How-to Guide: Puppetmaster

Category:Guides 
The Astounding Puppeteer: Puppetmaster
----
These traveling performers use their customizable puppets, known as automatons, to amaze crowds and dumbfound their enemies. The puppet can aid its master and his(or her) party in a multiple of ways ranging from healing, enfeebles, nuking, shooting the enemy full of bolts from a distance, or attacking the enemy face to face with a clipper blade. The master themselves utilizing the flexible movement's that accompany the art of puppetry can fight along side their puppet with a competent skill level in hand-to-hand(H2H). 
'''
Job-Race Combination's'''
----
Please note that race is the absolute last thing you should worry about when picking a job. Anything said here is seriously exaggerated. A single piece of gear can often make up for a race's negligible lack in a stat. Every race also gets "Race Specific Equipment", or "RSE", that will boost a race's stats to equal, or possibly even surpass other races. That and the job is more about the puppet then the player.
Hume
*Hume as with all jobs enjoys a healthy even spread of stats. This is helpful as a Puppetmaster because all stats can be potentially helpful depending on the role in which you plan to play alongside your puppet, whether it be to melee with your puppet at your side, or even subbing a caster job and supporting your puppet and your party from afar. 
Elvaan
* As a Elvaan you possess the highest strength of all Puppetmaster's thus hypothetically doing the most damage of all race's when using hand-to-hand. However Puppetmaster's naturally low accuracy as a by product of its C hand-to-hand skill is more apparent in Elvaan then in any other race, thus when meleeing as a Elvaan it is suggested you invest more so in Accuracy gear then other races. While Elvaan's naturally low MP may seem to cripple them when attempting to aid their party by subbing a caster job, this can be greatly amended by using the RSE equipment available to them.
Tarutaru
* Tarutaru have the second highest DEX and AGL of all Puppetmasters, as well as possessing the highest base MP(when subbing a caster). As a Tarutaru accuracy isn't quite as a large of an issue as it is with Elvaan but is still a highly important stat but what good will hitting do, if you hit for 0. So it's suggested that if you plan to melee as Tarutaru Puppetmaster to acquire some ATT and STR gear alongside your ACC gear, the Tarutaru RSE gear is very useful for amending this weakness. Tarutaru's high natural MP greatly compliments Puppetmasters middle of the road stats and plethora of caster gear, aiding them greatly should the puppetmaster choose to cast alongside their puppet.
Mithra
* Mithra have the Highest DEX and AGL of all puppetmasters, and possess a decent base MP. Mithra's high base DEX stat works wonders to help them over come Puppetmasters low ACC, and the AGL helps them dodge more in solo, however this is no reason to completely ignore ACC as you will still miss(alot) if you do not gear up with a large amount of ACC gear, but this does free you to get more ATT and STR gear then the other races. As for playing a caster role they play very much so like a Hume would.
Galka
*Galka have the highest VIT and second highest STR of all Puppetmasters with their only 2 major weaknesses being their natural MP(when subbing a caster), and low CHR(though this won't usually effect you.) Galka PUP are at an advantage in solo play as pup having both high HP and VIT as well as competent agility, they can take more hits and hold out for longer periods of times while waiting for their puppet to heal them. Galka's High STR and VIT are helpful to a PUP as they are the two primary modifiers in just about all H2H Weapon Skills. When choosing to play a caster role Galka need more MP gear then all other races, money but luckily for them the Galka RSE sets are amongst the most potent MP increasing sets money can buy. Through RSE Galka PUP's can go from having one of the lowest MP pools to one of the highest.
Equipment Choices
----
Weapon 
* Puppetmasters weapon of choice is H2H, in particular Sainti, which deal slightly less damage then other H2H weapons on average but are faster and usually include by ACC bonuses. Another alternative to this is at level 51 Puppetmaster gets access to the elemental staves which help greatly when casting as Puppetmaster, and when using staves you also get access to the grips what you can use to get even more MP. However it should be noted that Puppetmasters have no native skill in Staff thus they have little to no application when meleeing.
Armor
* While leveling up Puppetmasters share the same level of armor with White Mage's, meaning that Puppetmasters whilst leveling have doublets as their heaviest armor. At the higher level's Puppetmaster's get access to a variety of rare heavier armor sets that grant them larger bonuses in melee stats then is the norm for Puppetmaster armor, these include sets such as the Cobra Harness Set, Enkidu's Harness Set, and arguably the greastest set of them all to melee in as Puppetmaster, the Usukane Haramaki Set. When playing a supporting role though ultizing a caster sub Puppetmaster's large array of caster gear comes in to play, as Puppetmaster has access to just about every generic caster set available in the game. However it should be noted that one should seek out gear the grants bonuses to their automaton above all else, because again the job is more so about the puppet then the player.
Support Jobs
----
Puppetmaster is probably one of the jobs most impacted by its choice of sub, simply because of the reason that Puppetmaster Main doesn't grant the master a role and focuses almost entirely on the puppet, thus the master must draw a role from his sub job. One side note though, the puppet is not effected in anyway by its masters choice in sub.
