COR - I Want To Know More!

I know barely anything about COR. I don't know anyone in game who has it leveled, and I don't feel like sending tells to random Corsairs in-game. I figured "what better place to ask for advice than the FFXIAH forums." So here I am.

I even need to know the basics - sub jobs, stats to focus on, etc. to the more complicated things such as endgame requirements and what is to be expected of me, etc. If you have any info or advice, please post! If you are interested in this as well, then please, join me. If not, then move along.

From what I can tell, Corsair is one of the more underplayed jobs which is probably why I don't know much about it. Thanks to everyone who helps.

*Lurks as he is also interested..*

Gogogogo COR's~

The most common party subjobs would be:

Ninja - For pulling with shadows, dual wielding Racc daggers, and a minor Agi boost. With this sub you could essentially melee for TP then move away to WS.
Ranger - Increase to overall accuracy, both ranged and melee, Sharpshot. With this sub you possibly want to just Range Attack from afar.
White Mage - Not very common but I've seen it a few times, same purpose as Brd/Whm but less effective due to no refresh gear.

I personally haven't leveled Cor yet, but these are what I figure the most common subs to be from my experience with them.

In the early levels you will really only need to focus on Agility/Ranged Accuracy gear.

Once you hit 40 and gain Quick Draw then you may want to look into Magic Accuracy gear to macro in where you don't have any Agi already (which is the main mod I believe). Elemental staves also increase the accuracy of your quick draws, but swapping them around drops your TP so it would only be suggested in emergency situations.

Keep an eye on your timers. I've seen many Cors forget to check them and then get stuck having to do 2 rolls but have to wait on the second due to Phantom Roll recast.

Ummm.... yeah that's about all I got. ^^;

well in its most basic sense so you can grasp the concept behind corsair is that its what happened when ranger had sex with a bard lol. You get a gun, some melee capability, and a support ability that lets you roll different job oriented dice to gain different effects for yourself and party. In most situations your going to be fisherman, pull the mob, buff the party with their 2 rolls, (just like bard you can only have 2 songs up at one time), then move to mage group and buff them. The effect of your rolls greatly depends on two things : 1. there is a good and bad number to each roll, you double up your roll to try and get as close to this "lucky number" as you can without going over, which results in a bust. 2. the second factor not many cors starting out realize is that your effect of each roll is greatly increased by the presence of the job to which your roll is based. For example say I'm bard, your corsair, we can do similar buffs in our party, and i've opted to do acc and attack. You would discourge me doing those two for the simple reason we have a ranger and dark knight in party. Your hunters roll (melee acc and ranged acc increase) and chaos roll (attk increase) will be better then my songs because my songs arnt affected by the jobs in the party, yours are. So keep that in mind if you can. Some of the rolls you can do are very similar to a bards except you can increase the amount of hp recovered by healing as well as do a refresh roll known as evokers roll (named after smns) which puts you at an advantage with mages who need refresh and need to heal between fights to recover mp. Corsairs first roll is also something very special, an exp increasing roll called Corsairs Roll. Your presence in the pt increases the exp gained when you apply this roll. Now to answer your last comment you don't see alot of corsairs for a few simple reasons and it can be any combo of the following: Corsair is expensive, you shoot bullets, you don't get much gear choices, your af is great but not alot of guns to pick from, but most of all your dice are sold by an npc and the prices just get higher and higher as you level, that combined with your cards needed can cost you quite a penny unless you craft the cards and bullets. Another reason is there isnt a very big need of corsairs in endgame events such as sky. Other events like nyzul isle, dynamis, einherijar, and sea benefit greatly from a corsair because of its versitality in low man groups. A well geared, merited corsair can solo alot of sky NMs but versus gods, kirin, and HNM i notice more endgame would perfer a ranger over a corsair for a few reasons like weapon delay and ws output. Other then that I personally find it a great job, level it, own it, follow the guides on www.ffxiclopedia.org, and talk to fellow corsairs, don't be shy. Hope this helps you!

