String Theory

Last Update: 7th September 2022

General Information

Puppetmaster (PUP) is a pet-oriented job (similar to its counterparts SMN, BST, DRG) which features a highly versatile and customizable puppet for a pet known as an Automaton.

Don’t discount these little puppets based on their stature! By installing and equipping a variety of different Heads, Frames, and Attachments, along with the master equipping pet enhancing gear, these little robots can be made into formidable and durable killing machines!
In addition to this, the master themselves are pretty potent hand-to-hand users. When combining the damage from both the master and the puppet, you’ll find that together they are capable of dishing out some respectable pain on your foes.

Disclaimer

Although there is a lot of information here to take in, I still feel that there is more to learn about Puppetmaster! So I invite any other veteran PUP players to contribute to this guide in any way they can! Feel free to let me know (Fabiano (Asura), or use the Discussion Tab) any of your findings, and I'll do my best to integrate it into this guide. Most of the information I’ve written down here, is knowledge that I’ve earned either through my own experimentation, or by the teachings of other Puppetmasters (either directly or indirectly). Puppetmaster is one of those jobs which has a ton facets to consider when playing, so I hope for the Puppetmaster community to continue sharing their knowledge whenever possible!

So you want to be a Puppetmaster?

Puppetmaster (PUP) is one of the most unique jobs you’ll find in this game. This comes with both advantages and disadvantages…

Let me preface this by saying… PUP is not a simple job to play. It is highly misunderstood, both by outsiders and by people playing the job (incorrectly.) In addition to this, PUP has a very expensive barrier of entry -- and I mean this in the most literal wallet emptying sense. Acquiring all the attachments, animators, frames, and gear sets will set you back in your gil total considerably.

With that said, Puppetmaster, at least in my opinion, has been by far the most rewarding job to play! Even though you might not be the most desired job, even though it can kind of look like a clown at times… there are just so many quirks and facets to think about when it comes to the planning and execution of a unique automaton setup, that when it finally comes together and you overcome a challenge... it’s just so satisfying!

Strengths			Weaknesses
★	Complexity	If you enjoy tinkering and coming up with new and outside-the-box strategies, PUP is a literal toy box for you to play with. Your automaton brings a slew of interesting and unique abilities to the table for you to test and try out. Many ways to approach situations, and no clear instruction manual for doing so either.	☆	Complexity...	Double the maintenance, double the skill-ups, double the equipment screens to manage. Often misunderstood job by the general public... and as a result, rather low desirability for group content.
★	Solo specialist	Extremely capable in low-man, or more notably, solo situations. If you are the type of player who enjoys taking on challenges alone, PUP might be a job for you.	☆	Group limitations for pets	Your automaton (and pets in general) are unfortunately not affected by a variety of support abilities, hindering their group potential. (protectra, shellra, bar-spells, bard songs, decoy shot, sneak/trick attack, almost all group buffs, geomancy buff bubbles). The sole exception to this are some pet-oriented Corsair Rolls getting applied to the master, as well as gaining the benefit from any debuffs on the monster (including geomancy debuff bubbles)
★	Versatility	Through different automaton setups, a PUP is capable of filling a variety of roles at varying degrees: tank, damage dealer, healing, and magic burster.	☆	Selective versatility	While PUP is versatile, they are limited to a single specific role at a given time, and cannot do everything at once (Unlike say, a Red Mage who is able to shift their role on the fly). Changing role involves deactivating your Automaton, changing its load out, and reactivating it, which can be dangerous in the heat of battle (though still possible).
★	Access to all damage types	This includes blunt, piercing, range, slashing, and magic (though not all at once). Handy when facing monsters with gimmicks where they suddenly become immune to a particular damage type or gain a specific damage shield which needs to be broken.	☆	Hand-to-hand user	It's no secret that H2H is currently in a very bad place at the moment when compared to other weapon types. No access to a grip or dual-wield in their off-hand slot, along with generally sub par weapon skills leads to a particularly sad time. This affects both Monk and Puppetmaster (though PUP atleast has the uniqueness of their Automaton to lean on).
★	Highly effective in “pet only” setups	Highly welcomed, and needed, in pet-focused strategies for their tanking and damage dealing capabilities.	☆	Horrendous area of Effect capabilities	PUP just cannot cleave, or AoE anything down in a respectable manner. Just don't even try. Change jobs.
★	Nearly indestructible tanking capabilities!	Self-sufficient tanking as well, no pocket healer is needed when an automaton is tanking. Having a pet as a tank, also allows you to avoid certain typically dangerous mechanics such as charm. Automatons also are mostly immune to (or react oddly to) death effects, including the spell itself (ie: Deathly Stare is converted into a low damage hit).	☆	Single-target tanking only, please!	Also very poor at multi-target tanking. Do not attempt! Also weak at dealing with enemies with frequent Enmity Reset mechanics, and cannot really deal large damage DoT's large enough to overcome regen, large curses, or frequent abilities which stop your automaton from acting such as petrify, long stuns, or terrors.
★	AI controlled pet	Pet functioning off of an AI allows for unique interactions with enemy monsters (automatic shield bash stunning capabilities, instant dispel/absorb effects, etc..) as well as limitless range for the master. Unlike BST, SMN, and DRG, we do not need to be anywhere near the danger for our Automaton to have full effectiveness.	☆	Peculiar Armor Selection	PUP has this weird tradition since its inception of being included and/or excluded from some armors and equipment which seem like obvious fits for the job. Whether it's being randomly added to the support mage robe Annoint. Kalasiris or excluded from the traditional monk-looking garb Ken. Samue, this hurts the jobs gearing potential more often than helps.
★	Slow and steady	very safe and consistent pet-tanking and pet-damage dealing capabilities. The master can stand very far from danger while your pet slowly whittles down the enemy.	☆	Expensive	To even reach a baseline of functionality, Automaton Attachments and Pet/Master gearsets will set you back in your wallet considerably. This is not an optional expense, this is mandatory! You've been warned!
★	Skillchain adept	Capable of performing long (4-6 multi-step) skillchains solo with the master fighting alongside the automaton.
★	Overdrive is awesome!	One of (arguably) the best SP abilities in the game, with the right setup, allows PUP’s to single-handedly solo some of the most difficult encounters. Read more on it in the Overdrive section of the guide.

Roles

PUP’s strength lies in its versatility. While it’s not capable of performing many different roles all at once (like a RDM can), by equipping your automaton with specific parts you can effectively build your automaton to fulfill whatever role you need.

Tank Role	Damage Dealing Role

PUP’s two primary roles are Tank and Damage Dealer. These two roles are what you will most likely find yourself needed to do when it comes to group play. As a Tank, your little automaton friend can be built to be nearly indestructible while also requiring no healing whatsoever from outside party members. As a Damage Dealer, the master is capable of fighting alongside the automaton (with the ability to perform self-skillchains together!), or if the situation is too dangerous it’s possible for PUP’s to perform very safe pet-only damage by deploying their automaton and having the master stand in the backline, out of harm's way.

Healer Role	Magic Damage Role

In addition to this, a PUP may also fulfill the role of Healer and Magic Damage, but at a much more limited sense than the former two roles. As a Healer, your Automaton has essentially an unlimited mana pool for keeping party members alive (though no access to Curaga, so healing area of effect damage is an issue) and is only really limited by the Automatons cast timers. Similarly, as a Magic Nuker it’s possible to dish out some seriously impressive Magic Bursting numbers, though the timing and application of your AI controlled automaton nukes is rather finicky.

PUP is currently not equipped at all to perform the role of Group Support (like a BRD, COR, or GEO can), and likewise cannot reliably perform the role of Enemy Debuffer in a serious group setting. Though there does exist a RDM-style Automaton setup, who will both buff the master, and debuff his enemies, this is mostly allocated for solo situations where the PUP does not have access to trusts (ex: Salvage/Nyzul/Assaults).

I’ll be going over all these roles, their attachment setups and equipment sets in further sections of the guide.

Abilities and Traits

Job Traits Lvl. Name 10 Resist Slow I 15 Resist Amnesia I 20 Evasion Bonus I 25 Martial Arts I 35 Resist Amnesia II 40 Evasion Bonus II 50 Resist Slow II 50 Martial Arts II 55 Resist Amnesia III 60 Evasion Bonus III 60 Smite I 70 Resist Slow III 75 Martial Arts III 75 Fine-Tuning 75 Optimization 75 Resist Amnesia IV 76 Evasion Bonus IV 78 Stout Servant I 80 Tactical Guard I 81 Resist Slow IV 85 Crit. Def. Bonus I 86 Martial Arts IV 88 Stout Servant II 90 Tactical Guard II 95 Resist Amnesia V 95 Crit. Def. Bonus II 97 Martial Arts V 98 Stout Servant III

Job Ability Lvl. Name Equipment of Note 1 Overdrive ( ) 1 Activate 5 Deus Ex Automata 15 Repair ( ) 30 Maintenance 75 Ventriloquy ( ) 75 Role Reversal ( ) 79 Tactical Switch 95 Cooldown 96 Heady Artifice Pet Command Lvl. Name 1 Deactivate 1 Deploy 1 Dark Maneuver 1 Light Maneuver 1 Earth Maneuver 1 Wind Maneuver 1 Fire Maneuver 1 Ice Maneuver 1 Thunder Maneuver 1 Water Maneuver 10 Retrieve

How the Automaton Works:

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The main difference between PUP and the other pet-oriented jobs, is that other than deploying and retrieving your automaton, a PUP cannot directly control the Automaton. Each Automaton head and frame have its own set of weapon skills, spells, and priority system behaviors that it follows. Through the use of attachments and maneuvers, it’s essentially possible for the master to give “strong suggestions” on what the Automaton should prioritize within its natural combat behaviors. Understanding these behaviors is the first step towards mastering the power of the automatons!

Deploy & Retrieve

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When you Deploy your automaton onto an enemy, you are essentially turning on your pets AI, allowing it to use any spells or abilities, and it will begin to follow its combat behavior based on the Maneuvers you’ve given (or not given), and the Head/Frame/Animators equipped. It's important to note that you are only able to get your Automaton to use buff spells on you if it is Deployed against an enemy. Though sometimes impractical or risky, it's possible to deploy your automaton against an enemy from afar, let him cast a buff on you, then retrieve him before he performs an offensive action on the monster to pre-buff yourself.

Retrieve does the inverse, and turns off your pets AI, bringing it back by your side.

Maneuvers

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Unlocked at Level 1, Maneuvers are the most important part of playing a Puppetmaster, as they influence everything you want your Automaton to do, in addition to powering up your Automaton and activating or strengthening certain equipped Attachments.

There are 8 different maneuvers, and each maneuver is aligned with a different element. These same elements also coincide with the elements of the many Attachments you can install in your puppet. This makes it easy to know which maneuver to use in order to activate or enhance an equipped attachment (example: Fire Maneuvers strengthens and activates Fire Attachments! And so forth...).

• The master can have up to 3 maneuvers of any element at any given time, with any subsequent casted maneuvers overwriting the maneuver with the least duration left.
• The longer your automaton remains deployed in combat, the longer your maneuvers will last. The original duration for Maneuvers is 1 minute, but you can increase this duration up to a cap of 5 minutes.
  
  • If you ever deactivate or if your automaton dies, this duration timer will be reset. Zoning to another area will also reset the maneuver duration increases.

Certain attachments only actively do something if you’ve activated the appropriate element Maneuver (example: Shock Absorber only does something if you’ve used an Earth Maneuver), so make sure you align your equipped attachments with the maneuvers you plan on using in battle. Other attachments have passive effects which are further enhanced by having more of the same elemental type Maneuvers. (example: Tranquilizer gives a baseline amount of magic accuracy even with no maneuvers active, but gives even more if you've got multiple Ice Maneuver)

In addition, each Maneuver flat out increases the raw stats of your Automaton.

Maneuver Name	Stat	Typical Attachment Boosts
Fire Maneuver	STR	Physical Attack
Earth Maneuver	VIT	Physical Defense
Water Maneuver	MND	Magic Defense/Magic Evasion
Wind Maneuver	AGI	Evasion/Haste/Range Accuracy
Ice Maneuver	INT	Magic Attack/Magic Accuracy
Thunder Maneuver	DEX	Accuracy
Light Maneuver	CHR	HP Recovery
Dark Maneuver	N/A	MP Recovery

If you view the Combat Parameters of the Automaton, you can see how every weaponskill your Automaton can perform has an associated maneuver element attached to it. Typically, the Automaton will by default use the highest skill level weaponskill available to it -- but through the use of maneuvers, it’s possible to “force” a lower tier level weaponskill to occur.

• This is most commonly used when it comes to the Sharpshot frame, where you can force out an Arcuballista by having more Fire Maneuvers active than , , or
  (which would trigger the other, higher skilled weapon skills instead)

Additionally, Maneuvers influence the heads to switch around the priorities of order which spells are cast when using the Stormwaker frame.

It can be overwhelming to take in, but it’s not really as complicated as it sounds, you'll catch on to it pretty quickly!

Overload/Burden & Cooldown

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Alas, not everything is wonderful in the world of Maneuvers. Maneuvers come with a price attached (as if they weren’t complicated enough!). After having been Activated, Automatons have an invisible amount of Burden that they start with for each of the 8 elements. This burden slowly decays over time (~1 degree per tick). Every time you use a Maneuver, the burden for that element will increase in an amount related to the masters stats in relation to the automatons stats. If you pass the overload threshold, there is a chance that you will Overload... which is bad. This wipes all current active maneuvers, severely hampers your Automaton, and should be avoided at all costs.

View the Burden and Overloading page for actual numerical examples.

• The job ability Cooldown will both remove the effect of Overload, and decrease all burden by 50%. Best used right after Activating your Automaton.
  

Luckily, there are some highly recommended pieces of equipment that you should use when casting any maneuver

Maneuvers     Max Tier

Kenkonken (Level 119 III) Animator P +1 Kara. Farsetto +2 Foire Dastanas +3 Bfn. Collar +1 Burana Earring Visucius's Mantle

• Midnights and Dispersal Mantle are also options.
  

With these equipped, using Cooldown, and by cycling through 2-3 different Maneuver elements on rotation, Overloading should be an absolute rarity.

Activate & Deactivate & Deus Ex Automata

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• Activate will summon forth your Automaton (permanently) at 100% HP & MP, with a 20 minute recast timer.
  

• If ever you, or your automaton die before that timer has reset, you’ll have to use the 1 minute cooldown, Deus Ex Automata, to summon forth your Automaton in an unsound state. This will summon it with lowered HP & MP, as well as increased default burden.
  

• Deactivate will desummon your Automaton. Interestingly enough, if your Automaton is at 100% HP (or between 80-100% HP with Job Gifts) when you Deactivate, the reuse timer on Activate will immediately be set to 0:00.
  • This means that if ever Activate is on cooldown, it’s possible to summon your Automaton with Deus Ex Automata, Repair it up to full HP, Deactivate it (resetting your Activate cooldown) then Activate it, summoning it with full HP & MP, and less Burden than when you summoned it with Deus Ex Automata.
    

D.A.D. Technique

Another important technique to be aware of is amicably known as D.A.D. (or performing Deactivate, Activate, Deploy, in that order). Because using Activate summons your Automaton with 100% HP & more importantly… 100% MP, this means you can exploit Deactivates short cooldown timer, to essentially give your Automaton an unlimited MP pool. Whenever your mage frame Automaton is running low on MP, (and as long as they aren't damaged) simply D.A.D. to fill their MP pool right back up to full!

Repair & Maintenance

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a PUP's favorite NPC!

• Repair restores a large chunk of your Automaton’s HP Pool, and also applies a rather potent Regen effect.
• Maintenance removes status ailments applies to your Automaton.
  

Both these abilities require the use of a consumable item which you slot in your Ammo slot called Automaton Oil. Never go on an adventure without a good supply of Oil!

You can craft through alchemy, or purchase Automaton Oil from a Puppetmasters best friend, Gavrie in Aht Urhgan Whitegate (F-8), who you will be visiting very often in your adventures.

Oil Type	Level	Repair Recovery Potency	Repair Regen Potency	Maintenance Debuff Removal
Automaton Oil	15	10% of Automaton's Max HP	10 HP/tic for 30 seconds (100 HP)	1 Status Effect Removed
Automaton Oil +1	30	20% of Automaton's Max HP	20 HP/tic for 60 seconds (400 HP)	2 Status Effects Removed
Automaton Oil +2	50	30% of Automaton's Max HP	30 HP/tic for 90 seconds (900 HP)	3 Status Effects Removed
Automaton Oil +3	80	40% of Automaton's Max HP	40 HP/tic for 120 seconds (1,600 HP)	4 Status Effects Removed

There also exists multiple pieces of equipment which enhances the potency of Repair. (Repair Potency Caps at +50%)

To find out by how much, you multiply the regen effect by the potency % increase and then add it to the existing effect and calculate.

• For example, with +50% potency gear equipped: Automat. Oil +3 will recover 60 HP/tic for 120 seconds (2,400 HP)
  

In addition, because the Recovery Potency is based on your Automaton's Max HP, you should dedicate any other equipment slots to anything which increases your Automaton's Max HP.

Repair Potency

Nibiru Sainti Animator P +1 Automat. Oil +3 Herculean Helm Familiar: Repair +1~8% Herculean Vest Familiar: Repair +1~8% Herculean Gloves Familiar: Repair +1~8% Desultor Tassets "Repair" Potency +10% Foire Babouches +3 Guignol Earring Pratik Earring

• Note: Foire Babouches +3 (and prior NQ versions) don't increase Repair potency, but instead remove debuffs on your Automaton when Repair is used, similar to Maintenance. Highly useful, almost necessary as it removes your reliance on Maintenance.
  
