New Puppetmaster Seeking Advice!

Just to get this out of the way,

LOL@PUP!!!

There. Now, that having been said, I'm actually enjoying the job. I've been leveling with friends lately, but I'm kind of wondering what I'll need in order to get invited to other parties.

Right now, I have the Sharpshot and Stormwaker frames. Personally, I'm liking the Stormwaker better, especially since Muffin (YES, you read that right) just got Cure III. However, I also need to do some skilling up with the ranged attack on the Sharpshot frame.

So, to experienced Puppetmasters, I would ask, what all do I need in order to be successful in a party? Which frame is best for what kinds of parties, and which attachments are absolute best? Conversely, if anyone has a guide to which they could send me a link, that would be fantastic.

Everyone I know hates this job, my fiance' has forbidden me to play it when he gets his computer woes fixed and comes back into the game, so I'm trying to power level as much as possible until then, LOL...any and all advice on how to be a successful PUP in a party would be very, very welcome.

Thank you in advance. 8)

Oh, and just as a side note, I recently got some new gear:

Claws
Mercenary Captain's Doublet
Combat Mittens
Mercenary Captain's Belt
Sarcenet Cape (Made by Me!)

Gear advice would also be greatly appreciated. ^,^

if u are light on DD, use the ranger frame with attack/accuracy attachments (I also give all my puppets flashbulb b/c it REALLY helps)

If you in an all strings pty, pup/whm with whm pup makes a good healer, if you arent healer, use ranger pup

if your healer is struggling, use healer pup

if you want some enfeebles/small nuking dmg (NOT ON BIRDS!!!) use blm pup

I only use melee pup when Im doing duo/trio. If you are going to use melee pup for anything, give it the haste attachment..

I never use rdm frame anymore, but pre-40, I used it on anything that wasn't strong against magic. So pretty much...1-10 I used rng, 10-37 I used rdm, 37-40 I used rng, 40+ I usually use whm (as per pty's request) unless Im on birds.

Just what level are you again? lol...

Anywho, I would assume you are 30-something. Regardless of what level you are, if you are serious about this job, the first and foremost thing you should be concentrating on in a party environment is the Ranger. Yes, it's not as fun as the mage. Yes, it's ranged attacks miss alot (they fixed accuracy based on distance, though!) but when you get up to birds and the other squishy things vs. piercing, you will love it. LOVE IT. lol

Ranger - anything weak to piercing. Essentials: Scope

Mage - pet burn parties (think BST). Helps keep ppl alive. Essentials: Damage Gauge. Eraser. Mana Booster.
*Mostly white mage head. You will be hard pressed to find a party where you can nuke. red mage in a party is practically worthless, because it can only cure yourself.

Melee - practically worthless, except when Ranger isn't ideal. Do this last, all frames can skill up melee.

That's about it for exp parties...

come back if and when you get to 75 :3 it's sooo much more fun haha

I basically used ranger puppet from 1 to 75. Didn't lose my first parse until lv 62. It's a powerful DD if you have the right attachments for it (and this was before the B+ h2h update btw). I don't have any experience in exp pts w/ the other 2 frames.

First off... everyone does not hate this job.. most people love this job.. up till recently it was strongly misunderstood, however recent updates have made it a power house and everyone seems to be jumping on the bandwagon now, and leveling the job....

key to leveling pup is to keep your skills up, if this means doing alot of solo work then you need to do so, i solo'd alot campaigned alot and duo'd/trio'd alot... I dont really do pt's basically because its hard to commit to them.. however there is no "number one" frame for pt setup, it just depends on what your pt wants... I have main healed /sch with whm auto, Have nuked with blm auto and been /sch, have dd'd it with /war /nin and rng frame or VE or harly for that matter.. just depends on what you want to do!

as far as attachments go there is to many to list, but basically gear your auto like you would gear yourself... read the forums on wiki, and theres a few on alla that are decent, but most havent been updated since the job was released so take them with a grain of salt

gl to you.. any questions PM me

after 40, the mage's dmg drops off A LOT. Pre-40, my mage was keeping up with blm dmg (i even took my pup to manaburns XDDD) but after 40, I get outnuked by a good 100+ dmg. Rng is pretty much ur best bet for DD and whm is ur best bet for anything that isn't weak to piercing..

in real exp pt set ups sharpshot tends to be best from my experience. you should not be the main healer so its cure 3 should not be important..again in a real/normal set up.

attachments off the top of my head: turbo charger, tenshon spring1/2, flame holder, attuner, target marker, stabalizer1/2, auto repair1/2, flashbulb, replicator and scope.
think i did not miss any but these should all be best while using the sharpshot (might of missed one or two..get them all anyways!) but ya those should be the main ones you will be using.