Here is some useful information for you

Level nin for times when you need but i dont recommend you actually using it the most...b/c cor/nin actually isnt as good as it looks. Cor isnt that great of a puller until you get a peacemaker and relic hands.

Rng is a good sub i used this the most. It really puts the cor to good use as a dmg dealer and gets it out of the "Brd with a gun" steriotype.

Whm...i hate this one..i hate it..b/c you pretty much become useless as a good stable DD also..cor isnt a mage...so it doesnt make a good main for whm sub. BUT i do sub this in merit ptys only on request...b/c some people dont know cor and think that its gun is just a toy.

War..i use this a lot...mainly in campaign.

Blm is imo the best sub for cor 40+ Quickdraw ftmfw

Pretty much its just..roll..melee (not with racc daggers)...sleep/dispel and shoot...pulling isnt recommended due to delay

OH but do try and get all the rolls...you will use them all eventually...aside from the blaze spikes one...

Just please do not do Cor/Blm outside of nothing but QD spam, as it really does nothing else for Cor. No better than /Whm except some extra damage on QD. /Rng and /War are your DD subs.

This is a really good Cor site: ThisIsForScurvy

And don't be a cheap-*** with the job; It will cost gil, so get ready. :D

So everything from basics to advanced endgame? I'll be concise.

To begin with you won't (shouldn't) be pulling in parties, because COR is a slow puller until Peacemaker. Sub /RNG (or /WHM at your party's request).

Your abilities are learnt from dice, in the same way spells are learnt from scrolls. Each "Roll" ability (all of which fall under the Phantom Roll category) will buff your party in some manner. You land on a number (and choose to double-up or not) to improve the buff. Every roll also has a lucky number (the second best buff), an unlucky number (the worst buff) and 11 - the best buff for that roll.

COR and BRD buffs are very different. Where a BRDs buffs may focus on raising certain attributes by a set amount COR is more about passing the traits of one job onto others.

Don't be shy about asking your party what rolls you want. It's better than you second guessing and having them secretly bitching in their ls that you're doing something they don't agree with. That's the only way to "know what to expect" as you set out levelling Corsair.

Quick Draw becomes available at Level 40. You need elemental cards to use the abilities (Fire Cards to use Fire Shot). Quick Damage is affected by MAB. Quick Draw ACCURACY is affected by AGI. Don't get this confused. QD base damage is also affected by the base damage of your currently equipped gun and bullet but nothing else. You can sleep mobs with Light Shot and dispel them with Dark Shot. All the other ones deal damage as well as slightly boosting any enfeebles on the mob of the same element (e.g. Ice Shot will boost Paralyze proc)

As you get into the higher levels COR can start to become a powerful and underrated DD! Using your /RNG sub to deal to Slug Shot > Barrage > Slug Shot > Quick Draw x2 can deal a hefty amount of damage in mere seconds.

As you enter meripos, particularly Nyzul birds, you'll probably be expected to pull (sometimes along with a BRD). Personally this is my favourite COR role, though I know a lot of people don't like to play "like a BRD", but really you're not. Maintain four rolls - 2 on your mages, 2 on your melee.

Side note: I always find it better to start with your mage rolls! You should start with Evoker's Roll (refresh) as your first roll in any party situation - it's better than your mage has rolls from the start rather than your melee.

Maintain your four rolls, in between you can pull with peacemaker and light shot them at camp. A little trick I do when pulling is to pull and then run through the middle of your party, through the mob they are already fighting. Once you pass through the party hit your Light Shot. This should sleep the bird right in the middle of the party so as soon as the one they are fighting dies they'll be auto-targetted straight onto the next. Melees love this continuity with no dis/engage. But I digress.

CORs are also quite good at soloing using a dot/kite method, but you'll need movement speed gear and a good MAB setup. Simply kite your prey constantly hitting your Quick Draw macro (e.g. Fire Shot) whenever it's up. Slowly but surely you can wittle down big NMs in this manner.

