String Theory: A Puppetmaster's Guide *NEW*

Which Ambu V1's are soloable on Pup?

Poroggo can be soloed with Overdrive on VD.

I seem to have some confusing memories about the base Pet: DT.
We know all pets have 50% DT by default and that's ok.
But I seem to recall some frames/head combinations had some small additional DT, like Valor Head/Body.
I could find no trace of this on BG wiki. Am I misremembering things then? All combinations have the same default value regardless or what?

Depends on the frame, yes. From the BGWiki guide:

Guessing those sets aren't up to date for bis?

Thanks Dodik

That doesn't corroborate with these tanking sets I created aeons ago though, something is off.

Avatars, Jug Pets, Luopans and DRG Wyverns all have native 50% DT, so I guess my memory is wrong and Automatons do not get that, and instead get a varying amount depending on frame?

Nevermind, was wrong.


It's wyvern pets that have a native -40% DT, not all pets. Summons also have a native -50% PDT (not DT).

Stout servant page has this info.

Yeah, that makes sense with the sets I made all those years ago. Which page did you get that quote from btw?
So yeah, Automatons get no "innate DT" but they get a small amount depending on frame, then 9% from Stout Servant, and the rest has to come from Attachments or Gear.


Pffff, so many years passed I forgot.
Yeah noticed that part about Avatars, being PDT and not DT.
Luopans do get 50% innate DT though.

First let me say thank you for all the hard work u always do(i board lurk and never post)
As of May 16, 2025 you have been proven wrong (per se) in a favorable way!!!
So what weapon will you choose for your main now? LMAO

I'm tryin to update my Pet tanking sets which I neglected for way too many years.

I noticed I can reach the PDT cap in so many ways, it's actually quite easy for me to cap >87,5%.
The same doesn't apply to MDT specifically though, granted that the Pet's magic defense is still pretty high thanks to the high values of MDB from Mana Jammers.

Still I was wondering... given how I can overcap PDT so easily, what if I swapped the 5% DT I have on cape with a 10% MDT?
Opinions?

Since there's 100 different ways to hit the pdt cap. Post the set you use and we or you will see the piece it could change.

Guide cape was already using MDT-10

This is my base tanking set:

ItemSet 399402
DT-5, Regen+10 on Cape.
What I'm trying to do is build a second tanking set, where I use Mpaca's Boots (doesn't offer pet DT but Level+1) and Pitre taj+3. This doesn't offer pet DT either but I like the additional pet Regen/Refresh.

Now... I could swap Rimeice for Enmerkar (-2 DT), but that's still not enough.
Furthermore I have more pet DT items I'm not using now that are currently muled, would hate to get em back because inventory+ but what can you do about it...
I'm talking about Midnights (Path D, -3% DT) and Shepherd Collar (DT-2%).

Basically If I lose the DT-14% from Anwig Salade and Taeon Boots, I can still quite easily cap PDT, but then MDT will be at around 43.5 (even worse if I go with Harletank setup instead of Valoredge setup)

You're going to go from 36 PDT to 17 (and -9 MDT overall)

You're losing 19 (head, feet and -5% cape) The most you can gain back is 6% (14% if you make the magian weapon)

You'll have to use Armor Plate 3 or use an earth maneuver.

Do you use light/fire/water?

Anwig Salade is just really good, I wouldn't give it up for 5 regen.

Depends on the fight but most of the time it's fire/light/water yeah

When I'm overcapped, having 5 additional regen is nice. Not game breaking but then again if you don't need the DT (I certainly don't need haste when tanking).
Ideally it would be very good for Harletank setups, because of the Refresh in addition to the Regen. But for Harletank you need even more DT because the frame has 6.25% base DT instead of the Valor's 12.5% so... I dunno.

If you drop water for earth, you're going to lose... ~15 Mdef for the PDT you need.

Or you drop fire and lose provoke.

