DRK Greatsword

Most people these days are aware that scythe is the optimal weapon for drk. Many years have gone by where greatswords were stuck at 85 damage, and given horrible mods besides Naglering and Algol. Now that trials have been released a lot of impressive greatswords have come out. My question is, should I bother making a trial greatsword? I have apocalypse personally, so I'm thinking its a waste of time.
How about for drks who don't have a relic?

Granted this is mainly an opinion question, but feel free to post any math you want supporting your pro or anti greatsword stance. Please don't quote your naglering/algol/Martial greatsword builds. This is all related to the new content weapons/gear.

I'd like to have a Caladbolg, myself, one of the DMG+ ones, maybe.

im not flaming, but what greatsword are good from the ToM?

I havent seen any of them and have only done the scythe path. I have a nalg and was wondering if there is a better gs besides the abyssean one w/e its called, but i just feel like you said scythe is just what to use now a days for almost everything.

Being that I haven't used GS in years; my GS is still... Balmung... So, I'm wanting atleast better than that.

Well ones I have looked at are Caladbolg and the OAT greatsword. I will admit I havent done very much research into the matter myself, so there may be other weapons.

Ragnarok would be nice, but if I had Apoc. I doubt I'd wanna upgrade another, and I wouldn't pass up Apoc. for Ragna.

The OAT one is probably best since Spinning Slash does nice damage even with low damage GSs.

Personally, i like greatsword more then scythe. I only have 2 merits on each since rng is my main, but scythe just is not impressive to me on anything higher then EM. Granted you have relic, but it just doesnt work for me. i use this http://www.ffxiah.com/item.php?id=19163

GREATSWORD!!!!!!! <33333333
working on caladbolg...0/50 gems.
but I has my albion :3

I'm personally working on Salamand Sword (however I'm working on Ultimatum and Vengenace as well).

I think a Salamand Sword path is a very solid choice Excelior (talking about the Occasionaly Attacks Twice one).

All in all, I think that it all comes down to "how much you like / effort you want to put on" using GS when you see that it's useful.

i thought nightfall was garbo?

Don't those add to your Delay as well, though?

@Seoha Just have to say this but I read your comment on your profile and need to point out that "Kuk" means *** in Swedish lol.

Final status are ...

DMG 71, Delay: 480
Occasionally attacks twice.

http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Trial_226

*edit*
@Dracondria: I know LoL.
but it's my best friend's RL AND FFXI name lol.
But yeah instead of "Kukuk" maybe I should put his nickname there. . .

The way you put it is deceptive; the Augments are..

..480 delay isn't that bad, but 71 DMG, IDK, how often does it attack twice?"

Well yes, it's DMG+30 and delay+40 but the final result is still DMG 71 and delay 480 is it not? xD

It kicks often enough. I'm not sure about percentage, but enough to make your hard work worthwhile.

Of course, this doesn't sound any convincing at all. Maybe someone with a OAT weapon can confirm the percentage for us.

I mean you can get Higher dmg, lower delay GSs at 75, is the multi-hit enough to warrant a lower damage, higher delay weapon?

Higher delay isn't bad, it's easier to 6hit.

That's good, if you're sure you can pull 1k+ on every WS.

As it is Kojo, I think no other Great Sword beats Salamand Sword with a proper build.

You may have higher damage GS's with lower delay but the double attack comes out very very often.
I'm not running a parser or anything so I can't bring you the numbers, someone else might help out more with that (which makes this post sounds silly as hell now that I think about it).

*edit*
To bring the desired numbers with Salamand Sword, I do believe you need proper gear backing the weapon up.

I'm not questioning out of disbelief, just out of curiousity. I wasn't sure.

I know =)
I just wanted to bring out better information, that's all.
I'm sorry if I wasn't of any help~

But this is a personal take: My friend owns a Vengeance and we party often. I see that he double attacks very often as well when we're duoing for my trial on Sunblade~

So I take it as all the OAT weapons are just like that...
That being said, I think that the OAT kicks very often on Salamand Sword as well, taking his Vengeance as an example.

I do recall that according to my friend Raen... I'd need to tweak my TP gear in order to achieve a proper 6hit for Salamand sword.

I'm bugging him to come here bringing the numbers and all that good stuff but he seems afk xD I'm sorry.

*edit* concordance and typos =O

No, no, I just didn't want you to think I'm being an *** as usual.

