The Summoner & WP

[Alhanelem]

The problem with bane is that it is capped to 3 enemies. So, the description on the skill is misleading. A summoner can't spread dots to all the adds, specially, in the last boss with the exception of shadow flare.

This problem is countered by the fact that Bane has a short cooldown and can be used to spread to additional enemies when it runs down-- this is still very effective when you use Contagion. You can spam miasma II if MP allows as well, the continuing dot plus the contact damage from the spell adds up and is worthwhile if you have a large group of enemies. I have no problem doing 15 min WPs on SMN, even with 2 SMN.

The power level of the dots spread is sufficient that SMN would be easily outdamaging other AoE sources if bane spread to all enemies in one shot.

Is it possible? ofcourse.
Is it feasible for speed runs? heck no

Bulllcrap. You can speed run with 2 summoners just fine. It's not #1 *the fastest*, but it's plenty fast enough.

[ChronoCross]

Is it possible? ofcourse.
Is it feasible for speed runs? heck no
The best make up for speed runs would be:
Warrior - Overpower (does damage compared to flash)
2 Bards - Wide Volley + Army's Paeon / Mage's Ballad
1 WHM - Holy

yes i prefer 2 bards over 1 bard + 1 blm.
really not even worried bout whm using holy either.
the only way blm would be better ... sleep

[Rjain]

You can probably beat both WP and AK with four competent summoners. We don't use tanks for those dungeons, we can beat them in no time with our SMN and his pet. People underestimate SMN way too much.

[Garrulf]

Cleared it with 2 Summoners and 1 Scholar (myself) and a Warrior Tank.

It is better to just rush Tonberry King with all your dots, then using Bane when the current Tonberry waves come close to the boss. That way we ensure there is enough Stacks on the King that the tank can soak, and we keep DPS on the boss to push him enough so you won't get swarmed. Cakewalk, really. I don't see how people get problems running dungeon.

[Miq2]

Did not read through alot of the posts, but as a SCH I do the adds in this fight.

Edit: the tonberry fight that is. no cleric stance just aero/bio and ruin2 if needed. i mean i normally have Shadowflare down on the king so if i dont wanna ruin2 the bio/aero will take them down enough for SF to kill them at the boss.

[meJojo]

Stop playing with Summoners who don't know how to play their class.

A good summoner has the biggest possible damage output in general in instances with plenty of trash mobs. The only downside is bosses, which in WP's case isn't a big deal anyway.