Assailant's Ring?

[nanatsu]

I'm getting gear together to level mnk for a little while and I need some advice. I can't decide whether or not I need to keep my Assailant's Ring or not for when I hit 42. I've got some other options. basically I can't decide between Puissiant's Ring, Sniper's Ring, or Assailant's. I was thinking of going for a build that will allow me to eat meat instead of sushi but it's turning out more balanced than that. Right now I'm working on my own Ochidos Kote and am close to getting it. Here's the setup I hope to have when I start mnk again at 41:

Emperor's Hairpin
Spike Necklace
Beetle Earring +1 x2
Sniper's Ring OR Puissiance Ring OR Assailant's Ring
Puissiance Ring
Brown Belt/Tilt belt
Jujitsu Gi
Ochido's Kote
Republic Subligar
Federation Kyahan/Savage Gaiters
Nomad's Mantle
Mythril Knuckles +1

Is this setup alright for level 41? I can't decide between Sniper's(+5 acc) or Puissiance(+3 str), or Assailants(+5 atk). Or if I'm going to focus on eating meat should I just get 2 Sniper's? Most mnks say to just boost your str to death so I dunno. My initial thought was to get one Sniper and one Puissiance. I thought that would be enough accuracy with Tilt belt, Jujitsu Gi and the +3 acc from Mythril Knuckles +1, but I wanted to hear your thoughts first about my gear choices. I want to make sure I do this right. Thanks.

[Aeolus]

Imo keep 2 snipers for TP gain or if you only have one sniper do that + a puissiance ring. Macro in 2 puissiance rings or again if you only have 1 sniper switch that for a puissiance ring for the weapon skills, especially seens as Raging Fists dmg is solely based on Str. The +5atk doesnt seem too usefull to me over 5+Acc. You could keep the Assailiants and eat breem sushi for Acc. But seens as you wanna eat meat Id keep the Acc from the snipers rings.

[Tirrock]

If you're going for meat, snipers. If you want to/need to eat sushi, then I'd take +5 attack over +3 STR. Assuming you don't need a snipers on while using the sushi that is. (Stupid overcamping...)

As for the rest of your gear, I'd probably wear the windurstian headpiece that gives +1STR/DEX over the hairpin. Or just wait until level 50 and buy a crow (raven) beret. The amount of -enmity it gives is massive.

[Minaku]

especially seens as Raging Fists dmg is solely based on Str.
Actually far more important for Raging Fists is actually landing all 5 hits, in which case accuracy is the most important stat for it. I would highly recommend the snipers over either of the other rings. STR rings really do very, very little for your DoT, and unless you are hitting at a very high rate already, +5 acc is going to do more for you than +5 attack.

[AngryUndead]

Ok...

Scorp Harness (+10 ACC)
2x Sun Rings (+6 STR)
Life Belt (+10 ACC)
Merc. Capt. Headgear (+1 STR)
Aikido Koshita
O. Kote (+20 ATTK)
2x Spike Earings (+10 ATTK)
Spike Necklace (+3 STR)
Spartan Cesti (+2 ACC)

+30 ATTK, +22 ACC, +10 STR, among other things...

I would like to get a Woodsman's and an Assailant's ring. I'm also looking forward to Chivalrous Chain. If I did that...

+35 ATTK, +27ACC, +7 STR. I'm sure that would be better. I'm just not looking forward to blowing all my money on the Woodsman's. Thats also a pretty low STR, and I'm worried about that too. Add the Chivalrous Chain and I'd be at +32ACC. I feel pretty good about my ACC at 22 but +32ACC would be even better.

I just wanted to be sure that Assailant's is certain the way to go. From what you guys said, it looks like it is.

Of course I cary Meat and Sushi with me for any odd situation that might come up. Though I've been eating sushi for ages. Anyone got a tip on the best meat-dish for high 200's base attack? Like... 280ish.

