Advice On Which New Weapon Skill To Merit

Hey y'all,
I'm hoping for (as the title of this post may suggest) some advice on which of the new WSs I should choose to merit for my jobs.

I've looked through other related posts but haven't really gotten enough information to make my decision. I have, however, discovered what "trolling" is, and - as a relative newbie to forum discussions - find the idea of being flamed or trolled slightly terrifying, so please refrain if at all possible. Thankies!

I'll go ahead and admit that I'm a "loser," as I don't have the patience / attention span to devote to Dyna/Relic/Empyrean/Whatever WSs, so we won't be comparing those to the new merit-based WSs at this time. Please don't spend pages of this post trying to convert me to Leetism. If I get to that point of boredom or desire it will be in my own time. I appreciate your time and restraint. ^^;

So, my current 99 jobs are WHM, BLM, BLU, DNC, WAR, DRG, and PLD.
I'm typically on DNC and BLU most of the time, but would also like advice on WAR WSs. I've seen my boyfriend's DRG play with his new WS Stardiver, and we were sadly unimpressed by its DMG in comparison to Penta Thrust or Impulse Drive. As I don't main DRG, I'm not willing to spend that many merits on a polearm WS that isn't jaw dropping.

I'd love to get details on others' comparisons between the merited WSs and those I typically use.

My question is regarding the following:

Requiescat (Sword) for BLU (and PLD)
vs. Vorpal Blade / Savage Blade / etc.
- I have, in fact, seen Requiescat in action, and plan to fully merit this WS for BLU. Requiescat + Quad Continuum = YUMMY!

Exenterator (Dagger) for DNC
vs. Evisceration
- I've seen good reviews on this one, but would have to sacrifice either Ruinator or Upheaval to fully merit it.

Ruinator (Axe) for WAR
vs. Rampage / Decimation
- Haven't heard much here.

Upheaval (GA) for WAR
vs. Raging Rush / Steel Cyclone
- Supposedly pretty nice.

Please feel free to reply with your opinions. Hard data would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!!!
Lastarael of Ifrit/Odin
aka Arael

Ruinator is the best Merit WS out there, if you are using a 1hand axe it's a no brainer.

Upheaval is alright though nothing special.

Requiescat has a rather large attack- on it which means it won't be too good vs normal mobs with higher defense. It is none elemental though so it's situational for fighting things with damage resistance.

Exenterator is a good weaponskill.

and what about your DRG and stardiver?

Requiescat: Pil, Ppl will love you for it^^

JEEEZ, do your own damn homewor.......



Oh, alright then T.T

I haven't heard anything good at all about Requiescat. I mean like... even the people who like it are searching for the applicable situation for it. Make an almace if you wanna raise your WS damage on those jobs.

I would only get ruinator if you had BST.

That leaves Upheaval and exen and 5 points to put into stardiver.

Im in the same boat, I have....

THF (Rudra's)/ PLD/ DRK (Cata)/ DRG/ COR (WF)/ BLU

plus RDM WHM BLM SMN SCH

I merited SCYTHE, DAGGER, and SWORD.

Figured Extenerator was the better option for a non stacked WS on THF (which I use often). Entropy would compliment my Cata's on DRK, and Requiscant would open up more flexibility when I'm on BLU (makes darkness with Quad...) and PLD and maybe even RDM, which I'd (idealy) like to play more often.

I figured I'd never use Staff, or Club, and Pole was sufficient with Drakesbane, and Wildfire was good enough on COR.

I'd also be curious as to what other think.

Requiescat isn't gonna get you any kind of huge numbers, but it has its uses on both blu and pld. For one thing, the Chain Affinity skillchain for blu is amazing even if you have Almace/CdC. Secondly, if you do voidwatch, it goes through -dt mobs and works wonders just in case Pil puts up his shield to take it down fast. Third, perfect for those stupid elemental aggros you get in abbysea on blu XD.

A BST doing 3k+ w/ Ruinator In Dynamis - Xarcabar, that should tell you something..

Stardiver doesn't have the 20% attack penalty that Drakesbane does. I'm not convinced that EVERYONE should 5/5 stardiver but looking at the jobs the OP suggested it beats the pants off of meriting a sword ws that you use on pil or if a mob is invincible, and a ws you'd only use on a dual wielding war (no).

I haven't tested stardiver myself but there are a couple threads devoted to it that look either even with drakesbane or passing it, and those tests were done by dragoons whom I know have heavy heavy drakesbane sets (at least most of them).

I must admit Exenterator is probably the most lackluster WS I've merited (other 2 are shoha and last stand), but that's mostly due to awkward gear selection.
You can almost find no gear that gives you both AGI and atk. You either pick STR/DEX/atk gear for that slot or full AGI (with some DEX). Hopefully, the upcoming Denali+5 legs, feet, and hands (for THF) will cover the awkward gear selection for this WS.

Stardriver 5/5 has maxed out at 2876 for me outside of aby, not much playtest inside aby yet. The average of my damage was not ~huge~ but it has a potential for high damage, and most importantly the crit hit effect on the target. After doing some of my own playtesting I am very happy with the ws overall.

Considering I have done over 4k damage with Ruinator and I am still missing a few good pieces of gear. 3k+ shouldn't be hard to hit.

I'll have to give it a try in the next couple days. Do you know how much def they actually have?

I often do 3K+ with Ruinator in Dynamis, but I do get a lot of lowball hits for 2k. My gear is far from perfect as well.

From my understanding Kindred Demons have a straight -pdt. Cop mobs my CDC's do 1.5-2k rather easily. on demons im happy with a 1200. Thats on DC mobs. Vsmite can do 3k but thats the crits talking. Would like to see it myself also.

My Dyna Partner which is Bst does 3K + in Dyna-Xar so I know this is a true statement.

Wow! Thanks for all the replies!!!


LOL!



I'd previously written Stardiver off when my boyfriend put 5/5 merits on it and then showed me the damage. It didn't seem much more impressive than Penta Thrust, unfortunately. However, yesterday we did some tests and worked through the numbers to find that, yes, it does regularly do somewhat more impressive damage than Penta, plus the added effect would be nice on NMs which don't die immediately or soon after the weapon skill.

Sadly, I don't get to use my DRG much anymore with all the time I spend in Aby. I'm probably going to end up devoting all those merits to DNC, BLU, and WAR, as those are the jobs I spend the most time on (that actually do WSs on a regular basis).

Y'all are right - I wouldn't want to waste the limited points in that category on an axe WS that has such a huge handicap (accuracy varies with TP, really?) when I hardly use axe on my WAR anyways and don't plan to level BST.

I've therefore decided to go with GA for my WAR. I'm hoping the damage will be as impressive as that of my Raging Rush, though I'll have to macro in the VIT gear I have for my PLD instead of my WAR and DRG's STR gear. I'll probably end up waiting on this until I finish the other two merited WSs, just in case.

I've seen a BLU do some impressive damage with Requiescat on regular mobs and follow it up with a spell and incredible SC damage. [Yes, please.] As I can use it with my PLD as well in certain situations, I'm going with this one. I've seen it do more damage than my Vorpal/Savage/Sanguine Blades ever do.

I decided I want my DNC to have the new WS also, as this is the job I spend the most time on. I tank a lot on my DNC and lowering the enemy's accuracy sounds like a good thing. Yesterday I spent hours in an exp party and finished all 5/5 merits on Exenterator. ^^

Thanks so much for all your help!!! I may post my tests on the damage that I can do with my new WSs after I complete them, in hopes to help others decide.