Gear Advice nearing 75 + Maat Advice, please :)

[Illuen]

So, now that I am at 63, I've begun to start prepping for the upcoming levels, and especially my Maat fight. I've been looking at my gear, and I'm not sure exactly where to go with it at the moment. I skipped the weeks of saving up for a Vermy because, in my views, it does not give enough of a boost to WHM to be worth the price tag.

Eventually, of course, I want to mix and match Noble's and Blessed gear for my WHM, but I'm mainly worried at the moment about the price tags on the gear in question. As for some of my other slots, such as earrings and waist and such, I'm not sure where to go with that, so any advice would be helpful in regard to gear. Currently, I'm wearing:

Elemental Staffs (I've a full set, no HQ though)
Healer's Cap
Healer's Briault
White Cape+1 (I'm thinking about one of the assault capes, but WHM is my highest job, and is not particularly wanted for assault on my server, from what I've seen)
Oracle's Belt (I'm waiting on a NIN friend to do the BCNM for the Pentinent's Rope in this slot)
Healer's Mitts/Ivory Mitts (macro'd in for MND reliant spells such as stoneskin)
Ajari Bead Necklace
Holy Ampulla
Insomnia Earring
Antivenom Earring
Aquamarine Earring (saving up to upgrade this to a +1)
Ether Ring
Healer's Pantaloons
Cure Clogs/Healer's Duckbills (the clogs being Macro'd in for Cure Spells)

Also, I'm prepping for Maat (a friend is going to help me get a testimony later today) and I'm wondering, besides the ethers/yag drinks/tacos that I've read in other places, if there is a trick to beating Maat that I should know. Opinions on the maat fight seem wildly inconsistent, from it being the easiest of the fights, to it taking someone 9 testimonies. I was thinking about trying it at 66, but I'm not going to if I don't have a chance at beating him at that level.

[Alshandra]

Hmmm... I still need to get those earrings... But I'm poor and a big procrastinator.

I managed to defeat Maat on my fourth try (first three tries at Lv68, last try at Lv70) wearing this gear:

Light Staff
Healer's Cap
Healer's Briault
White Cape
Druid's Rope
Healer's Mitts
Promise Badge
Morion Talthum (yes, I know, you don't need to tell me >.>)
Bat Earring
Bat Earring
Electrum Ring
Electrum Ring
Healer's Pantaloons
Healer's Duckbills

I did the Vile elixir/Taco/Hi Ether/Blinding Potions(+evasion with Bat earrings)/Cure/Cure/Cure/etc

I lost quite pathetically the first two times, but each time i got further with it as i adapted to Maat's fight style. Third time i came very close and decided to wait til 70 (More MP and MND) to try again. Win.

Since then, I'm Lv 73 and I have better gear, and have had a Vermillion Cloak since Lv59, but didnt use it in this fight. It's a huge price (mine was a loan from a friend that doesnt play any more.... lucky me!) but if you can get your hands on one its usefull, especially when Refreshers are in limited supply. If you dont have this problem already, you will find out soon enough. Sometimes you're lucky and get Refresh.. sometimes you have to be self reliant. This is where V.Cloak + Yagudo Drinks come in handy. I find that in a lot of parties, if i construct them to be not so MP reliant, I can refresh my self well enough to keep the exp rolling in without having to ask for a rest break. <3 Vermy.

