AF or austere/penance gear?

[jaks6888]

I am currently lvl 38, almost 39 =)
And i know im a long way of but something crossed my mind.

At lvl 50 (i think) i can wear the austere/penance gear, I was wondering what you all think is better the this or the AF gear?

[WobbleSiren]

AF gear has nice MP bonus, the legs give atk accuracy up which is nice and fun to play with.

All in all though i'd go with austere hands down in terms of it being far superior.

[LadyPeorth]

Depends on your Race. Some RSE is much better than even the AF. I'd say examine all the options and pick what suits you best. Remember...more +MP is always good

[Akiro]

sorry this is going to be long, but hopefully helpful




Ok for the 1st part, comaring the body the Evoker's doublet does give MP+ but the Austere robe gives a -1 perpetuation cost + "Blood Pact" delay -3 the MP boost might be appealing but the robe wins hands down due to this fact, i would want my summons to take less MP and have it extent the length of how long the summon is out as well as more blood pacts if your going to Skill Chain or Magic Burst with your summons you can now do it more often.

Next Piece
Austere Sabots
Slot: Feet
Def: 7 MP: 10 VIT: -1 CHR: -1
Enmity: -3, Summoning Magic Skill: 3
Jobs: Summoner

Races: ALL
Level to Use: 50



This one is a little harder due to the fact that there almost the same except for the summoning magic skill but all in all i would go with the Evoker's Pigaches.

Moving on

Penance Cuffs
Slot: Hands
Def: 9 MP: 17 CHR: -2
Summoning Magic Skill: 3
Jobs: Summoner
Races: ALL
Level to Use: 50



The only reason why i like the Evokers Bracers is cause i can convert damage to MP but i dont know how often that happens,
this is something you will have to decide cause they both have ups and downs here.

Head Gear




Due to the lack of MP that the Hat gives it might seem pretty bad when you compare it to the Evokers Horn but the -2 Delay to "Blood Pact" makes it all worth while and i would recomend getting the hat.

Final Piece

Austere Slops
Slot: Legs
Def: 19 VIT: -1 INT: 2 MND: 2 CHR: -1
Summoning Magic Skill: 3
Jobs: Summoner
Races: ALL
Level to Use: 50



In this the Evokers Spatas win hands due to the fact of it having Avatar Accuacy and its Evastion +10 is a big plus to it as well as a nice MP bonus

^^ i hope this helped in anyway possible :sweat:

[SlizenDize]

I would choose Sabots instead of the Pigaches because Enmity- is so very important if you want to be able to do as much as possible for your team.

But that might only be my opinion.

[jaks6888]

Wow thanks akiro that was really helpful, and thanks everyone else that posted.
I'm glad that it would be beneficial for me too mix AF and austere because a full set of austere woulda cost alot! :sweat:

[xNecrosanx]

For the AF gloves the dmg is converted to MP only when your avatar gets hit by it's own element.

For example, fire is casted on Ifrit, aero on Garuda, etc.

Austere gloves are better ; but if you can get carbuncle mittens, just use those.

[Mephisto]

What about Vermillion Cloak >.>;

[Darkedge]

Vermillion Cloak's refresh effect I'm sure would be the better piece when not in battle, but depending on how Auestere effects Blood Pact timers, you might not use it while Summoning.

How does the Blood Pact timer work? If you use a Bloodpact wearing Austere the entire time, the recast timer will be 55 instead of 60 seconds (Head+Body). Lets say you use Bloodpact while wearing Austere head and Body, then a second later or so switch to Vermillion Cloak, would the blood pact timer be 59-60 or would it be 54-55 or would you need Austere on the whole time?

[Akiro]

hmm i am unsure about this but ill have a friend who is a 70 summoner test it and give you the results,but i think you have to have to actually wear the armor to get the less time to the blood pacts

[poweryoga]

in most of my parties i'm usually too busy to cast more than 1-2 bloodpacts a battle. especially against dangerous stuff like spiders or when you have idiots that stand in the range of poison breath from crawlers. Most people think of smns as a healer not a damage dealer, which is true because of the stupid resist rates and bloodpact cooldowns.

I find the -5 bloodpact nice but that doesn't usually help as most bloodpacts cost a ton of mp and if I do them too much i find myself hindering my pt due to mp constraints, even with a darkstaff and rdm. I rarely find myself thinking "damn i wish that bloodpact was a bit faster". My role in a pt is usually just healer... which is fine but it can be annoying sometimes.

sometimes pld has crap gear and takes over 90-100 a hit (at lvl 54 now) and its just hard to not spam cure 2+3 just to keep up with healing... in which case i barely have any time to summon.

maybe other smns have different situations but i really don't find a shorter bloodpact a viable reason to get the JSE...

:dead: :dead:

[Akiro]

>_< i find this so retarted if your going to be a summoner then be one, use your summons you didnt just fight them and waste your money just to be a damn back up healer, if that was the case then you should of just stuck with white mage/black mage, healing a party is actually okay but if thats all your going to do and not use your summons then what the hell is the point of fighting them

[nhusted]

poweryoga, Akiro does have somewhat of a point. You should just tell the players with substandard equipment and bad play skills to go screw themselves and summon as you damn well please. ^^ I'm sure the RDM wouldn't mind healing, I keep hearing them complain (legitamatley) about how all they get to do is refresh. Might as well let him do something else while you help with the SC, burst the SC, etc. etc.

I myself will be going with as much Austere as I can get my hands on because I HATE doing AF hunts. I will then use any AF that I can solo with my lvl 62 BST.

[magnius]

Honestly, I think it is hard to really try not to just be a gimped whm becasue thats what the majority of people see you as. I personally, under most circumstances, refuse to join a pt without a main healer. Sure I will backup heal but as a smn I want to actually BE a smn. Of course my smn isnt a very high lvl(32) so I am not sure what it is like at higher lvls but I do know that if there's no way to play smn and not be main healer I'll just stop leveling it now. Also, if all your rdms are doing is refreshing then I suggest you find another rdm. :sweat:

[Crow]

Personally I use Vermillion when an avatar isn't out, AF pants/shoes, and Carbuncle mitts. When an avatar is out, I switch to Austere Robe/hat.

Our AF body, hands, and horn are all pretty useless... The MP bonus is nice, but they all have the worst stat possible... -avatar enmity. The -5/6 sec from Austere gear is far superior... Austere is the best armor you can wear when an avatar is out(other than Carbuncle). Otherwise, Vermillion is the best.

Lower body SMN AF is good. Higher body AF is worthless...Avoid it.