Character build of the Week-ish 2: Geomancer

Week #2: Geomancer
http://www.eyesonff.com/fft/images/class-geomancer.gif

Rules:
- Only submit builds for the class of the week (duh)
- Builds should include all 5 abilities equipped, and all 5 items equipped
- Only items you can buy in stores are allowed
- Only use abilities learned by generics
- No Math Skill, you know why

Optional Rules: (which you may or may not observe to keep the game more interesting):
- No Blade Grasp (NBG), that is just a cop out of a counter ability that works with any class/build
- No Dark Knight abilities (NDK). If you haven't played War of the Lions or are just used to the PSX version.
- No Move+3/Teleport (NMA). Move+3 and Teleport make other move abilities obselete in most circumstances, so you may chose to place them off limit to allow yourself to be more creative with the move ability slot.

And remember, this is a competitive environment. Don't just post your build, write up a paragraph or two to justify it. I don't want this to be a thread were everyone posts their builds and leaves it at that. Lets see some discussion and pick each other's builds apart. (Of course be civil, we are all friends here)

*will be updated roughly once a week or whenever the old thread dies, whichever is longer.

Rune Blade
Rune Blade
Thief's cap
Black Garb
Germinas Boots or an angel ring

Reasons : Well I never really liked the geomancer as other classes are far better. A mixture of a Mystic and a black mage can do pretty much everything on the list. Maybe I'm missing something?

Anyways the two rune blades are there for a good attack since this class can still use swords. It beats the slasher axe anyday. The black Garb was just thrown on there but the Germinas boots gave my character a 5 move and 4 jump. Awesome. The other one I use a lot when fighting hard battles is the angel ring. IF your character gets KO'ed and you can'tr make it in time, then you get a second chance as they will be revived just long enough to cast re-raise back on them from another character. or long enough to get your healers over there and get him back in the battle.

Geomancy
Summon
Critical: Recover HP
Duel Wield
Treasure hunter / levitate

Reason : Well I put summon on the list cause I can't use the dark knight spells which I would have. Summons offer a range of spells like angels cure and bahamuts mega flare. I've been playing around and found that Critical: recover HP is really handy. When your character gets low on HP this ability refills it all.

So we got summons and geomancy for long range but if your caught near an enemy and think you can beat him real quick, I put Dual Wield on there cause like said before the coolest thing about Geo's is they can use swords. Its a good defeat. Next was treasure hunter for good item pick ups if you know where to go. The next up on the list was levitate which helps my jump a little and my character looks cool floating around killing things.

Rune Blade
Aegis Shield
Flash Hat
Reflect Mail
108 Gems

Geomancy
Summon
MP Switch
Equip Armor
Move-MP UP

Not really a big fan of Geomancers, but since they're such a well-rounded attack class, it often makes sense to accentuate their MA growth. The equipment lineup mostly gives MA bonuses, except the Reflect Mail which just gives a large HP boost. The reaction/movement setup is meant to ensure that the MP "barrier" doesn't completely run out, increasing longevity a bit. Summon could be interchanged with Black Magic depending on perceived threats, but basically the MA scenario is meant to sharpen the double threat a bit more without using it as a crutch.

Rune Blade	Geomancy
Aegis Shield	Time Magic
Flash Cap	Mp Switch
Wizard Robe	Magic Attk UP
Red Shoes	Ignore Height

The formula for Geomancy is [(PA+2)/2]*MA, so gearing for magic yields twice as much damage as gearing for strength.

With all that MA obviously it makes sense to have a magic ability as a secondary. Draw Out is the usual go to OP magic attack, but Geomancers already have an insta cast 100% success attack. I think Draw Out is a more powerful skillset overall, but it is just more of the same, so I decided to try a something a little more original. With this gear setup Geomancy will do 264 damage a pop, which isn't a ton. Summon and Black Magic would probably just end up with the Geomancer as a second rate Summoner or Black Mage, so I am going with Time Magic as something to compliment Geomancy and help out the party. I threw

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After I did the last build to try and max out Geomancy, I looked back and realized it kind of blew.

Rune Blade	Geomancy
Rune Blade	Time Magic
Thief's Cap	Damage Split
Power Garb	Dual Wield
Bracer	Move +1

This build will do 588 damage melee, which is good to take down most non-heavy duty enemies. Geomancy will do 218 damage, which isn't much less that the Geomancy optimized build. And it leaves the secondary ability slot completely open. Ironically I went with Time Magic again, as this build doesn't need a significant secondary ability, so might as well have something that helps the other four party members as well. I threw on Damage Split because the build has a decent amount of HP, and damage split helps shrug off small stuff.

Man, having a PSP copy of FFT sure make this easier.