SMN Situational DPS Tips (i've seen the rotation thread)

[glim]

I have the same starting rotation with a few tweaks, example, our group does a countdown on boss fights, I pre-hard cast shadowflare when tank does his 3-2-1, because frankly, I don't like wasting 3sec gcd during raging strikes on an attack that doesn't get affected by raging strikes ie. shadow flare.

maybe only do this if you know where tank positions the boss and or you and the tank have this understanding already.

[Napp]

because to do those things you have to interrupt damage that your character would be doing, which means in some cases it will actually be a DPS loss since you could have just had your pet cast those abilities on their own.

i've actually noticed that the pet is unable to cast while you are casting, so there may be an intelligent way to set up your rotation so that contagion is cast after you apply your dots with raging strikes. at least at the start of a fight.

[glim]

cast contagion after miasma II? it's instant and should give you plenty of time to press your contagion

[Kevee]

cast contagion after miasma II? it's instant and should give you plenty of time to press your contagion

this^

10chars

[Crescent_Dusk]

Or after tha Bio I cast. You're sitting on a 2.5 sec GCD might as well issue a command.

Also, moving your pet is fairly simple and hardly a waste of DPS. You can just set your mouse pointer while beginning a cast for where you want the pet, and then as soonas the cast finishes I just click mouse wheel and voila my pet receives the move command as I'm beginning another cast immediately.

[pandabearcat]

You all realize that also you have an on demand instant in which to use all your off GCD abilities?

Its called Ruin II! Which a lot of people overlook. Its not just for movement. It is for offgcd abilities while keeping maximum dps.

Ruin II is a great spell.

So stacking all your junk together while not Ruin II in your opener wastes a ton of RS uptime.

You should almost never use Ruin I or use any GCD for an off GCD ability when during RS at least.

If you need to conserve mana, it is okay to not use Ruin II and instead use a GCD for an off GCD ability (delaying your rotation by 1 second is at most a 40 potency loss).

So I mean my opening rotation is

Obey | RS -> Bio II -> Miasma -> Bio | Fester -> Thunder -> Miasma II | Contagion | Swiftcast -> Shadowflare (whatever you want here, meh) -> Ruin II | Fester-> Ruin II | Rouse -> Ruin II | Spur -> Ruin II | Enkindle.

[Xaosyn]

I'm seeing more and more summoners using Ifrit on trash mobs.
I read what was said on this topic: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...-Summons/page2
But is it also true on trash mobs?

[KaosPrimeZero]

Garuda always wins out and for me does more damage, especially since i got my relic weapon

[Spythe]

snip

I try to use him on trash mobs BUT it really depends on how fast you kill stuff in AK and even still Ifrit isn't that great. You get like 20 more potency for an AoE attack and that is it, they really need to change his 3rd ability which is a shield that does dmg every time he gets hit.... pretty worthless even when leveling since you're using Titan most of the time. Also the stun he has can annoying some Tanks so I would really just avoid using him at all cost since Gaurada does slightly more base damage anyway and she is ranged

Later into the fights I really like chaining Bio with Thunder since they line up really well, I normally go Bio II, Misama, Thunder to a Bio. You get off Fester slow but dots are a bit easier to keep track of with Thunder/Bio linked

Don't understand the crying about pet control, yes its annoying but if it was any other way SMN would be over the top. You can command your pet during your GCD just not when you're castin

[Crescent_Dusk]

They need to make Sustain cleanse debuff. The pet not dodging attacks that apply a lethal DoT debuff is incredibly annoying, since even mashing the return command won't get them out in time.