• Note: Similar to all other Cure Caps (ie: Reward Potency), it is assumed that there is a 50% Repair Potency Cap. Confirmation Needed.

Pet +Max HP

Gnafron's Adargas Animator P +1 Automat. Oil +3 Rao Kabuto +1 Path C: Automaton HP+125 Foire Tobe +3 Rao Kote +1 Path C: Automaton HP+125 Rao Haidate +1 Path C: Automaton HP+125 Rao Sune-Ate +1 Path C: Automaton HP+125 Overbearing Ring Visucius's Mantle

• Alternatives: Naga Kyahan (Path D) along with NQ Rao Armor Set, and all previous tiers of PUP AF Body
  

Tactical Switch, Ventriloquy, and Role Reversal

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Three job abilities which involve swapping stats between the master and the automaton.

Job Ability	Description	Common Uses	Noteworthy Gear
Tactical Switch	swaps your current TP values with your Automaton	Pet:Regain equipment or Companion’s Roll can be used during downtime, then swapped to the Master. You can also use this to perform a self skillchain without the Automaton using a WS (and vice-versa)	Karagoz Scarpe +2
Ventriloquy	swaps your current enmity values with your Automaton	Using Provoke (sub /WAR) or Flash (sub /WHM) in tandem with Ventriloquy is a great way to give your automaton a quick aggro lead before deployment.	( ) Pitre Churidars +3
Role Reversal	swaps your current HP values with your Automaton	Can save a dying tank Automaton, or sacrifice the pet to save the master since it can act as a quick burst heal.	( ) Pitre Babouches +3

Heady Artifice

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Another ability which highlights the versatility of the job, Heady Artifice. Depending on the Head equipped on your Automaton, when using this SP ability, you’ll fire off one of six other jobs SP abilities. There is also a Job Gift category which enhances each SP ability.

Automaton Head		SP Ability Performed	Common uses
	Harlequin Head	Mighty Strikes	A useful SP ability limited by being attached to a useless head. Doesn't work with Ranged Attacks.
	Sharpshot Head	Eagle Eye Shot	As useful as the Rangers counterpart (read as: not at all)
	Valoredge Head	Invincible	Like the Paladin counterpart, primarily used for enmity purposes, not survival. Can be enhanced with Job Gifts to give a whopping bonus +2000 static enmity on use.
	Soulsoother Head	Benediction	Interesting in that it also fully heals the Automaton in addition to the party. Can be used as an enmity tool/life saver as well.
	Spiritreaver Head	Manafont	Particularly useless, especially due to D.A.D’s existence
	Stormwaker Head	Chainspell	The only way to get around your automatons hard spell timers...

Overdrive or “3 Minutes of Pure Murder”

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Overdrive is arguably one of the strongest SP abilities in the game -- other jobs would kill to have this as their SP ability. For 3 minutes (or 3 minute 20 seconds with the Relic body equipped) your Automaton becomes an unstoppable killing machine.

The benefits bestowed upon your Automaton are as follows:

• Automaton Attack, Ranged Attack, Accuracy, Ranged Accuracy and Evasion will sky-rocket. (exact amount unknown)
• Automaton will gain an innate +25% Magical Haste increase as well.
• (With maxed Overdrive Job Gifts) your Automaton will also gain a whopping +100 to all stats (which is absurd!!).
• As far as anyone can tell, your Automaton becomes mostly immune/highly resistant to all Status Effects (if not outright immune, it must be something like a 95+% resist rate). Some status effects still hit rather reliably like Doom and Terror.
• The bonus cherry on top is that you become immune to Overload as well, though you still accumulate Burden, so risk of Overloading once Overdrive ends is higher.
  

In addition to all of these buffs, the real star of the “Overdrive show”, is what happens to your Maneuvers. For the duration of Overdrive, every Maneuver you have active will behave as if there were 3 maneuvers active of the element instead of 1. That means that having 3 different elemental Maneuvers, will be as if you have current 9 maneuvers active. This allows for some absolutely monstrous Automaton capabilities. Note: stacking more of the same elemental maneuver will not have a bonus effect during Overdrive (ie: Having 2 Fire Maneuvers will still act as if you reached the cap of 3, not 6) so it's in your best interest to use 3 different maneuvers during Overdrive (with exceptions being if you need to force specific weaponskills).

To put this into perspective for you, here is just a quick preview of the bonuses your Automaton gets during OD:

Using Overdrive with Maneuvers active (so in actuality, it would be as if you had 3 of each so... ++ !!!)

• Inhibitor with 3 Fire Maneuvers = +40 Store TP
• Inhibitor II with 3 Fire Maneuvers = +65 Store TP (so +105 Store TP total)
• Attuner with 3 Fire Maneuvers = 45% of enemy defense is ignored (halved against NM’s)
• Coiler with 3 Thunder Maneuvers = +30% Double Attack
• Coiler II with 3 Thunder Maneuvers = +35% Double Attack (so +65% Double Attack Rate total)
• Target Marker with 3 Thunder Maneuvers = 45% of enemy evasion is ignored (halved against NM’s)
  

So already just this alone transforms your Automaton into an unstoppable force… but then you take all of these bonuses and you throw in…

• Optic Fiber I+II with 3 Light Maneuvers = Enhance your other attachments by +30% & +45%...

_{Oh my goodness…}

You’re looking at your Automaton buffed with a disgusting +184 Store TP, 114% Double Attack Rate, 40% Evasion and Defense Ignored against NM's (doubled against regular monsters), and that’s just pointing out the benefits from 8 out of your 12 Attachments. With this setup alone, your little Automaton becomes a self-skill chaining monster!

More strategies for Overdrive will be detailed in the Overdrive Equipment sets section below.

Merit Selection + Job Gift Order

Merits

Merit selection for PUP is fortunately pretty evident. There are a few must-picks, and the others are mostly up for preference.

Group 1
Name	Description	Suggested Level	Notes
Automaton Skills	+2 to all Automaton Combat Skills	5/5	Once upon a time this was mandatory as it gave access to new spells, but now it's just a nice bonus.
Maintenance Recast	Shorten recast time by 3 seconds.	0/5
Repair Effect	+2% HP Granted	0~5/5	I've flipped back and forth between Repair effect and Repair recast, and honestly it's up to you.
Activate Recast	Shorten recast time by 40 seconds.	0/5	Please don't...
Repair Recast	Shorten recast time by 3 seconds.	0~5/5	Could invest in this as well. Also gets more mileage from Foire Babouches +3 removing status effects more frequently, since the cooldown is shorter.
Group 2
Name	Description	Suggested Level	Notes
Role Reversal	Swaps the Master's current HP with the Automaton's current HP. Recast: 2min Increases HP granted by 5% per merit level past the first.	0~1/5	The Automaton has MUCH more max HP than the master, so putting more than 1 point in this is often a waste. Used as an emergency life-saver at times (for both the master or the automaton).
Ventriloquy	Swaps the enmity of the current target between master and automaton. Recast: 1min Increase the enmity for the higher enmity (post-swap) target by 5% while lowering the enmity for the lower enmity (post-swap) target by 5%.	1/5	Definitely get atleast 1 point in Ventriloquy as it is a very useful ability. Can be used in conjunction with subbing /BLU (jettatura/geist wall) or /WAR (provoke) or /WHM (flash) and then swapping to the Automaton for a very quick aggro lead, or for reliably recovering after an enmity reset move.
Fine-Tuning	Adds 5 Accuracy, Ranged Accuracy, and Evasion and 5 MDB per merit level.	3/5	An alright category, mostly due to the MDB bonus, but not nearly as strong as Optimization. If Role Reversal and Ventriloquy weren't useful abilities, this would be an easy 5/5.
Optimization Effect	Gives Automaton +5% attack/defense and +5 MAB per merit level	5/5	This is not debatable. +25% Automaton Attack & Defense cannot be skipped. Max this out and never look back.

Job Gifts

There aren’t any immediate MUST PICKS from this list, but there are some better ones than others -- I've sorted them in terms of priority in the table below (high, medium, low). Overdrive Effect is easily the best Job gift, but if you don’t use Overdrive strategies often, it might be worth delaying. Automaton Max HP/MP Bonus is the greatest for when Tanking, which is one of PUP’s primary group roles. Martial Arts effect is the biggest damage increase for when you solo and punch things alongside your automaton, which makes it a worthy early investment for solo players. Deactivate Effect is great for alleviating the strict 100% HP pressure when performing the D.A.D technique. The others, you can place points into at your discretion with my priority suggestions in mind. In the end, you’ll be getting them all, right?

Suggested Priority	Category	Description	Effect
High	Overdrive Effect	Increases automatons' attributes while under the effects of Overdrive.	Increases attributes by 5.
Medium	Heady Artifice Effect	Increases the potency of the various head-related abilities.	Harlequin Head: Increase physical accuracy by 2. Valoredge Head: Increase static enmity by 100. Sharpshot Head: Increase damage by 3 percent. Stormwaker Head: Increase magic damage by 2. Soulsoother Head: Increase amount of MP recovered by 1 percent. Spiritreaver Head: Increase magic damage by 5.
High	Automaton Max HP and Automaton Max MPBonus	Increases the maximum HP and MP of automatons.	Increases maximum HP by 10 and maximum MP by 5.
Low	Activate Effect	Decrease burden when Activate or Deus Ex Automata is used.	Decrease burden by 1 per rank.
Low	Repair Effect	Gradually restores automaton's MP when Repair is used.	Amount of MP recovered depends on the item used. Automaton Oil: +5 Automaton Oil +1: +10 Automaton Oil +2: +15 Automaton Oil +3: +20
Medium	Deus Ex Automata Recast	Reduces the recast time of Deus Ex Automata.	Reduce recast time by 1 second.
Medium	Tactical Switch	Increases TP of automaton's master when using Tactical Switch.	Increases TP by 20.
Low	Cooldown Effect	Reduces automaton's burden when using Cooldown.	Reduces burden by 1.
High	Deactivate Effect	Relaxes the requirement for reducing Dectivate's cooldown based on automaton's remaining HP.	Reduces the requirement by 1 percent of remaining HP.
High	Martial Arts Effect	Reduces attack delay for hand-to-hand attacks.	Reduces attack delay by 2.

Gift	Description	Total Job Points Spent
Physical Attack Bonus	Increases physical and ranged attack by 6.	5
Capacity Point Bonus	Increases acquired capacity points by 5%.	5
Physical Evasion Bonus	Increases physical evasion by 8.	10
Physical Accuracy Bonus	Increases physical and ranged accuracy by 7.	20
Capacity Point Bonus	Increases acquired capacity points by 7%.	25
Magic Evasion Bonus	Increases magic evasion by 5.	30
Magic Accuracy Bonus	Increases magic accuracy by 5.	45
Superior 1	Enables the player to equip items marked as Superior 1 (Su1).	50
Capacity Point Bonus	Increases acquired capacity points by 9%.	55
Automaton Physical Attack and Defense Bonus	Increases automaton physical attack, ranged attack, and physical defense by 15.	60
Automaton Physical Accuracy and Physical Evasion Bonus	Increases automaton physical accuracy, ranged accuracy, and physical evasion by 10.	80
Capacity Point Bonus	Increases acquired capacity points by 11%.	95
Automaton Elemental Capacity Bonus	Increases the automaton's elemental capacity for attachments by 2.	100
Superior 2	Enables the player to equip items marked as Superior 2 (Su2).	100
Automaton Mag. Atk. and Def. Bonus	Increases automaton magic attack and magic defense by 5.	125
Capacity Point Bonus	Increases acquired capacity points by 13%.	145
Automaton Mag. Acc. and Eva. Bonus	Increases automaton magic accuracy and evasion by 10.	150
Physical Attack Bonus	Increases physical and ranged attack by 9.	180
Capacity Point Bonus	Increases acquired capacity points by 15%.	205
Physical Evasion Bonus	Increases physical evasion by 12.	210
Physical Accuracy Bonus	Increases physical and ranged accuracy by 11.	245
Capacity Point Bonus	Increases acquired capacity points by 17%.	275
Magic Evasion Bonus	Increases magic evasion by 8.	280
Magic Accuracy Bonus	Increases magic accuracy by 8.	320
Capacity Point Bonus	Increases acquired capacity points by 19%.	355
Automaton Phys. Atk. and Def. Bonus	Increases automaton physical attack, ranged attack, and physical defense by 23.	360
Automaton Phys. Acc. and Eva. Bonus	Increases automaton physical accuracy, ranged accuracy, and physical evasion by 15.	405
Capacity Point Bonus	Increases acquired capacity points by 21%.	445
Automaton Mag. Atk. and Def. Bonus	Increases automaton magic attack and magic defense by 8.	450
Superior 3	Enables the player to equip items marked as Superior 3 (Su3).	500
Automaton Mag. Acc. and Eva. Bonus	Increases automaton magic accuracy and evasion by 15.	500
Capacity Point Bonus	Increases acquired capacity points by 23%.	545
Martial Arts Effect	Decreases hand-to-hand delay by 5.	550
Physical Attack Bonus	Increases attack and ranged attack by 12.	605
Capacity Point Bonus	Increases acquired capacity points by 25%.	655
Physical Evasion Bonus	Increases physical evasion by 16.	660
Physical Accuracy Bonus	Increases physical accuracy and ranged accuracy by 14.	720
Capacity Point Bonus	Increases acquired capacity points by 27%.	775
Magic Evasion Bonus	Increases magic evasion by 10.	780
Magic Accuracy bonus	Increases magic accuracy by 10.	845
Capacity Point Bonus	Increases acquired capacity points by 29%.	905
Automation Phys. Atk. and Def. Bonus	Increases automation physical attack, ranged attack, and physical defense by 30.	910
Automation Phys. Acc. and Eva. Bonus	Increases automaton physical accuracy, ranged accuracy, and physical evasion by 20.	980
Capacity Point Bonus	Increases acquired capacity points by 31%.	1045
Automation Mag. Atk. and Def. Bonus	Increases automaton magic attack and magic defense by 10.	1050
Automation Mag. Acc. and Eva. Bonus	Increases automaton magic accuracy and magic evasion by 20.	1125
Capacity Point Bonus	Increases acquired capacity points by 33%.	1195
Automation Elemental Capacity Bonus	Increases the automation's elemental capacity bonus for attachments by 2.	1200
Physical Attack Bonus	Increases physical and ranged attack by 15.	1280
Capacity Point Bonus	Increases acquired capacity points by 35%.	1355
Physical Evasion Bonus	Increases physical evasion by 20.	1360
Physical Accuracy Bonus	Increases physical and ranged accuracy by 18.	1445
Magic Evasion Bonus	Increases magic evasion by 13.	1530
Magic Accuracy Bonus	Increases magic accuracy by 13.	1620
Automaton Phys. Atk. and Def. Bonus	Increases automaton physical attack, ranged attack, and physical defense by 38.	1710
Automaton Phys. Acc. and Eva. Bonus	Increases automaton physical accuracy, ranged accuracy, and physical evasion by 25.	1805
Automaton Mag. Atk. and Def. Bonus	Increases automaton magic attack and magic defense by 13.	1900
Automaton Mag. Acc. and Eva. Bonus	Increases automaton magic accuracy and evasion by 25.	2000
★Master!	Grants the designation "Master Puppeteer." Decreases the recast time of one-hour abilities by 15 minutes.	2100

Job Gift Total Bonuses
Capacity Point Bonus		+320%
Automaton Elemental Capacity Bonus		+4 to all Elements
Martial Arts		-5
Physical Attack	+42	Automaton: Attack/Defense	+106
Physical Accuracy	+50	Automaton: Acc/Eva	+70
Physical Evasion	+56	Automaton: MAB/MDB	+36
Magic Acc & Eva	+36	Automaton: MAC/MEVA	+70

A word on [Automaton Elemental Capacity Bonus]

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The Job Gifts awarded at 100, and 1200 are monumental. These are absolute game changers for PUP, and should be your main goals to strive for. It might seem simplistic, but increasing the elemental capacity of your automaton frames by +2/+4 exponentially expand your attachment options, and allow you to customize your automaton in ways you couldn’t before. The difference in tanking/damage capabilities of a 1200 gift PUP vs. a 0 gift PUP are quite large, entirely due to the freedom of Attachments..

