mageisfun wrote on 2014-01-04 18:32
Alright, well with the Vate Update closing in, I'm pretty excited, as almost all of my alchemy is r1, and plan on re-making an alchemy set. But I have the question now, which is on top after the update? Water alchemy or flame alchemy? I was thinking of going more in the direction of water alchemy, but how does flame alchemy compare in turn? Assuming you have end-game gear and high ranked alchemy, along with titles.
Kaeporo wrote on 2014-01-04 19:21
They're about equal.
Abyss Cylinder:
+ Significantly increased Water Cannon damage (x1.5)
+ Significantly increased Rain Cloud duration
+ Slightly increased Frozen Blast duration
Hellfire Cylinder:
+ Significantly increased Flame Burst damage (x1.5)
+ Significantly increased Heat Buster damage (x1.5)
Water Cannon deals heavy damage under a (reforged) rain cloud but it's limited to single targets. The water alchemist benefits from an increased rain casting duration, which is greatly appreciated, as well as a longer lasting Frozen Wave. Despite your heavy single target damage and fantastic agro control abilities, you'll suffer in situations where you cannot efficiently set up. You should expect to deal around 40k without a combo card per critical hit, provided you also hold the rain casting water cannon damage reforge and a cressida set.
Flame Burst obviously chews through small groups of enemies, dealing upwards of 6~8k without a combo card per critical hit, provided you also hold a cressida set. It also enables you to near effortlessly burn through enemies who fail to agro you and instead go to alert mode. Heat Buster, like Frozen Blast, is pretty lackluster. The waved version deals significantly greater damage and does warrant use, provided you have a hellfire cylinder equipped. Unfortunately, Rain Casting will take a huge hit to its duration.