Shattering Stars- WHM

I decided to quit WHM, this time for good. Not that I have anything against WHM- after all, it was my first serious job, and I took it all the way to WHM62 before switching over to BLM. It's just that with three mage jobs, one of them was bound to eventually get the boot, and in this case, it just so happened to be WHM.

Literally everything I get called for calls for me to come on either my RDM or BLM. My WHM? Maybe the occasional Raise III here and there. Either way, I have very rarely used my WHM for anything since I actually hit WHM75.

Quitting WHM and selling off all my gear would free up a lot of the money that I have stored in gear, but also free up my Mog Locker which I need if I am to pursue other jobs (seeing as how I'm very pressed for space at this time). Just today, I went on a merit party with my WHM, and I was so out of practice, I made up my mind there and then that it was time to move on.

However, before I go ahead and quit WHM for good, there was one last thing I wanted to do:



Beat Maat. Again.

See, in the very, very, very rare instance that I actually level up all my jobs to 66+ and am able to obtain Maat's Cap (yeah, right!), the last thing I'd want to have to do is to revisit all my jobs again, repurchase gear, etc. just to fight Maat.

The WHM Maat fight is primarily won through endurance. I wasn't quite sure what exactly the alternate win conditions were, although supposedly it hovers around just being able to survive five minutes, or healing yourself for a certain amount. In either case, after farming Goblin Alchemists up in Cape Terrigan for about half an hour, my first attempt was a flop, mostly because I had no idea what to expect. Maat was hitting me quite hard (about 100 damage/hit), and the jig was up when he Combo'ed me for the kill.

Some more extra reading into the fight gave me the idea of damage mitigation instead. Thankfully, such items for WHM are very cheap, and so, armed with this extra knowledge, I went to the AH and picked up a few items, giving me the following gear setup:



Food: Shallops Tropicale

Main: Terra's Staff
Ammo: Fortune Egg
Head: Healer's Cap
Neck: Memento Muffler
Ear1: Insomnia Earring
Ear2: Medicine Earring
Body: Noble's Tunic
Hand: Blessed Mitts
Ring: Phalanx Ring
Ring: Medicine Ring
Back: Aurora Mantle
Waist: Hierarch Belt
Legs: Healer's Pantaloons
Feet: Healer's Duckbills

The rationale was to maximise VIT, DEF and damage reduction, which explains most of the choices I made. Of particular note is the Medicine Earring, whose -30% damage reduction triggers upon <50% hp. Combined with the Terra's Staff, it's a straight 50% damage reduced.

Note that I kept this setup even when casting Cure spells (i.e. with a Terra's Staff). I figured that the extra +Cure potency from the Medicine Ring and Noble's Tunic would make up for the loss from not equipping my Apollo's Staff.



This particular setup worked very well for me. I only needed to use one Yagudo Drink to last the entire fight, and although it was cutting things close, I still had Benediction available should the need arise. Essentially, all I did was tank Maat and lasted him out with a combination of enfeebles (Slow and Paralyze are very important!), Regen IIIs, cures and Flashes.

For the record, my battle log says I cured myself for a grand total of exactly 3000hp. I'm not sure how accurate this is as far as alternate win conditions go, although admittedly the number is strangely, well, round.

With that, I finally drew my WHM career to a close. I promptly sold off my gear, and am waiting to decide what my next move will be. Chances are, it might involve that Red mage's testimony that's been sitting in my Mog Safe for some time now...