STR and AGI, which for Lv75 Rng?
Posted in Final Fantasy XI, Tales of an Yumi on June 15, 2007 
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Assuming that you have an abundant amount of ranged accuracy, so adding AGI will not help much more with regards to your ranged hit rate – number of arrows hit / total number of arrows fired. Also assuming the increases in STR and AGI can be equivalently found from the same slot of armor, just different pieces.
Considering normal ranged attack:
- Damage = (WD + AD + fSTR2) x pDiF
Only STR will change the value of fSTR2 and pDiF, while AGI will not do anything for your damage here, so STR will obviously benefit more.
Considering weapon skill for Archery:
- WSC = floor(floor((0.16 x total_STR)+(0.25 x total_AGI) x 0.83))
- Damage = floor ((WD + AD + fSTR2 + WSC) x 5.0 x pDiF)
1 STR vs 1 AGI
If adding 1 STR, fSTR2 and WSC will change by either 0 or 1 depending on truncation problem of the total_STR and fSTR2 calculation, also pDiF may change by 1/mob’s defense if total_STR is odd. If adding 1 AGI, WSC will change by either 0 or 1, depending on truncation problem of total_AGI.
So, adding 1 STR will change Damage by anywhere from 0 to 10 x (pDiF + 1/mob’s defense), while adding 1 STR will change Damage by anywhere from 0 to 5 pDiF. The comparison thus can be ambiguous in general. Specific conclusion must be based on specific STR and AGI.
2 STR vs 2 AGI
Adding 2 AGI will change WSC by either 0 or 1. Adding 2 STR will change WSC by either 0 or 1, but will definitely change fSTR2 by 1 approximately, and also change pDiF by 1/mob’s defense.
So at most, adding 2 AGI can change Damage by at most 5 x pDiF, while adding 2 STR can change Damage by at least 5.0 x (pDiF + 1/mob’s defense), which is clearly higher. Therefore, adding 2 STR will always win here.
>2 STR vs >2 AGI
The minimum amount of AGI needed to increase WSC by 1 in general is : 1 = floor(0.25 x AGI x 0.83) -> AGI = 4.82 ~ 5
So one needs at least 6 AGI increase to put WSC by 2 assuming that total_AGI is short of only 1 AGI to increase WSC by 1 after truncation. Total increase in Damage is 10 x pDiF.
An increase of 6 STR will increase fSTR2 by 3, while pushing pDiF up by 3/mob’s defense. Total increase in Damage is 15 x (pDiF + 3/mob’s defense).
Therefore, an increase of equivalent amount (>2) STR will always be better than AGI.
Considering weapon skill for Markmanship:
- WSC = floor(0.3 x total_AGI x 0.83)
- Damage = floor ((WD + AD + fSTR2 + WSC) x 5.0 x pDiF)
1 STR vs 1 AGI
If adding 1 STR, fSTR2 will change by either 0 or 1, also pDiF may change by 1/mob’s defense if total_STR is odd. If adding 1 AGI, WSC will change by either 0 or 1.
So, adding 1 STR will change Damage by anywhere from 0 to 5 x (pDiF + 1/mob’s defense), while adding 1 STR will change Damage by anywhere from 0 to 5 x pDiF. The comparison thus can be ambiguous in general. Specific conclusion must be based on specific STR and AGI.
2 STR vs 2 AGI
Adding 2 AGI will change WSC by either 0 or 1. Adding 2 STR will change fSTR2 by 1 approximately, and also change pDiF by 1/mob’s defense.
So at most, adding 2 AGI can change Damage by at most 5 x pDiF, while adding 2 STR can change Damage by at least 5.0 x (pDiF + 1/mob’s defense), which is clearly higher. Therefore, adding 2 STR will always win here.
>2 STR vs >2 AGI
The minimum amount of AGI needed to increase WSC by 1 in general is : 1 = floor(0.3 x AGI x 0.83) -> AGI = 4.01 ~ 5 (round up to smallest integer that is higher than the calculation).
