Runes of Magic US / AU

Well, how much money you got, and does your server farm Jugglers and/or Aoth?

Vahtos is best bar none for most mage combos unless and until you can get Aoth or Jugglers. You may as well avoid stuff like Ifur unless you're mage/war and just feel like being different. They need to be cleaned too, and the crit build is useful for m/w but vahtos will still work fine.

People debate Aoth vs Juggies, I think the Euro's prefer Aoth, but the jury's still out on Jugglers.

As cheap as cleaners are right now, you may as well get some and clean the set you have already, and just throw some stuff on em til you get Aoth or Juggler.

Right now Aoth seems more viable simply because it is a 3-piece set bonus, and you don't need that horrible Juggler cape.

Just hard as hell to get OD, though.

considering how much of a stingy wh#$5 annelia has been with mage drops aoth may well be more doable.

wait, vn is stingier with mage drops. (has no problem dropping mages though.)

Paz speaketh the trutheth.

So, would it be prudent to stay with the Vahtos spell set, modding it, statting it, until the Aoth set is available?

i usually keep my opinions hidden in nonsense or posting the exact opposite directly after one of my posts...but here's my experience. (your mileage may vary of course.)

i ran gch nightly with 2 other mages since ch4 launched...i had crit set (raksha, ifur..etc) one had vahtos and the other one didnt speak english, so i never knew who it was really. but the results in gch were clear, consistent and striking. crit set hands downs was better (and feet down, and whatever else)

BUT i think diminishing returns kicks you at around ~65% crit unbuffed...much on top is nice, but averages out it seems to no real gain.

adding 15% dmg to a 300k flame crit is nice (to a 120k flame non crit, meh, (but now after-gcd + mage present = 500k crits whic is REALLY schweet ), but critting double what one set gives blows away any thought of which is more valuable. for gch anyways..

juggler essentially combines the dmg % buff with a VERY nice crit set. aoth is 8% dmg + 8% int plus crit...aoth i think wins for gch anyways because the mdef of the bosses is reachable after you're gch geared. (especially for lazy m/w's who instead of re-statting pop berserk )

availability...ugh. juggs, ugh. aoth, ugh. hell i hate RT so much, ugh^2. new stuff is appealing.

People tier gear to get higher results from pdef and passives. Vahtos has none of those so you do not want to tier it any higher than necessary unless you feel like wasting puris.

yea aoth is from vn, 2 pieces. 3rd- ring is a quest...quite lengthy. and mage pieces really are very rare in our experience. (1 piece since april.)

but others have had more success.

Quoted from "RoMage;494067"

Adding glorious stats makes it T5, and does regular ghost stats get + from T-up or not?? I am not sure that PDef and MDef are only thing that change with T-up, but I might be wrong... (where is RoM Armory when you need it... )

Accessories have no P.Def or M.Def, Vahtos set also has no ghost stats on it that are worth tiering higher (are there even ghost stats? lol). And honestly I believe crit build is better than vahtos set anyways. Now that you have reached 60 i would recommend 2x ifur, 2x raksha earring, forgotten necklace. Then once you reach 65, replace forgotten neck with juggler necklace. Then when you have full juggler set, then replace one of your ifur and one of your raksha earring. Juggler would be easier for you to obtain than the VN 3 piece and VN cape. Even though the cape may cost you a leg and an arm.

Yep, tiering vahtos is useless.

Tiering Aoth/Jugglers certainly has some benefits, though.

Tiering will only apply to natural ghost stats, not to the stats that show up after refining. For example, Ifur Rings have crit rate on them before they are ever refined. Tiering an Ifur will increase this amount. A Rare Forest Chain, however has no ghost stat on it until it is refined. Thus, tiering a Rare Forest Chain is a completely pointless waste of puris. (It is also hilariously funny, because I've seen quite a few T6 Rare Forest Chains).

complete juggler t6+16 (w/o pdef/mdef of cape because of armor vs acces. item)
171,4 sta
1298 mcrit
943,2 pcrit (.....)
344,8 INT
636,4 mprec
4500 HP (note: we only have ONE earring with hp plussing bonus)
424,8 Wis
2937,6 matk
10% mdmg/mpower
---
complete vathos +16 (t2/3/4/5 doesnt matter, no ghosts at all)
264 mcrit
3720 HP
180 MP
12 INT
25 matk
15% mdmg/mpower
----
+5% mdmg/mpower
-780 hp (actually more like (780+3300) less because were still missing an earring)
-1034 mcrit
-679,2 pcrit (....)
-2912,6 matk
-428,8 wis
-332,8 int
-636,4 mprec
-171,4 sta
[as for 180 MP ... we have -wisdom, too lazy to split]

lets assume we get enough mprec/wisdom and anything that makes us survive better anywhere else (doubtful, but lets just assume it) and just look at the stuff that does damage.

5% mpower
vs
3770 matk (matk + int to matk)
1034 mcrit

im not a mage, but just look at it.

short: bye vathos.

<3

ultra cheap version without going into any endgame instance (just farm DoD and try your luck at the vendor):

Costume of Heroic Ghost (lvl67/70 memento set) t6+16

6557 matk (pure matk + int to matk together (int*1.2(hero)*1.073(wis)*2(int->matk))
1811 mcrit
6600 HP

(2x Ring 2x Earring 1x Necklace)

even that should be a LOT more damage than vathos.

------

VN+VN cape t6+16 ( 4 parts on the same slots to compare it with juggler )
4267 matk (int included, matk+(int*1.2*1.073*1.08(<-aoth bonus)*2)
1360,8 mcrit
6357 HP (hp from stamina with heropot incl.)
208,8 mprec
50 mdmg points
8% INT
8% mpower
pdef/mdef of cape ignored, stamina converted to hp.

as for "damage only":

vathos (5 parts):
264 mcrit
12 INT
25 matk
15% mdmg/mpower
juggler (4 parts):
~3825 matk
1298 mcrit
10% mdmg/mpower
Costume of Heroic Ghost (5 parts as a "ultra cheap" example):
6557 matk
1811 mcrit
VN+cape(4 parts, 3 set + 1 standalone):
4267 matk
1360,8 mcrit
50 mdmg points
8% INT
8% mpower


"damage only juggler<->vn"
vn over juggler:
+8% int
+442 matk
+63 mcrit
+50 mdmgpoints
-2% mdmg

combine either juggler or VN with another ring and earring of your personal preference

update up there.