Summoner questions!

[Nailkita]

I would also agree that Ifrit is never better than Garuda. Unless, of course, you don't yet have Garuda and are left with no choice.

Emerald Carbuncle is summonable when you don't have garuda and has the same abilities (though named differently) and an adorable corgi waddle.

[givemeraptors]

I don't think you understand Contagion. Contagion isn't about MP management. It's about extending the duration so that you can do other damage while the DoT's run. Time saved on re-applying is time spent on dealing more damage. It's especially useful with Raging Strikes, because you are extending the duration of BUFFED DoTs.

I would also agree that Ifrit is never better than Garuda. Unless, of course, you don't yet have Garuda and are left with no choice.

I was just mentioning the MP thing as a sidenote, I didn't say it was all about MP management. It's main effect is obviously about doing more damage. It's a great ability, but also essentially the only thing that keeps Garuda ahead of Ifrit. There are plenty of times where I don't care about Contagion e.g. when mobs are dying too fast for it to matter.

And while I understand it keeps your DPS up, I'm not going to freak out over a slightly lowered damage output because I prefer a more manageable Ifrit on some fights. For instance, using Ifrit to take on adds with radiant shield up etc. etc.

[Hitokirinomad]

You mean besides that Garuda still out parses Ifrit, doesn't cause stun immunity, and has to deal with a lot of the stupid melee problems? No other reason to use Ifrit over Garuda than those?

[RxRai]

Here's an nice guide I found about which pet to use when: When to Garuda Egi when to Ifrit Egi

As one of the comments put it - tldr go Garuda. On certain fights you may want to use Ifrit of course. Atomos is a kinda weird one where you might want to send Ifrit to attack but the bad thing is it's out of range of Spur and Enkindle. I also believe Garuda's contagion effectiveness was lowered due to Lightning being taken off cross class, but not enough to warrant switching. Unless min maxing though or in a dps race encounter, I just use Ifrit sometimes because I like how it looks and ruin spamming gets a little boring.

[Seobit]

Even if you took away her contagion you should always use garuda always everywhere on everything all the time.

[givemeraptors]

Here's an nice guide I found about which pet to use when: When to Garuda Egi when to Ifrit Egi

As one of the comments put it - tldr go Garuda. On certain fights you may want to use Ifrit of course.

This is a great guide. Like I said, sometimes Ifrit is better, but Garuda is good most of the time.

Also, it hasn't really been mentioned but I use Titan for all solo content. My Chocobo heals. I have a nice three-man team.

[T0rin]

Here's an nice guide I found about which pet to use when: When to Garuda Egi when to Ifrit Egi

This guide is garbage and simply put: wrong.

Every single time this guide recommends using Ifrit, it is backed up by one of three things: 1) nothing, 2) bad information, 3) neglected realities

Ifrit, even in Sic mode, does less DPS than Garuda. This isn't even considering Contagion. There is no content in the game that Ifrit can do more DPS. Then you consider Contagion, and Garuda blows Ifrit out of the water.

Garuda never gets melee range knock backs. Garuda never gets cleaves. Garuda never has to travel the full arena to get next to her target. Garuda never suffers from badly timed ability usage.

The basic premise the guide suggests is that Ifrit is better at killing trash, which again, is wrong. Between contagion'd DoTs and Aerial Slash, Garuda will always be better. All this nonsense about spending time summoning one pet, then doing some content, then summoning another, and switching back, etc. is the biggest load of rubbish. While someone is busy doing that, either wasting Swiftcast or literally standing there summoning, a SMN that isn't is busy doing DPS.

They actually suggested on some content that 'Ifrit chasing X around the arena' was a GOOD reason to bring him over Garuda. Guess what, when Ifrit is chasing something around, it isn't dealing damage. Which is what Garuda would be doing.

The general idea that if you have a fight where Ifrit isn't totally owned into the ground, that it is an OK substitute for Garuda simply on the merit of being 'comparable' DPS, is simply bad. If my pet choice makes me lose 5 DPS, while 'comparable', is still losing me 5 DPS. Why would I _ever_ want to do that?

Basically, Contagion aside, there is no situation where you want to use Ifrit. NONE. Then you consider Contagion, and there is really no choice in the matter. Until Ifrit is changed to simply be something better than it is right now, it will never see any significant use, and anyone who thinks there is an actual comparison to be made, is simply deluding themselves.

[givemeraptors]

They actually suggested on some content that 'Ifrit chasing X around the arena' was a GOOD reason to bring him over Garuda. Guess what, when Ifrit is chasing something around, it isn't dealing damage. Which is what Garuda would be doing.

Garuda would also be sitting in a vortex losing HP and forcing you waste time and MP to cast Sustain. Of course you could manually reposition her but it's just one more thing to keep track of and having your pet die is far worse than losing minimal DPS.

The general idea that if you have a fight where Ifrit isn't totally owned into the ground, that it is an OK substitute for Garuda simply on the merit of being 'comparable' DPS, is simply bad. If my pet choice makes me lose 5 DPS, while 'comparable', is still losing me 5 DPS. Why would I _ever_ want to do that?

We're playing a game where the damage we do is based off of math calculations but we're not actually playing a math problem. I'm here to have fun, not nitpick every single detail until I play like a computer. If you want to tunnel vision yourself into ERMMAGAAAD THE HIGHEST DPS EVARRRRR, feel free. But some people have no problem losing 100% damage efficiency for some convenience in management.

[T0rin]

Garuda would also be sitting in a vortex losing HP and forcing you waste time and MP to cast Sustain. Of course you could manually reposition her but it's just one more thing to keep track of and having your pet die is far worse than losing minimal DPS.

I forgot, it is 'hard' to hit Heel once.

We're playing a game where the damage we do is based off of math calculations but we're not actually playing a math problem. I'm here to have fun, not nitpick every single detail until I play like a computer. If you want to tunnel vision yourself into ERMMAGAAAD THE HIGHEST DPS EVARRRRR, feel free. But some people have no problem losing 100% damage efficiency for some convenience in management.

And playing with Ifrit is somehow more fun? You know what is fun? Doing craptons of DPS. Ifrit is a drag, he pulls you down. Why would you ever want to do worse damage, simply for having something a little different to look at? What really are you after here, with wanting to use Ifrit? There is no convenience in managing Ifrit vs Garuda. There is nothing to nitpick. Use Garuda all the time. End of story.

[Kresciel]

If you just want to have fun and mess around, you can use Titan and I couldn't care less. But if it's a raid where you're required to be efficient, then you'll only use Garuda.