My commentary on my Maat win

Well, it wasn't pretty.

After farming the second testimony with the help of Cinn and Ham, and going as a crew to assist a random on the Oztroja leg of their LB3, I hit Jeuno.  I zoned into Ru'Lude and immediately burst into tears.  Yes, the idea that another loss was so close at hand was enough to make me cry.  I actually logged out at this point, while ranting via IM about how I can't do it, I was quitting, going to go play LOTRO until XIV.

After receiving some encouragement and support, I decided to prove once and for all that he's wrong and I really can't do it.  I logged back in, still in tears.  Went a bought a new taco, still in tears.  Started the fight with every expectation that I'd lose.  I didn't even tell Cinn I was doing it, even though I was talking to him at the time.  I'm sure he figured it out though, lol, once he started getting the weird disjointed IMs.

I have had three macro books for WHM.  There was the one for parties, that switches my weapon based on what I'm doing.  Light Staff for cures, Banish, and other light-element spells; Ice Staff for Paralyze; Dark Staff for healing; etc.  Then there was the one for the Maat fight, which is basically the same as above, but with a couple extra item-switch macros (Earth Staff for running away, Diana Corona for the extra MACC for Repose).  And of course, I had the solo book that does not switch weapons at all, so as not to lose my TP just because I wanted to debuff the mob I'm fighting.

I found out as I was typing up the last post that I went in and did the fight using my solo book.  I knew I had the wrong one when the macro to equip the Earth Staff wasn't there; I didn't realize that I did the rest of the fight with the earth staff equipped.  I didn't the extra MACC for Repose.

My blinding potion wore halfway through; I guess I should just be glad I had the +30 Evasion for the first half, eh?  Oh, wait, there were no instances of Maat missing me the entire fight.  He landed every melee shot he took--maybe accidentally having that earth staff equipped for most of the fight is what saved me!  Having the Vile Elixir +1 and some Echo Drops pulled out of my satchel and at the top of my bags also really helped pull me through that; not having them immediately available would have been another loss.

My impression of the WHM fight is that if you can sleep him through it, that's the way to go, but make sure you're prepared to handle resists or just plain bad luck.  My divine skill hit 217 on the last Repose cast, and I was wearing no +divine gear, I landed two and had two resisted, not a great success rate, heh.  It was enough this time, and that's what counted.

WHM Maat #2 - ..............

Tavnazian taco
Yag drink
Blinding potion!
Afflatus Solace
Protect IV
Shell III
Stoneskin
Aquaveil
Blink

Cast Banish
- Maat takes 0 points of damage.
Maat's Dia II is absorbed by my shadow.
Cast Paralyze
- Maat is Paralyzed (...huh?)
Cast Flash
- Maat is blinded (okay, he doesn't.. have.. blink...?)
Cast Repose.
One of my shadows eats damage.  Mis-read that, think it's Maat's shadow.  Cancel Repose cast.
Melee: 0
Cast Paralyze
- Maat is Paralyzed.
Maat casts Paralyna.
Melee: 95
Cast Repose.
- Maat is asleep.
Go to Cinn's IM window and babble randomly, making no sense at all.
Cast Paralyze.
Cast Slow.
Get a clue, and cast Stoneskin, Blink, Aqua---crap, he's awake.
Maat lands Dia II for 0.
Cast Repose.
- Maat resists.
I get switched to my earth staff, and in the process become aware I don't have the right macro book up.
Cast Cure III, recover 72 HP.
Melee: 0
Maat lands Silence.  Tam doesn't notice for a bit.
Melee: 8
No longer blinded.  Didn't notice that either!
Two attempts at Repose later, I notice I'm silenced.
Melee: 86
Maat lands Holy for 86.
Tam uses echo drops.
Melee: 102
Melee: 98, interrupts Repose.
Cast Cure3 for 193.
Maat lands Banishga III for 152.
Melee: 88
Melee: 125
Melee: 90
Vile elixir +1
Melee: 87
Maat lands Dia II for 4.
Cast Repose.
- Mofo resists again.
Melee: 86, interrupts Cure 3.
Blow 2-hour.
Maat lands Dia II for 4.
Melee: 84
Melee: 88
Cast Repose.
- Maat is asleep.
Freak out more in IM.
Stoneskin
Aquaveil
Slow
Blink
Yag drink
Cure 3 for 169
Maat is no longer asleep.
Maat:  Hm.  That was a mighty fine display of skill there, Tamberly.  You've come a long way.....


More commentary later.

WHM Maat #1 - Loss

Tavnazian taco before trading testimony.  What I've seen seems to recommend Def food, so I went with it.
Zone in.


The fight
Use Yagudo drink.
Use Afflatus Solace.
Cast Protect IV.
Cast Stoneskin.
Target Maat, cast Paralyze.
- Maat's shadow absorbs the spell; working as intended.
Maat casts Holy, Tamberly takes 0 points of damage.
Cast Flash.
- Maat is blinded - SUNUVA....
Cast Repose.
- Maat's shadow absorbs the spell - DAMMIT DAMMIT SUNUVABITCH.
Melee: 130.
Melee: 107.
(Equip Earth Staff while running away!)
Melee crit: 231.
Maat lands Dia II for 5.
Melee: 151.
Melee: 87.
Melee: 117.
Blow 2-hour.
(Repose still not up, continuing to run around the edge of the arena!)
Melee: 120.
Maat lands Banishga III for 250.
Melee: 111; interrupts Repose cast.
Melee:  121; interrupts Cure IV cast.
Maat lands Holy for 121.
Melee: 100; death interrupts Repose cast.


Combat Skills

• My Evasion is capped.
• My Divine is 215/227.  I was hoping to see how much it really resisted at this point, so I'm really glad that the only Repose cast I completed was eaten by a shadow.

Gear Notes

• I'm going in with a Light Staff to maximize cure potency and accuracy for Repose.  I have an earth staff that I have on a macro that I can hit while I'm running away if things don't go as planned.
• I'm using Bat Earring x2; this would give me +30 evasion if I would remember to use the blinding potions I made.
• I have a Vermillion Cloak for non-repose casting for the sake of Refresh.  I'm switching to Crow Jupon and Diana Corona (for the evasion and MACC boosts) for Repose casts.
• Wearing Crow Hose full-time.

Where I Went Wrong

• I forgot to use my blinding potion, so I lost out on 30 Evasion for the fight.
• I didn't cast Shell, Blink, or Aquaveil.  I think my thought process is clouded by the Red Mage fight on this, where start time is of the essence.  I wanted to rush in as fast as I could, because that's what I have to do on RDM.
• I didn't confirm the second shadow was gone before I started casting Repose.
• I chose Flash as the spell that was intended to eat the second shadow; it's a fast and cheap cast.  However, it has a 45-second recast timer.  I'm almost certainly better off keeping that available in case I need to blind him in a crunch.  I think I'll try Banish then Paralyze next time, with uh...  Banish II? for backup.  I would normally go with Slow, but if he has Haste up I'm not sure if that would be subject to a shadow or if it would go straight to "no effect".