Well, after doing a few more tests and getting a better chance to play around with more attachments/maneuvers I figured I’d post a few of my personal conclusions about some of them. The thread Ono posted has some nice technical information on the attachments if you’re looking for hard numbers, these are just some of my opinions on them. =P
There are currently 24 attachments, 3 for each element. 2 of each element are available at an NPC in Nashmau (Yoyoroon @ G-6), while the other must be crafted by an alchemist who also has the proper key item (Inohibbidydoo or somethingsomething).
You can have any combination of 3 maneuvers on at once, including 3 of the same element. Be warned though, repeated use of the same elemental maneuver can cause overload, although past level 45 I think I’ve only overloaded once and it’s rumored CHR reduces the chance of overloading. Overload causes any currently active maneuvers to be wiped and prevents the use of any other maneuvers for a few moments, more of a minor inconvenience than anything else really.
Each attachment has its own assigned amount of “elemental points†and each body/head can only hold a specific amount of said points that varies depending on its specialization. For example, Rng body has more available points for wind and thunder attachments while mage frame has more points for dark and water since specific elements’ attachments are more useful for certain frames than others.
Harlequin Head- 1 fire, 1 wind, 1 thunder, 0 light, 1 ice, 1 earth, 1 water, 0 dark
Harlequin Body- 2 fire, 2 wind, 2 thunder, 2 light, 2 ice, 2 earth, 2 water, 2 dark
Valoredge Head- 2 fire, 1 wind, 1 thunder, 1 light, 0 ice, 2 earth, 0 water, 0 dark
Valoredge Body- 3 fire, 2 wind, 2 thunder, 2 light, 1 ice, 3 earth, 2 water, 1 dark
Sharpshot Head- 2 fire, 2 wind, 1 thunder, 1 light, 0 ice, 0 earth, 1 water, 0 dark
Sharpshot Body- 2 fire, 3 wind, 3 thunder, 2 light, 1 ice, 2 earth, 2 water, 1 dark
Stormwalker Head- 0 fire, 1 wind, 0 thunder, 0 light, 2 ice, 1 earth, 2 water, 1 dark
Stormwalker Body- 1 fire, 1 wind, 2 thunder, 2 light, 3 ice, 2 earth, 2 water, 3 dark
Each maneuver you have on also increases a stat on your maton by +1 according to its element, and this does stack. For instance, fire maneuver gives you +STR, so 1 fire = +1 STR, 2 fire = +2 STR, 3 fire = +3 STR. Ice maneuver offers +INT, wind maneuver offers +AGI, earth maneuver offers +VIT, thunder maneuver offers +DEX, water maneuver offers +MND, while light maneuver offers +CHR. Only exception is dark maneuver which doesn’t offer + to any stat, although simply equipping mana tank does increase your maton’s max MP.
The maneuver combo I use for my Rng frame at the present, and will most likely use all the way up until 75 (It might change in burn parties) is light + wind + fire maneuvers.
Light maneuver I always keep flash attached to for my Nin tank, wind I use primarily for the Rngd ACC, fire for the ATT. In burns I may end up changing it to light + fire + fire for more ATT when ACC is less of an issue.
Elemental Category:
Attachment Name (Point Cost)- Ingame description
Personal notes.
Fire Attachments:
Strobe (1)- Increases enmity. Occasionally uses “Provokeâ€
At lower levels for solo this one can be quite nice if you’re using the Valoredge body, especially in conjunction with the auto-regen and stoneskin/DEF+ attachments. He can make quite the decent little meat shield at first, though as levels go on your maton won’t be able to take damage like he used to. Personally though, I didn’t use it much because I PLed myself using a second comp so I didn’t want hate on the maton, but rather on the PL while my maton and I focused on making things die as fast as possible. The PL could cure me, but it couldn’t cure poor Quirk so I just preferred him getting not getting hit at all.
Tension Spring (2)- Enhances attack.
Not entirely sure exactly how much ATT this adds, but it’s multiplied by every active fire maneuver you have on. I generally always keep this one on, simply because there’s really not a wealth of better ones out there and I want to maximize Quirk’s damage potential. Doesn’t seem to make an enormous difference, but any ATT+ is better than none at all.
Inhibitor (1)- Store TP. Improves TP usage efficiency.
