Newbie SMN help, please!

[Inaa]

Hi I need some help with summoner… I leveled SCH to 70 as my main healer and, of course, got a summoner too while doing so. But I have absolutely no idea how to use my summoner… I think I sort of know what my skills do, but the actual rotation… Nope, I have no clue! How do I learn summoner? I’ve used it a few times at lv 70 in expert roulette, but that was with a full premade party with my friends. I would never dare to join a party with random people as summoner… Are there any good guides out there? I’m a total beginner…

I'm not aiming for hardcore stuff (I'm trying to learn savage with my WAR at the moment. Only have clear on O1s and O2s, and have poked at O5s with friends, just for fun. So I'm still a very casual player) but I have this job at 70 and I really want to understand how it works.

[ChaoticCrimson]

https://koda.s-ul.eu/RAoKXgcb

This is the guide I used when I started learning the job about a month ago. So far it's worked pretty well for me. The important thing with SMN is learning to time things out between Aetherflow and your DoTs, as well as weaving OGCDs. Your DoTs and Fester are pretty much a big part of your damage output, along with DWT and Bahamut. For AoE, you've got all kinds of nice moves like Painflare, Shadow Flare, your pet's Enkindle, Death Flare in DWT (Tri-Bind is also boosted in DWT), and Bahamut's Akh Morn. Bane is also nice if you have a ton of enemies and you don't feel like hardcasting DoTs on all of them. Right now, Ifrit is pretty much the pet of choice because Radiant Shield is just amazing plus it's Enkindle throws on some added DoTs for a short time.

EDIT: Fixed the link since the original appears to have been an outdated one.

[Inaa]

Thank you so much for the advice and the guide!

[ChaoticCrimson]

Thank you so much for the advices and the guide!

It's no problem at all! And don't feel discouraged if it all seems like a lot to take in at first. Just take time to practice and get the feel for all the timings. There's a lot of moving parts, but after a while it becomes muscle memory. As I said before, I started learning SMN about a month ago, and even though I can deal some decent damage I know there's still plenty I can probably improve on. So just keep at it and I'm sure you'll do well in time. Good luck!

[Neela]

its like your rota is put together in 3 parts. You use to line those parts up to release Bahamut. All of these parts rely pretty hard on aetherflow cd to gain the maximum dps out of it. p1: gaining stacks for dwt. p2 dwt, p1 again for gaining stacks, p2 dwt -> p3 bahamut burst. all three parts work similiar dot -> ruin & aether skills (paired with ogcd). if you get this system into your mind, smn is one of the most flexible cls aside brd/mch in movement and boss/mechanic adjustment of all dds - while they provide fairly high personal dps & good grp utility.

so long
Yuni

[Inaa]

Thanks for the explanation! I think I understand SMN a little better now. I ran expert as SMN the other day, and at least I knew what I was doing

[ShaolinMike]

Thanks for the explanation! I think I understand SMN a little better now. I ran expert as SMN the other day, and at least I knew what I was doing

Just keep playing it; the rotation becomes second nature after a while. Although some people find it clunky, it's the easiest job for me to play just because of familiarity.