Anyway, so I found Maat hard, despite being told by everyone that its the 'easiest' fight out of all the jobs. Yes, easy if you have done it before and know what to do / expect, but alas, most of us that fight Maat are doing so on that job for the first time. Take it easy, dont panic. Go in, Protect and Shell, Stoneskin, equip bat earrings and eat a blinding potion, Tavnazian taco, rest some of your MP but dont waste too much time. Youre better off buying Yagudo drinks for MP refresh and some Hi Ethers. You'll need that time spent resting. Run up, cast silence and try keep him that way if you can. slow also if possible. Flash is important as Flash > Cure III/IV gives you time to cast your spell. the thing that got me is that he would hit me and interrupt my casting. every single bloody time.. Just flash>cure yourself and eat Hi Potions where you can also. Keep regen on yourself and eat ethers BEFORE your MP gets too low. i waited too long before doing this and he killed me while i was trying to regain MP. Try to macro EVERYTHING into a new macro set for Maat, trust me.. even your items, macro them together as well. you dont have time to browse your menus for items/spells (although im sure you macro stuff already, i mean more about macroing every item you take in also). And then theres the myth about having to go in naked as Maat copies your stats that you enter the BCNM with. I dont know if this is true, but I didnt want to take the chance. So gear off, enter BCNM, then gear up and buff.

I tend to ramble a bit, but thats basically how it happened with me, was so nervous the first time, but the feeling you get when you finally pwn that bastard is so good after four tries, youll literally dance around the house. Or was that just me... ? :D

Hopefully any of that helps you!! But yeah your gear is fine for it, i went in with worse stuff and came out ok in the end at lvl 70. But seriously, invest in Bat earrings. and blinding potions. you can sell back afterwards anyway.

Good Luck!

[Icemage]

Elemental Staffs (I've a full set, no HQ though)
Healer's Cap
Healer's Briault
White Cape+1 (I'm thinking about one of the assault capes, but WHM is my highest job, and is not particularly wanted for assault on my server, from what I've seen)
Oracle's Belt (I'm waiting on a NIN friend to do the BCNM for the Pentinent's Rope in this slot)
Healer's Mitts/Ivory Mitts (macro'd in for MND reliant spells such as stoneskin)
Ajari Bead Necklace
Holy Ampulla
Insomnia Earring
Antivenom Earring
Aquamarine Earring (saving up to upgrade this to a +1)
Ether Ring
Healer's Pantaloons
Cure Clogs/Healer's Duckbills (the clogs being Macro'd in for Cure Spells)

Unless you're doing a lot of Enfeebling (unlikely but possible), lose the dependence on MND gear. It doesn't make that much difference, honest (and once you upgrade to Blessed you'll have a substantial amount of MND+ from that alone).

The only pieces of gear that really matter are Auto-Refresh (Noble's Tunic, Cleric's Briault, Vermillion Cloak), +Cure Potency (Noble's Tunic, Light Staff), Enmity- and Haste/Fast Cast (Cure Clogs, Walahra Turban, Rostrum Pumps, Blessed Mitts, Blessed Trousers). Rest of it is just window dressing as far as effectiveness goes - nice but totally unnecessary.

The only piece of gear I think you're really missing is a Crow/Raven Beret. Extra -Enmity is useful for those times when you need to whip out Benediction or Curaga III.

Also, I'm prepping for Maat (a friend is going to help me get a testimony later today) and I'm wondering, besides the ethers/yag drinks/tacos that I've read in other places, if there is a trick to beating Maat that I should know. Opinions on the maat fight seem wildly inconsistent, from it being the easiest of the fights, to it taking someone 9 testimonies. I was thinking about trying it at 66, but I'm not going to if I don't have a chance at beating him at that level.

It's easy for WHM. The trick is to stay alive. Bulk up on Defense, set some macros, bring lots of MP recovery, bring counters for Paralyze (remedy) and Silence (echo drops), and just stay alive. The special win condition for WHM is to be able to heal enough damage to impress him. Many people can do this at 66. At 70 you can hedge your bets a bit with Medicine Earring as well.