Support Jobs

Offensive Oriented Subjobs
Warrior Notable Abilities -- Provoke, Berserk, Double Attack Trait, Aggressor, Warcry The go-to support job when it comes to the master punching things alongside the automaton. In addition to all the offensive abilities and traits, Provoke also ends up being a very useful ability as it allows you to Provoke a target, then Ventriloquy immediately onto your Automaton for a quick aggro lead.	Runefencer Notable Abilities -- Elemental Runes, Vallation, Pflug Anytime you want to fight alongside your puppet and anticipate the master taking heavy, unavoidable magic damage of a particular element type, this is the subjob to go for. Will give some much needed sustain against magic which the Warrior subjob does not provide through both Vallation and Pflug. Runes are also useful for some bonus elemental damage for certain gimmicks (ex: Delves Dakuwaqa comes to mind).
Utility Oriented Subjobs
Ninja Notable Abilities -- Utsusemi: Ichi, Utsusemi: Ni, Monomi: Ichi, Tonko: Ichi Any fight where you anticipate needing Utsusemi shadows to avoid taking physical damage on the master, this is the subjob to use. Tonko: Ichi and Monomi: Ichi are also handy, but really though... this is a subjob which is all about Utsusemi.	Dancer Notable Abilities -- Spectral Jig, Curing Waltz, Healing Waltz, Haste Samba, Skillchain Bonus For similar reasons that nearly any job would sub this: Waltzes for sustain (when you cannot rely on your either Trusts or your healer Automaton to keep you alive) and the ever so useful Spectral Jig. This sub shines in particular for when your trusts are frequently afflicted with area of effect status effects (Silencega) that you can cleanse off them with Healing Waltz.
Backline/Support Oriented Subjobs
White Mage Notable Abilities -- (unique to /WHM) Cure IV, Curaga, Bar-spells, Dia II, Flash, Haste, Teleport-spells, Magic Defense Bonus I+II, Auto-Regen For situations where it is too dangerous for the Master to approach the boss monster, you are better off deploying your puppet and standing far away with the other mages. Nearly identical, WHM & SCH subjobs should be used anytime your PUP is in a backline supporting role. Many commonly used spells are shared between the two subjobs: Blink, Stoneskin, Aquaveil, Reraise & Raise, Cure I-III, Regen, Sneak & Invisible and Protect III/Shell II. Similar to Provoke on /WAR, Flash is particularly useful from /WHM because of Ventriloquy	Scholar Notable Abilities -- (unique to /SCH) Sublimation, Accession, Penury, Light Arts, Conserve MP, Max MP Boost Similar to WHM, but slightly weaker in most regards. What they lose in group utility over /WHM, /SCH gains overall better MP management through the use of Sublimation, Stratagems, and Light Arts, as well as generally more potent Cure spells through Light Arts. They also gain Conserve MP and Max MP Boost job traits to further emphasize the MP management benefits over WHM. Personally, I usually sub WHM for backlining during group play, and sometimes go SCH for solo backlining when MP might become an issue (remember, you cannot /heal while your Automaton is engaged!).

Automaton Frame Setups

There exists a variety of different viable combinations of Automaton Head and Frames. Below is a list of the combinations which are typically used, with a brief explanation of their purpose. Remember, the key to Puppetmaster is their versatility -- there is no "ultimate" end-all-be-all head/frame setup. Each setup has their own distinct strengths and weaknesses, and you should consider and tailor your setup based on the challenge you are facing and your position in the party.

Newbie Setup
	Automaton Head
	Automaton Frame
	Your very first automaton! Isn’t he cute? Eager and excited to take on the world! Use this until level 10, where you can upgrade to a new frame and never look back to this combination.

Tanking Setups

Standard All-Rounder Tank
	Automaton Head
	Automaton Frame
	Highly defensive tanking automaton setup. The reason for using Soulsoother head instead of Valoredge is for a more defensive elemental capacity for your Attachments. Soulsoother gives more Light and Water element (for Auto-Repair Kits & Mana Jammers) at the cost of Fire and Thunder. You’ll be using this setup whenever you’ll be tanking anything which deals heavy magic and physical damage. In addition to having the highest health pool, the Valoredge Frame has an innate 12.5% -PDT/MDT/BDT stat built into it, and PUP has the Stout Servant job trait, granting another 9%. This means you only need 66 -Damage Taken through the masters gear/attachments to cap your automatons defenses. Typically SS/VE or VE/VE will be your go-to tanking setups.

Caster Tank
	Automaton Head
	Automaton Frame
	This is a very niche tanking setup. The entire reason for using this setup is that it allows the Automaton to cast Shell V (reduces magic damage taken by 24%) on itself - in addition to Mana Jammers magic defense bonus and you’ve got a very magic resistant setup. You trade off many offensive and defensive capabilities for this one aspect though, (such as losing roughly 15% of your max health pool, and losing all of valor edge’s weaponskills), so it’s only suited to be used on a niche enemy which is strictly magic oriented. It should be noted that this tanking setup pulls aggro slowly. It will often cast spells first when you deploy it, rather than using provoke or flash, in addition to also standing far away for a while before they close the distance, so try to buff it up and use its MP pool beforehand.

Ranger Tank
	Automaton Head
	Automaton Frame
	Another niche tank setup, which functions when needed. Sharpshot frame allows your tank to use ranged attacks, meaning he can attack an airborne target (ex: Ouryu, Naga Raja). Another reason for using this frame is for Piercing damage, if a target can become immune to slashing or blunt.. (ex: Warder of Temperance), and thirdly, this increases the damage potential of your tank (with an obvious trade-off of defensive capabilities), so you can use it in non-threatening situations.

Physical Damage Dealer Setups

Typical Melee+Range Damage Dealer
	Automaton Head
	Automaton Frame
	This is your standard go-to damage dealing setup. When compared to the sharpshot head, at the cost of a single wind elemental capacity (which you probably don’t need anyways), the valoredge head changes the behavior of this setup to always stay in melee range when deployed. If ever a boss moves around, or is repositioned, this setup will ensure maximum melee up-time (which is a strict DPS gain). This combination also sports double the earth elemental capacity of the sharpshot head (from 3 to 6) head also means you can equip an Armor Plate IV, making this setup slightly more resistant to physical attacks.

Range Damage Dealer
	Automaton Head
	Automaton Frame
	The other Sharpshot setup. When deployed at longer than 15 yalms, the Sharpshot head behavior will make your automaton remain at range and won’t run into melee range for additional damage and TP gain. This includes if the target moves from the original deployment position. When compared to the Valoredge head setup above, the only offensive elemental difference is a single wind capacity slot. So you might be wondering why bother using this setup? Well, the entire reason for using the Sharpshot head is due to the increased Ranged Combat skill bonus. Your Automaton will go from a B+ to A rank combat skill in Ranged, giving it slightly more ranged accuracy and ranged attack. So choose your Sharpshot frames head wisely!

Melee Undead-Slayer Damage Dealer
	Automaton Head
	Automaton Frame
	Turns out when you take out all of the typical tanking attachments and swap them for strictly offensive ones, the valor edge frame is capable of dishing out quite a bit of pain. This is almost entirely thanks to the Valoredge frame specific weaponskill Bonecrusher, which is a fantastic WS. A 3-hit Blunt damage WS, with fTP transferring across all hits, along with a Fragmentation skillchain property (hello, Light skillchain!) and a bonus fTP modifier against all Undead enemies? Why yes, sign me up! This damage dealing setup is absolutely ideal for when it comes to fighting the Undead (who would typically be very resistant to the Sharpshot frame’s piercing attacks), so consider using it then! Crush those bones!

Backline Support Setups

White Mage Puppet
	Automaton Head
	Automaton Frame
	With the introduction of Trust Magic, our pocket healing Automaton setup has sort of lost its luster. With no access to Curaga, and roughly a 15 second delay in between single target Cures, this also limits its uses. But not all is lost, it’s still possible for a PUP to play the role of healer in a low danger event such as an Apex CP party (with no area of effect damage). The incoming damage is usually pretty low during these events, and with the use of D.A.D., your automaton will have an unlimited MP pool for healing too! If you equip both Damage Gauges on the Soulsoother Automaton and run double Light Maneuvers (and Dark for MP), the maton is capable of curebombing someone as its Cure recast is significantly lowered. It will cast Cure V and Cure VI roughly every 2-4 seconds. This constant curing can be enough to keep even a midsized party alive in more dire circumstances, but it's important to avoid damage on the Puppetmaster or the maton will obviously ignore even half-dead people.

Red Mage Puppet
	Automaton Head
	Automaton Frame
	Similarly to the WHM automaton, this RDM setup also takes the backseat when compared to support based Trust’s like Koru-moru. But ah-ha! where this frame shines is in events where Trust Magic is not allowed! (ie: Nyzul, Salvage, and Assaults). This setup, like any good RDM, does a little bit of everything. Keeps you healed up, Enfeebles enemies, does some light Nuking (up to Tier IV), and even buffs you with Protect V, Shell V, and Haste 2.

Black Mage Puppet
	Automaton Head
	Automaton Frame
	Our very own mini Black Mage! This automaton setup requires a ton of gear to get it to perform at a respectable level. Automatons unfortunately lack the native magic accuracy needed to land their spells against high ilvl targets, so the master needs a ton of gear to make up the difference. Even then, it’s best to be used solely for Magic Bursting. The Spiritreaver head also runs out of MP rather quickly (where it starts using Aspir instead of Nuking), so judicious use of the DAD technique is suggested. Then there is the fact that you cannot actually select which spell to use, and must rely on the AI to cast the proper element. With all the above, finicky aspects to this Automaton frame, it’s still possible for it to dish out impressive ~80k damage Magic Bursts when all the stars align in your favor. It takes a ton of work and gear to get it to that state though, so it’s highly unfriendly for newbies to attempt this. Don’t try this until you’ve gotten your tanking and physical damage dealing sets laid out.

Automaton Attachments

Attachments are the bread & butter of Puppet master! The meat & potatoes! The peanut butter & jelly…? Anyways whatever, they are a very important and integral part of playing Puppetmaster, which I’ve seen many players skimp out on!

There are a whopping 107 Attachments to obtain, and install in your Automaton -- but you are only allowed to equip and use 12 at a time, and these 12 must fit into the Elemental Capacity limit of your Automatons Head & Frame.

It goes without saying that the 12 attachments you choose to equip are crucial in defining the capabilities of your Automaton. For example, while keeping the exact same head & frame, it’s possible to swing the scale in your Automaton from being an “indestructible wall” to a “physical damage dealing powerhouse” just by swapping a few attachments and switching your maneuvers around in combat. Also it should be noted that there are no level restrictions on Attachments, you can buy and equip any Attachment starting from Level 1.

Now, there is a ton of attachments, so I’m not going to go over each and every one because I’d be here forever. So I invite you to check out the Attachments page for the full list

These Attachments bestow a ton of potential Job Traits and Abilities for your Automaton -- but remember, you cannot have ALL these abilities at once! You've got to pick and choose 12 attachments, and their associated abilities at any given time. Common situations include:

• Does your enemy cast multiple buffs on themselves? Equip a Regulator or Disruptor to remove them!
• Does your enemy use Hundred Fists or have a high rate of attack? Equip a Galvanizer and counter them!
• Does your enemy cast highly damaging elemental magic? Equip some Mana Jammers to lessen the damage.
• Does your enemy spam the same a single damaging TP move over and over? Equip an Analyzer to cut the damage down drastically.

So think about what challenge you are facing, and what setup to bring. Don't just follow a cookie-cutter build, as you won't be using the most of PUP's versatility.

Automaton Potential Job Traits Trait Attachment Elemental Affinity Accuracy Bonus (Physical) Stabilizer, II, III, IV Accuracy Bonus (Ranged) Scope, II, III Attack Bonus Tension Spring, II, III, IV Auto Refresh* Mana Tank, II, III, IV Auto Regen* Auto-Repair Kit, II, III, IV Conserve MP Mana Conserver Counter Galvanizer Double Attack Coiler, II Double Shot Repeater Evasion Bonus Accelerator, II, III, IV Evasion Bonus*** Smoke Screen Magic Accuracy Bonus Tranquilizer, II Magic Attack Bonus Loudspeaker, II, III, IV Magic Burst Bonus Amplifier, II Magic Defense Bonus Mana Jammer, II, III, IV Max HP Boost Auto-Repair Kit, II, III, IV Max MP Boost Mana Tank, II, III, IV Occult Acumen Arcanic Cell, II Skillchain Bonus Speedloader, II Store TP Inhibitor, II Tenacity Resister, II Unique Traits Trait Attachment Elemental Affinity All Traits and Abilities Bonus Optic Fiber Critical Hit Rate Bonus Dynamo, II, III Cure Potency Vivi-Valve, II Enmity Bonus Strobe, II Enmity Reduction Stealth Screen, II Enthunder Volt Gun Gradual Accuracy Bonus* Heat Seeker Gradual Evasion Bonus* Pattern Reader Haste Turbo Charger, II Negate Enemy Defense Attuner Negate Enemy Evasion Target Marker Physical Damage Taken Armor Plate, II, III, IV Skill Gain Rate Bonus Percolator Spell Casting Time Reduction Mana Booster Spell Cost Reduction Power Cooler Successive Damage Reduction Steam Jacket Successive Special Damage Reduction Analyzer Weaponskill fTP Bonus** Flame Holder Magic Attack Potency Coefficient** Ice Maker Nearly all automaton traits are passive and require no maneuvers to activate. No animations are displayed upon use. Subsequent corresponding maneuvers enhance the potency of traits. * Not passive, requires the corresponding maneuver to be active. ** Consumes one or all of the corresponding elemental maneuvers upon activation. ***Proportionately decreases accuracy.

Automaton Potential Job Abilities Ability Attachment Elemental Affinity Barrage* Barrage Turbine Blaze Spikes Reactive Shield Convert Mana Converter Copy Image* Replicator Dispel Disruptor Erase* Eraser Flash Flashbulb Meditate* Heat Capacitor, II Provoke Strobe, II Shield Bash Valoredge Frame Only Stoneskin Shock Absorber, II, III Unique Abilities Ability Attachment Elemental Affinity Absorb Beneficial Status Effect Regulator Reduce Severe Physical Damage* Schurzen MP Restoration* Economizer Prevent Overload* Condenser All automaton job abilities require the corresponding elemental maneuver to activate. A visible animation is seen around the automaton. See the individual attachment pages for more information on each attachment. Not all attachments are equivalent to the effects other jobs posses. * Consumes one or all of the corresponding elemental maneuvers upon activation.

Attachment Purchasing Priority

Now I understand that purchasing all these Attachments is going to be a MAJOR burden on your wallet, so I’ve devised a tier list to help guide your wallet in the right direction. I've sorted them from Most Important (SSS Tier) to Least Important (B-Tier) in the table below. Fortunately, Attachments can be attained from a large variety of places in the game so you aren't completely forced to spend gil if you don't want to. You can create them from crafting (Goldsmithing & Alchemy), some of them are found as monster spoils or treasure caskets, you can purchase a few with Imperial Standing, and some are attained in assaults as well... so browse around! Like spells, often the attachments are very expensive from the NPC Vendors, can be found for very cheap on the Auction House. Don't forget to look there too!

Tier	Reasoning	Attachment Name
SSS Tier	Get these Attachments A.S.A.P! You will likely have one or both of these attachments permanently equipped for most frame setups. Your most important Attachments by far.	Optic Fiber + Optic Fiber II
SS Tier	Some combination of these attachments are going to be your most commonly slotted in attachments to perform your two main roles (Tank & Damage Dealer). Many of these attachments also have use in your other roles (Support & Nuker)	Inhibitor & Inhibitor II + Speedloader & Speedloader II + Strobe & Strobe II + Attuner + Magniplug & Magniplug II Turbo Charger & Turbo Charger II + Truesights Armor Plate (All 4 Tiers) Coiler & Coiler II + Target Marker Mana Jammer (All 4 Tiers) Flashbulb + Auto-Repair Kit (All 4 Tiers)
S Tier	Many highly useful Attachments that will see use at one point or another. These are more fight-specific choices.	Tension Spring (All 5 Tiers) + Heat Capacitor & Heat Capacitor II Repeater + Drum Magazine + Scope (All 4 Tiers) + Barrage Turbine Barrier Module & Barrier Module II + Shock Absorber (All 3 Tiers) Galvanizer + Stabilizer (All 5 Tiers) Loudspeaker (All 5 Tiers) + Tranquilizer (All 5 Tiers) + Ice Maker + Amplifier & Amplifier II + Arcanoclutch & Arcanoclutch II Steam Jacket + Resister + Resister II Vivi-Valve + Vivi-Valve II + Damage Gauge + Damage Gauge II + Eraser Disruptor + Regulator
A Tier	Niche selections. You will be using these attachments with very specific applications in mind, for very specific fights, under very specific circumstances! Useless in encounters where they are not needed.	Flame Holder Schurzen + Hammermill + Analyzer Dynamo (All 3 Tiers)
B Tier	... everything else. These attachments effects are either too weak, too buggy, or too limited. Almost never worth one of your 12 attachment slots.	everything not listed above.
New Player Tier	If you are brand new to PUP, highly suggest getting these Attachments to ease the leveling process (in addition to the tier list above)	Percolator + Heatsink + Condenser Volt Gun (The Enthunder effect is very potent at low levels, but very weak at high level)

Weaponskills (Master)

Alright… Hand-to-Hand is unfortunately a vastly undertuned weapon type at the moment. This is a problem which plagues both Monks and Puppetmasters. Let’s face it, long gone are the glory days of Asuran Fists. Whether it’s due to the fact that H2H take up both the Main & Sub equipment slot (similarly to dual wield) without any of the sub slot benefits (no grips, no offhand weapon stats)… or whether it’s due to bizarre weaponskill modifiers, or poor fTP scaling, or only 5+ multi-hit weaponskills when +WSD% damage gear only affects the first hit... Hand-to-hand weaponskills under perform considerably when compared to weapon skills from other weapons.

Fortunately for PUP’s, we’ve also got Automaton weaponskills to lean on, and to combine with our (lukewarm) Hand-to-Hand weaponskill damage!

