Always SB i45-47 gear as a combat class in Urth's Font (the open world location at the end of Urth's Gift, not the trial!). You only need your i100+ weapon and the rest can safely be all SB gear. WHM works best, but any class works. Get in a party - there's a penalty for being in a party vs being alone (I think I heard 40%?), but the penalty only applies once regardless of your party size. So, just you and a chocobo: -40%. You and seven other PCs: -40%. The speed increase from multiple people makes up for the penalty very fast. Also, you do NOT have to attack an enemy for it to count, you just have to be within a certain distance when a party member kills it. When my wife and I SB grade 1/2 materia with i15 items in East Shroud, we sometimes have one person stay in the djigga area and the other go kill boars/treants/bats just outside, and we both get SB from the other.


Interesting idea to focus on the grade 2 tier. That would require i30-i40 items, and the ideal place to SB is somewhere with lots of enemies who are level 40-50. Where do you SB that stuff? I mean, if you go with i40 items, Urth's Font is still the best, but with i30 items, the water elementals are too high level for max speed. You'd need something more like level 40. Hmm...