Icemage

[Olorin401]

I've got a few R/EX items now from doing Gods and Dynamis and stuff to increase my pathetic Elvaan MP base, but some of the original AF is still useful:

Full set of elemental staves (just upgraded to HQ)
Walahra Turban / Zenith Crown / Cleric's Cap
Blessed Briault / Errant Houpelande
Cleric's Mitts / Healer's Mitts
Vendor's Slops / Cleric's Pantaloons / Healer's Pantaloons
Elvaan RSE Boots / Cure Clogs
Phantom Talthum / Bibiki Seashell
Grandiose Chain
Hierarch Belt
Blue Cape / Red Cape +1
Ether / Astral / Medicine Rings
Antivenom / Insomnia / Moldavite Earrings

I also have a Darksteel Maul, Strike Shield, and Life Belt for meleeing.
----
Now.. the WHM Maat Fight. I went 1/3 on this one - The first loss was because I simply was not prepared, and the second was because I over-prepared.

The way to beat this challenge is to slow the amount of damage that Maat does to you as much as possible, so that you can manage it easily. You have two big advantages here - that you do not have to actually fight, and that Maat is limited in his ability to do damage sine he can only attack with one hand melee or Banish. Since Banish really doesn't hurt WHMs too much, that means you can concentrate on damage prevention, cure management, and maximizing every bit of MP.

As far as magic use during this fight, the only spells you want to use (more than once) are Regen 3, Cure 3 & Cure 5. Once you engage, everything else is a waste of time and MP.

For equipment, you can go two ways - evasion or defense. I did a combination - using AF legs & boots (or cure clogs) , an earth staff, a pair of bat earrings (and 3 blind pots to activate them), spirit torque, druid's rope and at least one phalanx ring. Bibiki Seashell wasn't around at the time when I did my fight, but you should definitely get it if you can. There's a few strategies I've seen that suggest purchasing Crow Jupon/Bracers/Hose which would also work very well.
For supplies, bring 6 echo drops, 3-4 blind pots (to activate the earrings' evasion boost), 3 yagudo drinks, a fish mithkabob/chiefkabob OR tavnazian taco, and a vile elixir. If you want, you can also bring a RR hairpin to save you some time and MP.

The strategy is pretty simple. When you get in, cast Prot4, Shell4, RR2, & Aquaveil, then rest to full. Then go in, pop a yag drink, blind pot, cast regen on yourself and cast Paralyze on Maat. If it works, great! If not, not a big deal. Now, run around the outer rim of the arena kiting Maat. You absolutely do not want to try to fight - you will die fast. He'll cast stuff on you - ignore everything except Silence. When he stops to cast, it's a good time to stop and check your Blind Pot, Regen and cast a Cure. Use Cure 5 when your HP is at least in the orange - don't cast Cure 4 unless you don't have enough MP for a Cure 5. If you're low on MP, don't be afraid to use your 2HR - just remember to put your blidness back on.

A cute trick I heard about was to but get within a couple hundred XP of your level-up and bring an EXP page (like Dragon Chronicles or Miratete's Memoirs). When you get low on MP you can use the page to level up, and your HP/MP will refill. It's kinda like a secondary Benediction that refills your MP.

[silentsteel]

lol, I'm kinda in the same boat. What would you say for people that dont even have 100k and not a good chance of getting gil/knowing how to get gil?

[FatCharlie]

My current gear is as follows:


Light Staff
Cleric's Cap/Elite Beret
Noble's Tunic
Rainbow Cape
Hierarch Belt
Blessed Mitts
Grandiose Chain/Healing Torque
Blessed Pumps/Cure Clogs
Blessed Trousers/Cleric's Pantaloons
Demon Ring +1
Tamas Ring
Insomnia Earring
Antivenom Earring
Holy Ampulla
Divine Shield

Before I got to endgame the differences in gear were Blessed Crown, Hale Ring, and Saphire Ring. Personally I would suggest getting the Grandiose Chain now, and the Rainbow Cape and Hierarch belt when you can afford/equip them. Great pieces of equipment in my opinion. For level 63 I think your equip is plenty sufficient. Since you're taru though I'd lose the Electrum Rings and go for some +MND or something. Tarus can never have enough HP.

