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The Path of the Asuran Fist - A Pugilist Guide

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  • The Path of the Asuran Fist - A Pugilist Guide

    The Path of the Asuran Fist - A Pugilist Guide

    The path of the pugilist is one of incessant training aimed at mastering the traditional techniques of hand-to-hand combat. Though they command formidable power when unarmed, they are wont to use metal, leather, and bone weaponry to maximize their destructive potential.
    Their preference for fighting at close-quarters makes negotiating distances an absolute necessity. Many among them accomplish this by using throwing weapons such as the chakram to momentarily daze their enemies while they move in for the kill.
    Masters of offensive and defensive stances, pugilists continuously adapt their fighting style to best suit their companions as well as their enemies.
    Pugilists compensate for a lack of reach and defence with their high manoeuvrability and cunning techniques that fluster opponents.

    What is a Pugilist?

    The Pugilist is best described as a close combat specialist that is a hybrid of a tank and damage dealer. it is very similar to the traditional Monk class from the older Final Fantasy games, however it is also given a variety of abilities best suited for a Rogue. To sum it up a Pugilist is an out and out pragmatist in combat is and unafraid of getting dirty and exploiting any advantage, opening or weakness in order to come out on top and survive.

    Why play a Pugilist?

    Being completely honest, a Pugilist will never tank better than a Gladiator or deal melee damage better than a Lancer or Marauder. However the one thing you DO have is versatility. A Pugilist is never boring to play as there is always something to do. Conjurer pulled hate? Use Accomplice and tank the mob while the Gladiator regains hate. Gladiator just dropped? Taunt the mob and hit Featherfoot and jarring Strike to dodge the next attack and counter with an attack that Stuns and gives a nice chunk of hate. Need burst DPS? Pugilist has no problem with going into full on damage mode as it can hit max TP in SECONDS once you learn how to Chain your TP Builders.

    Why invite a Pugilist to my party when I can just invite another melee DD?

    What Pugilists bring to the party is a very versatile class that can fill any number of vital roles: Main Tank, Off Tank, Main Assist, Damage Dealer and can do it well. The Pugilist also have excellent Synergy with the Thaumaturge as one of the Pugilist's best Weapon Skills has it's crit rate boosted when the target has multiple enfeebs on it. Pugilists also has a very useful stackable accuracy debuff to help make the tank's life easier. They are also able to self heal and are therefore very self-sufficient so if one pulls hate by mistake you can be sure that they won't drop any time soon. Pugilists also have an insane burst damage potential and it's sustained damage is nothing to laugh at either.

    So what are the bad things about this class?

    Manoeuvrability is a pain. The only class that has less than you is the Gladiator. Your weapon reach is very limited so flanking is difficult if you have hate. Lancers, Archers and marauders all have a lot of reach on their weapons and find it easy to flank even with hate while a Pugilist might find it hard. You also have very few ways to attack from a range: Chakrams are your only option and they break very quickly.

    What stats are important for a Pugilist?

    Strength, Vitality, Dexterity and Mind in that order.

    Strength and Vit are important for tanking and damage dealing in general as being able to punch hard and take a punch is always useful.

    Mind is useful because it effects Cure Potency and Magic Resistance which is important if you are needed to tank.

    The most important thing is get Dex and Earth affinity to 40 ASAP. Dex is vital for all classes that deal Physical damage as it effects accuracy for melee and ranged attacks. Dex also increases your Blindside damage and also evasion.

    Earth affinity is important because 10% of your melee strikes are Earth damage based and you also have a very potent Earth-bases Weaponskill whose damage is based on Earth. A lot of spellcasting monsters will also hit you with earth attacks early on so being able to resist them is great.

    While levelling up I would pump Strength, Vitality and Dexterity in equal measures until all 3 are above 30. Then just pump Dex until it hits 40. After 40 a stat will start seeing diminishing returns per stat point spent. At 40+ You need 2 points to increase a stat by 1 then at 70 you need 3 stat points to increase a stat by one.

    Once Strength, Vitality, Dexterity and Earth are all at 40 feel free to spread stat points around a bit though remember that Strength, Vitality and Earth are your Primary stats with Dexterity and Mind as Secondary stats.

    What cross-class abilities are useful to a Pugilist?

    Conjurer is probably the best secondary class to level alongside a Pugilist. having your own Cure, Protect, Stoneskin and Shock Spikes is invaluable especially if soloing or main tanking.

    What gathering classes go well with Pugilist?

    Simply put. All of them. Even when you can't use the items you get from the three gathering classes, you can still sell off the items you don't need to help fund your crafting.

