Maat-Mashing Time?

(Hexa is Sexah)

Last night I logged in a little early. Ape was so desperate for FB she told me to play rather than bug her for the laptop. Yes Ma'am! ^^

Almost as soon as I awoke Raki was ready to skill up. He's working on Great Axe and was as 153. I agreed not realizing he was level 65, not 70. He's already done LB4 so I figured he'd been XPing all the while. His choice of camps didn't give me much hope for my skills but I wanted to help.

Altepa was kind of a bust for both of us. The desert Manticores gave some SUs but were too few and I really hate that MP cut move of theirs. So we moved to the Tree.

Long story short, he got nearly 10 full levels in about 90 minutes off a mix of spiders and crabs. And a Water Elemental and Aquarius. My only clubs came from the latter, and we took a helluva pounding in the process. When the Water aggroed my magic during a crab fight, Lilrayray (remember me?) asked if we needed help and once it was obvious where this was headed I called for /help. Ray and Samoht came to our aid. I had been using Sufhi in an effort to extend our lives and get her some needed XP and she paid the ultimate price - the Elemental spent a Flood cast on her, knocking her right out. Raki soon bit the dust also ><.

When I spotted Aquarius I mentioned it to Raki. He wound up inviting Samoht (who was still nearby) and we tried as a trio. We all died, hard. Aqua is supposed to be a 71 PLD with accuracy issues but damn if he didn't tear up Samoht and Raki fast... I was able to RR safely then R3 them both.

At 10ish, I told Raki I needed to go and wanted to try soloing the crabs by the Cloister zone upstairs. He expressed concerns over my lifespan taking on 73+ crabbies, but I had enough of a buffer to do 3 die/RR loops. All I needed was 0.7 after all. And I got it! YES! Hexa is mine! And I didn't die once :p

Actually, fighting the crabs (and a Thunder and a fly) gave me some insights into Maat's fight as they hit pretty close to his power and speed. Clearly recasting SS and Blink is probably a no-go.

Speaking of Maat, after some reading, I learned I need to open with Diaga or Banishga to eat his shadows before trying Paralyze or any other enfeeb.

I'm torn over MND building (for Hexa and SS if I recall) versus accuracy and evasion. Thankfully that last run of mobs capped my Eva. Shield is useless at 113 but hey... I think I'm going to gear a mix of MND and Eva and eat some good Acc+ food.

And the more I watch WHM melee vids the more I wonder if they're truly beating Maat physically or just wearing down the timer and/or "HP cured" limits...

If I go through this I'd love to know I won (assuming I can) by beating that Limit Break out of him, not getting it by annoying him to death.