Bubble Trouble: A Geomancer Guide

Thanks for your input.
I did see keeping the JSE neck on fulltime mentioned before and that's what I had in mind for the next try too. What you say confirms it even more so that's probably what I'm gonna try.
I felt like I was generating tp much faster by casting spells rather than pure meleeing anyway so it shouldn't be much of a loss to replace the null loop.

R15 Idris does really well on damage, though obviously more expensive than other options.

I also melee with Idris for same reasons.

Anyone have ws set for fast blade II they wanna share?

How much potential does geo have DDing, solo or in groups?

I'm a RDM main and thought I'd play GEO next. If I get Idris, I like the idea of being about to cap haste with indi-haste, but yeah just wondering how maxientius or idris performs along with dw options and if you can find gear to accomodate fast tp like malignance or if such sets don't exist for geo. I feel like a few seats from googling used nyame for tp, though I assumed that's most for WSing.

Anyhow, curious about how damage compares too with other jobs, common WS and if spells are used.

depends what you're trying to pull off solo.
with SAM roll, I can solo the C shard objective while everyone else is off doing other ones. I prefer having our bard with me, so we can kill the boot too if it's nearby, but some days we have to bring an alt instead.
For party DMG, I'd say I peak around 10% of our dmg just spamming judgment to keep the other WSs from building resistance. If I didn't have a decked out WHM on my character as well, i'd make Lorg Mor and see if I could get another 2~4%.
I use aeonic r15, but Maxentius would do fine, especially in places where you don't have to worry about WS walling alongside a RDM also spamming Black halo. I'd say as far as DPS clubs are concerne it's likely Lorg Mor > aeonic r15 > unity r15 > cath palug > maxentius > idris r15
if you can just spam black halo, maxentius should move up two ranks.

next, for TP generation:
nuking is typically the fastest way to get TP. one thundara III will typically get you over 1k with sam roll. think stonara III can get 500tp or so. I typically do to -ra3 per WS and just melee for the rest using the lowest cost spell that's up.
ItemSet 399237
merlinic: occult acumen augs

melee tp & dual wield sets:
ItemSet 374808
*i gave priority of keeping the luopan alive more over a bit of double attack from nyame but af/relic need +4 to get physical accuracy, prior to that i'd say to just use nyame anyway.

ItemSet 363550
*um, i seem to have some MASSIVE accuracy issues on my tpbonus offhand for some reason. with these swaps and stewpot, I can typically get over 90% overall accuracy against Aita and close to cap everywhere else.

did you try the onion sword and see how that went? Just curious :)

Badly I would say, given that geo has no sword skill.

GEO DPS is considered to be the lowest of any standard group. It's a contribution nonetheless, but it's far behind RDM, and a bit behind BRD since likely it would be using Black Halo or Judgment vs Savage Blade (and BRD gets better gear than GEO). That aside, it can still add things like Box Steps, Stun if /DRK (helpful on a couple of Sortie Bosses), and it can cast for TP instantly with an Occult Acumen set, which is quite handy. I've hit a 60k Judgment on Normal Aminon at 3k TP before, so you can deal respectable numbers just by building the proper sets and running the correct buffs.

Honestly, I don't think GEO is in a good spot right now and its utility has been reduced to a few instances where it's really needed. The same applies for its DPS options.

Solo, you probably won't enjoy it much. It's very very subjob dependant and it's not the most fun for either melee or magic dpsing. (just try it in ody gaol and you'll see how limited you feel) Since you come from RDM which is quite versatile... you might find it pretty boring to be honest.

In party, the main issue comes from the fact that lots of newer content don't really use GEO because the bubbles are nerfed pretty much everywhere nowadays and the luopan management really sucks when there's too much running around involved (segs, limbus,...).

Now there's a few instances where it's still very useful and enjoyable. For example, i do like being geo on 9boss sortie runs. And on fights like Aminon, it can really provide good dps competing with brd or rdm. But i feel like it has become the exception rather than the rule.

Respectfully, I don't agree with this at all. GEO is used for pretty much ALL Gaol Bosses (I struggle to find at least one V25 where you don't use GEO at all in 1KI fights, definitely used in a 2KI setup). It's not used for Segments (a travelling event), but it is used for Sortie, which is 10x as much traveling as Segments. It fits into a mage setup strat as well as a melee strat, and is necessary for Kiting strats. Limbus? Man, this content is literally kill 4-5 trash fodder at 130 and warp up. There's no reason you can't place a bubble at the spot where pull to kill them, and then dismiss the luopan. We have no idea how the NM update will shake things up, but GEO is not being left out of Limbus because it's a "traveling" event, lol...

