Connecting the DoTs: A Summoner Guide

[Havenchild]

* With 4.0 updates making their way into this guide, I will be sectioning off a portion labeled 'WORKING ON" to show where progress is currently proceeding. Everything prior to these sections would be confirmed and looked over information.***



Introduction:

Seeing as how we haven’t had a current full SMN guide in quite some time on the forums, I believe it is the appropriate time to make a everything to know thread for information regarding the 3.0 (Level 1 - 60) and 4.0+ (Level 61+) SMN playstyle . I will continue to update this thread as new information comes to light and into the 4.0 era as well. There are also several different users on the forums who have suggested various tips and tricks that I will also continue to document, so feel free to contribute to this thread and I will update the OP when I can. My goal is to ultimately make this a thread for everything SMN but also maximizing it's potential. This guide, while beginner friendly, is also geared towards players who feel familiar with the class.


Patch Update: 4.0 (working)
Latest Guide Update: Implemented on 7/5/2017

Changelog: Massive updating
TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1) Summoner: The most difficult class?
2) Skills (working)
3) Damage Modifiers
4) General Techniques
5) Let’s talk about Pets Baby, Let’s talk about them and me.
6) Mastering your cast time: Is it worth it?
7) Auto-Attacks: The unlikely Ally & Stutter Stepping
8) Bio and Fester: the Love-Hate relationship and Travel Time of DoTs
9) The Opening Rotation: Your greatest moment, in half a minute
10) General Casting: Opener? Check. How to cast in ten seconds.
11) Recommendations From Users
12) Useful References


Summoner: The most difficult class?

For most, Summoner(SMN) is arguably the most difficult class to be good at. Every single decision will impact your DPS. Some may say all classes suffer from this and that is true to a degree, however from the beginning of the fight, a SMN’s DPS is in constant decline. Every mistake hits you harder than any other class. Your entire mindset for this class should be bursting as high as possible in your opener and then doing everything in your power to keep it from falling.


What do you know?

Most people consider SMN to simply be a class that focuses around DoTs and as long as you have them up, you are doing your best DPS. This is in-fact not very true at all. Yes while the application of DoTs is the core of our damage, it is not the entire picture. Maximizing your opener, expanded usage of auto-attacks, advanced Aetherflow stack management, maximizing time in Dreadwyrm Trance as well as GCD usage with Demi-Bahamut and stat build, all make up what is needed for a SMN to reach its full potential.


Stats:

Direct Hit (formerly Accuracy): 4.0+: All attacks against same level enemies is 100%. The higher this value is though, the more likely you are to gain a Direct Hit, which increases your damage. (High Priority)

Intelligence: Affects all skills in a SMNs arsenal as well as Pet damage. (High Priority)

Determination: Affects all skills in a SMNs arsenal as well as Pet damage. (Mid Priority)

Critical Hit Rate: 4.0+: All skills including DoTs and Pets are affected by your Critical Hit Rate. Higher CRIT rate will increase the damage of critical hits. (Highest Priority)

Spellspeed: 4.0+: Damage over time effects will increase in damage with more Spellspeed. All Pet skills are now affected by Spellspeed. Demi - Bahamut (DB) attacks each time you complete a cast. More SS more actions for DB. (Mid Priority)

Extra:

Skillspeed: 4.0+: Affects auto-attacks (Low Priority)

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Stats vs Stats

CRIT vs DET vs Direct Hit: The current conundrum

Often times you will see builds that have very high CRIT but pittance in DET and vice versa. With the addition of the Direct Hit attribute in 4.0, and various changes, you will want to be balancing these three stats among each other.
Critical Rate -> Direct Hit -> Determination -> Spellspeed - Priority for stats in 4.0.

INT, DET & Spellspeed: A Trio of Pain

These are the main modifiers of your damage. In general, you should work on capping INT as much as possible. As of 4.0 DET has increased in effectiveness. However, both DET and Spellspeed affect your damage. DET affects all skills casted as well as auto attacks, while Spellspeed affects DoT damage only, though on a smaller margin than DET as well as cast time.


Possible 4.0 Builds: N/A


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Damage Modifiers:

NIN: Trick attack: DPS increase for both Pet and SMN for ten seconds every minute. DoTs applied during Trick Attack are snapshotted and buffed for their full duration.

