Best Job to Duo with Beastmaster?

[Sappho]

I've got a friend who just started FFXI for the first time about two weeks ago.

He is determined to play Beastmaster, so I wanted to get the BST community's advice on what would be the best job for me to team up with him.

Thanks in advance.

[Phogg]

As a completely biased BST, the best job to duo with one BST is another BST. I duo'd with my wife 1-92 with me BST/nin and her BST/whm or BST/rdm. Now lots of people sub DNC also on BST.

Outside of that bias, I still think BST is the best option for both jobs because of the nature of the job, especially if you plan to charm your way up, which I highly recommend as its the most rewarding way to level BST IMO. Anyway, when charming there is a fine balance one needs to strike to keep hate on your pet, and not on the master. This can be difficult if not impossible for other jobs to manage along with a BST because the BSTs will be operating at what I call a "Zero hate" scenario, meaning that they maintain a perfectly even balance of hate between them and their pet to push the dmg they deal as high as possible without pulling to much hate and taking DMG themselves. Any even mediocre DMG dealer will constantly need to turn away from the battle once they take hate.

Summoner is a decent option, but its slower because the SMN will regularly need to rest for MP, where an effective BST duo almost never needs to stop fighting. BSTs are also a bit more durable when dealing with tough situations, links etc.

This becomes entirely different if you plan to use jug pets the entire way due to "Snarl" making it easier to keep hate on the pet. In that case pretty much any job will work but I don't think its nearly as exciting as playing a charm based BST, especially if you plan to party and not just duo, in which case the BST basically fills a DD slot in party scenarios.

[Olor]

PUP would be fun. But mega expensive. Good thing about PUP though is you'd have a built in whm so you could probably ride the hate line a little closer.

[Xilk]

Pup and bst work great ofcourse, but Summoner duo's fantastically w/ a bst. They are a perfect complement and contrast to a bst's abilities. They can provide the kind of hate-sharing that bst can, plus great curing, support and magical damage that a bst cannot.

I think Smn is best duo partner for bst.

[Sappho]

Thanks for the fast replies. I was thinking a 2nd BST would be the best option, but I never considered PUP or SMN.

I don't know diddly about PUP or SMN, though.

Olor, you said PUP is expensive? What makes it expensive?

Xilk, would a SMN need Diabolos and Fenrir to be an effective BST duo partner? I quit FFXI before fenrir & diabolos were released so I don't have those.

[Granny]

unless ur planning on leeching the jobs up and do endgame content and have access to very good smn gear or abyssea atma smn is a bad choice to duo with bst. dnc, nin, blu and headbut spam, rdm, brd, pup, bst, possibly other dd jobs with dnc sub depending on lvl, would go great.

bst would be fastest and highest exp per hour as duo partner since u can fight higher lvl mobs and kill faster.

the other jobs u could fight slightly less stronger mobs that would require only one charmed pet and kill fast like with dnc or nin they shouldnt take hate from pet and can manage hate and only ws half way through mob is dead or to finish off mob, and can even tank it for a bit.

mage jobs can enfeeble and greatly help the pet and allow u both to melee depending if mob has AoE tp moves. and sleep/lullaby/bind/grav w/e if u have to grab another pet.

other dd jobs are already very strong on lower lvl mobs which now give a lot of exp, drg gets penta early and so forth could spam EM and stuff like that, so rng sam drg could be a option if u want to always fight weaker mobs and spam through.

or u could simply lvl bst to cap in abyssea, then sub it to rdm nin blu brd dnc and charm/dd/enfeeble along with ur friend which would be the ideal way to do it with a new player and allow u a very high upper hand in all the fighting situations.

another option is u go sch or blm, rdm if u think u got skill and lvl up the old blm way on nuking high lvl bst pets, which is quite high exp per hour and ur bst friend could pull the bst pets safely and melee them down alittle while u rest for mp between chains and so forth. sch can take on higher lvl bst pets than blm, and blm higher than rdm. I know this becase I solo'd/duo'd blm and sch up on bst pets. and used rdm with friends.

solo'd/duo'd bst up old way too.

there are many many options now, and I havnt even touched on doing Fields of Valor and so forth.
But as a word of wisdom, smn is NOT a good duoing up partner for bst if u plan on exping. It is in no way a practical idea, I have smn lvled since forever, love the job, have tried it with bst before 75 lvl cap and it sucks beyond all measure for what ur looking to do lol.

