Animator's Workshop

In progress: those with knowledge of sets or who wish to collaborate, please drop me a PM.

MASTER

I. Overloading/Burden
II. Abilities
III.traits
IV. Weapons skills
V. weapons
VI.Armor Sets
IX. Other Resources and Tools (findings)

PUPPET

node 2
LORE

MASTER

Introduction and Basics

OVERLOAD

Macro this set into every maneuver you use. I cannot stress this enough. Overloading is probably the worst thing you can do as a Pup.
ItemSet 311680

Overload Facts
When zoning or summoning a new automaton, your pets maneuvers have an overload cooldown applied. This sets every elemental maneuver near overload status, and requires around 40 (37) seconds to cool down to 0% overload, and be safe to use. Water attachments can lower your chance to overload and accelerate the rate that your automaton cools down.
When a maneuver is used it generates (x) heat and (y)% overload chance, up to a threshold. If the threshold is exceeded, you will have a high chance of overloading; The duration of which, is dependent on how high your burden was leading up to your overload.

(overloading test results)
(burden per maneuver results)
attachment assistance

Maneuvers

The heart of puppetmaster, maneuvers effect the AI of your automaton. maneuvers require careful management to maximize your performance as PUP. maneuvers have a 10 second cool-down and last one minute. you can have up to three maneuvers maximum, an animator is required to perform them.

Maneuvers will increase in duration the longer a puppet is alive. zoning or reactivating will reset this duration. caps at 5 min/maneuvers

Abilities

Overdrive: Level 1
Recast 1:00:00
Augments the fighting ability of your automaton to its maximum level.

Vastly increases the automaton's accuracy, attack, defense, evasion, attack speed, and possibly more. Grants a strong resistance (possible immunity) against enfeebling magic. In order to use this ability, the Puppetmaster must have an automaton activated. Grants immunity to overload, although you still accumulate burden. If you are already overloaded, it will not remove the effect.


Activate: Level 1
20:00
This allows you to call forth your automaton.
Instantly calls your automaton along side you.
If Deactivate is used while the Automaton's HP is at 100%, Activate's recast timer will be reset to 0:00
Activate sets your Automaton's elemental burden to a high Overload threshold, as does zoning.
Deus Ex Automata: Level 5
1:00
When using this ability it will call your automaton in an unsound state. (1/3 hp/mp)
Restoring the automaton's HP to full then using Deactivate will reset Activate to ready like normal.Repair: Level 15
3:00 2min30sec with full merits.

Requires Automaton Oils which come in 4 levels. Which ever tier of Oil you use varies the duration and potency of the repair ability.

Level 15 Automaton Oil: Base: 10% Max HP | Potency: 10 hp/tick | Duration:10 ticks (60 Sec) | Total Regen:100 HP |
*Removes 1 status effect
Level 30 Automaton Oil +1: Base: 20% Max HP | Potency: 20 hp/tick | Duration:20 ticks (60 Sec) | Total Regen:400 HP
*Removes 2 status effect
Level 50 Automaton Oil +2: Base: 30% Max HP | Potency: 30 hp/tick | Duration:30 ticks (90 Sec) | Total Regen:900 HP
*Removes 3 status effect
Level 80 Automaton Oil+3: Base: 40% Max HP | Potency: 40 hp/tick | Duration:40 ticks (120 Sec) | Total Regen:1600 HP
*Removes 4 status effect

*requires Maintenance active
This ability provides healing in the form of a base amount of healing as well as a regen effect as listed under each respective oil. This regen effect is enhanced by Guignol Earring which adds a 20% increase in potency to only the regen effect. Desultor Tassets can be obtained through "A Shantotto Ascension(Fin)" to also increase the regen effect by 10% with the appropriate augment. Artifact feet remove negative status effects when equipped during Repair. This erase effect through Repair can be further enhanced by Reforging the feet and can even remove Petrification. When you gain access to these pieces you may forgo the option to use Maintenance as this can also wakes your automaton upon use.

Maintenance: Level 30
1:00
This ability requires the use of Automaton oil like Repair, however this ability does not heal your automaton's HP. Instead it removes status effect from your Automaton.

