Beastmaster Help.

[Tim Wakefield]

I've recently taken an interest in BST, but I have an inquiry or two, basically to not make myself look like a retard. First off, when partying (Level 32 right now) what is the best jug pet to go with? My first party was at level 23, so I went with CourierCarrie just because I see her around alot and I assumed she was good, but her damage output was meh (Though I pulled that party, and she was good at that). TigerFamiliar?

Also, I have a Charm set and a Fighting set. What stats should I be going for with the Fighting set? I have a weird mix of attack, evasion, and accuracy. I know there aren't a ton of options at this level, but I'm more or less clueless and was just picking pieces that I thought would benefit me.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Mattaru]

I've recently taken an interest in BST, but I have an inquiry or two, basically to not make myself look like a retard. First off, when partying (Level 32 right now) what is the best jug pet to go with? My first party was at level 23, so I went with CourierCarrie just because I see her around alot and I assumed she was good, but her damage output was meh (Though I pulled that party, and she was good at that). TigerFamiliar?

Also, I have a Charm set and a Fighting set. What stats should I be going for with the Fighting set? I have a weird mix of attack, evasion, and accuracy. I know there aren't a ton of options at this level, but I'm more or less clueless and was just picking pieces that I thought would benefit me.

Thanks in advance.

Tiger or Funguar are your DD friends. Especially Funguar.

Attack set is like any other for pt, but solo/duo you want to try and fit in enm- . You are going to get hit really so don't worry about evasion really. Later ... like 70s, a haste build is nice.

 

[Tim Wakefield]

Tiger or Funguar are your DD friends. Especially Funguar.

Attack set is like any other for pt, but solo/duo you want to try and fit in enm- . You are going to get hit really so don't worry about evasion really. Later ... like 70s, a haste build is nice.

Thanks Matty, I knew you'd come through for me

 

[Mishaela]

In case you were wondering, too - BST/WAR is typically much more useful in XP parties than BST/NIN is, unless you're absolutely decked out in terms of both and/or merits. Once you have access to Viking Axes then BST/NIN with Hedgehog Pie can work out, but it's still dependent on just how good your other gear is as well as what you're usually going up against.

Having too little attack is the typical bane of most Beastmasters; if you sub WAR you can obtain a good balance of attack/accuracy by eating sushi, but if you sub NIN you'll most definitely need attack food (there are exceptions to this, if you want me to explain a bit). The problem with the latter is you'll often wind up not having enough accuracy which will leave you missing a lot unless you use two Vikings, which loses it's usefulness once the L60+ axes roll along. There's a bit more on this but it's a bit lengthy, so I won't go into it unless you want me to.

As Mattaru said, Funguar Familiar is just about the best thing you can have in most situations, just need to be wary of the large range it's gas attacks can have. You can buy Seedbed Oils for a fairly low price in Kazham as well, much lower than the price the AH usually has them for.

Tiger Familiar is a good alternative, and if it uses a successful Roar early on in a fight it can make it a bit one-sided. It's got more defense than a Funguar but slightly less attack; because of this I'd personally go with Funguar, since it shouldn't be getting hit enough for it's defense/hp to be too much of a concern.

 

[Tim Wakefield]

In case you were wondering, too - BST/WAR is typically much more useful in XP parties than BST/NIN is, unless you're absolutely decked out in terms of both and/or merits. Once you have access to Viking Axes then BST/NIN with Hedgehog Pie can work out, but it's still dependent on just how good your other gear is as well as what you're usually going up against. Having too little attack is the typical bane of most Beastmasters; if you sub WAR you can obtain a good balance of attack/accuracy by eating sushi, but if you sub NIN you'll most definitely need attack food.

As Mattaru said, Funguar Familiar is just about the best thing you can have in most situations, just need to be wary of the large range it's gas attacks can have. You can buy Seedbed Oils for a fairly low price in Kazham as well, much lower than the price the AH usually has them for.

