A Summoner Rework

[AceofRains]

Preface: Why rework Summoner?

With the advent of Shadowbringers, Summoner did already receive a significant overhaul. So is it really necessary to rework it again? Yes. Summoner is an absurdly busy Job with a few inconsistancies. One of the biggest inconsistencies I can point out is the Summoning of demi primal. Bahamut must be manually summoned. Phoenix is automatically summoned. Why? Why summon Bahamut manually when all that does is take up more space to remember buttons? Why do Summoners still have Physick when the spell is otherwise useless? There’s no many windows to hit on this job it’s exhausting to play it. What’s even more weird about the job is how you can make a lot of mistakes in rotation and forget abilities while still putting out a ton of damage. I am not here to discuss pet AI. For the intents of this thread we will assume pets function how they’re supposed to.


The Summoner Rework


->Changelist
->Aetherflow now replaces Physick at level 4. Summoner must be under the effect of Aetherflow to summon an Egi.
->All Summons now last up to 20 seconds and add attunement to the aetherflow gauge after being dismissed.
->”Summon” renamed “Summon Garuda”.
->Egi Assault Cooldowns are no longer shared by summons.
->Summon 2 renamed Summon Titan. Titan-egi’s Earthen Armor now grants all party members a health shield.
->Fester no longer interacts with Aetherflow stacks.
->Energy Drain only restores HP/MP
->Bane no longer interacts with Aetherflow stacks.
->Summon 3 renamed Summon Ifrit. Ifrit-egi’s Crimson Cyclone is now a dash gap closer.
->Energy Syphon now traits up from Energy Drain via Syphon Mastery.
->Enkindle now dismisses a Summon after its ultimate ability. Enkindle, like Egi-Assault has cooldown specific to a summon. Enkindle now becomes Enkindle Bahamut, and Enkindle Phoenix at their respective intervals.
->Summon Leviathan
—>Tail Whip // Melee Basic Attack
—>Spinning Dive // Gap Closer
—>Spring Water // Party Health Regen
—>Tidal Wave // AoE around Target
->Tri-Disaster now summons the 3 Egi you have attuned with for a combined AoE attack. Depending on your summon combination this can take 3 different forms:
1. Any summon order creates Painflare
2. Leviathan, Titan, and Ramuh creates Shadowflare
3. Ifrit, Garuda, and Shiva creates Lightflare
->Dreadwyrm Trance is now a trait. It is achieved after Reaching 3 attunement.
->Summon Ramuh
—> Thunderspark // Ranged Basic Attack
—> Shock Strike // Ranged AoE
—> Chaotic Strike // Damage and Paralyze
—>Judgement Bolt // Ranged AoE
->Summon Shiva
—> Icicle Impact // Melee Basic Attack
—> Heavenly Strike // Ranged Attack
—> Absolute Zero // DoT AoE
—> Diamond Dust // Freeze and Damage
-> Bahamut is now summoned when entering Dreadwyrm Trance. Further Ruin will always be in effect during this time.
-> Aetherpact now grants blessings to the party depending on your currently summoned Egi.
1. Garuda //Spell Speed Bonus
2. Titan // Defense Bonus
3. Ifrit // Physical Bonus
4. Leviathan // Magical Bonus
5. Ramuh // Direct Hit Bonus
6. Shiva // Skill Speed Bonus
-> Firebird Trance is now a trait. It is achieved after Summoning Bahamut and attuning after 3 Egi Summons.
->Brand of Purgatory no longer requires using Fountain of Fire to achieve Hellish Conduit.
->Resurrection is now changed to Everlasting Flight While Phoenix is summoned. Everlasting Flight now deals raid-wide damage when reviving an ally.

Abilities by Level

-1 Ruin
-2 Bio
-4 Aetherflow
Adds 3 Stacks of Aetherflow. A stack of Aetherflow is consumed when Summoning.
-4 Summon Garuda
——Aerial Slash, Slipstream
-6 Miasma
-10 Egi Assault
-12 Ressurection
-15 Summon Titan
——Rock Buster, Earthen Armor, Mountain Buster,
-18 Fester
-18 Energy Drain Restores HP and MP.
-(Maim and Mend)
-26 Bio II (Corruption Mastery)
-30 Bane
-30 Summon Ifrit
——Crimson Cyclone, Flaming Crush, Inferno
-35 Energy Syphon Restore HP and MP/AoE. (Syphon Mastery)
-38 Ruin II
-(Main and Mend II)
-40 Outburst
-40 Egi Assault II
-50 Enkindle
-52 Summon Leviathan
——Tail Whip, Spinning Dive, Spring Water, Tidal Wave
-54 Ruin III (Ruin Mastery)
-56 Tri Disaster {Painflare}
-58 Dreadwyrm Trance
-60 Summon Ramuh {Shadowflare}
——Shock Strike, Thunderspark, Chaotic Strike, Judgement Bolt
-62 Ruin IV
-64 Summon Shiva {Lightflare}
——Icicle Impact, {EA1 -> Heavenly Strike}, }EA2 -> Absolute Zero, {Enkindle - Diamond Dust}
-66 Bio III
-66 Miasma III
-70 (Enhanced Deadwyrm Trance)
Bahamut - {Wyrmwave} {Akh Mourn}
-70 Aetherpact
-72 (Firebird Trance)
{Fountain of Fire} {Brand of Purgatory}
-74 (Enhanced Egi Assault)
-76 (Enhanced Outburst)
-78 (Enhanced Bane)
-80 (Enhanced Firebird Trance)
Ressurection -> {Everlasting Flight}
Phoenix - {Scarlet Flame} {Revelation}

My summoner design is based on using lots of summons, while retaining much of what is already present in the game. I didn’t want to get away from what the developers have already built both thematically and in lore. I tried to take the best of both worlds, where it’s still the same pet summoner, but summoning Egi is now more temporary and critical to building your rotation. Despite what a lot of people feel about it, I like the identity of a corruption mage, and I also like the egi. What will make summoner a satisfying job is an identity that revolves around more summoning.

