Summoner Demystified: A Guide for Beginners

[FeliAiko]

FeliAiko says she's going to make a guide of her own, and I hope she does. I suspect it will be better then mine. The quality of my guide aside, as Solarra has shown, there's a very real need for DPS guides that assume nothing from the reader. This serves the niche until either something better comes up, or I improve upon it.

(It's he, not she)

Well it was just a thought as far as making a guide... but I've ended up acting on it and got a working project up so far. I've cut out and spliced in a small section of what I've done below; hopefully it gives an indication of the direction I wanna take it and if serves its purpose well enough.

Disciple of the Grimoire: A Summoner Starter Guide

by Feli Skylar of Odin (EU)

Learning the Art (Levels 15 to 30)

The Starter Rotation

Below is the opening single target rotation for Arcanist, beginning from Level 15. I’ve highlighted oGCD abilities in italics, which will be a persistent trait throughout this guide.

Bio II* -> Miasma -> Bio -> Energy Drain -> Ruin spam -> refresh Bio -> refresh Miasma -> Ruin spam
*Available at Level 26

Once you get to the ‘Ruin spam’ stage, your general gameplay becomes a priority system where you:

1. Refresh your DoTs (Miasma at 3-4 seconds remaining, and Bio at 1 second remaining)
2. Refresh Aetherflow (assuming you have no stacks available, otherwise use those first, then refresh)
3. Ruin spam if the above two conditions have already been met.

To elaborate further on #2, at Level 20 you gain the Aetherdam trait, meaning each use of Aetherflow will give you 2 stacks instead of 1. Or, in other words, two Energy Drains per Aetherflow use. This means that whenever you’re in a situation where you have one stack left, and Aetherflow is close to being available, then you wait until it’s off CD, spend that stack on Energy Drain and refresh Aetherflow immediately after. For example:

Ruin spam -> refresh Bio -> Energy Drain -> Aetherflow -> refresh Miasma -> refresh Bio II -> Ruin spam

Notice how the Energy Drain and Aetherflow refresh took place between refreshing Bio and before you had to refresh Miasma? As Bio is an instant cast ability, that gives you 2.5 seconds (because of the GCD) where you have time to use up to two oGCD skills in succession during that window, setting you up in time to refresh Miasma in one smooth motion once the GCD ends. Other instances in which you can take advantage of Bio in this way are:

refresh Bio (GCD begins) -> Energy Drain -> (GCD ends) use GCD ability
refresh Bio (GCD begins) -> Aetherflow -> (GCD ends) use GCD ability

Meanwhile, at the same level you gain an extra Aetherflow stack, Emerald learns a new skill: Downburst, giving you your first AoE ability. Speaking of which, the initial AoE rotation for Arcanist is as follows:

[Bio II -> Miasma -> Bio] on first target -> [Bio II -> Miasma -> Bio] on second target -> [Bio II -> Miasma -> Bio] on third target, etc.

Once you have all 3 DoTs up on all targets, you can revert back to the 3 priorities listed above as you Ruin spam your main target. Once that target dies, then repeat with your new main target, and so on.

It’s during the Ruin spam stage that you fit in Downburst (make sure you have a keybind for it), like so:

Ruin (Downburst) -> Ruin -> Ruin -> etc.

Being a pet skill, using it during the Ruin animation/cast bar will not interrupt your spell. It does not have to be strictly done during your first Ruin cast, but do aim to fit it in as early as possible. With a cast time of 3 seconds, be wary of using Downburst on a mob with very low HP lest they die before Emerald has completed the cast, effectively wasting the skill.

Understandably, performing your opening AoE rotation will feel tedious, but this burden will change once you reach Level 30 and gain the ability Bane after completing your final class quest. At the cost of an Aetherflow stack, Bane will spread your applied DoTs from your current target onto all surrounding targets within an 8 yalm range. However, after 3 targets, the DoTs spread will only do 50% damage on the fourth enemy and beyond. It also comes with a 15% chance of the transferred DoTs having their durations reset to full, but only on a mob by mob basis.

Originally, this ability only had a target limit of 4 - including the source the DoTs were spread from. With the removal of this cap Arcanist (and by extension, Summoner) is now very useful in dungeon runs compared to before, as well as in raid scenarios where there are more than 4 enemies.

[FeliAiko]

The mana issues arise from long duration fights where there can be little downtime to compensate for the MP spent (i.e. raids and trials). Since dungeon bosses aren't generally long encounters and you get downtime inbetween trash packs then mana issues are less likely to be a problem at your level.