MCH: Bishop Autoturrent: All damage from the SMN and all damage from Pets (Skills or Auto attacks) are affected by Bishop Autoturrent's Hypercharge Effect (Attack Mode Version).

BRD: Foe Requiem: All damage from the SMN and all damage from Pets (Skills or Auto attacks) are affected by Foe Requiem.

DRG: Battle Litany: For 20 seconds, increases the critical rate of all skills by 15%. Unload all your big hits when this is up.


Note: To truly optimize SMN DPS as well as raid DPS, speak to your Bard/ Machinist about optimal time setups for song/turrent usage but do not expect to be catered to.

Best Party Comp: Working*


DPS strategy:

This is probably, in my opinion, one of the biggest damage modifiers for a SMN’s DPS. Many party setups adapt one particular mainstream strategy and expect everyone to maximize with that strategy. That is the wrong way to handle DPS when you have a SMN in the party. If you have a SMN in the party, build your DPS strategy around them, to increase everyone’s individual DPS, thus raid DPS, as well as your SMNs.

Ex: T10 add phase: Most raiding groups use the mainstream strategy of burning one particular side of adds to free up one tank then focusing down the other set. During the first add phase this is a big no-no. This will hurt a SMN as one particular side being focused down by everyone will die much faster thus not allowing the full duration of a SMN's DoTs. This also hurts everyone as well, mainly your melee, due to added travel time.

The proper way to handle DPS in this scenario so everyone benefits, is to split up your DPS. Dividing your DPS going into the phase will ensure your SMN is getting maximum uptime on all the mobs present. This will also benefit classes like MNK or NIN that climb in DPS the more they are allowed to sit and focus on a mob akin to a striking dummy without adding in travel time. The second add phase, you can do as normal to ensure a tank is freed up in a timely fashion. There are other unorthodox strategy’s that involve killing one sides daughter and another sides son but I find this is more often a Raid DPS loss. While a benefit to a SMNs numbers, this isn't something you should care for. You want to increase your own numbers alongside everyone else.


DoTs, the Snap Shot, and when to replenish:

Your main DoT skills will be Bio III, Miasma III. Each of these DoTs should in theory be refreshed in the 1-4 second range depending on the circumstances. DoTs also snapshot all DPS buffs/debuffs currently in play when first applied and run their full duration at the higher number (as if the bonuses were still applied). Should there be a time where a mechanic forces you to move while DoTs also need to be refreshed, consider refreshing slightly earlier or using Swiftcast if it means that DoT will fall off for more than 3 seconds before reapplied otherwise. IE: Earthshakers in T13.

Since 3.0, we have now acquired Tri-Disaster. This is a good tool to apply DoTs during inopportune moments or to use with Dreadwyrm Trance to snapshot the damage boost from that immediately on both main DoTs while not hurting your casting. In 4.0, Dreadwyrm Trance now refreshes Tri-Disasters' cooldown as soon as you enter it.

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General Techniques:
So now you hit 50 on Summoner, not many things have changed since your leveling days. A few tricks:


Ruin II: When to use it

Also casting ruin 2 at the moment mechanics happen can be possible dps increase so you may do not need interrupt your casting during mechanic.

Besides solely auto attacking and the largely unusable Blind debuff, indeed should it be timed out well in your favor, you do not need to lose DPS for the sake of travel. At level 70, Ruin II becomes a key component in your general rotation to rotate your oGCDs in, especially during the Demi-Bahamut phase.


Tri-Disaster: Like the Tri-Force, can be pretty useful

With the addition of a skill that can apply both our main DoTs (Bio, Miasma and their variations) instantly, comes various utility to maintaining your DoT upkeep and rotation.

• Upon use, target receives Ruination debuff which increases damage of Ruin spells by 20 potency.
  
• When both DoTs have similar timers within a few seconds of each other, you can wait all the way till they start falling off and use Tri- Disaster instead to reapply. In 4.0, entering Dreadwyrm Trance resets the CD on Tri - Disaster, meaning more applications!
  
• During moments when movement is required for mechanics, should DoTs need to be reapplied at the same moment, this can be use to replenish instead.
  
• Can be used to replenish DoTs while sparing you GCDs that would be used to refresh timers. Works wonders with DWT and allows you to focus on more Ruin III usage during it.
  
