for Bow)
Notes: affected by Double Shot effect/damage gear and Job Points.

Could tweak this a bit, for instance:
- Instead of double shot equivalent, could make it a bow-exclusive triple shot? (and when it's down, you can still use Double Shot)
- Could set timers to allow it to be used full time (which would also free up your shared Double Shot/Unlimited Shot timer to allow bow RNG to actually use Unlimited Shot)
- Could make it affect WS, a perk that Double Shot doesn't get
- Maybe add an innate enmity- effect (including on WS?), to help manage the increased enmity concerns from more frequent WS
- Could mess with timers even further, if you want to account for 5/5 Double Shot merits reducing recast for that JA by 30 sec

Doesn't change archery WS themselves, but does increase overall WS damage by adding more frequent WS, and potentially allowing for some use of Unlimited Shot (which isn't ever worth it on Marksmanship). It also doesn't intrude on Mythic's niche, since ranged Mythic are Occasionally deals double/triple damage instead of OAx like melee mythics (not that S-E seems to be too bothered by adding OAx equivalents to melee mythics, with stuff like Path B Divergence weapons with FUA, Blurred +1 weapons, etc.)


And/or, how bout increasing bow white damage through something like:
Ability: Bow Sights
Description: Ranged Critical hit rate +20% and Ranged Critical hit damage +20% when using bows.
Duration: 3:00
Recast: 3:00
Notes: Does not affect Archery WS (i.e., it's purely a white damage increase for bows)


FWIW, it's not that hard to get a WS + 2 shot build anyway if you have a decent Samurai Roll (even with a TP set sacrificing some STP for crit rate/dmg, double shot, etc.). So, I tend to go Meg+2 head for my Armageddon AM-up set. True, you give up some potential TP overflow, but I'm happy to take that when a WS + a single double shot proc = 1000+ TP. Or if double shot is down and I'm going all-out crit (crit procs on /ra being sort of a mini-WS in and of themselves when you're using an Empy), I don't necessarily mind an extra attack round.

My default empy crit rate set, that I use with AM3 up/Double Shot down, is:
ItemSet 375676
- Cape with AGI/Crit rate
- Mummu body is perfectly fine too if you don't have Nisroch
- Could go for Begrudging Ring too. I just kinda like Ilabrat's mix of STP/AGI (Racc and a little bit of ranged crit rate) over the pure crit rate of Begrudging (and the downsides of gross DT+10%, and enmity+5)

I do love the idea of "Double Nock"- but instead of functioning like a true "double shot", it lands both arrows at the same time, so double damage, but not double TP gain. That could preserve the uniqueness of Doubleshot (let's face it, we can't make bows so good they make non-Trueflight marksmanship worthless! ^^) while giving a leg up to Bows at times.


And your crit set for AM-up is almost identical to mine, I just go begrudging over Ilabrat. Your reasoning behind ilabrat is dead on though.

Would finally give me a reason to make gandiva and fail not if those abilities were added.

I mean, Gandiva isn't horrible. The per-shot white damage beats out either Armageddon or Annihilator when AM procs, it just doesn't have that ace-in-the-hole of a strong Weaponskill, and the damage increase isn't enough to overcome it.

But like all weaponry for us these days, if you don't have the Aeonic ammo for it, you're just gimping yourself in most situations, so the pairing of needing a Fail-Not for your Gandiva is as natural as needing Chrono Bullets for your Annihilator.

Jishnu's Radiance is damn fun, and easily one of the prettiest WS's in the game, but its a Skillchain killer in most cases. Long chains rarely work....its like a CDC for Archery- will chain with itself, and 2 step with several things on the light side, but that's where its gonna end.

And one of the greatest things about Gandiva is you can be a huge asset for a questionable tank, IF the fight/group lets you abuse Decoy Shot. Get AM3 up, pop doubleshot/decoy shot, and just white damage away. Is that enough to build it? Probably not. It does make a great /lockstyle for my RDM using Ullr, though.

Yea planned on making Gandiva/ Fail-Not next on my list. Wasn’t in any rush since most most content that wants rng is usually to be a “true flight ***” and nothing more.