Tiger Familiar is a good alternative, and if it uses a successful Roar early on in a fight it can make it a bit one-sided. It's got more defense than a Funguar but slightly less attack; because of this I'd personally go with Funguar, since it shouldn't be getting hit enough for it's defense/hp to be too much of a concern.

Yeah I made the mistake of going /nin to my first party. When you go /war, do you still use a 1-Handed Axe, or is it better to switch to a different weapon?

 

[Mishaela]

Yeah I made the mistake of going /nin to my first party. When you go /war, do you still use a 1-Handed Axe, or is it better to switch to a different weapon?

Axe is definitely best. Dagger and Sword aren't nearly high enough to be of use and Beastmaster doesn't get access to any of the decent Scythe weapon skills - some scythes will do better damage than axes at certain levels but since the weapon skill damage is so poor that it's generally just not worth it.



The large problem with BST/NIN is that BST will often come up short on both accuracy as well as attack, and no food can really effectively cover both. Because of this you're generally only able to go BST/NIN when you have access to a ME/Juggy combo (which allows you to use Sushi and still have relatively decent attack) or when you have access to dual Viking (which allows you to eat meat and still have decent accuracy).

The latter option can result in you doing great damage, however you may need things like PCC and snipers/woodsmen rings to be comfortable with the accuracy rate you'd wind up having vs some monsters. If you ditch a Viking for a Wrath Tabar at 56 then you might be forced to go back to BST/WAR due to the accuracy loss, however at 59 you can trade a Viking for a Kabrakan or Wrath and you should still be able to dual wield thanks to Hauby's acc bonus. You could also trade in a Viking for Wrath at 57, if you happen to have a SH you plan on using until 59.

Axes don't get much better from that point on until the 70s range, in which case you can get a Maneater/Juggernaut combo (Woodville/Maneater works almost as well) and pop Sushi without worrying too much about your attack rating. The issue until then, however, is whether or not you're comfortable with using a setup such as Wrath/Viking or Kabrakan/Viking til L70+.

Many people laugh at the concept of off-handing a Viking past L53 for some reason I'll never understand, since that accuracy boost can be enough to pop attack food which raises your DoT substantially as a BST...cutting straight to the point though, I'd recommend using Vikings (or offhanding a Viking when the time comes) if it allows you enough accuracy to pop attack food. If it's not enough, you should sub WAR and pop Sushi instead.


*Late edit* When you reach the later levels, there's an option some might notify you of: Gaudy Harness + Dual Rune Axes. With this and Sanction Refresh you get a +10 attack bonus and 10hp/tic auto-regen. This is fairly nice for solo, but is really -only- useful when solo. Or maybe if partied with a REALLY REALLY bad healer. =P

*More edit* Sorry if that was way too drawn-out. Pent-up nerdiness. <_<

 

[Tim Wakefield]

*More edit* Sorry if that was way too drawn-out. Pent-up nerdiness. <_<

Not at all, I'd love to have every tidbit of info I can get on the mysteries of BST. I have all the gear you mentioned (Including a subligar ready to be converted to a Gaudy at 50) except the PCC, which I would imagine is a fairly critical aspect to an accuracy setup. Like I said, I'm only 32 now, but I'm definitely going to save this for future reference,

 

[Jimmydaneck]

As far as jug pets go, the truth be told is the mobs in the area are going to be stronger than whatever you can call from a jug. You are really better off using them. However, I solod to 75 so party dynamic as bst is not something I know much about. I think if you didn't mind pulling you could snag a pet as you were off to pull. And actually as I'm typing this I'm thinking thats more of a consideration after you get Leave at 35.
Also ffxiclopedia has a pretty good equipment guide you can check out.

