Puppetmaster Guide by Poof

= Introduction = This guide is mean to serve as the most conclusive page of its kind and dedicated to the fine art of Puppetmaster. My goal is to avoid rumors and opinions, however, making a completely unbiased representation of Puppetmaster may prove to be impossible, at least, from a critic's viewpoint; so I will make it a point to acknowledge statements based on popular opinion while unacknowledged content can be concluded to be factual to the best of my knowledge and understanding.

= Getting Started =
 * Acquire & Register Treasures of Aht Urhgan
 * You'll need your Treasures of Aht Urhgan expansion installed and registered as an Expanded Service to flag the Puppetmaster job. If you have access to the ToAU areas, then you are ready to continue.


 * Complete the quest, No Strings Attached
 * The Puppetmaster job is and Advanced Job so you'll need to complete a quest to unlock the ability to change into this job. You'll only need the ability to Sneak and Invisible yourself, whether by items or magic, to complete this quest.


 * Optionally rename your Automaton
 * The original list that you get to name your Automaton is a little small. There are several more pages of names available if you speak to Abda-Lurabda in the automaton shop.  If you see something you like more than the original name that you chose, go ahead and rename your Automaton now, before you get used to seeing it as something else!


 * Outfit yourself and your new Automaton with Attachments
 * Equip yourself with the basics but don't forget about your Automaton with Attachments. The basics can be acquired from Yoyoroon in Nashmau.  You'll definitely want to collect all 44 of the attachments to maximize your Automaton's versatility, so go ahead and acquire the first 16 in Nashmau.  The Attachments page goes over the names of each attachment, its function, and how to equip them.  If you like, go ahead and obtain more attachments off of the Auction House.  If there's an attachment that you'd like to have, but it isnt for sale, check the list to see if can be crafted.  Purchase the ingredients and seek out a crafter!

= Attachments Overview = There are 5 complete groups of 8 attachments which represent each of the elements and an unfinished 6th group that consists of only four attachments leaving half of the elements without representation for this most recently added group (these will probably be released in the December update).

Furthermore, there are two basic types of attachements. Passive attachments are always active and receive incremental bonuses for each maneuver that you have up that corresponds with its elemental type. The Armor Plate, for example, will always yield a defense bonus to your [Automaton]], but this bonus will increase with each Earth Maneuver that you have up. Invoked attachments, however, need to be invoked with the Maneuver that corresponds with its elemental-type. These types of attachments are also accompanied by a recast timer before they can be invoked again, regardless of what Maneuvers you have up.

Stacking
Also, note that you will have to permanently attach them to your Automaton's Inventory. You've probably noticed that attachments are stackable but this is for crafting purposes only and there is no reason for you to acquire more than one. If your Automaton has received a specific Attachment into its inventory, it can not receieve another. Your Automaton will have to have the attachments attached via an NPC in the Automaton shop. Once attached, it will become permanently apart of your Automaton and will show up in their inventory which is seperate from yours. Thankfully, they have their own inventory and don't require you to carry around all those attachments!

Collect'em all!
You'll definitely want to collect all 44 of the attachments to maximize your Automaton's versatility, so start collecting as soon as you are financially capable. Below is an outline discussing

Yoyoroon in Nashmau
You can buy the first 16 attachments and it's a good idea to go ahead and do so. Make the trip to Nashmau to save yourself some gil because the Auction House tends to list these for twice what they are worth. You can purchase all 16 for a total of 118,920 gil from Yoyoroon or wind up paying double that if you try to buy them from the Auction House.

Pulling the Strings
The ENM8 will be your biggest challenge because they can only be acquired when a level 60 Puppetmaster wins the ENM battle Pulling the Strings. On top of that, most level 60 puppetmasters are likely to immediately equip an attachment they don't have, if it drops. When these attachments are posted on the Auction House, it tends to reflect a situation where the Puppetmaster has acquired a duplicate of an attachment they already own. Another catch to the ENM8 is it can only be attempted once every five, real-life days, win or lose, and the attachment only has a chance to drop on top of the reward of 2000 Experience Points.

These attachments are valuable at any level, though, and can take some time to collect. If you have the gil, start collecting early by snatching them off the Auction House. Look for opportunities when more than one are listed to possibly get a better price.

The Basic 16
The first 16 attachments cover basic behavior and status enhancements. They are easily acquired for a total of 118,920 gil from Yoyoroon in Nashmau. If you don't have that much gil on you, then just focus on the attachments that you think will best suit your playing style until you can afford the rest.