    What crafting classes go well with Pugilist?

    Goldsmithing, Leathercrafting, Blacksmithing and Weaving. Your weapons are made by Goldsmiths, Tanners and Blacksmiths and it's needed to repair your weapons. Most Pugilist armour is Cloth so Weaving is useful.

    Leathercrafting is useful because Pugilists can equip some leather. Yes, you can also make your first Harness + Subligar combo and yes Pugilists can equip it. There is also a LOT of nice Dexterity gear you can get from leather which leads me to beleive that leather is your primary armour type.

    Blacksmithing is useful because there are a number of high damage weapons you can get from there. it is also needed for a lot of armour and weapon components and it gives you something to do with all the ore you get from mining.

    Armoursmithing is only useful to make some Goldsmithing components.

    Alchemy and Cooking are always useful. People will always need their consumables and they can be sold for a nice profit. Alchemy is also useful for making dyes for Weavers.

    Carpentry...Yeah it's useless for Pugilists unless you like crafting arrows or Archers.

    Basic Attacks

    These are your basic attacks used to build up TP. They are all Chainable. For Example Heavy Strike can allow you to queue another Heavy Strike or Light Strike after it and that Light Strike will allow you to queue another TP builder after it. As long as the timing is right you will actually skip the GCD and continuously attack. The upside is that you burn down mobs very quickly and will always have a lot of TP. The downside is that your ATB gauge will suffer as Pugilists builders cost about 20% stamina each

    Rank 1 - Heavy Strike
    Attack with your hand-to-hand weapon, dealing blunt damage and increasing TP
    Cast Time
    : 0
    Recast Time: 0
    Smacks your target four times and builds up a decent amount of TP. Can be chained with just about anything
    .

    Rank 1 - Light Strike
    Attack with your hand-to-hand weapon, dealing blunt damage and increasing TP as well as increases defence and evasion.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time: 0
    This ability is given to you (among other applicable rank 1 abilities) by Baderon, Miounne, or Momodi after returning from the Aetheryte camp you are sent to during the Treasures of the Main, The Colour of Sin, or Some Like it Hot quest.
    Useful for getting an evade for Haymaker or Jarring Strike. However do not rely on it as your default attack. The buff lasts for about 10 seconds and once it's up, you are far better off switching back to Heavy Strike because it can Chain with far more abilities than Light Strike.

    Rank 20 - Pummel

    Attack with your hand-to-hand weapon, dealing blunt damage and increasing TP.
    Cast Time
    : 0
    Recast Time: 0
    Bought for 500 Guild marks
    Chains very well with Heavy Strike and most weaponskills though I'm not sure what hits harder


    Rank 40 - Flurry

    Deliver a threefold attack with your hand-to-hand weapon, dealing blunt damage. Can only be executed after landing Heavy Strike or Flurry.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time: 0
    Bought for 500 Guild Marks
    I have no idea if this is a typo or not. From the sound if it you can go Light Strike > Heavy Strike > Flurry > Flurry > Weaponskill for a rotation which sounds like the best idea for using it in a standard opening rotation.


    Job Abilities


    These are your Job Abilities. Mostly they lend themselves towards survivability, enmity control and tanking. In my opinion it is these abilities that make this class a very fun one to play.

    Rank 6 - Second Wind
    The thrill of battle exhilarates you, restoring HP.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time: 60
    TP Cost: 250
    This is a POTENT self heal and it works in the same was as Cure Waltz from FFXI. It heals more at Max TP. I'm not sure if Piety and Mind effects how much it heals so more testing needs to be done. Still this ability is awesome for soloing and tanking as it produces a ton of hate. I wouldn't recommend main tanks at a Pugilist before Rank 26 though.


    Rank 10 - Taunt

    Whistle jeeringly, increasing enmity and temporarily focusing the target's attacks on you.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time: 20
    Your first Provoke. If you are main tanking you want to be using this, Discerning Eye and Jarring Strike whenever they are up. To be honest until you get Discerning Eye, main tanking on a Pugilist will be difficult. It is great for off-tanking though as saving your Conjurers and taking hate until the Gladiator pulls it back can prevent wipes.

    Rank 12 - Featherfoot

    Tread lightly, increasing evasion. Effect fades after evading an attack.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast time: 30
    Works in the same way as Third Eye and is an awesome ability. Jarring Strike and Haymaker rely on evading an attack and this allows you to actually have rotations using these abilities rather than just stopping your rotation to hit the WS when it's up.