• Allows to apply DoTs quickly on targets where Bane is not possible.
  
• Aids SMN burst potential universally.
  
• Dark Side of the Force - Be very careful not to press the abilities Fester or Bane instantly alongside Tri-Disaster, as you have a very high chance of "missing" the presence of these abilities on the mob and thus having no effect. Missing an Aetherflow usage on a mob and not gaining an Aetherial Stack can cause DRASTIC DPS lose and will take very long to recover from rotation wise.

ShadowFlare: How to guide

Learning to master Shadowflare placement and timing is fairly important to maintaining your numbers and not breaking your casting. This skill should always generally be up when possible unless a mob is very rapidly in motion, IE: T11 adds.
Also being your strongest standalone AoE DoT, this is an amazing ability when it is in fact hitting multiple targets. In 4.0, this skill is now an Instant-casted ability.

1) The first step I recommend anyone to do, is learning how to use the camera to aim Shadowflares. The purpose of this is to not break any of your casting while also reducing all movement to placing a Shadowflare or switching targets. A lot of players tend to simply have Shadowflare placed in front of them for ease of use, so they will instead walk over closer to a mob to get them within the Shadowflare target zone. You should not do this ever. Learn to use the camera tilt to aim Shadowflares. The closer you place your camera to the floor, the farther the AoE circle will move away from you, while the more you place the camera in a top down bird view, the closer it will be to you. If you swivel your camera left or right, the Shadowflare will follow.

When you in fact master the ability to placing shadowflares at a distance using your camera, you can now start experimenting with target swapping mid-cast to opposite sides of an arena without breaking any casts or moving an inch and still returning to your original side.

2) Shadowflare also exists on a separate timing from the global server tick of DoTs. There is a DoT tick of Shadowflare that lines up with the users pulse that is generated upon entering a zone or instance. It was theorized that you can possibly get two ticks of ShadowFlare within the same given user pulse if the following one was clipped into the previous one correctly. *Original findings were located here http://pastebin.com/95ijGYAh - Linked additional reddit threads in references as well*
*Disclaimer: Chalking this up to perfect world scenario as this is extremely hard to replicate*


Dreadwyrm Trance (DWT): Awakening the Dragon

At level 58, we gain the ability Dreadwyrm Trance. This ability works as a passive that is activated on input after a SMN attains three Aetherail Stacks. Aetherail Stacks are acquired, after learning this ability, every time the SMN uses a skill that burns an Aetherflow Stack and correctly lands on a target. When under the effect of Dreadwyrm Trance, the SMN gains the following:

• Tri-Disaster cooldown is reset upon entering DWT.
• All magic based skills of the SMN gain a 10% boost in damage.
• The MP cost of Ruin III is reduced to equal that of a Ruin I.
• The ability Deathflare is able to be used. Deathflare is a 400 potency attack that will end Dreadwyrm Trance.
• You lose potency within DWT if you use any skill besides Ruin III while under its affect. A Ruin II may be added before the final Fester in a DWT rotation, if a Ruin III cannot be fully casted instead without sacrificing a Deathflare.*

Things you didn't know:

Bio I / III: These two skills cannot ever miss. Feel free to apply these from every angle. These skills can be applied through Hallow Ground but do not cause damage until after the effect wears off.

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Let’s talk about Pets Baby, Let’s talk about them and me. *Working*
General Information:

The Pet system on Summoner is essentially a slight evolution to what we understand from Arcanist. It focuses around an assortment of Egis in comparison to the former two Carbuncles from Arcanist. At level 30, when we advance into the Summoner Role, we gain access to Summon III- Ifrit-Egi (Melee Type), while the Summon I & Summon II Carbuncles are replaced with Garuda-Egi (Caster Type) and Titan-Egi (Tank Type, Melee) respectively later on. In the case of Garuda and Titan, they have access to the same exact skills (renamed) as their Carbuncle counterparts; however their attacks are slightly more potent.

Known Information:

• At the time of summon, all Pets siphon from the Summoners stats. The values of INT, CRIT, DET, VIT, and Spellspeed are all transferred. These stats are recalculated when re-zoning. This means that after an Egi is initially summoned, a Summoner can switch its gearset and have the Egi take advantage of a certain set of stats from the previous gearset.
  EX: Stacking VIT on SMN before summoning Titan- Egi so he has more HP and then switching to a SMN DPS set that contains less VIT. Titan-egi will remain at the higher HP because he has taken from the original set at time of Summoning.