Stringing Pummel

Rejoice! Our best and most thematic weaponskill. PUP only, and it looks and sounds wicked cool. It’s actually decent to boot! Stringing Pummel unfortunately carries a bizarre 32% STR / 32% VIT stat modifier (blegh...) but the chance to critical modifier on each hit leads to some impressive spike numbers. Having a Kenkonken also solidifies it in the #1 weapon skill spot for spamming. Gravitation skillchain property makes it great for setting up Darkness. Attained through Unlocking a Myth (Puppetmaster) Quest

	Victory Smite
	Our other great Weaponskill. The Yin to Stringing Pummels Yang, Victory Smite is our Light oriented weaponskill, and is quite powerful to boot. Sporting an awesome 80% STR stat modifier (I wish stringing pummel had this modifier…) and critical hit chance. Definitely worth unlocking. Get it! Attained through Kupofried's Weapon Skill Moogle Magic quest for Hand-to-Hand

	Shijin Spiral
	Our Merit weaponskill and **sigh**... If Shijin Spiral wasn’t the perfect setup for your Automaton’s Bonecrusher with its Fusion property, I probably wouldn’t merit it. Sometimes the Plague effect lands, and hurray…? Looks cool atleast! Attained through Merit Points or made accessible while equipping the Aeonic Weapon Godhands

	Howling Fist
	Howling Fist gets a solid mention because it’s a powerful single hit weaponskill which forces your Sharpshot Automaton to use Arcuballista (the strongest Sharpshot WS). Naturally attained at 200 Hand-to-Hand combat skill.

Weaponskills (Automaton)

Forget Hand-to-Hand WS’s, this is the real star of the show!

Automaton Weaponskill Properties
Melee Skill	Valoredge Frame	Maneuver Influence	Modifiers	Additional Notes
0	Chimera Ripper		50% STR
0	String Clipper		30% STR/30% DEX
145	Cannibal Blade		100% MND	Cannot Miss or Crit. Converts Damage dealt to HP.
245	Bone Crusher		60% VIT	FTP transfers across all hits. gear for Pet:VIT & Pet:Double Attack. Bonus damage to Undead.
325	String Shredder		50% VIT	Crit rate varies on TP
Range Skill	Sharpshot Frame	Maneuver Influence	Modifiers	Additional Notes
0	Arcuballista		50% DEX	High FTP Mods (Pet: TP Bonus = Good!)
150	Daze		100% DEX	High FTP Mods (Pet: TP Bonus = Good!) with additional effect: Stun
245	Armor Piercer		60% DEX	Bypasses monster defense.
325	Armor Shatterer		50% DEX	-15% DEF for 90 seconds. Very accurate additional effect.
Melee Skill	Harlequin & Stormwaker	Maneuver Influence	Modifiers	Additional Notes
0	Slapstick		30% STR / 30% DEX
145	Knockout		100% AGI	High FTP Modifier (TP Bonus = Good!) Capable of surprising numbers...
225	Magic Mortar		???	Damage dealt is based on Automaton's Missing HP

These developer given Stat & FTP Modifiers are questionable.

Testing has shown FTP's to be off by a good 1/3rd, and stat mods to be 50%.

Further Testing & Confirmation Needed

Maneuver Influence on Automaton Weaponskills

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When your Automaton has enough TP to perform a weaponskill and the master has no Maneuvers active, they will default to using the highest skill WS available (as shown in the chart above.) Fortunately, Maneuvers allow the Master to manipulate which Weaponskill comes out instead of the default!

As mentioned earlier in the guide, Automaton weaponskills come with a Maneuver influence system. There is a corresponding maneuver element attached to each WS, and simply having more of those matching maneuvers active than others will change the default automaton WS, essentially allowing you to "force out" any weaponskill you desire.

• ex: say you want to force your Valoredge frame to use Bone Crusher (one of your strongest automaton WS) you simply need to have more Light Maneuvers active than Thunder Maneuvers (because thunder is the priority for String Shredder, a higher skilled WS). Note: having the same or equal amount of maneuvers does not work as there will be a conflict. (ie: having // maneuvers active will still default to String Shredder)
  

• ex: if you want to force your Sharpshot frame to use Arcuballista, you need to have more Fire Maneuvers than Thunder, Dark, and Wind, otherwise there would be conflicts!

There is another downside to Automaton Weaponskills in that, other than using the Retrieve pet command, there is no way to flat-out stop your Automaton from using weaponskills. This sometimes can cause your Automaton to interrupt player intended skillchains, and you should communicate this with your group accordingly.

Noteworthy Automaton Weaponskills:

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• Bone Crusher = wham-bam thank you ma’am! Wicked strong Valoredge Weaponskill where fTP is transferred across all hits. Equip as much Pet: VIT and Pet: Double Attack as you can. You will often try setting this one up as it is not your Automaton’s default WS. It’s also the only way for Valoredge frame to perform Blunt damage, and comes packed with a bonus fTP modifier when used against Undead enemy types… and those undead will certainly feel it!

• Cannibal Blade = Similar to its sword counterpart, Sanguine Blade. Converts damage dealt into HP healed on your Automaton. Cannot miss or crit, and generates no enmity. If ever you feel you need it, you could quickly swap into 2 Dark Maneuvers to force a quick Cannibal Blade, then swap those Dark Maneuvers out.

• Arcuballista = Your Sharpshots very first weaponskill is actually the strongest! Now how about that? This is somewhat annoying though because this WS conflicts with 3 other higher priority weaponskills, which feature commonly used Maneuvers for Sharpshot (Thunder and Wind). This almost always means that in order to force out an Arcuballista, you’ll have to use 2 Fire Maneuvers + either a Wind, Thunder, or Light maneuver for your third -- sometimes a little less than ideal.

• Daze = Highly accurate Stun effect. Sometimes can useful?

• Armor Shatterer = Comes with a highly accurate -15% Defense debuff. It’s like your Sharpshot Automaton comes equipped with Dia III too, wow!

• Knockout = This Weaponskill is honestly quite strong, and comes with a crazy good 100% AGI modifier. The fact that this is allocated to Harlequin/Stormwaker frames makes me cry though...

A word on Inhibitor Attachments

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The Inhibitor (and by extension the Speedloader) attachments are wonderful little attachments which open up the world for self skill chaining with your little robot.

In addition to granting your Automaton a highly valuable and scaling Store TP trait, the Inhibitor tweaks the behavior of your automatons weapon skill timing. If the Master is at or above 900% TP the automaton will wait to use a weaponskill otherwise it will weaponskill normally. The automaton will also ignore maneuver influence to instead use whichever weaponskill will lead to the highest level skill chain possible.

The behavior brought on by the Inhibitor attachment essentially allows you to create long and highly damaging skillchains with your puppet, by chaining together a series of weaponskills together. Combine this with the Speedloader attachment (skillchain bonus!) and you can get some mighty impressive numbers.

Note: Do NOT use Inhibitor in a large alliance or weaponskill spam heavy environment. Weaponskills from other party members will be firing off so often that your Automaton will constantly delay its WS as it constantly tries calculating a new skillchain, resulting in an huge overall damage decrease. Just unequip Inhibitor in these situations and let your Automaton fire-off its WS's immediately.

Below is a chart of Inhibitor Forced Skillchains that you can do.

Inhibitor Forced Skillchains
Master Starting Weaponskill		Valoredge Frame Weaponskill Follow-up		Resulting Skillchain
Stringing Pummel	⇒	String Shredder	⇒	Darkness
Shijin Spiral	⇒	Bone Crusher	⇒	Light
Victory Smite	⇒	String Shredder	⇒	Distortion
Howling Fist	⇒	String Shredder	⇒	Distortion
Master Starting Weaponskill		Sharpshot Frame Weaponskill Follow-up		Resulting Skillchain
Stringing Pummel	⇒	Armor Shatterer	⇒	Fusion
Shijin Spiral	⇒	Armor Piercer	⇒	Gravitation
Victory Smite	⇒	Armor Shatterer	⇒	Light
Howling Fist	⇒	Arcuballista	⇒	Liquefaction
Master Starting Weaponskill		Harle/Stormwaker Frame Weaponskill Follow-up		Resulting Skillchain
Stringing Pummel	⇒	Slapstick	⇒	Fusion
Shijin Spiral	⇒	Slapstick	⇒	Impaction
Victory Smite	⇒	Magic Mortar	⇒	Light
Backhand Blow	⇒	Knockout	⇒	Scission

Multi-Step Skillchain Sequences

Here are some self-skillchain sequences you can do in either solo or duo situations when fighting alongside your Automaton. Assume Inhibitor & Speedloader attachment is equipped. The more steps you attempt to do, the better geared both you and your automaton need to be in order to be successful (capped equipment haste for both you and your automaton, magic buffs, etc...). Start with some simple 3-step skillchains, and work your way up.

3-Step Skillchains
						Resulting Skillchain
Shijin Spiral	⇒	Bone Crusher	⇒	Victory Smite	⇒	Double Light
Victory Smite	⇒	String Shredder	⇒	Stringing Pummel	⇒	Darkness
						Resulting Skillchain
Stringing Pummel	⇒	Armor Shatterer	⇒	Victory Smite	⇒	Light
Victory Smite	⇒	Armor Shatterer	⇒	Victory Smite	⇒	Double Light
Asuran Fists	⇒	Armor Shatterer	⇒	Stringing Pummel	⇒	Gravitation
Shijin Spiral	⇒	Armor Piercer	⇒	Victory Smite	⇒	Fragmentation
						Resulting Skillchain
Stringing Pummel	⇒	Slapstick	⇒	Victory Smite	⇒	Light

4-Step Skillchains
								Resulting Skillchain
Victory Smite	⇒	String Shredder	⇒	Shijin Spiral	⇒	Bone Crusher	⇒	Light
Raging Fists	⇒	Chimera Ripper	⇒	One Inch Punch	⇒	String Shredder	⇒	Darkness
								Resulting Skillchain
Shijin Spiral	⇒	Armor Piercer	⇒	Victory Smite	⇒	Armor Shatterer	⇒	Light

5-Step Skillchains
										Resulting Skillchain
Victory Smite	⇒	String Shredder	⇒	Shijin Spiral	⇒	Bone Crusher	⇒	Victory Smite	⇒	Double Light
										Resulting Skillchain
Shijin Spiral	⇒	Armor Piercer	⇒	Victory Smite	⇒	Armor Shatterer	⇒	Victory Smite	⇒	Double Light
										Resulting Skillchain
Backhand Blow	⇒	Knockout	⇒	Stringing Pummel	⇒	Slapstick	⇒	Victory Smite	⇒	Light

6-Step Skillchain
												Resulting Skillchain
Howling Fist	⇒	Arcuballista	⇒	Howling Fist	⇒	Armor Piercer	⇒	Victory Smite	⇒	Armor Shatterer	⇒	Light

6-Step Skillchain (PUP+PUP Duo, both using Sharpshot)
(#1)		(#1)		(#2)		(#2)		(#1)		(#1)		Resulting Skillchain
Stringing Pummel	⇒	Armor Shatterer	⇒	Armor Piercer	⇒	Victory Smite	⇒	Armor Shatterer	⇒	Victory Smite	⇒	Double Light

User Aerix from Shiva has provided an awesome video for Automaton Skillchains, highly recommend watching!

Master Weapon Choices

Weapons

Em. Baghnakhs - Hurray! You’ve reached level 99! Congratulations, here is your complimentary pair of baghnakhs to assist you. These are easy to attain, and are markedly more powerful than any weapon you’ve had during your leveling process. Get them immediately if you don’t already have anything in the list below. Calved Claws or Oatixur or Arasy Sainti +1(Su1) - For your first step up after Em. Baghnakhs, you’ve got these 3 choices to choose from. The Arasy Sainti are the easiest to attain (purchase from your auction house), but require the Superior1 Job Gift to even equip (50 job points invested in PUP). Calved Claws and Oatixur are relatively close in strength, and must be obtained from fighting bosses (Muyingwa in Ceizak Delve, or Shiva in High-tier Battlefields) Ohrmazd - Attained from Alluvion Skirmish, the Ohrmazd is actually really strong when fully upgraded. The problem is that fully upgrading the Ormazd is a huge luck-based and expensive endeavor, not for the faint of heart, and arguably in this era, not worth the hassle when there are other options. A fully maxed out Ohrmazd is one the stronger obtainable weapons before one of the REMA’s. What is interesting about Ohrmazd though, is that it is also multi-faceted. Depending on how much you are willing to shell out, you could augment multiple Ohrmazd's which serve different purposes. You could create a strictly Master oriented weapon (Augments: +15/15 Attack/Accuracy, +4% DA, +29 DMG) or you could make it into a much more useful Pet Tanking weapon (Augments: Pet:Magic Evasion+25, Pet: Damage Taken-4%, +29 DMG). Another viable Dusk stone alternative is augmenting it with Pet: VIT/STR/DEX+15, which is great for a lot of Pet Weaponskills (VIT, in particular, has an added benefit for working with Bonecrusher while also adding something for tanking). Ohtas - Ahhhh Ohtas, how I adore thee… Ultimately a relatively weak weapon in terms of damage output (though still respectable) where Ohtas really shines is in its augments. When fully augmented through Oboro, along with its default stats, it grants a whopping bonus and much welcomed +70 Accuracy, along with Pet: Accuracy/Range Accuracy+70, and Pet: Haste +10%. The Pet:Haste +10% in particular is highly appreciated as it allows you to cap your pet haste more easily in your combined TP sets, without trading off weaker gear in order to do so. Combining Ohtas with Visucius Mantle (ambuscade, with Pet: Haste 10%) means you’ll be nearly at the cap with only your cape and weapons slot. What is also nice is that this is an Oboro JSE weapon, so you know exactly how much gil you need to invest into it, there is no randomness involved, and it’s easy to attain (as long as you have the money for it). Midnights - Another versatile weapon which can be built to suit your needs. Augmenting it through Path A or B makes it a master-oriented weapon, whereas Path C turns it into Combined TP DD weapon, and Path D turns it into a useful Pet Tanking weapon. As the Path A&B routes are relatively weak, typically you would go Path D as it will always be useful in Pet Tanking situations. Tinhaspa - Best-in-Slot for Automaton Magic Nuking/Burst setups. Is soundly beaten by other options for typical damage dealing, so do not use it for other situations. Gnafron's Adargas - These fisticuffs are incredibly weak when it comes for the master dealing damage (Weaker than Em. Baghnakhs), but they are mentioned because they come with some unique benefits for your Automaton. the +20 Automaton Skill actually turns these into very good Pet WS fists, something you can swap into when your Pet is nearing 1000 TP. The Bonus HP/MP also makes them alright for Repair, and it's possible the bonus HP also lets your Automaton reach certain health thresholds for surviving things like Dancing Fullers from Kei. Nibiru Sainti - An alright, middle of the road weapon, which isn’t too difficult to attain. The augment paths are relatively lackluster for what PUP wants to do, but the master-oriented ones turn the weapon into something decent for a relatively low investment (time and gil-wise). The Repair Potency +10% will always be useful though as a swap-in piece for Pet Tanking situations (with the Master far out of range, where the Master’s TP being lost from weapon swaps is irrelevant) so this weapon is worth picking up for just that alone. Emeici +1 - Comparable to a very well augmented master-oriented Ohrmazd, and all the secondary stats on it are wonderful for PUP (Store TP, Triple Attack, Phys DT, and Accuracy). Plus you get this from the Garbage Gel Unity NM, so while you farm for it, you can also farm for a Gelatinous Ring +1 (which is a good ring!) Denouements - Ka-Boom! This is a really strong master-centric weapon, and one that is relatively easy to attain -- If REMA’s or late Reisenjima NM’s are not an option for you, consider getting these. Very high damage, with a nice secondary stat spread. The Automaton Regen and Refresh can be pretty much ignored, and the Colossal Blow is honestly just for funsies on rare occasion. Condemner - Condemner’s are an excellent hand-to-hand weapon, and a worthwhile goal to consider at the end of your journey if ultimate weapons are out of the question. Especially considering that through Oseem’s augmentation process, you can make it into a versatile weapon. The augment of DMG:+17 is always desirable, but you can always shoot additional secondary stats like Pet:Damage Taken -4~5% or Double Attack/Attack/Accuracy and make it double into a pet tanking weapon as well. Suwaiyas - Similar to Denouements, really high DMG weapons with a great secondary stat spread. The problem though is that this drops from a T4 NM in Reisenjima, Zerde, so if you've got access to these, you're a stone's throw away from just finishing the Aeonic quest for Godhands instead. But hey, maybe you killed Zerde while working on another weapon and these claws happened to fall into your lap... well, they're one of the best non-REMA weapons! Chastisers & Jolt Counter +1 & Comeuppances +1 - These weapons are all relatively similar in power levels, and they (along with Suwaiyas) are very solid master-centric weapons you can attain before stepping into REMA territory. Absurdly high DMG values, with relatively low delay and strong secondary stats allow these to sit at the top of the stack. Realistically speaking, I suggest going with a well-augmented Condemner instead of these three, as those can be augmented to affect your Pet, whereas these weapons are purely for the Master. Chastisers have an absurdly low drop-rate, Jolt Counter +1 sell on the AH for an absurdly high price, and Comeuppances +1 drop from the final Unity NM Tumult Curator so... attaining any of these three weapons can be disheartening to say the least. You've been warned! Bonus Note: Tumult's Coffer can drop from Unity Dial when that event is active. Could be worth it to spend time on main & mules trying to get the Tumult Curator Chest from it, since Comeuppances +1 are probably the best non-REMA H2H from a pure master-focused perspective! Karambit - The King Non-REMA weapon has arrived! The March 2019 Ambuscade update brought a whole slew of new weapons for each weapon type, and we've been graced with these fisticuffs. Karambit (and its tier below, Kaja Knuckles) is easily the strongest Non-REMA weapon you can attain for PUP, if it's within your reach consider picking these up. Even ignoring the Asuran Fists damage boost, the raw stats on these fists are really leagues above the rest. Getting Store TP+50 on your critical hit auto-attacks, along with absurdly high DMG with a low delay with some nice secondary stats make these hard to beat. Not much information or testing has been revealed for these, but they should make Asuran Fists be a competitive WS as well.

