Conjurer in Ifrit -- Tactics Please?

[Asiaine]

Hello,

I'm hoping to start a discussion on the best way for a CNJ to deal with Iffy in battle!

So far, I've come up with the following points:

1 - CNJ stands in one of their two safe spots
- On the right as going in, to the left and behind of a little rock
- On the left as going in, to left and behind a little smudgy spot

2 - Focuses on curing the tank, but not over-curing (save on MP).

3 - Uses Shroud of Saints when ever possible (to decrease hate and get some MP regen)

4 - Uses Blissful Mind before going in and tap it when MP is going low. When used, right away use it again to start storing for more MP.

5 - Stoneskin self at ALL times (prevents being thrown back by attacks and serves as buffer to already low HP)

6 - Casts Protect on group when they huddle together

7 - Casts Sacred Prism + StoneSkin on group when they huddle together

8 - Casts Curaga on group when they huddle together

9 - Avoid curing anyone but tank (the DDs can take care of each other)

10 - Avoid raising unless things go really really bad

11 - Run away from cracks the moment you see them (although that may still be too late), and then run back as soon as they start to dissapear

12 - When Nails pop up, look at timer (how much time left before fight is over). Subtract 60 seconds. That is about when Hellfire is going to happen. As soon as hellfire is about to happen, start healing yourself so you are cured the moment it is over. Then quickly put up StoneSkin.

Any more ideas/suggestions/tactics?

I do have a couple of questions:
Should a CNJ heal the tank even if it means the CNJ will die in doing so?
Should a CNJ spam-heal the tank even if it means the CNJ will run out of MP?



Thank you.

[REDace0]

Sounds about right. I'd add a couple things though.

10 - Raise someone if needed when Ifrit dashes/jumps. Priority is Tank, CNJ, DD, though if you're having to raise the Tank the chance of recovery is pretty low.

12 - I usually start casting Cura on the tank as Hellfire is about to go off, since they need the HP more. As a CNJ you should only be taking damage from Ifrit's big explosion knockback move, which should be blocked by Stoneskin unless he does them as close together as possible.

I also use a party chat macro to call out 60, 30, 15, and 5 seconds 'til Hellfire.

As for your questions, I'd say 'yes' to both. In the first case, someone else can raise you and the tank can stay up for some time with one CNJ or a CNJ and someone else healing. In the second, there's nothing else more important to spend your MP on. Hopefully Ifrit will jump or one of your MP moves will come up so you don't stay empty for long.

[syntaxlies]

when you run from cracks you can heal the tank with resonance>cure from pretty far, keep that in mind if you know he cant wait for you to return to your spot.

[TheAnswer]

You have most of the basics down - positioning, the use of BM and SoS, etc. There are basic tactics that should be followed regardless of the party setup; healing tank, self preservation, healing DD, and, if you're up to it, keeping bleed effect on Ifrit via Aero.

So the rest of the tactics are derived from the party set up. If you've all thm as DD, you shouldn't have to heal them much but at the same time you cannot let them die and/or stay dead or you will not kill Ifrit. The secondary healing cnj should be on the right side and should be healing the physical DD. They are to be damaging Ifrit and have to focus on combo timing and positioning. Often animation lock will render them susceptible to damage from Ifrit's "WS" - if you will. So to say they can take care of each other is a bit'o'a bad idea. After all, cnj is there to heal.

Also, raising should not present any issues and everyone in the party should have raise equiped. Raise when he is doing tripple charges for two reasons -
1. There is plenty of time allotted here to raise one person and they raise someone else when they are up.
2. A raise should never be needed before the "glowing tripple stage". If so, leave party and runaway! O.o kidding as mistakes happen.

Also on Charges: During single charges, this is a good time to SS ( Sacred Prism if available) and protect. If you feel time is too limited, then SP stoneskin and protect from your safe spot. During the tripple stage doing both while near tank is no issue. This is Important for when tank is low on MP : When your tank becomes low on mp and he cannot use Sanguite Rite, you can put it on him. Best time is just before Ifrit lands after third charge. So monitor the tanks MP and if it is low, do not use Sacred Prism SS when he begins to jump. Instead wait until the third charge and use SP then when he makes his last jump use Sanguite Rite. This will enure the tank has SR when Ifrit lands and uses a WS. Tank regens MP and you are back to safety.

Nails: You can Cleric's Stance and help nuke down a nail if you see fit as well and take CS off afterward. Also, The best defense for Hellfire is Sentinel - so lvl that glad to 36. If you run a timer when nails pop you can time the use of sanguite rite and sentinel just before Hellfire. This will mitigate damage to you and regen MP from any damage taken. After that, its the same ole same ole. Oh and on tripple cracks, try not to run directly into the thm or DD group as when cracks follow you run the risk of killing them.

So all and all, there is plenty you can provide as a cnj in the Ifrit battle that extends beyond just healing the tank. And to answer the last two questions, yes heal tank even if you will die - no tank = no win. And.. you shouldnt run out of MP :/.

