Summoner / Scholar sort-of in-depth

[Judai]

I've read the cap for Crit is 20% but I don't know if it's actually true nor the amount of crit+ you need to achieve that. However a Det build seems to be better for SMN from recent tests but I think we still need more evidence.

On BRD i routinely hit 35-45% crit rate with my 584(before eggs) crit hit. I don't know if Straight Shot would break the cap but that's only a 10% boost and I don't think IR's additional 10% every 60s is enough to boost it that high(still wouldn't account for the 41-45% range). So unless that 20% cap is only for SMN... it seems highly unlikely.

Also, figuring out if you can fit boots into a set is kinda pointless with Vanity coming in a couple months, at which point she can wear w/e she wants with the best gear. Will they completely gimp her beyond repair? Probably not but they will never be the best choice with current gear/stat weights.

[Seravi Edalborez]

I don't think it was mentioned anywhere in this topic per se, but awhile back people found out the reason pet damage is less than a master's attack of the same potency is the Maim and Mend trait's 30% increase, which pets don't get.

I've been tweaking my pet macros a bit recently, so throwing them out there:



Revision on the "1button most buffs Selene+Eos" macro. With just one /wait 1 I found myself having to double tap it sometimes for Eos to do WD (because she did an Embrace somewhere in there). This seems to have much better consistency.



This is one I've been playing around with since yesterday. I also have one targeting <2>, and one <3> (which I replace <f> with during Titan/Ifrit EX since I have boss/otherhealer on Focus). The intent is not that every line will mash out Embrace; in practice it mostly works out to every other line. But /wait1 only got like 1-2 to go off so it would have to be spammed more, /wait3 was too clunky since the pet response time + recast totals up to longer than 3s.

An alternative to the /echo reminder that I saw on OF was something like

/mk square <p>
/pac "Embrace" <whatever>
...
/mk off <p>

Or

/mk square <t>
/pac "Embrace" <square>
...
/mk off <square>

But I use my fairy's marker as a benchmark in turn 5 divebombs so wouldn't want to use that personally. If you want to use other markings they are: attack1, attack2, ... attack5, bind1-3, ignore 1-2, and the respective shapes.

[Wulfgang]

Looking for advice on critical post-2.1 SMN macros and general macro (vs. micro; not the in-game command option) pet managing. I've done a thread search, but it seems this has morphed into almost more of a SCH discussion than a SMN one. I leveled ACN to 34 right after launch and haven't touched it since, so you can treat me as a noob in your advice. I'm leveling SMN to have additional DPS flexibility for BCOB 6-9 in 2.2 (main is BRD) and also because it's a monster in PVP (yes, lolPVP), but there's a good chance it becomes my main as almost no one plays SMN in our FC and it does better DPS than BRD generally.

Really looking for advice particularly on the pet commands (e.g. Obey, Steady, Sic, etc.). For example, should most abilities have Obey in it so it targets whatever you are currently casing on (does Obey even work like that)? Usually Reddit has some good posts on this, but I haven't been able to find much. Ideally, I'm looking for something that does not involve Korean SC2 type of micro managing for the pet.

[Niiro]

There's nothing SMN really has to do in terms of manual commands other than Contagion.

Obey has a dual purpose in that it both puts your pet in "Obey" mode and tells them to attack your current target.

Just having Obey on it's own rather than weaved into a bunch of macros should be fine, you don't always want you and your pet attacking the same target (moreover you can issue pet commands while casting so if you pick a new target and start casting Bio 2 you can just tap Obey while you're doing it if you want the pet to switch as well).

Sic functions the same as Obey but is the "use all skills at will" mode (ie. the default mode when summoning).

Steady stops your pet from attacking hostile targets, you mostly use this when moving about past aggressive mobs and don't want your pet to stop and try and attack them (and wind up despawning when you move too far away).

