Connecting the DoTs: A Summoner Guide

[pandabearcat]

You can safely precast fester/rouse for a less crowded opener.

[OneWingedSora]

Pretty similar to mine, I did 4th > Jagd > last. Guess I just gotta make sure my group's strat is more SMN friendly, and to play sharper, I guess.

If I had to guess, it's probably my AF + DWT timing. Should be able to see it in my video when I upload it.

Also, I dunno if your group has a dragoon or not but Battle Litany is godly on that fight specifically.

[Aikaal]

A2S SMN

There's most-likely better strats to increase SMN DPS. WE picked this one and I almost did 1.9k and I'm not even a good Summoner. I mentioned it in the past but I'll repeat myself. What they did for AoE on SMN was silly and made them broken lol. Being able to bane 5 Vuln Up stacks targets is also extremely silly.

[Minorinz]

A2S SMN

There's most-likely better strats to increase SMN DPS. WE picked this one and I almost did 1.9k and I'm not even a good Summoner. I mentioned it in the past but I'll repeat myself. What they did for AoE on SMN was silly and made them broken lol. Being able to bane 5 Vuln Up stacks targets is also extremely silly.

It's not really broken, also the vul buff isn't always applied on every target you dot 24/7. Smn's concept on aoe rotation is just very simple and doesn't require much brains to execute. I find single target dps a real pain because of all the aoe cds (+ the stacks) we get and right now blm seems to shine on single target more than smn so i find it even. A4 is gonna real fun..

[OneWingedSora]

It's not really broken, also the vul buff isn't always applied on every target you dot 24/7. Smn's concept on aoe rotation is just very simple and doesn't require much brains to execute. I find single target dps a real pain because of all the aoe cds (+ the stacks) we get and right now blm seems to shine on single target more than smn so i find it even. A4 is gonna real fun..

Assuming A4S will require you to destroy both legs(which I am betting it will), Summoner will probably still outshine BLM there. Not to mention the adds will probably have more HP which will make multi-dotting them not a waste .

So far on A3S, I am still doing as much damage on my Summoner as I am on BLM, and Radiant Shield on the hand party cleaves is pretty good. I usually start with Garuda then SC Ifrit after phase change.

I would also like to side with Aikaal on this one. Doing 2.1k DPS w/o a Bard on A2S while the highest BLM parse I saw on A2S is 1.7k with a bard is a pretty big difference. The difference between casters AOE should never be this big especially considering how the difference between their ST damage is very small.

Hell, I have seen monks do 1.7k on A2S as well which is stupid. A melee should never be outdpsing a caster on a fight so focused on AOE.

[Minorinz]

Assuming A4S will require you to destroy both legs(which I am betting it will), Summoner will probably still outshine BLM there. Not to mention the adds will probably have more HP which will make multi-dotting them not a waste .

So far on A3S, I am still doing as much damage on my Summoner as I am on BLM, and Radiant Shield on the hand party cleaves is pretty good. I usually start with Garuda then SC Ifrit after phase change.

I would also like to side with Aikaal on this one. Doing 2.2k DPS w/o a Bard on A2S while the highest BLM parse I saw on A2S is 1.7k with a bard is a pretty big difference. The difference between casters AOE should never be this big especially considering how the difference between their ST damage is very small.

Hell, I have seen monks do 1.7k on A2S as well which is stupid. A melee should never be outdpsing a caster on a fight so focused on AOE.

If both casters are equal in both st and aoe then it'll make casters pretty dull. Also smn's aoe is coming in installments, it's not burst aoe damage the whole time with infinite resources. A2S happens to come in installments which is perfect for the job not as an aoe job but because summoner (CDs / job design).
BLM has the choice to either single target or aoe, however their single target is way better than summoners' single target. What they could do is raise smn's st and raise blm's aoe output, but i guess that defeats the purpose of the how the jobs are designed and differentiated.

If we were to go progress on FCoB all over again with the current job design, don't you think blm will shine more than smn? It's not really a faulty job design, it's more like this instance works perfect with that job more, there is synergy. I believe SE designed the fights regardless of which job is gonna be better. tbh, they always have been like this.

[OneWingedSora]

snip.

