Summoner Merits

[spooky]

I’ve recently hit 75 on Summoner, I like to cap out merits on my jobs (done BLM and BRD so far, nearly finished DRK too). I’m wondering what the best merits to do for SMN would be.
I can only do the Job specific ones as all other categories I could merit are capped (mostly in favour of BLM).

Cat 1
I’m thinking of doing 5 Acc and 5 M.Acc here. What are people’s thoughts on this?
Cat 2
How bad are these really? (Especially if you actually cap out 2 of them.) Which are they best 2? I did a bit of searching couldn’t find much relevant info.

I use SMN for HNM and some events when BLM isn’t a good choice or we aren’t lacking BRDs. I’m not bothered about soloing on it or exping.

Thanks in advance for all your help!

[Not Kuno]

I went with 5 Physical Attack + Physical Acc. Nether blast never gets resisted so magic acc isn't all that useful. The group 2 merits suck and I havn't wasted any merits on those.

[Mikayla]

5/5 Avatar Physical Attack, 5/5 Avatar Physical Accuracy, and no one will really care what you do with your category 2 merits because they really are that bad.

[spooky]

I know people say Cat 2 are really really bad, but what kind of numbers do you get with say max merits in one and capped magic acc?
Also how much of a dmg increase is 5 att? I'm just wondering if I could reduce partial resists on the magic cat 2 BPs the dmg would be better than that gained by 5 att merits.

EDIT: We also know SMN is supposed to be getting two new toys to play with. There's a good chance (50% in fact :P) that some of those could have good magic BPs and would make magic.acc worth it. Is there anything to suggest that buffs could be effected by m.acc too?
I really wish I could merit 3 magic skills =(

[frodnonnag]

i went 5 phys acc/atk too. with my massive +65 skill build i didn't feel like i needed anything into magic, so i went for pushing diminishing returns in consistency for my physical pacts. the reason most people do phys atk over magic is simple, even against group 2s physical pacts will almost always outparse hit for hit.


as for meriting summoning magic skill, its really up to you. i personally did 8/8, but at the moment its my only 75, and even when i finish off blm, i doubt i'll remove any summoning magic merits. my general advice for any summoner at 75, get +30 skill for meritpt setups, sky, and dynamis. get +45-60 for any of the big hnm targets. +30 is easily attainable with af horn, evokers ring, smn torque and some austere pieces. +60 requires some of the truly rare and harder to get items, along with a couple of merits.

[evilpaul]

With +30 skill from easily obtained geared I don't have major Acc issues generally on physical BPs. The group 2 BPs aren't that bad. People make it sound like they randomly cause Doom status or something. I just wouldn't waste time opening them unless you get really fast merits and have nothing better to dump them into.

I don't think anyone would really notice the difference between a SMN with 0 merits and one that's capped quite honestly.

[Nirokun!]

Chances are if you're on smn, its to do whittle away at a mob that you shouldnt attack with magic. That isnt to say you cant use magic dmg, but Nether blast is a consistent 508 without any merits at 75, which gets the job done and leaves you up to merit pet physical skills.

I personally have 5acc/atk because of the aforementioned bit, and to make solo fights go faster/safer (lol). Jehryn(sp?) will come in here and tell you he did 5atk/matk because the summoning skill changes negates the need for the 5acc. It really is a personal choice.

Tier 2 merits are crap because they take TP and a SC to be MB'd on to shine. And if you're giving something TP and SC'ing it for MB's, why not come on your blm? I guess tier2 merits (i almost said marids) are for people without blm leveled to give them versatility, but if you've got (enough) magic damage, specialize

I cant tell you how much 5atk merits changes dmg output, i'm just fairly sure my BP highs out-do other people in my LS.

1203 PClaw Khimaira picture i dont have time to put up lol (khimaira is the test mob now, because i dont get to use my smn that much ()

[frodnonnag]

With +30 skill from easily obtained geared I don't have major Acc issues generally on physical BPs. The group 2 BPs aren't that bad. People make it sound like they randomly cause Doom status or something. I just wouldn't waste time opening them unless you get really fast merits and have nothing better to dump them into.

I don't think anyone would really notice the difference between a SMN with 0 merits and one that's capped quite honestly.

from a meritpt standpoint, in the rare cases i delevel back to 74, its night and day with my damage. 600s-700s compaired to ~1k when i relevel.

as for the group2s, i don't think the problem really lies in them, more in the fact that there are no modifiers from gear for magic pacts. i have heard of people meriting the titan one for it's added effect.

