Phonton Blast Testing by Cranberry

[K_I_R_E_E_K]

Well, i always had some questions regarding PB damage because i found that many things affect phonton blast damage and even more thanks to Cranberry. (GM at schthack server)
Let's start with the obvious so that new players understand what comes next, a phonton blast that attacks is the same as launching a powerfull grants attack, it's a light based attack but it's alot more powerfull.
Being so it works best on enemys that have a low ELT (light resisntance) otherwise the damage can be alot lower then the expected.
Things that we know that affect the damage are the IQ and syncro also, this is one more reason to have your mag maxed.

But i got some suprises when i lauched the phonton blast pilla, depending on my equips or even shifta the damage would be different.
There could be only 1 reason for that, the ATP stat, so if the attack of my char affected the pb, could other stats affect it also? that i don't know, but a member decided to make some tests using several Phonton Blasts and stats to see what more could influence the phonton blasts.

Here are the results of testing on the MAGs. In an unrelated side note, the first time I killed myselfl to lower synchro, my MAG revived me. A rare occurance but neet to see. All testing was done against an offline Dolmolm. I chose this enemy because it's sort of like getting beat up by a Demolition Squid. The Photon Blast was Estlla each time

Test 1:
100 Synchro 200 IQ 1750 MST 503(503) ATP (no weapon equipped) No shield DFP 536(390) EVP 946(883)
1195 damage (tested twice)

Test 2:
100 Synchro 200 IQ 1750 MST 689(503) ATP (Raygun+3) No shield DFP 536(390) EVP 946(883)
1195 damage

Test 3:
100 Synchro 200 IQ 1750 MST 813(503) ATP (Windmill equipped, no shifta) No shield DFP 536(390) EVP 996(883)
1242 damage (tested twice)

Test 4:
100 Synchro 200 IQ 1750 MST 689(503) ATP (raygun+3) No shield DFP 511(365) EVP 946(883)
1195 damage


Test 5
100 Synchro 200 IQ 1750 MST 813(503) ATP (Windmill equipped, no shifta) Blue Ring DFP 571(390) EVP 1126(883)
1363 (Tested Twice)


Test 6:
120 Synchro 200 IQ 1750 MST 813(503) ATP (Windmill no Shifta) Blue Ring DFP 571(390) EVP 1126(883)
1572

Test 7:
120 Synchro 200 IQ 1750 MST 813(503) ATP (Windmill equipped, no shifta) No Shield DFP 536(390) EVP 996(883)
1427 damage (tested twice)


Test 8:
100 Synchro 165 IQ 1750 MST 813(503) ATP (Windmill no Shifta) (Shield ?) *Problably no Shield*
1209 damage

Test 9:
100 Synchro 200 IQ 1681 MST 813(503) ATP (Windmill equipped, no shifta) Blue Ring DFP 571(390) EVP 1126(883)
1359damage



--Analasys--
The results here shocked me. I had always assumed only Synchro and IQ affected MAG's and their PB's, I could not have been more wrong. I discovered that EVP affects Photon Blast damage for Pilla! When I first started testing, I was taking my shield off and on to control damage I was taking, and making no note as to whether or not it was on. When the numbers weren't matching up consistently, I realized this as I was re-doing my testing. Let's go over each test now and I'll explain the results. Anything that says (tested twice) means I ran the same test conditions more than once to check for damage variance. I never found any damage variance in any of the tests, it was always consistant.

In test 1 I have no weapon on and no shield on. You can see my MST, ATP, DFP, and EVP stats. My Luck stat was 50 during the entire test. I did 1195 damage. In Test 2 I put on a Raygun+3 I found to test ATP. The shield is still off. As you can see the damage did not change. This shows that both ATP and ATA have no bearing on Photon Blast Estlla. In Test 3 I equipped my Windmill. Despite the lable this test was done before the raygun one, and at first I thought it was because of the ATP and I was almost ready to come here and tell you that ATP raises damage. But it's not the ATA at all. It's the 50 EVP bonus my Windmill gives me. That 50 EVP was worth 47 points of damage.

