Part-Time SMN in T4

[JetBrooks]

We run BLM, BRD, DRG, MNK.

Brd kites rook. DRG, MNK, BLM focus full-hp soldier (melee LB, dies VERY quickly), then we kill the weaker soldier, BLM switches to help BRD with rook while melee down last 2 robuts, burn dread, profit.

[kro]

Think about it for a second. The difference between a SMN in full i70 and full i90 is about 60 INT. If you want to be on par with a full DL SMN, you're going to need the equivalent of i80 gear just to remain viable. Most people expect more than that.

If you're getting to P6, having a second caster will not help you kill the rook/dreadnaught any faster or absorb the incoming damage any better. Just refine your strategy and stick with it.

[Seobit]

Did all of coil and then did full primal sale run (3 dps, buyer suicided) today before I remembered I was on 30 MND from playing my scholar the day before. So, if you're full i90 with allagan weapon, not that big of a deal I guess. Full darklight/crafted would probably be a bit harsh though.

[PArcher]

We cleared T4 with DRG DRG BRD SMN last week before Enrage.

I wasn't paying complete attention to our SMN (focusing on my own stuff) but I know he DoTs up everything (except Knights) and then focuses one target, but keeps DoTs up always.

Our Phase 6 kill order is: OT grabs Knight/Soldier, I tank Rook as the other DRG LBs it, then we focus and finish it quick, Phase 5 Dread dies, then Knight/Soldier, then Phase 6 Dread (I'm pretty sure we fed the Bugs to that Dread, but not 100% on that...they weren't alive at this point at the very least). By the time we switched to Knight/Soldier, the Soldier was almost dead (like I said before, SMN had DoTed everything and was keeping DoTs up) and the Knight fell quick to the three DPS and OT. Phase 6 Dread fell before Enrage.

EDIT: I can't give exact ilvs for the DPS, but the BRD is between i70 and i75, SMN is over i80, other DRG is between i85 and i89, and I'm i90.

[Maelwys]

"oh god he is going to ask that question isn't he"

How important are the 30 allocated points when taking t4 into consideration, ie, can i get away with crafted gear and food?

To throw a few numbers at you:

A SMN putting 30 points in INT grants roughly an additional 4.7% damage once you're in endgame i90 gear.
This is essentially the same buff that you'd get from swapping from the i90 Omnitome to the i95 Allagan Book.

For comparison, a SCH putting 30 points in MND grants roughly an additional 5.5% in Raw Healing.

On inital glance it looks like stat point allocation favours the SCH, but there's a flip side to that...

A SCH in i90 gear can still cast a Physick for a little over 1k HP without any stat points allocated to MND at all (1009 at +0 MND versus 1064HP at +30 MND). This figure ignores the same SCH's >20% chance to crit; the fairy's healing buffs; and the fact that a lot of endgame SCH spike healing comes from Lustrate (which is a flat % healed unaffected by MND) and the fairy heals (which only slightly rely on MND!) so it really depends on how much healing power you think you're likely to need.

Frankly as a Tank main, if I'm running with someone who can hit me with a standard Cure or Physick for anything over 900 I'm usually more than happy on T4, and on T5 it's more down to damage prevention anyway (Stoneskin, Virus, Eye for an Eye, Sacred Soil... all of which are a flat rate, and Adloquium which relies a lot on Crit).

There is one other thing to consider though: On easier content, if a SCH has additional MND then they will be able to contribute to DPS a little bit more in cleric stance, but on harder content they likely won't have the accuracy or spare GCDs needed to be able to do that very regularly (though I probably should point out that my brother has a SCH main at present and was Cleric stancing in Titan EM the other night whenever I was tanking!!)

I've been trying to plan out the balancing act myself, since my ARC is getting to the point where I need to choose how to specialise. I'm leaning more towards a full INT spec.