The next generation of Blood Pacts.

[Akiro]

i really dont think so, smn i am free to do some damage as well, rather then just a few songs with a curaga here and there, BP's give me more of a option of what to do, BP for straight damage, or magic burst at earlier levels.

SMN is balanced alright, just trying leveling it. There's not a more boring job, I don't think.

go lvl bard and any other job is heaven

I disagree!

While lvling BRD to 75 I watched the entire FMA series!

SMN was PURE misery for me... not that it's *boring* but that it sucks being the main healer with only cure3's. Have to pay attention all the time to make the PT go smoothly. =\

since i been main healing as smn i havent had any problem with main healing even with a red mage for refresh and boost with a cure 2 here and there.

[Member #63]

I'm interested in leveling SMN, but keep procrastinating the fact because of stupid squat elvaan males do when performing a summon. -.-

[Khamsin]

The single most important factor to avatar power is the summoner's level. I've tried every rumor I could find to see if it worked and I cry everytime they aren't true. All I build for now is HP because it's all the really seems to matter in the end.

Other than MP, of course. I've been putting all my merits into +MP (already fully meritted on avatar acc/atk), since +HP doesn't really do much for you. As for equip, anything with +MP -HP is good until you get more stat-oriented gear (e.g. tamas and evoker's instead of serket and vivian rings, or AF/YY instead of Zenith/Dalmatica). If you're within a merit's worth of HP of getting one-shotted with AoEs, you have other problems (or are a taru wearing full zenith, serket/vivian rings, astral earring and aspis, not using stoneskin, or standing where you're not supposed to).

[Scratchbiskutz]

Hnm Smn is hard cause the dmg isnt consistant at all, yea u can do 1k+ but most time you avg 500-700 dmg, the good news is you dont give mobs tp, and hate isnt realy a issue , which makes smns so used. id love to see them increase our dmg of give us new BP w/ higher dmg. but the issue id liek see fixed the most is the distance factor, its was to easy to "miss" a BP, the same is true w/ meelee WS, but far less, smn miss BP alot... both on kited hnm"yes i know tank stop for times to allow, but time restraits" and expecially ballista, give a smn a strong bind spell ^^. anyways thats my rant

[namfoodle]

I'm a taru so........standing next to tiamat when he does wing followed by firaga 3 followed by landing, I tend to need HP. And no, i don't always stand in range. I'm usually well out of range, but these things happen. My goal as a taru is to have more hp and mp than even the elvaan or hume smn we have and I ususally do just that.

I have something like 1200mp and 900hp. I've got 2 upgrades in MP and 3 in HP. Gigant Mantle, Intruder Earring, Heaven's +1, bomb queen ring. I'll throw in rse2 feet if i'm soloing and i've been trying to get a steepe sash but no one sells them anymore unless i don't have the gil to get it.

Makes me sad!

[Arcjo]

Yeah that's my only complaint about smn bp's, the fact that mp is wasted and ~60sec bp timer is used when a mob moves out of range. It's completely different with mob's avatars.

Dynamis Windy, fighting a smn mob and Ramuh slips through blms sleepga range and falls to where ours melee are. I flash Ramuh and take it someplace safe. Smn uses Astral Flow, Ramuh readies Judgement Bolt.
I swear to god it was barely within my casting range, and still nails me with 1k+ dmg 2hr.

I'm happy with spamming 700dmg bp's per min, I think it's more than enough. I got a invite once to do fenrir, setup was 2nins, 65smn, brd, whm, and me as 70 smn.

That pt setup had no dd ability whatsoever exception of me (or the 65 smn's 300dmg eclipse bites). Me spamming Spinning Dive over and over was enough to get it done the first try, compared to other pt's I've done it that had dmg potential with sam's, blms etc.

[Khamsin]

I have something like 1200mp and 900hp. I've got 2 upgrades in MP and 3 in HP. Gigant Mantle, Intruder Earring, Heaven's +1, bomb queen ring. I'll throw in rse2 feet if i'm soloing and i've been trying to get a steepe sash but no one sells them anymore unless i don't have the gil to get it.

Now.. the problem with that is, how much gil did you spend on Gigant Mantle and Heaven's +1 earring?

I have 911 HP and 1104 MP with 2 merits in MP and none in HP, using an NQ Blue Cape. My only significant money items (other than vermy, which can be replaced by YY) is my hedgehog bomb and astral earring, which doesn't come close to gigant mantle and heaven's +1. You could save a lot of money and still have around 800 HP and 1250 MP instead.

Do you really end up with under 100 HP after touchdown and wing on Tiamat? I don't really count Firaga 3 because that is easy to stun, and letting it go off (especially after a touchdown and wing) can take anybody to red, if unbuffed. Plus, stoneskin absorbs touchdown, so all you're left dealing with is wing, which won't take 800 HP. And if Firaga 3 did slip by on accident, and assuming your stoneskin absorbed touchdown, you still should be ok after a wing + firaga combo.

Nothing wrong with the BQ ring, its a cheap and easy +75 HP. But Gigant and Heaven's +1? There's better value items for that money.

[Scratchbiskutz]

lol, nothing wrong with using BQ ring at tiamat,

any acidental figra3 your dead ^^

for taru BQ ring on other wrymms yea, not tiamat, gigant is good choice ,and the RSE earing from ENM mineshaft 2716

but dont quote me im Hume an generally go for mp boost, trying to fake a taru

[Khamsin]

Well, whether fire resistance is worth anything on Tiamat is a whole other debate.

btw, forgot to mention I'm Elvaan, so I have more HP to spare, but I still think a taru could get by with 800 HP pretty comfortably. Or at least, just opt not to use -HP gear, rather than buying +HP gear other than easily obtainable cheap items like BQ ring.

[Taku]

Well, there's a point when if you have the money and you want the HP boost, then why not buy it? If you have nothing else to buy that is...

And I really don't think you're going to resist Tiamat's Firaga3 with or without BQ ring, so why not wear it? =P

[Okan]

Thing about SMNS is the hate issue. You're getting minimal hate for using your BPs. That DRK/WAR/THF has to build hate still..

[namfoodle]

I've never died to a Firaga 3, or noticed a difference in the damage I take. I'll usually take 1 or 2 per landing as well. The first one doesn't break stoneskin, the second one usually does with about 150 damage past the breaking of stoneskin. The ring doesn't make you take more damage from tiamat, rather, it ensures you will not resist it. Which, as a previous poster said, you probably won't be resisting anyway.

Anyway, to remedy the fire thing, i've been camping bloodsucker but met with one of the most frustrating moments i've ever had in this game! So, i'll probably not go back until next maintenence.

And, with all that +hp gear on I still have 1200mp...which is probably just as much as an Elvaan will get unless they're seriously decked out, or crazy.