Summoner: Improving your DPS by making the GCD work for you

Hey all, I've been playing SMN as my main since launch and I thought I would share some insight to do with global cooldown (GCD) and how to use it to maximise your damage output.

What is GCD? The time it takes in between casting another spell, typically it is 2.5 seconds however can be reduced by spellspeed/skillspeed.

Spells which can be used during GCD (Off GCD) include: Rouse, Spur, Swiftcast, Fester, Bane, Aetherflow, Virus, Eye for an Eye, Enkindle

If you are not utilising off GCD spells during the GCD you are therefore losing perfectly good opportunities to be casting essential spells in your rotation. For example, if you cast Bio you have to wait until the cooldown has finished to cast Shadowflare. Yet if you use Swiftcast first (As you should be doing with Shadowflare anyways because it has the longest cast time not counting Resurrection) which is an off GCD ability you can use it straight away and then Shadowflare. This minimises the amount of downtime you have picking your nose which can be better spent casting something you were going to cast later anyway. Another example is using Ruin II which has a GCD and then Fester (Off GCD) straight afterwards.

Ruin II: Wildly misunderstood and one of the most important spells for SMN out there, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Pros: Instant Cast- this makes it not only useful when moving in fights such as Titan X but that it gives you a GCD allowing for you to efficiently use spells like Rouse right afterwards rather than a Ruin I which takes 2.5 seconds to cast and then Rouse. You're looking more at around 1.5 seconds in comparison to 3 seconds depending on latency.
Cons: If used incorrectly it can REALLY exhaust your mana pool. It is almost impossible for a SMN to run out of mana if only using Ruin I, but if you just spam Ruin II it will deplete it entirely and then you'll be in the unfortunate situation of having to use Energy Drain instead of something more effective like Fester.
So do the pros outweigh the cons? Absolutely. Basically Ruin II should be used before all abilities off GCD because it's instant dps and can be followed up by another ability you should be using anyway. You just have to be mindful of your mana, not casting it by accident at the wrong time, and when Aetherflow is coming off cooldown. Long story short: Yes, it is possible to always use Ruin II prior to an off GCD ability and not run out of mana if you have good awareness

Thanks for letting me know how to get around the 1000 character lock ♥

Ruin II: Wildly misunderstood and one of the most important spells for SMN out there, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Pros: Instant Cast- this makes it not only useful when moving in fights such as Titan X but that it gives you a GCD allowing for you to efficiently use spells like Rouse right afterwards rather than a Ruin I which takes 2.5 seconds to cast and then Rouse. You're looking more at around 1.5 seconds in comparison to 3 seconds depending on latency.
Cons: If used incorrectly it can REALLY exhaust your mana pool. It is almost impossible for a SMN to run out of mana if only using Ruin I, but if you just spam Ruin II it will deplete it entirely and then you'll be in the unfortunate situation of having to use Energy Drain instead of something more effective like Fester.
So do the pros outweigh the cons? Absolutely. Basically Ruin II should be used before all abilities off GCD because it's instant dps and can be followed up by another ability you should be using anyway. You just have to be mindful of your mana, not casting it by accident at the wrong time, and when Aetherflow is coming off cooldown. Long story short: Yes, it is possible to always use Ruin II prior to an off GCD ability and not run out of mana if you have good awareness.

I hope this was useful for anyone checking out the SMN class :) And I'm sorry I had to do this in several messages, I couldnt figure out how to get around that 1000 character lock

As you have pointed out, Ruin 2 is great to use (if you have the mp) right before any ability that is off the global cooldown. Another important use for it is when a monster is close to dying (and you want damage distributed BEFORE the gcd) or if a monster is attacking you (and you want to blind it).

Using the general idea of mixing GCD abilities and abilities that are off the global cooldown, here is an example of a 'burst' moment in a fight for me (triggering pet buffs AND Enkindle between GCD abilities):

RS start > Bio II > Miasma > Bio (Fester as soon as you see Bio land) > Miasma 2 (Contagion + SC) > Shadowflare (Rouse) > Ruin 2 (Spur) > Ruin 2 (Enkindle) > Ruin 2 (Fester) > Energy Drain (if you need mp) or another Ruin 2 > RS end... (You may be able to fit one more Ruin 2 before the last fester... I don't remember. I usually feel it out.)

