Endgame Summoner -- Aurum Vale

[HiirNoivl]

I'm sorry you've had that bad experience. I've both run AK as a summoner and tanked for an AK party with two Summoners. There are two things people need to keep in mind.


Summoners, like all casters, are squishy. They need tanks to keep the mobs away from them. This poses a challenge to tanks that some people don't want to bother with. But that's not SMN fault. I'm sure that the tanks who let their SMNs aggro and die to adds would also do the same for a BLM or a WHM.

That out of the way, there's the issue of DPS. So long as the tank is steady and reliable (Not losing hate or running around in a confusion) SMN can deal just as much damage as anyone else.

There's the usual rotation of Bio and miasma and Bio II then Fester, but added to that now is Miasma II and Shadow Flare.

In the first boss, Place Garuda in a spot that is both away from the boss and out of the range of the room-wide AoE. She'll DPS non-stop. Bio to Fester combo is more than enough to down the Priest. Place Shadowflare on the tank and pile DoTs on the main boss. The Tank should grab the adds and bring them into Shadowflare. Then use Bane to spread all the DoTs from the Boss to the Adds.

They die so quick it's amazing. The constant DoTs and the constant DPS from Garuda is more than enough to bring down the Flayer.

Next is the Demon Wall. Use your Titan Egi to Off tank the gnats that spawn. Use Shadowflare and Bane to spread the pile of DoT from the Wall to the gnats. And Use Limit Break too if you really want to be fast about it.

Next is... Ana... Anabato... Big ugly undead lizard thing. This one's even easier Because the tank stays in one place. Just keep your Egi behind one of the pillars. It might not be exactly right and die, but no matter, if you keep Shadow Flare on the boss and kill the adds with DoT damage and Fester.

It's really that easy.

***The key to unlocking the full potential of SMN DPS is strategy and cunning***

While soloing practice casting Shadowflare, then pulling mobs into the place and binding them with Tridisaster. Practice placing your Egi where it will do the most damage. Get a feel for your timers so you don't "snip" the last few seconds of your DoTs. Learn to be quick at it.

The main problem with SMN is not the class, it's that it's new. The Job is new to everyone. No one is playing it exactly perfect yet. Just give it time.

[Crescent_Dusk]

Why would you lose DPS on demon wall, which is a DPS check, summoning Titan? Just use a limit break on the right gnat and burst him down, then kill the left one.

[TraeSnow]

OK i confirmed this.
If the mob is assleep and you spread the dots they will wake up, however if they have the dots and get sleep after, they wont woke up from the ticks.

I can't log in to test it (Got to love paying a subscription fee for a game that is full 99% of the time) but I am pretty sure you can spread DoTs without waking up mobs if the DoT you are applying/spread doesn't do an initial damage. I believe Bio has an initial damage hit and that will wake up a mob but if it applies the DoT without an initial hit, I don't think it will. I was playing around with it earlier.

[HiirNoivl]

Why would you lose DPS on demon wall, which is a DPS check, summoning Titan? Just use a limit break on the right gnat and burst him down, then kill the left one.

Yes that will work too. Mine is just the safer route, assuming that the tank will not be able to get a hold of the gnats efficiently.

The better your tank, the higher you can DPS.


That's why. Demon Wall is a Weak-sauce DPS check. You can do it with Titan.

[Snap]

Summoners , are week ! Your just being carried by the rest of the group. Your job could of been done better by another class. There is nothing you bring that matters.

[TraeSnow]

Summoners , are week ! Your just being carried by the rest of the group. Your job could of been done better by another class. There is nothing you bring that matters.

Yet I have stolen aggro from the tank and most times when the tank dies, I get aggro. Yes, I am a summoner. Yes, there was a BLM in the party also.

Btw, it is weak, not week.

[Shamirah]

For the second boss of AK. You really don't have to kill the adds. We just focus the boss and ask the tank to tank the gnats at the right side while we are switching from mid to left. I killed the boss with me (summoner), a white mage, a paladin and a dragoon WITHOUT limit break. And we have not the best item for our class.

[Powercow]

Yet I have stolen aggro from the tank and most times when the tank dies, I get aggro. Yes, I am a summoner. Yes, their was a BLM in the party also.

Btw, it is weak, not week.

If you're going to correct someone on grammar, it's "there was a BLM" not "their was a BLM."

[Mindcl0ud]

I've found my DPS to be just fine to run Amdapor while one shotting every boss. My group make up is BLM, WHM, PLD and me. Using Garuda on single target is key - and so is keeping shadow flare down. We have high ramp up - sure. But with raging strikes, pretty good weapons I'm competing with the BLM on the meters my tank runs. Now, that might not be accurate but in general if you are saying it's a DPS race we are pushing hard through the game.

I think Summoner right now has a high skill cap? I'm not entirely sure but I do know that If I go on one target and my BLM goes on another we are racing to see who wins - and neither of us pop CDs for it. ( I don't think ).

Longer fights Summoners have very good damage. The one thing I really agree with in this thread is pushing the distance on bane out a little bit, I have quite a few times been confused as to why mobs didn't get dots on them when they should have.

[Maku]

OK i confirmed this.
If the mob is assleep and you spread the dots they will wake up, however if they have the dots and get sleep after, they wont woke up from the ticks.

Sorry but no you did not confirm it. One of my favorite things to do is spread my DoTs to the sleeping mobs because they DO NOT wake up. If they were waking up there was another reason. Spreading with Bane doesn't wake the mobs up. The reason it doesn't is because there is no initial damage when using Bane. Again after running several dungeons at both SMN and SCH I simply have not seen Bane waking things up. But since you are not the only one say it does wake them up I am going to have to look again.