http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps3/file/954345/59592

Stooge and Ikar get a proper and well-deserved thanks.

See you on the battlefield.

They're just commonly used items for a Faith build, so the build will inherently get high regen.

There are only a few others PvP worthy:

- Clouds, Firestorm, Ignite, Fireball, HSA, Soul Ray, Fire Spray.

I think I discuss most of those throughout the guide, but obviously I do not devote serious time into it because almost all of them are totally unintuitive, and rather intricate. If somebody wants to take up the mantle of a PvP caster, they will need to devote quite a bit of time to puzzling which spells to use and how. Although I have experience on a PvP caster, I really don't believe I have the same credentials to write the same high quality material as I did with melee setups.

I may at some point, but frankly, I don't think I would put it in for the purpose of self-editing. At the moment I'm burnt-out of this game. I played it to death, beaten and have got beaten by every serious PvP player. In the future if I devote serious time to my mage, i might come up with something, but as it stands, I don't think I will whip up anything for it.

I was wondering if you intended to do an in-depth analysis of different spells/miracles. Or is that not on your to-do list?

Can you continue your guide on the subject of lock-on? What are the general rules of thumb on lock ons and your thoughts on the subject would be greatly appreciated.

Off Topic Friday Funnies:

last night when someone push stunned me in to Satsuki and then he let me hit him and then walked away…I didn't realize that I hit Satsuki and I continued trying to hack him/BS him as he walked away thinking WTF!?!?why is he turning his back on me!?!?…. and 2 secs later I got my answer in the form of a Katana in the back wielded by Satsuki and promptly dropped a SL…it would have been LMAO hilarious if I wasn't on the receiving end since I was it was only slightly funny. That dude is no joke…

There's a few problems with the mana regen idea:

1) P. Pole takes up a shield slot/Morion slot generally. This is never worth it.
2) Fragrant Ring takes up a slot (which is more-or-less the same problem HP regeneration has in the first place unless you're hosting).
3) Since in most 1v1 duels it's acceptable to spice after buffing, you're left with 100MP+ once the fight begins. 9 times out of 10 you're probably going to buff with Second Chance to start anyways. Also, with a 100MP post-buff you can recast Warding 2 times in heated combat if need be. If you cant finish a duel with a Second Chance and 2 Wardings you have bigger things to worry about then your MP frankly. Taking a spice will seem like a minor issue.

<3

care to elaborate on what you mean by faith builds having high health regen, because health regen is only affected by items, not stats

Sadly, P. Pole finds very little use in PvP because using spices is much more practical and reliable. Mages who try to wait for their MP to regenerate will quickly find they have no time to spare. P. Pole can be useful in PvE though, as Mages who aren't using Magic at the moment will save Souls on spice. Still, with how cheap spices are, it's really not worth it.

Hope this helps ^_^

Is there a reason this isn't something worth mentioning? I'm no expert so I assume I'm overlooking something.

Cursed defintley has much more killing power. There's no doubt. Depending on your plans really.

- Faith:
1 less buff, can backup Warding against Crushing/Sharp builds. Higher unbuffed damage makes it primed if you're invading into places where you suspect you'll be jumped. Gouged magic defense. Low Strength Faith builds have decent HP. Low damage as an invader means you'll somtimes need something like Nail to put someone away.

- Crushing:
Much higher killing power overshadows almost every advantage Faith has. Nerfed by Warding however. Requires Curse Weapon to tune people proper. Fundamentally worse for random invasions due to extra buffing, and weakness to Warding.

1) ToB will out-damage iCat as long as your Faith stat 1 points less then your Magic stat, equal to your Magic stat, or greater then your Magic stat. Test figures:

(Test Vector was 1-1 Dreglings using Soul Ray. PWWT, Body Form character, PWCT)

iCat: 45 Magic/Any Faith = 610 Damage
ToB: 45 Magic/24 Faith = 548 Damage
ToB 45 Magic/30 Faith = 574 Damage
ToB 45 Magic/35 Faith = 588 Damage
ToB 45 Magic/40 Faith = 601 Damage
ToB 45 Magic/41 Faith = 603 Damage
ToB 45 Magic/42 Faith = 607 Damage
ToB 45 Magic/43 Faith = 610 Damage
ToB 45 Magic/44 Faith = 614 Damage

This is effectively double stats (minus you starting Faith stat of course, however a direct comparison would need to include your starting Magic stat too). It should also be noted that I did conduct a similar test at 40 Magic and got similar results.

2) Also Nick, you were correct on the Foe Ring vs. Ring of Magical Sharpness (I kind of figured that, but now I've confirmed it as well) front. It proved to be about 10 points superior in damage using Soul Ray as a test Vector in RSS tests.

