The Arcanist Thread.

[Grey Jorildyn]

How in the fuck are people running out of MP on SMN >< I just hit 50, but did a darkhold at 49. I ran out of MP with about 25% left of the boss.... So 10 seconds later, I pop aetherflow, 3 back to back drains and i'm sitting at 1500MP again... litterly spamming Ruin2, fester, and occasional cures to our BLM who was lagging. And I never use Ruin anymore, it's pretty much always Ruin2 and laugh all the way to the bank.

and my dot rotation of course, incase people are like " DO YOU EVEN DOT BRO???"

Most SMN don't want to blow a charge for Energy Drain even if they need it. Dps job and amirite? They spam Ruin II for no good reason (it's very inefficient), and they probably physick their pet rather than sustain. SMN is pretty damn straightforward to play imo but somehow people manage to screw it up, and badly too.

You can run out of MP in those long fights if you place too much emphasis on dps through fester. That's SMN's primary problem as I see it right now. They spiked well 3x/min but the rest of the time it's 80 potency Ruin. If you manage rouse/spur well it's just an OK dps. I don't think it has the same ceiling as blm or drg at this very moment. It's pretty low by comparison.

[Lucavi]

Just chiming in to say that my GF plays a Smn/Sch and I fucking love the post-35 spike damage of smn to end fights and the brain-dead shield-healing of sch. I'm absolutely having a blast leveling War alongside a Smn/Sch.

[popsiclestix]

I hinted this to an LS member last night when they said they were done with THM at 15. I mentioned that I was still working on Swiftcast for SCH and they should think about it for SMN as well. We'll see what happens. We're both only 30ish at the moment anyway.

Someone in the linkshell wondered why did I started to level THM all of a sudden while neglecting doing more on my 50ARC. I told her that I needed Swiftcast, as I didn't realize that an instant cast ability was available through sub. She is full time 50SMN and decided that it wasn't worth leveling THM for a spell if she kept her pet alive. A couple other people chimed in but she ignored it.

You definitely start to see the mentality of a SCH/SMN person vs a SMN only person.

[Tokitoki]

I imagine crit will be stat weighted just like any other MMO where in the random factor will never outweigh what Determination will do until you reach a point where you can constantly or near constant crit.

That's what I figured; MND > Det > PIE/Crit for SCH. Really not so worried about PIE though with correct Aetherflow usage.

[Frein]

Spreading dots via bane doesn't break sleep.

Oh? Sweet!

[Lokus]

Someone in the linkshell wondered why did I started to level THM all of a sudden while neglecting doing more on my 50ARC. I told her that I needed Swiftcast, as I didn't realize that an instant cast ability was available through sub. She is full time 50SMN and decided that it wasn't worth leveling THM for a spell if she kept her pet alive. A couple other people chimed in but she ignored it.

You definitely start to see the mentality of a SCH/SMN person vs a SMN only person.

Why would it matter if you were leveling THM for your 50 Archer? huehue

It's more useful besides summoning your pet for SMN. Besides the obvious swiftcast + raise, using it on Shadow Flare or Bio II/Miasma to expedite getting the DoTs on so you can Fester shouldn't be overlooked either.

[Ratatapa]

I love when SMN help to raise when shit happens ...

[The Blackrose]

It's more useful besides summoning your pet for SMN. Besides the obvious swiftcast + raise, using it on Shadow Flare or Bio II/Miasma to expedite getting the DoTs on so you can Fester shouldn't be overlooked either.

Something I need to bring up here about instantaneous DoTs and Fester/Bane/Contagion. If your DOT rotation ends on Bio, do not Bane/Fester/Contagion immediately. In fact, this may be true of all DOTs. Reason being is that while your action fires off immediately, Bio (and other DOTs) does not register on the debuff list immediately. Therefore, Fester/Bane/Contagion may not include Bio in its desired effect. Let it get on the Debuff list first before you start firing off stuff.

Now speaking more generally. If SMNs are running out of MP, then they're:

a. Spreading DOTs to all possible targets without using Bane
b. Using Ruin II over Ruin in a non-mobility fight
c. Not using Aetherflow properly (eg. every time it comes up)
d. They're using their mana rezing an idiot.

If it's options A-C, then the SMN is an idiot. If it's option D, it's someone else in your party being an idiot.

[Alkar]

Most SMN don't want to blow a charge for Energy Drain even if they need it. Dps job and amirite? They spam Ruin II for no good reason (it's very inefficient), and they probably physick their pet rather than sustain. SMN is pretty damn straightforward to play imo but somehow people manage to screw it up, and badly too.

You can run out of MP in those long fights if you place too much emphasis on dps through fester. That's SMN's primary problem as I see it right now. They spiked well 3x/min but the rest of the time it's 80 potency Ruin. If you manage rouse/spur well it's just an OK dps. I don't think it has the same ceiling as blm or drg at this very moment. It's pretty low by comparison.

You're forgetting their DoTs though, fester isn't everything they have. Another big problem is that a lot of players keep their pets on Auto instead of issuing commands themselves.
Oh and every stun ability on the pets is pretty worthless because they never use those as soon as you tell them, that needs to change.