This one here is a double-edged sword. It’s +5 Store TP for every active fire maneuver which I suppose adds up, but it’s really not an entirely huge difference and I only keep a single fire maneuver active anyway. The downside to this attachment is the “improves TP usage efficiency†simply means that he’ll keep his TP until someone in your PT uses a WS then he’ll fire his off in an attempt to make a SC. This can be avoided if the SC partners announce a few moments in advance allowing you ample time to recall your maton before he interrupts the SC, but it’s not really worth it and just makes extra hassle. Pretty much I’d rather just have him fire off when he hits 100% anyway, since he’s not a SC partner per se and you only need TP as fast as your SC buddy anyway. During solo levels though, this could serve a nice purpose though since it’s only you and your maton to worry about WSing and you could SC with him more reliably if you wanted to.
Ice Attachments:
Mana Booster (2)- Increases frequency of spell use.
During my stint at using mage frame more regularly in xp I tried this attachment out; didn’t seem to make much of a difference at all. Most all of his spells appear to be on cooldown, but I didn’t bother trying to time it because quite frankly, it doesn’t matter. With or without this he doesn’t fire off spells nearly fast enough for my liking, the best way to force him to cast is to deactivate->activate->deploy and he’ll always come out casting. That takes away from times when you the Pup could be doing something more worthwhile though, like putting on a less crappy maneuver, or punching something.
Loudspeaker (2)- Enhances magic attack.
While I didn’t bother to find out the exact number of MAB this offers, it’s definitely a decent enough chunk, not to mention using this maneuver also adds +1 INT per so that’s also more damage for his spells. If you’re gonna use mage frame, this would be a solid choice for a maneuver.
Scanner (1)- Occasionally scans target’s magic resistances.
To be perfectly honest, I have yet to ever use this attachment and doubt I ever will. A) I don’t use mage, B) It lowers the debuffing/enfeebling HP threshold which is bad imo, you want it RAISED (which is not possible as of yet as far as I know, no attachments can do this. /hope). At lower levels I could see this being handy, having your maton toss out things like para/poison/dia/etc could be nice for solo since you have no debuffer, but once you begin to party you’re generally always gonna have a dedicated mage who’s able to toss out those same nukes more reliably and most likely more effectively. If there was an attachment to raise the amount of HP in which your maton ceases debuffing/enfeebling and begins to nuke that would be godly, but once you start to party there’s no reason you’d want to lower it.
Wind Attachments:
Accelerator (2)- Enhances evasion.
Useful at lower levels if you’re gonna be having your maton tank for you, or for higher levels if you’re soloing/farming as Pup (Around level 48ish I was killing stuff in Bubu just for kicks and Quirk was evading literally about 9 out or 10 swings if not more). No real use if you’re in a party, your maton won’t take hate often and if he does ITs aren’t gonna miss him that often anyway.
Scope (2)- Enhances ranged accuracy.
This one I pretty much always keep on my Rng frame, not sure of the hard number of Rng’d ACC it offers but it’s probably along the lines of 10 or so and you definitely notice a difference, mainly in his amount of missed WSs.
Pattern Reader (1)- Analyzes enemy attack pattern and gradually enhances evasion.
Not... entirely... sure what this one does, my best guess is that every few swings or so it’ll up the amount of +EVA it offers by a point. Hard to measure something like this really, but this is pretty much like the Accelerator, use it for low levels or farming TWs.
Earth Attachments:
Shock Absorber (1)- Uses “Stoneskinâ€
Just as it says, makes him cast a pretty much instant stoneskin that’s on a 3 minute cooldown timer I believe. I never used it much, and it’s pretty much worthless once you start to party (Unless you’re fighting something with AoE and feel like wasting a maneuver on this, but you’d be better off using DD maneuvers and you should have regen oils on you anyway) , but great for low levels if you’re having your maton tank though.
Armor Plate (2)- Enhances defense.
Don’t know the exact amount of +DEF it gives, but at solo levels you may as well use it if you’re having your maton tank. Less damage he takes = less downtime. No point in using it once you start to party, your maton will rarely be getting hit.
Analyzer (1)- Increases chance of mitigating the effects of special attacks previously used by the enemy.