[Seravi Edalborez]

I was actually messing around for a little bit to see if Obey + Steady + macroing Wind Blade (or Burning Strike) would produce any minor speed increase in pet response time. Came to the following conclusions:

1: Technically it could, but the difference is extremely minor. A main problem is that you either need enough spell speed to make the pet response time + the pet recast time come out to a whole number (which would be a significant amount of speed invested), or SE needs to make /wait fractions.
2: Despite the intent of the test, Garuda (and Ifrit for that matter) suffer from some insanely long animation delay on virtually every move; it's impossible to, say, weave Contagion after Wind Blade. It's practically a GCD of its own.
2b: It's possible that despite the tooltip/icon, spell speed may not affect the recast time of Wind Blade. And/or it's just a hard-coded delay.

You -could- have a Wind Blade button somewhere to mash during spells, similar to mashing Bloodletter for BRD, but imo the speed increase vs effort is extremely minor. Like Niiro said, the most you absolutely need is a Obey button and a Contagion button. I just drag the ones from the pet subsection of Actions, no need to macro them.

[Grey Jorildyn]

I throw Obey into a macro with every dot, Ruin and Ruin II. This way no matter what I lead with when switching targets, my pets will also switch targets. Helps out for crap like gaols and adds imo. I also have a macro for Bio which uses Contagion since I am likely to always cast it third in the order. I find it easier to use that when in mobile fights like Titan, not so useful otherwise so I control it manually outside of that. Other macros I utilize include Aerial Slash in my Miasma II macro since both are AoE. I also have shockwave in my Ruin/Ruin II macros.

I have been thinking of just putting Rouse/Spur into these macros as well since in some part I want to use them every time they're up, but I feel like I want to control these for specific times like titan heart, even conflags, etc.

[Niiro]

I just can't really use macros for GCD skills, I'm far too used to queuing things.

I've been leveling BRD on my other char and naturally use at least 1 redundancy macro for Heavy/BL/Misery.

It just annoys the hell out of me to have to wait until the recast is up completely because I'm so used to having that window buffer to queue up the next action, too often I'll hit the macro too soon and then wonder why nothing's happening and I really dislike spamming the button to get it to fire asap (I should get a controller with turbo...).

[Stumps]

See I've come to prefer micro as opposed to macroing the pet abilities, Shift + 1 = Steady, Shift + 2 = Obey, Shift + 3 = Sic, Shift + 4 = level 20 Pet ability, Shift + 5 = Level 40 Pet ability. I've also put Heel on Mouse3 and Place on Mouse4 so I'm able to direct the pet with a single hand, especially handy for ground targeted DoT pools of bad like when fighting in CT, AV, AK, Anything Chimera/Hydra related. It took a bit of getting used to but now I love the flexibility and response times.

[Seravi Edalborez]

^ Pretty close to what I do. M3 is Heel, M5 Away (mostly for the extra actions that replace the pet hotbar, like quest mounts), Ctrl+M4 Place (on a hotbar slot because I want to use the keybind for other classes), Shift+M3 Obey (same). Steady and Sic come up infrequently enough that I just click if I need them.

[Lokus]

The only things I have macro'ed on SMN is any skill that I want the party to know I used which basically just boils down to rez and Virus. Everything else is on keybinds including all the pet actions + Heel, Steady, Obey, Place, and Sic. Shift + Alt is what I use as my modifier for pet actions.

[Nirokun!]

I only macro Aerial Slash with Bane. It makes me feel efficient. And Rouse/Spur together (no wait, mashable) to save space.

[gaogaostegosaurus]

I'm one of those people that leveled SMN to 50, got relic, and basically never played it again, but is there a reason why no one has mentioned macroing Fester and Contagion together? I'm assuming both are generally only used when all applicable DoTs are up?

[Spider-Dan]

What's the chat log filter for pet commands (e.g. You give Eos the order "Obey.")?

[Seravi Edalborez]

Announcements > Own Battle System Messages, it seems.