[Icemage]

Personally, I think Intensifying Cape is way better for WHM than Rainbow Cape. Even though MND is WHM's highest stat, it never really gets used at end-game since RDMs are doing all the enfeebling.

Really the only enfeebling magic I ever use anymore on WHM is Sleep/Sleepga from a /BLM subjob, and even that only works because I have a boatload of Enfeebling Magic merits and AF2 gloves.


Icemage

[Tirrock]

In my opinion, earth staff is probably the single best piece of equipment for the Maat fight. Other than the obvious -20% physical damage taken, it also helps with landing slow if you're having a hard time keeping up with the damage he's doing.

Using up a hi-potion tank before the fight isn't a bad idea either. Echo drops are a must. (Just get used to carrying around a stack of them, if you don't already.) Yagudo drink helps, remedies (for paralyze) do too.

As far as gear goes, I'm an hMP junkie. I don't think MND is incredibly important (at least not for what I do), but if you want to have a MND gear set for when you do need it, go for it. My WHM gear suffers from the "I have other level 75 jobs that I use more often and I need inventory space" syndrome.

[FatCharlie]

Personally, I think Intensifying Cape is way better for WHM than Rainbow Cape. Even though MND is WHM's highest stat, it never really gets used at end-game since RDMs are doing all the enfeebling.

Really the only enfeebling magic I ever use anymore on WHM is Sleep/Sleepga from a /BLM subjob, and even that only works because I have a boatload of Enfeebling Magic merits and AF2 gloves.


Icemage

LOL, very true! For me though I seem to find myself meritting more with Bards than Red Mages. I guess if one can afford it, both would be handy. And that reminds me I need to get myself an intensifying cape. I wanted one when I was broke and forgotten to get one. It seems like a long time since I've looked for gear for my WHM.

Concerning the Maat fight, as everyone has said, use the Blind potion/Bat earring combo along with an Earth Staff and you'll be fine. Keep up Aquaveil, Stoneskin, Regen. If you do this I don't think kiting is even unnecessary. I stood in one spot and just concentrated on my spells.

[Illuen]

Unless you're doing a lot of Enfeebling (unlikely but possible), lose the dependence on MND gear. It doesn't make that much difference, honest (and once you upgrade to Blessed you'll have a substantial amount of MND+ from that alone).

The only pieces of gear that really matter are Auto-Refresh (Noble's Tunic, Cleric's Briault, Vermillion Cloak), +Cure Potency (Noble's Tunic, Light Staff), Enmity- and Haste/Fast Cast (Cure Clogs, Walahra Turban, Rostrum Pumps, Blessed Mitts, Blessed Trousers). Rest of it is just window dressing as far as effectiveness goes - nice but totally unnecessary.

The only piece of gear I think you're really missing is a Crow/Raven Beret. Extra -Enmity is useful for those times when you need to whip out Benediction or Curaga III.
well.


Icemage

About 80% of the MND gear I have I only macro in for Stoneskin, because of how Stoneskin is dependant on MND.

I forgot to mention it, but I do have a Benediction prep macro, which equips Crows/Ravens (I substituted the pieces of Ravens that were 400-600k on my server with Crow, only one or two pieces, the rest being Ravens) So I do have that covered =D I also, after coming into some gil from items that finally sold, I went ahead and bought myself an intensifying cape, and so far I'm really liking the results. I'm planning on getting a Walahra once i reach 75 (I already have the IS, it's just a matter of reaching 75.

One question; you mentioning that I should ditch some of the MND gear got me thinking about my rings. Until very reciently, I was wearing Astral and Ether, but I went ahead and sold my Astral because, it seemed to me at least, that it wasn't my MP that was the problem (I'm past 900MP @ 64 foodless with my current gear + Astral) but hMP was the big ticket. Unfortunately, I didn't see any rings that could help with hMP, and I'm not quite sure what to wear in place of my MND ring. Any Suggestions?