This is another one I haven’t even bothered to use, I’m assuming it pretty much would work just like Pattern Reader but for TP attacks rather than a mob’s normal melee hits. Not sure if this would cause the moves to miss entirely or just do less damage, something I’ll test if I get around to it I suppose; but either way I don’t see this ever being really useful.
Thunder Attachments:
Stabilizer (2)- Enhances accuracy.
This is good when you want your maton to go for all out DDing. Use it in parties if you’re using Valoredge frame (Obviously you could use it for the other frames too, but there’s better maneuvers you could be using on those ones).
Volt Gun (2)- Adds lightning damage to attacks.
This attachment is a curious one, I’m thinking you only have to have it equipped for it to be able to take effect but having a thunder maneuver activated makes it proc more often perhaps. I almost never use thunder maneuver anymore in parties, but his enthunder still kicks in quite often which is why I’m led to believe you only need it equipped. Easy enough to test if having thunder maneuver activated increases the chance of it proccing though, just let him smack things for a while and see how many times it kicks in. On IT mobs it’s not all that powerful, usually around 4-10 damage, but it absolutely rips TWs apart, was doing anywhere from around 29-35 per swing using a Rng maton on top of melee hits for around 100 damage and ranged shots for 250-300 damage.
Heat Seeker (1)- Analyzes enemy evasion patterns and gradually enhances accuracy.
Guessing this pretty much works like Analyzer and Pattern Reader; although what I’m not sure of is it ACC is gradually enhanced a bit every few swings, or by his misses. Possibly works like a backwards Zanshin in which every time he misses it ups his ACC a little bit, or every time he swings it ups his ACC a little bit. The every time he misses sounds more plausible though.
Water Maneuvers:
Mana Jammer (2)- Enhances magic defense.
Pretty much worthless, your maton will hardly ever be getting hit, let alone by magic spells. Only time he’d be getting cast on it by –gas or if he’s tanking at lower levels, either way it’s not worth wasting a maneuver on this unless you’re already using water maneuver for whatever reason and had some water points left over. You’re better off using something else.
Heatsink (1)- Reduces the rate of “Fire Maneuver†overload.
Pretty much worthless, but if you got extra water points and are using water maneuver may as well toss this one. Only thing is, if you’re using water maneuver you’re most likely using mage in which case using fire maneuvers is pretty pointless. No idea how much it reduces the rate of overload and it doesn’t really matter anyway. As far as I can tell, overloading is so random anyway. I had times when it’d be my first maneuver of the night and he’d overload, or he’d overload even if I hadn’t used that maneuver for a dozen+ battles. Overloading seems pretty rare as you progress too, I haven’t overloaded since 54, and that was the only one since my early 40s.
Stealth Screen (1)- Reduces enmity.
This is a decent one to use if you’re trying to keep hate off your maton, especially if you’re being PLed at lower levels; but still not really worth taking up a maneuver spot for. I used it for a bit for my Rng frame on bats in Gustav because he’d pull hate quite frequently believe it or not. As levels progress though, tanks get more tools to hold hate, and this becomes less worth a maneuver spot.
Light Maneuvers:
Auto-repair Kit (2)- Increases HP. Adds “Regen†effect to Light Maneuver.
Amazing for low levels and solo. Increases his max HP by a bit, not sure how it scales up in levels, but it’s probably on a percentage. Also, adds +1 hp/tick per active light maneuver. Once you can start using “Repair†at 15 this pretty much becomes obsolete, but it’d be good to top him off, mainly while soloing. I’d always keep this on, but since it takes 2 light and there’s a little attachment I’ll get to in a moment that also takes 2 light I can’t really recommend this one more. (No current frame has the 4 light you’d need to have both of these equipped simultaneously)
Flashbulb (2)- Use “Flash.â€
THIS.IS.GOD. I could leave it at that, but let’s talk a little about how amazing this attachment is. This causes your maton to use flash, just like it says; but it is MP-free and gives him little to no hate. He’ll spam it too, it’s on either a 30 or 45 second timer, the exact number slips my mind at the present. Not quite as powerful as the spell itself it seems, but it’s still extremely potent, mainly due to the frequency and surprisingly well done AI with which he’ll use it. When I voke so our Sam can SATA his WS onto our Nin he’ll flash and I take a shitload less damage than I would’ve, when the Nin is recasting his shadows he’ll use it, he opens the fight with it, etc etc. With a Pld tank it might cause a bit of interference occasionally since if they use it simultaneously it will cause his flash to have no effect, but still the sheer amount of damage it will prevent makes it worth it. On a Nin tank is where this shines though, it’s simply amazing. Also I think this could be handy on HNM since a skilled Pup could manipulate their maton to just spam flash as soon as its timer is down.