*These “siphoned” stats come from gear AND food in use. Potions also influence Pets for the time they are active.

• Sic – Commands a Pet to attack on its own. Essentially this translates to a Pet using any of its abilities as they come off cd including its less potent skills and non-damage skills. You want to make sure in general a Pet is never on Sic. However with the addition of 3.0, all of Ifrit's abilities are now vital tools that should be rotated and used asap. If however you use Ifrit on Sic, do be aware you are most likely still doing slightly less DPS then if you did Obey + skill usage on your own.
  
• Obey – Commands a Pet to attack on its own but refrain from using any of its abilities outside of its default attack. A pet should always be placed on Obey, first at foremost at the time of summoning.
  
• Sic vs Obey: What is the difference?
  As of 3.0, all pets use one default attack skill every GCD.
  
  Ifrit – Burning Strike – 120 Potency
  Garuda – Wind Blade – 100 Potency
  Titan – Rock Buster – 85 Potency
  
  Each of the Pets also has access to three other skills (that each have a particular use), two lower potency attacks as well as one non-attacking CD. As stated before, Sic allows a pet to use skills on a target as they come up. This is mainly bad with Garuda because she will use less potent attacks, instead of Wind Blade, or use Contagion whenever she wants. When a Pet is on Obey however, this is prevented from happening, ultimately saving you an ability you do not want used at the wrong time or DPS in the form of swapping in a less potent ability. HOWEVER, with Ifrit or Titan as of 3.0, ultimately you DO want to spam these Pet skills as they come off CD so you can actually operate these on Sic now. Still be aware however, it is still lower numbers then Obey + Skill usage on your own.
  
  Currently in 3.0, Pets are properly weaving in attacks in between their normal default attacks. Be careful with Ifrit on Sic however. When Radiant Shield comes off CD, if another skill is also off CD, Ifrit will use them back to back, thus costing you DPS. Another thing is you want to make sure you are taking full advantage of Radiant Shields reflect. If you have Ifrit on Sic the entire encounter (single target fights), you may not be able to utilize this skill properly when needed such as add phases.
  

At the moment, SMN has access to the following Egis:

Garuda - Egi (Caster Type) – Magical based Ranged Pet. Affected by Spellspeed “transferred”. Only Contagion remains unaffected by Spellspeed.
DPS Modifier: All casts, including Enkindle, are affected by Foe Requiem / Trick Attack / Bishop Autoturrent.

Abilities:
• Wind Blade – Deals wind damage with potency of 100.
Cast Time: 1s, Recast Time: 3s
*Default attack skill.

• Shockwave – Deals wind damage with potency 90.
Cast Time: Instant, Recast Time: 90s
Additional Effect: 15-yalm knockback

• Aerial Slash – Deals wind damage with potency 90 to target and all enemies nearby it.
Cast Time: Instant, Recast Time: 30s

• Contagion – Extends the duration of all DoTs casted by the Summoner by 15 seconds. This includes Potent Poisoning Potions as well.

Main use: AoE based situations, where a Contagion can be used alongside a Bane onto multiple targets, that would survive longer then 18 seconds. Good all around in dungeons.
*Supports the Summoners DPS.


Ifrit – Egi (Melee Type) – Magical based Melee Pet. Affected by Spellspeed “transferred”. Only Radiant Shield remains unaffected by Spellspeed.

DPS Modifier: All attacks, including Enkindle, are affected only by Foe Requiem / Trick Attack / Bishop Autoturrent. Tooltip is incorrect as of 3.0 on some of his abilities.

Abilities:
• Burning Strike – Delivers an attack of potency 120.
Cast Time: Instant, Recast Time: 3s
*Default attack skill.

• Crimson Cyclone – Delivers an attack with potency 110.
Cast Time: Instant, Recast Time: 40s
Additional Effect: Stun Duration: 2s

• Flaming Crush – Delivers an attack with a potency of 110 to all nearby targets around Ifrit-Egi.
Cast Time: Instant, Recast Time: 30s

• Radiant Shield – Applies a buff onto all party members within 15y that delivers an attack of 50 potency every time physical damage is suffered. Damaged dealt based off of individuals physical damage.
Cast Time: Instant, Recast Time: 60s
Duration: 20s

Main use: Single target encounters.


