DRG/BLU vs DRG/RDM vs DRG/WHM

[Shakuzen]

There's also the benefit of increased damage as /blu. Being able to use Chain Affinity allows you to solo light SCs once every 1.5 minutes ish, with Empathy meritted, Spirit Link basically turns your wyvern's TP gauge into a 2nd one of your own, although this is quite difficult to use for inexperience /blu DRGs. Also, with the right spell set up /BLU has more STR/DEX than /SAM, and if you have the skill needed to utilize chain affinity and spirit link to the best of their capabilities...
I might dare to say that /BLU could compete for a spot at the top of the list for DD subs, as well as soloing.

[Martel]

While I suspect I may be getting trolled, I'll go ahead and reply seriously.

There's also the benefit of increased damage as /blu. Being able to use Chain Affinity allows you to solo light SCs once every 1.5 minutes ish, with Empathy meritted, Spirit Link basically turns your wyvern's TP gauge into a 2nd one of your own, although this is quite difficult to use for inexperience /blu DRGs.

The way this is phrased make it a bit hard to interpret but I think what your saying is:CA, cast, use spirit link to get TP then WS, for a SC? Seems.. impractical to me. Not to mention Impossible, in the case of light SC. The only blu spells that can open, or close, Light, are not subable.

Not to mention the use of a CA spell will wipe your TP, which makes the only appropriate time to use it, right after a ws. In which case, you might as well skip the CA altogether and just use that spirit linked TP to straight up Camlann's > Drakes > Light.

And what are you fighting that's so weak that your wyvern has that much TP? Every healing breath will use all his TP. And if the mobs are that weak just go DD sub and use restoring breath.

Also, with the right spell set up /BLU has more STR/DEX than /SAM, and if you have the skill needed to utilize chain affinity and spirit link to the best of their capabilities...
I might dare to say that /BLU could compete for a spot at the top of the list for DD subs, as well as soloing.

The base stat differences are minimal at best. Probly wouldn't even show up on a parse.

Of the 3 solo subs brought up in this thread, /BLU is the weakest in terms of DMG output. /WHM or /RDM would win just by keeping Dia II on the mob. And /WHM will blow them both outta the water with self haste.

/BLU's strength is in it's defenses. It's specialty is soloing mobs that deal massive physical dmg, and mitigating that(via Cocoon) to the point that we can keep up with healing breath. There's also some limited utility in its minor enfeeble effect. Head butt, and sprout smack being the most prominent. The add effect acc is low, but when you can spam them as an HB trigger its gonna land sometimes. That bit of slow from sprout smack helps further mitigate melee dmg.

/WHM is a fairly balanced solo sub, but the addition of haste pushes it to the most damaging solo sub. There's also Dia II adding to the offense. Defensively, Its buffs and magic defense bonus make /WHM fairly good for dealing with casting mobs. But its physical def is nothing special. -Na spells and erase provide some defense against enfeebles, and auto-regen for the wyvern is always helpful. Aquaveil can also serve as a safety net against interrupts. Also has the largest mp pool of the 3. Primary cons are slower, more expensive trigger spells, higher MP consumption, and weaker physical def.

/RDM is much like /WHM, - the Na spells and haste. While it has a smaller MP pool than /whm(same as /blu though) it has refresh to maintain mp. Allowing more frequent use of spells. Convert is also an option to replenish mp between fights(god, don't do that during one). Pretty much its only offensive bonus is Dia II, but at lvl 99 it will get haste as well. Dispel is a major advantage of /rdm. Things like shock spikes or def boost can be a major problem. Primary defenses would be phalanx and ice spikes. Subbed phalanx, while small, is a decent boost, it just doesn't compare to cocoon. Ice spikes is very powerful indeed. Any mob that can be para'd can be near crippled by its paralyze. And it can prevent nasty spells from going off. Has fast, cheap triggers(barspells) and similar magic def to WHM.

[Shakuzen]

The way this is phrased make it a bit hard to interpret but I think what your saying is:CA, cast, use spirit link to get TP then WS, for a SC? Seems.. impractical to me. Not to mention Impossible, in the case of light SC. The only blu spells that can open, or close, Light, are not subable.

What I meant was that you open with a WS, CA, spell, Spirit link, another WS.
For example, Impulse Drive, CA, Power attack, Spirit link, Wheeling thrust.

This is mostly for those who don't have emp at all, I used this when the cap was at 80, in dynamis. It was a good way to balance out, being able to do Light SC, but then if necessary also being able to save myself if the tank died and super jump was down. For anyone with Camlann's Torment it'd probably be useless, but it's more than possible to do this solo, I doubt it would work on A-NMs but I have yet to try it on Roc/Simurgh.

[Martel]

Ah. I hadn't thought of doing a multi-step SC.

But honestly, that's still waste of time. I am absolutely certain you would get more overall damage from just using 2 Drakesbanes than you will pushing for this impractical SC setup. Impulse and wheeling both, are pretty terrible damage.

Now, if you have a setup that'll let you do that with drakesx2, knock yourself out. Hmm, did a bit of research. Best you could get would be a Fusion SC via, Drakes>claw cyclone(or screwdriver)>Drakes. A 3 step fusion could get up to 75% of the closing WS's damage. You know, that's actually better than I was expecting...

But there's still this one issue...

How does your wyvern have so much TP? To get 100% TP return from spirit link the wyvern would need to have 200% TP. Are you not healing breathing at all? If so, why not just use a DD sub? The occasional restoring breath should keep you up easily if the mobs are that weak.

I'm also kinda curious how the use of a 3 min recast JA is supposed to get you a light SC once ever 1.5 mins. Using spirit link for one SC and jump to get TP for the other? Although you didn't mention jumps.. And even with spirit/soul jump, going from 0~100% tp in two jumps, /blu will almost certainly require one, or both of those jumps to double attack.. OAT polearm? Still kinda iffy.

If you really want the most damage output, and need solo capability, go /whm, caste dia II and keep haste up. You'll get far more damage out of haste then you will trying to cobble together impractical skill chains. That and not limiting your WS rate by JA timers or your wyverns TP.