AST and Spread - Looking for some advice

I've just hit level 40 on my AST and acquired Spread.

I was wondering if I could get some tips/hints/advice/others experiences on how to best utilize Spread for playing AST. What are your best practices with this ability and incorporating it into party play?

Anything anyone can provide me would be greatly appreciated :)

Thank you in advance!

Get a card you can't utilise (fully) right now>spread. (Between pulls in dungeons, in a heavy movement phase in a fight where balance/arrow wont be utilised fully until movement phase has finished, boss turned invincible for a while)

Draw a card but need a royal road to make card better>spread (want to enhance/extend/aoe card effect).

Pull a good card but know you may need it in a certain part of the fight soon>spread (balance needed for that burst phase coming in 20secs time etc).

Raiding? Set up that perfect pull with balance spread and aoe royal road.

There are certainly more scenarios, but these are the ones i can think of right now.

Hopefully more people will chip in with advice as well :).

It's uses kind of depends on the kind of player you are. Some spread ewers for themself so they have an extra source of MP. Some spread boles so they have some extra mitigation when it's needed. I recommend analyzing what the encounter is about and spread a useful card. In nearly every case, this would be Balance or Arrow.

I personally use it as a card that is "one up my sleeve". Meaning; if I draw a card that isn't very useful for the current situation and already have a Royal Road effect, I use the spread card first and Royal Road the currently drawn card.

Good use of SPREAD requires you to understand the dungeon/trial/boss and what each Job usually does in the fight for those phases and patterns. You can try asking the other players about their Jobs, play them yourself, or any combination to better learn how the other Jobs play. That's going to be the best foundation for how and when to use cards.

If your Warrior is spamming Overpowers to gather a group, it might be good to put a spire on him when you get the chance. If you have a dps phase ahead, try to spread a balance or arrow for it. If there's going to be a ton of movement mechanics, it might not be the best time to buff the BLM or melee dps, so either save it or use it on the BRD.

Thing is, the card you choose to spread is going to vary greatly depending on the Job, playing style, and content you're playing. Here are some basic situations on when to use specific cards:

Bole: Rarely used, but it's great for handling spike damage or focused fire on allies other than your primary tank (some bosses will target a dps or the like). Also useful for DRK if they turn off Grit and want to use blood weapon to regain mp in the middle of a fight (Ewer doesn't work on DRK because of Darkside, so Bole helps them remain tanky so they can switch off grit and use blood weapon buff to regain mp). This causes DRK to gain more MP and potentially 1 or 2 more uses of Dark Arts every 60 seconds, leading to an increase in dps.

Balance: Damage buff. It is almost universally useful and really needs no explanation. You can use Spread on it and hope you get a 2nd Balance on your next Draw as well. It's much more efficient to just use it one a single dps instead of applying to the party on 4-man content.

Spire: Great for most dps classes, but also Tanks who need the TP for long fights or dps bursts. It's not as good as Balance, but better if you need a long sustained dps. Also useful for Warriors who like to gather large packs of mobs together for AoE damage.

Ewer: Recovers MP. Only useful for healers and bards (assuming they're using song). Never give this to a BLM as it will throw off their rotation. Summoners also benefit immensely from this as it allows them to cast Ruin3 out of Dreadwyrm Trance without running out of MP.

Arrow: Increases aspd. Very useful for most dps, especially at the start of a fight or in conjunction with their other damage buffs (blood for blood, crit, etc). Also a good buff anytime for BLM as it gives them more leeway when handling enochian timers.

Spear: Great at the start of a fight or right before a buff CD becomes available. It's very useful on tanks as it allows them faster CD use and ends up saving you more HP than Bole when timed before a damage phase.

In the middle of combat, I tend to use Spread as either another shuffle or to save a card for later if we're in the middle of a mechanic that won't let me use the currently drawn card effectively. The latter is pretty obvious in its use. For the former, what I mean is if my current RR isn't very compatible with the drawn card and Redraw gives me something equally as incompatible, I'll Spread the new card and hope for a better card next Draw while thinking how I want to setup my Spread card for the future. It doesn't always work out like that but I've had more success than failures with this thought process.

Of course, with anything AST related, you do need some knowledge of the class/jobs you're playing with and the fights you're about to be part of, as well as an idea of how skilled your party members are. Your choices will vary from fight to fight / dungeon to dungeon / raid to raid.

9 times out of 10 my goal with cards is to buff DPS. If I draw The Balance, I'll hold it with Spread until I've got a Royal Road buff (In 4 man instances I prefer the Enhanced or Extended buff, and I'll apply The Balance to my top DPS. In 8 man content I prefer Expanded to give The Balance to everyone), while I wait for my queue I usually try to set myself up to have The Balance saved and a good Royal Road buff ready.

Through the run I'll pay attention to people's MP/TP management. If we're doing big pulls for example, a MCH can blow their TP in a heartbeat, so I may save a Spire for him/her if I come across one, but I still won't waste The Balance if I draw that. Sometimes with less than perfect DF parties in fights like Alexander, you may find yourself or your co healer depleting their MP, and with experience in this fight you can anticipate this sort of thing and prepare an Ewer. There's a lot of scenarios to consider, but the majority of the time I'm just trying to buff DPS until things go sideways.

Thank you everyone! It makes sense!

Besides the obvious usage notes, mentioned previously, spreading helps minimize throwaway cards. If you have Expanded Royal Road + held Balance/Arrow, consider holding onto it until your next draw. If you draw Balance, Arrow, or something immediately useful, use the drawn card instead, and you'll still have a guaranteed DPS boost for later. If the next card drawn is one that you would discard, use your held card and royal road the drawn one. Compared to using Expanded Balance/Arrow right away, you come out ahead by at least one card.

At level 40, or any of the levels before you get redraw, it is best to spread a card before you royal road it. That way you do not AoE a Bole when you just wanted to give it to the tank. Like, when you draw a card, and can not use it right away, but might later, spread it. Then you can draw and use the next card. Once you get redraw all of the advice above is golden. At lower levels, best to chose the effect card with spread before using the RR effect so you can give out "singles" while you wait for that effect card.

Just was not sure if wanted advice for using spread at your level or when you get to 60.

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Originally Posted by Fived

Just was not sure if wanted advice for using spread at your level or when you get to 60.

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I'm looking for any and all advice from those who play this job at any level. I'm really liking AST and want to be sure I'm playing the job right. I'm open to all suggestions and tips!