What best for SMN merit?
max physical/magic atk?

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depends on your playstyle really.. most ppl max out phys acc and phys attk, although there's a lot of speculation as to whether that effects bp dmg or just melee, and the results are so random that it's really hard to run a parser and get concrete evdience. I have 3 in each and I notice that my bps usually do significantly more DD on average than other smns w/o any merits.. this could be just my desire to see better results, tho, if it is just melee dmg that's a bonus too because it helps avatars keep hate better when I solo (which is a lot).

Another thing you may want to check out is magic attk as boosting this will increase your nether blast dmg by about 100-200 (i'm sure you already know how much diabolos kicks ass on kirin, genbu, kb and other kited mobs)

and lastly, you can also choose to dump them into spirit perp cost, at 75 with 5merits in -spirt cost, + evoker's ring, smn pgch+1, nashira gages, and the peroper corresponding stave (according to some otehr folks, I've never noticed staves to reduce a spirits perp cost, but then, i barely use them anyway) you can have free spirits which is essentially like have a free blm to cast tier IV spells (including aga) and Am that will never run out of mp and is hate free, DR is currently dumping all his merits into this and claims that the spirits are better DD over lvl 70+ physical bps

so yeh, you have a lot of options open to you.. choose wisely

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You're kidding... right?

i was talking about spirits lol, i editted my text.. also i think perp cost for spirits at 75 is a whopping 13... so even with hq staves that only chops it down to 10.. still not that much of a noticabl;e difference.. I just didn't want to say "elemental staves reduce spirit timers" and then find out that it wasn't true and be the laughing stock of the smn community. To me the -perp (if there is any) is so subtle I don't notice the difference and I've never tested to see if it works because again i very rarely if ever use spirits. situationally: the only time I'll use spirits is to get pro and shell IV, curaga IV if ppl are hurting in an ally, and as a quick way to get away from soemthing that could kirr me in 5 swings

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5 is still the max on Magic atk? or you can put all 10 into it? I am thinking since BP isn't going to make a lot of different maybe I should just boost nether blast to max

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Job ability merits you can put 5 into each... so you can do 2 with 5 upgrades each.

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Eternus Ifrit Server Atariii LS member
75 BRD with a bunch of subjobs

that's what I tho... so is that mean you cant dump all 10 into -cost?

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Yeah as a BRD I can't put all 10 into just Minuet either... and WAR can't do 10 upgrades to Double Attack. So pretty sure its the same for all jobs. Max is 5 upgrades in one slot.

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Eternus Ifrit Server Atariii LS member
75 BRD with a bunch of subjobs

I don't play anymore but mayeb by 10 merits she means 10 merit poitns, and not 10 upgrades? like if the cost was 1 -3- 6 that'd be 3 levels of - perp cost and 10 merits spents?

In any event it could be a terminology difference causing the confusion... or Jimbean could jsut be full shit. Its not the first time I'm sure.

you're joking on the Genbu part, right?

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omgz my n00b ls still kites genbu instead of fightint it t2t, we're still better than quetzal tho

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Personally I got lv5 avatar phy. att and lv 2 phy. acc.
But it seems to me that phy. acc is not that significant. If you are soloing EM to T mob, you will not miss even you do not wear AF1 pants and AF2 gloves. If you are fighting HNM other than 3 HNM dragons, Nether Blast is the way to go. Even you are fighting the 3 dragons, the phy. acc will not be miserable.
Just to share my thought.

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WHM RDM BLM SMN 75
Clothcraft 100.0 All other 60.0
Duelist's Chapeau
Summoner's Doublet
Tamas Ring

only cause you dont have the uber Taru PLD to tank it :p

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Honestly IMO the current smn merits are sucky and I don't even bother with them, put merits into a different job melo lol. Or save up for the new upgrades coming out in ToA

the melee attack and accuracy doesn't apply to bloodpacts so unless you solo alot with carby, you really won't notice it much.

The avatar magic boost is decent now though with nether blast, and the soon to be added magic based prime attacks. So if anything merit that.

As far as phisical goes, nothing at all will effect phisical bloodpacts, no gear, no merits, no nothing, although you can't prove this, avatar phisical BP damage is so completely random anyways, why would you even care? garuda can do 30-3000 with P-claws, lol definitly go with the magic boost merits, for stable damage on gods.

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No sig because 3 sigs in a row people make me change my sig and I refuse to have a pony sig!

madi we should test our BPs

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And figure how totally random dmg are? :P


If you want to test, try weak monster in newb area. Damage should be relatively stable, and I think bonus dmg are added after the soft cap, meaning there should be a difference.

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Main: War75/Sam63/Blm71/Rng45
Sub: Nin37/Thf37/Whm37/Mnk30
Three nation: Done Zilart: Done CoP: Done

shhh really I just wanted to get Madi alone in a pt ~.^

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That's creepy

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Main: War75/Sam63/Blm71/Rng45
Sub: Nin37/Thf37/Whm37/Mnk30
Three nation: Done Zilart: Done CoP: Done

you know your fucked when more straight guys think your cute than gay ones

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No sig because 3 sigs in a row people make me change my sig and I refuse to have a pony sig!

What kind of straigth guy call another guy cute?

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Main: War75/Sam63/Blm71/Rng45
Sub: Nin37/Thf37/Whm37/Mnk30
Three nation: Done Zilart: Done CoP: Done

Eh well i'd like to think that a good amount of straight guys in this age are comfortable enough with themselves to appreciate other guy's beauty,lol. Like I can tell when a girl is hot, and can appreciate that, I just don't want to have sex with her. lol

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No sig because 3 sigs in a row people make me change my sig and I refuse to have a pony sig!

not trying to derail this but Madison, the dragon in your sig's tongue is creepin me out.

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oh thats not its tongue lol, i dont even know what that is lol

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No sig because 3 sigs in a row people make me change my sig and I refuse to have a pony sig!

it's his dragon's Hydro Pump >.>

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looks like a veiny blue cock lol

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75WHM / 37SMN / 61BLM / 37RDM / 70BRD / 75NIN / 75RNG / 56THF / 37WAR / 37DRG http://www.myspace.com/dan_wyld