 * Tension Spring
 * Loudspeaker
 * Accelerator
 * Armor Plate
 * Stabilizer
 * Mana Jammer
 * Auto-Repair Kit
 * Mana Tank
 * Mana Tank


 * Inhibitor
 * Mana Booster
 * Scope
 * Shock Absorber
 * Volt Gun
 * Stealth Screen
 * Damage Gauge
 * Mana Conserver

The Advanced 16
The attachments divided into two more groups of 8 that represent each element. All of them may be crafted with Alchemy or Goldsmithing, but the second group of 8 can also drop a Hilltroll_Puppetmaster or the ISNM Call to Arms. The first group of these attachments focus more on controlling your Automaton's behaviour such as using Provoke or Flash. The second group consist of Tier II attachments of the original eight. These Tier II attachments can be stacked with the first Tier attachments for a combined bonus.

The ENM 8
The rarest of the attachments, and therefore the most expensive. These attachments are acquired from the ENM Pulling the Strings

The Fantastic 4
These latest attachments were released in the October 2006 update and focus on adding major enhancments to your Automaton. The sooner you acquire these, the better.

Frame Upgrade Prioritization
I decided to review prioritization of Frame Upgrades because I think it is necessary due to problems I've seen with newcomer Puppetmasters having to struggle with when they finally attain all three of the additional frames. The primary need for this suggested prioritization is for the sake of the Automaton's skill levels and to maintain the Puppetmaster's versatility in a variety of situations. Does this mean there's a definitely order in which you should obtain frame upgrades? If you want to maximize your Puppetmaster's versatility with the minimal amount of trouble, then yes, there is a definite order. In conclusion, the only reasonable exception to this order is upgrading to the Valoredge second, and the Stormwaker last. You can use the Harlequin body to keep magic skill at a tolerable level until you acquire the Stormwaker frame.
 * 1) [[Image:Sharpshot_Z-500.JPG|frame|Sharpshot Z-500]]While there may be cause to debate the prioritization of the other two additional frames, the Sharpshot Z-500 should be your first frame upgrade. Of the complete set of frames, only the Sharpshot's body is capable of Ranged Attack and therefore is required for your Automaton to level that particular skill.  At level 10, when your first upgrade becomes available, you are already ten levels behind on skill for Ranged Attack; at level 20 this becomes quite a chore to bring up to par.  I've seen instances where Puppetmasters that have waited to level 30 to obtain this upgrade have completely abandoned it all together.  Another key reason is the number of monsters that you will level on that are weak to piercing between levels 10 to 30 such as Pugils and Damselflies.
 * 2) While the Harlequin is capable of keeping Magic Skill at a reasonable level, it isn't everyone's frame of choice once they begin getting the upgrades. For this reason, you may want to consider the Stormwaker as your second frame.
 * 3) The Valoredge is extremely powerful and very useful, but its melee skill at level 30 is only a few points behind the capped melee skill of the Sharpshot and isn't even that far behind the cap for the Stormwaker. Thus, while you may find it quite useful throughout your adventures, waiting until level 30 to obtain it will help you maintain your versatility by keeping your Automaton's skills at viable levels.

Elemental Maneuvers
Elemental Maneuvers have a direct and immediate effect on attachments, that are equipped, whose base element corresponds to the element of the maneuver. In most cases, the more maneuvers you have up for the same element, the bigger the enhancement for attachments that are based on that element. The exception, thus far, is the Optical Fiber, which increases the efficiency of all attachments regardless. However it seems to require a Light Maneuver either to be active, or to have a noticeable effect. Also, note that all the maneuvers share the same ten-second recast.

Elemental Fatigue
The more maneuvers you use of a particular element, the more fatigue you accumulate for that element. There are Attachments like the Heatsink that can help lower your fatigue on Fire Maneuver by countering it with Water Maneuver, but other than that, you'll have to just pace yourself and pay attention to what Maneuvers you are using; with practice you'll develop a keen second-nature instinct of what your limits are and be able to "sense" when your fatigue for a particular maneuver is high.

Overload
This status effect is the result of becoming overburdoned in any particular element. The only cure is to wait a few moment's for it to wear off. The time it takes to wear off seems to depend on the level of burdon associated with it. For example, try to imagine that each maneuver as a percentage scale and at 100% or higher you'll reach an overload. As you use maneuvers to build to the 100% that will cause an overload, you'll also have some of the burden because fatigue decreases as time passes; this is why the length of time in Overload will be a little random. If your burden for a maneuver was around 99% and the next maneuver for that element pushed it way over 100%, your wait will be longer. If your burdon was around 85% and the next maneuver caused an overload, your wait will be shorter. In theory, the Puppetmaster's Overdrive job ability will increase the rate of descension for the burden associated with maneuvers; because of this, if you used Overdrive while you were overloaded, you may recover more quickly from the overload status.

