Summoner solo/duo/small group vs Abysea NM Compendium

[Luvbunny]

Lusca - Abyssea Attohwa (Tier III VNM)
Avatar: Leviathan
BPs of note: Grand Fall, Spinning Dive
Atmas: Ducal Guard, Mounted Champion, Voracious Violet, or Ultimate, can also use Noxious Fang for water damage
Notes: Lusca has two mode, magical and physical, if it is on magical mode - you have to kite and your avatar should not melee, run around and use Grand Fall, if it is on physical mode, have it attack and use Spinning Dive. Pretty straight forward but be careful not to kite around Agressor Antlion spawn area. I suppose you can use Garuda or Shiva as well, but Leviathan is the better tank overall. Bring your friend to yellow proc this thing since it drops rather nice collection of plus 2. Do be careful of its conal attack, Siphon Discharge, and make sure your buffs are all up and barwartera as well.

[Mokeil]

I have mixed results to report about Dragua. I knew the fight wouldn't be easy, for exactly the reasons Luvbunny listed. Still, the siren call of being able to say, "Yeah, I solo'ed that," drove me onward! (I curse my hubris!) Sadly, the short version is that he seems to be rather impossible for a Summoner to solo. On the other hand, a duo should be more than easy.

Here's the setup:

Dragua - Abyssea Altepa
Avatar Used: Garuda, for earth resistance
Atma: Ducal Guard, Stronghold, Gales
Blood Pacts of Note: Windblade and Whispering Wind
Notes:
The fight started well. I could honestly have probably held Dragua for ages, so long as I remembered to only move in to give commands with a fresh Stone Skin up. However, after about five minutes I noticed that, other than my initial Windblade, Dragua's HP wasn't really going down. I asked our team's Monk and Whitemage (standing by in case I messed up) to look Dragua up on the wiki. And sure enough...

I must have fought this guy over thirty times by now, and never once did I realize he has a passive Regen... It is fairly impressive, in fact!

Set for tanking, a single Garuda just can't deal the kind of damage needed to overcome that Regen in a feasible time frame. I was barely staying ahead of it. Adding another Garuda to the mix should tip the scales. If I were to set to tank Dragua again, I would also take out Atma of the Gales. I would probably consider running Minikin (Windblade and Whispering Winds both every 45 seconds is a big drain on mp reserves) or Razed Ruin (for a stronger melee DoT to counter his Regen).

[Luvbunny]

Yeah I would not solo Dragua, it is very hard, almost impossible. You need a minimum of summoner duo with high summon magic skills so that Predator Claw will lands all multi hits. Between his AOE wings move and petrify, it is extremely deadly. As much as I love summoner jobs, some NMs are just not solo able Also is your wind blade at maxed merit plus magic attack merit as well? Summoner with a set of AF3+2 may have easier time due to Blood Boon proc more often. Overall Dragua not recommended to solo summoner. All those Wyrm NM in each of the Heroes zone pose myriad of problems

[Artharian]

Hi!

Can I just say that as a new summoner (finally hit 99 last week after much grinding!) that this thread is so helpful :-)

I'll hopefully be able to report back on some solo/low man adventures soon

Art.

[Luvbunny]

Thanks Art, hope you get to enjoy playing as summoner, it is not the fastest job to kill solo, but sometimes it is the safest, less headache, and more relaxing, especially if you like dual boxing. There are tons of issues with summoner job still, but so far, it is playable. Happy NM hunting!! And start collecting those plus 2!!

[Zerich]

Thank you too, Luvbunny. The thread and it's contributions have helped enlighten me to solo gearing my SMN and other jobs.