[nanatsu]

Actually far more important for Raging Fists is actually landing all 5 hits, in which case accuracy is the most important stat for it. I would highly recommend the snipers over either of the other rings. STR rings really do very, very little for your DoT, and unless you are hitting at a very high rate already, +5 acc is going to do more for you than +5 attack.

So what is the str good for? I know it's a ws modifier and I hear a lot of mnks talk about str but with what you say it seems as though I should drop str altogether and go for acc/atk. I was under the impression that str played a major role in mnk's damage.

[Aeolus]

Actually far more important for Raging Fists is actually landing all 5 hits, in which case accuracy is the most important stat for it. I would highly recommend the snipers over either of the other rings. STR rings really do very, very little for your DoT, and unless you are hitting at a very high rate already, +5 acc is going to do more for you than +5 attack.

I used to eat bream sushi and use snipers to gain TP then switch to Str+ for ws's. Only ever used brown belt so I didnt have +10 from the Life Belt either. This strategy worked very well for me. I only made it to 54 before I quit that char for other reasons tho. Would this be dif in the higher lvs of mnk?

[Minaku]

STR increases the cap of your damage, moving the range of possible values up the curve. Attack makes you hit more often at the high end of your possible values.

I parsed a lot through the 60's and early 70's, and found STR to really play a very small role in overall damage compared to attack and accuracy. The best time to STR load is at 75 in KRT when the mobs are VT so you need less acc, and your attack is near cap with meat, berserk, and minuets.

[Dryhus]

Raging Fists has a STR_20% modifier. This means that if you add 10 STR to your build (which is a lot at any level), it's comparable to increasing the base damage of your weapon by 2. Of course, this is in addition to the additional, less-pronounced effects it has on fSTR and PDIF.

Secondary modifiers always pale in comparison to things like Acc and Atk. When you've done whatever you can for Acc and Atk, then you should boost STR even if the modifiers are DEX and VIT.

[AngryUndead]

Time to make a purchase!

[Tirrock]

I'd probably buy one, but I stick to sniper+rajas. :x

[AngryUndead]

If I had Rajas I would wear it as often as I could.

I havn't won a singly Promy... *cry, cry cry*

[Aeolus]

Does rajas ring give the same amount of str as the best HQ ring for that lv range would? Like would it give +4 after 54 untill 72 where u can get +5? If you dont get +4 at 54 you could still sub in a Victory ring for ws's seens as rajas is too good to loose the rest of the time.

[Tirrock]

Rajas' STR/DEX gets increased every 15 levels, so there are levels where there's better stuff for STR or DEX.
30 = Rajas: 2 STR, 2 DEX, +5 subtle blow, +5 store TP
36 = +3 STR or +3 DEX rings available
45 = Rajas: 3 STR, 3 DEX, +5 subtle blow, +5 store TP
54 = +4 STR or +4 DEX rings available
60 = Rajas: 4 STR, 4 DEX, +5 subtle blow, +5 store TP
72 = +5 STR or +5 DEX rings available
74 = +5(6) STR or +5(6) DEX rings avialable (do those elemental rings even have a HQ?)
75 = Rajas: 5 STR, 5 DEX, +5 subtle blow, +5 store TP

I personally got rajas because store TP is a very unique trait for non SAMs, even though my main is SMN. I use rajas because I feel it helps my overall damage better than +5 attack could in it's place.

[Armando]

STR increases the cap of your damage, moving the range of possible values up the curve. Attack makes you hit more often at the high end of your possible values.Quick correction: damage is spread out evenly within the range of possible damage values. Attack has nothing to do with how the damage spreads out.

[Tirrock]

If you load up on STR as a MNK and no attack, you'll hit for very very poor damage sometimes, and very nice damage sometimes. If you wear more ATK than STR, your damage will be noticably better.

Minaku's comment fits in with my MNK experiences.

