Connecting the DoTs: A Summoner Guide

[Minorinz]

Assuming A4S will require you to destroy both legs(which I am betting it will), Summoner will probably still outshine BLM there. Not to mention the adds will probably have more HP which will make multi-dotting them not a waste .

So far on A3S, I am still doing as much damage on my Summoner as I am on BLM, and Radiant Shield on the hand party cleaves is pretty good. I usually start with Garuda then SC Ifrit after phase change.

I would also like to side with Aikaal on this one. Doing 2.2k DPS w/o a Bard on A2S while the highest BLM parse I saw on A2S is 1.7k with a bard is a pretty big difference. The difference between casters AOE should never be this big especially considering how the difference between their ST damage is very small.

Hell, I have seen monks do 1.7k on A2S as well which is stupid. A melee should never be outdpsing a caster on a fight so focused on AOE.

If both casters are equal in both st and aoe then it'll make casters pretty dull. Also smn's aoe is coming in installments, it's not burst aoe damage the whole time with infinite resources. A2S happens to come in installments which is perfect for the job not as an aoe job but because summoner (CDs / job design).
BLM has the choice to either single target or aoe, however their single target is way better than summoners' single target. What they could do is raise smn's st and raise blm's aoe output, but i guess that defeats the purpose of the how the jobs are designed and differentiated.

If we were to go progress on FCoB all over again with the current job design, don't you think blm will shine more than smn? It's not really a faulty job design, it's more like this instance works perfect with that job more, there is synergy. I believe SE designed the fights regardless of which job is gonna be better. tbh, they always have been like this.

[OneWingedSora]

snip.

See, the thing is, BLM's ST isn't "way better" than SMN. It's just slightly better and that's taking into consideration they are both standing still doing no mechanics. Now pretty much all end game fights aren't dummies. Take a look at A3S with it's +/- mechanic for example, which favors summoners due to having dots ticking+pet attacking resulting in SMN probably having equal ST damage if not higher on those parts.

So far, it seems that Alex Savage heavily favors Summoners over BLMs and I have no doubt A4S will be the same. Which isn't really a bad thing for people that can play both casters but for people who just main BLM, it can be really frustrating.

And to answer your second question, nope. Aside from T11, Summoners will probably do more on the rest of the turns.

[Minorinz]

Yeah but it's common sense right? if the fight requires you to be mobile to dodge and preform then summoner will do great on single target and that includes aoes. If it isnt that heavy on mobility then blm wins. There is no way a blm can be mobile all the time and sustain high dps for the same reason why a blm can sit there and blow things up while being top dps. I think t12 also favors blms over summoners, everything in there dies so fast summoner dots won't tick for much on adds which makes the majority of the fight a stand still single target fight with minor mobility requirements.

As for A4, I have a feeling it'll be blm friendly. There aren't any intensive ground aoes that requires much mobility.

Also when I said "way better" i'm talking about blms reaching melee level when stationary. The best part is, blms have the confidence to do so lol, they seem to lose it when it's aoe time.