My COR is never really called upon for endgame, but when it is, for events like Dynamis I'd be placed in the BLM party so they get refresh and MAB+. COR won't be called upon for pulling in endgame events. Other than that you may also be called upon for spamming Quick Draw on certain NMs and just generally keeping your party buffed. This is just my endgame experience with COR though and others may have other things to offer.

You will always use Chaos Roll.

When you're going to be pulling in a party (not low/mid level), be sure to pull with Bronze Bullets. Nice and cheap and save yourself a lot of money.

1) I use double attack now more than chaos roll. 2) Bronze bullets arent that cheap well they werent

Put the effort in to consult with your party what rolls they'd like, and put the effort in with gear and everyone will love you. The sad truth is, there are so many people levelling COR who think it's just another BRD (Can level to 75 with lousy gear because nobody will care) and ruining it's name. When a good COR comes along, they stand out and people will remember you for it.

Mytoy more or less summed up everything you need to know about COR, although COR can DD in any situation. I do it all the time. Kirin, Sea Gods, you name it, I've done it / do it. Just got to make the effort merits wise and gear wise.

Or, level RNG and then never use COR for DD ever again, like I did. =\

Some very good posts so far - I can only think of a couple things to add:

1) Whatever your subjob, don't forget as a Corsair your main job is party enhancement first and DD second. Corsair can put out some good damage, but it should never come at the expense of letting your rolls wear off, Dispeling mobs (e.g. Cocoon off of crawlers), or sleeping links.

2) Some Corsairs like to have /Brd available for manaburns for the extra 1 MP/tic. It's worth mentioning as a sub to have available, but by no means is it mandatory.

3) Just as you're asking now for advice and knowledge about Corsair, expect to run into several people that have no idea what the job can do in a party. I've had parties call me noob for "not using Silence Shot on the mob," ask me why I'm not using Barrage as /War or /Nin, and once I got kicked from a party for not using "Haste Roll"...

4) While this is largely ignored due to how quickly colibri die in exp, don't forget that Quick Draw can be used to enhance debuffs placed on the mob by other party members. Ice Shot enhances Paralyze effect, Earth Shot enhances Slow, etc.

I too have been bitched at, called gimp and kicked from a many parties for not having this "Haste roll" oh and for not using "single shot" (w/e that is) and putting a roll on 1 specific person as opposed to 3 or 4...and my favorite "Can we has choco roll to make to camp fast?" what roll? "You has no choc roll? Gimp cor....go buy choco roll" /kick

Most ppl don't know much about COR...so yeah...When I was lvling it way back when, I got bitched at cos I dident use Evoker's Roll (lvl40) it was a lvl20 PT >_>; Told em 20 more lvls and diden't listin.Ppl treat it like its a lolBRD and its not.Just know that there is NO other job like it. Your main goal is to get buffs on your PT DD second do that and your golden.

The horror corbardwut stories from some of you are priceless. lol Also, I'll preface everything by stating I'm not a COR beforehand. lol

I'll just say that for the Inner Palace of Sea, a lot of NMs are very effectively kited and in this aspect COR does tremendous. I forget which Jailers, but I know at least one and possibly more can be solo'd by COR from QDs alone. Sea offers so many kiting areas that I can imagine a COR could have a lot of fun there in a group or alone.

The world would be a much better place if more CORs actually gave thought to which rolls would be best for the party setup and not the COR themselves. lol Given how awesome Fighter's is, I see it far too rarely, and never see Rogue's roll at all, but I understand that other buffs might serve the group as a whole better. Still, flat bonuses to critical-hit and double-attack rates sound too amazing not to ever fit any party setup better than either Hunter's or Chaos, no? SAM's is fun, but as a SAM unless it's saving me a complete extra hit it feels wasted, but the option of just being able to exchange storeTP gear for other stats seems worthwhile. Lower-delay DDs are likely to shave off full attack rounds with it, I'd think. Assuming a group of DDs had their ***together for melee stats and exp wasn't a factor, I'd love to see a Fighter's/Samurai's combo! lol /ramblingzofanelf.