    Rank 16 - Blindside

    Flank an enemy, increasing the power of your next attack from behind.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time:60
    This is basically sneak attack. It adds an attack bonus that is the equivalent of half of your Dexterity and is one reason why getting Dexterity to 40 before rank 16 is important. This CAN be used solo or when you have hate as there is time to execute an attack on a mob you are fighting when you slip behind them. it requires a lot of practise as a Pugilist though since other classes are FAR more mobile when it comes to positional due to the reach of their weapons (Lancers, Archers and Marauders all say hi)
    . This ability is awesome though. Attacks from behind negate evade and have a massive attack and crit rate boost. if you ever need to regain hate while tanking then Featherfoot > Blindside > Jarring Strike will almost certainly regain hate.

    Rank 20 - Presence of Mind

    Spiritually enhance your powers of perception, increasing evasion against non-frontal attacks.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time: 60
    Gets rid if your evasion penalty to attacks from behind. It's awesome since attacks from behind have a stupidly high crit ration. Use it whenever it's up even when tanking as it will save your Conjurer a ton of MP in the long run.


    Rank 26 - Discerning Eye

    Observe an enemy's attack Patterns, increasing your attack power in proportion to the amount of damage you sustain.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time: 90
    Pugilist Tanking starts here IMO. This ability completes the set of tools that you need to efficiently tank as a Pugilist. Whenever you get hit, your next attack hits harder which means you keep hate and get hit again and your attack power goes up etc...


    Rank 30 - Accomplice

    Conspire with an ally, reducing their enmity and increasing your own.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time: 30
    Steal hate from an enemy. Good for saving those squishes or that one Lancer who insists on chaining constantly in order to get the e-peen damage numbers.


    Rank 36 - Second Wind II
    The thrill of battle exhilarates you, restoring HP.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time: 60
    TP Cost: 250
    More potent self-heal. Awesome for soloing and tanking as it saves the Conjurer's MP and gives you hate

    Rank 40 - Taunt II

    Whistle jeeringly, increasing enmity and temporarily focusing the target's attacks on you.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time: 20
    You taunt better? Well I'm assuming it gives more VE.

    Rank 42 - Featherfoot II

    Tread lightly, increasing evasion. Effect fades after evading an attack.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time: 30
    I'm assuming that this has a better chance of evading attacks than Featherfoot I as Featherfoot, like Third Eye does not guarantee an evade.


    Weapon Skills


    Rank 2 - Concussive Blow

    Beat an enemy about the head and face, dealing blunt damage and reducing target's accuracy.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time: 10
    TP cost:1000
    The most damaging weapon skill you will have access to for a while. It deals a high amount of damage and gives the target a minor accuracy debuff that is stackable three times. The main drawback is it's huge stamina cost though it can be linked with Light Strike (before and after the WS) and Heavy Strike (before only)


    Rank 4 - Haymaker

    Create an opening and deliver a massive blow, dealing blunt damage. Can only be executed after evading an attack.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time: 5
    TP cost: 250
    I don't like this very much. It's not that it's a bad weaponskill, it actually deals similar damage to Concussive Blow, it is just it requires an evasion to be used. This will usually put off your rotation as it is hard to predict when you will evade an attack and Concussive Blow will mean an attack is more likely to miss you then you evade one. It goes well with Featherfoot though so after Rank 12 it starts being awesome due to it's low TP and stamina cost but then it starts being less useful once you get Jarring Strike.

    Rank 8 - Seismic Shock

    Cause violent tremors, dealing earth damage in a line with you and the target. Does not affect flying targets.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time: 10
    MP Cost: 20
    TP Cost: 1000
    Your first AoE ability and it's an awesome one. It does a chunk of Earth Damage in a cone in front of you. Hope you've been putting points into your Earth Affinity since this hits Earth weak mobs like a truck.


    Rank 14 - Jarring Strike

    Strike an enemy's joints, dealing blunt damage and stunning the target. Increases enmity. Can only be executed after evading an attack.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time: 5
    TP Cost: 250
    This is a very nice for tanking. Your opening rotation for main tanking should be as follows: Taunt > Light Strike > Heavy Strike > Featherfoot > Jarring Strike. After that you should use whatever rotation you find deals the most damage until Taunt is back up. The Stun doesn't last long though and it's hard to really use it well. I would leave Stunning to the Thaumaturgi


    Rank 18 - Victimize

    Exploit an enemy's weakness, dealing piercing damage and increasing your critical hit rate for each enfeebling effect on the target.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time: 10
    TP Cost: 2000
    Probably your most damaging Weapon Skill until Asuran Fists and Simian Thrash all things considered. This makes a great follow up to Concussive Blow. It is also why you really want a Thaumaturge in the party if you want to be maximising your DPS. And yes it does to Piercing damage so you don't have to worry about blunt resists on your other attacks.


