Summoner Group 2 Merit opinions/suggestions

[Raka]

I was wondering if anyone found it neccesary to even merit other Blood Pacts aside from Heavenly Strike 5/5 and Wind Blade 5/5..with maybe an acception of taking one of those merits and tossing it into Meteor Strike for that random Chione if you have plans to build up a Ogopogo pop, solo.

I personally am:

Meteor Strike 1/5(Just for Chione, lol)
Heavenly Strike 5/5
Wind Blade 4/5

Any thoughts? Appreciate anyones opinions.

[Dreamin]

You'll need to merit one of each of the other Group 2 merit for each avatar since they're all potential proc for VW mobs. That is if you plan on ever doing VW as SMN.

[Soranika]

With mana ceed, AF+2 hands and pants, and caller's pendant, TP bonus from merits past 1/5 is kinda pointless unless you're "shooting from the hip" sort of speak. (Summoning and using merited blood pacts without letting stay out long enough to build tp.)

I'd suggest putting 1/5 on them all then decide which avatar you plan on using the most specifically for merited blood pacts as your form of damage... which is all situationally depending on what you're fighting as all of them are pretty usefall, although Thunderstorm kinda falls on the shortlist.

[Dekusuta]

With mana ceed, AF+2 hands and pants, and caller's pendant, TP bonus from merits past 1/5 is kinda pointless unless you're "shooting from the hip" sort of speak. (Summoning and using merited blood pacts without letting stay out long enough to build tp.)

I'd suggest putting 1/5 on them all then decide which avatar you plan on using the most specifically for merited blood pacts as your form of damage... which is all situationally depending on what you're fighting as all of them are pretty usefall, although Thunderstorm kinda falls on the shortlist.

That crossed my mind as well and there were occasions when I had an avatar out and wished I had unlocked merit 2s for it.

But with Mana Ceed's timer, and generally long time you need to wait for TP to accure on the pendant, unlocking bp2 to level1 only on every avatar will give you lots of flexibility but generally much lower damage output over time. I generally get 60-75% on a BP rage round ~40 seconds (excluding the seconds it takes the avatar to charge the attack where it is not hitting)

Garuda's Windblade is only useless against a few mob types, even wind based ones like Calaeno still wilts to predetor claws, so that's a case where I still wouldn't be using an alternative avatar. I find having a maxed Windblade + gear + pendant gives me 250%+ TP Windblades all the time, which is great.

My setup is Windblade 5 Thunderstom 4 GeoCrush 1

This offers some flexibility. Garuda for slashing damage and a buffed up BP2 ; Ramuh for blunt damage/stun damage/stun and thunder elemental damage as needed; Titan is the oddball. I find I use him a lot for Earthen Armor so when I need to rage, having the BP2 unlocked is a nice bonus.

Avatars I wish I had BP2 unlocked for but don't
Ifrit
Shiva

[Soranika]

Thanks to Abyssea and now VW, there's really a reason to have all merited blood pacts. Generally it decide what avatar I'll used based on elemental weakness of the mob fighting vs avatar's survivability when it comes to merit blood pacts.

I went the typical route of 1/5 on Meteor Strike, Geocrush, and Thunderstorm and 3/5 on Wind Blade and Heavenly Strike.

I actually use Titan a lot now in VW when I'm not going for proccing so I might change my merits again based on use and favorability... I just really wish Geocrush's stun effect was actually applicably to use.

[Dekusuta]

I don't really like being forced to unlock all the tier2s for proccing.

But then again I never really liked being railroaded into either or decisions with the merit2 BP because the avatars are so different, and until recently, we couldn't give our avatars TP bonus through gear.

I might consider it when we can get 100+ TP bonus natively on just the tier 1, or if, they gave tier 1 a 40% bonus making tier 5 upgrades less desirable.

[Soranika]

I didn't know about proccing when I chose my merits. It was more about still using every avatar effectively. Some avatar's merited blood pacts are still better damage wise over level 70+ physical blood pacts you obtain through leveling. You know as well as I do, some rarely, if ever see the light of day now.

[Dekusuta]

Yeah I haven't seen Shiva's in ages. Garuda is happy tho.

[Soranika]

Garuda is very happy. As if Predator Claws, Hastega, and whispering wind didn't cement her place as top used avatar, Fleet Wind put her at the top of being the most useful for almost everything. Nevermind being nude and hips and ass that don't quit for for aesthetic purposes. >.>

Rarely see Fenrir anymore.... Leviathan has gotten almost no love since imp parties. Iron Giant's weakness to water put him at the top until Ramuh got Shock Squall... if it weren't for the VWNM at Ifrit's Cauldron, he would have faded back into obscurity to me. And Ifrit... probably having a emo "forever alone" fit.