Tight-Wad's Corsair Guide/Weapons

== Swords vs. Daggers vs. Guns vs. ?Darts?==
=== Swords ===
My favorite. While our sword skill is B-, next to marksmanship, it's the second best for damage. There is one near godly Corsair sword that would be ideal for a serious COR, but is far from cheap. The Phantom Fleuret drops from a NM Proteus similar to Charybdis, it's said. On AH in Gilgamesh it retails for 700k, and will probably not be ideal for most. Corsair can equip Broadswords, Xiphos, Degens, and Bilbo type swords.
*Lv 10 Royal Archer's Sword - Cheap and Reliable, you really have few other options. Find someone with Goldsmithing 24+ to upgrade this. Conquest Points item for Sandy.
*Lv 15 San d'Orian Sword - Has a nice HP bonus, few other options available.
*Lv 19 Small Sword - A great sword for Corsair, obtainable only by The Eleventh's Hour quest, or off AH. AH price can be a little pricey, but it's free via the quest.
*Lv 40 Flame Degen Cheap if you get the drop, expensive if from AH. Also used for Northward quest for the map. Drops from Napalm, I've got then twice in a row at 10% moon.
*Lv 40 Junior Musketeer's Tuck - This is nice for what it turns into, but few other options available. Conquest Points item for Bastok, find a Smithing pal with 33+.
*Lv 43 Junior Musketeer's Tuck +1- Outside of Nation Controlled Area: Ranged Accuracy +4, Ranged Attack +4. This can be very useful for Corsair with a Ranged Attack focus. Chances are fairly good that you'll get the bonus, and it's the only sword that gives such bonus until Phantom Fleuret, which is unlikely to be owned by the cheap.
*Lv 50 Musketeer's Sword - Another item buyable by Conquest Points, and becomes better than it is right now. With few other options for the job, this is as good as anything else for a COR. Requires Goldsmithing 88+ to buff, which will be a bit harder to find, and depending on materials prices, might not be worth buffing.
*Lv 52 Musketeer's Sword +1 - In areas outside own nation's control: MP +18. This is nice for a COR/Mage setup.
*Lv 55 Wise Wizard's Anelace - The + Attack on this one makes it nice for any job who would wield it. Can be obtained with Windurst Conquest Points.
*Lv 65 Company Fleuret - A very underrated sword, I bought mine for 8k on AH, it resells for 8k. As Corsair will seldom solo, you'll get it's full benefit more often than not. It's fun to play around with anyhow, and you've nothing to lose. From 36 dmg to 41 dmg with a full party.
*Lv 70 Joyeuse - If you haven't heard of the "Joy Toy", then now you have. Gives about 45% Double Attack, it's free, but requires some effort. It's a 100% drop from Charybdis. The mob is often camped, a NIN or THF with good evasion gear can tank it fairly well, having a Bard or Corsair around to boost evasion helps. My linkshell went 7/8 on claims but this is one of the best swords in the game. Even good for Ranged Corsairs for quick TP gain. One should note using Fighter's Roll won't give you more than Double Attack, and I didn't notice a big jump in procs. I.E. 25% +45% doesn't = 70%, likely both effects trigger at the same time and you can't double a Double Attack.
*Always check AH prices for the upgradeables, sometimes the NQ upgrade is less expensive than the regular item. In which case, sell the NQ and buy the NQ upgrade and make some gil.
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=== Daggers ===
If your focus is Ranged Attack, you'll be equipping daggers. Several daggers offer Ranged Attack bonuses, making them a common sight on Corsair. With a B+ skill, they are formidible but often times less flashy. They are my least favorite weapon and the Weapon Skills for COR are less impressive, but a necessary evil for the gun toteing pirate.
====Ranged Attack Bonus Daggers====
*Lv 28 Archer's Knife - NM Drop, but relatively cheap off of AH too. +10 Ranged Accuracy and an Agility point. Every COR should have one if they are going to utilized Ranged Attack, their is little else readily available til lv 61.
*Lv 38 Chiroptera Dagger - NM Drop, Rare/Ex. +12 Ranged Accuracy. It is obviously better than the above, but probably not worth the effort to go after unless your going after one of the other two drops from Tres Duendes.
*Lv 61 Trailer's Kukri - +14 Ranged Accuracy BCNM Drop. Pricey on AH on Gilgamesh (over 100k). Do the BCNM and get it for free if you can. If your ONLY doing shots, +4 RACC might not make a big difference depending on other gear.
*lv 69 Farseer - no information other than it increases RA.
====Daggers for Melee====
*Lv 20 Mercenary's Knife - Available with Conquest Points from Windurst.
*Lv 25 Windurstian Knife - Smithing 26 and the above knife will get you this one, often cheaper to buy on AH and sell your old one. Both are good knife's for anyone who can wield them.
*Lv 30 Mercenary Captain's Kukri - You can keep Windurstian/Federation, or switch to this. If you get this, find a Smith to upgrade it, but check AH price first.