Damage Gauge (1)- Prioritizes curing.
This raises the HP levels at which he’ll focus on curing. I never really used this much considering I had the PL and didn’t really need my maton to spend his MP on healing, but if you’re solo and using a frame that has MP this in conjunction with the auto-refresh dark attachment is really nice. He’ll not only heal himself but he’ll heal you also, it’s a great way for him to be self-sufficient and be able to keep himself alive.
Dark Maneuvers:
Mana Tank (2)- Increases MP. Adds “Refresh†effect to dark maneuver.
This is a great attachment for lower levels, especially when soloing and in conjunction with the Damage Gauge attachment. I’m assuming the +MP is based on a percentage. The refresh is 1mp/tick per active dark maneuver. As the levels go on though this isn’t really worth wasting a maneuver on considering you can just deactivate>activate and his MP will be back to full again, way more efficient to just do that when he’s getting in the upper hundreds of MP.
Mana Conserver (1)- Conserve MP.
Not entirely sure how powerful this is nor how often it kicks in, but either way it’s kinda worthless. Maybe at lower levels this is useful when soloing or farming with the mage frame, but once you start to party deactivating>activating is a lot easier considering he pops back out with full MP and you can use the spot you would’ve been using for dark for a different maneuver.
Mana Converter (2)- Gradually diminishes HP to restore MP.
Completely worthless, can’t think of any possible time when you’d want to use this. Why you’d want to willfully decrease your maton’s precious HP in exchange for expendable MP is beyond me. If his HP is at 100% you can deactivate>activate him without it resetting its 20 minute recall timer, but if his HP is even 1 less than full it resets the timer and you’ll have to wait up to another 20 minutes to get your maton back. If for whatever reason it somehow manages to run low on MP, just do the, you guessed it, deactivate>activate trick. If its HP isn’t full just pop an automaton oil on him and he should be good as new and ready to deactivate>activate.
There are currently 24 attachments, 3 for each element. 2 of each element are available at an NPC in Nashmau (Yoyoroon @ G-6), while the other must be crafted by an alchemist who also has the proper key item (Inohibbidydoo or somethingsomething).
You can have any combination of 3 maneuvers on at once, including 3 of the same element. Be warned though, repeated use of the same elemental maneuver can cause overload, although past level 45 I think I’ve only overloaded once and it’s rumored CHR reduces the chance of overloading. Overload causes any currently active maneuvers to be wiped and prevents the use of any other maneuvers for a few moments, more of a minor inconvenience than anything else really.
Each attachment has its own assigned amount of “elemental points†and each body/head can only hold a specific amount of said points that varies depending on its specialization. For example, Rng body has more available points for wind and thunder attachments while mage frame has more points for dark and water since specific elements’ attachments are more useful for certain frames than others.
Harlequin Head- 1 fire, 1 wind, 1 thunder, 0 light, 1 ice, 1 earth, 1 water, 0 dark
Harlequin Body- 2 fire, 2 wind, 2 thunder, 2 light, 2 ice, 2 earth, 2 water, 2 dark
Valoredge Head- 2 fire, 1 wind, 1 thunder, 1 light, 0 ice, 2 earth, 0 water, 0 dark
Valoredge Body- 3 fire, 2 wind, 2 thunder, 2 light, 1 ice, 3 earth, 2 water, 1 dark
Sharpshot Head- 2 fire, 2 wind, 1 thunder, 1 light, 0 ice, 0 earth, 1 water, 0 dark
Sharpshot Body- 2 fire, 3 wind, 3 thunder, 2 light, 1 ice, 2 earth, 2 water, 1 dark
Stormwalker Head- 0 fire, 1 wind, 0 thunder, 0 light, 2 ice, 1 earth, 2 water, 1 dark
Stormwalker Body- 1 fire, 1 wind, 2 thunder, 2 light, 3 ice, 2 earth, 2 water, 3 dark
Each maneuver you have on also increases a stat on your maton by +1 according to its element, and this does stack. For instance, fire maneuver gives you +STR, so 1 fire = +1 STR, 2 fire = +2 STR, 3 fire = +3 STR. Ice maneuver offers +INT, wind maneuver offers +AGI, earth maneuver offers +VIT, thunder maneuver offers +DEX, water maneuver offers +MND, while light maneuver offers +CHR. Only exception is dark maneuver which doesn’t offer + to any stat, although simply equipping mana tank does increase your maton’s max MP.