[Myrhn]

After hellfire i wait 15sec each time ifrit do a ws since cracks can pop up and kill u. Also have invigorate to have some tp and use second wind went u get hit that way u save some mp. Dont use Blistfull mind when running low on mp instead wen tu know u will get all the mp back, then cast t again and use second wind to get the hp back

[REDace0]

Just a little correction: Sentinel is 22GLA now. Great tips though!

[Estellios]

• At the start I'd just melee to 3000 tp. It should last you the entire fight you won't have to worry about Invigorate or possible animation lock from it. Ifrit doesn't WS at all right at the start and that is when your tank is supposed to be healing themselves anyways.
  
• Early on, I'd say to avoid overcuring because Cure and Cura give enmity based on the amount they would have cured instead of what they actually did heal. So using Cura on the tank while he's at full HP will still give you 1k+ HP worth of hate and waste a ton of MP. Late in the fight, spamming Cura might be necessary but at that point hate should be cemented on the tank.
  
• It might take practice on your team's part, but you should not be running out of MP at all unless Ifrit outright decides not to jump the entire fight or something. The tank needs to time their defensive abilities to mitigate their damage so you don't run out of MP and the DDs need to avoid as much as they can.
  
• In most cases you should have the MP and time to keep the melee topped off with Curaga. Curaga actually will never overcure because of how it works (it splits around 1800-2000 hp healed among the AOE until that "stock" runs out) so it's very useful and relatively light on enmity when you learn how to use it. Only Cura the DD if the tank is full (and only full). It's fine if they get hit with the occasional WS but they should be able to Second Wind or Cure themselves to get out of critical HP.
• If your team does good enough on the fight, don't be afraid to throw out nukes. CNJ nukes can do some pretty respectable damage to Ifrit and they have some nice effects attached to them. I'd go as far to say that you should try to keep Aero's bleed effect on Ifrit as much as possible if you are able to spare the time to do so. Stone's Magic Evasion effect is really nice if there are more casters in your group. If you see Ifrit jump before his dashes, if you are fast enough you can start casting before you lose target and still hit him with a spell.
• Cleric stance when the nails come up and help nuke down the nails nearest to you, but don't forget to continue looking out for Ifrit's moves and watch your MP, and don't forget to remove Cleric Stance afterward. With some planning and having the party split up and help each other, you should be able to consistently destroy them all. In a party with no THMs we've regularly been able to take down all 4 nails with around 10-15 seconds left before Hellfire. It reduces the damage down to around 1k without buffs so it's well worth it.
• Always Raise people ASAP, and wait for dashes to do it. Prioritize other CNJ's as was said. If you have people consistently dying and your Raise recast or MP is an issue, your team probably needs more practice.
• If both healer spots get Eruptions on them with the melee spot safe, you can run back through the middle of the arena where the melee are after the 3rd crack appears so you can get to the tank quickly and heal. If you do this you shouldn't need to use resonance
• After Hellfire, Ifrit seems to always use 2 to 3 claw swipes in between WS's. If he's only swiped once you are safe to cast, otherwise avoid casting until he WS's again if you can.

On your questions, for the first one it depends on the situation. If the tank is around 3k HP or higher they are fine to take hits for a few seconds, so get away from eruptions. If your tank is at low HP and you get eruptions under you, heal them. The death of the tank usually means the end of the run, where a healer death is much more recoverable.

On the second, spamming Cure/Cura is fine if it is necessary.

[ninesunz]

overly complicated

-stand in safe spot
-cure tank, over cure is fine
-do not cure after ifrit lands from dash, he will do a move shortly, be ready to run from eruption
-you have 6 seconds after ifrits moves (plume, eruption, burst, flame breath) to cast
-after hellfire you have 2 seconds(pushing it, 1 second is far safer) after ifrits moves
-win

[Krausus]

Get invigorate and second wind, pop invigorate at the start of the fight, you will then be able to use second wind throughout the fight to heal yourself.

Don't wait for the visual of the cracks. Instead watch his swipes, most of the time he will do 2 swipes and then an ability (exception is right after a dash, he will swipe once and then do an ability) on second swipe dont use Cura on the tank unless you absolutely have to once you see that there are no cracks coming your way you can then heal.

Not every Con does this but I do. I only use cura to heal in the fight this gives me more downtime to regen mp throughout the fight between Cures.

At this point in the game I now heal others in the fight as I usually have more then enough MP and can judge the swipes well enough to do so.

Never raise someone unless Ifrit is dashing and raise priority goes secondary healer, THM, anyone else.

[DeadRiser]

I'm guessing the guide was written with 2 cnj's in mind doing the run.

If that's the case, throw out heals and stoneskin every so often to the DD's. Why not? You're a healer, that's what you do. I also help nuke on the nail closest to Ifrit. I got one down by myself while the other cnj focused on healing the tank.

Please don't put the mindset that you CAN'T heal everyone except the tank. That's just not the role you are playing.