SMN is great job though I use it all the time and think everyone should have it lvl'd ^^

Good luck on your adventures with your friend!!!!

[Phogg]

If you plan to go the smn route, be constantly on the lookout for camps with Bombs as you progress through levels. Self-destruct is your friend. Goblins can also be similarly nice.

[Sappho]

If you plan to go the smn route, be constantly on the lookout for camps with Bombs as you progress through levels. Self-destruct is your friend. Goblins can also be similarly nice.

I do remember reading a few years back that you could force Djinn to explode somehow. Thanks for the tip.

[Phogg]

Yeah, the Djinn thing has to do with casting magic on them which matches the elemental day of the week. Sadly some bomb camps went away with GoV changes. The fastest levels we ever got duo was in the basement of Garliage Citadel against IT Hellmines ages ago :/

[Olor]

Olor, you said PUP is expensive? What makes it expensive?


The attachments - a few of the more useful attachments for your auto cost over 1 million. You can get by without buying them, but it will reduce your effectiveness. I'm not even level 30 on PUP and I spent over a million on it, and never bought any of the more expensive parts.

Examples:

Optic fibre: http://www.ffxiah.com/item/2353/optic-fiber
Tranquilizer: http://www.ffxiah.com/item/2348/tranquilizer

If you're interested in the job I highly suggest asking people here about it: http://www.zam.com/forum.html?forum=253

Or just browse the threads...

On the bright side, once you have them the job is actually cheaper than BST, which continually pisses gil away on jugs and food.

[Atropa]

I must agree. BST duo will win in most situations.
-I've also leveled PUP. At the time most of the attachments weren't as expensive as they are now. Optic Fiber was the one I paid the most for. 750k is what it cost me. Now the attachment is 1m+ from what I read. It must also be said, I have not gotten any of the new attachments. Maybe I should look at the prices of the new attachments. I've not played PUP in a while.

Off topic: Olor, may I inquire where you found your signature? Is there a web site? /cheers ^^v

[Zhronne]

Kingfury probably made it? He's a guy here on forums, doing signatures for people who request them (there's a long queue though :P)

[Xilk]

Xilk, would a SMN need Diabolos and Fenrir to be an effective BST duo partner? I quit FFXI before fenrir & diabolos were released so I don't have those.

You don't need fenrir and diabolos to be effective, but the more the better.
SMN probably is best for harder NM's than leveling, but xp is so cheap now, i don't think it matters much. Its most important to play a job you enjoy, imo.

As far as making Djinn explode... if you hit them w/ a spell matching the element of the day, it gives them 100 tp. You stand at max distance w/ pet tanking it, while you spam cheap fast spells that match the day. dia is the best on light day ofcourse. /rdm and /sch are best for this sort of thing. if you spam it they blow up pretty quickly... if you take hate they chase you down and destroy you. Its high-risk-high-reward xp, but Its a blast and I've done it many times in a stable situation.

[Bardiel]

Ahh, level 46-50 East Ronfaure [S] Djinn BST parties! Such fun, such mayhem!

Sappho: DO be sure to do this when you're at 46. There are some pre-requisites to ensure maximum laughs.

1) This camp is best duo/trio'd. Three *capable* BST's and Skype/Ventrilo/TeamSpeak/Mumble = funsauce. By capable, I mean a BST that knows how to quickly juggle pets in the event of failed charms by partners WHILE kiting a Djinn through trees.

2) RDM/SCH subjob, nuff said.

3) Exp rings. No, really, you don't need them but you'll want them.

4) Reraise items. Yes. Definitely.