The issue with Ruin II is since its an instant GCD, you become locked out of doing other skills immediately, unless you have an oGCD (e.g Fester, ED, Spur) available to fill that gap with. Ruin on the other hand has a cast time roughly as long as the GCD so by the time the cast ends so does your GCD, giving you the freedom to cast again.

The point about melee range is that as you use Ruin II your character will use an autoattack, so it works out as 80 potency + AA damage. If you use Ruin II at range and you weren't forced to move or did an oGCD after, then you wasted extra mana just to do the same damage as a normal Ruin.

[Alisa180]

Hi, everyone! Just jumping in with an update!

I'm working the 'level by level' guide as promised, though its taking longer then I anticipated. I've also started leveling PLD and oh god I have so much new understanding and sympathy for tanks now.

While writing a sub-section on SMN mobility, I hit something of a wall since I realized it was impossible for me to move while hitting any D-pad related abilities on the crossbar. >_<; I've been experimenting with a KB/M set-up, but...I think I'm too set on the controller scheme to adapt properly. I need to work on my crossbar arrangement.

I'm now curious. Were the 'ideal' rotations made using a controller or a KB/M set-up? Because speaking from experience, hitting all those buttons at the right time is just a little more difficult with a controller then with KB/M. I'm looking at Sleigh's Opener and seeing oGDC combos like 'Swiftcast+Fester' and 'Painflare+Killing Strikes' and going <_<; Maybe its just the way my crossbar is set-up right now, but those combos are hard to hit within 2.5 seconds.

Anyway, this is a formal request for example crossbar set-ups, because SMN's sheer amount of abilities makes playing it on a controller...Well, interesting. XD. Hotbar set-ups will also be welcome.

[OneWingedSora]

I have been using Sleigh's opener just fine on a controller. Just gotta have nimble fingers :P

[Alisa180]

I have been using Sleigh's opener just fine on a controller. Just gotta have nimble fingers :P

Can you show me your crossbar? Or tell me it? I really do need hard examples there aren't nearly enough for SMN (whereas there are no shortage of hotbar set-ups).

[Alisa180]

The holidays are over, and I thought I'd jump in with an update. The leveling guide is still in progress, and more then halfway done.

I wanted to mention a recent development. I parsed myself for the first time in months, and got 980 over 7 minutes. I joined a new FC, and one of the members, a skilled SMN himself, agreed to critisize my opening (*not* the 'easy' one I posted in the guide, its changed as I've gotten more skilled.) My goal was to finally break 1000.

Less then two minutes into my opener, he informed me I was parsing at 1100. A glance at mine confirmed it. Keep in mind this was less then a DAY after I parsed myself. (I'm i195 at the moment).

0_0

For all intents and purposes, my opener was the same. Or seemed to be. I have only the vaugest idea on what might have been slightly different. On one hand, it was encouraging and a hell of a breakthrough. On the other, god knows if I'll be able to repeat the feat.

I'm going to put up the 'leveling' guide as soon as its done, but after that I hope I'll be able to make another section for the endgame based on my own experiences and growth as a SMN.

TL;DR Have officially gone from noob to potentially raid-worthy. Also, leveling guide is still coming.

[FeliAiko]

As someone who played the majority of SMN on controller before switching for HW, it really comes down to what is comfortable for you, which will differ per player. For example, do you find it 'easier' accessing the left side of slots (LT/L2 + D-Pad & Face Buttons) or the right side? Do you prefer using the DPad while moving or the buttons instead? It's those kind of questions that can influence where you put your skills.

For me, general rule of thumb was: GCDs on buttons, Aetherflow skills, Pet Commands and Buffs/oGCDs on D-Pad. Certain exceptions had to be made though. If there's skills you always use back to back, place them next to each other, and so on.

[Alisa180]

After several weeks of delays, plenty of additional experience with Summoner on my part, and straight-up writer's block, I'm proud to announce I've finally finished the leveling guide! Complete with (somewhat) proper formatting even! Oh yeah!

I'm probably going to go back and do some revisions at some point, maybe tweak with the formatting a bit. But for now, I'm just going to bask in this accomplishment. My late Valentine's Day gift to you all!

As always, comments and criticism are welcome!

[Zaj_Quilos]

As a SMN i never use Blizzard....

[Sidra]

As a SMN i never use Blizzard....

Blizzard 2 is the best GCD related AOE DPS SMN has once Things are Bane'd and MiasmaII'd. For DPS optimization it gets some play in dungeons and A2S.