Monster TP gain

A lot of the difficulty of fights comes not from monster auto-attack, but from their TP gain and subsequent TP moves. Controlling monster TP gain is a noble goal, and doing it properly will make many fights dramatically easier.

Though they can also gain TP by hitting players, Monsters primarily gain TP by taking damage. Physical damage gives them TP relative to the delay of the weapon being used, after delay reduction, while magic damage gives a static 100 TP per spell that lands for damage. There are several ways to reduce the amount of TP fed, namely dAGI, Subtle Blow, and TP Inhibiting Job Abilities. There are also several TP-free sources of damage, such as Blood Pact: Rage, Quick Draw, any kind of Jump, Counter, and any form of magic that does not directly do damage (like Poison II).

TP gained from Physical Damage

The TP gain formula for monsters are based on the weapon delay of the attacking player as follows:

Delay → Base TP Calculations
Modified Delay	TP gained
<180	80+((Delay-180)×15)÷180
180~450	80+((Delay-180)×65)÷270
450~480	145+((Delay-450)×15)÷30
480~530	160+((Delay-480)×15)÷30
>530	175+((Delay-530)×35)÷470

It is very important for players to understand what this equation means for melee. Because there is a static amount of TP added to the function of the weapon's base TP, low delay weapons receive a much larger percentage increase in TP fed due to the base delay than high delay weapons, as can be seen in the graph to the right.

This is why low delay weapon users are typically given Subtle Blow and other tools to mitigate their own TP fed, and it is also why one shouldn't assume that a Ninja with 100 delay Katanas (after 50% Dual Wield) and 50 Subtle Blow is feeding less TP/sec than a Warrior with a 482 delay weapon.

Weapon Skills also give TP, using the same formula as above and ignoring additional hits. When dual wielding or H2H, the first 2 hits give TP to the monster.

Example:Monk uses Raging Fists and hits 5 times, Monk gets standard TP for 2 attacks + 10×3 TP back, but the monster gains TP for receiving 2 attacks only.

Physical Blue Magic will use the formula for TP gained from Magical Damage, described below.

TP gained from Magical Damage

Base Monster magical damage TP gained = 100 TP. This is affected by Subtle Blow, Subtle Blow II, dAGI, and Inhibit TP.

Very simple formula, with a few qualifications:

• Blue Magic gives the enemy 100 TP per non-0 "hit" of the spell that lands.
  • Disseverment grants 500TP if all connect, for instance.
• Spells must do non-0 damage in order to feed TP.
  • Casting Dia for 0 damage will not give any TP, for instance.

TP gain Reduction

Monster TP gained per hit = floor( Base Monster TP × Inhibit TP' × dAGI × (1 - Subtle Blow÷100), .1)

Note: There may actually be multiple flooring steps.

In addition to reducing the TP given to the monster by selecting damage sources wisely, it is possible to reduce TP fed using Agility, Subtle Blow, and Job Abilities/Spells that gives Inhibit TP.

dAGI

dAGI = Player AGI - Monster AGI

TP Modifier =	1.0 - TRUNC ( (dAGI + 30) ÷ 2 ) ÷ 100
	Example:	Player has AGI of 150 and attacks an opponent with AGI 100 using a 450 Delay Great Katana (145 Monster TP base)
	dAGI=50,	TP Modifier= ( ( 50 + 30 ) ÷ 2 ) ÷ 100 = 0.40
	Monster TP Gained per attack =	( 1.0 - 0.4 ) * 145 = 87

This term multiplies base monster TP. It caps at a maximum of 50% reduction when the player's AGI exceeds the monster's stat by 70. There is a minimum 0% reduction when the player's AGI is below the monster's stat by 30.

dAGI results in a 1% TP reduction for every 2 AGI, where -30 <= dAGI <= 70, except when dAGI is -1 to 1 there are 3 AGI values resulting in -15% reduction.

This dAGI modifier is only used when a player deals damage to a monster. i.e. A player can increase their AGI to reduce TP the monster receives per attack, but cannot reduce their AGI to receive more TP when hit by monsters.

Subtle Blow

TP Modifier = 1 - Subtle Blow÷100 - Subtle Blow II÷100

The Subtle Blow term caps at a maximum of 50% reduction and multiplies base monster TP, while Subtle Blow II can contribute at least another 25% reduction. Because of the high trait level and possibility of merits, many jobs that get Subtle Blow traits (Monk, Ninja, Dancer) cap it accidentally. For those that don't, there are plentiful equipment options, and some spells like Auspice or job abilities like Conspirator to help cap it.

Inhibit TP

TP Modifier = 1 - Inhibit TP÷100

There are only two sources of "Inhibit TP" known in the game right now. One is Penance, which gives Chi Blast a 30 Inhibit TP effect, and the other is Yurin: Ichi, which gives the monster 10 Inhibit TP as long as it is active. It is unknown whether these sources stack.

Monster Regain/Instant TP/Save TP

The final, and unfortunately uncontrollable, sources of TP are Regain, instant TP following an event, or Save TP.

Regain

Many difficult monsters have an innate Regain, perhaps as high as 200TP/tick. It is often overestimated how many monster have Regain due to normal Monster TP Use Mechanics, but some certainly do have it. This is not to be confused with Store TP, which many monsters also have a great deal of.

Instant TP

Some monsters will instantly gain TP and use a TP move if certain conditions are met, like having the element of the day cast on them (Puks), or being dealt a specific element's damage (Apademak), or being hit at the wrong time (Yaguarogui). There are often strategic ways to avoid this instant TP feed, but this can be a very dangerous mechanism if dealt with inappropriately.

Save TP

Though only recently introduced to players, many notorious monsters have had Save TP for quite a while. In the case of monsters, they often have 100 (or very high) Save TP. This causes back-to-back TP moves, like Despot's Panzerfaust or Faust's Typhoon spam. Some monsters only have Save TP following a particular TP move, like Amarok's Howl move.

References

• TP fed by extra hits (Aurik, BG)
• dAGI testing (Rena, BG)
• Yurin: Ichi testing (fallenleaf, BG)
• Further dAGI testing (Dasva, BG)
• dAGI scaling (Gomadara, JP Tweet) (Note: his monster AGI calculation was off by 1 stat rank, adjust by 5 AGI)