I’m just glad Gandiva isn’t terrible to make like some of the other empy *cough* twashtar.

In theory - Yes
In practice - "Tank: but mah knockback tho!"

I wish they'd let us like... tag an alliance member to use Decoy on upon JA usage, and dump hate onto them. Not that I ever think they'll change it.

(edit: or, just decoy onto my GEO mule or whatever poor non-tank soul happens to be near the mob XD)

That's another Gandiva related annoyance... if you DON'T get to use Decoy, you're pulling hate. Similar to Fomalhaut/Last Stand as a more physical WS leaning option, but at least in that case, guns have the ability to switch over to a good magical WS to cool it on the enmity for a bit (doesn't always work if a mob is strong to magic, but at least situationally it's an option).

Random question but to those who have went rng to this month ambu did y’all ever find yourselves always having hate after reset? For what ever reason I alway get hate even I do nothing. Compare to cor where I never get hate.

A: Refulgent Arrow set:
ItemSet 375679

B: A video with actual standard DD buffs spamming Refulgent Arrow. Cap at ~43k using Fail-Not (R15)


C: "Tbh this is quite a bad damage for 3000TP WS."
Incorrect statement. Yes, it's not better then some other options when buffed, but "quite bad" is understatement.

At 3000TP and in same situation when I was using trusts and hitting 30-32k standard Refulgent Arrows (See above)
rng/war & all shots were fired at appropriate True Shot distance.

Note: Click the photo link to see the dmg output.
Fomalhaut (R15) Last Stand was doing the following:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/sc9TTmMrzsdEDbFr6
Using this set:
ItemSet 364781

Annihilator (R15) Coronach
https://photos.app.goo.gl/rXGvwyYERgdMVi4v5
Using this set:
ItemSet 364822
Note: Perun+1(R15) + shield was used instead

Armageddon (R15)
Wildfire
https://photos.app.goo.gl/3LWLPawH797QTaeRA
Using this set:
ItemSet 364780
Note: Novio was swapped with Moonshade & single Mele+shield was used instead & Arma+ Devastating bullets

Last Stand:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/UpAx6NwyBruPNgBc8

Detonator:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/4J3U2jvse85oND5d9

Yoichinoyumi (R15) Namas Arrow
Using this set:
ItemSet 365435
Note: Chrono Arrows instead. Not the best set but gives you rough idea :)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/LZf5SoX3kBbSggUx8

Gandiva (R15) Jishnu's Radiance
Using this set:
ItemSet 364833
https://photos.app.goo.gl/YemUQKayscCj4yhSA

Gastraphetes (R15) Trueflight
Using this set:
ItemSet 364780
Note: Single Mele + shield instead
https://photos.app.goo.gl/k5CuFFWZH8GEPSSA9

D: In conclusion, Refulgent Arrows is a decent archery WS which has been neglected even with (low buffs/no buffs) situation.
Side Note: We all have our favorite range weapons. I love all mines. Happy pew pew~

didnt swap out perun for Ternion R15 yet for last stand?

While I appreciate the Refulgent Arrow demonstration, I'll wait a while to use Archery/Bows again. The current DPS cap for WSes is 99k and even if fully buffed, Refulgent Arrow caps at 43k, that's just not high enough for me.

Thank you for sharing the sets and the demonstration. I hope SE one day improves upon Archery (without also simultaneously nerfing guns).

More like at 34.5k Its still a target with +25% piercing damage.

Saying the damage is quite bad for 3000TP WS I was already being polite. ~35k 3000TP damage while buffed is really weak.

Also if you want to compare it to guns, you should probably compare it to 3000TP Last Stand with Armageddon (not with 3000TP Wildfire), because that would be an equivalent playstyle for guns.


Are you sure it beats Armageddon? I dont believe it does. At least not from math perspective, so maybe I am missing something. Maybe you assume high positive fSTR2 which would indeed push Gandiva very marginally above Armageddon.