I do end up Enfeebling every now and then, esp. if the party only has a BRD or COR instead of RDM. I've tended to find though, while playing with equipment, that if I wear the right staff, and it still doesn't stick, all the mind I can stack doesn't tend to change that fact.

Thank you to everyone about the advice for the Maat Fight. I have three or four people who've offered to lend me the earrings, and I tend to keep a stack or two Echo Drops on me.

I guess my issue is that I work very hard to be as great of a WHM as possible; I read nearly everything I can find on the subject, and I tend to angst over my gear. I appriciate all the advice given to me so far, and I'm rather excited (and nervous) to fight Maat, and get to 75.

[Olorin401]

lol, I'm kinda in the same boat. What would you say for people that dont even have 100k and not a good chance of getting gil/knowing how to get gil?

One word - Teleports.

It's almost pure profit, and it's possibly the only thing besides HQ elemental staves that has maintained or gone up in price.

[Tirrock]

There's a few good choices for WHM rings for tarus. Serenity ring, I think it is, offers -10HP,+10MP, -1enmity. Electurm ring offers -20HP, +20MP. Mana ring has +15MP with no HP loss. They're all pretty cheap. For a tarutaru, I'd probably go with the first or the third.

I don't enfeeble much on my WHM during exp either. I can't land paralyze without an ice staff with 225+10 enfeebling skill more than half the time on a very low T. ._.

[Lasareth]

I do end up Enfeebling every now and then, esp. if the party only has a BRD or COR instead of RDM. I've tended to find though, while playing with equipment, that if I wear the right staff, and it still doesn't stick, all the mind I can stack doesn't tend to change that fact.

That's very true, and for the most part, our innately low (read: crappy) feeb skill makes anything but Toughs an iffy event. With maxed feeb skill and +29 from equipment as well as a corresponding staff, I have trouble landing slow/silence on quite a number of VT-IT monsters. The only way we can even begin to compare with even a poorly-equipped/merited rdm is by meriting feeb skill

[Icemage]

I would actually recommend straight +HP or +MP rings over Astral or Ether Ring. As a tarutaru mage myself, I seriously dislike -HP on any of my gear, and wear it only when forced to at gunpoint (I'm one of only a handful of Tarutaru WHMs who has over 1000HP on my server... actually more than most of my Hume/Mithra LS mates, while still maintaining a higher max MP).

There's nothing wrong with a bit of HP>MP conversion gear, but it's a bit unnecessary for WHM. You can throw on an Astral Ring while resting to bump your max MP so you get a "free" spell or two right at the start of a chain or event, but aside from that it's not much use.

-Enmity is an excellent stat, which is why I personally chose the Tamas Ring from completing Chains of Promathia missions (my 2nd ring is the +75HP Bomb Queen Ring).

Other than that, it doesn't matter much what you wear at the ring slot.


Icemage

[Illuen]

I would actually recommend straight +HP or +MP rings over Astral or Ether Ring. As a tarutaru mage myself, I seriously dislike -HP on any of my gear, and wear it only when forced to at gunpoint (I'm one of only a handful of Tarutaru WHMs who has over 1000HP on my server... actually more than most of my Hume/Mithra LS mates, while still maintaining a higher max MP).

There's nothing wrong with a bit of HP>MP conversion gear, but it's a bit unnecessary for WHM. You can throw on an Astral Ring while resting to bump your max MP so you get a "free" spell or two right at the start of a chain or event, but aside from that it's not much use.

-Enmity is an excellent stat, which is why I personally chose the Tamas Ring from completing Chains of Promathia missions (my 2nd ring is the +75HP Bomb Queen Ring).

Other than that, it doesn't matter much what you wear at the ring slot.


Icemage

I was also planning on picking the Tamas Ring once I do manage to complete CoP, although right now I'm sitting in front of the Minotaur, and cannot for the life of me find people who wish to do it.

Thank you very much for all the advice you've given me, it has really been quite a bit to chew over, and I'm already planning in advance thanks to your suggestions