Greetings Everyone! If you are special kind of person (like me) who has a fixation with efficiency and analysis, you may find the below fascinating.
So, I have been wondering for a while if the Pillaging attribute from the Corsair class was worth it. “Common Wisdom” from the various ToS veterans was that it was not, and that in general for farming you were better off choosing Thaumaturge over Corsair for the Looting chance buff. However, I wasn’t convinced without hard data, so I did an analysis to compare. The results were surprising.
Character Used
Ch 12 Farming - Path of Destition
SR > Enchanter > Corsair: Fully attributed: Full Varna with Smugis. +16 weapon with VV Renovate Trigger ichor, Moringponia Pyktis Accessories, Lv 5 STR Ark, no Seal, Lv 3 Pantorex Card, Vubbe Fighter Reds. 1k Loot Chance. Avg MS 47
Baubas/Shelter/Sewers Farming
SR > Enchanter > Corsair (Thaumaturge swap): Full Varna w/ Smugis except Windrunner boots, +16 weapon with VV Renovate Trigger ichor, Botanical Accessories, Lv 5 STR Ark, no Seal, Lv 3 Rexipher Legend Card, Cursed Devilglove Reds. 1k Loot Chance (1.8k with Thaum). Avg MS 59
Findings of Note
The extra amount of Nucle powder gained from selling Unid’d equipment under the Thaumaturge Loot Buff was not equal to the extra amount of raw silver gained from the Corsair Pillaging buff
Adding in Pardoner “Extra Holy Hits” buff increased the proc rate of pillaging significantly. Turning off Enchanter Lightning Hands buff and not using Pardoner made pillaging proc rate almost negligible (SO SR > Thaum > Corsair is not viable for Pillaging strats)
Not using Renovate Trigger Vaivora made no difference in farming outside of Ch 12, damage was enough to oneshot in any event.
Thaumaturge cannot be used in Ch 12. Lack of damage slows down farming enough to not be worth using
Actual Results Chart
These results were taken from 10 Hours of farming each zone, recording all drops, then averaging out Silver per hour
| Zone | w/Pillaging | w/o Pillaging | Percent Increse |
|---|---|---|---|
| Path of Destition (Ch 12) | 1.6 M/hr | 800K/hr | 50% |
| Baubas Cave | 5.1 M/hr | 4.3 M/hr | 19% |
| Irridian Shelter | 4.2 M/hr | 3.2 M/hr | 31% |
| Outer Wall Sewers | 3.7 M/hr | 2.5 M/ hr | 48% * |
*This does not take into account Planium drops
Conclusions
The only situation where I can see Thaumaturge competing with Corsair for raw income is if you get more than 1 gold mob per hour (for Swell Body double drops). In all other situations, the Corsair buff is far more significant that was once thought, especially if you are doing multiple hits per shot (Double Attack, Lightning Hands, Pardoner buff, etc). It winds up being about 400 Silver per mob it procs on. And, while it does proc more frequently in zones with higher health mobs, it is still worth using in the typical farming zones.
If you have any questions, or would like me to request an analysis of any specific zones, please let me know! If you are on Klaipedia, you can find me as Team Name Moonfire in the Melody Guild!