[Luvbunny]

Thanks Taruina, there are quite a few harder NMs in the Heroes areas that I have not yet to tackle with a small group of pet jobs, would probably try to test them soon. You probably can duo trio all your plus 2 gear sets, and a few empyrean NMs as well if you so choose. The nice thing about summoner is no need for buying pet foods and jug pets, just 3-5 dawn mulsum for emergency. Happy hunting!! Still on the list to hunt and kill as pet jobs brigade:

Abyssea - Altepa: Amarok, Ansherekh, Cuijatender, Emperador de Altepa, Hazhdiha, Ironclad Smiter, Orthrus.
Abyssea - Uleguerand: Apademak, Blanga, Dhorme Khimaira, Empousa, Indrik, Ironclad Triturator, Kur, Pantokrator, Sisyphus, Yaguarogui
Abyssea - Grauberg: Alfard, Amphitrite, Azdaja, Bomblix Flamefinger, Deelgeed, Fleshflayer Killakriq, Fuath, Ironclad Sunderer, Jaculus, Melo Melo, Ningishzida, Teugghia, Xibalba

Granted some of those on the list seems quite daunting to tackle as pet jobs due to controlling the pet when the mobs change mode and their annoying auras.

[Artharian]

Alkonost - Abyssea Konschtat
Avatar: Shiva
BPs of note: Rush, Frost Armor
Atmas: Ducal Guard, Mounted Champion, Minikin Monstrosity
Notes: Started with a fairly straightforward NM that I've beaten before on MNK.
With the somewhat defensive setup above Shiva rarely dipped below full health. Alkonost did very little damage, even with special moves. Frost Armor caused paralysis on him quite well.
Back Heel and Hoof Volley both reset hate, so he heads for you after these moves, but with Aquaveil, Blink and Stoneskin up there wasn't any concern and Shiva quickly gained hate back.
So far I'm 0/6 on the Atma, so bringing a friend for red procs is highly recommended!

Additional note - tried this with Garuda, with much the same effect; Shiva was possibly slightly faster.

Art.

[Mokeil]

Well done, Art. And welcome to the Summoner's Club!

Atma of the Gales is well worth the effort for Garuda. Taru HP pools always make me think twice about trying to solo anything that has a hate reset move. I've always slightly envied Galka in that regard.

Also is your wind blade at maxed merit plus magic attack merit as well? Summoner with a set of AF3+2 may have easier time due to Blood Boon proc more often.

Long ago I set my Tier 2 merits as 3 into Windblade, 3 into Geocrush, and 1 into everything else. My Tier 1s are, indeed, maxed Magic Attack, and the fancy new casting time reduction.

I'm only 4/5 on the +2 set of gear (hands are only +1), and I haven't really seen the need to finish. So far as I can tell, the chance of the set bonus procing is abysmally low, since it is only a low percentage chance of it happening each time Blood Boon kicks in (itself only a low percentage chance). I maybe notice the 4/5 set bonus kick in once a month or so. Fun when it happens (11k Predator Claws is my record so far!), but not worth trying to count on.

If anyone out there with 5/5 is willing to weigh in on this, I can certainly be swayed to change my mind, however.

[Luvbunny]

OK this one is not Abyssea related but it's worth sharing.

BCNM - Early Bird Catches the Wyrm
Balga's Dais - Orb: Themis Orb (99 Kindred's Seals) VS Wyrm
This is the BCNM for one of the Black Belt items.

Avatar: Leviathan
BPs of note: Grand Fall, Spinning Dive, Spring Water
What to bring: Tavnazian Tacos, eat it, reraise items.
What to cast: Earthen Ward, Noctoshield, Blink, Fenrir Buffs, Earthen Armor.
Recommended set up: 3 Smns or 2 Smns + Beastmaster (use slug's pet)

Notes: The Wyrm has two modes, while on the ground, use Grand Fall, Spring Water, he is weak to water, Leviathan can dish 1700-2500 ish damage. The same strategy goes while he is up in the air as well. Take care when you first sending in your pets + avatar since it can open with massive AOE so run out of range ASAP and reapply buffs.

Extreme caution: You need to always have your stoneskin, blink, phalanx up at all times, non negotiable for taru especially - very deadly. Barfira must be up at all times. Take care before you go in and do BP or if you are about to send a fresh Leviathan to summon. For safety, 2 Smns + Beastmaster is recommended since if both summoners got caught and end up dead, Beastmaster can finish it as long as it is not in the air. You have to use magic damage to bring it back down, hence Grand Fall is needed.