Priority gear set for HUcast to be able to solo ult effectively? need advice

[Mars Lunari]

I'm starting up a HUcast for the first time and trying to get them solid enough "core" gear to do ultimate within a set amount of PDs. Currently have 680 PDs that I can spend (basically all I have stocked up over time, and I'm okay using them all here) and I'm wondering what are the essentials that I should get with this set PD amount as a budget? note: I'm starting from literally 0 relevant gear right now so I even have to get "basic" stuff like V101 (upgrading from h/battle), proof of sword saints, etc (assuming I go down the excal road), power mats, etc.

The weapon choices being the main issue as I'm unsure what the best "most bang for your buck" purchases should be here. The two roads I have in mind are either going for a 20 or so hit excal + some proof of sword saints and a tellusis mag OR go for a 50 hit (or whatever the PD equivalent is to a 20 hit excal) diska of braveman + a thirteen armor and then w/e the hell units I would need here. I know Dark Flow is another option but I assume this is for more specific niche situations and doesn't offer as much wide-range overall use as the other 2 choices. I'm leaning more towards the excal+saints but idk.

Obviously the choice of "just blow it all on a 30 hit excal" or similar such things is not the correct path, I want to be able to spread out these PDs in a way I get enough core gear to do a wide array of content at my leisure. This includes being able to comfortably farm stuff like EP4 dorphons/kondrieu for possible drops and generally just gear for most content worth doing.
, etc.
Also yes I am aware the prices for items are not 100% static and the price guide in the wiki only goes so far, so this will be based off general "reasonable average" estimates for prices on items.

 

[Ray]

This article will give you a thorough answer to your inquiry.

HUcast/Guide

wiki.pioneer2.net

Also here is the official price guide.

Price guide

wiki.pioneer2.net

I'd suggest the following as the essentials.

<Weapons>
Berserk/Charge Raygun 50+h
Berserk/Charge Vulcan 50+h
Diska of Braveman 50+h (Use it with Thirteen)
Charge Diska 50+h (Use it with D-Parts ver1.01 when you want to play risk-free)
Hell ES J-Cutter
Arrest ES J-Cutter
Twin Blaze
S-Red's Blade
Excalibur with preferably some hit% (But don't invest your whole PDs on it. Imo DOB is more important and affordable)
Restless Lion Dark Flow Set (0/0/50/50|50 is ideal if you carry only 1)
Vjaya is godlike in damage but extremely costly in meseta to use. For the reason I would be reluctant to recommend it as a starting gear. You can get 40h one for free by completing government quest 6-5 with a hunter.

<Units>
v101
Smartlink
Heavenly/Arms (For leveling)
v502
POSS (1 is enough)
Cure/Freeze
Cure/Shock
Imo Adept is not essential.

<Armor>
Thirteen
D-Parts ver1.01

<Shield>
S-Parts ver2.01 (Pre-180)
Red Ring
Anti-Dark Ring

<Materials>
122 power and 28 luck

<Mag>
Tellusis or Nidra

Have fun.

 

[I-frames]

I'm not gonna design a PD perfect plan because I don't have the clarity atm but if you want to be cheap I'd do:

45%h DoB (WAY cheaper)
Hitless Exc with as much %N as you can
30%h Jiz (these used to be more or less cheap and common but maybe not so much anymore)
*Alternative, very high Musashi, it's not valued properly for the punch it gets so you'll save a lot
PoSS x 2 (so the above weapons need less hit)
502
Smartlink
H/Battle
2-3 H/Arms
Either 13 or BOVN
Budget DF
ES Hell Slicer
C Vulcs
C Ray
Hell Ray
Blaze and S reds
Full 150 pow mats or min max plan
Half a stack of HP mats
195 Pow Console Mag (raise a Nidra leveling)

If not zerking with Diskas/DFing (wich I myself don't do for the most time btw) Charge Diska as mentioned, as high % as possible since it's not valued due to DoB being meta.

If I'm not missing anything that should work and be pretty cheap, depending on your experience you can start replacing weapons one by one or Sphering if the weapon is high enough to keep iyo.

 

[diemildefreude]

You can buy 20h excalibur for 50-70 pd, which will leave you plenty of pd left for everything else.

 

[RazakelKairo]

That's a solid budget!

I think with that you can definitely shoot for both the Excal and DF route, possibly even prep some breakpoint hit%.
Namely DoB 45h/50h are very effective, cheap and sphereable when you can choose to do so, though I'd say something like a 30 to 40h with some base percentages are possibly even better.
Jizai 35h+ hit with room for Dark (and no a-beast!) is also frankly enough and something you can just *get* and have something you can upgrade later when the oppertunity arises.

With at least one Saint, 20h/25h excal is fine. RL DF is perfectly fine too.

Vjaya's are also pretty cheap on the market but its up to you if you want to swing it. But even then, 40h from the Gov Quest is actually more than enough so you can consider that a plan for later if need be.

S-Parts will make pre-180 much more comfortable, obviously goes for RR past-180.

Obviously Zerk Raygun/Mechs/Vise (charge is fine too, the others just set you up more for DF).

If you're soloing a lot, consider getting a cheap low-hit, but with solid attribute% L&K38. It won't be great in multi, but in OPM its extremely useful.

 

[Mars Lunari]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. As a side question....in what instances do I generally want to use DF over Excal over DoB? These seem like the 3 that get the most overall use but I've primarily seen their use from a RA perspective during TTFs. I notice people using Excal on de ro le (would DF not work here? to hit multiple parts off the edge of the raft?) and using DoB on general "groups" like dubchic/bootas. I don't see DF in use that often.

As a secondary question what's my main go-to for fighting things like dorphons? I was hoping to try and farm some of these at some point.

 

[I-frames]

Not experienced with DF but I think it kinda works as a shotgun, not PSO shotgun but like DOOM/Resident Evil shotgun where every wave is a "pellet" and you want all to connect point blank at enemys tummy for lots hurt. Pretty sure trying to DF groups results into damage that's spread ot too much and not that sure about multi target enemies like De Rol but Excal can combo and DF can't so at least we have that for sure.

For tight groups of 3 enemies like the 3 Govulmers spawning on TTF always Excal and if they're a bit more spread out Diskas or sometimes Sword/Partisan, that's spawn camping (perfect spawn knowledge like in TAs) in more normal conditions Diskas from afar, Exc or Partisans to stop groups of melee rushing at you, DF mostly just spawn killing single targets but might be wrong on that.

 

[RazakelKairo]

mostly just spawn killing single targets but might be wrong on that.

Generally you aren't, as the weapon comes to life a lot when you're expecting something. Deleting a normally troublesome enemy right away is the virtue of it all.

That said you can definitely include DF in your normal play too. Most enemies are predictable enough on that regard.
Theres a few usecases where you can use it as a projectile weapon, but by then you're likely experimenting beyond the basics of the weapon