Community Corsair Guide

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Latest Updates

Filled out AF/Relic/Empy gear set and recommendations. A lot of these recommendations were pulled from the Corsair guide on ffxiah.com. Please refer to the following link for the guide notes: https://www.ffxiah.com/forum/topic/52018/luck-of-the-draw-a-corsairs-guide-new --Rockzilla (talk) 3 October 2023 (EST)

General Information

Introduced in TOAU expension, COR is one of FFXI's support class with DD ability.

Strength:

Ability to fit in all the setup

In FFXI, there are primarily 4 different setups depending on DD type: pet setup, melee setup, mage setup and ranged setup. COR is one of a very few job that fits into all 4 setup and still have the ability to contribute as a support job and DD job.

Versatile DD playstyle

COR has access to magical, ranged, melee and none elemental damage, plus the ability to gain tp without having to engage the NM. This gives the job incredibly wide range of tools to counter NM mechanics and contribute in different situations.

Strong lowman job

With the ability to self buff, COR is a pretty efficient lowman class in a party size smaller than 3.

Weakness:

RNG dependent

While Corsair has ways to mitigate this downside, its utility is still heavily dependent on having good RNG, and managing your risk carefully.

Weaker DD than other jobs

Corsair does good damage, but not as good as other DDs.

Roles

Hybrid Support DD

Abilities and Traits

Level	Roll	Lucky	Unlucky	Effect	Acquisition
5	Corsair's Roll	5	9	Increases CP/EXP gain rate	Corsair Die - Free (Luck of the Draw)
11	Hunter's Roll	4	8	Increases Accuracy/Ranged Accuracy	Ranger Die - 1,300 gil (Chayaya Al Zahbi - (J-8))
14	Chaos Roll	4	8	Increases Attack/Ranged Attack	Dark Knight Die - 2,205 gil (Chayaya Al Zahbi - (J-8))
17	Magus's Roll	2	6	Increases Magic Defense	Blue Mage Die - 3,525 gil (Jajaroon Nashmau - (G-7))
23	Drachen Roll	4	8	Increases Pet: Accuracy/Ranged Accuracy	Dragoon Die - 9,216 gil (Jajaroon Nashmau - (G-7))
34	Beast Roll	4	8	Increases Pet: Attack/Ranged Attack	Beastmaster Die 26,600 gil (Chayaya Al Zahbi - (J-8))
37	Samurai Roll	2	6	Increases Store-TP	Samurai Die - 35,200 gil (Jajaroon Nashmau - (G-7))
46	Warlock's Roll	4	8	Increases Magic Accuracy	Red Mage Die - 62,000 gil (Chayaya Al Zahbi - (J-8))
55	Gallant's Roll	3	7	Increases Defense	Paladin Die - 90,750 gil (Chayaya Al Zahbi - (J-8))
58	Wizard's Roll	5	9	Increases Magic Attack	Black Mage Die - 108,000 gil (Chayaya Al Zahbi - (J-8))
70	Runeist's Roll	4	8	Increases Magic Evasion	Rune Fencer Die - 73,920 gil (Chichiroon Nashmau - (G-7))
76	Bolter's Roll	3	9	Increases Movement Speed	Bolter's Die - 99,225 gil (Chichiroon Nashmau - (G-7))
86	Tactician's Roll	5	8	Grants Regain effect	Tactician's Die - 109,440 gil (Chichiroon Nashmau - (G-7))
89	Allies' Roll	3	10	Increases Skillchain Damage	Allies' Die - 116,568 gil (Chichiroon Nashmau - (G-7))
92	Miser' Roll	5	7	Grants Save-TP Effect	Miser's Die - 96,250 gil (Chichiroon Nashmau - (G-7))

Merits

For group 1 merit category, 5/5 Quick Draw Recast is must have, then 5/5 Phantom Roll Recast or 5/5 Quick Draw Accuracy, or split between them. Light and Dark shot usually need Quick Draw Accuracy a lot more than damage dealing elemental shots.

For group 2 merit category, 1/5 Fold, 1/5 Loaded Deck, 3/5 Snake Eye, 5/5 Winning Streak is more useful in endgame event because it allows COR to full time Crooked Card bonus on one roll, and jump between different parties and give rolls for different roles.

1/5 Fold, 1/5 Loaded Deck, 5/5 Snake Eye, 3/5 Winning Streak is more useful in short spammable fights such as Ambuscade and Hard Mode Mission Battles in which extra roll duration isn't relevant. This is because double-up on 6 and bust is not ideal in these fights due to how time consuming it is to reroll, instead it's more ideal to Snake Eye on 6+ for a chance to get No.11. With 5/5 Snake eye merit, there is higher chance to get a free No.11 from Snake Eye.

Support Jobs

DD support job: Those support jobs are used for DD purpose.

WAR
NIN
DNC
~~RDM~~
~~SCH~~
~~BLM~~
~~RNG~~

Support role: Those support jobs are used when COR is expected to fulfill some of the support duty in party.

WHM
SCH
~~SMN~~

Other situational support jobs:

DRG
~~SAM~~
~~BLU~~
DRK

Pre-November 2021 Update, these subjobs are commonly used. The introduction of Master Levels may affect viability of certain subjobs.