The maneuver combo I use for my Rng frame at the present, and will most likely use all the way up until 75 (It might change in burn parties) is light + wind + fire maneuvers.
Light maneuver I always keep flash attached to for my Nin tank, wind I use primarily for the Rngd ACC, fire for the ATT. In burns I may end up changing it to light + fire + fire for more ATT when ACC is less of an issue.
Elemental Category:
Attachment Name (Point Cost)- Ingame description
Personal notes.
Fire Attachments:
Strobe (1)- Increases enmity. Occasionally uses “Provokeâ€
At lower levels for solo this one can be quite nice if you’re using the Valoredge body, especially in conjunction with the auto-regen and stoneskin/DEF+ attachments. He can make quite the decent little meat shield at first, though as levels go on your maton won’t be able to take damage like he used to. Personally though, I didn’t use it much because I PLed myself using a second comp so I didn’t want hate on the maton, but rather on the PL while my maton and I focused on making things die as fast as possible. The PL could cure me, but it couldn’t cure poor Quirk so I just preferred him getting not getting hit at all.
Tension Spring (2)- Enhances attack.
Not entirely sure exactly how much ATT this adds, but it’s multiplied by every active fire maneuver you have on. I generally always keep this one on, simply because there’s really not a wealth of better ones out there and I want to maximize Quirk’s damage potential. Doesn’t seem to make an enormous difference, but any ATT+ is better than none at all.
Inhibitor (1)- Store TP. Improves TP usage efficiency.
This one here is a double-edged sword. It’s +5 Store TP for every active fire maneuver which I suppose adds up, but it’s really not an entirely huge difference and I only keep a single fire maneuver active anyway. The downside to this attachment is the “improves TP usage efficiency†simply means that he’ll keep his TP until someone in your PT uses a WS then he’ll fire his off in an attempt to make a SC. This can be avoided if the SC partners announce a few moments in advance allowing you ample time to recall your maton before he interrupts the SC, but it’s not really worth it and just makes extra hassle. Pretty much I’d rather just have him fire off when he hits 100% anyway, since he’s not a SC partner per se and you only need TP as fast as your SC buddy anyway. During solo levels though, this could serve a nice purpose though since it’s only you and your maton to worry about WSing and you could SC with him more reliably if you wanted to.
Ice Attachments:
Mana Booster (2)- Increases frequency of spell use.
During my stint at using mage frame more regularly in xp I tried this attachment out; didn’t seem to make much of a difference at all. Most all of his spells appear to be on cooldown, but I didn’t bother trying to time it because quite frankly, it doesn’t matter. With or without this he doesn’t fire off spells nearly fast enough for my liking, the best way to force him to cast is to deactivate->activate->deploy and he’ll always come out casting. That takes away from times when you the Pup could be doing something more worthwhile though, like putting on a less crappy maneuver, or punching something.
Loudspeaker (2)- Enhances magic attack.
While I didn’t bother to find out the exact number of MAB this offers, it’s definitely a decent enough chunk, not to mention using this maneuver also adds +1 INT per so that’s also more damage for his spells. If you’re gonna use mage frame, this would be a solid choice for a maneuver.
Scanner (1)- Occasionally scans target’s magic resistances.
To be perfectly honest, I have yet to ever use this attachment and doubt I ever will. A) I don’t use mage, B) It lowers the debuffing/enfeebling HP threshold which is bad imo, you want it RAISED (which is not possible as of yet as far as I know, no attachments can do this. /hope). At lower levels I could see this being handy, having your maton toss out things like para/poison/dia/etc could be nice for solo since you have no debuffer, but once you begin to party you’re generally always gonna have a dedicated mage who’s able to toss out those same nukes more reliably and most likely more effectively. If there was an attachment to raise the amount of HP in which your maton ceases debuffing/enfeebling and begins to nuke that would be godly, but once you start to party there’s no reason you’d want to lower it.
