How is SMN overall dps?

I just got back to the game, and a year ago I mained healer/tank.. kind of tired of it so I want to try a DPS class. My friend tells me SMN is 2nd highest single target dps, so I'm just curious if it would be worth it since my SMN is already 50.. but I do have ninja around 44 or so.

He told me also that Monk is highest dps for single target but has a lot of positionals skills such as Dragoon (but this DRG is very buggy from what I've read..)

:D

MNK's positional moves are in no way as bad as some people make them out to be. There are only 2 positions you will be at (flank or rear), and moves are spoon-fed to you slowly. By the time you hit 50MNK, they are all second nature aside Dragon Kick - which you get at 50.

Question, is your SMN at 50 because you played SMN up to 50, or is your SMN 50 because you played SCH up to 50 and equipped a SMN soulstone? I'm assuming the later because you said you were a healer.

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Originally Posted by Camalott

MNK's positional moves are in no way as bad as some people make them out to be. There are only 2 positions you will be at (flank or rear), and moves are spoon-fed to you slowly. By the time you hit 50MNK, they are all second nature aside Dragon Kick - which you get at 50.

Question, is your SMN at 50 because you played SMN up to 50, or is your SMN 50 because you played SCH up to 50 and equipped a SMN soulstone? I'm assuming the later because you said you were a healer.

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Ahh! Good to know about the Monk positionals. As for the SMN question, you are right, I leveled as a healer and I have the soulstone (and quest gear for the SMN class) but that's it.

Monk is still most damage for ST but Ninja can be on par or close as well and in some cases do more damage, depends who you ask, lol.
Dragoons is unfortunate now that they are the lesser of the 3 melee classes for damage but will be getting a buff in the near future.
Sadly i do not see much summoners anymore but damage still is great. Many of times (Syrcus Tower as example) bosses have died because of dots :)

While what Camalott says is absolutely true, he neglects to mention that Summoner, Black Mage, and Bard use absolutely NO Positionals. As such they are all much easier classes to play when compared to the classes that do use positionals purely from that point of view.

Now while that is said, of the three classes only the Bard has the freedom of movement to constantly apply uninterrupted DPS without worry of having their attacks be interupted by AoE's, or other types of attacks that could prove troublesome to all the other DPS classes. Still between their songs (2 of which reduce DPS by 20%), and lower overall attack potency Bards still provide less overall DPS than the other classes.

Black Mage has the absolute BEST Burst DPS in the game, bar none. No one can out damage the Black Mage with a single attack PERIOD. Unfortunately many of the Black Mages spells take so long to cast that it proves troublesome for them if they end up in the middle of an AoE ring. This is particularly bothersome in fights like Titan (Extreme).

Finally, the class you were asking about, Summoner. Summoner has the advantage of having the single highest Damage Over Time. It may not do the most Damage Per Second, but over an extended period of time, the Summoner will out damage all the other classes PERIOD. Unfortunately like the Black Mage, due to being a spellcasting class it too suffers if it ends up in the middle of an AoE field. It is even more problematic because the Summoner has to deal with controlling their pet to boot.

hmm, with all of this info I'm thinking of doing a range dps, due to positionals/melee aoes from the bosses


Is there a database where I can find the average DPS numbers for SMN/BLM/BRD? (or any other dps class for that matter?)

edit: is there also a repertoire that will tell which other classes you should level for X ability to maximize your dps? ie: level archer to level 4 for the 20% dmg buff for SMN

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Originally Posted by Heal_Bot

hmm, with all of this info I'm thinking of doing a range dps, due to positionals/melee aoes from the bosses


Is there a database where I can find the average DPS numbers for SMN/BLM/BRD? (or any other dps class for that matter?)

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even if there was, and I knew what the address for it was, I wouldn't link to it on this site. Parsers are against the terms of service for this game. As such linking to actual Parse Data like what you are suggesting is a surefire way to get yourself banned from the forums, if not the game in general.

For SMN, the two cross class skills you want to have (to maximize your DPS) is Raging Strikes (4 ARC) and Swiftcast (26 THM).

After that, it's up to you. You'll likely end up using Surecast (8 THM), Blizzard II (12 THM) and Quelling Strikes (34 ARC) to round out your five cross class abilities.

.... I miss Thunder.....

quelling strikes is essential.

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Originally Posted by Tharian

even if there was, and I knew what the address for it was, I wouldn't link to it on this site. Parsers are against the terms of service for this game. As such linking to actual Parse Data like what you are suggesting is a surefire way to get yourself banned from the forums, if not the game in general.

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hmm.. that's a bit silly in my opinion, but oh well :[

I guess now I just need to decide what to play!

So my last question is; how far behind is a bard in DPS compared to monk/ninja/blm/smn/drg?