Abilities in parentheses are off the GCD and used 'in between' global cooldown or have 0 cooldown at all (Contagion doesn't have any user-side animation, so there is literally no timing to it whatsoever. That is why you can easily use Contagion + SC before the gcd is ready again).

During your 'normal' rotation (non-burst, with pet buffs/abilities, sc, and RS on cooldown), you will use a lot less Ruin 2s because there is no reason to fill the space. Of course, always use it when bursting down fast (every second counts) or you are on the move.

This is good advice and something I've been doi g for awhile. Usually I can get away with using ruin 2 in most fights mindlessly without running out of mana before the end of the fight.

There are quite a few exceptions to this rule however such as KB in CT, EX primals, HM Titan, basically any fight that lasts longer than 5 min as long as you keep hitting aetherflow on cooldown.

When I got Ruin II I didn't know why it was an upgrade. Just realizing it was instant cast was enough to convince me about the ability.
It's a DPS increase. The time you save not casting IS used for other things, and you never cancel your spell to avoid AoE's.

It's true you might lose out on Fester usage, but I kinda think it's worth it. Energy Drain is already instant damage itself, it's not as if you're only using it to heal your mp, and it requires very little setup compared to Fester. Not to mention I generally have 3 ticks of Aetherflow ready for when the skill itself comes off cooldown, then I'll just use Energy Drain > Ruin II > Energy Drain > Ruin II > Energy Drain > Ruin II > Aetherflow, only cutting into that if I need to reapply a DoT. It's a bit of instant damage for the SMN which it normally lacks, so it's a nice change of pace. Fester probably will result in more damage in the long run, though I'm not sure about that when you're comparing using Ruin instead of Ruin II.

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You post something first, example "yo yo"

Then press "edit" and write down all you want, 100000000000 words will allowed

Anyone else feel that the blind effect on Ruin 2 does more harm than good? I find it interferes tremendously with Paladin's ability to flash when they NEED to (good examples being flashing Hydra's Triumvirates, Titan HM's Mountain Busters, and during Ifrit EX's incinerate phases). You tell me, as I haven't played Summoner much in raids--have you put Ruin 2's blind to consistent use, or is just a happy accident if the effect lines up well with incoming damage?

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Originally Posted by Argyle_Darkheart

Anyone else feel that the blind effect on Ruin 2 does more harm than good? I find it interferes tremendously with Paladin's ability to flash when they NEED to (good examples being flashing Hydra's Triumvirates, Titan HM's Mountain Busters, and during Ifrit EX's incinerate phases). You tell me, as I haven't played Summoner much in raids--have you put Ruin 2's blind to consistent use, or is just a happy accident if the effect lines up well with incoming damage?

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In Single Target fights (Primals and the like), PLD wouldn't and shouldn't use Flash. You'll generate a lot more enmity quickly by using your ST combos and your buffs, you'll be wasting your GCD with Flash in these encounters. Most fights where this might actually matter won't, because there'll be a blind immunity anyways.

Plus I notice (as WHM) that Blind does practically NOTHING on trash mobs anyways. They'll still hit and the duration of blind makes it almost worthless as a debuff. Maybe it's bugged like all the earlier final fantasy games?

Even with not perfect rotations, I'll end up often in the warning enmity zone, so I had to stop casting, or change target until it goes green.

But I think maximize the dps, helps me have more time to recover when I have to stop dps. Good hints.

Does Blind really harms tank's flash? First time I read this.

The blind resistance is an insignificant factor anyway.

One thing I've done to taken advantage of this is make a Ruin II macro that also redirect my pet attacks. This is helpful for forcing the pet to help with gaols. You could simply make a long Ruin II macro with rouse, spur, enkindle attached to it. Just depends on what level of freedom you want in fights. Since the recasts are all differently you'll still want some manual control, but for an opening sequence the macro could be helpful.

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Originally Posted by NintenPyjak64

In Single Target fights (Primals and the like), PLD wouldn't and shouldn't use Flash. You'll generate a lot more enmity quickly by using your ST combos and your buffs, you'll be wasting your GCD with Flash in these encounters. Most fights where this might actually matter won't, because there'll be a blind immunity anyways.

Plus I notice (as WHM) that Blind does practically NOTHING on trash mobs anyways. They'll still hit and the duration of blind makes it almost worthless as a debuff. Maybe it's bugged like all the earlier final fantasy games?

