Marduk's For Brd

I have been trying to find information about Marduk's set vs sha'ir manteel for bard and cant find zip only comparisions between both body pieces.. What about the whole set?. For all you brds out there would you use sha'ir manteel + few pieces of marduk's or the whole marduk's set?

I'd macro them out. Precast in Sha'ir Manteel, buff in Marduk's Head (legs if no AF+1), and debuff in Head/Body/Legs. Feets are nice for String stuff if you use that. Also use the set to precast in for non-songs.

I've actually been wondering this same thing lately, so I would welcome more opinions.

Edited to remove incorrect information.

only thing you lose on swapping out fastcast equip is recast reduction, youll still get the spell casting time reduction.

Ah you're entirely correct. I'm going to blame my mistake on being distracted by the new synergy update info >.>

I think I was thinking about recast time, which only really matters for lullaby & finale anyways, and you wouldn't be ending a song with any haste other than from Marduk's anyways. I'll go edit that post now so it doesn't trip anyone else up. Thanks for catching that Blurr.

Yeah, you'd have the fastcast equipped for the first few parts of the beginning of the cast, and potency in the middle. If you're on xbox or don't have Windower, potency is still more important unless you're singing for multiple parties, or I guess meritting. In that case you could fastcast/songcasting- on things like Minuet and Ballad where potency doesn't matter. March tiers and Madrigal acc+ bonuses are pretty nice.

Edit: NVM I guess.

Except that's not how it's done. Start in all of your Fast Cast gear to get the cast time down, then swap to your +stat/skill gear before the song is complete. You only want Fast Cast gear on when the song completes *if* you want it to recharge faster. Otherwise, it only needs to be on *before* you start singing.

Wiki says full set is 5% from body and an additional 10% for the full set or 15% from 5 slots. Shi'aar Manteel (12%) + Rostrum Pumps (2%) = 14% on just 2 slots with an extra 1% if you have Sheikh Manteel. New gear is added all the time (see Ebur/Ebon/Furia Tam, Selenian Cap, etc.)

or 15 from set and loq earring for 17

*Nods.* I start casting with Loq on and switch out to Cass/Helen for atk/acc on spells a couple seconds into the cast. Faster cast, no reduction on recast, but you get the acc/atk from ending in Cass/Helen.

FFXIclopedia has the wrong Fast Cast values (15% total) for Marduk's Jubbah/Set, I've tested it and the numbers match the values listed on BG Wiki (9% total).

Wiki has it listed as 10%/5%Recast I think?

"Total Set Bonus: Casting time -10%, recast -5%"

This is the total bonus from wearing the full set, the body fast cast+ is already included. So slot-per-slot, you can do better in the fast cast dept. with Manteel's 12% or even Yigit's 10% thereby freeing all other slots for skill+ or macc+ adjustments.

FFXIclopedia lists Marduk's Jubbah as 5%/2.5% and the Marduk's Set Bonus as 10%/5%, suggesting 15%/7.5% total, which isn't the case.

EDIT: For comparison, they list the Usukane Set Bonus as 5% Haste.

i never saw much use for the whole marduk set for brd (or amybe even any job)

*Marduk head is very nice for Buffs
*Marduk Body is cool for Debuffs, but there is so much stuff out there which is close to it
*Marduk Hands well... seems totally useless for me beside the fact that they have 6 MND to cast SS^^ AF1+1 is what you use on Buffs and Debuffs (and if you are useing Ring the regen might piss you off^^ to eqip hp down gear every few min lol)
*Marduk Legs are awsome for debuffs, and 2nd best for buffs (again af1+1 shines)
*Marduk Feet... well Stringed skill! I like Stringed skill, but Af2 give +3 so 2 less then this. beside that it gives 10MND, wich is toped by Suzaku's shoes (+15) For Buffs you want to use Oracle, for Debuffs Goliard/Shadows.

Set effect also dont shine through as others already pointed out.

