Looking for help in using Finale

I'm quite a newbie of sorts here in this game and I decided to start as the typical LUK mage as a low-level farmer and refiner. I had other character who reached level 150 already so I kept it to use T4 skills. Hence, Finale can be used as a main DPS. Now, I would like also to explore the possibility of using this build to do some boss hunting or add to DPS (so I'm not altogether useless). The problems are:

1. When using Finale, I encounter two (2) issues:
a. Mana - I tend to run out with mana a lot. I had Mysterious Hood and Philosopher's Ring and maxed out MP Boost as well but I can't seem to reach that 20 MP bars.
b. Aggro - I used this combo: sneak>impact (cons)>finale (save) but then, I seem to attract the boss or if not, I'm dead afterwards. I believe there is something wrong with my combo or my action. Usually, I let others hit the boss but I ended generating aggro but sometimes I start doing the combo right away. In short, I miss the timing in casting Finale or I just don't know how to use it properly.

Bottom line, I would like to ask for advice for these issues and I also want to use Finale with a mercenary without generating aggro. I don't know if it's possible.

 

A. Only 10 mp bars is needed to cast finale if you use combo = impact> finale (swift) or impact> finale (smite)> any 1 mp skill
B. Finale cost 16 mp bars, means 1600 aggro when it hit monster. Sneak can prevent this aggro. but While casting, it generating 100 aggro/sec (sneak and -aggro can't reduce this). Let your party member use their skill first so you don't taking aggro. But if you still taking aggro while your party already use skill, it probably they have -100% aggro stat.
(Btw why finale(save) instead of swift or smite?)

Use any equipment/crysta that has -%aggro stat. Or use bloom of peace staff from granny mini boss (it has low base atk but it can prevent you generate aggro (except finale in cast))

*any experienced player please correct me if i'm wrong

 

with the basic setup (impact finale) you only need 10 bars.
15 (or 17 for MD) is good enough, since that is how much you get from Maximizer.
any more is luxury for extra skills.

Finale has a base aggro of 1600.
while casting it already generates 100 per second (300 minimum), the remaining 1300 is added when it hits.
cast aggro is unaffected by Sneak Attack and -aggro% stats.
but cspd will reduce it by 1% for every 100 points.

when using 'save', unused saved mp will be added to the cost of the last skill.
this combo costs 500mp and deals only 20% of Finale's potential damage, while generating 700 aggro.

Impact > Finale (smite) > Sneak Attack (save) cost 1000mp deals 150% of Finale's potential damage, while generating the same amount of aggro (assuming you used Sneak Attack once before or have it still active from the last combo).

Sneak Attack's 400 aggro can be avoided (on the field) by casting it before entering combat.
you must attack first to have your mercenary attack. initiating combat will generate 200 aggro, which cannot be avoided by any means.
cast aggro from Finale can only be reduced slightly.
so after the boss switched targets to your mercenary, you need to let it attack some more to cover up your Finale casting.
when the target switches, that's another 200 aggro that can't be avoided.
Maximizer also generates 300 aggro.

ideally, you want Sneak Attack lv10 and activate it manaually.
that's 400 aggro once to hide 7500 aggro from using Impact > Finale (swift) 5 times.
(watch out for auto-attacks, they also consume Sneak Attack charges but would generate only 20 aggro.)

or you can get - 100% aggro on your equipment and remove Sneak Attack altogether. this will also hide the 300 aggro from Maximizer and your auto-attacks.
but it takes a toll on your equipment choices...
you don't want mobs to survive the 3rd hit and pummel you.
although that could be dealt with by Guardian Beam.

 

Using MP in this game is essentially the same as making that amount of aggro. When you think about it, you'll get around 700 aggro points when you use your combo. This means if your tank haven't used their aggro skill or combo during this time you'll end up stealing aggro immediately.

Also, hallucination spore works wonders even NS. I haven't checked the price lately, but you can keep that in mind.

 

I tend to mess up my combo since I'm entirely confused how it works so I relied on intuition in making one so I guess (save) tag won't do. Thanks!

 

I see so I cannot really avoid generating aggro. I think I need to practice doing the combo even with random parties or with mercenary.

Noted.

This is what I'm really considering since I play solo a lot.

 

This is new to me. Thanks!

 

This guide helped me a lot when I started learning how to use combos:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/aminoa...tem-works/xpdZ_0lQt2uwVPxrQb26x7ZKExQzWJrdLnW

If you want to cast sneak without using too much mp before your finale combo, then you could try this:

Combo 1:
1mp opener > sneak (save) > impact (smite)

Combo 2:
Impact > Finale (swift)

Let your tank or mercs generate enough aggro first then start your combos to avoid getting it, and don't forget that spamming your combos in a short period of time might make your tank or merc lose their aggro though, so just take your time to charge mp and find a safe spot to cast your finales. Having -aggro stat on your gears or -aggro food buff might help too.

 

Thanks! The combo was explained without adding complex stuffs.