How to Be a ACN/SMN.(Accepting any and all feedback)

[T0rin]

I only disagree with what is underlined, energy drain can be used effectively when no other mobs are available to fester, no point having it sitting there when it can drain points off the main target mob.

Right, that would fall under 'as little as possible'. That's why I didn't say 'never use it', because there are situations where it Aetherflow is up, should be cast, and you have a single charge you need to use, and there is no reason to Bane or Fester.

[Slowburn]

I am currently levelling my SMN to 50 so far I just hit lvl42 and my rotations are like this

For single enemy

Bio, Bio 2, Miasma, Virus, Atherflow, Fester, Ruin 2 and repeat

for group of enemies

target marked mob

Bio, Bio 2, Miasma, Virus, Atherflow, Bane, Tri Disaster and Fester with a Ruin thrown in if time.

As for my pets, I'll be honest I let them attack the mobs and leave them to their own devices, ill heal as and when their hp gets low and I just recently aquired Rouse so that will be incorpareted shortly

You also don't want to use tri-disaster unless you need a long term bind which will be incredibly rare. Blizzard II is much better as your aoe filler(just dont burn all your mp doing this).

[Dyvid]

-Key point is always have Bio2, Miasma, and Bio up. If it's single target use Fester, if it's trash mobs use Bane, and if you're running low on mana use Energy Drain. When Fester is on cooldown or the filler time before your next DoT rotations use Ruin or Miasma2.
-Never ever spam Ruin2 for the simple reason of blind diminish returns. If you have a GLA/PLD, don't use it. If you have a MRD/WAR, only use it once every 15 to 20 seconds.
-Always use Blue Carby in party unless the tank is having problems, then you can use Yellow Carby on mobs the tank isn't fighting.
-Keep Carby/Garuda on Obey and Ifrit on Sic, Spur and Rouse often.
-When using Shadow Flare, try to place it right at the Tanks feet so it hits the mobs but it's not over the tank (this can be annoying for tanks and sometimes makes it hard to see AoE).
-Level THM to gain access to SwiftCast and ARC for Raging Strikes.

[Maku]

Worth noting (just for sake of completeness) that you wouldn't Miasma2 on a single target unless you were also using Contagion. Also, you kinda want to be in melee range anyway, because the occasional auto-attack is just free damage.

I use Miasma2 on single as well. And I agree about being in melee range but when a battle starts I just get my casts off as soon as I can.

[Viridiana]

I use Miasma2 on single as well. And I agree about being in melee range but when a battle starts I just get my casts off as soon as I can.

I assume you're using Contagion with it, as I pointed out? Otherwise, it's strictly worse than Ruin.

[Maku]

I assume you're using Contagion with it, as I pointed out? Otherwise, it's strictly worse than Ruin.

Sorry I forgot I was in the DPS forums. Yes when on SMN I only use M2 with Contagion. Sorry I mainly play SCH and was having a discussion about that in a different thread got confused. Use M2 no matter what on SCH cause I can heal while it DoTs away.

[xxalucard]

Whatever you do OP, _DON'T_ do this. ^

Basically, there is no 'rotation', because doing good DPS relies on keeping DoTs up all the time, and with varied timers, the order of spell casting is always going to be something you determine on the fly..

*snip good advice*

I agree with 99% of what Torin says, and think it's a great starting template for those first playing SMN.

A couple of weeks ago I recently started taking advantage of auto-attacks as a Summoner, and they actually add up to a lot of damage.

If you can safely stay in melee range of a boss, you can get in an auto-attack in between spells. You cannot auto-attack while casting, but after things like Bio, Ruin II, Bane, or Fester, your queued auto-attack will instantly hit.

Because of this it's actually a DPS gain to use Ruin II more than usual, and the only reason I go Ruin ~ Ruin II in something like the extreme primals is because it helps manage MP.

Otherwise, if MP permits and you can safely be in melee range without wiping the raid, spamming ruin II more often can lead to more DPS with the auto attacks hitting during the GCD. It messes up the blind, yes, but usually the tank doesn't rely on that blind anyway.

With relic+1 or the extreme primal book, each auto attack hits for around ~66 damage, and crits for 100+ damage. I originally thought the attacks would be negligible, but it's like having another DoT up 24/7.

[Uninstall]

Sorry I forgot I was in the DPS forums. Yes when on SMN I only use M2 with Contagion. Sorry I mainly play SCH and was having a discussion about that in a different thread got confused. Use M2 no matter what on SCH cause I can heal while it DoTs away.

This makes no sense at all. Why would you use M2 when you can simple use a Ruin or Ruin 2?

[xxalucard]

This makes no sense at all. Why would you use M2 when you can simple use a Ruin or Ruin 2?

Because with contagion the tics & initial hit add up to more than a crit ruin.

I tested a contagion'd miasma 2 just now on a dummy, and the damage was:

Initial hit: 53
Tics: 26 26 27 26 25 27 26 26 26 27

Added together I got 315, which is about the same as a crit ruin. However, in that random test, NONE of my dot tics crit. Assuming that one or two of them crit, it would be more damage than possible with a crit ruin (higher than the possible crit range).

Just for reference, my ruins crit between ~300 and ~326 (outside of a party, unbuffed).


Another thing to factor in is the way some bosses work (jump / disappear & reappear), and the fact that your dots, including Miasma II, can give extra tics while the boss is off screen, or at least give you some extra damage the same moment they become targetable/vulnerable (if they are invulnerable during phase changes).

[Uninstall]

Because with contagion the tics & initial hit add up to more than a crit ruin.

I tested a contagion'd miasma 2 just now on a dummy, and the damage was:

Initial hit: 53
Tics: 26 26 27 26 25 27 26 26 26 27

Added together I got 315, which is about the same as a crit ruin. However, in that random test, NONE of my dot tics crit. Assuming that one or two of them crit, it would be more damage than possible with a crit ruin (higher than the possible crit range).

Just for reference, my ruins crit between ~300 and ~326 (outside of a party, unbuffed).


Another thing to factor in is the way some bosses work (jump / disappear & reappear), and the fact that your dots, including Miasma II, can give extra tics while the boss is off screen, or at least give you some extra damage the same moment they become targetable/vulnerable (if they are invulnerable during phase changes).

I am talking about when he's on his Scholar. :/