*Lv 34 Windurstian Kukri - Dittos with this one.
*Lv 46 Bone Knife - Cheap, decent, if your going this route, may as well get it.
*Lv 56 Beetle Knife - Same as above, but you get an Agi point.
*Lv 65 Anubis's Knife - Can be nice when fighting Imps, since they use Poisonga alot, ridiculously cheap, you can usually buy for the same ammount you can NPC it for.
*Lv 70 Behemoth Knife - Has Attack+ and is cheap, as are most NQ knifes that are crafted.
===Guns & Bullets===
Guns are expensive, bullets are expensive. If you want guns to be your main form of attack, I strongly suggest making your own bullets. Alchemy is a good skill for Corsair anyhow. Making bullets, making cards, and can be profitable, and COR needs all the help it can get. Here are my very biased and cheap @$$ opinions about guns.
# Don't bother til lv 22, damage and cost ain't worth it.
# Level marksmanship on another job using cheap ammo. My DRK 75 may only have an E in Marksmanship, but capped that's lv 60ish COR. You may be able to do this while farming.
# Go /RNG if you want marksmanship to be your primary form of damage. And invest in gear to compliment it. Lv 22 bullets avg about 40 gil each, every miss is 40 gil wasted.
# If your going to pull, pull with Darts. You save 5 times the money. If your party expects you to pull, and time your rolls, and be DD, they need to take one of those jobs from you and give it to someone else. You'll find other less demanding parties. Macro in gun equip/bullet equip and equip darts.
# If you want to be the best COR you can be, it's going to be expensive, that is true for every job, but as you level some things are essential and other things not so much.
====Guns by level====
* Lv 5 Firefly - Nice for Agi +1, if you get it from a Treasure Casket then equip for the bonus, your own call on whether you fire off Bronze Bullets with it.
* Lv 15 Bandit's Gun - Don't bother. No worthwhile bullets to use til Lv 22
* Lv 20 Platoon Gun - A cheap option that comes available about the same time as Lv 22 Bullets.
* Lv 27 Pirate's Gun - 33% More damage for about the same price on Gilgamesh, can't argue with that.
* Lv 30 Mars's Hexagun - Again, more damage for about the same price, and Ranged Accuracy.
* Lv 30 Military Gun - About 3 times more on AH than Mar's on my server, you get extra Ranged Accuracy. You also get more damage. You should be able to keep this til your AF gun.
* Lv 36 Darksteel Hexagun - About the same price as Military Gun, if your doing level syncs to get here, Military will be better for you. It does give you a bit more damage for a little less accuracy.
* Lv 40 Trump Gun - It's a free gun! And a good one too :)
* Lv 46 Deluxe Carbine - Free via a quest, usually cheap on AH too. It has lower DPS, but is better for Quick Draw damage.
* Lv 50 Seadog Gun - The +1 version gives ranged attack bonus, but for bullets, I'd stick with Trump.
* Lv 56 Matchlock Gun - Exchange the bonuses for more damage. Better for Quick Draw, but the Agi on Trump Gun may make it of more value depending on what other AGI you have stacked.
* Lv 60 Shark Gun - It's Rare/Ex, if you get it, keep it. Better DPS and better for Quick Draw. Purchase with Imperial Standing if your rank is high enough.
* Lv 65 Hexagun - Overpriced, Overrated. Plenty of other options earlier, and later that are better for you.
====Bullets by Level====
*Bronze Bullet Lv 1 - Unless your crafting them, don't bother.
*Bullets Lv 22 - This will be your bullet for a long while. Watch AH prices and buy a few stacks when they are low.
*Iron Bullet lv 50 - 10 pt jump in damage, which may or may not be very noticable, I'll add more when I start using them.
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===Throwing - Darts===
Yes, Darts. Why spend 40gil to pull a mob when you can spend 9? Chances are, if your pulling, guns are going to be slow delay, not a big deal, but not optimum for pulling. Also, the sweet spot for Guns is much closer than you would often pull a mob, so your hits probably won't land. You generally want the most distance between you and the mob your pulling, and that's outside any Marksmanship sweet spot. Darts are cheap, and Corsair's have a C+ throwing skill.
* Dart lv 7 - 9 gil, nuff said. Clothcraft 13, but prolly cheaper to buy from vendor because of Animal Glue. Buy some stacks, keep with ya at all times, and don't bother on any others less you find something cheaper. All other darts are overpriced, these you can get from NPCs in chocobo stables everywhere. If your leveling clothcraft, some other dart might be worth doing for skill ups, i.e. Aht Urhgan Dart made from Colibri Beaks and feathers. Otherwise, keep a couple stacks on hand and save your money.
Until lv 70, their is no equipable returning weapon, Lamiabane and the like might be another option.
Throwing isn't a viable form of damage, just a cheaper way to pull.