THA:CSMNG-Equipment-New

Equipsets

As you should have noticed by now, I have set up this guide with the needs and advice geared towards the new or returning player. And my gearing suggestions will follow that idea. Many guides will tell you what is the absolute best gear available in the game... which isn't really helpful to you unless you have powerful friends and/or deep pockets. Which the vast majority of people just don't have. And if you do have such resources available, you likely aren't needing a guide in the first place as you are either a veteran to the job in question, or learned enough to be able to recognize what the best gear there is.
That being said.
The jump from my recommendations to what is the "absolute best" is generally just a +1 variant, and I will be making note of other gear available that is equivalent or even better than what I suggest.

Remember my mantra: Think for yourself.
Remember that this is only a guide meant to suggest things to you, not the words of a living god meant to be followed to the letter.

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So first things first. You just pinged 99 and now what is it that you should be wearing?

Explanation

Ok. So, let's get this out in the open. The iLv.117 Sparks Armor is terribad. Especially for Summoner. But even just in general. Their stats are laughably low for gear that is supposed to be "almost 119"... With many RF1~3 pieces eclipsing them in value based in stat and/or augment in just their iLv.109 form... Not to mention that Vesca sells actual iLv.117 armor for Bayld... But what about "muh set bonus"? Well that too is generally terrible. Loosing relevant stats and ability augments just to have a miniscule gain from being forced to 5/5 the set... literally the only people who care about the fact that this terribad gear is "117", are Trusts. Take care, mind you, this only applies to the armors. The weapons are actually legitimately good and worthwhile. And there is no shame in using them when you just start out as a fresh 99. In fact, let's look at that, shall we? Idle Set   Refresh: 4/tic resting; 3/tic w/Avatar Skill: +81 (514Total) Perp: -15 (-14cap) Accuracy: +40 Haste: +7% BP Delay Set   Skill: +84 (517Total)⇒ -5sFavor BPdelayI: -17s (-15scap) BPdelayII: -4s Total: -24s Physical BP Set   Skill: +81 ⇒ ⨤73 Acc Accuracy: +40 Total: ⨤113 Attack: +10 BPdmg: +22% Hybrid BP Set   Skill: +49 ⇒ ⨤44 Acc Accuracy: +40 Total: ⨤84 Attack: +10 MAB: +141 BPdmg: +22% Magical BP Set   Skill: +64 ⇒ ⨤58 Macc Magic Accuracy: +10 Total: ⨤68 MAB: +140 (141Ifrit) BPdmg: +22% Enfeeble BP Set   Skill: +96 ⇒ ⨤86 Macc Magic Accuracy: +27 Total: ⨤113 At first... I had started to delineate sets that one would use if they were just returning from the 99era... And as most sets were nearly identical consisting of mostly of the Empyrean +2 set; with much of the only variance coming from the various AH accessories... I decided that was dumb of me. So I've skipped that "step" and decided to just dive on in to the "beginner with a little bit of effort" sets as shown above. As you can see, they mostly consist of 109 RF pieces. Cheap. Quick. And most of all, effective. Many, if not most, of these pieces you will likely always be using, as our RF is the primary source of Summoning Magic Skill. This is the "fastest to useability" state for gear, with that in mind, I limited choices to only what could be bought off the AH with minor investment, what can be quested, and 109 RF pieces. Essentially anything Content Level 115 and below. A good alternative to Convoker's Pigaches would be the Inyanga Crackows +1 from Ambuscade. They're better than Convoker's Pigaches +1, but you'll want the Convoker's as they will wind up being the best option you have in their fully upgraded form. And even though the content Inyanga comes from is technically >115, it is overall relatively fairly easy, so I think it should be ok to mention it here. Especially as it is relatively quickly outdated. And when you hit 50 Job Points, should you not have a better staff already, go out and buy yourself an Arasy Staff/+1 to use in your physical Blood Pact set.