Summoner help!

[Chinch]

Hey BG! Sorry if this has been answered already but I just wanted to ask a few questions.

First of all, am I wrong to say that to be a good DPS as SMN you have to be a good player? I feel it takes a higher skill cap than other classes, maybe it's just all the different things we do.

As for the questions.

Should I be using Thunder?

What is your DoT rotation?

What do you do after you place your DoTs? Aetherflow->Fester (Bane of multitarget)->Ruin/Ruin2/Energy Drain?


Any cool keybinding tips? Or macro tips you have?

Garuda, Ifrit or Titan? When to use one over the other?



Anyways, I am level 50 and currently getting the hang of it all. I don't want to be too heavy in groups and I want to excel at this class.

Thanks guys!

[samalis]

This is my rotation.
Single Target: Stockpile 3 Aetherflows before the fight if possible. Pop Raging Strikes > put up diseases (Bio,bio2,miasma) > Contagion > Throw Shadow Flare down while contagion is being cast > Fester > Ruin until Fester is back up/dots need refreshed. Rinse repeat.

Edit: Somehow it ate my post.

[Seravi Edalborez]

You should never have to use Titan in a 50 group. Garuda is the safe option for when close+lethal AoE is a concern. Ifrit otherwise, but Contagion makes Garuda worth considering anyways.

Have them on Obey so they don't waste time on self-buffs, stun, and AoE which all have less damage and take away time that could be spent on their high potency abilities. Garuda's Contagion is something best applied manually anyways.

Pop Aetherflow whenever it is up. If it's about to come up and you still have charges, use them. Fester generally, Energy Drain if you are for some reason desperate for MP, Bane is obvious.

Ruin II is MP-inefficient compared to Ruin, and the blind debuff builds resist like other CC debuffs. Keep it set to something you can easily hit while moving because that's the only time you should be using it on bosses (trash mobs are trash so who cares).

Other than that, keep Shadow Flare up. Try to place it so that it's barely touching a boss rather than throwing it on the tank or something.

[Chinch]

So what about Thunder? Use it or don't use it? I feel with thunder in my rotation it just takes too long to get everything up. This is especially for trash. On bosses I assume Thunder would be pretty good to use.

[Chinch]

Also are summoner's viable in endgame PvE? Would I be considered a handicap if I were to main my summoner through content? Will I be asked to switch to Scholar or level another job?

[samalis]

From what I have read, SMN are in a decent spot. Multiple groups have SMN in their Coil groups and have cleared Turn 4 with SMN. There are some problems I see with SMN that could use tweaking but right now they aren't doing too badly.

Swiftcast + Raise is really helpful when needed.

[Chinch]

Ok cool

I will be starting my Amdapor Keep runs. Any tips for that dungeon for a summoner? Any links to a nice AK Guide for each boss?

Also again, I am going to begin not using Thunder. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks for the answers guys! really appreciate the quick responses.

[zsuper]

SMN are the highest DPS in the game right now, about 20% above other jobs.

[Frein]

First of all, am I wrong to say that to be a good DPS as SMN you have to be a good player? I feel it takes a higher skill cap than other classes, maybe it's just all the different things we do.

Funnily enough, SMN seems to be by far the biggest noob magnet in the game and I think I've grouped with only one decent one so far. Heck, just today my AV run had two summoners, neither of which ever used Bio (because Bio II is better) or Bane (because my hotbar is already full anyway). The preferred nuke was, of course, Ruin II and obviously there was no Swiftcast present, either.

[Eidle]

I'm sure i'll get told my rotation is bad or whatever but this is what I do. I'm a lvl 50 smn, done a few AK's, about 30 HM Ifrits.

Single target boss fights: Go in with aetherflow stocked
Bio 2 first since it's the longest duration, thunder, Miasma, Bio, Bio is instant cast triggers GCD I can still use contagion and fester, then ruin spam, fester when it's up, I can usually dump all 3 stocks of aetherflow from the increase in duration of the first contagion without refreshing dots. Drop shadow-flare, refresh dots as needed, continue ruin spam. Contagion works on thunder, never use ruin 2 except if there's no pally in the group, then I use it but space it out because of DRs

Trash pulls of multi mobs:
Similar rotation, except I do, Bio 2, Miasma, Bio, contagion, bane, sprint in and Miasma 2, then fester. Drop shadowflare. I don't really go full out max dps on trash, I'm sure thats frowned upon but whatever I'm lazy.

Not sure what my DPS is since I dont run xivapp. Also swiftcast is a must on SMN, I was a self proclaimed battle medic for all the Ifrits I did, I used instant cast raise on so many DRGs and BRDs. It's also great for switching Egi's on the fly or if they die.

[Shalafi]

Swiftcast is the best spell in the game.

[Wulfgang]

SMN are the highest DPS in the game right now, about 20% above other jobs.

Almost positive XIVAPP does not parse SMN / DOT damage correctly by a wide margin. We had a god awful SMN in a Titan group that parsed at 320dps (gross damage of like 60,000 and he was dead a third of the time). That is impossible.

[Obsidian]

Ok cool

I will be starting my Amdapor Keep runs. Any tips for that dungeon for a summoner? Any links to a nice AK Guide for each boss?

Also again, I am going to begin not using Thunder. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks for the answers guys! really appreciate the quick responses.

Keep your pet off auto if someone is trying to sleep mobs in the pull.

[Fievel]

Almost positive XIVAPP does not parse SMN / DOT damage correctly by a wide margin. We had a god awful SMN in a Titan group that parsed at 320dps (gross damage of like 60,000 and he was dead a third of the time). That is impossible.

That is correct, DoT are not parsed correctly.

[Seravi Edalborez]

How do you career SMNs feel about Ifrit-Egi vs Garuda-Egi, and for which dungeons/primals would you use one over the other? If Garuda Egi's "not getting hit by AoE" range isn't a benefit to a fight (like say vs Ifrit), seems like it comes down to Contagion vs more dmg/hit and a better Enkindle move.

[Eidle]

I wish the enkindle tool-tip would say what it did for each Egi, I had to look online to see what they did. Unless im blind, and it's stated somewhere on some tool tip.

I always use garuda on Obey specifically for contagion, if theres case where Ifrit would be better, i'm open to suggestions.

[Seravi Edalborez]

It's on the Pets section of Action list. And pre-emptive "what does Razed earth effect do": it's basically yellow Shadow Flare without the slow.

[Eidle]

Oh, awesome, thanks!

[Karbuncle]

Ifrit's has a 200 Potency Attack with a 15 Potency DoT.
Garudas is a 250 potency AoE Attack (Ranged).
Titans is a 200 Potency with Razed Earth (Explained above).

For Enkindle. All a lot weaker than I had hoped for... But its whatever =.=

[Mina]

Also swiftcast is a must on SMN, I was a self proclaimed battle medic for all the Ifrits I did, I used instant cast raise on so many DRGs and BRDs. It's also great for switching Egi's on the fly or if they die.

It cannot be said enough. Swiftcast + Raise, Swiftcast + Egi, Swiftcast + Situational Spell as required, used it to pop off a quick Physick(saved a tank by 100 hp), Shadow Flare(chimera), etc...

Swiftcast has a 1-min cooldown and I spam its usage as hard as Rouse.