Removable Effects are: Poison, Paralyze, Blind, Silence, Curse, Disease, Plague, Petrified, Dia, Bio, Bind, Slow, Weight, Elemental Debuffs,Helixs, Stat Down
(-atk,-def,etc), Attribute Down, Flash, Stun, various special versions of Curse (zombie, bane, etc), possibly Doom
Effects it cannot remove:
Sleep, Amnesia, Terror, Mute, Salvage Pathos effects, Overload

*if your pet is near full hp, you may just want to summon a new one if possible, rather than use a on it.

Ventriloquy
1:00
Immediately swaps the enmity of the master and puppet. unlike snarl, it can send the hate either way. excellent for saving yourself or a friend, de-aggroing monsters, or placing aggro on your puppet.
pantin churidars +2 Augment: Gives +5% Enmity for the higher Enmity player and -5% Enmity for the lower enmity player per merit level.

Role Reversal
2:00
This ability instantaneously swaps current HP between Automaton and Master. saves time money lives, and scares healers. Use to get new puppets, or extend the life between repairs/activates.

Tactical Switch: Level 79
3:00
This Ability Swaps TP between Master & Automaton with whatever your Current TP.Cooldown: Level 95
5:00
Cooldown will Removes 50% of the total elemental burden currently on the Puppetmaster. If the Puppetmaster is currently overloaded, it will remove the overload effect in addition to removing the burden. Very helpful ability when needed.

Heady Artifice
1:00:00
Allows your automaton to perform various special abilities based on equipped head.

-mighty strikes
Use with valor edge frame and overdrive for most effect
-invincible
Use with valor edge frame when tanking to avoid death.
-eagle eye shot
Can only be used with sharpshot
-chain spell
Will cover more in auto section
-benediction
Very useful party situations, though keep in mind your automaton should more than likely be deactivated upon use to shed hate.
-manafont
This ability lacks utility for the Stormwaker head as you should be using Ice maker while stacking Ice maneuvers (10% bonus to spell damage per maneuver) and deactivating upon your second nuke (resetting high burden), while reactivating and repeating with burden lowered to the inital amount. Deactivation or death of the automaton removes this ability as it's merely a status effect. Putting ranks in it with Job Points can make it more useful, though still far from the others in terms of utility.

Traits

Martial arts

level	delay
25	-80 Delay
50	-100 Delay
75	-120 Delay
87	-140 Delay
97	-160 Delay

10 Resist Slow I
15 Resist Amnesia
20 Evasion Bonus I
25 Martial Arts I
50 Resist Slow II
50 Evasion Bonus II
50 Martial Arts II
75 Resist Slow III
75 Evasion Bonus III
75 Martial Arts III
75 Fine-Tuning
75 Optimization
78 Stout Servant I
80 Tactical Guard I
85 Crit. Def. Bonus I
87 Martial Arts IV
88 Stout Servant II
90 Tactical Guard II
97 Martial Arts V
98 Stout Servant III

MERITS

This is the recommended merit set-up. Currently there is no use for magic merits, that may be subject to change later. As of JAN 2014, this is the optimal set.

5/5 automaton skill

This allows your automaton to be a more effective DD and hold its own in higher content more easily.

1/5 Ventriloquy
This ability will save your life. many times. have it on hand.
1 Role Reversal
This will also save our life. or your puppets. mostly it will save you time and money. have it on hand
3/5 Fine-Tuning
This is an acceptable choice as multiple merits in this bring a good boost to your automaton, especially in higher level content. It is not, however, to be prioritized over Optimization. See below.
5/5 Optimization
This ability, fully merited, provides +25% attack, +25% defense, and +25 magic attack bonus to your pet. Consider the use of Berserk's offensive capabilities as well as the survivability it allows you to gain. There is no situation you will find yourself in where 5 or 10 accuracy would be beneficial in choosing Fine-Tuning 5/5 over this. The only drawback is that if this is anything like the attachments, the % bonuses are applied before the stat gains for ilvl animators. Feedback posted from testing would be appreciated as my own merits are for AAs/etc (-Kyo).