Personally when dealing with normal exp pt i always found sharpshot best, since you would not want to deal with setting up a nuker in your typical exp pt now a days or if it gets hit, have to rest.

outside of that just keep the master well geared and everything skilled and it should do plenty well.

to piggy back on what you said here, mainly on eraser... most dont know this but its a good thing if you have an extra slot. Equip tactical processor along with eraser, it procs eraser from going off more, kinda like damage guage works along with replicator.. just a fun fact for ya!

First of all don't lolPUP, second dont use the combat mittens, stick with the battle gloves, you can also buy or go camp Koropokkur for Aega's doublet instead of using that merc cpt doublet you have, tbh PUP has a bit more options now unlike before but most of what you should wear as a PUP are all NM drops, AH gear just isnt really great for PUP, get eva and acc gear, and for weapons, you get claws, tons of claws, they suck but not like SE would ever give PUPs Cesti, I also suggest you get a buffoon's collar for maneuvers, you wont main it but you can macro it in, keep the spike necklace on until you can get a PCC, the pants you have now are good, you should also get the pants from the locked treasure chest in Saurumugue champaign, they are really nice for your maton, like I said for lower lvs there isnt much and the better stuff is off NMs, you can keep that Empress hairpin on your head until 70 when you can wear an Optical hat, one tip, dont ever main your AF. but it should be a while before you get to that point. Good look and enjoy PUP, it really is the most creative job in FFXI. i'm too tired to talk about what you should do with your matons, maybe some other time^^b

Optic fiber

Ouch, my bad, I meant to say I just hit level 30 tonight. Sorry about that. 8(

Dubont: OK, I was thinking about Flashbulb but didn't get it yet. I'll pick it up for sure now. And thank you for the rest of your advice, I will be considering those combinations as the time comes. I kind of figured it would depend on the pt itself and what it needs...interesting to see how someone else leveled it...1-10 I used Harlequin, 10-20 I used Stormwaker, 20 and up I'm using Ranger.

Shiro, yes, I am becoming quite serious about the job, against the advice of everyone I know, LOL...I only just started using the Sharpshot frame today, and yes, the tremendous number of misses almost kind of embarrassed me in the party. I'm afraid this sort of reason is why I won't get pt invites unless it's an LS pt, and even they seem reluctant, LOL...

So this is what I was looking for, how to play the best PUP possible for the pt, depending on the situations.

OK, this is going to seem like a DUMB question, but...can frames and heads be mixed, or is that generally a big, fat, no-no?

For example, can I put a Sharpshot Head on a Stormwaker frame, and what would the result be?

*Ducks away for the dumb question*

sharpshot will hand out the dmg pretty quick, you just have to be careful because, without a good tank, he will take hate fairly quick and die even quicker especially pre- vent, and even with oils, you just need to watchout. Most times if the tank is weak i will have VE out, or even harly with VE head. Knockout can do some wicked dmg with a few fire maneuvers up and flame holder...

you can mix and match till the cows come home if you want to , some are better than others tho,
ss with ve head will make it so he follows the mob if the mob moves, instead of making him stationary at a distance, it also lowers his shooting time so he wont shoot quite as fast.
VE head on harly will allow him only to cast cures and no buffs/debuffs, this also goes for ve/harly head on mage frames , makes mage only cast cures but recast will be lower than if mage head was on.

They can be, I myself have not actually done it >.> they just look silly lol.. and most of the time, the head compliments the frame, expanding what exactly you wish it to do. Not that it actually listens to you anyway, lol <.<

But yes, you can mix them. Your example though, ranger head on mage frame... xD hmmm... well considering the frame is what holds the crossbow, any ranged skill+ the head gives is utterly worthless lol :) not to mention that the mage frame without the head is sorely lacking in the magic skill+ department.

Look at the above post for some good combos and their results :p ^

heads and frames can be mixed, sure and SOME can be decent, but the majority of the time, no. If you combine the VE with the Mage you get a PLD like setup if I recall...but its really not worth using tbh lol

dont bother mixing heads it generally is bad as it cuts down skill lvl. Only mage head can really be changed since it has 3 lol

Hm, I just traded in my Battle Gloves for the Combat Mittens...I'll have to research now and see if there really is a worthwhile difference.