Ultimate Weapons

Relic Knuckles Relic Weapon	No Relic weapon for PUP ( ; _ ; )
Verethragna (Level 119 III) Empyrean Weapon	Puppetmasters Empyrean Weapon has had a small stumble from grace since back in the Abyssea era (where it reigned supreme), but even so, it still easily one of the best master-specific weapons you could attain on PUP. Sporting an amazing +50 STR bonus, and low delay, if we lived in a world where hand-to-hand users could dual wield two different fists, Verethragna would be an easy pick for your off-hand (for similar reasons that Twashtar is THF and DNC’s optimal off-hand). Since MNK & PUP are not so lucky, we unfortunately have to make a choice on which weapon to use. With no benefit for your Automaton whatsoever, and being similar to Godhands, this means that Verethragna is sadly the bronze medal winner when it comes to Puppetmaster REMA choices.
Godhands Aeonic Weapon	With its ridiculously high 197 DMG, the Godhands are easily the hardest hitting weapon a Puppetmaster can equip at the moment. While Monk’s look at the Shijin Spiral aftermath trigger with dismay, us Puppetmasters aren’t so sad about that. Despite Shijin Spiral being a relatively underperforming weaponskill (damage wise), it happens to have very good skillchain properties, and is often used as a starter for your long multi-step skillchains performed alongside your puppet. This allows a PUP to perform Radiance skillchains without skipping a beat. The Store TP and TP-Bonus+500 traits are also excellent. If hand-to-hand weaponskills ever get buffed (... ha), Godhands will end up being an easy choice for master-centric damage builds. But let’s not forget… Puppetmaster is a pet-oriented job, and this weapon offers literally no benefits for your puppet… so this means we’ve found our silver medalist.
Kenkonken (Level 119 III) Mythic Weapon	Here comes the gold prize, the star of the show -- our only REMA (and one of our few weapons actually) which benefits our little robot buddy in battle. This weapons praise comes with a heavy caveat… this weapon only truly shines if you can apply and maintain Lv.3 Aftermath during the course of the fight. I want to be distinctly clear with this -- do not assume that the Kenkonken will always be the best weapon for every situation! (If this weapon had Automaton Lv:+2, like a SMN’s Nirvana, then it would always be the best, but alas…….) Let’s break it down part by part: For starters, the Kenkonken has relatively high base DMG, with a ridiculously low delay. The combination of both the very low base delay and the “Enhances Martial Arts V” trait leads to some seriously really low delay -- this is your fastest attacking weapon by a very large margin. You attack so quickly with it, that it actually becomes a problem as you lose slight TP gain per hit. So really from just a raw base stats, white damage perspective, Kenkonken is 2nd only to Godhands when it comes to just plain punching things. The “Suppresses Overload” trait, which makes it nearly impossible to Overload, is mostly a quality-of-life, nice to have kind of thing, but isn’t really worth much in the end. When this weapon was first released in the Aht Urghan era, there existed only one or two pieces of Overload suppressing equipment at the time, so suddenly having this weapon suppressing Overload completely was a big deal. But in the current climate, there is a handful more pieces of Overload suppressing gear, that when used all together, basically does the same thing. Though what Kenkonken does allow you to do, is spam multiple of the same maneuver freely -- a particularly important strategy when doing DAD technique with Triple Ice maneuvers for Magic Bursting. (Automatons have high burden the moment they are summoned, so it’s risky to spam the same maneuver shortly after activating) Fortunately, Stringing Pummel is one of PUP’s best WS’s, so the +30% damage from the mythic increase solidly places it ahead of Victory Smite when it comes to fully buffed, spam situations. This doubles in that it’s also the WS used to trigger the Aftermath effect. The Lv.3 Aftermath effect is what catapults this weapon to the top, and why the caveat mentioned above is so important. Not only does it increase the masters TP generation while active, but it also affects your Automaton! Giving your Automaton a 40% Double Attack and 20% Triple Attack rate buff is easily the biggest DPS increase for your Automaton in a single piece of gear. So to conclude, is the Kenkonken a Puppetmasters best weapon? Yes, but not always. Remember the caveat, and know the situation you’re in. If you aren’t able to apply and maintain AM3, there are likely other hand-to-hand weapons (aka: Xiucoatl) that are more suited to the situation.
Xiucoatl Superior 5(Su5) Weapon	Just when you thought Kenkonken was the only good REMA weapon for PUP, they decide to introduce this beauty. These fists require Master PUP to even be able to equip them, and sport an extremely expensive price tag to both buy them off the auction house and augment them to rank 25. The Path C augment path has a very unique augment listed as Automaton: Special att. dmg. +25%. This augment gives a flat +25% damage increase to every weaponskill our Automaton performs, which quite simply solidifies Xiucoatl as the best-in-slot for Overdrive pet-only setups, where Kenkonken's AM3 doesn't get a chance to shine. In addition, the augment seems to also contribute towards augmenting Sharpshot Frames basic ranged attacks (they seem to count as special attacks), as well as any special attack attachment such as Barrage Turbine. The stats on it are nothing to laugh about either! Comparable to Godhands in terms of raw damage it, Path C also comes equipped with a Weapon Skill damage +15% augment for the master as well. On the other hand, Path A or B Xiucoatl are likely the best weapon for Master-only DPS, though if we're honest with each other, everyone who gets Xiucoatl is doing it for the unique pet augments found in Path C. Outside of Overdrive (where Xiucoatl is the best), a Xiucoatl Automaton has been shown to be slightly weaker, but still parsing incredibly close to a Kenkonken Automaton with AM3 up. Considering how difficult it can be for Kenkonken users to maintain AM3 in many fights, it's pretty safe to say that Xiucoatl(Path C) is one of PUP's best weapons in a large variety of situations. Xiucoatl proves to be our 2nd Gold medalist alongside Kenkonken! Both weapons have strong uses and shine in specific situations, and in an ideal world you'd aim to get both.

Animators

Animators are a Puppetmasters lifeblood! They are not only are the way to allow you to control your automaton and use maneuvers, but they boost the strength and ilvl of your automaton considerably.

There is next to no choice when it comes to Animators, as Animators are pure power creep. You start at the bottom of the tier list with your very first animator, and any animators at the top of the list completely obsolete the ones below it.

Strength	Animator Name	Additional Notes
(Strongest) ilvl 119	Animator P +1 & Animator P II +1	The very best Animator you can use. The only difference between Animator P and P+1 is an additional +5 to all stats. If you cannot afford the +1, the NQ version will suffice. It’s an Su2 item, so it requires 100 job points invested in PUP to even be able to equip it.
ilvl 119	Animator P & Animator P II	“The P stands for Psycho!!”
ilvl 119	Divinator & Divinator II	The strongest Animator you can equip at 99 without any job points invested in PUP. Comes from High-Tier Battlefields, so your drop mileage may vary.
ilvl 119	Animator Z	Strangely, this offers the same benefits as the Divinator, only it has an (Su1) tag attached (50 job points required). I guess purchase this if you are having really bad luck getting a Divinator
ilvl 117	Magneto	Slightly stronger than the Eminent Animator, up to you whether you want to hunt it down or go for Divinator/Animator Z in the tiers above it.
ilvl 115	Em. Animator & E. Animator II	Pick this up at the Sparks vendor the moment you hit lv.99.
ilvl 113	Alternator	Skip this, weaker and more time consuming to attain than the Em. Animator. Existed in an era before the concept of Sparks gear was created.
ilvl 106	F. Animator	Skip this too… I honestly didn't even know it existed until I checked the database. Just pick up an Em. Animator at 99 instead.
ilvl 87	Deluxe Animator	Hard Skip!! You are level 87 when you can equip this. Just power through to 99 and pick up an Eminent Animator which is literally 1200% better.
ilvl 71	Animator +1	Please don’t spend your Therion Ichor on this...
ilvl 40	Turbo Animator	Obtained from Puppetmaster Artifact Quest at lv.40. An Upgrade for your very first animator which gives your Automaton a whopping +2 DEX.
(Weakest) ilvl 1	Animator	Your very first Animator! You get this when you begin your PUP adventures at lv.1. Cherish and love it forever. Interesting to note: This is the only Animator which can be equipped by ALL JOBS, so there is use when subbing /PUP on other jobs.

A word on Animator’s versions I & II

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There is statistically no difference between version I and version II of an animator (ex: Animator P & Animator P II give the same stats). The only difference is the behavior which the animators have on your automaton when you deploy them in combat.

• Animator Version I = Automaton will run into Melee range when deployed (head frame allowing)
• Animator Version II = Automaton will keep their distance from the target when deployed.

This means that Deploying a Valoredge frame automaton with a version II animator equipped is going to lead to him standing far away doing nothing but his range active abilities. Typically, version II animators have very limited, and honestly not really needed uses and are not essential. Even for Mage or Sharpshot frames, you can simply rely on the behavior applied by the Head to deploy your Automaton from a safe distance, without needing to rely on the Animator version. This also explains why version I animators are 10 times more expensive on the Auction House! Don’t fall into the trap of getting version II animator for cheap, thinking it’ll do the job, and more importantly, don’t get ripped off (I’ve seen it happen all the time)! Focus on getting version I animators whenever possible.

Equipment Sets

Idle Sets

Idle (Damage Taken)     50% PDT/50% MDT without Shell V Animator P +1 Automat. Oil +3 Malignance Chapeau Malignance Tabard Malignance Gloves Malignance Tights Malignance Boots Warder's Charm +1 Odnowa Earring +1 Eabani Earring Defending Ring Purity Ring Moonbow Belt +1 Visucius's Mantle Magic Evasion (Resin)	Idle (Regen)     37 HP/tick Denouements Animator P +1 Automat. Oil +3 Pitre Taj +3 Hiza. Haramaki +2 Rao Kote +1 Rao Haidate +1 Rao Sune-Ate +1 Bathy Choker +1 Burana Earring Infused Earring Chirich Ring +1 Chirich Ring +1 Isa Belt Visucius's Mantle Regen +5 (Resin)	Idle (Refresh)     8 MP/tick Denouements Animator P +1 Automat. Oil +3 Rawhide Mask Vrikodara Jupon Assid. Pants +1 Stikini Ring +1 Stikini Ring +1 Fucho-no-Obi Visucius's Mantle
Possible Swaps: Loricate Torque +1, Dark Ring, Arete del Luna +1, Apeile Ring +1, C. Palug Ring, Vocane Ring +1, Use Hippo. Socks +1 for kiting purposes, make up for the loss in damage taken in other slots instead.	Possible Swaps: Rao Kabuto +1, Rao Togi +1, Sanctity Necklace, Yngvi Earring, Lissome Necklace, Paguroidea Ring, Sheltered Ring, Woltaris Ring +1	Possible Swaps: Woltaris Ring +1, Renaye Ring +1 Fill the empty slots with either Regen, or -Damage Taken gear, whichever you need.

TP Sets

Beginner Sets

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Fresh 99 PUP     Lowest Tier Em. Baghnakhs Em. Animator Automat. Oil +3 Espial Cap Espial Gambison Espial Bracers Espial Hose Espial Socks Cirque Necklace Ghillie Earring Ghillie Earring Vehemence Ring Enlivened Ring Moepapa Stone Pantin Cape Fresh Lv.99 PUP armor set, which requires you to barely hunt anything outside of town. Really nothing special... Don't stress too much over it.

Not So Fresh PUP     Beginner 119 Arasy Sainti Animator Z Automat. Oil +3 Taeon Chapeau +Acc/Atk/Triple Atk Taeon Tabard +Acc/Atk/Triple Atk Taeon Gloves +Acc/Atk/Triple Atk Taeon Tights +Acc/Atk/Triple Atk Taeon Boots +Acc/Atk/Triple Atk Ishtar's Collar Mache Earring Mache Earring Epona's Ring Rajas Ring Cetl Belt Dispersal Mantle Set where you begin to break into the 119 territory. You don't need to have fought NM's in Escha to get this set. Augment the Taeon pieces with typical Master-oriented augments to start (Accuracy/Attack/Triple Attack), but don't toss out your Taeon. Keep it for eventually augmenting it into a Pet: Regen/M.Eva/Damage Taken tanking set.

Master Only TP Sets

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These are master-centric TP sets, for use when your pet's damage output is unnecessary or irrelevant (ie: your Automaton is in WHM mode).
Emphasis on Double/Triple/Quad Attack, Store TP, Accuracy/Attack, Martial Arts, and Haste for the Master, with little regard to any Pet bonuses.

Important Note on Master TP sets as I've seen this question asked frequently... "Why do I need a Master only TP set, I am a pet job!" well the answer is that it has to do with party composition. If ever you find yourself doing an event in a party alongside the big three support jobs (GEO, COR, and BRD) and receiving a plethora of melee oriented buffs from them, well the masters damage will completely eclipse your automaton in those situations! With powerful buffs present like Indi-Fury, Geo-Frailty, Honor March, Valor Minuet V, Chaos Roll, and Samurai Roll, it's not uncommon for your total damage ratio to skew in the range of 80% master, 20% automaton. This is why it's very important to keep your Master-centric TP set up-to-date, to really improve your damage dealing capabilities in those heavy buff situations.

Master Only TP     Low Tier Nibiru Sainti Divinator Automat. Oil +3 Taeon Chapeau +Acc/Atk/Triple Atk Rawhide Vest Path D Taeon Gloves +Acc/Atk/Triple Atk Taeon Tights +Acc/Atk/Triple Atk Taeon Boots +Acc/Atk/Triple Atk Asperity Necklace Bladeborn Earring Steelflash Earring Epona's Ring Rajas Ring Windbuffet Belt Dispersal Mantle	Master Only TP     Mid Tier Denouements Divinator Automat. Oil +3 Ryuo Somen Path A Tali'ah Manteel +1 Ryuo Tekko Path D Rao Haidate Path D Naga Kyahan Path A Lissome Necklace Mache Earring Brutal Earring Epona's Ring Petrov Ring Windbuffet Belt +1 Visucius's Mantle STR/Acc/Atk/Double Attack	Master Only TP     High Tier Karambit Animator P Automat. Oil +3 Herculean Helm +20 Acc/Atk & 4% Triple Attack Tali'ah Manteel +2 Herculean Gloves +20 Acc/Atk & 4% Triple Attack Samnuha Tights Perfect Augments Herculean Boots +20 Acc/Atk & 4% Triple Attack Lissome Necklace Mache Earring +1 Cessance Earring Epona's Ring Niqmaddu Ring Moonbow Belt Visucius's Mantle STR/Acc/Atk/Double Attack	Master Only TP     Dream Tier Kenkonken (Level 119 III) Animator P +1 Automat. Oil +3 Ryuo Somen +1 Path C Tali'ah Manteel +2 Herculean Gloves +20 Acc/Atk & 4% Triple Attack Ryuo Hakama +1 Path D Herculean Boots +20 Acc/Atk & 4% Triple Attack Shulmanu Collar Telos Earring Balder Earring +1 Gere Ring Niqmaddu Ring Moonbow Belt +1 Visucius's Mantle STR/Acc/Atk/Double Attack
Your first breakthrough into Escha Zi'Tah NM's. Rawhide Vest is a marked improvement over Taeon Tabard. If you can get your hands on the Tali'ah Armor Set(NQ or +1) from Ambuscade that is also a big upgrade compared to Taeon set. Dispersal Mantle augmented as best as you can, but aim to get Pet:TP Bonus+500 as that is useful for another set.	Beginning to get some mid-tier Abjuration gear from Escha Zi'Tah and Escha Ru'Aun. Even though it's not from Escha, Tali'ah Manteel is a solid master TP piece, while also giving some benefits to the puppet, so it gets included.	Hetairoi Ring is also a viable option instead of Petrov Ring. Clotharius Torque and Combatant's Torque are alternatives for necklace. All 3 of PUP's JSE Necklace (ie: Pup. Collar +2) is generally pretty mediocre for a TP set, but is atleast is a solid accuracy swap if you need it.	If you somehow luck into Quadruple Attack augments from Dark matter, congrats! Samnuha Tights (Perfect Augments) are also incredibly good, though you lose the Attack set bonus from Ryuo which PUP usually lacks. Accuracy Swaps: Ryuo Somen +1 (Path A), Heyoka Subligar +1, Tali'ah Armor Set +2

Master Only TP     Mythic AM3 Active Kenkonken (Level 119 III) Animator P +1 Automat. Oil +3 Malignance Chapeau Malignance Tabard Malignance Gloves Malignance Tights Malignance Boots Combatant's Torque Telos Earring Dedition Earring Gere Ring Niqmaddu Ring Moonbow Belt +1 Visucius's Mantle STR/Acc/Atk and +10 Store TP	Master Only TP     Subtle Blow/Hybrid Xiucoatl Path B (Subtle Blow II +25) Animator P +1 Automat. Oil +3 Malignance Chapeau Malignance Tabard Herculean Gloves Acc/Atk and Triple Attack Mpaca's Hose Herculean Boots Acc/Atk and Triple Attack Bathy Choker +1 Mache Earring +1 Schere Earring Gere Ring Niqmaddu Ring Moonbow Belt +1 Visucius's Mantle STR/Acc/Atk and Double Attack	Master Only TP     Subtle Blow No Xiucoatl Animator P +1 Automat. Oil +3 Malignance Chapeau Malignance Tabard Herculean Gloves Acc/Atk and Subtle Blow +8-10 Mpaca's Hose Herculean Boots Acc/Atk and Subtle Blow +8-10 Bathy Choker +1 Mache Earring +1 Schere Earring Chirich Ring +1 Niqmaddu Ring Moonbow Belt +1 Visucius's Mantle STR/Acc/Atk and Double Attack
Maximize +Store TP while you have the Mythic AM3 Active, since the Mythic AM3 gives 40% Double Attack and 20% Triple Attack.	A mixed hybrid damage taken set combined with very high Subtle Blow stats to really lessen the threat from the enemy.