Titan – Egi (Tank Type, Melee) – Magical based Tank Pet. Affected by Spellspeed “transferred”. Has a Magical Enkindle.

DPS Modifier: All attacks, including Enkindle, are affected only by Foe Requiem / Trick Attack / Bishop Autoturrent. Only Earthen Ward is unaffected by Spellspeed. Tooltip is incorrect as of 3.0.

Abilities:
• Rock Buster – Delivers an attack with a potency of 85.
Cast Time: Instant, Recast Time: 3s
Additional Effect: Increased Enmity

• Mountain Buster – Delivers an attack with a potency of 70 to all nearby enemies.
Cast Time: Instant, Recast Time: 15s
Additional Effect: Increased Enmity

• Landslide – Delivers an attack with a potency of 70.
Cast Time: Instant, Recast: 40s
Additional Effect: Stun Duration: 2s

• Earthen Ward – Decrease damage suffered by pet by 20%
Cast Time: Instant, Recast: 120s
Duration: 20s

Main use: Basically anytime you need a tank in an emergency. However, he needs a good lead to maintain aggro in most encounters post level 50.


Optimal time to use a particular Pet:

So let’s talk the optimal time to use the current pets.
*Pre - Level 58*

What we know currently is that Ifrit is the superior single target DPS while Garuda is the AoE friendly DPS. On paper, this is generally true for all encounters. However, there exist cases when optimally sticking to this bread and butter statement is costing you DPS. Pet swaps should occur if you choose to do so, on a phase by phase basis. You also want to minimize this to two swaps in a fight otherwise you are overusing MP. Largely the go to Pet is based off a Bio duration unless other outside factors like requirements.

Example 1: T13

Phase 1: Ifrit > Garuda : Purely single target environment
Phase 2: Ifrit > Garuda: Still single target environment, add will die faster than 18 seconds.

Phase 3: Both: Ifrit will do better on the first half of this phase, because most of these mobs will die in 18 seconds (1 Bane). However you must switch to Garuda before the Storm descends into the arena. Garuda’s Contagion and Enkindle will both add a lot of DPS due to multiple targets being stacked up and surviving for a long time (1 Bane).

Phase 4: Ifrit > Garuda: Purely single target enviorment.


Example 2: T11

We then have cases like in T11, where certain damage types are limited on a particular target. Should you require assistance, use Garuda.

Another case is based off of my last example.

In your party composition, if you have other magical DPS in your party who would DPS as well (SCH or BLM or SMN) and will beat the DPS of Garuda, still use Ifrit.


*Super special case.

Now let’s talk about T10, but this will be true for all instances. As I stated before, generally your Pet swapping should occur on a phase by phase basis however this needs to be limited to two swaps over the course of the encounter.

Using Garuda over Ifrit always needs to be WORTH it. There are cases like T10 where in theory it should be worth it, but in execution it isn't.

Ifrit > Garuda over this entire fight due to a few reasons.
1) Adds will not survive very long, despite Contagion potentially getting a full duration.
2) No breaks, non-stop fight. This means MP is far more valuable.
3) Use of 1768 MP to make a switch, that is better used to keep you afloat towards the end.
4) Raging Strikes / Int Pot do not line up with the beginning of these phases usually.

All of these things together in one particular moment, is why Ifrit > Garuda.
So while in theory Garuda > Ifrit in add phases, especially one like this, due to the nature of the fight and party strategy, Ifrit > Garuda. During Progression in this enviorment, Garuda was likely better. With improved comfort of the fight and better gear however to push out of these phases quickly, it will change to Ifrit > Garuda.


So basically you can surmise some general rules of what Pet to use and when in relation to bane-ing over a full set of DoTs with regards to 18 seconds.

1) If single target = Ifrit
2) If multi-target and adds will survive for less than 18 seconds: Ifrit
3) If multi-target and adds will survive for roughly 33 seconds: Garuda for Contagion + Bane.
4) If only Boss and one other add will survive for a very long time, Ifrit > Garuda, just manual DoT for upkeep.
*Exception to this will be if a Raging Strikes / INT Pot line up with when this add is spawned. In which case Garuda >>> Ifrit simply to apply Contagion (+ Bane opportunity preferably) but needs to be switched out asap using Swiftcast.