Earth is not a problem anyway. In some setups you cap with zero Earth Maneuvers and just Armor Plate IV. In some setups you need AP4+AP1, in some others AP4+AP3, all with 0 Earth Maneuvers. All of this thanks to the 1.5% bonus granted by Optic Fiber I+II and 1 Light Maneuver.

I mean it's no big deal, what else are you gonna put in earth anyway? Barrier Module can be nice on some targets, but for the stuff I'm tanking you can't shield block anything so I'd rather just use Armor Plates anyway.
Really, whichever way you want to see it, PDT is never the issue here, but rather reducing the DT and, as a consequence, getting further away from the cap when it comes to MDT and just MDT.

It's true that MDT is less "dangerous" because of MDB granted by Jammers, but you still want to get as much MDT as possible, no?

MDT is less important. How many things chainspell right.

You can always change sets to lower a big spell and change back. Unless youre deadset on a single set while not paying attention to it.

Anyway I think I found a viable compromise, let's see what you guys think.

I have my DD set hereThis also gives me, indirectly, 30% pet DT in gear (total of 51.5% with Valor or Sharp).
I can use this set if I want a more hybrid approach or want to focus more on DD, it's still a solid option.

Then I have the set I posted above, full tanking. Since I was way above the required PDT cap and since I don't need DPS, I swapped Taeon Feet for Mpaca's Boots. -4% DT but +1 level.
This set overcaps me on PDT with Valoredge and Harlequin alike.

Then I have another set, similar to the one I posted above, but Pitre Foire +3 instead of Anwig (losing 10 DT) but Enmerkar in place of Rimeice (-2 DT) and keeping Taeon Foot instead of Mpaca.
Still overcapping PDT with either Valor or Harle frames.

I think this gives me some options to decide if I want to focus on DPS with some DT, full DT, or slightly less DT but more Regen/refresh.

Perhaps you're overthinking it here - what are you ever tanking on PUP where it even matters whether you're capped PDT or slightly under? I can't think of a single thing that's viable to PUP tank where that makes a significant difference in survival, enmity retention, or any other reason.

Personally, I just use 4/5 Taeon with DT-4%/Regen+3/Meva+22~25 as my default tank setup. VE body/Soulsoother head. Manual swap into pet enm+ pieces (5/5 Heyoka+1 and Domesticator/Rimeice earrings) before Voke/Flash.

I pretty much always run 1 light and 1 fire, then 3rd maneuver if not using Overdrive is either an extra fire (more enmity, my normal default if I don't need more regen), extra light (more regen, not needed too often - but also improves Optic Fiber passive effect for all attachments), water (magic def), or occasionally something like a dark for Disruptor dispel.

Attachments:
- Optic Fiber I+II
- Mana Jammer III+IV
- Armor Plate III+IV (PDT+35, plus 25%/50%/62.5% with 0/1/2 light maneuvers up - generally I always have 1, sometimes 2)
- Strobe I+II
- Flashbulb
- Steam Jacket
- Auto-repair Kit IV
- Wildcard slot (often something like Disruptor)

Gear:
ItemSet 399405

Could throw a Handler's Earring +1 or Shepherd's Chain in there if you felt like it. I don't usually even bother to change H2H from Kenkonken, but if I was looking to do that I'd look at either Ohrmazd (DT-/Meva) or Midnights D.

If it's a true tank build, refresh is irrelevant and I don't care about any pet offensive stats (if anything, sometimes I like to remove Haste/Acc/STP so the puppet doesn't interrupt a better SC).

If doing a PUP "bruiser" solo, I do VE/VE and change to using Taeon hands/legs DA+5/DT-4%/Acc+24~25, along with usually Pitre+3 body and Mpaca Boots, Klouskap Sash+1, C.Palug/Varar+1 rings, Shulmanu Collar. I never use a Harletank setup.

Having a hard time finding some endgame Puppet loadouts. Doing endgame content such as Sortie/Odyssey, etc.
Anyone have any suggestions?

https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/String_Theory