I think Vegetto once said it best that a merit's aim is to optimize enough to still chain steadily while maintaining Corsair's roll which I agree as I do think it maximizes xp/hr as well as keep parties from being over buffed (BRD+COR, it happens!) and running through all the available mobs too quickly and killing their own chain.

im always cor for all my LS events, and im normaly always in the blm pt & /whm (only time i use /whm)

in merit pt's i always use /dnc, with joytoy & a competant pt you can main heal if need be (cor + brd + 4 DD is pretty fun)

along with the other subs mentioned
/sam can be fun with martial gun & rajas ring (giving you a 5 hit build)
/sch is a good alternative to /whm if you dont need erase/stoneskin/blink
/brd can be useful for a ballad ontop of evokers in a mage pt, useful for when other subs dont help much in situations

but as with most things you need to learn what sub works best for each situation via trial and error

with /blm i have gotten my QD dmg to over 400, it can get higher still with better gear too, so its pretty decent dmg
and /mage i can get over 500 MP (mithra), but personaly i dont like going /mage, but in endgame i find its the most useful sub for low man stuff which i do alot

and dont be shy to ask random cor's, they are normaly willing to help out if u ask them nicely, and asking several will get perspective on how others like to play it and how it can be played

ALRIGHT!!! COR talk :) :)

Alot has already been touched on... I'm just gonna toss a few ideas out there of my own experience. (and sorry if it was already posted and if I write a book)

SUB JOBS:
NIN: Good for soloing and Pulling (except I personally hate to pull on COR. too slow. to much to juggle. but that's just me)
RNG: Good for DD... but honestly... PLEASE stop trying to make COR into a RNG. it makes Baby Jesus cry. Level other Subjobs.
WHM The all too common End-Game sub. Excellent for Support.

Now lets get into the FUN Sub Jobs :)
BLM and RDM This are mainly your "Quickdraw" Subjobs. Subjobs that have a magic attack bonus trait to enhance your QD. don't think you're gonna enfeeble or nuke with them... you'll basically only subbing them for the MAB1 that RDM gives you and MAB2 that BLM gives you. Differences are... RDM has curing capabilities where as BLM leaves you wide open.

KUZ'S SUB OF CHOICE: Blue Mage!!!!!!
You not only get the ability to set defensive and healing spells...
you can set spells for Magic Attack Bonus 1, Regen, AND you can set +5 AGI that wont take up an equipment slot!!!

If you head to my page I have a gear set-up posted for what i use.
ALSO... if you wish to see the POTENTIAL that COR QD can bring you...
go here: http://www.ffxiah.com/forum/?topic_id=4198

QUICKDRAW: at higher levels...I guarantee you'll learn to love it and give up popping shots all together... and focus mainly on a QD Set up.
As mentioned above, QD Accuracy is effected by your AGI (and rumor has it Magic accuracy). Base damage is Bullet + Gun Damage, enhanced by Magic Attack Bonus.

YOUR ROLL IN PARTIES:
Obviously... you know your roll. BUT, keep in mind...
COR can keep FOUR ROLLS up (many CORs i see now a days forget this and get lazy. You need to keep 2 Rolls on the Melee, 2 on the Mages.
PLEASE don't forget this!!!

Also, maximize the potential of the party. Personally I love Chaos and Double Attack. But, roll for what the occasion calls for to cover up weaknesses. Another EXCELLENT roll to not pass up is SAM's roll. on a lucky or an 11, I was giving SAMs a 25 TP per hit, and I gave a DRG over 60 TP return for a Jump he did. EXTREMELY useful roll.

YOUR ROLL IN END-GAME

Coming from Personal Experience, here are situations I have placed myself in.

LIMBUS or DYNAMIS:
Either Set self into a strictly Melee party, Sub /WHM. You can help keep the party alive, as well as really helpign them dish out the damage. (one Limbus run, we had myself and a BRD in a party with 3 SAMs and a DRK...got their attack to 950+)
OR you can set yourself into a BLM Party. Toss up MAB Roll and Mass Refresh, and your BLMs are pretty much set to do as they please with minimal resting time.
If you're up against a Boss (IE: Omega, etc)COR/WHM in a tank party works wonders. You can mass-refresh your mages and tank without a RDM needing to waste MP, as well as Spell interruption rate down through BRDs roll for your PLD. Tried. Tested. And Works.