Wind Attachments:
Accelerator (2)- Enhances evasion.
Useful at lower levels if you’re gonna be having your maton tank for you, or for higher levels if you’re soloing/farming as Pup (Around level 48ish I was killing stuff in Bubu just for kicks and Quirk was evading literally about 9 out or 10 swings if not more). No real use if you’re in a party, your maton won’t take hate often and if he does ITs aren’t gonna miss him that often anyway.
Scope (2)- Enhances ranged accuracy.
This one I pretty much always keep on my Rng frame, not sure of the hard number of Rng’d ACC it offers but it’s probably along the lines of 10 or so and you definitely notice a difference, mainly in his amount of missed WSs.
Pattern Reader (1)- Analyzes enemy attack pattern and gradually enhances evasion.
Not... entirely... sure what this one does, my best guess is that every few swings or so it’ll up the amount of +EVA it offers by a point. Hard to measure something like this really, but this is pretty much like the Accelerator, use it for low levels or farming TWs.
Earth Attachments:
Shock Absorber (1)- Uses “Stoneskinâ€
Just as it says, makes him cast a pretty much instant stoneskin that’s on a 3 minute cooldown timer I believe. I never used it much, and it’s pretty much worthless once you start to party (Unless you’re fighting something with AoE and feel like wasting a maneuver on this, but you’d be better off using DD maneuvers and you should have regen oils on you anyway) , but great for low levels if you’re having your maton tank though.
Armor Plate (2)- Enhances defense.
Don’t know the exact amount of +DEF it gives, but at solo levels you may as well use it if you’re having your maton tank. Less damage he takes = less downtime. No point in using it once you start to party, your maton will rarely be getting hit.
Analyzer (1)- Increases chance of mitigating the effects of special attacks previously used by the enemy.
This is another one I haven’t even bothered to use, I’m assuming it pretty much would work just like Pattern Reader but for TP attacks rather than a mob’s normal melee hits. Not sure if this would cause the moves to miss entirely or just do less damage, something I’ll test if I get around to it I suppose; but either way I don’t see this ever being really useful.
Thunder Attachments:
Stabilizer (2)- Enhances accuracy.
This is good when you want your maton to go for all out DDing. Use it in parties if you’re using Valoredge frame (Obviously you could use it for the other frames too, but there’s better maneuvers you could be using on those ones).
Volt Gun (2)- Adds lightning damage to attacks.
This attachment is a curious one, I’m thinking you only have to have it equipped for it to be able to take effect but having a thunder maneuver activated makes it proc more often perhaps. I almost never use thunder maneuver anymore in parties, but his enthunder still kicks in quite often which is why I’m led to believe you only need it equipped. Easy enough to test if having thunder maneuver activated increases the chance of it proccing though, just let him smack things for a while and see how many times it kicks in. On IT mobs it’s not all that powerful, usually around 4-10 damage, but it absolutely rips TWs apart, was doing anywhere from around 29-35 per swing using a Rng maton on top of melee hits for around 100 damage and ranged shots for 250-300 damage.
Heat Seeker (1)- Analyzes enemy evasion patterns and gradually enhances accuracy.
Guessing this pretty much works like Analyzer and Pattern Reader; although what I’m not sure of is it ACC is gradually enhanced a bit every few swings, or by his misses. Possibly works like a backwards Zanshin in which every time he misses it ups his ACC a little bit, or every time he swings it ups his ACC a little bit. The every time he misses sounds more plausible though.
Water Maneuvers:
Mana Jammer (2)- Enhances magic defense.
Pretty much worthless, your maton will hardly ever be getting hit, let alone by magic spells. Only time he’d be getting cast on it by –gas or if he’s tanking at lower levels, either way it’s not worth wasting a maneuver on this unless you’re already using water maneuver for whatever reason and had some water points left over. You’re better off using something else.
Heatsink (1)- Reduces the rate of “Fire Maneuver†overload.
