Contagion is way too overrated!

[Kikosho]

tbh, I'd prefer ifrit for AoE situation (dungeon usually, I don't raid with my SMN) because his skills are all AoE based. Monsters do not live long enough to justify the use of contagion most of the time

Uh.. I dunno where you got the idea that all of Ifrit's skills are AoE based but it's just not quite right. His auto attack, Crimson Cyclone, and Burning Strike are all single target. Flaming Crush is a circular AoE but it is centered around Ifrit and has piss poor range so you practically will not hit anything unless they are hugging Ifrit's hitbox. Radiant Shield only works if Ifrit takes damage from the enemies so unless you have him sitting in every AoE attack, it's not going to give you anything. His Enkindle is a conal attack so unless you place him properly, it has a chance to miss a group of adds. Including Enkindle, Garuda is just the better pet for trash packs/adds.

[Kuwagami]

snip

is that so ? I always thought his basic skill (not auto attack) was a cleave. Well, I don't know (all in all, I'm not a SMN main and rarely use it out of dungeons), I vaguely remember some consensus back in days when people were saying "Ifrit for trash, Garuda for bosses" and I just stuck with it, guess I was wrong