your opinion on units

[TrueChaos]

i managed to get a Blue Odoshi Violet Nomaidou and as it has built in heavenly/battle i need a new unit to replace the god/battle i've been using. what do you think would make a worthwile replacement? the current units are god/power, god/arm, centurion/ability and the god/battle. ATA and MST are already maxed. the options are:
/power
/body
/legs
V501/502
Limiter/Adept (then change the god/arm for something else)

what do you think?

[psofan219]

Even though it's really your call, I'd say go with Adept. V501/502 makes no sense to have on a weapon with a Gush special, as it will take effect pretty much all the time. For the God/Arm replacement, I'd probably go with God/Legs as my first choice, and God/Body being my second.

[Vanzazikon]

Adept all the way.

[RAcast Extremist]

Adept.

[Genoa]

What are we, RAcast/caseal or HUcast/caseal?
If HU:
Cent
V502
Adept
Smartlink

If RA:
Cent
V502
Adept
Power

But whatever you do, don't use that body <_< ugh.

[TrueChaos]

i'm a HUmar and i won't need a Smartlink as ATA will already be maxed.

[SStrikerR]

Smartlink doesn't boost ata like that.
Basically, when you're shooting from far away, enemies have a chance at manually evading your attack.
Smartlink makes your gun have the same chance of hitting as a melee weapon would, right next to the enemy.

Go with this
Centurion/Ability
V502 If you use weapons with hell or arrest, if not, go with Heavenly/power
Smartlink
Adept

[TrueChaos]

oh i see, i did wonder why my shots seemed to hit more when they were close up. that would be useful. i'm hoping to soon get my hand on a MKB to make a BKB which has Hell fo the special so the V501 would be useful there.

[Saffran]

BKB special is Demon, and neither V501 nor V502 affect it.
If you're a Humar, Adept all the way. Heck, even if you're not a Humar. Adept means you can stroke 40 levels of Dex off your mag, it lowers TP consumption and gives magic resistance.
A bot might be tempted with v502 instead.

[TrueChaos]

i'm hunting for a limiter at the mo, get it from ult Kondrieu. fought him on my first attempt but didn't get it. i may give the V-unit a miss if it won't affect BKB, it doesn't drop for a Redria anyway. so if i have /power, cent/abil and Adept, what can be the 4th unit?

[Genoa]

no no no no no ugh, the lies about Smartlink... Do not listen to what others have said about it.
http://www.pso-world.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161332
Smartlink effectively increases your ATA. EVEN if your ATA is maxed, Smartlink effectively boosts your potential. This makes some characters, like HUcaseal, even MORE effective than most rangers with specific ranged weapons.
It has NOTHING to do with the range from your enemy. It's all based off manual evasion.
Honestly, NONE OF YOU can tell me that you've noticed that Smartlink has helped you hit a moving target better other than just plain missing statistically.
The problem is too many people can't tell the difference between small manual evades vs. statistical miss.

And YES, V501/V502 effect things like Demons. Specials have decreased ATA modifiers from regular/heavy attacks. It takes more ATA to effectively land a special. HOWEVER, there is also an activation modifier, which is a hidden modifier. V501 and V502 effectively boost this hidden special activation modifier, increasing the chances of a special activating. Demons should also be effected by this boost.

[TrueChaos]

is there any difference between a 501 and 502 or is 502 just more effective?

[Zanesfield]

i just went with the last one becausen it sounded cool is it not that good should i have voted for the adept thingy

[Akruta]

I think the V502 is just better than V501.

[TrueChaos]

ah right, thanks.
well, i've done some research and i have decided that my lineup will be:
Heavenly/Power
Centurion/Ability
Limiter/Adept
Smartlink

thanks everyone for your help.

[Zanesfield]

i really have no idea what you are talking about dose that mean i am a noob

[Genoa]

Difference between V501 and V502.
V501 doesn't increase the success rate of Hell-based special, V502 does.

[SStrikerR]

Difference between V501 and V502.
V501 doesn't increase the success rate of Hell-based special, V502 does.

v501 does have a hell boost, v502's is just higher.

[Genoa]

I have never heard such confirmation, from what I had found years ago it was only V502 that boosted Hell-based succession.
Any sources?

Well well well, a little digging and I find some interesting information.
Apparently V501 boosts the success rate of Hell-based, Chaos-based, Arrest-based, and Freeze-based specials by x1.5, where V502 boosts all those specials by x2.