Weapons
Puppetmasters have native combat skill in Hand-to-Hand, Dagger, and Throwing Skill as well as complimentary defensive skill in Parrying and Guard; you'll need to have Hand-to-Hand type weapons equipped in order for your Guard skill to take effect, and Dagger for your Parrying skill to be checked. Oddly enough, Throwing Skill is our highest combat skill but there aren't any Throwing-type weapons that we can equip, minus the rare/ex level 70 chakrams that anyone can wield. Of course, that would require us to unequip our Animator and Automaton Oil as well as reset our TP to zero in order to equip any of those worthless weapons. Perhaps SquareEnix has something in store for us, yet!

Throwing
(No Comment)

JSE

 * Cerise Doublet
 * Lv: 50 DEF: 28 Accuracy +3 Attack +3
 * Acquired when completing the quest Brygid the Stylist Returns by trading in the Libra Subligar that drops off Fomor Bard in Phomiuna Aqueducts. The Fomor Bard could be relatively easily soloed by two skillful puppetmasters!  This is the best piece of body gear for the Puppetmaster until the Puppetry Tobe, the Artifact body armor, at level 58.  For most races, this armor upgrade is a relief from the RSE body piece that many Puppetmasters are stuck with since level 33.  This Armor can also be used by BLU, RDM, & BRD and also great in any areas with a level 50 cap.

Frame sets & Behaviour
The head of a frame seems to decide most of the behaviour of the Automaton particularly where it positions itself in battle. The body is responsible for most of what your puppet is capable of doing. While most of what an Automaton's behavior may be relatively expected while experimenting with different head and body combinations, some yield suprising and powerful results.


 * Sharpshot head & Sharpshot body
 * The head of this combination tends to keep the puppet at a distance until certain conditions are met since the body is capable of using ranged attack. You may find yourself using Retrieve fairly often in parties that have tanks who aren't very good at holding the mob in one place because you'll typically want the puppet to be right next to the mob; this will allow your puppet to melee in between ranged attacks.  There are some cases where you may actually prefer your puppet to keep it's distance to avoid AOE attacks and this is a good frame for doing just that.  The Sharpshot body is the only way to skill up Ranged Attack and will execute a piercing-type damage.


 * Stormwaker head Stormwaker body
 * Like the Ranger, the head of this setup tends to keep the puppet at a distance unless its deployed next to the mob you are fighting. The melee skill is a little weak and the Slapstick weaponskill is quite inferior to the nukes that your puppet is capable of, so you'll probably find yourself not really worried about its positioning unless you want it as far away as possible to avoid area-based attacks.  The Stormwaker body, like the Harlequin body, is the part of the frame that grants you the ability to cast spells and is responsible for your MP pool as well.  The body of the Stormwaker can skill up your melee skill, but not as well as the Sharpshot or Valoredge can, and it executes a form of blunt-type damage.


 * Valoredge head Valoredge body
 * The most durable setup and a lot of fun if you are just in the mood to go kick some butt. This combination, with the right attachments, can actually tank pretty well for you and will Provoke and Shield Bash.  You can even use Analyzer attachment to encourage your Automaton to stun a mob while it tries to execute special attacks or cast spells!  This Valoredge body is capable of the highest melee skill and executes a form of slashing-type damage.


 * Valoredge head Stormwaker body[[Image:ValoredgeX-900head_StormwakerY-700frame.jpg|thumb]]
 * Commonly referred to as the "Healer Puppet", this combination, with the right attachments, becomes an extremely powerful ally. Due to the Valoredge's head behaviour, the puppet will remain by your side as usual, but when paired with the Stormwaker body, you get an interesting result.  Your puppet will have a decent MP pool but without the intelligence to cast any of the enfeebles or nukes.  However, it is perfectly capable of casting all of the Cure spells, up to Cure IV if needed.  Equipping your Automaton with a Damage Gauge and a Mana Converter will turn it into a healing machine with virtually limitless MP.  Once you are level 50, you can skill your puppet's magic high enough to grant it Cure IV and open up a whole new world of Puppetmaster for you both.


 * Valoredge head Sharpshot body
 * One of the issues with the Sharpshot is that it likes to keep its distance, unless you deploy it right beside the mob. Equipping it with the Valoredge head will give it more of a melee instinct and the puppet will position itself alongside the monster.  This allows for melee attacks in between ranged attacks, and your puppet will also skill up both of the skills.  This isn't the greatest solution to an Experience Points party because of the sacrifice in skill but its really nice for farming when you want your puppet to just deal out the damage.

The Healer Puppete, re

Stormwaker Body Mana Converter Damage Gauge

Data that will be removed
Links I'm going to use and add information to: http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/Attachments http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/Puppetmaster http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/Puppetmaster:_A_History http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/Automaton http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/Puppetmaster:_Upgrading_Your_Automaton