I loaded up on STR because everybody was like "STR is more important than ATK". I hit for like 10 to 45 a punch in the 50's... I noticed with berserk on, my damage was a lot more consistant. So I switched my gear around to add more attack, and my damage stopped being so "wild".

[Aeolus]

I didnt mean Str was more important. In all my posts Im pretty sure I said and if I didnt I ment subbing in Str for ws's (best to be eating breem sushi or better acc+ food for this) and using Acc when not ws's. Its not that if you load up on str your normal attacks will be crap its just you wont hit very often without acc+ so its not a good idea. Mnk base attacks without +Atk or Str+ are still pretty strong.

[Armando]

Damage dealt is (D + fSTR) * PDIF. PDIF has tiers, though. Remember that PDIF is technically a range of values determined by your ATK/DEF ratio. If you have low Attack, then your PDIF will fall to tier 2 (http://www5.sppd.ne.jp/grendal/FF11/pdif.gif), which isn't very cool.

[nanatsu]

Um, about the Sniper's Ring. I've been talking to people and they say I don't need Sniper's ring cause I'm mithra. What are you guys thoughts on this? It would be a lot easier to get what I need if I didn't have to worry about it. Are monks really hurting for accuracy to need it?

[Aeolus]

Well your base Dex is high but I doubt its going to make a considerable dif over other races as Mnk. You should try eating Acc+ foods if your not going to wear snipers, its not unheard off but they do help alot. If you still find yourself not hitting alot maybe you should try a life belt if u dont want to shell out the cash for snipers. I still wore them as mithra cause even with acc+ foods I still found myself sometimes missing monsters as Thf and u kno what mithra thf dex is like(That was without the snipers:experimented :wasted: ).

[arkaine23]

I went with and still do at lvl 70 now with 1 snipers and one str ring. There are occisaional times when I adjust this to 2 str rings (brd in pt usually). At level 41, I'd still hesitate to use sushi. Rice dumplings would still give a good atk boost as well as +5 acc. Closer to 50 is when the sushi'd come out, or anytime you'd favor a brown belt over a life belt.

I think at that level I had:

Emperor's Hairpin/Voyager Sallet
Spike Necklace
Beetle Earring +1 x2
Sniper's Ring & Puissance Ring +1 (Rajas now :) )
Brown Belt
Jujitsu Gi
Battle Gloves ; ; (still no kote for me cept when I can borrow one)
Republic Subligar
Fuma Kyahan
Nomad's Mantle
Some vareity of patas with high base dmg or maybe it was still mithral knucks

[nanatsu]

I wish I could get a Sallet :T I don't think I'm far enough in CoP

Double Post Edited:
Well your base Dex is high but I doubt its going to make a considerable dif over other races as Mnk. You should try eating Acc+ foods if your not going to wear snipers, its not unheard off but they do help alot. If you still find yourself not hitting alot maybe you should try a life belt if u dont want to shell out the cash for snipers. I still wore them as mithra cause even with acc+ foods I still found myself sometimes missing monsters as Thf and u kno what mithra thf dex is like(That was without the snipers:experimented :wasted: ).

Well, quite honestly, I think missing is natural. I never expect to hit even 95% of the time. That's unreasonable x_x as long as I can get 100% TP reliably and my ws can hit hard, I'm happy and fine. I noticed my misses as mnk adn they weren't that often. I still kept up TP with sushi eaters and I hit harder which leads me to believe that up to this point, sushi isn't all it's cracked up to be from 1-40 at least.

[Tirrock]

I don't like sushi from 1-40 except on THF. I only say THF because they have a fairly hard time landing acid bolts consistantly without sushi. I think rice dumplings are the best bet. 5 acc, +% attack (caps at +45 attack), +STR, and costs less than sole sushi on my server.

I try to match whoever I'm supposed to skillchain with in TP, personally. I tend to get still get more TP, but that's due to double attack + kick attacks. (And brown belt if I'm using sushi.)