5) If only Boss and one other add will survive for shorter than 18 seconds still, Ifrit > Garuda.

6) If you have multi-target AND Raging Strikes / Int Pot AND will survive roughly 33 seconds: Garuda >>>> Ifrit, otherwise if 18ish seconds: Ifrit > Garuda


In Dungeons: Garuda is better in general mob pulls, while Ifrit should be used for the Bosses.

** Because of Enkindles long cooldown, the use of a particular Pet for a given phase should also be based off the optimal Enkindle to use at that moment.


*Post - Level 58* - Once you acquire the ability Dreadwyrm Trance, Garuda with her Contagion ability gains a decisive lead over Ifrit in practically every environment. The level 60 meta definitely favors Garuda more. Garuda is very powerful in the Alexander Raid (A1-A4). (Normal / Savage).


Enkindle: The (Former) Two Shot Wonder.

Harnessing all the nearby aether whether it be from primal being or hatred seething from you with your failed shadowflare placement, you Pet is able to use its signature ability. Each Pet has its own ability which corresponds to its primal.

Inferno(Ifrit): A cone in front of him that will do 200 Potency magic damage as well as apply a DoT that does 20 potency over 15 seconds.

Aerial Blast(Garuda): An AoE with 250 potency that uses a target currently selected as an axis point. All mobs located around the target are also hit.

Earthen Fury (Titan): An AoE around titan that does 200 potency. It also leaves a puddle on the floor that does 20 potency over 15 seconds to anything inside it.

On single targets, Ifrit as of 3.0 is the best user of Enkindle. As more targets are factored in however, Garuda’s Enkindle will overcome it. Now Ifrit’s Enkindle can in fact still beat Garuda’s if the mobs are stacked very close and within its cone AoE. This however tends to fall within the line of impossible on most fights, so Garuda falls to being the AoE friendly Enkindle.

*With 3.0, this skill has received a necessary adjustment to its CD which is now 3mins, however should you not have Enkindle at the beginning of a pull, it is impeccable that you stall your party as long as possible. Lie about the timer by saying it’s for Raging Strikes (more people are patient to wait for that), or take frequent bathroom/ cookie breaks. If mid fight, you see things start to go bad quick, stop all DPS and Physick spam, anything to draw out that CD. All for the sake of maximum DPS.


**If you have a Ninja in the party and also happen to be using Ifrit at the beginning of the encounter, assuming the first Enkindle will be used in the opener, use Rouse and Spur as you normally would, but try to delay the Enkindle until you see that first Trick Attack appear. Since DoTs in general snapshot all buffs and debuffs, as long as Rouse and Spur are still in play when you use Enkindle, waiting for the Trick attack that's going to appear around the time you are about to use Enkindle in the opener is worth it. Do it before Rouse or Spur fall off though!



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Mastering your cast time: Is it worth it?

One of the most important things as a SMN is to constantly ask if placing this DoT on said mob worth it. Because of the nature of DoTs applying there full damage over a duration, you must be able to see what is worth actually putting on a mob at any given time. A general rule to this is figuring out how much time roughly something will stay alive and then comparing that to a Ruin cast. If something is dying especially fast remove a DoT from left to right in the application in the Bio II -> Miasma - > Bio order. Bio II needs 9 seconds on the server tick to beat a Ruin cast.

If you decide to use a stack of Aetherflow to burn something down but do not have all three DoTs up, as long as you have 2 of the 3 up, you should still Fester/Painflare over Energy Drain. If however you only have time to get Bio up and want to use a stack, go with Painflare/Energy Drain instead. Bio however is only worth it if something will survive for more than 6 seconds otherwise, Ruin II and auto attacks will beat it.

Aetherflow: How to use it.

So we know Aetherflow is used for a few of our skills:
1) Fester - Using one Aetherflow stack will deal damage equal to each DoT present
(Bio II, Miasma, Bio) x 100 potency to a single target for a max of 300 potency.

2) Painflare - Using one Aetherflow stack, you can deal AoE damage of 200 potency around the target. Use over Fester in more than one target scenarios.

3) Energy Drain – Using one Aetherflow stack, you will deal damage of 150 potency as well as recover some MP.

