Connecting the DoTs: A Summoner Guide

[MariaNyan]

Im pretty sure he messed up spellspeed with skillspeed...

[ElasmoFan]

YUP. Sorry.. too much MCH, I instinctively went to skill.. my spell speed is 640, which is still lower but good to know that it just effects the number of Ruin III's.

[Neophyte]

SS also affects DoT damage (but not much), also it's easier to handle mechanics during/after casts and occasionally you'll get one more attack into [random buff].

Also you end up having more and more SS anyway, since every crit-gear 230+ is either with acc or SS. And if enough acc, you can only go for SS+DET usually then. (Only Crit/Det are weapons)

My BiS: http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/UVYT with 1012 crit + 763 SS while at 593 acc.

[ElasmoFan]

So how do you decide the materia that you meld with your gear / weapon?

[Neophyte]

For V-s or for BiS: CRIT, unless it's 9 or less to cap, everything else DET. Right now I also got a Vit5 in my necklace, too.
For IVs: SS melds are fine, if you don't want to use those pitiful DET4-materia.

[Nirokun]

So I did expert on SMN (main job) and I had an AST drown me in Spear cards. It was amazing, and I feel like it's "our" Arrow card, using it with all of my cooldowns for burst, only to have that burst and associated cooldowns come up super fast (fast fester, too, felt odd and amazing). I used to think Ewer was my favorite card, but Spear is really an awesome card and making Aetherflow come up faster feels like a pseudo-Ewer. I wonder how it compares to Balance as an overall DPS increase for single target.

[MaeIsMean]

Since they changed the pot-timing and increased spellspeed, you can weave in 9x Ruin III into your opener. The way to do this is to precast shadowflare and rouse+spur.
My SS is @ 889 which results in 2.29s GCD, but i think you can prob do it with 870, or even less if you have arrow/selene.
For those, who don't have enough SS ruin ii+fester is the alternative.

So, I've gotten this part down pretty much, but once it's done, I'm not sure what to do. I am getting frustrated because I can't even beat the regular Midas SSS. My gear is only 214 (and not melded at this time), but that's quite a bit beyond the min ilvl for Midas, and I know that it's the time between this cast order when I just sit there keeping dots up and waiting for Aetherflow to come back up, and spamming Ruin II. My spell speed is 795, will increasing that help? Is that the materia I should put on?

[Crocel]

I finally have no need for i230 pieces on my main anymore so I've decided to start gearing out a secondary class, which I've decided will be Summoner.
I was hoping I could get some opinions on a build I put together which will take me around 3 weeks to complete:
http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/V4MA

Any feedback is appreciated

[Neela]

SS also affects DoT damage (but not much), also it's easier to handle mechanics during/after casts and occasionally you'll get one more attack into [random buff].

Also you end up having more and more SS anyway, since every crit-gear 230+ is either with acc or SS. And if enough acc, you can only go for SS+DET usually then. (Only Crit/Det are weapons)

My BiS: http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/UVYT with 1012 crit + 763 SS while at 593 acc.

Interessting stats
My smn goes with 910 crit, 505 det, 599 acc and 1038 ss - pure pve, not for raids or pvp

[PantslessPrince]

Alright, derpy question inbound.
I love SMN (because I can rezz and a DPS) but I feel like I do a terrible job when it comes to damage. I'm usually always on the bottom of the enmity bar, except for initial pulls, and only thing I leave out from my rotation are the pet commands. I just leave them on sic for the most part.
Is that what's affecting my DPS? Or am I just a terrible SMN? Is it okay to leave my pet on sic and occasionally give it commands?
I enjoy the class to bits because it's a nice relief to healing folks but I feel like I'm dragging my party down a lot and I just want to get better..
Gear and build if that helps:http://ffxiv.ariyala.com/V7OW

Maybe I should just try another DPS class..