Can someone give me an in-depth explanation why Summoner is arguably the worst DPS?

[ViviAnimus]

In the past I actually used Aerial Slash, but it didn't seem to actually up my DPS, maybe I was mistaken? Should only use RS when three stacks are up and preferably use two festers during that period? And please eleborate on the off gcd abilities which can be used more wisely. And yes, my gear absolutely is pretty horrible for SM

Edit: I actually used Shockwave and Aerial Slash and ended up doing less DPS than I did on the parse video. Timed my Raging to have two Festers. I usually time my raging about 20 second before contagion so I get like almost a minute of RS dots. That > 1 more fester, right?

[Dwill]

Actually I'm fine with high movement fights, BLM is about where it should be now, lower than melee on most of coil (when equally geared/skilled ofc) and higher than Bard.

The skill curve for doing Decent DPS on BLM is still as high as it was in movement heavy fights, there are loads of i120+ BLM that produce hardly any damage, due to failing to move and DPS.

We see eye to eye on this point.

I do agree summoner needs bringing up to be able on par with BLM in FCoB (any better than BLM and again we'd have little use for BLM in the Caster in top tier raid spots).

Apocastatis is an extremely good spell for progression, clever use of Manaward and/or Manawall gives Black Mages a distinct advantage on damage heavy phases and Flare as been useful on quite a few occasions. All of these
tools are not available to Summoner whatsoever. Having Summoner slightly better in single target than Black Mages (around 3-5% higher) while keeping Black Mages the respective king of Burst/AoE would be a fair tradeoff and
would by no means invalidate the use of Black Mages. That argument, which has been brought in this very thread before is nothing short of being overly dramatic.

However I don't think the buff needs to be as dramatic as many are making it out to be, nor do I think BLM need to be nerfed as many here seem to be gunning for. SMN being the weaker Caster does not automatically make BLM over-powered.

Nothing personal but I have difficulty being told by a class which ressources are theoretically infinite what the scale of the buff should be. However, I agree with you on your second point, I don't think Black Mages should be nerfed whatsoever. They are in a pretty good spot balance wise. I think Summoners should just be brought up and we know that it's coming in a not so far future.

Edit:

Edit: I actually used Shockwave and Aerial Slash and ended up doing less DPS than I did on the parse video. Timed my Raging to have two Festers. I usually time my raging about 20 second before contagion so I get like almost a minute of RS dots. That > 1 more fester, right?

The initial Contagion should always be used at the beginning of the encounter with Raging Strikes so you can get two festers out of it alongside buffed DoTs and then in sync with Raging Strikes AND at least two stacks of Aetherflow.

[Sunako]

Shockwave and Aerial Slash should have shorter recast time than actual attack so your garuda dps should increased by those skills. During raging strikes you should use 2 festers + energy drain in case you will need mana later. By gcd i mean that you should time more your festers during you apply bio like in 1:06 you use fester and bio have 6 sec time left. You could wait that 6 sec and then use bio + fester at same time. And i never seen that kind of opener you use bio -> rouse -> spur -> miasma. You can use those abilities as off globals between instant casts.

[ViviAnimus]

Ah yes, I see. Although my opener is actually quite good I would say, it bursts very high every time. Although I am still more fond of the idea to use raging, apply dots and reapply at the end of raging so you have a lot of dot time with RS. Good hint on the bio / fester, though. I'll take that with me. Cheers mate

[Dwill]

Shockwave and Aerial Slash should have shorter recast time than actual attack so your garuda dps should increased by those skills. During raging strikes you should use 2 festers + energy drain in case you will need mana later. By gcd i mean that you should time more your festers during you apply bio like in 1:06 you use fester and bio have 6 sec time left. You could wait that 6 sec and then use bio + fester at same time. And i never seen that kind of opener you use bio -> rouse -> spur -> miasma. You can use those abilities as off globals between instant casts.

Energy Drain should also never be casted during the initial Raging Strikes, it just result in a damage loss due to having one less Fester and early on, the additional MP will just be overkill. Even later on during an encounter, Energy Drain should be used when you're starting to get low, not when you are in Raging Strikes.

Ah yes, I see. Although my opener is actually quite good I would say, it bursts very high every time. Although I am still more fond of the idea to use raging, apply dots and reapply at the end of raging so you have a lot of dot time with RS. Good hint on the bio / fester, though. I'll take that with me. Cheers mate

Opener should be:

(Pre-pull: Raging Strikes > Intelligence Potion -> Bio II (Start pre-casting when your tank runs in)

(Pull): Bio II finishes > Miasma > Bio > Queue Contagion > Fester then (Make sure Bio is applied to not lose a full potency Fester) > (Miasma 2 if MP allows it(Short encounters)Ruin II > Swiftcast > Shadowflare > Rouse > Ruin II > Spur > Ruin II > Fester > Ruin II > Enkindle > Ruin > Ruin > Ruin II > Fester > Ruin II > Aetherflow

Then use off GCD during the encounter whenever you think MP will allow it and refresh DoTs when they have 3 or less seconds remaining. Energy Drain when your MP starts to dip too low.

[ShinryuReishiki]

It's actually a very slight DPS gain due to the attacks having instant cast; you can use them during Wind Blade's recast time. It's not as beneficial as doing the same with Ifrit-egi because of Wind Blade having a cast time, but it still remains an overall DPS gain.

(I should remake this, have BiS now...)


Looking at it as potency instead (Ignoring Aerial Blast):

Wind Blade
175 x 100 = 17500

Wind Blade + Aerial Slash
161 x 100 + 19 x 90 = 17810

Wind Blade + Aerial Slash + Shockwave
156 x 100 + 20 x 90 + 7 x 90 = 18030

[Dwill]

Snip

Well I'll admit, I didn't know at all. TIL. Thanks a bunch! Going to edit my previous post to not spread misinformation.

[ViviAnimus]

I wish I had a T13 weapon. Not a Summoner book or BLM staff at the moment. Do you make videos, Shinryu? Wouldn't mind studying those. What is your opener?

[Sunako]

Energy Drain should also never be casted during the initial Raging Strikes, it just result in a damage loss due to having one less Fester and early on, the additional MP will just be overkill. Even later on during an encounter, Energy Drain should be used when you're starting to get low, not when you are in Raging Strikes.

I said in case you need mana. If you need use that energy drain later without raging strikes isnt it dps loss? If you know exactly how many energy drain you need in the current match, you should use those during cooldowns are up and not at the moment you have 100 mana.

[Dwill]

I said in case you need mana. If you need use that energy drain later without raging strikes isnt it dps loss? If you know exactly how many energy drain you need in the current match, you should use those during cooldowns are up and not at the moment you have 100 mana.

If you use Energy Drain to begin with, it's a DPS loss. There is such a thing as a middle ground. Waiting to use Energy Drain when you are at 100 MP is pretty worthless but using it when you're still above 2500 MP isn't much better.