[Indalecia]

5 Phys acc, 2 Phys attack, 3 mag acc, 1 of each tier II cause their "Purdy", 8 smn skill

Mag acc is cause I use more than netherblast. It helps.

[Karbuncle]

I went with 5 Atk / 5 Magic Atk.

The reason behind this is simple, With the +Skill Gear i dont have such a horrible Accuracy problem, although to each his own, i can see wanting to have a sense of security with 10 more accuracy in merits.

Also, if your going to merit CatagoryII, i'd go for Heavonly Strike and Geocrush.

Heavonly Strike cause Shiva fails (Rush lul)
and Geocrush because, as everyone here seem to have Forgotten, Stuns the Enemy, and its a pretty heavy stun when unresisted(Skill+ gear helps this).

I myself am going with 3Meteor/Geocrush, cause Meteor Strike looks badass (1800 Magic burst with it), and Geocrush as i stated stuns enemies.

Other then that Seems popular to go 5Attack/Accuracy. however i enjoy my Matk/Atk5/5 for now ;3

But again, Take my opinion for , just my thoughts, and gather an educated guess from all the responses ;o

[Falisa]

On my SMN I have 3/3 Grand Fall and 3/3 Wind Blade because the only fights I can see the magical merited BP could ever be used for is Kirin and Tiamat (in the air). In my old linskhell, there was a member that said with a passion that physical summoner merits did nothing at all, so I decided to just do half physical/half magical. I really don't use my summoner enough anymore to fix them, just saying what path I took with mine.

[Ksandra]

I went with 5 Atk / 5 Magic Atk.

The reason behind this is simple, With the +Skill Gear i dont have such a horrible Accuracy problem, although to each his own, i can see wanting to have a sense of security with 10 more accuracy in merits.

^ this. I'll admit I haven't capped out merits but 5atk/ 5 m.atk is my goal. I will fully admit that I could be judging wrong since I haven't capped them yet (working on finishing brd merits first), but I think it's a sound theory. In my mind there is no "skill" or attribute that boots an avatar's atk. But smn skill does effect acc. This means you can keep stacking till you find the acc that you like. But aside from a few gear pieces the only really way to boost atk for the avatar is through merits. So for me that takes priority.

Of course too each their own, but it is something to think about.

[spooky]

I'm leaning towards 3 Meteor Strike, 3 Grand Fall, 5 M.att and 5 Att at the moment. (Although going 2acc/3att 2m.acc/3m.att is also very tempting.)
I can't do SMN skill as I have 8 elemental and 8 enfeebling for BLM. (Fingers crossed they let us merit more of these lol.)
There's 2 peices of gear you can get to improve acc already, and as people have said acc can be improved by stacking smn skill.

[Eldelphia]

Acc can be improved by SMN skill and I have a heap of skill and acc gear but I've stuck a bunch into Physical Acc and it does make a difference. SMN is kinda the job I stick merits in last though cos I've have WHM, BLM and BRD to worry about. I'm 4/5 on Acc, 2/5 on PHysical Attack and 2/5 on MAcc so far. Gonna cap Acc and prolly stick another in attack. But, I don't use SMN constantly for HNM, I use WHM most of the time and if I'm not on WHM it's because we need my BRD or BLM.

I can't touch summoning magic either. I'm 6 enfeebling, 4 elemental, 4 enhancing right now, prolly gonna go 6, 6, 4.

[spooky]

I have some GS and SE merits left to do for DRK, but both my BLM and BRD have been capped for ages. SMN only just hit 75 so it's really the last job I have to merit. Although I am going to be working on RDM in the near future...

[Eldelphia]

I have some GS and SE merits left to do for DRK, but both my BLM and BRD have been capped for ages. SMN only just hit 75 so it's really the last job I have to merit. Although I am going to be working on RDM in the near future...

Yeah, my WHM was capped the minute it could be. BLM and BRD are both heavily merited but not quite finished. SMN is lacking somewhat. Thankfully my magic skill merits suit both RDM and SCH... and I'm 8/8 on MP etc

[nsx]

I'm in the 5/5 atk/matk camp as well, same reason as above.

cat2 really seem to suck at 1/3 but are actually quite useful at 3/3 as others have attested to.

[Kainsin]

Just wanted to say that I found this thread surprisingly helpful as I find myself closer and closer to 75SMN.

I think I'll go for 5/5 in Physical and Magical Attack as well and rely on Summoning Magic and gear for accuracy. As for category 2 stuff I'll just get 1 point into each so that I can show them off to friends.