Dual Master & Pet TP Sets

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These are Dual TP sets, outfitted for maximum damage output from both the master and the automaton at the same time. For use when you are punching things alongside your Automaton.
Emphasis on Double/Triple/Quad Attack, Store TP, Accuracy/Attack, Martial Arts, and Gear Haste, while also attempting to give the same for your Automaton. Your Automaton should have Sharpshot frame or Valoredge frame and focused for maximum damage output for these as well.

• Important to hit the Equipment Haste cap (26%) for your Automaton. Using Ohtas makes this easier due to the +10% Pet: Haste augment on it.

Dual TP (Beginner)     No Ohtas Animator P Automat. Oil +3 Tali'ah Turban +1 Tali'ah Manteel +1 Tali'ah Gages +1 Tali'ah Sera. +1 Tali'ah Crackows +1 Empath Necklace Mache Earring Brutal Earring Tali'ah Ring Epona's Ring Klouskap Sash Visucius's Mantle Acc/Atk & Pet: Acc/R.Acc/Atk/R.Atk + 10% Haste	Dual TP (Late Game)     Using Ohtas Ohtas Animator P Automat. Oil +3 Tali'ah Turban +2 Tali'ah Manteel +2 Herculean Gloves +20 Acc/Atk & 4% Triple Attack Heyoka Subligar Herculean Boots +20 Acc/Atk & 4% Triple Attack Empath Necklace Domes. Earring Cessance Earring Epona's Ring Varar Ring Incarnation Sash Visucius's Mantle Acc/Atk & Pet: Acc/R.Acc/Atk/R.Atk + 10% Haste	Dual TP     Dream Tier (No Ohtas) Animator P +1 Automat. Oil +3 Heyoka Cap +1 Tali'ah Manteel +2 Herculean Gloves Acc/Atk and Triple Attack Heyoka Subligar +1 Herculean Boots Acc/Atk and Triple Attack Shulmanu Collar Telos Earring Dedition Earring Niqmaddu Ring Gere Ring Moonbow Belt +1 Visucius's Mantle Acc/Atk & Pet: Acc/R.Acc/Atk/R.Atk + 10% Haste
Hurch'lan Sash & Thurandaut Ring are viable swaps.	Ohtas has a Pet:+10% Haste which, along with Visucius's Mantle's +10% allows you to nearly reach the 26% cap using minimal pieces of gear. Slot in a final piece of gear to help you reach the cap, such as Hurch'lan Sash, Klouskap Sash +1, and Thurandaut Ring	This set doesn't require Ohtas, and allows the master to use the oh-so-wonderful Moonbow Belt +1

Pet Only TP Sets

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Pet Only TP sets are for the common situations where the master sends in his Automaton to do all the dirty work. Often employed in Pet-only strategies, after deploying your Automaton you stand very far away, safe from any harm, while the enemy slowly gets whittled down by your puppet. These sets ignore ANY benefits for the master (as you are not engaged), and focus entirely on stats for the Automaton.

Pet Only TP     Store TP Ranger Automaton Xiucoatl Path C Animator P +1 Automat. Oil +3 Herculean Helm Pet: Store TP +10-11, Pet: Acc/R.Acc/Attack/R.Attack Pitre Tobe +3 Herculean Gloves Pet: Store TP +10-11, Pet: Acc/R.Acc/Attack/R.Attack Herculean Trousers Pet: Store TP +10-11, Pet: Acc/R.Acc/Attack/R.Attack Herculean Boots Pet: Store TP +10-11, Pet: Acc/R.Acc/Attack/R.Attack Shulmanu Collar Enmerkar Earring Kyrene's Earring Varar Ring +1 Varar Ring +1 Klouskap Sash +1 Visucius's Mantle Acc/Atk & Pet: Acc/R.Acc/Atk/R.Atk + 10% Haste	Pet Only TP     Double Attack Melee Ohtas Animator P +1 Automat. Oil +3 Taeon Chapeau Pet: Acc/+Dbl Attack/-Damage Taken Pitre Tobe +3 Taeon Gloves Pet: Acc/+Dbl Attack/-Damage Taken Taeon Tights Pet: Acc/+Dbl Attack/-Damage Taken Taeon Boots Pet: Acc/+Dbl Attack/-Damage Taken Shulmanu Collar Rimeice Earring Enmerkar Earring C. Palug Ring Thur. Ring +1 Incarnation Sash Visucius's Mantle Acc/Atk & Pet: Acc/R.Acc/Atk/R.Atk + 10% Haste
This is for strictly a Sharpshot Ranger Automaton who is Shooting from Range/Barrage Turbine/Repeater as their primary source of damage. Companion's Roll kind of makes this sort of Pure Store TP setup less important. This is lacking a lot of Pet: Haste for any sort of Melee Automaton setups. Pet: Store TP +10-11 is the most important augment on the Herculean, as it allows your pet to gain TP to WS incredibly fast. Ideally you'd want to aim for Pet: Acc/R.Acc/Atk/R.Atk +20-30. Condemners augmented with Pet: Store TP is also an option (although much weaker than su5)	This is for an Automaton who is in melee range, maximizing pet: haste and pet: double attack. Works with both sharpshot and valoredge frames. You should be swapping to Pet WS sets when your Pet reaches close to 1000 TP.

Weaponskill Sets

Stringing Pummel & Victory Smite

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Both Stringing Pummel and Victory Smite are multi-hitting and have the capability to crit. Victory Smite has an 80% STR modifier, whereas Stringing Pummel has a 32% STR/32% VIT modifier. In the end you end up just stacking tons of STR regardless, so the sets end up similar.

Stringing Pummel   Kenkonken (Level 119 III) Animator P +1 Automat. Oil +3 Blistering Sallet +1 Max Rank He. Harness +1 Ryuo Tekko +1 Path A Hiza. Hizayoroi +2 Herculean Boots STR+10/Acc/Atk/Crit Damage+5% Fotia Gorget Brutal Earring Moonshade Earring TP Bonus+250 & Attack+4 Niqmaddu Ring Gere Ring Fotia Belt Visucius's Mantle +30 STR/Acc/Atk/+10% Crit Hit Rate	Victory Smite   Verethragna (Level 119 III) Animator P +1 Automat. Oil +3 Blistering Sallet +1 Max Rank He. Harness +1 Ryuo Tekko +1 Path A Samnuha Tights +10 STR/DEX, +3 Double/Triple attack Herculean Boots STR+10/Acc/Atk/Crit Damage+5% Fotia Gorget Brutal Earring Moonshade Earring TP Bonus+250 & Attack+4 Niqmaddu Ring Gere Ring Moonbow Belt +1 Visucius's Mantle +30 STR/Acc/Atk/+10% Crit Hit Rate
Possible Swaps: Rao Haidate +1(Path B) is incredibly close. Rancor Collar, Begrudging Ring, Rao Kabuto +1 (Path B), Abnoba Kaftan, Regal Ring, Moonbow Belt +1, Ryuo Sune-Ate +1	Though this set is very similar to Stringing Pummel, due to the less number of hits there is a very slight additional emphasis on multi-attack in Victory Smite sets You can use swaps from the Stringing Pummel recommendations as well.

Shijin Spiral & Asuran Fists

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Shijin Spiral   Godhands Animator P +1 Automat. Oil +3 Herculean Helm DEX+15/Acc/Atk/Triple Attack+3% Tali'ah Manteel +2 Herculean Gloves DEX+15/Acc/Atk/Triple Attack+3% Samnuha Tights +10 STR/DEX, +3 Double/Triple attack Herculean Boots DEX+15/Acc/Atk/Triple Attack+3% Fotia Gorget Brutal Earring Mache Earring +1 TP Bonus+250 & Attack+4 Niqmaddu Ring Regal Ring Fotia Belt Visucius's Mantle DEX+30/Acc/Atk/Double Attack+10%	Asuran Fists   Karambit Animator P +1 Automat. Oil +3 Pitre Taj +3 Pitre Tobe +3 Pitre Dastanas +3 Pitre Churidars +3 Pitre Babouches +3 Fotia Gorget Telos Earring Balder Earring +1 Niqmaddu Ring Regal Ring Fotia Belt Visucius's Mantle STR+30/Acc/Atk/WSD+10%
a maxed out Pup. Collar +2 is also alright for the DEX bonus it brings. Caro Necklace if you don't want to invest in JSE Necks (I don't blame you).	Asuran Fists is already an 8-hit WS, so what is really important is to ensure that all 8-hits land, thus the emphasis on Accuracy and Attack (along with the STR/VIT WS modifiers of course).

Howling Fist, Raging Fists & Aeolian Edge

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Due to the Update to Hand-to-Hand with fTP Replication across hits, multi-hit became much more important on Howling and Raging Fists!

Howling Fist & Raging Fists   Godhands Animator P +1 Automat. Oil +3 Herculean Helm STR+15/Acc/Atk/Triple Attack+3% Tali'ah Manteel +2 Herculean Gloves STR+15/Acc/Atk/Triple Attack+3% Samnuha Tights +10 STR/DEX, +3 Double/Triple attack Herculean Boots STR+15/Acc/Atk/Triple Attack+3% Pup. Collar +2 Rank25 Brutal Earring Moonshade Earring TP Bonus+250 & Attack+4 Niqmaddu Ring Gere Ring Moonbow Belt +1 Visucius's Mantle STR+30/Acc/Atk/Double Attack+10%	Aeolian Edge     Sub THF/DNC/RDM/NIN Tauret Kaja Knife Animator P +1 Automat. Oil +3 Cohort Cloak +1 Max Rank Herculean Gloves INT and Magic Attack Bonus Herculean Trousers INT and Magic Attack Bonus Herculean Boots INT and Magic Attack Bonus Baetyl Pendant Friomisi Earring Moonshade Earring TP Bonus+250 & Attack+4 Metamor. Ring +1 Epaminondas's Ring Orpheus's Sash Visucius's Mantle INT/M.AtkBonus/WSD, Don't make an Aeolian Edge Cape
VIT augments for Howling Fist, STR augments for Raging Fists Pup. Collar +2 is only good if you have enough Attack buffs to reach the pDIF cap where the Damage Limit+ trait of the necklace will come into effect, otherwise it does nothing. Use Fotia Gorget or Caro Necklace in situations where you don't have decent buffs.	Daggers go whoosh!! The only sort of Cleave that PUP is capable of

Pet WS Sets

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Pet WS Sets are important for maximizing your Automatons weaponskills. You wouldn't Weaponskill in your TP set, so why should your Automatons?

To my knowledge, due to the nature of automatons AI functionality, there is no known way to detect the moment of your Automaton's WS and automatically swap to your Pet WS set in time with GearSwap addon. So you'd have to do this manually. If you know a way to script this, please let me and the PUP community know!

Arcuballista / Daze     Pet WS Set Xiucoatl Path C -- Rank 25 Animator P +1 Automat. Oil +3 Kara. Cappello +3 Pitre Tobe +3 Karagoz Guanti +3 Kara. Pantaloni +3 Naga Kyahan Path D (Pet:HP+100/Act+25/Atk+25 Shulmanu Collar Enmerkar Earring Burana Earring Thur. Ring +1 Overbearing Ring Klouskap Sash +1 Dispersal Mantle Pet TP Bonus +500	Bone Crusher     Pet WS Set Xiucoatl Path C -- Rank 25 Animator P +1 Automat. Oil +3 Herculean Helm Pet: VIT/Attack/Double Attack Pitre Tobe +3 Herculean Gloves Pet: VIT/Attack/Double Attack Herculean Trousers Pet: VIT/Attack/Double Attack Herculean Boots Pet: VIT/Attack/Double Attack Shulmanu Collar Domes. Earring Burana Earring Thur. Ring +1 C. Palug Ring Incarnation Sash Visucius's Mantle Pet: Acc/Atk & Pet: Acc/R.Acc/Atk/R.Atk + 10% Haste
All three Superior Equipment H2H's for PUP ( Xiucoatl, Pitre Fists, & Pantin Fists) are best in slot for Automaton WS sets (when fully upgraded on Path C). Other H2H downgrades include Ohrmazd augmented for Pet:TP Bonus+200 & Pet:R.Attack/R.Accuracy, or Condemners augmented with Pet:+20 DEX. +Automaton Skill also ends up being surprisingly good for these weaponskills, turning Gnafron's Adargas into another alternative. Arcuballista, Daze, and Chimera Ripper all have very good TP modifiers, so TP Bonus ends up being highly beneficial. Getting a combined total of +1075 TP Bonus from Karagoz Cappello +2 and Dispersal Mantle ends up being a noticeable spike in WS damage, so much so that the Lv+1 loss from Visucius's Mantle can be ignored. Empath Necklace is a slight downgrade	Double Attack is incredibly good for Bone Crusher, as it transfers fTP across all hits. Herculean Vest augmented with Pet: VIT & Acc/Atk & Double Attack is also viable.

Pet: Tanking Sets

Automaton Tanking Sets

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For one of PUP's most important roles, turning your puppet into an unkillable tank!
The big advantage for PUP Tanks is that our pets are not limited by the typical 50% Damage Taken cap which other jobs and players have to deal with. Instead, our Automaton can reach a much higher cap of 87.5% due to the fact that we are tanking with a pet. This trait, combined with the regen capabilities of Auto-Repair Kit Attachments leads to quite a sturdy tank!
There are other important pieces of information when it comes to tanking;

• PUP gain access to the Stout Servant III Job Trait at lv.98, giving our pets a baseline -DT of 9%
• Valoredge Frame & Sharpshot Frame also have a native -PDT/MDT/BDT of 12.5%
• Harlequin Frame has a native -PDT/MDT/BDT of 6.25%
• Stormwaker Frame has a native -DT of 0%, but instead has -25% MDT & -25% BDT
  

This means that through both gear and attachments, you will need 66% Damage Taken to reach the cap (for &), or 73% (for )... Keep this in mind!
Currently, the maximum amount of -DT possible from gear alone on PUP is 53%, with the rest being covered by Armor Plates (-PDT) and Mana Jammers (-MDB) attachments.