    Rank 22 - Concussive Blow II

    Beat an enemy about the head and face, dealing blunt damage and reducing target's accuracy.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time: 10
    TP cost:1000
    More potent Concussive Blow. Deals more damage and the blind sticks more often.


    Rank 24 - Aura Pulse

    Emit a burst of energy, dealing blunt damage to nearby enemies. Attack power increased against flying targets.
    Cast Time: - 0
    Recast Time: 10
    TP cost: 1000
    Your second AoE ability and one that not only hits flying targets but it also deals double damage to them. This one is pretty nice for soloing Guildleves as mobs will often attack you in numbers.


    Rank 28 - Seismic Shock II

    Cause violent tremors, dealing earth damage in a line with you and the target. Does not affect flying targets.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time: 10
    MP Cost: 20
    TP Cost: 1000
    A buffed version of your cone attack. Hope you've been putting points into your Earth Affinity since this hits Earth weak mobs like a truck
    .

    Rank 32 - Haymaker II

    Create an opening and deliver a massive blow, dealing blunt damage. Can only be executed after evading an attack.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time: 5
    TP cost: 250
    It's another version of Haymaker. Nothing interesting to write here.


    Rank 34 - Pounce

    Lunge at an unsuspecting enemy, dealing blunt damage. Renders the target unconscious when executed from behind.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time: 60
    TP cost: 500
    I'm not sure what it means by "unconscious" as this ability's text wasn't translated well. I think it's a stun or sleep. Either way it seems like a fun candidate to atack with Blindside.

    Rank 38 - Jarring Strike II

    Strike an enemy's joints, dealing blunt damage and stunning the target. Increases enmity. Can only be executed after evading an attack.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time: 5
    TP Cost: 250
    Yay, another tanking WS! More power = more CE.


    Rank 44 - Follow Through

    Deliver a unconventional blow, increasing attack power by ??? and dealing damage from the opposite direction.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time: 10
    TP cost: 1000
    Basically if you hit them from the front they take damage as though you hit them from the rear.


    Rank 48 - Victimize II

    Exploit an enemy's weakness, dealing piercing damage and increasing your critical hit rate for each enfeebling effect on the target.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time: 10
    TP Cost: 2000Make your party happy to have invited the Thaumaturge and let rip with the buffed version of this ability

    Rank 50 - Asuran Fists

    Strike at an enemy's very core, delivering eightfold blunt damage. Target's defence is reduced by ??% when executed from the front, and only be executed while in optimal defensive stance.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time: 30
    TP cost: 1500
    Requires - Light punch buff
    All you need to to have the buff active, you don't need to Chain this with Light Strike. That being said....YAY ASURAN FISTS! ^_^

    Rank 50 - Simian Thrash

    Strike at an enemy's very core, delivering ninefold blunt damage. Can only be executed after evading an attack.
    Cast Time: 0
    Recast Time: 30
    TP cost: 1500
    Both of these attacks are in the game files and are more or less identical so I'm not sure which is these is actually the Rank 50 Weaponskill. Both are listed just in case anyway.
    Last edited by Firewind; 09-15-2010, 02:04 AM.
    Rahal Gerrant - Balmung - 188 DRK
    Reiko Takahashi
    - Balmung - 182 AST, 191 BLM, 182 SCH, 188 SMN
    Haters Gonna Hate




  • #2
    Re: The Path of the Asuran Fist - A Pugilist Guide

    Is this stickied? If not, then it should be.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: The Path of the Asuran Fist - A Pugilist Guide

      Dex also increases your Blindside damage and also evasion.
      Just curious, can you link me to a page or thread that says/proves this? I haven't done much reading yet, and I've only invested about 2 hours into open beta, so I've been wondering about that.

      Also, what's GCD?

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: The Path of the Asuran Fist - A Pugilist Guide

        Originally posted by Armando View Post
        Just curious, can you link me to a page or thread that says/proves this? I haven't done much reading yet, and I've only invested about 2 hours into open beta, so I've been wondering about that.