Did you even read?
Scroll up^
Last Stand:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/UpAx6NwyBruPNgBc8
That's with Armageddon (R15) 3000TP
Detonator outshines with Armageddon at 3000TP (there is a picture of that too in case you missed ^it :)

You are missing the point...
In low buff situation Refulgent Arrow is doing fairly well against other ranged weapon skills at 3000tp <---this was the point^ Screen Shots provided^
Getting full buffs was to check how high the dmg can be scaled and we hit the cap at 43k (in this situation) hence the video^

1. will the damage of a perfect scenario Refulgent Arrow at 3k TP be greater than 3 Jishnu's Radiances plus the SCdmg from the first two as they auto-chain? no, JR spam and SCdmg will destroy it.

2. is a 43k cap on a tp-scaling WS under ideal buffs good? no, its slightly below average for a DD at best.

3. Let's not even get talking about popping AM2 on Fomalhaut and spamming Last Stands for constant light without losing AM, or even a 2k TP trueflight with far less buffing. Or 2 1k Coronachs to make a Darkness and the quality white damage during TP'ing for those Coronachs. its not good damage compared to the capabilities of Ranger when you consider it in the realm of damage over time.


With Gandiva with similar buffs (possibly a boost-DEX vs boost-AGI) it is quite easy to hit 20k+ per WS at 1k TP, and the resultant light SC from just two of those 20k JR's along with their damage will be FAR greater than saving TP to 3k for one Refulgent Arrow, and the JR scenario still has one more WS worth of TP to spend. Not to mention better white damage all along the way.

Its just a comparison of what you could do in the same timeframe/TP feed of either a)building to 3k for a 43k Refulgent Arrow or b)firing off 2-3 WSs in the same time, and even possible self-SC dmg to boot. It just won't add up.

Not to mention using Trust buffs to make your point is a horrible way. Nor should a RNG should evaluate themselves against CP mobs, even for testing sets. Get into real content, see how things perform. I'm not implying you don't do real content- I've just never found testing against Apex mobs to mean a damn, and I wish I could count the number of times someone said after a cruddy parse on a HELM or Dyna-D run "but I was doing great in CP!"


Every Ranger wants to be Legolas or Robin Hood. It just ain't in the cards in FFXI under the current system.

I think they’re point (which I agree on) is that your tests are biased. For one, you’re not even attack capped, which is the reason why detonator (which gets a sensible attack boost)pulls ahead of last stand.

Idk some of the ws seem pretty low for some reason that you did

Again 43k would be slightly below avg on neutral target, not with +25% piercing bonus.

Also you havent replied to arma vs gandiva Cele :P I wonder how you get Gandiva ahead on white damage. Because of fSTR2? I think it would be a close call even with high fSTR2, since without it, Arma seems to be few % ahead.

hehe- I was tired and moderately drunk when you posted- this NA guy had to sleep! <3

I will completely admit that my comment of gandiva vs armageddon white damage during AM3 comes from parsing/eyeballing (both, not trying to say the two are equal) the two weapons in Dyna-D Jeuno runs against the wave2 boss, which my current group has done multiple times in either a ranged strat from the bridge above, or a more standard melee setup (we got a lot of good RNGs and CORs, so even though slower, sometimes we wanna stand on the ramparts and rain down hell).

And in that experience (pretty sure the goblin is piercing neutral), within a max buff situation (definitely could skew the dSTAT issue you mention) I see/parse higher numbers from individual/doubleshot damage with bow. Now in addition to being under a bolstered/Soul Voice situation, I'm also probably closer to the sweet spot for Archery from that distance. For information's sake, my Arma is R15, my Gandiva is R12.

I still prefer Armageddon, though. In particular after RP'ing it for that gross amount of AGI, with just a little STR to make it interesting. I find it the most versatile weapon in our arsenal. Not to mention I will always start from a point of assuming the spreadsheets are correct until proven wrong- its just too easy to make assumptions about damage once in game.

The situation I describe is the only time I've tested the white damage between weapons, and only because I never really feel comfortable with either vs just Savage Blading the mofo(correction: THIS mofo- wave2 jeuno boss) into oblivion, but like I said- sometimes its just fun to rain down hell.

edit: I keep forgetting about that piercing bonus in the numbers...who tests ranger on piercing weak mobs?