Mags in Ultimate mode

jaredchansen

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So I have a question about the end(ish)-game. When in Ultimate mode, do you think it's better to have a mag that is balanced (with some DEF & DEX), or just keep one stat maxed out?
 
without going heavy into detail, as i am about to leave the house, DEF is generally disregarded in mag builds. the "standard" mag build (for non-Force characters) is 5/145/50/0, as it gives the best catch-all balance of power and dex while also catering to stat requirements for making rare mags. the remaining requirements to maximize character stats is made up by the use of materials and frame units.

someone with more eloquence in regards to game mechanics can probably tell you why DEF is ignored.
 
Depends on character such as on mu hucast i get more dex as opposed to humar who gets more naturally.
It also depends on your materials etc to max character.
 
DEF is trash. You don't need DEF on the mag at all.

DEX is stat you should always look into maxing 1st to your character as you have no ''hit mats'' in PSOBB nor any endgame units that give ATA. (By that I mean significantly, as stuff like v101 which you should be using gives 1.5ATA) - (yes you can use arms/adepts for decent ATA but your goal is to use as few units as possible thus those units are for lvling, not maxing (in most cases)).

Next it would depend on your class, as to whether you want power or mind or some of both as these are your main stats for damage, being Tech or melee.

Defense on a mag is unneeded; if you have spare materials after prioritising other stats in your plan and want to try to max / raise some DEF then materials can be used then.

Generally 95% of Mags have 5 DEF.

If you want an idea of materials to use and what mag to make there is this Matt plan guide

Matt plan guide was meant to have two t's ;)
 
For the why it sucks part of it, 4 defense causes you to take 1 less damage. Which sounds pretty okay.

But then all the strong attacks in this game do set damage. And if you've got high defense, you've got a higher chance of not getting knocked down, meaning it's easier to get combo killed or locked in place.

On top of that, if you've got room to max defense, you might as well have your mag be dex/pow/mind, since those stats will help you out more earlier on, and picking up defense mats is dirt cheap.
 
Def is also avoided on mags because one level of it is equal to 1 point of the stat when compared to mats if you have to use em vs pow and mind which give 2 per level like mats.

So to get the most bang for your buck you don't want def levels in general.
 
For starter mags, and for the case of Hunters and Rangers, generally you want to use a mag with high POW and some DEX; at least 145~150 POW or even up to 170 or so, and the rest in DEX. For Forces, you'll want to start off with a mag with full MIND, although in order to keep DEF low, usually you'll be forced to put some (14~17 or so) levels in DEX as well. Eventually Force classes can also use a POW/DEX mag to use melee/ranged weapon or even hybrid setups with a POW/DEX/MIND mag, but only when the Force have enough levels. It's up to you if you want to get rare mags (4th evolution); they have better mag triggers, but the stat spread is slightly less optimal as they prevent any mag stat to go above 150 (145 in certain cases).

Please note that this is for starter mags, which you'll use until your level is very high, at which point you should transit into dedicated mags which max your stats.

Let me explain why high POW and medium DEX mag builds are the best or Hunters and Rangers. Those classes attack off their ATP stats and use their ATA stat to determine whether you'll hit. For them, MIND is not as useful (it can be useful for RAmarl and HUnewearl to equip Clio but that's very late game) and completely useless if you're playing android classes. As for why there are more emphasis on POW, it's because DEX growth via mag stat is rather inefficient, as each level only adds 0.5 ATA while POW adds 2 ATP. Meanwhile, Heavenly/Arms adds 25 ATA and Heavenly/Power adds 55 Power, which are effectively 50 and 27.5 mag levels respectively. By using Heavenly/Arms (or multiple God/Arm early on), you can buff up your stats quickly at comparatively low levels.

For Forces, early on they don't have enough stats to support both teching and meleeing, and throughout Normal to early Ultimate they're probably better off focusing on teching alone for damage. Due to this reason, the only stat beneficial to them early on is MST (MIND levels on mag).
 
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It's also worth noting that DFP caps across all characters are generally far lower than their ATP/MST caps so compensating through Def materials is much easier than the other way around. Your armor and shield will do far more to increase your DFP than your base stat will. My 140 HUcast's base DFP is all of only 60 points better than my 133 FOmarl but with BHC (+300 DFP) and Gratia (+147 DFP) in hand, I'm sitting at 848 DFP. Modified by Deband 30 and supported by Jellen 30, and I'm in great shape.

Early Ultimate's always a bit tough because you're still building HP and levels to use armor that will provide a substantial increase in defense over the standard junk you used throughout N-VH. By about 120-130, things get much more comfortable for this reason.
 
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