There is so much better stuff out the to combine then a whole Marduk Set. There is better Combinations for debuffs, buffs and song casting speed.
While Marduk Set gives Fast Cast and other body are only songcast so Marduk will affect any other Magic aswell (like Whitemagic or Ninjitsu)
But even then ACP body with Fastcast/Macc is nice for brd aswell instat of a marduk body^^

to answer OP, i wouldn't even own sha'ir manteel til i had fully upgraded everything else. big ticket items might be musical earring, singing earring, loq earring, hq staves, +1 hands and legs, et al.

of note, i can't afford and will probably never own marduk's jubbah. but if i had the money and means, i would strive for it. building around it so that it can be equipped full-time, imho, would be key to improving a bard's performance to the max. also, i could trade-in my redingote for a wardecors for nin.

i think if a guy had full marduk's and full merits (8/8 singing and 8/8 wind) he should full time marduk's set at all times for most EG situations. the exceptions would be high resist situations (hnm, gods, etc) where he would then use his gear swaps. that is, choral cuffs+1, and goliard shoes come in while keeping the rest of marduk's on. and for stoneskin, he might change head, leg, and feet (suzaku sune ate) gear.

marduk's tiara, legs, and body are all very good for resist builds. bard's roundlet (+1 or not) is about the same as the tiara. a royal redingote w/ macc+4 is ever so slightly better than marduk's jubbah. nothing touches the shalwar which are absolutely sick for resist builds.

full marduk's is 10% fast cast which isn't quite your 14% (sha'ir + rostrum), but 4% is difficult to notice imho. the advantage of constant refresh and regen needs to be considered. we also need to consider that song casting -12 doesn't affect recast like fast cast +10 does. i think these considerations outweigh 2% song casting time and 2% fast cast. of course, you could still precast in sha'ir and rostrums for the best of both worlds. 9 times outof 10, though, i'd rather have two more inventory slots. but if you want the absolute best, by all means, swap. you might lose a tic of refresh (big maybe), but it's not that big of a deal.

of note, for merit parties fast cast helps with utsusemi whereas sha'ir manteel's casting time-12 doesn't do anything for it.

hope that helps.

~G

Thankyou guys for your insight ^^ All that swapping mid song will prove very difficult as my wife does not use windower/spellcast. However you have all been a great help.I know that my wife will be happy when she gets her marduk's body tonight.

Neo

BRD 1 WHM 37 SMN 1 :P

Well hey there Ninian

Hey there Bardly buddy~ :3

marduk head is a must have (i hope evolith doesn't make anything close to as good).

marduk leg + astitute cape is singing+5 wind+5 chr+10 > af+1 leg + jester cape+1 wind+8 chr+10. stay with af+1 if no cape.

marduk body is not cost effective by any means.

i full time goliard on all available jobs because inv space > swap difference.

HQ staves comes before any marduk.

minstrel ring w/ force latent is also worth more then any marduk piece if you have the force latent gear. not being taru helps because of HP...having 600 hp as a brd is scary on most events especualy as /whm on back up sleep duty. if i remember correctly elvaan brd w/ minstrel active has more HP at level 56 then my hp merited taru.

Okay... soo...

Marduk head is a great piece to buff and debuff in. AFv2+1 head is better for debuffing, but really who cares about AFv2+1. xD

Marduk legs are for debuffs, and buffs if you don't have AF+1. Marduk legs ARE NOT BETTER than AF+1 for buffing, idk what this guy is talking about. Astute Cape is better for both for the most part unless you don't have enough CHR to land your songs, shouldn't happen really.

Also I hope to god you're trolling on the full-timing Goliard.

Just get pieces that are better than any other in the slot.

Feet / Legs (for buffing) / Hands are all worse then other easily obtainable items. Body is good for CHR+2 over Errant/Osode/AF+1 but is millions worth CHR+2? Head beats out Demon+1 and probably AF2.

As for the full set.. I'm sure mixing will be much better overall.

But if you have the full set.. I doubt anyone is going to critique unless trying for some HNM bs..

At best AF2+1 is 11 M.Acc and Marduk's Tiara is 10 M.Acc (dCHR < 10), at worst AF2+1 is 8 M.Acc and Marduk's Tiara is 8.5 M.Acc (dCHR > 10). The difference wouldn't even be noticeable in an extended parse, personally I don't think it's worth the extra inventory space.

As far as Jester's Cape +1 vs Astute Cape, Jester's Cape +1 ranges from 5 M.Acc (dCHR < 10) to 10 M.Acc (dCHR > 10) where Astute Cape is a static 5 M.Acc in any situation.

Additionally, every song except for Victory March has a potency cap that is easily reachable without the 3 Wind Skill that AF+1 Legs have over Marduk Legs. If AF+1 Legs aren't breaking a March tier then there's not much point carrying them around.