Job Points

GIfts

100

550

1200
same as 100

(Taken from the mnk guide all credit to jinjo for the following)

Hand-to-Hand

Pup's Hand-to-Hand skill is A+ and caps at 424 at level 99.


Guard

Pup's Guard skill is B and caps at 398 at level 99.


Puppetmaster has a high evasion rate (B: capping at 398 at 99) as well as the evasion bonus job trait, giving it an extra 35 evasion. combined with guard the master has decent defensive capabilities. The lack of counter traits interfering allows pups to cap guard skill faster than monks, though keep in mind they are far less durable.

WEAPONSKILLS

STRINGING PUMMEL

6 Hits, 32% STR and VIT Modifier, Chance of critical hit varies with TP. +15% 1000 TP, (25%?) 2000 TP, +45% 3000 TP
1.0 Ftp (6.0 total)
This is your bread and butter of weaponskills. Get it. Use it. Love it.

VICTORY SMITE

4 Hits, 60% Str Modifier, Critical hit rate varies with TP (+10% 1000 TP, +25% 2000 TP, +45% 3000 TP)
2.25 Ftp (5.25 total)

SHIJIN SPIRAL

5 Hits, 100% Dex Modifier (5/5 merits), Inflicts plague.
1.06 ftp (5.06 total?)
This weaponskill falls below the two previous by far. While it has an attack bonus of 1.05, it is simply unimpressive. A good DEX set isn't terribly difficult to make, likely easier than sets for the previous two but still skip it.

Asuran Fists

8 Hits, 10% STR and VIT Modifier, Accuracy modifier that varies with TP.
1.0 ftp (8.0 total)Can now cover all hand-to-hand procs in Voidwatch and hand-to-hand blue procs in Abyssea with this WS.

RAGING FISTS

5 hits, 30% Str, 30% Dex Modifiers, Damage varies with TP.
ftp: 1000 - 1.0, 2000 - 4.6, 3000 - 9.0
Only use at 2500-3000 tp. otherwise loses to all other options
This is one weaponskill which benefits greatly from a TP bonus Moonshade.

WEAPONS

Hand to Hand

Credit to the Monk thread for this formula:

DPS = [(H2H skill * 0.11 + 3 + DMG of weapon) * 60] / (Martial arts delay + Delay of weapon) * 2 fists

High End

Kenkonken

Kenkonken's status is undeniable as the king of pup weapons. Its "suppresses overload" trait severely negates the need to look at equipment to assist with burden, allowing the master to full-time practically whatever they choose while making Cooldown's use every 5 minutes seem as though this was the exact reason it was made. "Enhances "Martial Arts" V" gives a total of -50 delay to your base hand-to-hand delay, while the weapon itself only has +49 itself. This combination in turn leaves the weapon with no actual delay, aside from the Puppetmaster's base of 320. This means your delay is more than likely lower than a Monk's. Finally, the aftermath requires the use of your best weaponskill and extends the bonus to the puppet, granting triple attacks to your pet as well as yourself when used with 300 TP.
Upgraded versions give Stringing Pummel a 30% boost in damage, widening the gap between it and the rest of your arsenal.

((420 + 242) * 0.11 + 3 + 93) * 60 / (320 -1) * 2 = 168.82 * 60 / 319 * 2 = 63.5

Verethragna
Vere: ((420 + 242) * 0.11 + 3 + 96) * 60 / (320 + 51) * 2 = 171.82 * 60 / 371 * 2 = 55.57

Godhands
no pet stats. similar to vereth

Midnights
path D is cheaper all round alternative to Ohrmazd. easier to make pet dt option

Denounments


Nibiru Sainti
path D, all skills +20

Ohrmazd
can get pet DT -4 or tp bonus, and pet acc/attack

Ohtas

Jse weapon. replaces burats and marottes for mp. no refresh for idle, but generally more desirable. optional

Mid/Low End

rigor baghnakhs- Automaton: Accuracy+20 Ranged Accuracy+20 Magic Accuracy+20
tinhaspa
if no escha/skirmish access and have delve wins these are alternatives for pet sets

eminent baghnakhs
These are acceptable until you get your hands on something 119. There is quite a bit of accuracy from the latent (under 1000 TP) so don't be afraid to use them until you can get an upgrade.


bayld h2h etc. (forefront homefront homefront+1)
used if you are brand new, and need something to punch with to get sparks.