Now like I said, the DPS from GEO is nothing to write home about, and I do agree that it can be "boring" (you're doing very little in fights like Bumba, for example), but I would argue GEO has solidified a "necessary" spot in most group content nowadays. It's not on BRD/COR level, but it's right around the RDM spot (it outright replaces RDM in some Gaol comps), just with far less tools to compete. It's pretty much always used in Ambuscade unless Geomancy is explicitly nerfed, but then you can still use Buffing bubbles for the party. GEO has not fallen off recently, it's just left out of Segments (Master Trials). That's about it.

My current preferred kalunga strat does not use a geo for 1 KI. We've found it significantly better to drop the geo for a blu (additional DPS) because of hate issues with just 1 DPS, brd, cor.

Yes, you're totally right about that. I didn't fully develop what I had in mind.
I wrote what I said with the context of being a good dps in mind. And while GEO is indeed used in pretty much every ody fight, I think that for 90% of them it's just cast bubble and stand there for 15 mins. Just hit the bolster button once. So while you're definitely contributing to the fight with your bubbles, you're really not doing much else which often doesn't feel much satisfying (even on the support side).

For gaol fights specifically geo can only contribute blunt dmg, which is just not that common. That's why it is not used for dps in gaol.

On bumba geo can contribute 10% dmg, which is the difference between winning a V20 bumba and not winning it.

Yeah, it's definitely the most boring job for Odyssey fights, especially since at V25 there's so much weapon resistance, or they just aren't very good nukers while bolster is down. I'd say it is the easiest job to play and the least complex. You get a little bit of action as GEO in Sortie with more to do (can solo A, OA > WS, Stun/Absorb-TP/Aspir endless MP etc).

edit - yeah what Dodik said

ItemSet 400125

Any suggestions?

Gearing geo
Calculator doesn't have an option for flash nova
Someone said it was similar to another weaponskill but I can't find the post

Was it Seraph Strike?

Also that occult set is a cool idea totally copying that.
As well as the TP set with pet out

Haven't even had a chance to play geo yet but does the lupon lose health overtime on its own, not getting hit?
If I am just xping can I get away with a more lax tp set?

It was me in the WHM thread under Flash Nova/Seraph Strike

And about Luopan's DoT you can find the specifics at https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Luopan

What do people use for enfeebling sets? I see the guides point to Geomancy set, but I can't see what the value of "Set: Enhances magic accuracy". Azimuth seems to beat it out on MND, INT and Macc in most cases.

Were you checking the +3 or +4 of the Geomancy set?

Azimuth does have more macc if you are just counting the 5/5 sets but it depends on if you have Regal Cuffs or Geomancy+4.

5/5 Azimuth+3 = 338 macc, 192 MND, 214 INT

5/5 Geomancy+3 = 300 macc, 181 MND, 175 INT

5/5 Geomancy+4 = 350 macc, 206 MND, 175 INT

The set you should be wearing for pure macc is the following

4/5 Geomancy+3, regal earring and Azimuth hands+3 = 342 macc, 195 MND, 192 INT.

Obviously the +4 just makes each piece better.

4/5 Geomancy+4, regal earring and Azimuth hands+3 = 382 macc, 215 MND, 192 INT.

If you have Regal Cuffs you will want to use those instead for the extra duration. This does lower macc by 45 if you are using Azimuth+3 and a slight drop in MND.

4/5 Azimuth+3 and Regal Cuffs = 293 macc

4/5 Geomancy+3, Regal Cuffs and Regal Earring = 297 macc

4/5 Geomancy+4, Regal Cuffs and Regal Earring = 337 macc

For nuking on MB, I tried to use the All Jobs app and I'm a bit unsure on two slots, legs and feet.
The app currently gets Azimuth Legs/Feet beating Agwu R30 Legs/feet

Both options give 15 Magic Burst Bonus, but stats-wise we can compare the following

Azimuth
Macc: 123
Mab: 108
Mdmg: 63
INT: 89

Agwu
Macc: 110
Mab: 120
Mdmg: 40
INT: 84


I doubt Macc is gonna matter that much in a proper MB setup.
12 Mab sounds like no joke.
23 Mdmg is a noticeable difference, but Mdmg hardly matters in high tier nukes, so meh.
There's 5 less INT too.

I dunno, my guts tell me Agwu should be better.
The app shows Azimuth winning, but to be fair the difference is incredibly small, under 1% difference.
So what would you pick and why?

Are you looking at a T5 nuke? depending on where you are in terms of dINT, 5 int can be up to +20 (Thunder 5) up to +30 (Stone 5) base damage before matk.