SKY:
Basically same as the above, except if you're up against a God... Get yourself into a BLM party with a SMN.
The BLM roll is enhanced, plus SMN can give you MAB with Diabolos (correct me if I'm wrong)... grab your QD Set-up and GO!!!
I was popping off 350+ QD's on Kirin, and the SMN and BLM attacks were pretty epic.

Sorry, I can't give an opinion either way on HNMs. Not much experience there.

MERITS:
This is ONLY Opinion... and what I'm working towards personally.
TIER 1: Max out Quickdraw RECAST and ACCURACY. thats it.
If you get the Mirk body with QD -5 and MAB, you'll knock QD down to 45 seconds.
TIER 2 Max out Snake Eye and Fold. MAYBE put ONE into Loaded Deck. Don't get distracted by winning Streak. just max out FOLD and SNAKE EYE. it's always better to be able to maximize the POTENTIAL of your rolls... instead of extending the duration of a shitty one that you are stuck with.

Sorry I wrote a book here.
Hope this helps!!!

GO CORSAIR!!!

Christ almighty, Kuz's enthusiasm has me wanting to run down the street scream "*** YEAH, CORSAIRS!!!"

Gonna level COR brb

Pics... or it didn't happen :P

I also advocate 5/5 QD Recast and 5/5 QD Accuracy for Tier 1, but I would not begrudge anyone for placing merits in Phantom Roll over QD Accuracy. QD Recast is the only one I'd call mandatory.

As for Tier II, I did 5/5 Snake Eye, 4/5 Fold, and 1/5 Loaded Deck. I can't imagine how I played this job without Snake Eye at 5/5 - it is such an awesome Job Ability.

And yes, stay far away from Winning Streak. :p

For a friend, who doesnt believe, could someone provide some insight into COR/WAR? damage screen shots, TP phase, that kinda thing?

...why would you do this...

EDIT: Ok, just a bit of advice... COR isn't RNG.
Subbing WAR will not really do anything for your job What-so-ever.

COR has ZERO "Ranged Bonuses" unlike RNG.
IT has, at best, B or B+ in its Sword and Dagger skills.
In order to land ANY ranged attack or Melee, you'd have to stack on so much R.Acc and Accuracy that you'd be gimping yourself in every slot.

YES you'd get Berserk, Warcry, etc etc etc.
you COULD TP with a Joy-toy.

But then you'll feel the pain of a thousand crying orphans when you WS and it does squat... or more then likely, misses completely.

Your QD's will be gimped beyond reason.

and you bring nothing to a party but a weak DD, with no other support but your rolls. and an MP sponge if (by some miracle besides using "provoke") you pull hate.

Please, don't sub WAR.

if you MUST go DD COR... Sub RNG... or NIN.

I wanted to comment on your giant wall, Kuz, but the awesome avatar distracted me, thanks. lol

...sorry...

I believe Wooooodum has some screenshots up of his COR.

Unless you consider doing decent damage to be part of a COR's job (and I do, whenever it is reasonable).



Or you could eat sushi (which you really have to do in most cases anyway, even when stacking acc gear), gear for haste, and do good damage and build tp quickly with your...



I would change that "could" to "should," unless you have a mercurial kris, which is also acceptable. Joyeuse is not hard to get, and revolutionizes how COR is played in many many situations.



Or you could cream your pants at how big your WSs are because you are eating sushi and using berserk, making slugshot pretty accurate and VERY powerful. Alternatively, you could use detonator, which has incredibly high accuracy even without sushi or very much r.acc gear, allowing you to gear almost exclusively for STR and AGI, putting out good numbers. Is it RNG-level damage? No. But my damage, counting both tping and WS, is comparable to most pick-up party DDs you will find, not even counting all the extra damage from Chaos roll on the DDs.