Test 4 brings the raygun back to test DFP. I lowered my DFP and the damage is the same. This proves DFP is not a factor. Test 5 equips both the Windmill and my Blue Ring. Just look at the difference. 163 extra damage from the 180 points extra of EVP. From my calculations approximately 93% of the EVP from my Windmill and Blue Ring went into direct added damage to the blast.

Test 6 has us raising the Synchro to 120. The Blue Ring and Windmill are both on. As you can see the Syncro affects the damage. Compare the results to Test 5.

Test 7 is the same except I took the Blue Ring off. YOu can see again that without the Blue Rings EVP the damage went down.

Test 8 is the IQ test. I forget if I have my shield on or not, but it doesn't matter. Compare it to either test 3 or 5. It's less than both of them. Both IQ and Synchro affect damage.

Test 9 tested MST. Note that my MST is a bit lower. Compare this to test 5. The MST affects the damage, not by a huge ammount but it does play a factor.

Not tested are whether luck or resistances play a roll. Only one enemy and only 1 Photon Blast have been tested, but the discoveres are pretty significant. No one every thought that EVP had an offensive purpose, but in fact it does. What does this mean for the other Photon Blasts? Are Pilla, Golla, and Farlla also affected by EVP? Or do other stats play a role with those blasts? What about Leilla and Mylla & Youlla? Does EVP or other personal stats affect those? If they are, that could change the very way people do PB combos. Could the FOnewearl with her highest MST and 2nd highest EVP be the Photon Blast queen and her using Mylla & Youlla will result in better bonuses than others using it? I just don't know now. I had no idea there was so much about Photon Blasts that I didn't know. We always assumed that only Synchro and/or IQ affected them, but that has just been disproved, at least as far as Estlla goes.

Testing to continue soon on the other Photon Blasts to see if they too are affected by MST, EVP, or other personal stats.

She also made a few more tests to show other players that EVP actually did something.

On the testing yesterday where I "tested twice" I got the same damage each time.

Cranberry's base EVP is permanently maxed with materials. So I could only test modified EVP with her. Now it's time to test base EVP. Enter Yasha the HUneewearl. The testing here is simple. We take one set of stats, test it. Equip 2 God/Legs, test it. Then repeat this process.




Testing character:
Yasha HUnewearl 129
Equipment:
DF Field
Nidra 50/100/50/0
120 Synchro
200 IQ

Stats 1:
ATP: 824(824)
DFP: 587(335)
MST: 603(603)
ATA: 153(153)
EVP: 610(483)
LCK: 10(10)

Stats2:
ATP: 824(824)
DFP: 587(335)
MST: 603(603)
ATA: 153(153)
EVP: 710(583)
LCK: 10(10)

No weapon or shield is equipped. The only difference between Stats 1 and 2 is that 2 God/Legs are put on to increase the EVP by 100.


Test 1: Stats 1
Estlla damage:
925

Test 2: Stats 2
Estlla damage:
1037

Test 3: Stats 1
Estlla damage
925

Test 4: Stats 2
Estlla damage
1037


This proves pretty convincingly that EVP is affecting damage. These were all done within the timeframe of about 20 minutes (Yasha fills her PB guage a lot faster than Cranberry does) and I did the tests in the order shown. Without EVP, with EVP, without EVP, with EVP. The damage values are consistant as you can see. Again this was all done on Dolmolm. As I expected with her lower EVP and MST than Cranberry her damage was lower.

More info to come as this was only 1 phonton blast

[Lance813]

Really... Estella is EVP based. o.O

[Liu Bei]

Wow, i didnt know that! Thats some pretty good info, if you want to kick ass with the PB!

[K_I_R_E_E_K]

It's EVP and MST (besides the usual syncro and iq) that play a part in it.

In test 9 she tested the MST wich is a bit lower and it made the phonton blast damage also a bit lower.



EDIT:

Pilla Testing
All on Dolmolm again.

Test 1:
Black Sato 5/0/45/150 Pilla Estlla Mylla & Youlla
100 Synchro 200 IQ
Cranberry's stats:
ATP 483(483)
DFP 345(345)
MST 1610(1610)
ATA 156(156)
EVP 883(883)
LCK 30(30)

Equipment: Mag only
Pilla Damage:
1. 490
2. 490

Results:
With no equipment other than my mag I did 490 damage. Did this twice to verify the result.


