Soloing NMs as ARC- when can I start?

[Uriko]

I've been grinding a lot of the lower NMs lately with a couple of friends, but wouldn't mind trying them on my own sometime.

What kind of rank can I expect to be able to take on a 36 NM solo (and what is a good NM to start on?). Obviously I'm only 32 at the moment so I probably need a lot more ranks

[carraway]

Right now, your ability to solo in FFXIV is largely dependent on a few factors:

1. Your rank vs. the target's rank, since level correction outweighs all other factors in damage output and damage intake.
2. Your selection of important crossclass abilities, like Sentinel, Cure III/Sacrifice III, Shock Spikes, etc.

That being said, you can still do a lot with proper use of Close Shot / Shadowbind. Try starting with Queen Bolete, a funguar NM that also happens to drop Eternal Shade, one of the best body pieces for ARC at this point in time (if you don't have it already). It might help to wait until 34, since that's not too far away and you'll learn Barrage, a fairly decent TP dump WS.

[Uriko]

Yeah, I've killed Bolete a few times in a group (not had Eternal Shade go to me yet). Is Eternal Shade really that good? I kinda dismissed it with it being R25 armour.

I've leveled a few classes but none as 'high' as ARC. Currently using:
1) Light Shot
2) Heavy Shot
3) Multishot
4) Raging Strike
5) Hawk's Eye
6) Shrieker (not sure on this, cooldown is a bit long)
7) Concussive Blow II
8) Shadowbind II
9) Trifurcate
10) Refill
11) Cure II
12) Second Wind
13) Bloodbath
14) Ferocity
15) Protect
16) Raise (can obviously ditch this if I'm solo)
17) Shock Spikes or Stygian Spikes
19) Quickstride
20) Chameleon (again, this is for party NMs)

Gear of note is Elm Velocity Bow (I do have Bow of Owls as well), Nighthawk Visor and Fluorite Rings.

I've been out of the game for months, and only came back recently so I'm still experimenting with what works. I have LNC at 14, I've been told by a couple of friends that it's worth getting Leg Sweep?

[carraway]

Leg Sweep's solid for its stun. Twisting Vice is also helpful in a lot of situations, but is probably too far out of your reach at this point in time. Add in Close Shot and Stoneskin when you're attempting a solo.

Eternal Shade will last you until R50 on ARC and PGL while grinding up.

[Konachibi]

Indeed, had a few people in my LS kill Bolette yesterday so my Pugilist could have Eternal Shade, it's stats are very nice, and it's not too bad to look at either, wear a pair of dodoskin leggings and you got yourself a matching set (b'.')b

Bolette does seem to be a good choice to start with soloing, the only two attacks you'd need to be majorly concerned about is her sleep cloud and big AoE thing (The AoE has an enoooooooormous effective area so you either gotta be a long way away when she does it, or be prepared to take the hit) She does a zombie dance before the AoE though so you get a bit of warning to run like fun before she roflpwns everything in range.