[SamanosukeShiva]

I only macro Aerial Slash with Bane. It makes me feel efficient. And Rouse/Spur together (no wait, mashable) to save space.

this, and enkindle+aerial slash too

[SamanosukeShiva]

I'm one of those people that leveled SMN to 50, got relic, and basically never played it again, but is there a reason why no one has mentioned macroing Fester and Contagion together? I'm assuming both are generally only used when all applicable DoTs are up?

because some times, u want contagion+bane

[Wulfgang]

Leveled SMN from 34-38 last night; really loving it. I went overboard and made myself all HQ gear / bought GC gear and was crushing DPS in Sunken Temple. Raging > Bio II > Miasma > Bio > Bane just melts shit; just picked up Fester which provides a great boost for single target fights. That aside:

1) I've been using Emerald Carby over Ifrit because I was under the impression that it was the best until Garuda. i90 SMN joined from roulette and used Ifrit the entire time for one Sunken Temple run though. Am I missing something here?
2) Does the pet do more damage in Obey than Sic? I feel like I've read that the auto-attack DPS is higher than random ability spam, but not sure. Keep in mind this is @LV 38 with no Contagion, etc.
3) Bane seems to spread DOTs based on their actual remaining duration if I reviewed this correctly last night (e.g. if Bio II has 20s left when Bane is used, a Bio II effect with 20s left will be applied to surrounding mobs). Once I get Contagion, I presume I should be doing DOT cycle > Contagion > Bane? Does Contagion's +15seconds have a cap at the initial starting value of the DOT in question (e.g. can Bio have a duration in excess of 18 seconds with Contagion or is it capped at 18?)

I ended up putting Obey in all my macros and I like it. It's great for FATE spam between dungeons with Topaz Carby so that he goes and gets some hate on everything you attack. In dungeons, it seems to work fine as well as Emerald Carby is ranged and doesn't waste time running around.

[Niiro]

Emerald Carby vs Ifrit is probably a wash really.

You keep your pet on Obey so they don't waste time using useless skills or critical skills at the wrong time. You don't want Ifrit wasting time using Radiant Shield when he's not being hit and his Stun attack is less potency than his default skill.

For Emerald Carby (later Garuda) you don't want them knocking back targets and fucking with your tanks/melee and you want to use Contagion strategically.

Once I get Contagion, I presume I should be doing DOT cycle > Contagion > Bane? Does Contagion's +15seconds have a cap at the initial starting value of the DOT in question (e.g. can Bio have a duration in excess of 18 seconds with Contagion or is it capped at 18?)

Yes.

No, not capped at original duration.

[Seravi Edalborez]

1) I've been using Emerald Carby over Ifrit because I was under the impression that it was the best until Garuda. i90 SMN joined from roulette and used Ifrit the entire time for one Sunken Temple run though. Am I missing something here?
2) Does the pet do more damage in Obey than Sic? I feel like I've read that the auto-attack DPS is higher than random ability spam, but not sure. Keep in mind this is @LV 38 with no Contagion, etc.
3) Bane seems to spread DOTs based on their actual remaining duration if I reviewed this correctly last night (e.g. if Bio II has 20s left when Bane is used, a Bio II effect with 20s left will be applied to surrounding mobs). Once I get Contagion, I presume I should be doing DOT cycle > Contagion > Bane? Does Contagion's +15seconds have a cap at the initial starting value of the DOT in question (e.g. can Bio have a duration in excess of 18 seconds with Contagion or is it capped at 18?)

1) I can tell you there are plenty of well-geared SMNs who still don't understand that Ifrit sucks. If there's some hidden secret advantage to using Ifrit in any situation outside of PvP it's still news to me.

2) Not more damage per se, but in Sic pets will waste time with their non-spam attacks (Aerial Slash, Radiant Shield, Ifrit's Stun) when they could have been doing another "GCD" spam attack. Also Garuda on not-Obey is particularly annoying because Shockwave sends mobs flying everywhere.

3) Effect duration of the big 3 DoTs is carried over at the same time it was on for the target you Bane'd, so yeah Contagion first before Bane once you have it. If the timer for one effect is less than its original duration (so 18s Bio, 30s Bio2, 24s Miasma), Bane has a chance of resetting the duration (on each individual target? / for each individual DoT?).

[Lokus]

Ifrit's stun is an off GCD skill like Leg Sweep. It's one of the reasons he does slightly more dps on Sic compared to himself and Garuda on Obey.