Well, I've lately invested in a new weapon and wanted to have some opinions before commiting to it
Blessed Apoca Cutter +12
vs
Amaranta Cutter +10
Both are clean (no SA, element). I wanted to get the Apoca but because of market things I now have Ama and may be able to trade it for the originally desired Apoca
Since I'm low bugdet, my tanky guts are telling me to go for the Apoca which even has slightly more P.Atk than the Ama, put both SA to go full HP and get the +10% PvP bonus and be done with my weapon for a veeeeeery long time. Big HP has always being my selling point as tank
But some friends suggest that I conserve the Ama to improve it in the long run. The first SA is doable but the 2nd SA and/or Bloody for extra HP will take quite some investment I would find better somewhere else
Basically, I'm looking for some validation to say *** it and go for the R-weapon and just to be sure I'm not missing anything that may make me want to conserve the Ama. The Apoca will be ready to go almost as soon as I get it while the Ama ofc has a lot more room for improvement but at a considerable cost which I frankly see unnecesary
On a side note, what's your prefered 2nd SA? The first one being Body of course
HP Speed
HP Crit
HP Soul
I've used both Speed and Crit and I'm currently on Speed. Since I'm HK I have 500/1500 most of the time, it's only in Olys where I don't max and it's makes me wonder if Soul could be worth it, I guess not but asking is free I guess XD
Keep the amaranthine and trade it to blunt it is future proof and there will be room for improvements like making it dark or bloody unlike the apoc and 2nd sa is body/speed :)
imo this really depends on what other items are on your list for improvement as even though sure the R99 is future proof and you will get alot more HP in the end if you ever get it to Bloody/Dark you actually won't need it that badly compared to other stuff like right set of epics / dark hvy armor set +8 / abundance lvl1 tali etc.
if you got money to spare keep the R99 cutter, if not and got other stuff to improve go with the bless apo as in the end all it really is just a fancy HP stick..
also you can use the money u saved for trying to get a decent augment if anything else :P
long story short figure out your priorities first then decide :)
ps, don't get blunt unless you have access to the right gear and/or a perma sos box as that nerfs the heck out of your crit rate for no good return pay off..
I have way more room for improvement in the rest of my gear, that's way I'm not feeling like spending in making a 2SA R99 and/or Bloody
My current gear is:
Eternal Set +6
CoC Stun | Orfen Soul | Tezza Soul | AQ Soul | CoC Ring
Talis Hunter, Hellfire, Venir 7
Octa Shirt
Chef Monkey Belt
Dyes +10 CON +5 STR
Acc CON & Acc STR
Ruby 1 | Obsi 2 | Topaz 1
I have a CP with decent dmg (we do Tauti epic on our own... with some struggle XD) so I'm ok in PvE. My main focus is to improve in party and mass PvP
Oly is cool but not my main goal
I like swords, I'm fancy about it, so I'll stick with swords ^^
What would be the most cost-effective improvements I could do to my gear in the near future?
I'm guessing Abu Lv1, Longing, B.Zaken or normal Anthy, Ring of Creation, La vie jewels and Set+8 (even R95 normal or blessed)
Based on your current set up it's not even debatable, go with the Apoc. If you can afford a Leona Stage 5 get Health & Health/Haste for your 2 SA's (Kain and Leona).
As far as what to get next, get Lv1 Abundance or wait about a week and get better Brooch Gems.
The case for Abundance is that it will give you PvE Defense (raw PDef increase) and PvP Defense (15% PvP Damage Reduction).
Your jewels are fine for now and will last you for some time before you need to upgrade them.
I would also advise you to sell the +6 r99 and get +8 Bless TW. It should only cost you about 1-2b more after selling r99 and it will be so much better.
I may go for Leona 4 which is the same but -1% Atk.Spd (so nothing) until I can get a decent priced Leona 5
Also about the Abu Tali I was considering to get it next, although Hunter already provide me with the 15% PvP dmg reduction which is a bless, extra defense and skills are always welcome
Does +8 Blessed TW really work better that +6 R99? I was considering it between my options, but someone told I would feel the lower defense of the set. It would make sense in a Tyrr but not in a Tank, and I narrowed my options between R95+8 and R99+6
I haven't really test it to know for sure, but if it's really the case that Blessed TW+8 is better than my current R99+6 I would go after it after I'm done with my weapon
let me put it this way a +10 Blessed TW Hvy is defi better then a +6 R99 and even better then a +8 R95.. the boost lies in the 10% pdef bonus + amazing mp regen as well the item sub bonus of the +10 Bless effects like extra runspeed / huge crit rate boost etc.
the only reason to keep R99 is if you think u can afford to make it Dark aka PVP but imo that's a waste to do on just a +6 set..
Yeah, I know +10 TW is better, but regarding +8 BlsTW vs +6 Eternal which are around similar price, would it be an upgrade? Would I lose tankiness?
Because being realistic neither Dark nor Bloody are in my near future and I always try to make the most of my budget. Also I've always enjoyed fancy shiny things that are actually useful for the char ^^
The PDef of +8 Bless TW is almost the same (maybe even a bit more) as +6 r99. The Eternal has more base PDef but one of the +8 set bonuses is +11% PDef which evens it out. They are so close that the difference is unnoticeable.
The +8 Bless TW will give more:
Run Speed
Crit Rate
MP Regen
Acc
Evasion (lol)
and a chance to reflect debuffs
+6 r99 will have more:
HP (roughly 1k fully buffed)
and Element defense
Any other differences between the two are so small as to be irrelevant. The reason I would personally go with the +8 are the run speed, MP regen, and, chance to reflect debuffs. Run speed is self explanatory (tanks are SLOW), the MP regen bonus is HUGE @ +7, and tanks already have a 10% chance to reflect debuffs; add another 5% and it becomes pretty noticeable.
As far as talismans go, hunter is nice but you will never get the active buff from it and lv1 gives 1k PDef and 500 MDef which will help in PvP and PvE.
Funny story short, from now on I'll be tanking with a Buster, which actually already hits harder than my former +4 Cutter
I got a good deal and saved some adena for the rest of my gear, now I'll just wait for the next Red Libra to bring it to its full potential. Meanwhile I'm glad I found a decent appareance to hide the little secret ^^