Yes, just got my Empress Hairpin the other night, first time I camped VE! I was so happy. But overall, you're saying go to NM drops as AH gear isn't really worth it. And aim for Eva and Acc gear. Understood. ^,^


Heh. I made my own Buffoon's Collar, too, but then started using Spike when I hit 21. It hadn't occurred to me to macro it, which I'm assuming means macro it in right before you use a Maneuver, then the Spike collar on afterwards?

Yes, I plan on starting to do some PCC runs, I have over 1300 beastmen's seals, friends are starting to get antsy, LOL...and I did see the chests on Saurumugue, I believe I will go after those tonight. Thank you. 8)



Thank you so much for your advice, I'll will keep it in mind as I go along. 8)

OK, I kind of figured that, but just wanted some verification. Thank you. 8)

I agree with this especially with mage frames, unless you only only want it to cast cures, and not bother with retrieve/deploy, however forcing a cure with mage is easy, simply put up a light manuever, if your a bit low on health it will always throw a cure your way, if you dont want it to debuff the mob, then simply retrieve the auto. but again ve head/harly head will only allow mage body to cast cures and then will attack along side you too

Yep, you equip the collar, use maneuver, then equip the necklace, believe me its worth the work and whatnot. You have no idea how overloading will *** everything up, just wait until you're high lv and it happens.

Ah, and thank you for mentioning this, my other question is, how do I make the mage cure me when we're not in battle? I have tried and read and apparently I'm overlooking something very simple because you act like it should be easy. Could you please spell out the exactly actoins necessary to get Muffin to cure me outside of a battle please?

Thanks so much again, you guys are being VERY helpful, I was expecting a whole lot of flaming for the job, but instead, I've already learned more than I've known this past week. 8D

most of the time if I solo i have whm auto out, that is whm head with mage body, you get cure v's and it debuffs the mob, sometimes i will solo with harly if i go /dnc, sometimes /nin, but I have VE head on harly for cure only, it has a small mp pool, roughly bout 300mp, and casts cure iv's but is a good combo for duo'ing with the auto, because of knockout! which i mentioned does some good dmg. you can also /dnc and solo with VE, cannibal blade later levels is very good for a vent hp swap, because CB dmg adds hp back to the auto

the only way you can have the auto cure you outside of battle is by throwing up a light manuever, and deploying on a mob, and then simply retrieving it before it casts anything else after the cure, if you do this though make sure that you do not have flashbulb equipped as this will go off before the cure will, thusly grabbing the mob....

Puppet needs to be engaged to something to cast anything, even if it is mid cast of cure 5 when mob dies it'll stop casting <sadly> and yes if u are at 1hp and mob dies the cure wont go off and u will die! <this is one of a bunch of reasons i hate that stupid whm puppet>

edit: as they said above, careful if u have flashbulb...but still eb careful what you deploy it on, as it is surprisingly stupid and has casted dia on a mob even while i was at 50% hp...

need a curing only pup? Use light, deploy, let cure go off, retrieve. Wait till you need another cure, repeat. Make sure damage gauge is on though..

Heh...OK, changing those macros now. Thank you. 8)

another thing wrong with the whm pup is, if your in this situation, battle still going on, and very low on health and say you have poison on, ticking away at your already low hp, you throw up a light manuever, the auto casts poisona, instead of cure, the mob hits you and you die... you curse your auto to Hades!.... it happens, you just need to be careful, you get some merited abilities later on, plus some sub job benefits higher you go in levels, to help with these kinda situations but it still is frustrating.

I mentioned before the combo of eraser and tactical processor, this is a serious life saver though for these situations. basically eraser will burn a light manuever to erase a status effect like blind/poison/bio etc... so if your waiting for that cure and you have poison on, and want to make sure you get that cure instead of the poisona, throw a light manuever up, it will burn it, thow another light manuever up (this is when you wanna make sure your macro'ing in manuever overload down gear) and the auto will cast a cure on you... its helped me alot, and the proc is great with tact. processor.

Ahh, OK. Hm...going to have to work with this a bit, as well as some other suggestions.

Damn, I'm all excited, I think this is going to be a fun-*** job! I don't know why so many laugh at it, I only did that at the beginning to ward off those who would, LOL...I'm liking my little Muffin, everyone likes him and in general he's just a very nice guy to be around.

All hail Muffin!!!

Thanks guys, I'll check back later to see what other words of wisdom you may have imparted. 8)

not sure if you know how to do macro's but
/equip neck "item"
/equip hands "item"
/ja "light manuever" <me>
/wait 1
/equip neck "previous item"
/equip hands "previous item"