Charmer's Merlin Question

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Charmer's Merlin question
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By kaiju9 2017-09-12 03:26:40
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Can anyone explain the proper way to use Charmer's Merlin in a gearswap? I would assume I just precast with it, and midcast to a better axe, but I'm still having problems.

While trying out an old version of Falkirk's gearswap (2016), I noticed ready damage was horrible on my BST/WHM char compared to the BST/DNC char, and found moves were going off with Merlin equipped in mainhand. The gearswap had the Merlin set defined as a midcast set, that was also equipped in precast further down. I tried modifying it so it only equipped precast, and went back to Arktoi midcast, but then I didn't seem to get the 5 sec reduction.

Am I missing something? This was just out in Ceizak, so I wouldn't think lag was the cause. I intend to try Falkirk's latest gearswap linked in his profile to see if that helps, but wasn't optimistic when I noticed he has a LagMode toggle specifically to disable Merlin use while single wielding.
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By Felgarr 2017-09-12 04:47:13
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When BST/WHM, swapping your ilvlAxe for Charmer's Merlin causes your pet to drop to level 99.

You should only be using Charmer's Merlin in offhand.

For precast/midcast of Ready moves, I have no idea because I never take Charmer's Merlin off. :(
 Lakshmi.Ashtopcat
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By Lakshmi.Ashtopcat 2017-09-12 05:56:21
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you need to change the mode to "pet only", if it's the same as the one i use it's windows key + F8 (will be defined at the top of the lua - this is the june 16 revision)
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By kaiju9 2017-09-12 11:34:14
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Felgarr said:
When BST/WHM, swapping your ilvlAxe for Charmer's Merlin causes your pet to drop to level 99.

Yeah, I knew Merlin mainhand = 99 pet, which is why my damage tanked. I didn't know if the game could handle pet going 119 to 99 (precast) and back to 119 (midcast) or not. Sounds like it doesn't.

Ashtopcat said:
you need to change the mode to "pet only"

I'm probably using the same gearswap, and I was in PetOnly mode at the time. This is the set I'm referring to:
Code
-- Single-wield PetOnly Sets
sets.midcast.Pet.ReadyRecastNE = {main="Charmer's Merlin",legs="Desultor Tassets"}

...snip...

function job_precast(spell, action, spellMap, eventArgs)
    if spell.type == "Monster" then
        classes.CustomClass = "WS"
        if state.PetMode.value == 'PetOnly' and not buffactive['Unleash'] then
            if player.sub_job == 'NIN' or player.sub_job == 'DNC' then
                equip(sets.midcast.Pet.ReadyRecastDWNE)
            else
                equip(sets.midcast.Pet.ReadyRecastNE)
            end
        else
            equip(sets.midcast.Pet.ReadyRecast)
        end
    end
...
end


I didn't understand why the Merlin set was also used for midcast. I tried modifications to go back to Arktoi for midcast, but I don't think I got the timer reduction from Merlin (I had gs showswaps enabled to confirm it used Merlin precast, Arktoi midcast).

What about dual-wielding? Do people just let the Ready move go off with Merlin equipped in offhand, or do you swap to a TP bonus axe for offhand midcast?

I guess I'll try the newest version of the gearswap to see if it behaves differently.
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By kaiju9 2017-09-12 22:28:26
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Not sure how, but happy to report the Sept 2017 gearswap revision made my problem go away.
necroskull Necro Bump Detected! [177 days between previous and next post]
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By Asura.Eeyoresyndrome 2018-03-08 14:11:44
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So this is probably a necro-bump =/

But I've just started using Gear Swap after taking a year+ break.

I understand that swapping offhand wep will reset my TP to 0...

So is there a use-case scenario where I would ever want a non-charmer wep in my offhand?? I finally got an i119 axe and was trying out using my old 117 axe in offhand and swapping in charmer for ready moves, and quickly realised the issue with losing TP.
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By clearlyamule 2018-03-08 14:35:56
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90% of the time you are going to want some pet stat oriented axe in your offhand while idle, charmer's for pre ready, a tp bonus axe mid ready.

Meleeing in Charmer's or really any pet oriented axe is pretty meh and not using appropriate axes for ready moves will be a huge dps loss. So you just eat the tp loss

You can do a more master focus but then you aren't really caring about your ready recast or dmg that much than anyways