Animators

divinator
This is the best available animator thus far with an item level of 119. Your automaton gains +89 to all base stats.

divinator II/ eminent II
Makes pet stand at range. all other bonuses are identical

magneto
This item was released in the March 2014 Version Update and serves as a step between Eminent and Divinator. I saw the stats somewhere but until I find them again keep in mind the item level 117 sets it in between.

eminent animatorpet lvl 115 +77 to all puppet stats +110 hp/mp
You'll find this to be the easiest upgrade to your automaton. Good enough for anything until you even approach endgame.
First required animator. anything below this is useless. effortless to obtain.

alternatorpet level 113 +70 to all puppet stats
Formerly a viable option, now it's too easy to get your hands on the next step up. Don't settle for this.

forefront animatorpet level 106 +47 to all puppet stats + ??? hp/mp
If you're even considering this over Eminent you should be saving your bayld for Wildskeeper Reives.

deluxe animator +6 dex to master Accuracy/Magic Accuracy +4
Occasionally reduces the Degrees of burden per Maneuver by 1. (~50% rate)
And my old Puppetmaster shell used to deny it could come close to Animator +1. Looking at you Jim...

animator +1 +50 hp/mp based on frame

turbo animator dex+2
animator
Only all jobs animator. useful if /pup

Armor

All sets subject to review. Alter your accuracy/etc based on the situation, there are more than just three different cases out there.

Master Sets

Master TP

1	2	3
ItemSet 318180	ItemSet 328934	ItemSet 328915

Non Mythic/pre 119 TP

low	mid	high
ItemSet 328914	ItemSet 328916	ItemSet 328915

Augments: Otronif can get +1~2 from crit or DA, it's almost negligible but DA comes out barely above.
Augments can be challenging to get the max so you may want to settle for the first DA/crit you get on this piece.

Downgrades:
windbuffet belt +1 > windbuffet belt
Nomkahpa mittens +1 > otronif gloves +1 > otronif gloves

Returning/New players

116	115	109-
ItemSet 329053	ItemSet 329052	ItemSet 318148

WS

pummel
ItemSet 318207	ItemSet 318209
	smite
ItemSet 318207	ItemSet 318209
		raging
Invalid Item Set ID	Invalid Item Set ID

Defense

pdt	mdt	eva
ItemSet 126491	ItemSet 328936

Dark ring augments 5~6 mdt 5~6 pdt 4~6 bdt
Otronif mostly pdt augments
Downgrades: second Dark ring

Puppet Sets

Haste	Tank	Attack	Overload
ItemSet 318020	ItemSet 304391	ItemSet 284221	ItemSet 311680

Regimens come from (DM II)
Anwing has 5% haste -10% damage taken
Mirke has 15 pet attack/r.attack 7 pet M.acc/M.ab

Pet MAB	Sleep	Fastcast
ItemSet 318149	ItemSet 318150

Pet M.atk claws are an option, though not necessary, as Rigors (and regimens) help the most. Puppets can gain massive amounts of magic attack, magic accuracy and resists are a larger issue, which is easily solved through gear.
cirque scarpe +2 are another option for feet.

Non Combat

regen/repair	refresh	town idle
ItemSet 181124		ItemSet 318212

You can swap to burattinaios/ohtas if your tp is not an issue between fights, loading up your pets tp for a tactical switch at any time.
At 1 tp/tic it takes about 5 minutes for your pet to gain 300 tp idle.
Hermes sandals and desultor tassets are options for movement speed.

support jobs
..................best companion
war default whm. rdm, vE
nin tanking whm, rng, VE
dnc soloing VE, rng,
sch nuking blm, rdm,