4) Bane – Using one Aetherflow stack, you can transfer the duration of your DoTs present on a current mob to adjacent targets (max 3). There is a 15% chance that the DoTs transferred will renew all of their durations to full, this however is on a mob to mob basis. *Changing in 4.0*

The main three you will largely focus on is Fester, Painflare and Bane. These three skills will constantly need to be weighed against each other depending on how your raid DPS is when pushing into phases as well as positioning with regards to the boss and additional mob spawn locations. On average, saving an Aetherflow for a nearby Bane opportunity will be a bigger increase than a Fester on one target or a Painflare on both assuming they will survive for at least two ticks of DoTs. This is assuming you aren’t about to refresh Aetherflow Stacks.


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Auto attacks: The Unlikely Ally

Generally speaking, you want to make sure you are auto attacking the target as much as possible in a fight especially in your opening rotation. An auto-attack will occur every time you finish casting a skill and the timing lines up for it post animation or after every Instant skill you cast that shares GCD such as Ruin II, or Bio/Bio3. This includes any skill casted under Swiftcast.

SMN is also a melee class at heart. Do not let anyone tell you different. You are doing roughly 15-20 DPS less over the course of a fight by not being in melee. Unless there is a mechanic in a fight, that for safety reasons you must move away to cast at range, you should be in melee whenever possible.
Primarily, you should immediately set up auto attacks when you are casting Bio III to get this over with. Next, on most fights (mainly bosses) you will not immediately be within auto-attack range so you want to start moving into range before Miasma/3 finishes casting and already in front of the target by the time you use the first Fester. Be aware that if you un-target a mob, you must reinitialize auto-attacks for them to resume.

This brings me to my next point: Stutter Stepping
Essentially, in order to get into melee range quickly, you want to be able to perform this mid opener on your Miasma cast. Basically, Stutter Stepping is the art of moving mid cast while still being able to finish a cast. For Miasma, you want to start moving roughly at 75% - 80% of the cast bar full followed up by a Bio in movement. Get use to performing a Stutter Step on various skills to be able to maximize on fights that require movement.

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Bio and Fester: the Love-Hate relationship and Travel Time of DoTs

You as a SMN need to have an understanding of the timing between when you finish casting a skill and when it actually shows up on a mob a.k.a Travel Time. This is incredibly important when using Fester following a Bio cast.

Each DoT skill has a different appearance time.
From Fastest to Slowest:
• Miasma / Miasma II -> Apply Immediately
• Bio II -> A minor delay in between.
• Bio I -> Very noticeable delay in between.
Now why is this important? Because Fester/ Bane depends on these three main DoTs (Bio II, Miasma, Bio I), to be present on the target beforehand to maximize their respective use. The biggest area to be affected by this is notably the opener. Should you use Fester too soon after casting Bio, the game will calculate the damage as a 200 potency skill instead of 300 because Bio has not officially “logged” onto target. However, if you wait too long, you are costing yourself valuable time under Raging Strikes. I’ll elaborate in a few my personal workaround for this.

*With Tri-Disaster, all DoT skills are applied instantly at the same time for their full durations however you have to still be aware that if used too soon, Fester or Bane can still miss there effects on the newly casted DoTs.

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The Opening Rotation: Your greatest moment, in half a minute.

Let’s talk the optimal single target rotation. Some points to note:
1) You will need a lot of Hotkeys nearby. Ifrit requires two more over Garuda.

2) Art of Obey: Something else to remember is mainly that for Garuda or Ifrit (or any pet) should be on Obey before a fight begins. Placing a pet on Obey basically makes it so I cannot execute it’s skills whenever they are available and simply defaults the pet to aut0 attacks as well as a default attack skill.
• Alternate function 1: Allow you to redirect your pets target to any currently selected target. (Sic can also do this.)
• Alternate function 2: Obey operates as a super command which essentially resets the pet. Sometimes for whatever reason, Garuda will bug out and refuse to use skills in que. So should you ever find your pet is refusing to use a skill press Obey, then the pet skill again and it should execute soon after.

3) Another point about Garuda in particular is placement before a fight begins. Try to find a location where Garuda can safely attack the target while taking as little damage possible over the course of a fight. Ifrit can also be prepositioned but I feel it’s better to let him free roam in case for whatever reason, he decides to bug out and not move into melee again to attack a target that has moved. Pet positioning is important, because one of the first things I believe is to have to resummons a pet due to an untimely death mid fight for a whomping 1768MP ( almost a 1/5 of your mana!!!)

