Puppetmaster Guide: Support Jobs

Masters of Manipulation: The Role of a Puppetmaster
From its humble beginnings, the role of a Puppetmaster has developed from a dismissable damage dealing class to a job which varies greatly in use depending on how the player decides to utilize their puppet. Needless to say, without their Automaton a Puppetmaster is nothing. One's puppet may serve as support healer of a party with the Soulsoother Head in use, or dish out impressive damage when using the Spiritreaver Head or Sharpshot Z-500. This leaves the role of the actual Puppetmaster in question, but they mainly serve as a damage dealer in parties, or as their own tank when soloing. Either way Puppetmaster is a powerful job which is still overlooked when it comes to party invites.

Race-Job Combinations
Quite honestly this should not matter at all, except for when it comes to AF, Galka just don't look right. Seriously, it's a scary sight to be seen. Anyhow, to be a proper guide I'll do a quick breakdown for each race and remind people the perks of choosing one race over the other.

Hume

 * As a Hume you're well rounded and can serve as any job equally. Having no downfall is a good thing, especially with a job that relies on several different stats. Being average in everything allows for any gear or sub to be used efficiently. That being said, like any race you will most likely be spending all of your gil getting every last piece of strength, attack, accuracy, and evasion gear you can find to help improve your damage and soloing ablity. That is if you have any left after purchasing all of your attachments.

Elvaan

 * Since Puppetmaster greatly lacks strength gear at all times, Elvaan serves a use with coming with a little extra of its own, and when added with the extra vitality, weaponskills ought to show a bit more damage when compared to a few of the other races. Pretty much you'll make the best use out of melee support jobs. But that is where the perks end, you'll still be hunting for the same gear as everyone else.

Tarutaru

 * The antithesis to a Elvaan, Tartarus have a great disadvantage when it comes to strength and vitality, but they get plenty of intelligence to make up for it! Oh... nevermind, that's actually kind of useless. Other than that, they have slightly higher agility to help evade while soloing and they work the best with mage subs. Needless to say, they are also the cutest looking in the AF.

Mithra

 * Basically a Hume's slightly weaker, unfriendly cousin, Mithra excel at dexterity and agility, meaning they have a better chance at dodging and hitting something. Other than that they are basically like a Hume, average HP and a dismissable loss in strength and vitality. Even though you may gain higher dexterity, it doesn't save you from needing accuracy gear just like everyone else, as a C ranking in hand-to-hand skill leaves a great lacking in aim.

Galka

 * Galkan Puppermasters are basically miniturized versions of a Monk who lack the awesome job abilities. With high vitality, strength, and HP, Galka are natural powerhouses just like Elvaans. Don't be expecting too much damage though, you probably will never pull hate off the tank unless you cheat by using Provoke or Light skillchain with your automaton. The downfalls of being Galka though are you have slightly lower agility and you won't benefit as greatly from subbing mage jobs. Don't get me wrong, you can get MP gear, but it would come at the sacrifice of strength, attack, evasion, and accuracy.

Support Jobs
After all that it's time for the actual purpose of this guide: possible support jobs for Puppetmaster. Of course this will all be in opinion, so take nothing as fact and feel free to experiment for yourselves. In this section I'll cover all nineteen of the other jobs and explain how beneficial or useless they would be when used as a support job for Puppetmaster.

Warrior

 * Whenever someone wants to pack on the damage, subbing Warrior is usually the path they go. Every skill and trait gained by Warrior are useful except for Defender since you will still take a heavy amount of damage. Berserk, Warcry, Attack Bonus, and Double Attack on-the-other-hand, come in handy when it comes to boosting your damage dealing potential. In most cases this becomes the major support job for many Puppetmasters post level twenty-five since that is when the first Martial Arts is gained.

Monk

 * When and if a Puppetmaster decides to party in the dunes, Monk would most likely be the support job of choice due the fact Puppetmaster doesn't recieve its own Martial Arts ability until level twenty-five. Afterwards the benefit of subbing Monk decreases greatly, but if to solo at high levels, Counter, Dodge, Focus, Chakra and the ability to utilize the Wrestler's Mantle may be worth looking into. For a little fun added fun with this job combination, you can always equip Bahamut's Hose and Dune Boots to turn yourself into a pseudo-Monk.

Thief

 * When you find yourself in need of more gil, or wish to actually help a Ninja tank, Thief comes in handy as a sub of choice. Stat-wise the increase isn't any better than any other support job, but with Sneak Attack you will get a boost in damage for your weaponskills. Needless to say an actual well-geared Monk will probably still outdo your damage though, until you decide to skillchain with yourself that is. Other than that, subbing Thief always comes in handy for farming no matter what your main job may be.

White Mage

 * This is the job every class should sub their first ten levels if they don't already have Puppetmaster leveled to do so. White Mage comes in handy for soloing for a while when your Automation isn't too trustworthy, or for when in parties that need a support healer and you do not have the Soulsoother Head yet. This support job becomes easy to adapt to due to a Puppetmaster's armor selection, but to be efficient in parties, it would be wise to keep your Automation in a mage frame as well. Not to mention the utility of having Sneak and Invisible at your fingertips whilst exploring dangerous areas.

Black Mage

 * Black Mage serves as an odd support job for any melee except for Dragoon, but none-the-less it has its uses for a Puppetmaster as well. Although it has no practical use in a high level party except to baffle people, earlier levels it may prove an interesting combination for soloing or occasionally in parties. For soloing you may Drain the mob for HP and cast Ice Spikes on yourself for added defense. In either senario though, you can make use of the elemental debuffs that as your Automaton cannot, nor can anyone else who isn't part Black Mage. The ability to cast Warp is also quite useful for getting out of danger and back to a city to log or continue seeking for a party. But of course this usefulness would be short lived at best and can easily be an experience skipped.

Red Mage

 * Exactly as the job is meant to be, it's a mix of both Black Mage and White Mage, but that doesn't necessarily make Red Mage better than either one. Fast Cast wouldn't be too great a boon since you probably won't be casting magic often enough to make it matter, but it is still good to have. Without Curaga and Raise you won't be considered a party saver, but you can still cast up to Cure III and keep certain people alive. But when it comes to Black Magic, you don't gain anything useful at all, unless you count Ice Spikes, but you will not get that until a later level than you would subbing Black Mage. The real bonuses for subbing Red Mage are Dispel, Phalanx, and the En-spells, which all boost your soloing ability. In fact that is pretty much what subbing Red Mage is only good for in this case: increasing survivability while soloing, but I cannot say if it is better than using other jobs or not.

>>> Obviously I am not finished yet and will add more later. Until then, enjoy what I've written so far. -Bohemund