See, the thing is, BLM's ST isn't "way better" than SMN. It's just slightly better and that's taking into consideration they are both standing still doing no mechanics. Now pretty much all end game fights aren't dummies. Take a look at A3S with it's +/- mechanic for example, which favors summoners due to having dots ticking+pet attacking resulting in SMN probably having equal ST damage if not higher on those parts.

So far, it seems that Alex Savage heavily favors Summoners over BLMs and I have no doubt A4S will be the same. Which isn't really a bad thing for people that can play both casters but for people who just main BLM, it can be really frustrating.

And to answer your second question, nope. Aside from T11, Summoners will probably do more on the rest of the turns.

[Minorinz]

Yeah but it's common sense right? if the fight requires you to be mobile to dodge and preform then summoner will do great on single target and that includes aoes. If it isnt that heavy on mobility then blm wins. There is no way a blm can be mobile all the time and sustain high dps for the same reason why a blm can sit there and blow things up while being top dps. I think t12 also favors blms over summoners, everything in there dies so fast summoner dots won't tick for much on adds which makes the majority of the fight a stand still single target fight with minor mobility requirements.

As for A4, I have a feeling it'll be blm friendly. There aren't any intensive ground aoes that requires much mobility.

Also when I said "way better" i'm talking about blms reaching melee level when stationary. The best part is, blms have the confidence to do so lol, they seem to lose it when it's aoe time.

[Aikaal]

Assuming A4S will require you to destroy both legs(which I am betting it will), Summoner will probably still outshine BLM there.

You are aware in A4 NM after you break a leg the other leg full heals. There's no point multi dotting. But we don't know what A4S new mechanics are. It wouldn't surprised me if there was 4 legs that you have to kill 1 by 1 to put another insane DPS check.

See, the thing is, BLM's ST isn't "way better" than SMN. It's just slightly better and that's taking into consideration they are both standing still doing no mechanics.

The point you are wrong is that Alexander barely has movement and it's pretty easy to compensate as a BLM. BLM also have an edge when it comes to a fight that have adds that don't have a lot of HP like A3 and A4. Then again, we can't talk on the subject since we haven't seen the fight. As far as I saw, both casters are viable in Alexander Savage.

It's not really broken, also the vul buff isn't always applied on every target you dot 24/7. Smn's concept on aoe rotation is just very simple and doesn't require much brains to execute. I find single target dps a real pain because of all the aoe cds (+ the stacks) we get and right now blm seems to shine on single target more than smn so i find it even. A4 is gonna real fun..

You can clear A2S with a BLM but it is a lot easier with a SMN. Saying it's not really broken means you haven't seen that 2.1k DPS SMN clear. BLM will never have the slight hope to reach that number and it is definitely broken to pull those kind of numbers. Do you remember T12 when blackfires were getting Vuln Up what Summoners were doing? DoT the black fire and bane to destroy the fight. 5 Vuln Up in A2S is about 50% more damage. 50% more damage on 7 targets with Bane is definitely broken.

[OneWingedSora]

You are aware in A4 NM after you break a leg the other leg full heals. There's no point multi dotting. But we don't know what A4S new mechanics are. It wouldn't surprised me if there was 4 legs that you have to kill 1 by 1 to put another insane DPS check.

Indeed. But I wouldn't be surprised if A4S requires you to down both legs in order to switch phase, then have them both heal again. It's just an assumption but if it turns out to be that way, Summoner will have the edge

The point you are wrong is that Alexander barely has movement and it's pretty easy to compensate as a BLM. BLM also have an edge when it comes to a fight that have adds that don't have a lot of HP like A3 and A4. Then again, we can't talk on the subject since we haven't seen the fight. As far as I saw, both casters are viable in Alexander Savage.

Both casters ARE viable, I never denied that. But Summoner has the edge so far. A1S for multidotting, A2S is pretty self explanatory and A3S while its the most balanced one out of them, I still think Summoners will at worse be on par with BLMs there. A3S adds can also be baned off the water tornado much like T10 if you refreshed dots before phase change as well as potentially getting painflare/deathflare on 2/3 targets, giving Summoner the edge on that phase.