String Theory: A Puppetmaster's Guide *NEW*

I was under the assumption that puppet only got +1 skill, some hp and acc/macc/etc, no base stats per ML

You can partially bridge this with emp+3 boots and aug'd herc but thats some hefty mab/macc in exchange and still falls behind a real nuker in total int.

That said i think you could probably do well on E though im also skeptical and would love numbers. The nms in sortie/vagary tend to have 1 ele weakness so if puppets hitting that then i could see it doing alright.

Yeah the automaton assumes absorbs is the lowest resistance so it would cast accordingly unfortunately. Its shitty how it functions but that is just how it is.

You would have to create specifically scission or gravitation and deploy only on sc to ensure stone was cast and then call it off until next window.

Puppet lacks macc unfortunately when you maximize MAB and vice versa. So on anything difficult you tend to see a lot of resists. Trash mobs like locus stuff though you can hit capped bursts easily not even using overdrive.

So I figured I'd gear up my puppet as something else to try out, and since I saw them pull out some insane stuff. This is my current setup:

ItemSet 399836

Just looking for some tips. I've read the guide and I'm trying to figure out a path to go. I'm wanting to do a dual setup and a OD setup. The SU5 weapon would probably be the easiest for me to get as I don't have the unlocks (or gil) for mythic and empy but I'm down for any suggestions aside from sakpatas while I work towards ML to get SU5.

I also have a question about the heyoka legs/head combo. Should I focus on HQ for them both? Or will NQ work just as well? What other pieces of gear should I focus on for dual tp and OD sets?

Thanks for the advice!

Depends what exactly you want to do here. Su4/5 are best for just about everything phys puppet related. Sakpatas are an okay nuke h2h but not much else.

Heyokas used to cover missing pet haste and give puppet enmity, the latter along with usual acc/crit rate are what raises between nq/hq. Depending on the goal here all you need to care about is capping puppets haste/acc rate, its a decent sc linker but falls behind as soon as master gets some buffs going like most pets end up

Yeah the dual tp setup is wanting capped pet haste. Currently I only have 10% from my cape which is why I was asking. You say "used" to tho so does that mean there is something else used now?

Should have put "is used" its still needed in atleast 2 slots iirc, head and legs, though taliah feet can work as well, or the earring just depends on what master-related armor you want to part with to give puppet haste

So you got
10 haste cape
9 haste klouscap+1 sash over moonbow
9 haste heyoka legs over malig/samn tights/mpaca
6 haste heyoka cap over malic/mpaca
7 haste taliah boots over malig/herc/mpaca

Personally would do cape head and legs as thats 25, or cape/boots/legs for 26. But if you want more armor slots then cape/sash/hat, but that means rip moonbow

Started doing some Up In Arms on PUP and noticed something today that I cant figure out.
I am fairly new to PUP so dont know what i dont know. My skills are all capped and was using correct gear.

Today I was doing Up in Arms and PUP was using Bone Crusher without issue. I changed from /RDM to /DNC to test something unrelated and then when i changed back to /RDM and activated pet again my skill level was now 203 which it too low for Bone Crusher to be used.

I didnt make any changes to my build and was using Fire/Thunder/Light.

It is like the Pet is now a lower level. I am not sure what might be causing this. Maybe it is obvious and I am just missing it. Any input would be great. Thanks.

I don't know what you did, it should never be able to use bone crusher.

Yeah, you're level capped at 60 so your automaton would never reach enough skill to use BC.

weird then... cause it sure was.

my only question is if did you actually see the puppet doing so, as maybe battle log was messing up, otherwise you just spoiled yourself out of an odd bug i guess

There was a glitch that allowed the automaton(any pet) to go into level capped bc and stay master level, but they patched it.

Maybe you accidentally found a new way to do it.

No it was absolutely Bone Crusher. killed took only about 2-2.5 min. I have never done up in arms on PUP before so had no idea what to expect. I was very confused when it stopped working.

Well I dont think the pet was uncapped but it was fun to see it take off 2600 HP at a time

Way too much AI slop there :)

Another random question please. When it comes to Automaton WS sets is it worth it trying to build and make sure they equip right or not worth it now a days?

If it is worth it should I use the ones from the main page or have they changed?

Thanks.

if its a dmg varies you can try and build around equipping the TP bonus stuff into your TP set i.e emp hat and reive cape(though capes a tough sell) if its not then id just ignore swapping entirely

But like said thats if the puppets dmg is contributing a good amount, which is getting less and less these days

Thanks for the replies. I was going to have the sets when I let the pet do all the work.. Still new to PUP so not sure how often that will happen.

Would it be just one WS set to rule them all or for example should I try to stack DA for Bone Crusher. Not sure If i would need different sets for each WS option. Thanks again.

Bone Crusher is all DA. String Shredder is very much the same unless you wanted to go the route of crit rate as thats actually doing something for pets now though DA is still probably better i dont think anyones re-ran puppet WS post pdif changes but prior to that SS was just kinda meh, but for the sake of space i just used the hybrid taeon i use for DPS puppet tanking in most/all the armor slots though things like mpaca boots might be better for the level+1
pet:
acc+25
da+5
dt-4

Everything else is either dmg varies, or non-scaling such as armor shatterer. But again, since you cant reliably get the puppet to fire off like say a ready move or BP, you can be stuck in that set for several seconds just wasting time for a marginal increase. In the case of only the puppet is engaged then go nuts

So I don't know how far this can be exploited, but you can do a pseudo-sic move by deploying an inactive puppet to close an active skillchain IMMEDIATELY.

For example, I have a valoredge frame/head with 3 fires, speed loader, inhibitor, and 1000tp. It is not deployed. I pull a mob, shijin spiral, and deploy. That puppet will not hesitate like it normally does. It will Bone Crusher immediately. I don't know if there are limits like "what if the puppet was just retrieved so it has action cooldown" or "what if I don't have inhibitor on", but a sic-like move is possible. Might be worth playing around with for your use case.

Its an option though i tbink you waste even more potentially doing retrieve > deploy to reset the puppets action quene, and in case of ranger frame i think itll still prioritize RA if its recast is up. Generally puppet will do whatever is next in priirity;

JA(Ranged attack included)
WS
Magic
AA

So re-deploying just resets the priority, though im not sure if inhib/Speedloader will force it to bypass the RA check

What are your MB attachments looking like? I haven't been able to hit damage cap on any of my puppet builds and I feel like I'm doing something wrong? Also don't know if my lua is out of date or not, especially since the guides haven't been updated for years now.

What sets should I prioritize first? What weapons should I work on to go with those sets? What is some good end game content I could take pup to to succeed with?

Tank set. Overdrive set. Midnights. Xiucoatl C. Lilith E solo. "Some" Ambuscade months. Ody V0 mercs.

Hello everyone, simple question, if i finish my Neo animator R30, do i need to keep my Animator P+1 or i can just do all thing with neo animator ?
Thks in advance