How to play Summoner

[Karbuncle]

Figured I'd throw my 2 cents in here!

As already mentioned theres 2 sides to SMN, one is commonly and easily accepted due to general bias of 2005 style gameplay (SMN mage), and one is more harshly criticized and rarely accepted due to 2005 Style gameplay (SMN Melee)

The biggest problem with SMN melee is that, even with a B Skill, We lack the proper acc/atk to do decent damage, and even more-so we lack great weaponry, staves are literally the worst weapon class in the game for damage, behind even clubs/Hammers.

But theres another side to that. IN Abyssea a lot of our Weaknesses can be made up for via Atma and Cruor buffs, like our Low HP, STR, and DEX. Using atma's like VV/RR/Apoc help balance out our TP Gain (Regain+2), Our STR, and our Damage through crits, while also effecting our pets (BPs like PC, FC, and Ramuh's)

This really only works on mobs and NMs that do not possess devastating AoEs, or AoE magics like Paralyga or Silencega, for Obvious reasons, and the key to an intelligent Melee SMN is to know which fights would be more productive melee, and which would be more productive Mage.

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Now on the Mage side.

The Mage aspect of SMN comes from its support job, WHM or SCH. The biggest problem with Mage role is that Cure IV rarely cuts it these days, and any WHM should already be doing this task, better than you. SMN mage-Aspect really only works if you're with crummy mages, or are the single mage in your party.

Cure IV's, and -Na spells are nice, And we have a slew of Defensive Support Bloodpacts like Earthern Armor, Hastega, Healing Ruby II, etc.

Problem is a lot of our Unique buffs (Stoneskin-ga, Blink-ga, etc) are being spread about to other jobs via SCH and /SCH. Which makes SMN use a lot of its uniqueness and SE is not really giving it back to us. Earthern Armor is similar to Sentinal's Scherzo, ergo not unique (though they do stack)... Hastega is our only true unique Buff still, even then its nothing a Haste-Cycle can't accomplish.

Both aspect of the jobs roles are based on archaic 2005 gameplay styles that stuck with a community reluctant to change, both have positives, and both are flawed in some ways.

when it boils down to it, the SMN job is flawed itself, Masters of none and Mediocre at all doesn't really translate well in an MMO, why bring SMN when xxx job does xxx better? etc.

Our one true mastery is Hateless Damage, and its that, similar to THFs TH, that has kept the job mediocre over the years. Its the same reason Elemental WS's are generally Weak, SE has an undying need to balance a job so hard it becomes useless.

Elemental Weaponskills have 100% accuracy, therefor they mostly suck and are unusable dribble, in the same light, SMNs Avatars provide Hateless spike damage, as such we lack any other meaningful aspect to the job.

Luckily for us, Fights where our hateless ranged damage is vastly useful (Voidwatch) are coming back to light. The SMN job is nice in a lot of ways, But it needs work.

[Tarage]

"It works in Abyssea" is a poor argument, because lots of silly things work in Abyssea. Abyssea is the exception, not the rule.

[Karbuncle]

"It works in Abyssea" is a poor argument, because lots of silly things work in Abyssea. Abyssea is the exception, not the rule.

Everyone in the game knows this >_>

[Dallas]

I love the "only in Abyssea" excuse. No one is allowed to talk about the 8 years of L75 content, obviously. Those Grounds items? Nope, we'll call them "trash mobs."

"The ONLY way to play SMN is the one that is justified by the few NM in Voidwatch. Oh, and we're going to immediately deny the existance of Voidwatch the instant it becomes zergable. Just like Abyssea."

There's an awful lot of exceptions to a really worthless rule. I wish people posted in job forums proportionately to the amount of time they play the job. We wouldn't see the Voidwatch only crew again until November.

[Arciel]

I love the "only in Abyssea" excuse. No one is allowed to talk about the 8 years of L75 content, obviously. Those Grounds items? Nope, we'll call them "trash mobs."

"The ONLY way to play SMN is the one that is justified by the few NM in Voidwatch. Oh, and we're going to immediately deny the existance of Voidwatch the instant it becomes zergable. Just like Abyssea."

There's an awful lot of exceptions to a really worthless rule. I wish people posted in job forums proportionately to the amount of time they play the job. We wouldn't see the Voidwatch only crew again until November.

You can go back to your cave, silly Lv1 RDM troll.
Voidwatch has always been zergable. People don't do it because they build lights.

For that matter, SMN is great because they can keep up damage without TP, without hate issues and without the resist issues most jobs are beginning to face again because they don't have extreme Atma-level buffs to back them up.

Still, regardless of whether you zerg or hold Voidwatch NMs to build lights, theres no place for a melee SMN in there.

[Dallas]

You can go back to your cave, silly Lv1 RDM troll.
Voidwatch has always been zergable.

SMN is great because they can keep up damage without TP

What is the purpose of "without TP" when VW is zergable? Seems to me a zerging SMN would shame you out of existance. Choose your lies more carefully.

[Korpg]

What is the purpose of "without TP" when VW is zergable? Seems to me a zerging SMN would shame you out of existance. Choose your lies more carefully.

Wait, you melee zerg as SMN now?

[Arciel]

What is the purpose of "without TP" when VW is zergable? Seems to me a zerging SMN would shame you out of existance. Choose your lies more carefully.

Like i said, VW is zergable but people DO NOT zerg it because they aim for higher spectrum alignment.
The purpose people do Voidwatch for is primarily its items, and for some cruor/exp, but in all cases, they benefit from spectrum alignment so people always do this because it multiplies the rewards / chances of rewards in the process.
You clearly don't know this because you don't do it.

Why I say SMN is great for keeping up damage without using TP is because the TP can be stored or reserved for WS procs, which is a fact of how Voidwatch usually works. All jobs, including SMN, will also be holding their TP until they can use it to proc on something. Melees typically do not engage and are relegated to the sidelines where they /SAM and get Tacticians Rolls for TP gain, otherwise they only melee until they have sufficient TP and then stay out of melee range for safety.

As such, the most effective DDs are SMN, BLM and RNG for their ability to deal strong dmg either from range or in relative safety. But SMN is the most effective of the 3 because it can deal damage from a safe distance, never accumulates hate that it will become a potential issue, is capable of dealing both physical and magical damage, and avatars can even take a few hits after pulling hate.

If ignorance is your best argument, better not to use it.

[Lordscyon]

Have full refresh buffs and you can have your pet out for days!
for Summoner NO MP= No Love

[Bubeeky]

I like playing summoner from the back, pickin' my favorite avatar at the moment and watchin' sparks fly...then again, my main is whm, and smn is more like a hobby, only to be used rarely for serious events lol