Pretty much worthless, but if you got extra water points and are using water maneuver may as well toss this one. Only thing is, if you’re using water maneuver you’re most likely using mage in which case using fire maneuvers is pretty pointless. No idea how much it reduces the rate of overload and it doesn’t really matter anyway. As far as I can tell, overloading is so random anyway. I had times when it’d be my first maneuver of the night and he’d overload, or he’d overload even if I hadn’t used that maneuver for a dozen+ battles. Overloading seems pretty rare as you progress too, I haven’t overloaded since 54, and that was the only one since my early 40s.
Stealth Screen (1)- Reduces enmity.
This is a decent one to use if you’re trying to keep hate off your maton, especially if you’re being PLed at lower levels; but still not really worth taking up a maneuver spot for. I used it for a bit for my Rng frame on bats in Gustav because he’d pull hate quite frequently believe it or not. As levels progress though, tanks get more tools to hold hate, and this becomes less worth a maneuver spot.
Light Maneuvers:
Auto-repair Kit (2)- Increases HP. Adds “Regen†effect to Light Maneuver.
Amazing for low levels and solo. Increases his max HP by a bit, not sure how it scales up in levels, but it’s probably on a percentage. Also, adds +1 hp/tick per active light maneuver. Once you can start using “Repair†at 15 this pretty much becomes obsolete, but it’d be good to top him off, mainly while soloing. I’d always keep this on, but since it takes 2 light and there’s a little attachment I’ll get to in a moment that also takes 2 light I can’t really recommend this one more. (No current frame has the 4 light you’d need to have both of these equipped simultaneously)
Flashbulb (2)- Use “Flash.â€
THIS.IS.GOD. I could leave it at that, but let’s talk a little about how amazing this attachment is. This causes your maton to use flash, just like it says; but it is MP-free and gives him little to no hate. He’ll spam it too, it’s on either a 30 or 45 second timer, the exact number slips my mind at the present. Not quite as powerful as the spell itself it seems, but it’s still extremely potent, mainly due to the frequency and surprisingly well done AI with which he’ll use it. When I voke so our Sam can SATA his WS onto our Nin he’ll flash and I take a shitload less damage than I would’ve, when the Nin is recasting his shadows he’ll use it, he opens the fight with it, etc etc. With a Pld tank it might cause a bit of interference occasionally since if they use it simultaneously it will cause his flash to have no effect, but still the sheer amount of damage it will prevent makes it worth it. On a Nin tank is where this shines though, it’s simply amazing. Also I think this could be handy on HNM since a skilled Pup could manipulate their maton to just spam flash as soon as its timer is down.
Damage Gauge (1)- Prioritizes curing.
This raises the HP levels at which he’ll focus on curing. I never really used this much considering I had the PL and didn’t really need my maton to spend his MP on healing, but if you’re solo and using a frame that has MP this in conjunction with the auto-refresh dark attachment is really nice. He’ll not only heal himself but he’ll heal you also, it’s a great way for him to be self-sufficient and be able to keep himself alive.
Dark Maneuvers:
Mana Tank (2)- Increases MP. Adds “Refresh†effect to dark maneuver.
This is a great attachment for lower levels, especially when soloing and in conjunction with the Damage Gauge attachment. I’m assuming the +MP is based on a percentage. The refresh is 1mp/tick per active dark maneuver. As the levels go on though this isn’t really worth wasting a maneuver on considering you can just deactivate>activate and his MP will be back to full again, way more efficient to just do that when he’s getting in the upper hundreds of MP.
Mana Conserver (1)- Conserve MP.
Not entirely sure how powerful this is nor how often it kicks in, but either way it’s kinda worthless. Maybe at lower levels this is useful when soloing or farming with the mage frame, but once you start to party deactivating>activating is a lot easier considering he pops back out with full MP and you can use the spot you would’ve been using for dark for a different maneuver.
Mana Converter (2)- Gradually diminishes HP to restore MP.
Completely worthless, can’t think of any possible time when you’d want to use this. Why you’d want to willfully decrease your maton’s precious HP in exchange for expendable MP is beyond me. If his HP is at 100% you can deactivate>activate him without it resetting its 20 minute recall timer, but if his HP is even 1 less than full it resets the timer and you’ll have to wait up to another 20 minutes to get your maton back. If for whatever reason it somehow manages to run low on MP, just do the, you guessed it, deactivate>activate trick. If its HP isn’t full just pop an automaton oil on him and he should be good as new and ready to deactivate>activate.