QD damage will be exactly the same as if you sub RNG or NIN as you advocate later. The only subs that affect QD damage are RDM and BLM (and maybe BLU but i don't remember what level they can get MAB) and unless ALL you are going to be doing is QDing, there is no reason to sub either of these.



As stated above, if done properly DD COR can put out comparable damage to an average DD (not comparable to a well-geared DD). /WAR gives you exactly the same survivability as /RNG. If you feel like good damage and rolls isn't enough to contribute, then you can go /DNC, get accuracy bonus I and the ability to cure and support your party members WHILE STILL DOING GOOD DAMAGE. You can also be smart and, you know, wait to WS until the mob is at 30% health or so so that it dies before it can hurt you.



/NIN adds ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to a COR's DD capabilities. All it adds are shadows, which, in most situations for a COR, are completely unnecessary.

NOTE: The above applies primarily to merit party situations, BUT also to MANY endgame situations. The only events where I go COR that I do not sub WAR are ZNMs (where I use QD exlusively), Omega (because I pull the gunpods to the BLMS who are waiting to nuke them) and... oh wait. That's it.

I'll firstly say COR is a job that has many gear sets that are mostly all unique to each subjob you plan to use, and you'll have many macros for different subjobs, macros for different situations with the same subjobs, and more macros to spare just in case.

Having said that, the way you merit and play COR will be just as diverse. I have two macro palettes for each subjob, which leaves me with two RNG sets, two mage SJ Sets(rdm, sch, no whm sub yet), two NIN SJ sets, and for the time being, only one DNC set and one WAR set. Mainly because of the different WS macro setups for the different situations(mostly, sushi or meat, and attack or accuracy buffs/rolls)

A lot of people here seem to think their way of meriting and playing cor is the best way, I will tell you that is not the case. If you use COR in a linkshell that has you rotate parties a lot like a BRD would, phantom roll recast and winning streak merits might benefit you the most. If you love the fast-paced action of pulling and attempting to DD at the same time, you are going to benefit from winning streak and phantom roll recast merits.

If you use COR primarily for low-man events then you are going to want to be very aggressive with your rolls so you can assure powerful buffs to be a very valuable member in that low-man team. Therefore, you would benefit most from a balance of loaded deck and fold merits( after maxing snake eye), and QD accuracy merits. In a low man situation, you might still benefit from PR recast merits. If you are rolling very aggressively you want to be able to re-cycle through your rolls if you land on one you're not happy with and can't afford to bust due to fold or Snake eye being down.

People who say COR doesn't pull well are people who aren't very skilled in pulling. I made my own parties and pulled from 55 to 67, and occasionally in the late 60s/early 70s with LS friend parties. I never pulled with a low delay gun and we still pulled good exp/hr, with rates between 13k/hr and 18k/hr, which is what you still expect to get in your average merit party @ 75. You have to find the rhythm, and you have to have a back up willing to pull or someone with reliable sleep so you can over-pull than what you'd normally do, to give yourself time to do rolls. I pulled and managed 4 rolls no problem. If a cor says you can't pull, they're just not that skilled at multi-tasking and requesting teamwork from party members or a good party build to begin with.

As far as being the best you can be @75, I suggest RNG NIN DNC WAR(or SAM) MAGE subjobs. The MAGE can be anything really, but the most popular are WHM and/or RDM. If you can't stand WHM, do SCH. SCH gets raise, paralyna, silena, cursna, blindna, regen 2, and reraise. You only lack stoneskin and erase from whm sub, and only lack fastcast/Mab traits from RDM sub. On the plus side, SCH is the most MP-efficient mage subjob there is.

Cor is all about gearing it and it's subjobs to match the situations you plan to use it most in. If you aren't sure what you want to use it in, consider that before leveling. Then ask more specific questions related to situations/events you want to use COR the most in. Don't listen to these hardliners telling you which way is the best way to play. =P Although...there is one line you should pay attention to from all the different cor opinions. Max snake eye recast. Max QD accuracy. The rest is up to your play style.