I don't think you're an *** at all, don't worry about it~

Only requires 29 STP for 6 hit on salamand.

sam sub 15
Rose grip 4
Rajas 5
brutal 1
There's new ring with -4str -4dex +4 store tp
Also goading belt

Aww~ Thanks.



I so happy!

Albion: 95dmg
drk/sam
7-hit build
-WS set-
champion's galea : str:4 acc10,attk5 wsacc15

-TP set- Nuveo coselete:10acc storetp4 subtleblow4
blitzer poleryn: acc7 haste 3

its a work in progress lol :/
I don't have time cuz of my job lol

Salamand sword ends up having: 71 dmg, 480 delay, and OAT.

There is also a new version which is:

"Prestalame" http://www.ffxiah.com/item.php?id=19425 ... which ends up having: 75 dmg, 480 delay, and OAT.

Further, the OAT (occasionally attack twice) was parsed to be ~40%. (I don't own the OAT GS personally but, it's supposed to be 40% according to tests done on BG etc.)

In addition, with 480 delay... you would need:

+30 StoreTP for TP, and +20 StoreTP for WS, for a "true 6hit/5hit rebuild" (6hits from 0% TP, and 5hit to get back to 100%TP after a WS, provided that you don't miss the WS)

Which is: /sam, rajas, brutal, rose strap, and the new Goading Belt (has haste+5%, and storeTP+5) for the +30STP for TP, and then WS you would have: /sam, rajas, brutal, and rose strap (needed only +20STP for WS, but have to WS in rose strap because you lose TP if you change grips).

If no Goading belt atm, you can use a StoreTP body...but those usually have little to no accuracy so it's not really a good idea for higher level mobs where you might use GS. Another option is to eat Carbonara, though can't eat pizza... or if you don't have enough StoreTP gear to make the 6hit with little to no sacrifice, then you can wear Sword strap with it... for a -3% delay reduction, which would give you a 7hit/6hit rebuild with 465 delay. (would need +18 StoreTP to keep a 7hit with 465 delay)

The OAT GS (with its 40% OAT proc) is definitely a very good GS. (have to build properly for it too though... proper TP and WS gear sets etc.)

Yes Nightfall is garbage its just a basic 444 Delay GS, the TP Regain does absolutely nothing for your X-hit Build your still going to be stuck at a standard 7-hit Build. Mine stays on my mannequine.

For its Level Naglering, Algol and Subduer all wipe the floor with it.

My personal Opinon about the new GS is other than OAT and Caladbold nothing seems that impressive they all have lame Delays which makes me not even want to bother with them.

OAT and Caladbold seem like the only GS worth making...

In terms of Rare/Ex weapons
Ferus Algol RareEx
[Main] All Races
DPS: 11.75 DMG:94 Delay:480 Critical hit rate +3% Increases critical hit damage
LV 80 WAR DRK

This GS seems like it would be your best bet, you could 6-hit it with Rose Strap/Rajas/Brutal/Goading Belt fairly easily, seems like a Subduer +1 to me~

Doing it with +29 StoreTP will work for a 6hit/5hit rebuild...if and only if you also WS in +29 StoreTP... which I don't recommend...

You can just do +30STP for TP and +20STP for WS.


11.5 + [(Delay - 450) * 1.5 / 30]

11.5 + [(480 - 450) * 1.5 / 30) = 13.0 TP per hit for a 480 delay GS.

11.0 * .30 = 3.9 + 13.0 = 16.9 TP * 5 = 84.5 TP (from 5 melee hits)

13.0 * .20 = 2.6 + 13.0 = 15.6 TP (from WS)

15.6 TP + 84.5 TP = 100.1 TP

Thus you need at least: 30 STP for TP and 20 STP for WS for a "true 6hit build/5hit rebuild" with 480 delay.


You should use Pole grip with your Albion, Volkom.

This is because using sword strap with Albion's 466 delay will but you at 452 delay, but then you will need +24 SToreTP to keep your 7hit... which you will not be able to get if you're wearing sword strap, thus it breaks your X-hit build etc.

That means that you would be stuck with an 8hit build if you wear sword strap, unless you also wear Goading belt.

If you just use Pole grip with Albion's 466 delay, all you need for a true 7hit/6hit rebuild is +17 StoreTP for TP and for WS.

I think I also posted that here: (can use it for reference)

http://www.ffxiah.com/forum/?topic_id=11642#668727