So one needs at least 6 AGI increase to put WSC by 2 assuming that total_AGI is short of only 1 AGI to increase WSC by 1 after truncation. Total increase in Damage is 10 x pDiF.
An increase of 6 STR will increase fSTR2 by 3, while pushing pDiF up by 3/mob’s defense. Total increase in Damage is 15 x (pDiF + 3/mob’s defense).
Therefore, an increase of equivalent amount (>2) STR will always be better than AGI.
2 Responses to “STR and AGI, which for Lv75 Rng?”
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You probably forgot to note that this assumes FSTR cap is not reached and pDif isn’t very high or capped.
If FSTR was capped and pDif was high; WS damage would increase more with more with AGI as both Archery and Marksmanship have higher AGI 2nd modifier over STR. In this case FSTR would no longer increase and pDif would not increase very much with STR increases.
Have you tried out Attack vs STR for HNM, T merit monsters, IT merit monsters? I’m always debating myself with STR vs Range attack gear, like AF1 Head vs Wyvern Helm for what situations. Head, body, waist, feet all have great STR and Range attack gear. I’m still a Ranger newbie; have you got all that worked out? =P
It is very hard if not impossible to cap fSTR2 . _ . At least with our races ; ; (go go elvaan go away). But if you can cap it, then what you said is right. When you can cap fSTR2, most likely you will cap pDiF as well, then no matter how much STR you increase, it won’t have any effect at all. In that extreme case, then AGI will always win :D But if fSTR2 is not capped, then increase in STR in an equivalent amount will win in most of the case, even if pDiF is capped (which is totally possible).
I usually use AF1 head for TP and Wyvern Helm for WS. The Rapid Shot from AF head does make some differences in TP mode, and if I can upgrade the head to +1 version, it adds 4 AGI which increases your ranged accuracy by 2 – even a better reason to use it.
In WS mode, if the monster’s defense is higher and higher, then your increase in ranged attack will be less and less effective , which makes pDiF change by an incredibly small amount – imagine 5/600 >_> – in which case, increase in ranged attack will most likely not change your WS damage, or if it does, the change would be like 1-5 damage >.> On the other hand, increase in STR by 5 will change not only your ranged attack, but also your fSTR2 by approximately 2~3. Ignoring pDiF, that is an increase of 10-15 damage. The difference maybe marginal when pDiF is not capped, and when monster’s defense is not high, but you will most likely hit either case, so Wyvern Helm will be better for WS.
Take the simple case of Colibri, which we know for sure defense is 320, VIT is 66.
On my Mithra, with berserk, minuet 4, coeurl sub, I can get 700+ ranged attack easily . For simplicity, let’s assume I get 640 ranged attack, and no level penalty, so pDiF is 2. My STR in WS mode is 110, so fSTR2 is approximately ~ 24. My AGI in WS mode is 112.
Damage = Weapon’s damage + ammo’s damage + fSTR2 + WSC
-> Damage = 81 + 38 + 24 + floor(floor(.16 x 110 + .25 x 112)x0.83) = 180
Base Damage = Damage x fTP x pDiF = 180 x 5 x 2 = 1800
– Case 1 : Use Hunter’s Beret – pDiF changes to 645 / 320 =
2.02
Base Damage = 180 x 5 x 2.02 = 1818
– Case 2 : Use Wyvern Helm – pDiF changes to 642 / 320 = 2.01; Damage changes to 182
Base Damage = 182 x 5 x 2.01 = 1829
So you see, wyvern helm wins in WS. The change is marginal, but technically it is better, especially when your pDiF is high, as the change in pDiF is the same, but the change in fSTR2 will benefit more from high pDiF (which is usually the case in XP PT).
When pDiF is low, fSTR2 change benefits less, but your ranged attack increase will most likely not affect pDiF at all, or very small (since monster’s defense would need to be pretty high in order for your pDiF to be low at 75). Then fSTR2 change will still more likely to be better.
I will post my gears setup soon. I still want to do some more tests with AF2 body and Osode. The Rapid Shot so far seems pretty good, but again, no PT lasts long enough for me to test it in a reasonable sample ; ;