The mDMG issue isn't as much of a crap stat on nukes as it is on weaponskills, so for the azimuth set on stone 5 you're looking at +53 base damage on stomething like ongo. Without knowing specifically what your other gear is, +53 is a decent bonus.

If your target is Ongo, then you need every ounce of INT you can get just to get it into the positive dINT equation.

Edit: Kinda need to know what your target is anyway, because that could definitely impact the outcome.

Azimuth legs, agwu feet.

Azimuth legs have Magic Burst Damage +15 which is a straight damage increase, not mab, and goes on top of any MAB/MAB2. Azimuth legs is by far the best nuking and best MB piece Geo has access to currently.

Agwu feet have same MAB as azimuth but also FC+4. The difference is very small, but more FC helps with recast. Azimuth feet do have +4 int for specific fights where that will matter more.

On the app? I picked the highest target, that's Archaic Cogs.
In real game? These days I basically use GEO only for Sortie, so Dhartok, Triboulex, Gartell and Aita.
And yes, on the app I was testing T5.
Specifically I picked Thunder 5 iir



Yes but I said it already I was ruling that out.
Azimuth set (legs+feet) have 15, all in the legs.
Agwu set (legs+feet) also have 15, 9 in the legs and 6 on the feet. So that's not something relevant in this comparison.

They don't have the same Mab, they have +10 Mab.
And I didn't mention FC but yeah, that's another reason why my guts were letting me lean on Agwu.
The app says Azimuth is better, but the difference is less than 1% damage so... yeah, I guess we're currently discussing about "nothing" because either choice will perform so close to the other that it's kinda irrelevant.

But still, I was ccurious to see how others made up their minds.

Magic Damage+ and Magic Burst Damage+ are separate calculations.

Magic burst dmg+ has no cap either, unlike mab/mab2.

Azimuth is magic burst dmg, agwu is magic damage. Different things.

You can just try them both out and see for yourself. Swap just the feet, then just the legs.

Either you're accidentally mistyping things, or I'm being dumber than usual, or both things, but your post is confusing me °-°

Allow me to step back a bit, will ya?
It all started with you saying that Azi+3 legs have MBD+15 on them. Which is absolutely right.
To which I replied that yes, while true, the second combination also has a total of MBD+15 but spread over 2 pieces (+9 on legs, +6 on feet).

To which you replied that MDMG and MBD are separate calculations (well, of course?).
And then you said MBD has no cap, wat? It does have a cap, it's 40.
Then you said Azimuth is Magic Burst Damage where Agwu is Magic Damage, wat? They're both Magic Burst Damage, and they also both have Magic Damage which does very little for T5 bursted spells but that's another story.

I dunno, I'm confused, help me out please XD

My bad was looking at wrong piece, and wrong about cap. Without looking at magic acc you have:

Azimuth legs: Magic burst dmg +15, magic dmg+33, mab+58, int+55.
Agwu legs R30: magic burst dmg+9, magic dmg+20, mab+60, int+54.

Agwu legs vs azimuth legs is magic burst dmg -6, magic dmg -13, mab+2, int-1.

I don't see any way for agwu legs to be superior, other than the FC7 on them.

What I was trying to say is that magic burst dmg does a lot more than magic damage since it's a percentage increase.

So agwu legs will effectively drop magic burst damage by 6% compared to empy, even ignoring everything else.

You can't just say "they're the same since they both have it". One has 6% more, the other doesn't.

Also magic dmg+ will start to matter more the lower the tier, so bursting t5->t4 then t3->t<whatever is up> on the next will favour the set with more magic dmg for the lower tier bursts. And recast, of course.

I think I read in the odyssey/sortie combo conversation that a GEO has Lorg Mor stage 5 and use judgment is. I am so curious about that and numbers he pull out. Any info?

Absolutely right on that!

But I wasn't comparing Azi legs to Agwu legs.
I was comparing Azi Legs+Feet (winner on the All Jobs app) vs Agwu Legs+Feet.

Disregarding Mdmg and Macc, the Agwu combination has +12 Mab and -5 INT, compared to Azimuth. Then there's FC but that doesn't directly affect damage output.

Granted they're less than ~1% damage distant from each other, which is why I said it's probably not very relevant.

I was just being curious what other people have chosen for those legs!
My initial doubt is that while the App is saying that Azi Legs+Feet wins, my guts tell me that Agwu Legs+Feet should be better.

In my first hand experience azimuth legs far out do agwu legs. Azi legs+agwu feet out do any other combination on Sortie targets but are very close to azi legs+azi feet.

Which is where the FC on the agwu set comes in.