Test 2:
Black Sato 5/0/45/150 Pilla Estlla Mylla & Youlla
100 Synchro 200 IQ
Cranberry's stats:
ATP 883(483)
DFP 345(345)
MST 1610(1610)
ATA 157(156)
EVP 883(883)
LCK 30(30)

Equipment: Toy Hammer
Pilla Damage:
1. 491
2. 491

Results:
I wanted to test ATP here without raising my DFP, EVP, or using a different MAG. I chose the Toy Hammer because it provides 400 ATP and only 1 ATA. This makes it a very good ATP test without involving ATA increases except that 1 point. It has long been suspected that ATP affects Pilla damage. But the increase was only 1 point. Does ATP just scale really baddly or did that 1 point of ATA make a difference? Let's find out.


Test 3:
Black Sato 5/0/45/150 Pilla Estlla Mylla & Youlla
100 Synchro 200 IQ
Cranberry's stats:
ATP 669(483)
DFP 345(345)
MST 1610(1610)
ATA 191(156)
EVP 883(883)
LCK 30(30)

Equipment: Raygun+3
Pilla Damage:
1. 563
2. 563

Results:
I picked the Raygun because it has less ATP and more ATA. It seems pretty certain now that ATP does not affect Pilla damage but ATA does. I'm pretty sure now the 1 extra damage in the last test came from the Toy Hammer's 1 ATA.


Test 4:
Black Sato 5/0/45/150 Pilla Estlla Mylla & Youlla
100 Synchro 200 IQ
Cranberry's stats:
ATP 483(483)
DFP 491(345)
MST 1610(1610)
ATA 156(156)
EVP 946(883)
LCK 30(30)

Equipment: Sacred Cloth
Pilla Damage:
1. 490
2. 490

Results:
This is both an EVP and a DFP test. I'm putting on my Sacred Cloth now to see if there is any difference from Test 1. As you can see the damage was identical. Neither DFP nor EVP is influencing damage on Pilla.

Test 5:
Black Sato 5/0/45/150 Pilla Estlla Mylla & Youlla
100 Synchro 200 IQ
Cranberry's stats:
ATP 483(483)
DFP 491(345)
MST 1746(1746)
ATA 156(156)
EVP 946(883)
LCK 30(30)

Equipment: Sacred Cloth 3 God/Mind
Pilla Damage:
1. 499
2. 499

Results:
MST test. Notice MST is just short of the max value. As you can see, much like in Estlla MST does play a role, but only a small one. 120 extra MST was worth 9 points of damage against this enemy.


Test 6:
Black Sato 5/0/45/150 Pilla Estlla Mylla & Youlla
100 Synchro 200 IQ
Cranberry's stats:
ATP 483(483)
DFP 491(345)
MST 1626(1626)
ATA 156(156)
EVP 946(883)
LCK 90(90)

Equipment: Sacred Cloth 2 God/Luck
Pilla Damage:
1. 491
***2. 491

Results:
I still haven't tested luck on Estlla but I'm doing a Luck test on Pilla. 2 God/Lucks are on. Compare this to test 1. You're first instinct might be to conclude that Luck has a very slight effect, but take a look at my MST in test 1 and here. Why is it different even though I have no additional MST boosting gear on? The answer is a little stat glitch that PSO has when taking mags and slots on and off, especially when a stat is maxed. It doesn't always subtract the stats correctly and to fix it you pretty much have to take everything on and off to get it to re-calculate your stats right. This stat glitch resulted in my MST being slightly ower than it should be in tests 1-4. This did not affect those test results because the MST was at a constant value the entire time. In Test 5 I swapped gear around to raise MST, and as you can see there is a slight difference. In Test 6, my base MST is slightly higher after swapping gear around again because after taking everything off, the MST reset itself back to where it should be. I'm certain this slightly higher MST. To be 100% sure of this, in the 2nd test, I took the God/Luck's back off. The damage did not change. I'm certain this slightly higher MST is resulting in the 1 point of extra damage. Luck has no bearing on this Photon Blast. This test is the ONLY case in which the 1st and 2nd values were done under different conditions. All other tests both values were done under identical conditions. This is the only exception.