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The point of Flash in the examples I listed is exclusively for the blind effect, and it is NOT insignificant. On those three fights I listed, blind very rarely makes no difference, and can often make a huge difference (e.g. completely negating Triumvirate/Mountain Buster).

The greater point is this: should Ruin 2 have blind? Would it be better without it? When I'm on Paladin, in the relevant fights, I find it incredibly annoying that blind is unnecessarily put on DR because of Ruin 2.

Also keep in mind that if you use ruin 2 you will also be regularly landing auto attacks (assuming you have them enabled which you should). book whacking does a decent amount of damage actually.

I could count on 1 hand the number of times blind has saved me from a MB or Tri. It's not really even worth considering for reliable mitigation. So Ruin II all you like.

On the contrary, I was once in a Titan hard group where everyone but me died right toward the end (I guess they were excited they were going to win and got sloppy with dodging). I was the only one left, and kited him around the arena with Ruin 2 while Garuda-Egi continued to damage him. The blind effect saved me from dying to a Mountain Buster, and I was able to finish off his last sliver of HP. Yay, blind! In actuality, it was probably only a few seconds... but without that blind, it would've been a wipe at 1%.

Anyway, using Flash explicitly for blind in Titan hard seems to be a thing of the past. Many tanks and healers now have better gear and know how to mitigate damage better... Also, they are more comfortable with the fight. BUT... I would not say it is insignificant or not noteworthy. If we are discussing Ruin 2, it should be mentioned how it affects other blind effects. At the very least, future summoners will be aware of the blind effect and how monsters will build up a resistance to blind in general (whether it be Ruin 2 or Flash or any other ability).

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Originally Posted by Argyle_Darkheart

The point of Flash in the examples I listed is exclusively for the blind effect, and it is NOT insignificant. On those three fights I listed, blind very rarely makes no difference, and can often make a huge difference (e.g. completely negating Triumvirate/Mountain Buster).

The greater point is this: should Ruin 2 have blind? Would it be better without it? When I'm on Paladin, in the relevant fights, I find it incredibly annoying that blind is unnecessarily put on DR because of Ruin 2.

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ruin 2 was probably intended to be used strategically during fights (probably by a scholar) rather than used a filler to use off-gcd abilities without losing damage

so yeah it should probably lose the blind since most summoners aren't going to use blind to help with a mountain buster or something

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Originally Posted by Freyt

When I got Ruin II I didn't know why it was an upgrade. Just realizing it was instant cast was enough to convince me about the ability.
It's a DPS increase. The time you save not casting IS used for other things, and you never cancel your spell to avoid AoE's.

It's true you might lose out on Fester usage, but I kinda think it's worth it. Energy Drain is already instant damage itself, it's not as if you're only using it to heal your mp, and it requires very little setup compared to Fester. Not to mention I generally have 3 ticks of Aetherflow ready for when the skill itself comes off cooldown, then I'll just use Energy Drain > Ruin II > Energy Drain > Ruin II > Energy Drain > Ruin II > Aetherflow, only cutting into that if I need to reapply a DoT. It's a bit of instant damage for the SMN which it normallylacks, so it's a nice change of pace. Fester probably will result in more damage in the long run, though I'm not sure about that when you're comparing using Ruin instead of Ruin II.

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Thanks for the reply, Energy Drain will hit for around 400 whilst Fester will hit for circa 800, it is double the strength. Also there isn't much of a point in using an Energy Drain followed by a Ruin II because it's mana inefficient and defeats the purpose. You should not have to use Energy Drain unless you're resurrecting people left right and centre (and a SMN should always Swiftcast+Raise instead of a healer to save them the mana/aetherflow stacks if available). I would recommend you don't use Energy Drain and just keep a closer eye on when Ruin I or II is more appropriate. If you use Energy Drain you are significantly gimping your DPS, quite a few Ruin IIs+Off-GCD abilities are required to make up for the loss of time and dps from not using Fester instead.

Hope this was helpful.

Ruin II --> Energy Drain --> Ruin II --> repeat etc. is good for burst damage.

Plumes, magitek bits, anything that won't last long enough for dots to be worth it. Also make sure to send your pet after the target (Garuda usually doesn't need to move much). Burst damage can actually be good enough to take down certain adds solo (various bombs in CT etc.)

Bumping this as there have been quite a few SMN questions asked lately.