INT/MND Cap

[Refugee]

Test Subject: Hume Male 75RDM/BLM

Hello. I'm new here and have some questions and hoped I could get some assistance here on Intelligence and Mind caps.

1. Is there an establisted (or widely accepted) Intelligence & Mind cap with respect to the test subject above? If so, what are those numbers?

2. When this cap has been reached, is there test data to support the relevence of Magic Attack Bonus and/or Magic Accuracy as it pertains to spell damage (Thunder, Fire, etc..)? This question is for above the cap, not below. I know SE commented on Magic Accuracy at FanFest, but is there data to show its' benefit once the INT/MND cap has been reached?

Thank you, in advance.

[Sabaron]

There is no cap.

All spells use a special factor which is the difference between the caster's offensive stat (e.g. INT for nukes) and the target's defensive stat (INT is thought to be the defensive stat for nukes as well). Therefore, after subtracting the target's INT from yours, you get a factor, dINT which is applied to your Magic Damage and various other parameters depending on the spell.

What is speculated but not-as-yet proven is that after a certain dINT, the effectiveness of adding more INT is severely reduced. At the soft-cap, it is thought that additional points of INT only contribute 1/2 for determination of damage. The point at which this occurs is not known.

Magic Accuracy is based on your intelligence in a similar way that Accuracy is based on your Dexterity. You get one point of MAcc for every 2 points of INT you have. The same goes for MND and CHR-based spells.

In summary, INT is thought to act just like STR and DEX do when nuking--it is used for both damage output determination, and Accuracy.

For more information:

Calculating Magic Damage - FFXIclopedia - a Wikia Gaming wiki
Magic Accuracy - FFXIclopedia - a Wikia Gaming wiki
Intelligence - FFXIclopedia - a Wikia Gaming wiki
Mind - FFXIclopedia - a Wikia Gaming wiki

For melees, damage works based on a value called fSTR(2) which is computed thusly:

STR - VIT Difference Function - FFXIclopedia - a Wikia Gaming wiki

I'm not suggesting that fSTR(2) and dINT are in any way similar as there doesn't appear to be any information suggesting that they are.

I found it. It was extremely short, but contains some useful links for you:

Calculation of Monster Attributes

[Refugee]

Thank you very much. I will look at the references when I get home. Is there a good number I should shoot for then, as far as Intelligence and Mind? Also, with the 1x MACC for every 2x INT, is it more desirable to have MACC over INT? Where does Magic Attack Bonus play into this equation, if at all?

Thank you again for the information. I will read up on this this evening when I get home.

[Feenicks]

Magic Attack Bonus is a multiplier - for each point of Magic Attack Bonus, your (unresisted) damage multiplier goes up by 0.01. Meaning that a Magic Attack Bonus of 10 gives you an extra 10% on your nukes.

INT determines your damage relative to the monster's INT.

So if you're fighting a monster with high INT, it's better to have more INT to get a stronger base damage, but if you're fighting a monster with lower INT, you don't need as much INT and can put on more MAB gear to take advantage of multiplier bonuses.

[MrMageo]

I acctully did a little messing around with INT damage reduction a few weeks ago. It seems depending on the target your INT/DMG ratio changes drastically the more you go.

We tested as 75 BLM/RDM, 75 RDM/BLM, 43 BLM/NIN I forget th name of my thread i posted it up in but it seemed that the 75's who broke 100 int fairly easily had a damage mod of 1/1 whereas the 75's when not breaking 1 hundred were roughly 1/1.5. However the most puzzling was the BLM/NIN @ 80 INT was having a Damage MOD of 1/2.

[Kittyneko]

If you have meritted INT, you will definetely want MACC over INT at times, all depending on the monster.
Remember though, INT affects the duration of the spell (For soloing you will want a rather higher portion of INT), and MACC affects the land rate(number of resists). If you barely get resisted, stick to the INT.
For example for soling Zipacna, every INT you can get for Bind is great, if you have fully meritted Ice Magic Accuracy. Without that, you'll probably be resisted a lot and that can be quite... killing.

[Refugee]

Thank you for the information. My current Intelligence and Mind are both over 100.

Ok, so stack Intelligence versus High INT mobs. MACC for lower INT mobs for the multiplier. MAB for both. Has there been any testing on where the MAB caps at, as far as how much extra damage it can add?

Sorry for the questions and thank you for allowing me to tap your experience here.

[Feenicks]

I don't think there's a MAB cap. BLMs are obsessed with MAB and try to get as much of it as possible, and there are plenty of threads on boards everywhere about MAB, so if there was a cap, probably someone would have found it by now.

[Pteryx]

If there's an MAB cap at all, I'd guess it to bo 100, much like the Enmity bonus cap. Of course, is MAB+100 even attainable in the game right now? -- Pteryx

[Armando]

So if you're fighting a monster with high INT, it's better to have more INT to get a stronger base damage, but if you're fighting a monster with lower INT, you don't need as much INT and can put on more MAB gear to take advantage of multiplier bonuses.

In the case of high level spells, this isn't so. High power nukes will invariably benefit more from MAB than INT (assuming we're comparing similar amounts, of course...doesn't take a genius to see that 15 INT beats 1 MAB.)

INT adds to damage in fixed small increments, which has a big impact on very low level spells, but if your spell is doing hundreds of damage, INT isn't going to have a bigger impact than MAB no matter how high the mob's INT is.

We tested as 75 BLM/RDM, 75 RDM/BLM, 43 BLM/NIN I forget th name of my thread i posted it up in but it seemed that the 75's who broke 100 int fairly easily had a damage mod of 1/1 whereas the 75's when not breaking 1 hundred were roughly 1/1.5. However the most puzzling was the BLM/NIN @ 80 INT was having a Damage MOD of 1/2.

That sounds odd. Post/link me to your test?

[MrMageo]

Quandry for INT