S8 SMN PvP Guide [Feedback wanted]

[Feves]

Some indication to good comps as a SMN would be great. Although not something you can control in solo queue, it's would be nice for people to know which jobs you have great synergy with - Angelus wrote a nice piece on this in the caster channel on WPD. I don't really agree with the concentrate/bolt thing for Light Party.. that's a very MCH option to take. In Light Party if you position yourself correctly, you probably won't get CC'd, and if you are going to, you can easily communicate to your team to stop their burst until you are able to again. I wouldn't use Miasma III on 4 targets at once, that isn't much pressure since you are going to be on two targets at most, a WHM regen will easily cover this, and in the case of the other healers, it's not anything to cause concern to them. I think using both DoTs on 2/3 (if you time Muse correctly) is more pressure.

Coming from my own personal gameplay, I much rather prefer the pressure from Ruin IVs instead of instantly wasting it for burst. That's not to say it's invalid, but keeping your distance and getting those hits off is actually a lot of pressure which seems to be lacking nowadays. (People just think about the burst and not everything before it, and then wonder why they can't kill stuff). There is of course no set way to do it, the best skill you can have is your ability to adapt and judge situations. I do a Aetherflow skills -> DWT -> Deathflare burst if I'm freshly dead and have to wait ages for Bahamut + 3 Aetherflow stacks. Ruin IV -> Deathflare is absolutely fantastic with a Melee LB and will most likely kill if you get the timing right and doesn't cost a lot resource wise.

As for additional actions, you will never catch me without Muse, but Safeguard/Bolt is perfectly valid. In season 5 and 6 I took Muse/Bolt. Season 7 was the introduction to the "sync burst" meta we have now for Chaos, so I now take Muse/Safeguard. I'm sceptical of Bolt's usefulness in the new iteration of the Crystal Tower Training Grounds, the map is tiny and you won't escape much with it, and you won't need it to catch people running when their healer is dead. I would say no to taking Muse as a new SMN, for you not to be a detriment to your team, you need to learn how to position/kite properly with Muse.

Traits I take are Increased Damage Dealt, Decreased Damage Taken, Increased MP Regeneration. Pretty self explanatory.

Cometeor is a great LB, and even without Tri-Bind it can still be effective. Using it for Wolves Heart is valid sure, but you know if you do it every game then the tanks will easily predict it. As you stated, it can be used to bait out the enemy tank LB which is valuable if you are about to hit culling. Also, not a lot of people use it as a defensive. You see your healer in trouble? Put the LB on top of them, if the enemy team sticks on the healer - Good. If the enemy team dodges the AoE and relieves pressure from the healer. - Good.