 

[Mishaela]

Oh, yeh...Jimmy is entirely right, the large issue though is that there's rarely a good DC-EM pet near the camp you XP at, and running out of your way to get one is usually too much of a holdup to be worth it. Familiar can help with this of course, but then that's only good for 30mins at most. =\

 

[Lucki]

Oh, yeh...Jimmy is entirely right, the large issue though is that there's rarely a good DC-EM pet near the camp you XP at, and running out of your way to get one is usually too much of a holdup to be worth it. Familiar can help with this of course, but then that's only good for 30mins at most. =\

Don't forget that if you're Familiaring a pet, that usually means it's a T or higher, which means its level will determine the amount of XP your party gets.

 

[Gannon]

Don't forget that if you're Familiaring a pet, that usually means it's a T or higher, which means its level will determine the amount of XP your party gets.

A pet doesn't have to be T or higher when you Familiar it. I think it is assumed Tim knows better than to use a T pet in an exp PT, lol. In this case using Familiar just ensures whatever pet he charms will stay charmed for 30 mins.

 

[Lucki]

A pet doesn't have to be T or higher when you Familiar it. I think it is assumed Tim knows better than to use a T pet in an exp PT, lol. In this case using Familiar just ensures what ever pet he charms will stay charmed for 30 mins.

You're right. I guess I was just going on my experiences with using Familiar and using T/VT/IT's to rape certain things that needed raping.

 

[Gannon]

You're right. I guess I was just going on my experiences with using Familiar and using T/VT/IT's to rape certain things that needed raping.

Ah, now that is indeed fun

 

[Bluefrost]

I recommend Funguar pets, as most of their TP moves are based on their percentage of HP. Hopefully they won't get AoE'd to death. I also like Tiger pets, but they don't have many HP.

 

[Kotsu]

Tim, if I wear my mandragora costume does that mean I can be your familiar?

^^ Funguar ftw, /war till sometime in the 50's for parties. Obviously, mage subs work out better for you during solo but everyone under the sun knows that. I dunno if /dnc is viable or not, since I know your dead sex galka is up there with dancer.

 

[Tim Wakefield]

As far as jug pets go, the truth be told is the mobs in the area are going to be stronger than whatever you can call from a jug. You are really better off using them. However, I solod to 75 so party dynamic as bst is not something I know much about. I think if you didn't mind pulling you could snag a pet as you were off to pull. And actually as I'm typing this I'm thinking thats more of a consideration after you get Leave at 35.
Also ffxiclopedia has a pretty good equipment guide you can check out.

I pulled for a party in the Jungle a few days ago, and there were barely enough mobs for us to kill, let alone use as pets. I'd imagine its going to be similar in Garlaige, Altepa, Kuftal, and any of the "Standard" exp camps from here on out.

And Kotsu, I thought about trying /dnc at some point, but I'm not sure how efficiently I could build TP. I guess it's worth a shot.

 

[Kotsu]

My thoughts are that if you build TP too quickly, you'll get too much hate. Maybe if you gimp your melee damage?

 

[Tim Wakefield]

My thoughts are that if you build TP too quickly, you'll get too much hate. Maybe if you gimp your melee damage?

Well that should be easy, since I'm naturally gimp to begin with ( '-')d

 

[Kotsu]

Yea. Since you're soloing, I dunno though... Gimp your damage and use a attack familiar. I mean, I really don't know...

Btw, I can craft you pet food and some jugs if you need some help.

 

[Mishaela]

Oh yes, that's one thing that was overlooked x_x

It's very, very easy to pull hate while solo if you try your best. I'd highly recommend Raven Beret (Or Patroclus' if you're lucky) to help with that since the only really good helmets you can use at that point otherwise aren't all that great to begin with. Another good thing to do later on if you're soloing is to let the pet go vs the enemy for two or three hits before jumping in, just to make sure you don't consistently get it's attention.

If you hit the big 75, Beast Affinity is definitely the best thing to level. Managing to make it so you can have L75 Funguars and Lifedrinker Lars can vastly improve your DoT over using Carrie.