        Also, what's GCD?
        In the context, I'm going to say Global Cooldown. o:

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: The Path of the Asuran Fist - A Pugilist Guide

          Global Cooldown. It's the small period between executing a move and you being free to use another ability. Usually in MMOs your action bar blanks and in FFXI's case you get an error message when you spam a move. Chaining moves actually gets rid of that cooldown and lets you continue to attack at the expense of your stamina.
          Rahal Gerrant - Balmung - 188 DRK
          Reiko Takahashi
          - Balmung - 182 AST, 191 BLM, 182 SCH, 188 SMN
          Haters Gonna Hate



          Comment


          • #6
            Re: The Path of the Asuran Fist - A Pugilist Guide

            Thanks, that was helpful.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: The Path of the Asuran Fist - A Pugilist Guide

              About Dex affecting evasion. I'm not 100% sure. There are no working combat parsers for FFXIV so doing any sort of extensive testing will be tedious and difficult. The biggest thing that does effect evasion is position. Attacks coming from the rear all but negate evasion and have a good chance of critting.
              Rahal Gerrant - Balmung - 188 DRK
              Reiko Takahashi
              - Balmung - 182 AST, 191 BLM, 182 SCH, 188 SMN
              Haters Gonna Hate



              Comment


              • #8
                Re: The Path of the Asuran Fist - A Pugilist Guide

                Originally posted by Firewind View Post
                Attacks coming from the rear all but negate evasion and have a good chance of critting.
                It's definitely not 100% crit when getting hit from the back but I also do notice that the damage seems to be higher than normal (so a weakened defense rating in your blindspot?) Every race and class combination seems to have a varying rate of evasion, however, which mirrors the differences in stat distribution. This is only apparent at very low levels. This leads support to dexterity being a driving force for evasion.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: The Path of the Asuran Fist - A Pugilist Guide

                  Made a minor edit to the crafting section to clarify what is useful and why.
                  Rahal Gerrant - Balmung - 188 DRK
                  Reiko Takahashi
                  - Balmung - 182 AST, 191 BLM, 182 SCH, 188 SMN
                  Haters Gonna Hate



                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: The Path of the Asuran Fist - A Pugilist Guide

                    Can you use Follow-Through to Blindside from the front while tanking?
                    Nothing to see here people, let's keep the line moving >.>

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: The Path of the Asuran Fist - A Pugilist Guide

                      The short answer is we don't know. The Long answer is, more testing needs to be done since we don't know anyone who has reached the right level to get Follow Through and if they have, they don't seem to be willing to test it much.
                      Rahal Gerrant - Balmung - 188 DRK
                      Reiko Takahashi
                      - Balmung - 182 AST, 191 BLM, 182 SCH, 188 SMN
                      Haters Gonna Hate



                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: The Path of the Asuran Fist - A Pugilist Guide

                        How does the chaining of Pug attacks work? o.O
                        do i just use one after the other or is there summin special that needs to be done? :O
                        Dhuyhu Datura - Pugilist of Infamy! Rabanastre Server
                        Phys 10
                        Pug 9

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: The Path of the Asuran Fist - A Pugilist Guide

                          FFXIVBlog.com - Battle Regimen 101
                          Originally posted by Feba
                          But I mean I do not mind a good looking man so long as I do not have to view his penis.
                          Originally posted by Taskmage
                          God I hate my periods. You think passing a clot through a vagina is bad? Try it with a penis.
                          Originally posted by DakAttack
                          ...I'm shitting dicks out of my eyeballs in excitement for the next bestgreating game of all time ever.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: The Path of the Asuran Fist - A Pugilist Guide

                            Because I'm getting tired of the PMs...

                            This guide was written during the beta and for the beta so yes I know it has info not relevant now. And no I don't have any immediate plans to write a guide for the Pugilist for the full game for a couple of reasons:

                            1) FFXIV has no endgame so I have no idea what the endgame expectations of a Pugilist are
                            2) I wrote that while bored and it's more of a data compilation than a guide, there's plenty of other places to get one from that are better then something that a bored student wrote for the beta during server downtime.

                            So please stop PMing me, thanks.

                            EDIT: All five of you are very funny. Please stop that.
                            Last edited by Firewind; 11-23-2010, 08:00 AM.
                            Rahal Gerrant - Balmung - 188 DRK
                            Reiko Takahashi
                            - Balmung - 182 AST, 191 BLM, 182 SCH, 188 SMN
                            Haters Gonna Hate



                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: The Path of the Asuran Fist - A Pugilist Guide

                              I didn't PM you Firewind. Do you still like me?

                              But anyway ... I suggest that for w/e combat classes people use ... they gotta level up Thau and Conj. Not sure why exactly but almost everyone that I run into seems to think that it's a must. Don't need to take it to 50 although you're quite welcome, but getting key abilities at every point seems to be what they were alluding to. Some of the JP players were even surprised I was even thinking of getting GLA to 50 w/o leveling Conj and told me that it was in my best interest to get it at least to within 10 or 15 ranks of GLA (i.e., 25-10)

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