Victory Smite Equip and Shijin Spira questionFollow

Hey guys I can't find a solid post on this. Would anyone be able to tell me how to optimally equip for this WS? I know its STR based so am I just looking for all STR in all slots? THen I would be forgoing acc and attack. How should I do this for best damage outcome, thanks

Second question:
I am in Zeruhn with a mnk99/war who is using Shijin Spiral. Her WS damage is consistently doing better than my VS damage. I have a revenant fist and she is using Brawny Adargas. I'm decently equipped with Tantra head +1, Cyclas +1, black belt, tonberry's grudge neck piece, rajas, athelings. And she is using some old school equip liek shura togi, and byakkos.

My guess is that she is subbing /war and her WS equip is better. I don't relaly have much STR built into my VS. Can anyone figure out why this is? I hear VS is supposed to overpower Shijin even when naked. What am I doing wrong?

Edited, Aug 27th 2012 10:23am by TaiiKen

For Smite, stack str, but if you can mix it with a decent amount of dex that's even better, since that helps the crit rate.

Ammo: Thew/Tantra/Potestas can each work
Head: Aias
Neck: Gorget
Earrings: Brutal, then Moonshade TP Bonus if you have it, or Ghillie/Aesir-type attack earrings, or a +4 str earring
Body: Toci's Harness is best (unless Impetus is up, in which case use Tantra+2), otherwise Tantra +2
Hands: Heafoc for pure str, or Mustela for str plus positive dex
Rings: Rajas+Pyrosoul
Back: Atheling
Waist: Prosilio (unless att capped), Wanion, Pipilaka, Beir+1, Black Belt. Elemental belts fall well below those.
Legs: Usukane, Hachiryu, Shura
Feet: Melee+2 or Tantra+2

That gives you a solid amount of str with up to +52 dex, which should push you close to cap dex crit rate on even moderately difficult stuff (assuming you have str and dex merited).

Note that Thaumas pieces are also very good in most of those slots, but am going to guess you don't have those right now.

If you're low on attack, use Boost/Berserk. If you're low on accuracy, use Focus/Aggressor/Pizza/Sushi/Stalwart's. In general you'll gain a lot more using appropriate JAs or different food than by changing the main gear setup for the weaponskill, though it's still feasible to make a few tweaks.

On comparison with Shijin Spiral -- Properly geared, Shijin and Smite are very close to each other, damage-wise; same naked. If you're seeing significant differences in damage, it's not the weaponskill itself, it's gear, subjob, and random stuff like DAs or misses.