SMN 90 - A Pitch

[Domin8r]

One player's thoughts. A wall of text to be sure, but if the below points catch your eye, consider poking through.

Talking Points:

- Complete rework of Titan-Egi, making it optimal for fights and phases with two targets.

- Reworking of Egi Assaults to alleviate Ruin spam and add perceived power to Egis.

- Reworking of Trances, adding choice (optimization) to rotation.

- Consolidation of Dreadwyrm Trance and Summon Bahamut, as well as a mini-rotation to vary things (see Demi-Phoenix).

- Addition of Demi-Alexander: A third Demi-Primal with both single target and AOE potential.

Changes to existing skills:

Physick - Now scales with Intelligence.

Egi Assault - Type changed from Ability to Spell, with a Cast and Recast of 2.5s. Associated -Egi Spell are largely unchanged (except for Titan-Egi's Earthern Ward), but potencies are updated (see below). Still has a maximum of 2 charges and cooldown of 30 seconds.

Energy Drain *- Now an AOE Ability with a radius of 5y. Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 100 for the first enemy, and 60% less for all remaining enemies.

Energy Siphon - Removed.

Egi Assault II - See Egi Assault

Dreadwyrm Trance - Renamed to Aethertrance. Largely unchanged, but can now be ended with one of three skills: Deathflare, Flames of Rebirth, and Punishing Heat. Once a finishing ability has been used, Aethertrance is replaced with Dreadwyrm Trance, Firebird Trance, or Judgement Trance respectively. If effect is not ended with one of those three skills, cooldown of Aethertrance is reduced by 30 seconds. Recast 60s, which ticks in the background of another Demi-Primal being available.

Deathflare: Cooldown is now 70 seconds.

Summon Bahamut - Renamed to Dreadwyrm Trance. Still summons Demi-Bahamut, which now executes Calamitous Ruin when it manifests. Now resets Tri-Disaster. Does not reduce cast times by 2.5 seconds.

Enkindle Bahamut: Renamed to Enkindle Demi-Primal. Similiar to the Egi Assaults, this skill will change to either Akh Morn, Revelation, or Holy Scourge depending on which Demi-Primal is summoned.

Enkindle Phoenix: See Enkindle Bahamut.

Everlasting Flight: Gradually restores own MP. Potency 25. Duration 20s.

For Pet Skills, they have their potency increased to account for the lost Ruin/ Outburst cast. These would be gradually increased via traits (Such as Enhanced Ruin II) until finally settling upon the final values at level 74 (Enhanced Egi Assault). Their changes are as follows:

Egi Assault

Aerial Slash - Deals wind damage with a potency of 130 to target and all enemies nearby it (5y).

Crimson Cyclone - Deals fire damage with a potency of 360.

Earthen Bond - Creates a bond between the caster and their Titan-Egi. Earthen Bond allows for Titan-Egi's Rock Buster and Mountain Buster to also hit the caster's own target during its duration. These attacks can only hit a target once per cast, but the caster's copy of the attack is not limited by range. Duration: 40s, effect expires when Titan-egi exits combat.

Egi Assault II

Slipstream - Deals wind damage with a potency of 90 to target and all enemies nearby it (5y). Additional Effect: Creates a windstorm centered around the target, dealing damage to any enemies who enter. Potency: 20 Duration: 15s. This ability is now reflected on the caster, showing the remaining Duration (see DRK's Salted Earth).

Flaming Crush - Deals fire damage with potency of 360 for the first enemy, and 75% less for all remaining enemies in a cone before it (3y).

Mountain Buster - Deals earth damage with a potency of 260. Additional Effect: Mountain Buster does not change Titan-Egi's target. Additional Effect: If attack hits two targets under the effect of Earthen Bond, 2 stacks of Further Ruin are accumulated.

New Skills:

Calamitous Ruin: Grants stacks of Calamity upon using Ruin III during Dreadwyrm Trance. Additional Effect: If stacks of Calamity are present, usage of Ruin IV will not expend stacks of Further Ruin, but will instead expend all stacks of Calamity. Additional Effect: If Ruin III is used at the maximum number of Calamity stacks, all stacks of Calamity are removed. Duration: 20s. Calamity Effect: Potency of Outburst and Ruin spells used by caster are increased by 25% per stack of Calamity. Maximum Stacks: 3. This action cannot be assigned to a hotbar.

