Summoner Gameplay

[Victros]

I'm a new player. I've been planning to play Black Mage in PvE, but now I'm not so sure. It seems there's a lot to do in endgame PvE from what my FC has told me, with the mana swapping and the Manawall use and the teleporting, etc.

So, is Summoner maybe a better choice for me for endgame PvE, if I'm looking for a relatively simple experience? Less to keep track of? Less emergency buttons to mash?

Thanks!

[Yoninxi]

I can't even

[Victros]

I can't even

?? Sorry, what are you saying?

[Yoninxi]

Blm and Smn are about equal in "complexity" which isn't saying much. It's easier to get better dps on smn though.

[Victros]

OK. Coming from WoW where my mage had about a 6-button rotation and a few cooldowns, it seems like a lot to manage.

[Sagittarian]

I would say summoner has more to keep track of than black mage assuming you aren't letting the pet run on auto. Summoner has more cool downs to keep track of as well as being back up rez.

[MartaDemireux]

I can't even

Finish a sentence? :P

But for the topic at hand SMN is a bit more complex than BLM. Short version:

BLM:
Fire III to get 3 stacks of astral fire
Spam Fire I until out of MP
Blizzard III to get 3 stacks of umbral ice
Put on Thunder
Toss in Thunder III's when they proc
Toss in Fire III's when they proc
Buffs in the mix as well

SMN:
Buff up first so all your DoT's are peak DPS
Maintain Bio
Maintain Bio II
Maintain Miasma
Maintain Miasma II
Manage Aether stacks for DoT utility/burst DPS
Shadowflare
Ruin spam when everything's peachy
Pets:
Garuda - maintain Contagian and her DoT
Ifrit - Prevent from stunning

There's a bit more to each of course. BLM mechanic is pretty simple to get down when you play it enough. Due to casting times it's a bit harder to push out the DPS in movement-intense battles but it's still good DPS. SMN is easier to maintain high DPS due to instant casts (Ruin II when running instead of Ruin) and DoT's are a steady reliable source. The trade off is that SMN has a lot more to keep track of with all of their DoT's and their pets.

As they share most gear I honestly say level both up. BLM is awesome AoE and is great for speed runs. SMN is awesome single target and has the mobility factor for bosses. Leveling both up is also the best way to figure out which suits you better.

[Victros]

OK, thanks for breaking it down. I was told that with Summoner, they get an ability that refreshes all their DOT's. Is that true?

Is it my imagination, or is there more to keep track of in this game's PvE than in most MMO's??

[MartaDemireux]

It's been forever since I played SMN but I'm pretty sure they were referring to Contagion which just adds some time to all the DoT's you placed on the target.

And I'm not so sure. RIFT mage's had some souls that were crazy. Pyromancer had like 6 proc abilities that worked in a similar fashion to Firestarter on BLM. Warlock (I think that was the soul) had about 7 DoT's to maintain on top of a regular nuke or two (although they did have an ability or 3 to refresh the durations of their DoT's). Never really played mages in other games except FFXI but that game had much less to keep track of (unless you were a RDM).

[Victros]

Yeah, I guess Contagion adds 15 seconds to the DOTs' durations. Can you keep them up indefinitely that way?