[Magus_84]

Demons should also be effected by this boost.

Your post was correct, except for this bit.

Demon's (and Devil's) have a flat 50% success rate. This is in addition to and independent of ATA, and cannot be boosted in any way, shape or form. Meaning V50x do nothing. :(

You can "hit" (your ATA beats their EVP) all day long. If you don't also pass that 50% success rate, you'll do nothing. You can tell by how sometimes, you'll hear a "hit" sound and still see a "Miss", as opposed to the little glyph thing popping up.

This is a separate concept from "reduction" and from "cast Demon's/Devil's reduction". Both affect the percentage of HP reduction, not the chance for success.

Of course, if you never win ATA vs EVP, you'll never get to the point where you can have this 50% success rate come into play. So boosting your ATA's always a good thing anyway.

[TrueChaos]

well, i got a Smartlink in a trade and it wasn't as useful as i'd hoped. i didn't notice much of a difference at all. it's probably great for lower level characters who need the ATA boost but when i used it i seemed to hit them pretty much the same amount as when i didn't have it. shame really.

[Magus_84]

well, i got a Smartlink in a trade and it wasn't as useful as i'd hoped. i didn't notice much of a difference at all. it's probably great for lower level characters who need the ATA boost but when i used it i seemed to hit them pretty much the same amount as when i didn't have it. shame really.

How often were you using Special attacks? I ask about specials because they use a much lower percentage of your base ATA in calculating their base chance to hit. With Sacrificials (Charge/Berserk/Spirit) it stops there, but Demon's adds a flat 50% fail rate, and Blizzard/Havoc/Arrest/Hell-series also bring in enemy resistances.

Also, remember that Smartlink only affects handguns, mechguns, rifles, slicers, the odd FO/HU-equippable shot and cards. No melee weapons are affected.

If you aren't spamming specials using those weapons, it isn't quite worth the slot. If you are, it's worth its weight in gold. It single-handedly makes special use viable in Ultimate for Fomar/marl without obscene amounts of hit %, and when combined with a V502, allows Hucast/Hucaseal to have an amazing success rate with Arrest.

But if you're hitting with normal/heavy (or even special) attacks just fine, you either have good hit% weapons, you're using a Ranger (and thus can't equip it), you're fighting weak enemies or your definition of "just fine" is different from mine. Or you're straying from the "standard" of "slicers on groups, mechs on single enemies, ;_; at Lizards", which is perfectly acceptable.

I'd say play with it, see how you like it. It lets you make far more use out of the ATA you have, but if you aren't at the limit of what you can do with your current ATA, you won't see why people joygasm over it. If you don't like it, well...the good thing about BB is that there are enough genuinely useful unit choices available to make deciding on just four at a time a hard decision to make.

[TrueChaos]

the gun i use is the Master Raven. as it does 3 shots but no combo i generally just use the normal shot, as it's really quick, which is why i hit them so much generally. the special is Lords so saps EXP, which rarely works, even when i had the Smartlink equipped. there was an increase in the success rate of hard attacks but not by much and enemies seemed to go down just as quick when using the normal attack as there was no charge. his ATA is at max and would be higher if there wasn't a cap (it should be about 210) so bullets usually hit anyway. with Shambertin the bullets hitting the jewels near his head would miss about 1/3, with Samrtlink there was next to no difference.

[Genoa]

Your Smartlink must be broken, I wouldn't give up a slot for any other unit.

[psofan219]

Smartlink can be broken? What?

[Vanzazikon]

Smartlink has been very useful for me. It made my Master Raven's hard attack hit at far range and made my Charge Vulcan's special and hard attack hit with all three bullets in the first hit.


Smartlink can be broken? What?That's not what Special K meant.

TC is only using one gun with it. Try using other weapons such as a Charge Diska or something.

[psofan219]

There's a certain way you need to use Smartlink?

[Vanzazikon]

Well, no, As Special K said, it enhances your ATA capability. According to TC, the hard attack of his Master Raven slightly hits more when equipping a Smartlink. He was unimpressed with it's result. He should give it a second chance with other ranged weapons, unless he feels that it's a waste of a slot and feels that another unit should take it's place.

[Genoa]

It would probably be MOST noticeable if you're a Force using it, but even as HUcaseal with maxed ATA to begin with, combined with V502 and Smartlink, I hit like a Ranger, if not better than most.