[Pepinot]

Something I need to bring up here about instantaneous DoTs and Fester/Bane/Contagion. If your DOT rotation ends on Bio, do not Bane/Fester/Contagion immediately. In fact, this may be true of all DOTs. Reason being is that while your action fires off immediately, Bio (and other DOTs) does not register on the debuff list immediately. Therefore, Fester/Bane/Contagion may not include Bio in its desired effect. Let it get on the Debuff list first before you start firing off stuff.

Great advice. I noticed sometimes my Bane would not "spread" my Bio during my last dungeon. Now I know why...

[The Blackrose]

Oh and every stun ability on the pets is pretty worthless because they never use those as soon as you tell them, that needs to change.

This is why Ifrit is left on Sic. Garuda should definitely be used in Obey, though.

[Seravi Edalborez]

Bored so I ran some more tests on heals and how stat changes affect fairy.
Stats

Spoiler: show

Ifrit's Codex, Strategos Bliaud, Felt Sash, Warlock's Pattens, Strategos Choker, Turquoise Earring/Bracelet (HQ)/Ring (1 HQ 1 NQ), for ambiguous gear. No melds currently

Fairy HP: 2729

--

Tested with above gear:

Embrace: 427-453
Whispering Dawn ticks: 138-153
Physick: 689-731
Adloquium: 517-548
Succor: 258-273

--

Removed AF gloves
Net change: VIT/PIE-7, MND-8
(Note: self HP drops to 2684, fairy HP drops to 2628)

Embrace: 420-444
Whispering Dawn: 136-151
Physick: 676-716
Adloquium: 507-537
Succor: 254-268

--

Removed necklace
Net change: MND/Determination -8

Embrace: 418-443
Whispering Dawn: 136-151
Physick: 673-714
Adloquium: 506-536
Succor: 254-268

--

Removed earring, 1 ring, and (HQ) bracelet
Net change: -15 MND

Embrace: 410-435
Whispering Dawn: 133-147
Physick: 663-703
Adloquium: 498-528
Succor: 248-263

--

Changed Ifrit's Codex to Embossed Book of Electrum
Net change: Magic Damage -10, VIT -7, INT+12, MND-6, PIE-11, Determination -18
(Note: self HP drops to 2684, fairy HP drops to 2628)

Embrace: 365-388
Whispering Dawn: 117-130
Physick: 593-628
Adloquium: 447-471
Succor: 221-234

-----

tl;dr - base DMG on weapon seems to be really important (if it wasn't already a no brainer). Determination seems to have small-to-no effect in small amounts.

Funfact: Succor and Adloquium "shields" will overwrite themselves but only if the new shield (aka HP cured) is stronger than current shield.

[Alkar]

This is why Ifrit is left on Sic. Garuda should definitely be used in Obey, though.

Ifrit on Sic is just as bad. You don't want him to spam all his abilities and lower his DPS even further. He's gonna use up that Stun for nothing and this could easily ruin some fights if you aren't careful (Ifrit Hard for example).

[Frein]

Ifrit on Sic is just as bad. You don't want him to spam all his abilities and lower his DPS even further. He's gonna use up that Stun for nothing and this could easily ruin some fights if you aren't careful (Ifrit Hard for example).

Obey is completely pointless, in my opinion, because you can't issue pet commands while doing stuff yourself. It's either cast spells or give orders. This is one reason to why it takes forever to move a pet away from an AoE.

[Seravi Edalborez]

It sort of works if you use them like you would a non-GCD before a GCD spell. But that's a bit moot since we can't macro them and they will do some things you don't want them to even on Obey.

[Niiro]

Stones of mythology make for a nice counter of how many ifrits I've done.

23 in the last 2 days, never even seen a SCH book (seen ~6 SMNs, didn't get any of course).

Kill me please.

This shit is 1.0 all over again except there aren't even tokens to fall back on.

[Gokulo]

Stones of mythology make for a nice counter of how many ifrits I've done.

23 in the last 2 days, never even seen a SCH book (seen ~6 SMNs, didn't get any of course).

Kill me please.

This shit is 1.0 all over again except there aren't even tokens to fall back on.

I heard some people say SCH book has a pretty huge drop rate actually. Personally, I did only a couple of Ifrits and seen 2.

[Zzsark]

I heard some people say SCH book has a pretty huge drop rate actually. Personally, I did only a couple of Ifrits and seen 2.

RNG....shits annoying as hell now without tokens (does 100% on 1 wep really make up for not having tokens? I don't think so SE). Finally saw the stupid book drop once out of maybe 15 runs tonight and got beat by the other SCH in the pt by 3 points. Rage inducing. Guy didn't heal at all.

[Alkar]

Obey is completely pointless, in my opinion, because you can't issue pet commands while doing stuff yourself. It's either cast spells or give orders. This is one reason to why it takes forever to move a pet away from an AoE.

Sorry but if you're not using Obey you're losing a lot of DPS. How is improving your damage pointless? You don't even need to move pets away from AoEs with very few exceptions (and those can be avoided with proper positioning).
That's the reason why I use Contagion after Bio, I'm waiting on my GCD and I have time to issue the command. Yeah, it needs to be more responsive or at least show you that it'll be used.

[Kiarax]

b. Using Ruin II over Ruin in a non-mobility fight

That Blind is actually a pretty great support tool. Obviously a Paladin can blind himself but if you have a WAR it is worth throwing out as MP allows. Ifrit HM is immune to Slow but Blind will cause him to miss by a noticeable amount for example.