Pet Tanking (Introduction)     Newbie-Friendly Ohrmazd Pet: +25 Magic Evasion, -4% Damage Taken, STR/VIT/DEX Animator P Automat. Oil +3 Anwig Salade Pet: Damage taken -10% & Regen Taeon Tabard Pet: +1~3 Regen/+Damage Taken -2~4% Taeon Gloves Pet: +1~3 Regen/+Damage Taken -2~4% Tali'ah Sera. +1 Taeon Boots Pet: +1~3 Regen/+Damage Taken -2~4% Shepherd's Chain Handler's Earring +1 Rimeice Earring Thurandaut Ring Tali'ah Ring Isa Belt Visucius's Mantle Acc/Atk & Pet: Acc/R.Acc/Atk/R.Atk + Regen+10 and -10% MDT	Pet Tanking (Bruiser)     Offense oriented Ohtas Animator P +1 Automat. Oil +3 Anwig Salade Pet: Damage taken -10% & Regen Taeon Tabard Pet: Accuracy+25/Double Attack+5%/+Damage Taken -4% Taeon Gloves Pet: Accuracy+25/Double Attack+5%/+Damage Taken -4% Taeon Tights Pet: Accuracy+25/Double Attack+5%/+Damage Taken -4% Taeon Boots Pet: Accuracy+25/Double Attack+5%/+Damage Taken -4% Shulmanu Collar Enmerkar Earring Domes. Earring Thur. Ring +1 C. Palug Ring Incarnation Sash Visucius's Mantle Acc/Atk & Pet: Acc/R.Acc/Atk/R.Atk + Regen+10 and -10% MDT	Pet Tanking (Turtle)     +HP Oriented Gnafron's Adargas Animator P +1 Automat. Oil +3 Anwig Salade Pet: Damage taken -10% & Regen Rao Togi +1 Path C Rao Kote +1 Path C Rao Haidate +1 Path C Rao Sune-Ate +1 Path C Shepherd's Chain Enmerkar Earring Rimeice Earring Thur. Ring +1 Overbearing Ring Isa Belt Visucius's Mantle Acc/Atk & Pet: Acc/R.Acc/Atk/R.Atk + Regen+10 and -10% MDT	+Enmity     Strobe/Flashbulb Heyoka Cap +1 He. Harness +1 He. Mittens +1 Heyoka Subligar +1 He. Leggings +1 Domes. Earring Rimeice Earring
So you want to start tanking on PUP, but don't know where to start? This is a great introductory tanking set -- you can get your tanking feet wet with a decently augmented Taeon set and some quest rewards/ambuscade. This set doesn't require any drops from Omen, or Escha/Reisenjima NM's, and all pieces can be attained either through the auction house, or solo/low-man, low-stress content (Ambuscade, Delve, Alluvion Skirmish, High-Tier Battlefields). This beginner set also assumes you aren't made of millions of Gil to afford perfect Taeon augments either, and foregoes getting the Pet:+M.Eva Snoworb Stone +2 augments, to save you even more cash. Handler's Earring +1 will help you attain the PDT cap if you cannot afford to get perfect Pet:-DT on your Taeon pieces (or if you don't have an Anwig Salade, and are instead using a similarly augmented Taeon Chapeau). You can double-up Handler's Earrings (HQ and NQ) as well if you are very far from the PDT Cap. (view Automaton Attachment Tanking sets down below for an explanation on the caps)	These two armor sets are your main Tanking Sets. Taeon is Offense oriented, while Rao+1 is Bonus Max HP oriented, and both are important sets. The Taeon set is the ultimate deploy-and-forget style set (for when you are busy with other things, ex: multibox, supporting, etc..) Gives your Automaton a good amount of power behind the set, while keeping it very sturdy. A all-arounded goal to work towards for your tanking set. Rao+1 has the advantage of more maximum HP for your Automaton. Additional bonus HP helps somewhat with enmity loss, improves the amount of Regen gained from Auto-Repair Kits, and also allows your Automaton to survive some more mechanics safely. But the Rao set has really low offensive capabilities (low haste and multi-hit) meaning it is ideal for super tanking many enemies (ex: super tanking the all the Fomor from fetters in Dynamis[D] wave 3) Foire Churidars +3 & Tali'ah Sera. +2 are also a viable swap. Foire giving more -DT (which may not be necessary) and Tali'ah giving more +Accuracy (which also may not be necessary) NQ Thurandaut Ring is a suitable replacement, as is NQ Rao Armor Set (though you lose out on an additional +125 HP). If you chose another Adoulin Ring, consider using a Varar Ring +1 (or NQ) instead. Midnights (Path D) or Ohrmazd (with Pet: +25 Magic Evasion, -4% Damage Taken, STR/VIT/DEX) are a downgrade but viable weapon swap for either tanking set. Use Rao Kabuto +1 (Path C) or Taeon Chapeau if you do not have the Anwig Salade.		Swap pieces in during Flashbulb and Strobe. The Enmity set is a MASSIVE help when it comes to holding aggro. Durgai Leggings & NQ Heyoka Armor Set is also viable swaps. Sometimes enmity gear is totally unnecessary to retain hate just fine (e.g., in a MB setup where hate is generally fine regardless), and sometimes if you're worried about getting rocked with a big TP move you'll want to stay turtled up in DT- set... but in general, once your DDs mix in some ranged damage, melee, or BST pets, pet enmity set becomes super helpful to get the most out of your automaton tank.

Pet: Overdrive Sets

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Typically you're running Overdrive as either Sharpshot or Valoredge frame, and both have different attributes they want to boost during your SP. Both these sets cap your Automatons equipment Haste, while also giving the appropriate modifiers that they most want (TP Bonus for Sharpshot, Double Attack for Valoredge.) The Valoredge set has the added benefit of being tankier due to the pet:-damage taken values on the Taeon, but typically during Overdrive your Automaton is fairly strong and you can often just tank through most fights without it. Fulltime these sets during Overdrive, don't waste time with manual swapping, it'll always mess you up due to the Automaton's AI

Sharpshot Overdrive     +TP Bonus and Haste Xiucoatl Path C Animator P +1 Automat. Oil +3 Kara. Cappello +3 Pitre Tobe +3 Karagoz Guanti +3 Heyoka Subligar +1 Naga Kyahan Path D Shulmanu Collar Rimeice Earring Enmerkar Earring Thur. Ring +1 C. Palug Ring Klouskap Sash +1 Dispersal Mantle Pet: TP Bonus +500	Valoredge Overdrive     Pet: Haste and Double Attack Xiucoatl Path C Animator P +1 Automat. Oil +3 Taeon Chapeau Pet: Acc/+Double Attack/-Damage Taken Taeon Tabard Pet: Acc/+Double Attack/-Damage Taken Taeon Gloves Pet: Acc/+Double Attack/-Damage Taken Taeon Tights Pet: Acc/+Double Attack/-Damage Taken Taeon Boots Pet: Acc/+Double Attack/-Damage Taken Shulmanu Collar Rimeice Earring Enmerkar Earring Thur. Ring +1 C. Palug Ring Klouskap Sash +1 Visucius's Mantle Pet: Acc/Atk & +10% Haste
Note: It's a Dispersal Mantle!! Because we are missing out on +10% Haste from Visucius Mantle, we are using Heyoka Subligar, Rimeice, Klouskap and Thurandaut Ring +1 to reach Haste cap during Overdrive. If you're missing Thur. Ring +1, you'll need additional Automaton: Haste to cap so swap to Tali'ah Crackows +2 & Domes. Earring instead of Rimeice Earring, with Varar Ring +1 being the replacement for Thurandaut.	Extremely Sturdy due to all the Taeon -Damage Taken, while also dealing a ton of damage due to all the Double Attack giving great benefits to Bone Crusher. Reaches Haste cap without Ohtas, allowing you to use the powerful Su5 weapon.

Pet: Casting Sets

Automaton Magic Damage Sets

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Disclaimer: Not for the faint of heart!
While it is possible for PUP's to deal Magic Damage, as mentioned earlier in this guide, it is very limited and finicky. The following set should be something you consider attaining after getting your other sets for your primary roles (tanking and physical damage dealer).

Magic Damage   Xiucoatl Path C Animator P II +1 Automat. Oil +3 Herculean Helm Pet: INT, M.Acc, and M.Atk Bonus Udug Jacket Herculean Gloves Pet: INT, M.Acc, and M.Atk Bonus Pitre Churidars +3 Pitre Babouches +3 Pup. Collar +2 Rank 25 Burana Earring Enmerkar Earring Tali'ah Ring C. Palug Ring Ukko Sash Visucius's Mantle Pet:Magic Accuracy/Damage(Thread),Magic Damage(Dye)	Pet:Precast/Idle     Pet: Fast Cast, Refresh/Regen, and Cure Potency Denouements Animator P II +1 Automat. Oil +3 Naga Somen Path C Naga Samue Path C Naga Tekko Path C Pitre Churidars +3 Naga Kyahan Path C Empath Necklace Burana Earring Ukko Sash Visucius's Mantle Pet:Magic Accuracy/Damage(Thread), Magic Damage(Dye), Pet: Regen(Resin)
Tali'ah Armor Set+2 for +Magic Accuracy if you are getting partial resists. Rawhide Mask (Path D) and Naga Tekko (Path D) are downgrades to well augmented Herculean. Tinhaspa is the next best thing outside of Su4/5 weapons for Pet: Magic/Accuracy Magic Attack Bonus. Midnights and Kenkonken are also good weapons for Overload suppression while spamming Ice Maneuver Pitre Babouches +3 are better than Foire Babouches +3, annoying that our Artifact and Relic have MAB-style stats on the exact same slot. If you do not want to invest in JSE Necks, Adad Amulet and Deino Collar are the next best thing (though they is slightly worse than even the R15 NQ Pup. Collar) Kyrene's Earring is an alternative earring for additional magic accuracy, or if you've already chosen a different earring from the A Barrel of Laughs quest.	Also doubles as a Pet: Cure-Potency set Possible swaps: Naga Hakama (Path C), Foire Churidars +3 (for Cure Potency) and Pitre Taj +3 for Automaton Regen/Refresh.

Utility Sets

Backline with Style

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Fast Cast     55% FC Herculean Helm Fast Cast Zendik Robe Herculean Gloves Fast Cast Herculean Trousers Fast Cast Regal Pumps +1 Orunmila's Torque Enchntr. Earring +1 Loquac. Earring Prolix Ring Rahab Ring Visucius's Mantle Fast Cast 10% (Sap)	Cure Potency     +50% Cure Potency (Cap) Ipoca Beret Vrikodara Jupon Weath. Cuffs +1 Gyve Trousers Regal Pumps +1 Rank 15 Incanter's Torque Mendi. Earring Meili Earring Sirona's Ring Lebeche Ring Bishop's Sash Visucius's Mantle Cure Potency +10% (Sap)	Cure Potency Received     +30% Potency Received (Cap) Eshus Taeon Chapeau 7% Cure Potency Received Taeon Tabard 7% Cure Potency Received Taeon Gloves 7% Cure Potency Received Taeon Tights 7% Cure Potency Received Taeon Boots 7% Cure Potency Received Phalaina Locket Oneiros Earring Kunaji Ring Asklepian Ring Gishdubar Sash	Master Enmity     For Ventriloquy Mafic Cudgel Passion Jacket Kurys Gloves Obatala Subligar Ahosi Leggings Unmoving Collar +1 Does not need Max Rank Cryptic Earring Trux Earring Supershear Ring Eihwaz Ring Goading Belt Visucius's Mantle Enmity+10 (Sap)
Possible Swaps: Lebeche Ring, Orvail Pants +1, Anhur Robe, Gyve Trousers, Baetyl Pendant, Etiolation Earring, Rahab Ring, Veela Cape, Swith Cape +1, Voltsurge Torque, Taeon Tabard along with the rest of the Taeon attire set augmented with +1~5 Fast Cast (Leafdim Stones). Swaps of Heka's Kalasiris, Mendi. Earring, Doyen Pants, Acerbic Sash +1, Pahtli Cape for "Cure" Spellcasting time down.	Possible Swaps: Annoint. Kalasiris, Beatific Earring, Skaoi Boots, Haoma's Ring, Henic Torque, Phalaina Locket, Roundel Earring, Regal Pumps, Solemnity Cape	PUP tends to end up curing themselves more often than others when on the backline, so a Cure Potency Received set used in conjunction with a Cure Potency set is often ideal. There is a Cure Potency Received cap of 30%, so obviously don't use all these items listed. But this is just a list of viable items to use when Curing yourself. Combine these items with your capped Cure Potency set for maximum results when curing yourself, and when curing others replace the slots with +Healing Skill.	For use with Ventriloquy. Gain a huge spike in Enmity from the master using this set, then transfer it all (and more) to your Automaton to get them ahead at the start of a fight.

Automaton Attachment Sets

I've tiered the following sets into 0 JP, 100 JP, and 1200+ JP categories. As mentioned previously, the Job Gifts awarded to PUP at 100 JP and 1200 JP are monumental, so obviously if you are missing those job gifts, your sets will be markedly weaker.

Tanking

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When it comes to Tanking, there are multiple ways to approach your attachment setups, which is mainly driven by your Pet Tanking gearsets. The better your Pet: Damage Taken is, the less you need to rely on attachments to reach the cap (Reminder: 66% for Valoredge frame, 78.5% for other frames)
This is typically achieved in three methods:

• Method 1: Armor Plate IV + Optic Fiber + Optic Fiber II & 1 Light Maneuver = -30% Physical Damage Taken

• This means you need only 36% Pet: Damage Taken in your equipset to attain the cap for & Frames, 42.25% for Frame, and 48.5% for Frame.
  
  

• Method 2: Armor Plate IV + Optic Fiber + Optic Fiber II & 1 Light Maneuver and 1 Earth Maneuver = -37.5% Physical Damage Taken

• This means you need only 28.5% Pet: Damage Taken in your equipset to attain the cap for & Frames, 34.75% for Frame, and 41% for Frame.
  
  

• Method 3: Armor Plate IV + Armor Plate III + Optic Fiber + Optic Fiber II & 1 Light Maneuver = -52.5% Physical Damage Taken

• This means you need only 13.5% Pet: Damage Taken in your equipset to attain the cap for & Frames, 19.75% for Frame, and 26% for Frame.
  
  

When you first begin tanking, you can start using Method 3 or 2. Then as your Pet Tanking set gets fleshed out, slowly begin molding into Method 2, and then ultimately end with Method 1. Method 1 takes up the least amount of attachment slots, while also freeing up 2 maneuver slots for you to use, but requires the best tanking sets to achieve, so it's an ideal end-goal.

Attachment Setup Description: Your typical, indestructible turtle tank. Has a very, very low offensive output, in exchange is nearly unkillable while also being self-sustaining. Soulsoother head allows for more Light capacity over Valoredge head. If you are tanking an encounter for the first time, and you are unsure what you will be facing, this setup should be your immediate go-to before transitioning into Bruiser tank once you are more comfortable. Can easily tank huge amounts of monsters in Dynamis - Divergence using this setup, as it's sturdy towards both physical and magical damage.		Common Maneuvers: or (vs. Magic) or (For Dispel)
Turtle Tank     0 JP Soulsoother Head Valoredge Frame Strobe Strobe II Galvanizer Mana Jammer IV Steam Jacket Disruptor Armor Plate IV Barrier Module Auto-Rep. Kit II Optic Fiber Heat Capacitor Flashbulb	Turtle Tank     100 JP Soulsoother Head Valoredge Frame Strobe Strobe II Heat Capacitor II Mana Jammer IV Mana Jammer II Regulator Armor Plate IV Barrier Module II Auto-Rep. Kit IV Optic Fiber Heat Capacitor Flashbulb	Turtle Tank     1200 JP Soulsoother Head Valoredge Frame Strobe Strobe II Heat Capacitor II Mana Jammer IV Mana Jammer III Regulator Armor Plate IV Barrier Module II Auto-Rep. Kit IV Optic Fiber Optic Fiber II Flashbulb
		Consider swapping out Regulator for situational attachment swaps such as: Analyzer, Steam Jacket, Galvanizer

Attachment Setup Description: A more offensively oriented tank in comparison to the Turtle setup. More suited for everyday use, when you are out and about doing things. I use this against NM's, or during events, which don't pose a particularly high threat.		Common Maneuvers: or
Bruiser Tank     0 JP Soulsoother Head Valoredge Frame Strobe Strobe II Magniplug Barrier Module Coiler II Armor Plate IV Turbo Charger Turbo Charger II Mana Jammer IV Resister Auto-Rep. Kit III Flashbulb	Bruiser Tank     100 JP Soulsoother Head Valoredge Frame Strobe Strobe II Magniplug Magniplug II Coiler II Armor Plate IV Turbo Charger Turbo Charger II Coiler Auto-Rep. Kit III Optic Fiber II Flashbulb	Bruiser Tank     1200 JP Soulsoother Head Valoredge Frame Strobe Strobe II Magniplug Magniplug II Coiler II Armor Plate IV Turbo Charger Turbo Charger II Auto-Rep. Kit IV Optic Fiber Optic Fiber II Flashbulb
		Consider swapping out Magniplug for situational attachment swaps such as: Analyzer, Steam Jacket, Regulator, Galvanizer

Attachment Setup Description: A purely magic defense oriented tank. Requires better gear to reach the -PDT cap due to Harlequin frame. Loses access to Shield bash/Blocking and generally the lowest damage output of the tanks. Is able to cast Protect V & Shell V on itself, so try to buff it beforehand on trash monsters since it can take a while. Ideal also if you don't want your automaton to interrupt skillchains, as its melee accuracy is lower than usual with this setup.		Common Maneuvers: (vs. Magic)
Harle Tank     0 JP Soulsoother Head Harlequin Frame Strobe Strobe II Heat Seeker Steam Jacket Armor Plate IV Mana Jammer IV Turbo Charger Turbo Charger II Auto-Rep. Kit III Flashbulb Galvanizer Regulator	Harle Tank     100 JP Soulsoother Head Harlequin Frame Strobe Strobe II Magniplug II Steam Jacket Armor Plate IV Mana Jammer IV Turbo Charger Turbo Charger II Auto-Rep. Kit IV Flashbulb Optic Fiber Regulator	Harle Tank     1200 JP Soulsoother Head Harlequin Frame Strobe Strobe II Magniplug Magniplug II Armor Plate IV Mana Jammer IV Turbo Charger Turbo Charger II Auto-Rep. Kit IV Flashbulb Optic Fiber Optic Fiber II
Not really recommended until you have atleast 100 JP. Better off using Valoredge Frame to tank.		This setup requires 34% Pet:-DT gear to cap PDT on Harlequin Frame. Consider swapping out Magniplug for situational attachment swaps such as: Analyzer, Steam Jacket, Regulator, Galvanizer

Attachment Setup Description: The highest damage outputting tank. With 1200+ JP and the right gear, this setup can be quite durable and tank most things with surprising efficiency. In exchange for doing much more damage, it has less health than its Valoredge tanking counterparts. Also highly useful when fighting flying enemies (ex: VD Ouryu high-tier battlefield).		Common Maneuvers: or
Sharpshot Tank     0 JP Valoredge Head Sharpshot Frame Strobe Strobe II Magniplug Magniplug II Turbo Charger Turbo Charger II Truesights Armor Plate IV Auto-Rep. Kit II Galvanizer Mana Jammer II Flashbulb	Sharpshot Tank     100 JP Valoredge Head Sharpshot Frame Strobe Strobe II Magniplug Magniplug II Turbo Charger Turbo Charger II Truesights Armor Plate IV Auto-Rep. Kit III Optic Fiber Mana Jammer IV Flashbulb	Sharpshot Tank     1200 JP Valoredge Head Sharpshot Frame Strobe Strobe II Magniplug Magniplug II Turbo Charger Turbo Charger II Truesights Armor Plate IV Auto-Rep. Kit III Optic Fiber Optic Fiber II Flashbulb
Not really recommended until you have atleast 100 JP. Better off using Valoredge Frame to tank.		Replace Magniplug with Mana Jammer IV if fighting heavy magic users. Consider swapping out Magniplug for situational attachment swaps such as: Analyzer, Steam Jacket, Regulator, Galvanizer

Physical Damage Dealer

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These Physical DD attachment setups forego most defensive attachments and instead focus on pure raw attack power.
It goes without saying, that if necessary you can swap out some attachments for more defensive ones, to give your Automaton a little bit more staying power.