Warrior
* The most common and arguably most effective sub job when meleeing or soloing as a Puppetmaster. First off it grants the Puppetmaster Provoke which will help the Puppetmaster tank for his puppet in solo utilizing the jobs naturally high evasion and allowing Stormwaker, Harlequin, or Soolsoother Puppet to act as a healer. Berserk is helpful for fixing Puppetmasters low ATT issues, further complemented by Warrior's attack bonus. Defender can be helpful in solo when things are looking bad and your waiting for your puppet to heal you. Double Attack will help you get more hits in a smaller period of time greatly enhancing your Damage. Lastly Warcry boosts your attack for a short period of time and draws quite a bit of hate, very handy in solo when your puppet pulls hate off you, or pulls hate in a party.
Monk
* Arguably the best sub job for a DDing Puppetmaster prior to level 25, which is when Puppetmaster gets Martial Arts I. People may later use it for access to Martial Arts IV, granted through using the Monk sub job cape Wrestler's Mantle. Also it grants access to the job ability Focus what can help cure Puppetmaster of its ACC issues for the duration of the duration of the effect. However it loses in overall damage later in level to other DD sub jobs available to Puppetmaster.
White Mage
* Through subbing White Mage and the proper caster gear a Puppetmaster can effectively act a support healer for thier party, when accompanied by the Soulsoother puppet a Puppetmaster can potentially act as the primary healer for a party, and with the proper attachments and gear a Puppetmaster can potentially be a one of the most MP efficent healers.
Ninja
* Unfortunatly this subjob doesn't really become a option till level 74, the level in which one can cast Utsusemi: Ni when subbing Ninja. However upon acquiring this level and with the proper Evasion gear a PUP/NIN a soloing puppetmaster can potentially be very effective at avoiding just about all damage whilst requiring minimal heals. It should also be noted that the enfeebles even if they should miss still give their full hate.
Blue Mage
* Another potentially effective sub for use in solo. With cocoon and damaging spells a Puppetmaster can gain higher then average defense and be able to keep hate through damage. However when subbing BLU you likely will go through MP very quickly in order to keep hate, thus refresh through some means is almost always a must when subbing BLU.
Scholar
* An alternative sub job to White Mage when acting as a support caster in a party, and arguably the better of the two. Seeing as through the use of Light Arts a PUP/SCH can aquire B skill in Enhancing, Divine, Healing, and Enfeebling Magics. Which allows you to be more potent, on top of the fact that light arts reduces the cost and casting time of all white magic by 10%. Also at level 70 Scholar grants Puppetmaster the job ability Sublimation which will gradually store up to 1/4th of the Puppetmasters HP into a side mp pool, what the Puppetmaster may later add to their MP when they feel it is needed.
Dancer
* Another sub job for Puppetmaster, also acts as a alternative method to support heal in a party should one wish not to be a caster. In some set ups, a PUP/DNC accompanied by the Soulsoother Puppet can main heal for a party. This sub is also effective when soloing in the earlier levels, however later in level it can prove difficult to keep hate off a well geared puppet with dancer as your sub job, and besides at this point your puppet will usually be more then capable of keeping you alive. This sub is also highly useful in events such as Campaign battle, where with this sub job and a healing puppet the Puppetmaster becomes near unkillable so long as no NMs choose to attack the poor Puppetmaster.
Puppetmaster As A Support Job.
* Unfortunately Puppetmaster doesn't have very much to give as a sub job as all it gives is a puppet up to half the level of your current main job. Though it is worth noting that you can skill up a puppet all the way up to the efficiency of a level 37 Puppet while subbing Puppetmaster. This can prove useful when you get Ranger puppet who can be very difficult to skill up early on. 
Job Abilities, Traits and Puppets
----
TWO HOUR
* Overdrive: For the duration of 1 minute your puppet gains immunity to overloading, however it should be noted that your puppet will still accumulate burden and will be very likely to overload afterwards should you spam maneuvers for the duration of the effect. Your puppet also gains significant bonuses in accuracy, attack, defense, evasion, attack speed, magic accuracy, and potentially more. The effect also seems to grant your puppet high resistance to enfeebling effects.
Job Abilities
Activate (Level 1)
* Calls forth your puppet to aid you in battle. Ideally one should wait 4 minutes after activating to do maneuvers in order to minimize the chance of overloading. The cool down of the effect is 20 minutes, which begins after use of the ability, not the death of the puppet.
Repair (Level 15)
* The main means of which you will heal your puppet outside of resting, this job ability will grant your puppet a potent Regen effect, it requires Automaton Oil to use. The Automaton Oil comes in 3 tiers each more potent then the last. Cool down 3 minutes.
Pet Commands
Deploy
* Tells your Puppet to engage a enemy of your choosing.
Deactivate
* Sends your Puppet away. If your puppet is at full hp, it will set the cool down on Activate back to 0.
Retrieve
* Tells your Puppet to come back to you, useful for when you need to reposition your Puppet for whatever reason.
Elemental Maneuvers
*Alters your puppet's AI in various ways altering what your puppet chooses to prioritize. Through the use of maneuvers a Puppetmaster can control their puppet's choice of spells, WSs, and what attachments the puppet will choose to receive higher bonuses from. However it should be noted that if one chooses to do to many maneuvers of the same element to quickly they risk overloading, what is acts as the bane of all Puppetmasters.