Playstyle

As a Corsair, you're expected to maintain a number of buffs for your party while still keeping your DD duties under control.

Luck of the Draw: Phantom Roll

There are two major schools of thought when it comes to using Phantom Roll and Double-Up: 11 or bust, and Lucky Numbers.

11 or Bust

In high-end optimization, it's an improvement to go for 11s on your phantom rolls wherever possible, because 11 has the highest possible bonus for each die.

This strategy comes with a major risk, which is that if you end up with 12 or higher you get the Bust status effect for the die you rolled. Busting both gives you a penalty to that die's attribute and takes up a roll slot that you could be using to apply buffs.

However, the payoff for getting an 11 is huge. The instant you roll that 11 your Phantom Roll recast timer is reset. Additionally, you are immune to bust effects as long as you still have the effect of that 11 roll on your character. Finally, the recast timer for Phantom Roll is halved, allowing you to dig for more 11s to keep your streak going.

Lucky Numbers

This is going to be your bread and butter in more casual group play situations, as well as playing solo.

Each die has a lucky and an unlucky number. Rolling the Lucky number of your chosen die is the second best value you can get on it, and is generally sufficient for casual content. You're going to use Double-Up just to dig for that lucky number. If you overshoot, make a decision about how much risk you're willing to put your party through, and double up to that risk tolerance.

Bust Odds
Current Total	Chance to bust
1-5	0/6 (0%)
6	1/6 (16.6%)
7	2/6 (33.3%)
8	3/6 (50%)
9	4/6 (66.6%)
10	5/6 (83.3%)
11	6/6 (100%)

Job-Specific Armor: AF/Relic/Empyrean

Job Specific Equipment
Item	Upgrade?	Notes
File:Laksa. Tricorne +3 icon.png Laksa. Tricorne +3366px link=	Probably	Good Quick Draw piece, helps lands sleeps and dispels from Light and Dark Shot. Replaced by Nyame and Ikenga V25
File:Laksa. Frac +3 icon.png Laksa. Frac +3366px link=	MUST	Perfect Ranged WS body with Rapid Shot for Flurry builds and Recycle as icing.
File:Laksa. Gants +3 icon.png Laksa. Gants +3366px link=	No	???
File:Laksa. Trews +3 icon.png Laksa. Trews +3366px link=	Yes	Best Snapshot in any slot, allows AF body and Empy head to be utilized more easily.
File:Laksa. Bottes +3 icon.png Laksa. Bottes +3366px link=	Probably	Good Quick Draw piece, helps lands sleeps and dispels from Light and Dark Shot. Replaced by Nyame and Ikenga V25
Lanun Tricorne +3366px link= {{#replace:Increases base roll duration by +6 seconds per Winning Streak merit level, for a maximum of +30s roll duration.\|,\| }}	Maybe	Get the +1 at least for Phantom Roll Duration
Lanun Frac +3366px link= {{#replace:Reduces the chance of "one ability" Random Deal failure by 10% per merit.\|,\| }}	MUST	Premiere magical WS/Quick Draw piece
Lanun Gants +3366px link= {{#replace:Clears both Phantom Rolls (or Bust) 20% of the time per merit level, for a maximum of 100% of the time.\|,\| }}	Probably	Turns Triple Shot into Quad Shot. Combine with Empy Body.
Lanun Trews +3366px link= {{#replace:Gives Snake Eye a 4% chance of having no recast per merit level, for a maximum of a 20% chance.\|,\| }}	Probably Not	to NQ for AUG for Snake Eye, Probably not unless you cant upgrade AF legs for some reason.
Lanun Bottes +3366px link= {{#replace:Gives an invisible re-roll if the initial roll lands on a 1 or 2.\|,\| }}	MUST	The most ridiculous magical WSD piece for the job
File:Chass. Tricorne +3 icon.png Chass. Tricorne +3366px link=	Yes	If you get Flurry good for those builds
File:Chasseur's Frac +3 icon.png Chasseur's Frac +3366px link=	Yes	Activates Triple Shot 14% more often, combine with Relic Hands
File:Chasseur's Gants +3 icon.png Chasseur's Gants +3366px link=	MUST	For obvious reasons. Rediculous.
File:Chas. Culottes +3 icon.png Chas. Culottes +3366px link=	Yes	Solid Store TP piece but may create (solvable) issues with gear haste.
File:Chass. Bottes +3 icon.png Chass. Bottes +3366px link=	Yes	Perfect quickdraw potency boosting piece that also sports killer macc/mab

Equipment

New Player sets

Entry Single-Wield TP

26% Gear Haste
-11% PDT
+3% Double Attack
+3% Triple Attack

Exit-Level Melee TP

I recommend this build to start with for a number of reasons: It's non-trivial to obtain two iLvl 119 weapons that COR can wield, not to mention the dearth of early-119 Dual-Wield gear. There's also the consideration that Savage Blade is very strong, and the Tokko Sword can be upgraded all the way to Naegling, which is arguably the best 1h sword pound for pound, across all classes that can wield it.

This is about the lowest amount of gear where I would consider moving on to doing higher level content with other people. Keep doing ambuscade and gathering currency, by the end of your progression you're gonna need between 6 and 10 differently augmented capes from this, plus the 26k and change Hallmarks you need to get Naegling.