Attachment Setup Description: Your standard physical damage dealing setup, for everyday use. Valoredge head will guarantee your Automaton will remain in melee range for additional DPS, and additional TP generation. Comes equipped with Inhibitor and Speedloaders for maximum self-skillchaining. (ideal in CP parties, when solo'ing Apex, and when doing Pet only DD while wearing Store TP gear). Don't use Inhibitor's in Zerg fests since your Automaton will often hold back TP.		Common Maneuvers: or
Standard DD     0 JP Valoredge Head Sharpshot Frame Inhibitor Inhibitor II Attuner Magniplug Armor Plate IV Coiler Coiler II Truesights Turbo Charger Turbo Charger II Optic Fiber Optic Fiber II	Standard DD     100 JP Valoredge Head Sharpshot Frame Inhibitor Inhibitor II Attuner Magniplug Magniplug II Barrage Turbine Truesights Turbo Charger Turbo Charger II Optic Fiber Optic Fiber II Coiler II	Standard DD     1200 JP Valoredge Head Sharpshot Frame Inhibitor Inhibitor II Attuner Magniplug Magniplug II Speedloader II Truesights Turbo Charger Turbo Charger II Optic Fiber Optic Fiber II Coiler II
		Replace either Coiler II or Magniplug with Auto-Rep. Kit IV and/or Armor Plate IV if your Automaton is in any danger of taking damage. If you are going for continuous long multi-step skillchains between you and your automaton, Speedloader will bring more damage than Magniplug. Note: If you are in any alliance, or heavy weaponskill spam situation with other players, remove all Inhibitors and Speedloaders from your Automaton since your Automaton will hold back on using TP. Instead equip Barrage Turbine, Heat Capacitor, & Heat Capacitor II

Attachment Setup Description: Turns out that doing a full blown, triple wind-maneuver, range style automaton is now possible. The recent buffs (Barrage Turbine no longer consumes wind maneuvers) and additions to attachments have spurned this new play style, and it's actually quite effective. With three wind maneuvers and these attachments, your Automaton will fire off ranged attacks/barrage/double shots constantly and top it off with very strong weapon skills, particularly thanks to Truesights. When deployed, due to the Sharpshot Head, your Automaton will remain stationary and fire his crossbow -- this is fine, since ranged attacks will be so frequent with triple wind maneuver. You could even consider using Animator P II +1 to ensure your Automaton stays at range. The reason for double fire maneuvers for Overdrive is to force out Arcuballista which hits incredibly hard under Overdrive. Note: This involves frequent use of Wind maneuvers, so Overload is a real risk. Liberal use of Cooldown, and have a solid Overload reduction armor set will help.		Common Maneuvers: Overdrive Maneuvers:
Ranger     0 JP Sharpshot Head Sharpshot Frame Inhibitor Inhibitor II Magniplug Dynamo Attuner Truesights Barrage Turbine Repeater Drum Magazine Dynamo III Optic Fiber Optic Fiber II	Ranger     100 JP Sharpshot Head Sharpshot Frame Inhibitor Inhibitor II Magniplug Magniplug II Attuner Truesights Barrage Turbine Repeater Drum Magazine Scope II Optic Fiber Optic Fiber II	Ranger     1200 JP Sharpshot Head Sharpshot Frame Inhibitor Inhibitor II Magniplug Magniplug II Attuner Truesights Barrage Turbine Repeater Drum Magazine Scope IV Optic Fiber Optic Fiber II
		Speedloader II or Heat Capacitor II instead of Scope IV if you are using this set for Overdrive, or provided Ranged Accuracy is not an issue outside of Overdrive. Replace Magniplug with Auto-Rep. Kit IV if your Automaton is in any danger of taking damage.

Attachment Setup Description: The Undead slayer. This setup is all about abusing the undead destroying properties of Bone Crusher. Don't use Thunder maneuvers as this will cause your Automaton to prioritize String Shredder instead. Shijin Spiral > Bone Crusher > Victory Smite is your Double Light undead crusher.		Common Maneuvers:
Bone Slayer     0 JP Valoredge Head Valoredge Frame Turbo Charger Turbo Charger II Coiler Coiler II Hammermill Magniplug II Inhibitor Inhibitor II Attuner Optic Fiber II Optic Fiber Auto-Repair Kit	Bone Slayer     100 JP Valoredge Head Valoredge Frame Turbo Charger Turbo Charger II Speedloader Coiler II Magniplug II Magniplug Inhibitor Inhibitor II Attuner Optic Fiber II Optic Fiber Coiler	Bone Slayer     1200 JP Valoredge Head Valoredge Frame Turbo Charger Turbo Charger II Speedloader Coiler II Magniplug II Magniplug Inhibitor Inhibitor II Attuner Optic Fiber II Optic Fiber Speedloader II
	This is one of the few attachment setups which doesn't really need 1200+ JP to perform.	Replace either Coiler or Magniplug with Auto-Rep. Kit IV and/or Armor Plate IV if your Automaton is in any danger of taking damage.

Casters

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Though much less used than their tanking and damage dealing counterparts, these setups may find uses in some niche setups. Try to not forget about them!
Also remember, for Casting frames, MP is almost never an issue -- Use the D.A.D. Technique and restore them back to full MP whenever they dip low!

Attachment Setup Description: Your very own pocket healer. Can heal Apex Parties reliably with steady incoming single-target damage, but when it comes to anything serious with heavy area of effect damage, it can fall short. Used to be commonly used by most PUP's until the introduction of Trust Magic, so your mileage may vary. With both Damage Gauge attachments, your automaton's Cure spellcast timers are significantly reduced, so remember that whenever you need healing a.s.a.p.		Common Maneuvers: (for intense healing spots) (to coax out -na spells on party members)
White Mage     0 JP Soulsoother Head Stormwaker Frame Mana Booster Tact. Processor Mana Tank III Power Cooler Vivi-valve II Damage Gauge Damage Gauge II Optic Fiber Heatsink Resister II Resister Scanner	White Mage     100 JP Soulsoother Head Stormwaker Frame Mana Booster Tact. Processor Mana Conserver Mana Tank IV Vivi-Valve Damage Gauge Damage Gauge II Optic Fiber Optic Fiber II Resister II Resister Scanner	White Mage     1200 JP Soulsoother Head Stormwaker Frame Mana Booster Tact. Processor Mana Tank II Mana Tank IV Vivi-valve II Damage Gauge Damage Gauge II Optic Fiber Optic Fiber II Resister II Resister Scanner

Attachment Setup Description: The beauty of this setup is when you can use it in an area where Trust Magic is not permitted (Salvage/Nyzul/Assaults). Does a little bit of everything, (Nuke/Enfeeble/Cure) as every red mage should. Notably, gives you a much welcomed Haste II!		Common Maneuvers:
Red Mage     0 JP Stormwaker Head Stormwaker Frame Mana Booster Tact. Processor Tranquilizer IV Resister Stealth Screen II Mana Jammer II Optic Fiber Optic Fiber II Mana Conserver Economizer Mana Tank Disruptor	Red Mage     100 JP Stormwaker Head Stormwaker Frame Mana Booster Tact. Processor Tranquilizer IV Loudspeaker II Mana Jammer IV Damage Gauge II Optic Fiber Optic Fiber II Mana Conserver Economizer Mana Tank III Disruptor	Red Mage     1200 JP Stormwaker Head Stormwaker Frame Mana Booster Tact. Processor Tranquilizer IV Loudspeaker IV Vivi-valve II Damage Gauge Optic Fiber Optic Fiber II Mana Conserver Economizer Mana Tank IV Regulator

Attachment Setup Description: Magic Bursting setup, with a high chance for Overloading due to all the Ice Maneuvers required. When the stars align, can deal some respectable burst damage, but generally is more a "for fun" thing for you to tinker with. On anything really serious, the Automaton has serious M.Acc issues making this build dead in the water. You need to perform the D.A.D. technique whenever it dips even a little low on its MP pool, otherwise it will use up one of its casts trying to use Aspir.		Common Maneuvers: or
Black Mage     0 JP Spiritreaver Head Stormwaker Frame Arcanoclutch Ice Maker Amplifier Amplifier II Mana Channeler Mana Channeler II Heatsink Mana Tank III Mana Tank Mana Conserver Optic Fiber Optic Fiber II	Black Mage     100 JP Spiritreaver Head Stormwaker Frame Loudspeaker II Ice Maker Amplifier Amplifier II Arcanoclutch Optic Fiber Optic Fiber II Arcanic Cell II Heatsink Mana Tank II Mana Tank IV Mana Conserver	Black Mage     1200 JP Spiritreaver Head Stormwaker Frame Loudspeaker IV Ice Maker Amplifier Amplifier II Arcanoclutch Optic Fiber Optic Fiber II Arcanic Cell Arcanic Cell II Mana Tank III Mana Tank IV Mana Conserver
Not recommended until you have 1200+ JP View Attachment suggestions to the right for alternate setups.	Not recommended until you have 1200+ JP View Attachment suggestions to the right for alternate setups.	Take off both Amplifier if you are not Magic Bursting, and instead put on Arcanoclutch II & Loudspeaker III for maximum freecast damage. Note: Amplifiers provide a large amount of Fast Cast for the Automaton regardless of whether it is trying to Magic Burst or not, so removing them will have a noticeable impact on your Automaton's cast speed. Ice Maker makes up a significant portion of your damage, even with just 1 Ice Maneuver consumed. While it's annoying to maintain, it's unfortunately necessary. If you are getting partial resists, definitely switch Loudspeaker to Tranquilizers. Could also consider using Auto-repair kits attachments if you don't want to babysit your Automaton's HP. Heatsink and Condenser if you want to avoid Overloading. Economizer if you want to rely less on Deactivate to refill your automaton's MP

Overdrive Attachment Sets

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Attachment Setup Description: This is the attachment set that allows PUP to get away with soloing monsters they have no business soloing. There are quite a large number of NM's that PUP can kill by simply spawning the NM, deploying their automaton with Overdrive, and standing far away while watching their puppet kill it. While Overdrive is activated with these attachment sets, your Automaton becomes a highly durable self-skill-chaining fiend. With Fire/Thunder/Light maneuvers, your Automaton will perform a 4-step self-skillchain over and over -- starting with Daze into Arcuballista (Liquefaction), followed by Armor Shatterer (Fusion) and ending with Armor Piercer (Gravitation) before it starts the chain over. Auto-Repair Kit IV with a Light Maneuver under Overdrive gives so much regen that it's hard for anything to really kill your Automaton.		Overdrive Maneuvers:
Overdrive     0 JP Valoredge Head Sharpshot Frame Auto-Rep. Kit III Optic Fiber Coiler II Coiler Turbo Charger II Truesights Attuner Inhibitor Inhibitor II Magniplug	Overdrive     100 JP Valoredge Head Sharpshot Frame Auto-Rep. Kit III Optic Fiber Optic Fiber II Coiler II Inhibitor Inhibitor II Attuner Magniplug II Speedloader Turbo Charger II	Overdrive     1200 JP Valoredge Head Sharpshot Frame Auto-Rep. Kit IV Optic Fiber Optic Fiber II Coiler II Inhibitor Inhibitor II Attuner Magniplug II Speedloader II Turbo Charger II
Not nearly as impressive until you have 1200+ JP View comments on Flex slots to the right and fit what you can.	Not nearly as impressive until you have 1200+ JP View comments on Flex slots to the right and fit what you can. Since you have no more room for Fire, Coiler becomes an option that you don't consider at 1200+ JP.	The last 2 slots are flex slots, attachments you should swap based on the target you are Overdriving. Common options include: Magniplug for additional raw damage. (note: since you aren't using Wind Maneuvers during OD, Magniplug brings more damage than Truesights) Truesights for additional raw damage. Target Marker against anything highly evasive (ex: Vir'ava) Armor Plate IV if your Automaton is also tanking during OD, and you fear your Automaton might die to physical damage burst. Situational attachments such as Galvanizer, or Steam Jacket, Mana Jammer IV, etc...

Automaton Skillups

One of the disadvantages for Puppetmaster, in comparison to the other pet-oriented jobs, is that Automatons have their own sets of Combat Skills that they need to level up. Fortunately, there are only 3 combat skills, Melee, Range, and Magic (Square-Enix could have been really rude, and even divided up the Automaton Melee/Magic types to Slashing/Blunt/Healing/Enfeebling/Elemental…but I digress).

To make this doubly tedious, there are no skill-up books for Automatons. So really there is no shortcut for skilling up your Automaton, and it’s incredibly important that you cap out your Automatons skills too, so don’t skip it!

Fortunately, there are some tips to make the climb to the cap more tolerable that I can share.

Firstly, always use a Percolator, along with some Water Maneuvers, when Skilling up. (and both Optic Fibers of course!)

Skill-ups

Percolator Optic Fiber II Optic Fiber

• Melee Skill: The easiest, and most likely first skill to cap. All your frames perform Melee attacks when deployed in range, so you can probably focus on skilling up the other two skills first, and this one will just naturally hit the cap. Attachments to use for skilling this up include Coiler I & II, Turbo Charger I & II and Stabilizer (all tiers).

• Range Skill: Only Sharpshot frames range attacks skill this up. Use any Attachments to shorten the delay on Range Attacks. Attachments to use for this include Barrage Turbine, Drum Magazine, Repeater, Turbo Charger I & II, Scope (all tiers). If your Melee skill is capped, consider deploying your Sharpshot automaton from range so that he only uses Range attacks on the target, killing it more slowly.

• Magic Skill: Any successful spells cast by the Automaton skill this up. Attachments worth using are Tact. Processor, Mana Booster, Power Cooler, Tranquilizer (all tiers), along with Mana Tank (all tiers) Mana Conserver, and Economizer.
  

Deploying your Automaton on Lair Reives, and standing outside of aggro range seems to be the ideal method of skilling up these days. Your automaton will slowly shittle down the Lair Reive, and won't aggro any of the monsters in the process. Another option for skilling up is Deploying your Automaton on Bight Uragnite enemies found on the beach in Yahse Hunting Grounds. The Uragnites tend to enter their shell, increasing their defense and regenerating HP, which leads to easy skill-ups. Though eventually your Automaton will get strong enough to out-damage the regen effect.

PUP Specific External Resources

Guides or Data Compilations

• Optic Fiber Spreadsheet -- Full credit goes to Alzula (Asura) (u/dfoley323) who compiled this data. Values for Attachments with calculations for Optic Fiber I & II and how many maneuvers are required to reach thresholds.

• Toy Theater: An Automaton Attachments Guide -- Another Attachment setup list compiled by Laruni (Ragnarok) which can be used in conjunction with my own, to give you even more options!

• So you wanna tank on PUP? -- An in-depth guide by Trulusia (Quetzalcoatl) and discussion on enmity, and tanking setups with the Automaton among other things.

Windower Addons
AutoControl -- http://docs.windower.net/addons/autocontrol/ Lets you save and load Head/Frame/Attachment setups. Incredibly Useful, I don’t know how I would live without it. Also comes with a Burden tracker for checking if you are about to Overload or not (which eventually isn’t needed after you’ve played the job enough).

PetTP -- http://docs.windower.net/addons/pettp/ Self-explanatory. Shows you your automatons current TP in the UI!

Ashita Addons
PupAtt -- https://github.com/Tornac83/Pupatt This Ashita addon is a no-frills addon that saves, loads and equips combinations of automation attachments.

Pupper -- https://github.com/towbes/ffxi/tree/master/pupper This Ashita addon will spam the 3 maneuvers you specify, as well as Repair, as cool down timers allow.

Authors & Contributors

• Fabiano (Asura) -- Original Writer and caretaker.
• Xilkk (Quetzalcoatl) -- Beta reader, additional information.
• Dasva (Shiva) -- Beta reader, additional information.
• Capuchin (Phoenix) -- Beta reader, additional information.
• Spicyryan (Asura) -- Formatting and wiki assistance
• Aerix (Shiva) -- Tons of research, testing, and knowledge sharing in the ffxiah thread.

I want to give a special thanks to the Puppetmasters I’ve run into along the way. Norael and Teuphist from Asura being my closest inspirations and mentors, who showed me the strength of Kenkonken first hand and pushed me to attain my own. Also want to thank Snowpea for being my partner in adventure, and being a guinea pig and dealing with all my weird puppetmaster testing antics in various fights.

I also want to give a special shout-out to all the other veteran Puppetmasters, who probably don’t even know who I am (since I am such a lurker on ffxiah.com), but who have shared their knowledge and experiences on either message boards or scattered throughout youtube -- Ruaumoko, Capuchin, Dustinfoley, Trulusia, Austar, Nariont, clearlyamule, Xilkk, Nezha, Nyheen, Psylo, and many others.

Seriously, Puppetmaster is a crazy complex job, and I couldn’t have written this guide without the shared knowledge from all the other players, so here’s to hoping we can learn how to push the limits of our little automatons even further.

~Bye bye, for now!