Flames of Rebirth: Deals unaspected damage to target and all enemies nearby it with a potency of 350 for the first enemy, and 70% less for all remaining enemies. Recast 70s.

Judgement Trance: Summons Demi-Alexander to fight by your side, which executes Temporal Stasis as it manifests. Each time you cast a spell on an enemy, Demi-Phoenix will execute Artillery on the same target. Duration: 20s. Additional Effect: Resets Tri-disaster recast timer. Additional Effect: Changes Outburst to Sacrament. Cannot summon Demi-Alexander unless a pet is already summoned. Current pet will leave the battlefield while Demi-Alexander is present, and return once gone. Can only be executed after using Punishing Heat. Recast: 70s.

Punishing Heat: Deals unaspected damage to target and all enemies nearby it with a potency of 375 for the first enemy, and 60% less for all remaining enemies. Ability, Recast: 70s

Temporal Stasis - All non-Temporal Stasis buffs applied by the caster have their remaining stacks and duration frozen in time. Duration: 20s. This action cannot be assigned to a hotbar.

Sacrament - Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 220 for the first enemy and 50% less for all remaining enemies in a line before you. Instant cast, 20y Range, 10y Radius. This action cannot be assigned to a hotbar. Instant cast Spell. Recast: 2.5s.

Holy Scourge - Deals unaspected damage to target and all enemies nearby it with a potency of 710 for the first enemy, and 50% less for all remaining enemies. This action cannot be assigned to a hotbar. Recast: 10s.

Artillery: Deals unaspected damage with a potency of 150. Will only execute while Demi-Alexander is summoned.

Basic Rotation

The rotation is currently Dreadwyrm Trance > Summon Bahamut > Firebird Trance > Downtime > Repeat. With the above changes, the rotation for single targets becomes Aethertrance (end with Punishing Heat) > Judgement Trance> Aethertrance (end with Deathflare) > Dreadwyrm Trance. Think almost like current bard songs, in regards to how they alternate due to cooldowns.

AOE tags out Bahamut for Phoenix, etc. If there is anything to take away from my proposal, it is this: Minute-long blocks with a choice in Demi-Primal depending on the needs of the fight.

Demi-Primal Rotations

Demi-Bahamut's Calamitous Ruin leaves Dreadwyrm Trance's rotation as Ruin III > Ruin III > Ruin III > Ruin IV > Ruin III > Ruin III > Ruin III > Ruin IV, with the usual Akh Morns, Energy Drain, and Festers thrown in.

Demi-Alexander's Temporal Stasis would stop the clock on Devotion, Further Ruin, and Aetherflow, leaving the rotation to be Ruin IV spam with Holy Scourges, and at least three Festers at no cost to Aetherflow. If you enter Judgement Trance with no stacks of Further Ruin, you can still spam Sacrament for an increase. If you enter with no Aetherflow... I've got nothing for you.

I know I missed some details here and there, but the bulk of the idea is there. Thoughts? Questions? Additions? Subtractions? A complete waste of time and text? Thanks for reading.

[Archwizard]

I seriously have to question people's dedication to having an option for exactly two-target scenarios, as if that's any less niche than what Titan-Egi does.
How many encounters can you name where you fight exactly two targets for long enough to warrant swapping Egis? Because the number of encounters where a boss is untargetable while it preps some massive AoE far outshines that number, y'all just want to put more of the burden of your survival on healers when the truth is casters are sorely lacking in that department.
Personally I think the barrier Titan has is fine for what it does, though I might suggest expanding on Titan's abilities to include a stun/knockdown/interrupt and an increase in its passive output to shrink the gap between it and Ifrit-Egi when you must swap. Maybe even change its Enkindle effect to some kind of group barrier just to hammer the utility of Titan-Egi.

I agree with consolidating Summon Bahamut and Dreadwyrm Trance, though I would hope they do so much earlier than level 90. Just make Improved Dreadwyrm Trance 1 summon it and remove Improved Dreadwyrm Trance 2.

Demi-Alexander... I have concerns about.
On the one-hand I understand that if Alexander were to be added to the SMN arsenal, doing so as a Demi-summon would make more sense than just an Egi skin.
On the other hand, I think building MORE off the top of SMN is kind of the problem with its design, since you're just hopping from Trance to Trance to Trance and wondering why Egis are so little of your output.
Plus if we start adding Temporal skills to SMN fresh off trimming some from AST, the Time Mage fanboys will misunderstand and riot something fierce.