BCNM Equipment

[tnt118]

Howdy folks. As I've reached level 40 now and want to be a BCNM pimp, I wanted to check in and get some advice about the equipment that I should be farming for. I've done a good job of keeping up on the important +CHR items but I'm struggling on how to fill out the rest of my gear -- I know that what has served me well for EXPing simply won't cut it in BCNM. Keep in mind I'm Taru (+MP gear shouldn't be an issue), but I've been given conflicting advice about the advantages of DEF vs EVA vs HP.

I'm keeping myself on a "reasonable" budget. I know that good items cost gil, and I'm not looking to skimp. I hope not to have to spend more than 10-20k per piece for the 4 main armor slots. Here is my thinking so far:

BACK: Wolf Mantle +1
BODY:???
EAR:???
FEET:???
FINGER: Pearl Ring x2
HANDS:???
HEAD: Noble's Ribbon
LEGS:???
NECK: Bird Whistle
WAIST: Corsette +1
MAIN: ???

Everything marked ??? could be +DEF, +HP, or +EVA. One guy in my linkshell, a level 52 bard, swears EVA is the way to go (Light solas and the such. Beestinger for main??). Personally I had thought RSE was the way to go, but he says the DEF is horrible and doesn't make up for the extra HP that you get. Some of the conquest items look decent .. I could pick up 2-3 of the rank 4 items right now (or sell them for the gil to get other stuff). Regardless, I'm sorely lacking in DEF and need major upgrades to what I currently have before taking on the onions.

Now if money were no object I suppose you'd add in the monster signa, and while I'd love to have one I already spent a week camping for it (10 pops, 5 kills, 0 drops). It's still in my "grand plans" to own one some day, but it just doesn't seem feasible right now.

To my knowledge, Mary's Horn is the only non-basic instrument that is needed.

[Fooma]

I use:
Back: Wolf mantle
Body: Couir Armor (Lv38 armor)
Ear: 2 drone earings
Feet: RSE
Finger: Pearl Ringx2
Hands: RSE
Head: Noble's Ribbon
Legs: RSE
Neck: Bird Whistle
Waist: Corsette +1
Main: Monster signa (or paper knife if you don't have)
Range: Mary's Horn, nearly required for consistant lulluby's

Evasion will do jack for you, remember they are monk types, so it's very improbable you'll dodge enough for it to really show (they only hit 10-20 each). If you can, go +hp as taru.

Go for +hp, +-5 def really makes no difference in a fight like this.


#1 piece of advice I give to bards doing this, is Don't Panic! If you horde, and halfway through cooldown 1-3 wake up, don't panic, let them hit you. only horde, don't normal lulluby, it'll throw off the timing and it gets to be a mess very fast.

Also have your tank when he first goes and grabs the group, to wiggle around a little so they all gather together (if he stays still they'll spread out, and you can miss a few).

And excpept for 1 healer, everyone fight side by side. It helps you horde and not have a mandragora run off and hit a mage and escape your horde. melee's should use poison potion.

There's also a trick to avoid flood 100% of the time, but save that till you're more experienced~

[Damastas]

I'm 4-2-1 on BCNM40 in Giddeus without Mary's horn o_O;;

As useful as it is for this fight, you really only need high defensive / hp armour to take hits, when they all wake up you loser about 400 - 500 hp before horde sleeps them again.

Oh, and stopping Flood, just use Foe Lullaby on the black one o_O;;

Armour I was using:

Paper Knife
San D'oria horn
Couir Tunic (tunic, breastplate, vest, can't remember >.<)
Noble's Ribbon
Bird Whistle
Drone Earring x2
Gigas Bracers
Pearl ring x2
Wolf Mantle +1
Corsette +1
Couir pants
Couir boots

The only two losses were completely un-bard related. First one, paladin used invincible as they woke up and they all did extra damage denting him~

Second time the healers didn't use poison potions and were put to sleep, I died.

Tie, white mage died and reraised while they were kept asleep, ran out of time.

Mary's horn really isn't necessary.. although with the gil I got it was the first thing I bought :p

[tnt118]

I'm bored at work so I figured I'd compile the following information. Here are the stats for the different armors:

--rse--
BODY: Wonder Kaftan (def: 18 / hp: 36 / str: 1 / vit: 2 / mnd:1)
ARMS: Wonder Mitts (def: 6 / hp: 13 / str: 3)
LEGS: Wonder Braccae (def: 12 / hp: 21 / str: 1 / vit: 2 / mnd: 2)
FEET: Wonder Clomps (def: 5 / hp: 20 / str: 2)
** total: def: 41 / hp: 90 / str: 7 / vit: 4 / mnd: 3

--conquest--
BODY: N/A (cannot equip headgear)
ARMS: CC Mitts (def: 8 / attack: 5)
LEGS: CC Slacks (def: 17 / evasion: 5)
FEET: CC Shoes (def: 7 / ice: 4 / earth: 4)
** total: def: 50 or 60 / attack: 5 / evasion: 5 / ice: 4 / earth: 4)

--cuir--
BODY:Cuir Bouilli (def: 28)
ARMS:Cuir Gloves (def: 9)
LEGS: Cuir Trousers (def: 20)
FEET:Cuir Highboots (def: 8)
** total: def: 65

So the tradeoff is this: 24 def from the Cuir set or the 90 hit points from RSE.