So after those few tips, you should have Contagion and Obey hotkeyed. If you don’t play with your pet hotbar visible, additional slots will be needed for remaining skills like Ifrits, Crimson Cyclone, Flaming Crush and Radiant Shield.

Should you be using Ifrit, you will want to make sure to use his Crimson Cyclone, and Flaming Crush while both Rouse or Spur are up.


Expanding the Opener:

A few more details to note:
Potions – Valuable tools to any DPS.
1) X-Potions of Intelligence or Draconian Potions of Intelligence are great to use in the opener in conjunction with Raging Strikes. During the course of the fight, these are better used when DoTs need re-application (Bio II, Miasma, Bio mainly running full duration) as well as at least 1 Fester (unless a Bane opportunity is nearby and you only have 1 Aetherflow Stack). If you are able to time this with a Contagion(Garuda), Dreadwyrm Trance or Foe Requiem as well, even better.

2) Potent Poisoning Potion (2.55): Another potion that can fit well into the opening. If you choose to use them, insert them after Miasma II but before Contagion (as they are also extended in duration like other DoT skills a SMN casts) or Ruin 2 before Swiftcast Shadowflare. Using a Potent Poisoning Potion may prevent you from getting the last Ruin II before Raging Strikes falls off if you do not have enough spell speed. (Minimum 370-385, assuming absolute no delay in opening) Over the course of the fight, use these freely when available. (*Do not work on mobs over level 50)

3) ShadowFlare: As of 4.0, this skill is now instant-casted but a cooldown of, meaning it will now be included

Expanded Opener at Level 50:

Work in progress


One of the expanded openers of at Level 60:


Working***
Rotation 1): Courtesy of Eirene Snow:


***One thing to point out, is the Tri-Disaster placement should depend on when Trick Attack is falling off with your corresponding Ninjas. If you do not have a Ninja, default to ROT. 2.


AoE Openers:




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General Casting: Opener? Check. How to cast in ten seconds.

After the opener, the general gameplay of Summoner will switch to priority based system, with a slight systematic rotation. When it comes to Summoner maximizing, I usually refer to it as swapping quartets of a given 4 skills.

Quartets:

Fester has a cooldown of 10 seconds. This means that you will be using roughly 4 skills every 10 seconds assuming you have Aetherflow stacks available.

Examples of Quartet of skills:

Ruin I -> Ruin I -> Ruin I -> Ruin II -> Fester

Ruin I -> Bio I -> Ruin I -> Ruin II -> Fester

Bio II -> Ruin I -> Miasma -> Bio -> Fester

Miasma -> Ruin I -> Ruin I -> Bio -> Fester

Ruin I -> ShadowFlare (Hardcast)-> Bio I -> Ruin II -> Fester

Essentially, you replace a Ruin I with whatever DoT is falling off. Should you not actually have a Fester at the ready, and you can cast uninterrupted, continue to use Ruin I until DoT reapplication is needed.
Pros: More auto attacks, ability to reposition every 10 seconds using the GCD.
Cons: More MP usage over the course of a fight.

There are many more combos than the ones listed here but essentially one rule of thumb is you want to use an Instant Skill before Fester always. You will also take notice of a rotation of sorts that starts to form as similar DoT timers begin to line up at the same times repeatedly. If you have Aetherflow off cooldown available and you use your last stack on Fester, use Ruin II if you have the MP to spare before using Aetherflow.


**Disclaimer: If you can afford the MP over a fight, you will do more DPS with this play style. You are not limited to using this over the course of a fights full duration and should in fact explore your MP usage in real time and break out of greater Ruin II usage if you are starting to feel like your getting locked in a chokehold. Feel free to emphasize, coughing sounds on any voip service you have to let everyone know you're trying hard.


Recommendations from Users:


Useful References:
Eirene Snow's Comprehensive Summmoner Guide -
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...=h.hvyhdfi6auz


My Twitch Channel with Gameplay Showcase: http://www.twitch.tv/rubykid15 -

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...-to-break-even[/COLOR]
http://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/commen...ming_research/
http://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/commen...w_discoveries/

***** Incoming updates soon: Cleaning and Updating the 4.0 changes