So I agree ^_^

People with their head screwed on are going to use Kris + Headwrap if they plan on dealing damage with spells, and for a good reason. The only reason they wouldn't is if they needed that equipment slot for something (unless they simply don't know any better). You won't be killing anyone with a respectable amount of HP with an Ignite without these frankly unless it's after some light melee. Again thanks for your input, but I see almost no reason not to use both Headwrap and Kris if I'm trying to kill somebody with a spell.

I did some tests on Friend/ Foe's Ring and Ring of Magical Sharpness a while back. The spell damage boost given my Friend's/ Foe's Ring is actually the same as ROMS. This was after the patch, a few weeks ago.

Just so you know ^_^ I always use Friend/Foe's ring over RFMS because they don't decrease Magic Defense, and increase physical attack power as well.

- This version of my guide actually isn't complete… it least from an editing front. There are a small handful of errors in both editing, and information that were overlooked. I will be making a complete FAQ, and when I do, I will allow information to be submitted here… it least some of the factual stuff (ToB stats, etc). Let's be honest… the PvP information here is out of date, and lacking detail from an experienced dueler in the current meta.

- I don't recommend armor for a reason: it doesn't make much difference… or it least the difference it makes isn't substantial.

- As for rings, there are quite a few I openly endorse:
1) When invading or dueling as a Blue, the combination of Cling + Friend/Foe should be used exclusively if you're a melee class.
2) Clever Rat's Ring (obviously) and the surprisingly underestimated Dull Rat's Ring.
3) Eternal Warrior's Ring
4) Ring of Magical Sharpness
5) Thief's Ring/Graverobber's Ring

2. In regards to ToB:
It's never going to be exactly double, but it's not really optimized for aiming for SL 120 without considerable sacrifices to Vitality. I also left this somewhat open-ended hoping that someone would sooner or later provide a proven ToB Push PvP build (thus why I said I may outline a build later). Also, looking at diminishing stats to determine where you should stop putting points into something is a mixed bag. Dex's biggest gains are from like 20-30, but people usually got to 50 for obvious reasons… mainly, the gains are still good enough to sink points into.

3. Poison vs. Plague:
If I had to choose a single Negative Status weapon today, I'd choose Nail. That's why I include it in most standard equipment on builds and not Mercury weapons. However a 1 slot spell, and Kunai means you probably shouldn't discount Poison entirely. I use Kunai to this day to jam heals.

4. In regards to Flamberge:
It's just not that good. If I want to use a Large Sword I will stick with Claymore, and a different build. The range makes a large difference, and it's what makes Claymore superior. Again, the only reason I didn't slam it completely is because it has different upgrade paths. But, just because a weapon does more damage does not make it exclusively better then it's peers. There's no reason not to use it if you really desire a Sharp Flamberge, but I'd rather just play with a Crushing/Blessed Claymore on a different build, and stuff like Katanas/Sais/Secret Dagger on a Dexterity build.

5. In regards to backstep R1:
Most people with even a shred of intuition will figure this out on their own (but I'm still getting plenty of emails, messages, and other suggestions being like "why didn't you include random swing X on weapon Y?"). Also, since the sprint attack on GAxe is horribly slow, I don't actually find it to be that good personally. You gotta' remember, I'm doing the best I can with what I know here… and although some of it is mathmatical certainties, a lot of it is just discussion designed to push people in the proper direction, and give them some objective oppinions.
True PvP can never be definite. There are always going to be plenty of variables that are hard to account for, and trying to dissect every single one is probably not a good idea. I actually trimmed a lot of this kind of stuff out.

And since I can't be arsed to register a Gamefaqs account (or remember one), don't mind if I leave comments here.

North Regalia builds
Considering you don't list any shields for those builds, why not leave STR at 14?

Talisman of Beasts
You don't really need to pour double the stats into the ToB to make it powerful. Considering that diminishing returns start after 30, you can build a character with 40 MAG and 40 FTH while still maintaining the SL 120 target.

Poison vs Plague
Besides female characters that use the Old Raggedy set, most PVP opponents have abysmal Plague resistance. While this doesn't affect Poison Cloud and Death Cloud, you will see how bad things are for Poison when comparing a Mercury weapon with Baby's Nail. Considering that you want to spend the least time using these DoT weapons, you want one that has a higher chance of success per attack. Frankly, Baby's Nail wins in that department, period.

Flamberge
Why are Flamberges bad? They deal more damage than Uchigatanas and Scythes, both sharing its upgrade options.

Extra Large Swords and Large Axe/Hammers
You seem to have neglected their Backstep attacks, i.e. X (or O) + R1 (2-handed). Both Great Sword and Keel Smasher will perform a ~270 degree sweep, while the Great Axe and Meat Cleaver will execute the Sprint attack that floors victims.

For example, placing your info about the ToB in the ToB's wiki page. That or we could sticky this.
Again, thanks for the info.

Here it is:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=954345&topic=54070902