So, this is what we know so far.
Synchro, IQ, MST, and EVP affect Estlla. Luck has not been tested yet for Estlla.
MST and ATA affect Pilla. Luck, Syncrho, and IQ have not yet been tested on Pilla.


This has ***NOT*** been tested, but I am going to make a prediction that ATP is the Golla significant stat. Again, this is merely a prediction at this point that I will test a bit later. I have a bit more work to do on Estlla and Pilla too, but for the moment I'm going to take a break from PB testing.

Aditional testing was made since i tought shifta would affect the damage

All testing was done on Gamecube version. Shifta was never cast. I can do a repeat test and cast Shifta before using the blast to see if that makes a difference.

Test 7:
Black Sato 5/0/45/150 Pilla Estlla Mylla & Youlla
100 Synchro 200 IQ
Cranberry's stats:
ATP 669(483) Shifta: 912
DFP 491(345)
MST 1626(1626)
ATA 191(156)
EVP 946(883)
LCK 30(30)

Equipment: Raygun+3
Pilla Damage:
With Shifta: 670
Without Shifta: 564

Results:
Shifta has affected it the damage. Very interesting. So now lets see if it's Shifta in and of itself, or Shifta factoring in Weapon's ATP. How will we know? I'll grind up this Raygun a bit and test again. Let's see if the damage rises or stays at 670.


Test 8:
Black Sato 5/0/45/150 Pilla Estlla Mylla & Youlla
100 Synchro 200 IQ
Cranberry's stats:
ATP 679(422) Shifta: 922
DFP 491(345)
MST 1626(1626)
ATA 191(156)
EVP 946(883)
LCK 30(30)

Equipment: Raygun+8
Pilla Damage:
With Shifta: 675


Results:
How very interesting. Grinding the gun resulted in additional damage. ATP appears to be playing a factor only when Shifta is in effect. Let's investigate this a little more. The next 2 tests will involve Toy Hammer and Flower Bouquet. Both increase ATA only by 1, and both have very different ATP values.


Test 9:
Black Sato 5/0/45/150 Pilla Estlla Mylla & Youlla
100 Synchro 200 IQ
Cranberry's stats:
Flower Bouqeut ATP 484(483) Shifta: 712
Toy Hammer ATP 883(483) Shifta: 1302
DFP 491(345)
MST 1626(1626)
ATA 157(156)
EVP 946(883)
LCK 30(30)

Equipment: Flower Bouquet
Pilla Damage:
With Shifta: 598

Toy hammer:
With Shifta: 598

Okay results are in. This appears to be what is happening. Your actual ATP has no bearing on Pilla. However Shifta and Grinding level does appear to be affecting Pilla. Let us verify this theory that Grinding is affecting it. The way I'll do that is with my Cranbery Rod and my 10 hit% Blueful Card. They both give me the same ATA and the Rod is highly grinded while the Card is not grinded at all. Oh I forgot to mention I still have the Sacred Cloth on in all these tests. Test 10 coming up soon on the Blueful Card and Rod.


Test 10:
Black Sato 5/0/45/150 Pilla Estlla Mylla & Youlla
100 Synchro 200 IQ
Cranberry's stats:
ATP: Bluefull Card 733(483) Shifta: 985
ATP: Cranbery Rod 853(483) Shifta: 1081
DFP Bluefull Card 491(345)
DFP Cranbery Rod 526(345)
MST 1626(1626)
ATA 206(156)
EVP 946(883)
LCK 30(30)

Pilla Damage Bluefull card:
With Shifta: 690
Without Shifta: 584

Cranbery Rod:
With Shifta: 769
Without Shifta: 663

Cranbery Rod + God Power:
ATP: 903(533) Shifta: 1155
With Shifta: 804
Without Shifta: 687

Results:
More testing needs to be done here. This is what I think is happening. I think the MAG is looking at your base ATP and your weapon's grind level, but ignoring the weapon ATP itself. I'll see if I can get my hands on an ungrinded S-Rank Rod. That should help me test this. I'm done for right now. I've got other things to do today. But I'll continue this when I have time to. I have some additional testing to do on Estlla too.

It looks like what Elenor said is correct. Your MAG understands and "knows" you, and really seems to look at a lot about your character. Testing will continue sometime later.