Your camp is near the intersection of I-10 & I-11, on the hill, and you'll be fighting Djinn at the bottom of the same hill, southward. Start with Ladybugs (excellent tanks!), save the Colibri for emergencies (since they fly FAST; great rapid deployment pet), rake in the exp. Lather, rinse, repeat. If you happen to be anywhere in the vicinity of Nocturnal Combustion, expect to eat a 3.8k-5k explosion and drop dead so fast you'll leave a crater. Kinda fun to sneak a quick spell on a fellow BST when they're setting their pet just for laughs. :)

I don't normally suggest syncing, due to the eventual skill hit (unless you really don't mind skill-up parties), but inviting friends along of appropriate level as a sync-target (subjob leveling?) will certainly prolong the fun, and help friends out at the same time.

[Xilk]

My favored Djinn hunting is Vunkerl at level 62+
crabs for pets.

[Bardiel]

Xilk: Agreed, very fun, very traumatic and hectic (if things go wrong). Occasionally someone would be yanking all the crabs for Magian trials, so I'd have to kite around a wall while throwing Pugils at the Djinn until more respawn. >.>

[xbobx]

I use to duo bst and pup way back and it worked well. The thing that makes it possible is snarl to insure that the bst jug gets the majority of the hate.
The pup should use VE puppet, it is more steady dmg and can be scaled back so not to spike, it also can heal itself with its weaponskill if there is any aoe.
With this setup you could have all four meleeing with the jug pet tanking. The puppet has some attachments that can help out also like flash and dispel.

[Koroma]

Pup+bst is the best dou lvling on mage mobs pup silences them and bst tank them, works shockingly good espically in older zones mage mobs cant hit a wall.

[SNK]

My favorite old school camp was in the Boyada tree with 6 BSTs and 6 Mandy pets vs Gobubuus. It was a lot of fun and truthfully while I do miss it, I think BST has become a better job overall with the amount of changes the job has gone thru.

[Gotterdammerung]

I have duo'd with every job on bst. So it doesn't really matter what you bring but some jobs definitely work better. I like Bst/whm Bst/dnc the best for a duo combo.

Any other pet job is at an advantage.

Bst and blm can work together very well if you pick your camps and prey. The bst pulls and lowers the monster health. The blm can debuff and/or Dot then rest until it is low enough to kill with 1 spell. Then rest for the pull. It takes some getting used to but it runs smoothly.

This works exceptionally well when targeting beastman jug pets. The bst provides a 100% safe pull.

[Olor]

Kingfury probably made it? He's a guy here on forums, doing signatures for people who request them (there's a long queue though :P)

Yes, it was Marcus

[Dreamin]

If we were still living in a world where charm means a skill that needs to be truely master to play the job well, I definitely would suggest duo as 2x BST.

You'll learn about:

1. Hate (how/when/why/what) and its relationship between you/your-pet and your mob (as well as your pt members).
2. How to be aware and use your environments to your advantages.
3. What are the right way to depop mobs if:
- you want it to just be out of your way.
- you want the areas where you're at to be free of unwanted mobs.
- you need to maintain a good supply of fresh pet(s).
4. How to 'pin' the mob at a fix location with only 2 pet jobs with full hate control (without using anything that would be illegal in SE's eyes).

Seriously, I miss the old days of BST where we can control our entire environment regardless of where we're at (all but Dynamis/Sky/Sea and BCs - and pre-Salvage/Assault).

[Bookong]

I'm with the others-two BSTs, or one bst and the other /bst. if you keep the mains and subs offset like that, you will have a great opportunity to level subs and have another job at full strength. just keep your bst main higher then the lvl of your other job when flipped. i'd suggest /rdm at the top-debuffs, cures, and *way* more fun then whm to level (imo). /whm is handy in beastwork only areas (raise and cures are top notch). If you are advanced enough to get it, i think /sch would be a dreamboat for a duo. your friend should start /dnc (for gil economy-there is a decent bit of overlap in some chm and general gear goodness for when you have to flip to /bst to lvl your sub).
i would highly recommend one/both of you learn to cook. use it to fill time waiting for the other to log on/get there. there is an incredible guide from ctownwoody in the wiki that can get you rolling fairly cheaply. not only will it get you some of the tools of the job dirt cheap, it will also help keep you in gil.
have fun^^