Worst bst ever.

[Aihree]

Having never duo'd, I can't say much about that. Anytime someone asks me what pets/prey they should use in 1-35, I simply tell them to get parties and pretend to be a war for a while with a tigerfamiliar jug in the usual grind path.

But, to answer, before you have leave, I'd say focus on DC vs EM. The difference in charm duration is massive. DC will often last through two complete mob fights before your pet uncharms, while EM won't. Getting Leave is what unlocks the glory of EM vs T or even VT- in some cases, the ability to reset the charm duration timer before a fight.

Far down the road, when you have AF, you can even consider T vs VT at times, with all the charm+ bonuses on the AF.

[Skeetaru]

Keep in mind too that jug pets are a great device while duoing especially with snarl. (I mean one person with jug one with a regular pet)

[Isiolia]

Duoing tends to just mean you're looking for a little different balance of mobs in a camp.

Usually, the top end of practical solo prey is mid/upper end Toughs. At earlier levels at least, you can get capped XP on that, so there's little reason to go higher. Optimally, you want EM pets to fight those.

For duoing, usually you want T-VT mobs. Pets can be a little lower, but are still ideally EM.

It can really vary depending on what mob types you're using, and what you're fighting. Of course, there are exceptions too. Sometimes you'll find use for Tough pets and VT prey even when solo...bombs for example. DC slimes are often better than EM pets of other families.

As for what you should look for...that's part of where the flexibility of BST XP comes in really. Find what works for you in terms of effectiveness and enjoyment. Like any job, it'll get to be a grind eventually.
Pacing of fights, in part, is not so much level above you, but level relation of pets and prey. If you send a level 25 mob after a level 27, it'll fight it just as effectively whether you're 25 or 30. You'll pull hate a lot more easily though, and won't get much XP out of the deal.

Like mentioned earlier, you often times don't want to have a particularly strong melee setup. EM pets are usually nice for balancing against. Strong DC to EM pets, I'd say, are preferable for keeping hassles to a minimum, regardless of the pace that you're striving for.

If you want to push XP/hr, you'll want to tune your melee setup right up until the point where your pet is tanking most of the time. Do as much damage as you can get away with. Some BSTs will go /NIN and take hate occasionally as well.

More casual would be picking prey closer in range to your pets. They'll do more damage, take less damage, and so there's less focus needed. Tune melee enough so that you're not needing to swap pets during a fight, but not so much that you need to turn away occasionally.

Duo is, generally, more relaxing and safer either way. It's still nice to not need to swap, but you keep damage on, and the mob off of you while you look for a new pet.

Really it's stuff you get a feel for as you go. It really is a lot more about the leveling process than being 75. Provided you can get in them, parties are faster than solo/duo/etc.

What do people think about BST/DNC?

Now that Sambas effect pets, it may well become the sub of choice.

[Bakthi]

What do people think about BST/DNC?

I think it definitely has serious potential now. When I soloed on the way to 75, I was a big fan of /WHM, only using /NIN in Gusgen (which is where I really learned a lot about MGS and aggro...having all your pets and prey aggro and be all over the place forges something inside you, if you survive and make it work). I generally like /NIN for only 2 reasons if solo: if there's a lot of magic aggro anyway and little/no sound/sight aggro (sky), or if you expect to take hate regularly (Bibiki if you're trying to do rabbit v. catoblepas solo).

/DNC has a lot of the advantages of /WHM; you even get sneak/invis at the same level /WHM has access to both, though admittedly /WHM will get sneak access a bit sooner, which does matter a bit for one or two camps IIRC. You get Divine Waltz at 50, which is earlier than you get Erase but later than you get Poisona/Paralyna. It also lets your pet heal itself outside of pet food/Stay/Leave, which I think is pretty gigantic. In particular, there are some camps, like leeches vs. Sahagin in the early 50s, where one pet would be almost-but-not-quite good enough to take down an entire mob (with your assistance). This helps you out. Yeah, it uses TP, but I very, very often found myself sitting on well over 100 TP waiting to WS for the killshot.

/WHM does become pretty magical at 50, when you learn just how far 49 MP can go. But I think /DNC is a serious contender now, especially in magic aggro areas, places where a single pet has a hard time finishing the job, and places where you want Erase from 50-64. I used a lot of Regen as /WHM, and well.../DNC does this for both you and your pet, at least while fighting. That's not even mentioning Quickstep...I'm sure many of us have wanted to yell at a pet "Holy crap could you hit it already?"

The main thing I see lacking is -na before 50. I guess RR1 too, but you don't even get that until 66, and earrings/gorgets don't cost that much if you're worried.

[Callisto]

I have the same issue, I'm terrible, not just bad, but like absolutely, hideously terrible at any job that involves a pet, except DRG b/c I don't have to actually do anything for that pet to do stuff. I got BST and SMN each to 14 a long while back, and it was absolutely grueling, I'd have to HP as close as possible to where I was leveling, I'd go out, kill 3-6 things, die and HP, profit about 200 xp, rinse, and repeat. My PUP is level 1 as well but I'll go out on a limb and assume I'm bad at that too.

[Howard Roark]

yeah, bst is super rewarding, mine's not even done yet (68) but i managed to solo retribution WSNM skele as whm/bst in ifrit's cauldron

took me a couple tries but when i finally killed it i was hella proud hehe

lotta great advice here, and i gotta agree with skeetaru, try not to party too too much so you can get your 'chops', no way i coulda done that skele as party bst since lvl 1

[Damane]

Leave is the JA that makes your life as BST alot easier, lvl 1-25 suck hard on BST, at lvl 25 on qufim tough you start to get an easier life due to better camps and after lvl 35 its just win.

You just have to bite through until lvl 35.

[Silenus]

Beastmaster = Pet Assisted Suicide.

Silenus
75 BST

[Lordwafik]

BST took me approximately a year to hit 1-10 , I quit a lot of the time and left it on hold. Then I decided to just rough it out and get the shittiest xp I could, just so long as I can keep up a pace, and I did~! After about 15-17 , it just kept getting easier, mob selection/camps were more vivid etc.

I also did it the harder way , pre all the changes, pre jugpets and pre exp loss no longer happening, still had fun. If I ever had to level any of my jobs over again from scratch, it would be BST.

Now a day bst should be cake with all the exp bonuses and what not, also wotg looks like it opened up a tonnnnnn of low level bst areas.