Nuking Gear SetFollow

I'm trying to come up with the best possible gear set for nuking on WHM, Banish and Holy. This is what I have so far. Stuff in italics is gear I don't have yet but am working on. I'm looking for opinions on this to see if this really is the most optimal set.

Weapon: Apollo's Staff
Grip: Light Grip
Head: Yigit Turban
Neck: Divine Torque
Body: Morgana's Cotehardie
Hands: Goliard Cuffs/ Cleric's Mitts
Waist: Cleric's Belt/ Korin Obi
Pants: Healer's Pantaloons +1
Feet: Marduk's Crackows
Ear 1: Moldavite Earring
Ear 2: Crapaud Earring/ ACP Augment Earring
Back: Solitaire Cape
Ring 1: Omega Ring/ Fenian Ring
Ring 2: Tamas Ring

So yeah, give me your opinions. I was thinking Oracle's Robe and Uggalepih Pendant would probably be a better combination under 51% MP, but I want to make a set for above that, as I likely wouldn't ever be nuking with MP that low, ever. (Also, sub out Cleric's Mitts on Banish if you want to help the DDs more. Also, not including Novio as it's impossible for me, but if you have it, I'm sure you know it beats Crapaud.)

And one last thing, looking for someone who can officially confirm that 2 MND = 1 MAB on these spells.

[EDIT] Solitaire Cape or Aslan Cape?
Yigit Turban or Healer's Cap +1?

Edited, May 6th 2009 11:20pm by JingWoo

The balance between Mind and Magic Atk Bonus is not as simple as 2 Mnd = 1 MAB.
Magic Damage is caculated as a Process:

Let D equal initial damage value:

Each magic tier has an inherent mutliplier value M.
Each magic spell has a base value V.
Let dINT be (Caster's INT - Target's INT).
(Banishes and Holy, substitute MND for INT).

For dINT < 0: D = V + dINT (when dINT is a penalty, the tier mult. is always 1)
For dINT > 0, but less than some inflection point: D = V + (dINT * M)
For dINT > 0, but after some inflection point: D = V + (const + (dINT-const) * M / 2))(above some critical value, adding INT becomes half as effective)
For dINT > 0, but after some cap: D = cap

If spell hits mutiple enemies, D value is reduced.

Resist are factored after D is caculated
1/2, 1/4, 1/8, or 1/16.

Staff bonuses are caculated after Resists.
Day/Weather are caculated after Staff bonus.
Magic Bursts are caculated after Day/Weather.
Magic Attack/Defense is caculated after Magic Bursts.

MAB is divided by MDB.
MAB is as we know it (i.e. MAB I = 1.2, MAB II = 1.24 etc). Items with the description "Magic Atk. Bonus"+X means to add X/100 to the current MAB.

Final Caculation factors in Monster Type/Enhancments (Shell, etc)

The very condensed version of Magic Dmg caculation:
Full version here: http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Calculating_Magic_Damage

there are no hard numbers that can be crunched in that link :/ which doesn't really help us lol, all you can really say is: MND may increase the base damage before most of the other calculations, and MAB provides a damage bonus to the tune of (damage*(old MAB + x))/enemy MDB

Edited, May 8th 2009 8:21am by ZiGG

on fenian ring:
afaik banish =/= holy

Edited, May 6th 2009 10:55pm by ZiGG

I have; the bonus isn't all that great (in fact, it seems to be point-for-point equal to the bonus to Cura :-/).

If you're nuking and still curing, stick with Solace/Holy. If you're up against undead, where Banish would be more useful, you're pretty much limited to situations where you can gear up to tank so that you can do respectable Misery/Banishes and, preferably, still melee (TBH, Misery seems to only really be good for WHMs who are geared up in absolutely no enmity- gear - load up into a melee set, keep Auspice up, and try and outdo everyone on hate so you can throw respectable Curas and Banishes).

EDIT: Also, "Enhances potency of Banish vs. undead", no matter the equipment, seems to be an increase in the duration of the "eliminate damage resistance" effect.

Edited, May 7th 2009 2:33am by MDenham

Without knowing the damage constants and multipliers for the banish and holy lines, it's impossible to determine for certain what the optimal gear set for WHM nuking is. And of course, that will vary by opponent. I don't nuke often enough as WHM to really even have a feel for how resistant most enemies are, so I tend to err to the side of skill/macc rather than damage.

And compared to a BLM, WHM starts with 7 less divine skill than a BLM has elemental skill. For me, 8/8 elemental merits raise the gap there to 23 skill. Then the fact that I'm a Taru with INT merits means that my WHM nukes are even MORE likely to be resisted than my BLM nukes. We should also consider that BLM starts with a native MAB of 1.32, where WHM starts with 1.24 at best (with /BLM).

So keeping that in mind, Here are my comments on your selections:

Head: Marduk's divine skill would be good here, but Yigit will obviously give more raw damage. Healer's cap/+1 is probably a good default option.

Body: ACP "weskit" (MAB and MACC augmentations) is going to be the best piece hands down. Barring that, I'd stick with errant/mahatma body (I use errant). The 10 MND will give you some damage and some accuracy. Morgana's is utter trash that I wouldn't be caught dead in on either BLM or WHM - it's simply too big of a hit to magic accuracy. Marduk's would be better than errant, if you can get it.

Hands: Zenith mitts are the standard on BLM, but we can fall back to AF1 for accuracy when we need it. I wear the zenith on my WHM as well, but that's mainly because I don't have Goliard, which are probably your best nuking hands when accuracy is in question. On the other hand, you could try blessed or healer's mitts +1 for the MND, which might provide slightly more accuracy against a mob with high MND (depending on a lot of things, including whether WHM nuke accuracy follows the same formulas for MND as BLM nukes have with INT). Healer's mitts also might be your best option if you're nuking undead with cure spells. And of course, clerics have their use. It's really easy to see the effects of banish while beating on low to mid-level ghosts with a club, by the way.

Waist: as listed, use a penitent's rope if you can't get a cleric's belt.
Feet: marduk's, since you have 'em. Yigit (dmg) or goliard (accuracy) for people who don't.

Back: Ixion cape is probably better, prism is probably close. If a given swap of MND for MAB gives almost the same damage, keep the MND on for the accuracy. Altruistic cape is an option for max accuracy if you know you're nuking something resistant.

Rings: As listed... +5 MND ring of choice for people who don't have omega.

Edited, May 7th 2009 5:58pm by VxSote