This concept of Summoner still requires you to throw on corruption DoTs. However, corruption is a separate entity from summoning. You no longer cast spells like Fester, Bane, or Painflare to spend Aetherflow. Fester and Bane still exist, but they are simply to add on damage when off cooldown. They also now share a cooldown. You can choose to spread corruption or proc it.

You will now have 6 Egi to choose from. Each Egi has their own tool at their disposal via Egi Assault. Some have had their abilities changed, such as Ifrit, who’s Crimson Cyclone ability now behaves like how it’s used in the Bowl or Embers. It simply gives Ifrit a gap closer. Egi will remain summoned for up to 20 seconds, during which you will want to command them to use their abilities. You will want to use them in any fashion, but you are encouraged to rotate between all 6 properly in order to activate Lightflare and Shadowflare.
Egi Assault and Enkindle are usable while hard casting a spell like Ruin. Egi will now be dismissed immediately after using Enkindle. Egi Assaults as well as Enkindles are not shared between Egi, so when you summon, you should always Enkindle before your Egi’s time is up.

Painflare and Deathflare have been moved on to Tri-Disaster. Rather than applying DoTs, Tri-Disaster will now activate a powerful spell depending on which Egi you have summoned. If you summon any particular Egi 3 times, Tri-Disaster will manifest as Painflare. If you Summon all Egi aligned with Umbral elements, Tri-Disaster will manifest as a new Shadowflare, and will grant the summoner the effect of Umbral Eclipse, increasing the potency of your next Lightflare. If you summon all Egi aligned with Astral Elements, Tri-Disaster will manifest as the Lightflare, and will grant the summoner the effect of Astral Eclipse and will increase the potency of your next Shadowflare.

Attuning will immediately put you into Dreadwyrm and Firebird Trance respectively as well as immediately summon Bahamut and Phoenix. Bahamut now continually activates Further Ruin. Phoenix no longer requires Hellish Conduit to use Brand of Purgatory. Everlasting Flight has also been changed to replace Resurrection when Phoenix is summoned. It deals raid-wide damage when resurrecting a fallen ally. Everlasting Flight is a reward for achieving the high point of Summoner’s rotation.

I tried to put a lot of though into what would make Summoner a more satisfying and cohesive job to play. Probably one of my biggest disappoints about the job is that we never did get those new Egis, despite the fact that assets exist in game for some of them, like Ramuh and Sephirot. Anyways, thank you for reading.

[ItMe]

The 6 egi are cool but I don't see why 99% of the time people wouldn't just pick the one that buffs the god stat (crit) and leave the others behind.

[Ryulaido]

I could almost imagine they are already reworking some jobs. They didnt lose a single word about how much machinist will change with shadowbringer and they suddenly brought it up and everyone was surprised.

and they always say how much time and resources it takes to balance a character in those smaller 0.1 patches so i would say they are probably already on it but implement all changes for the lvl 90 expansion.

I think if you want to have a change that is more than just changing damage potency numbers then you always have to wait for a new expansion. inbetween we just get small adjustments.

if you implement odin somewhere in your summoner rework idea im totally for it. but ramuh is also fine because lightning is my favourite element

[AceofRains]

The 6 egi are cool but I don't see why 99% of the time people wouldn't just pick the one that buffs the god stat (crit) and leave the others behind.

The buff is the replacement to Aetherpact- Id rather see unique buffs like AST old cards, but crit doesn’t necessarily need to be the buff here. Your rotation also forces you to use all of the Summons so you can’t just pick one and sit on it.

[Kazukiyashuo]

So you suggest. Party shield and heals. Rezzes. Buffs. And of top of that damage. You might as well gather 8 summoners and do all the content cause u will barely need tank or healer.
I would like as well my astro to have full deck of cards showing the future and card named " reaper " and if u pick that card target dies 1 shot. It would be really fun wouldnt be ?

[RicaRuin]

I'm a summoner and still think that idea is ridiculously OP. Also, 6 summons with diverse attacks? Man, summoned would be so detailed in comparison to other classes they would start complaining.

Also, there is no Lightflare. I get your reasoning from the elemental chart and aspects, but Shadowflare is a non-elemental attack with no dark aspect.

[AceofRains]

So you suggest. Party shield and heals. Rezzes. Buffs. And of top of that damage. You might as well gather 8 summoners and do all the content cause u will barely need tank or healer.
I would like as well my astro to have full deck of cards showing the future and card named " reaper " and if u pick that card target dies 1 shot. It would be really fun wouldnt be ?

I didn’t discuss potencies, which would dictate its strength a lot more. It’s already has a party heal in the form of Everlasting Flight, and it already has resurrection. This rework only takes what Everlasting Flight currently does and puts it on an Egi. The only big addition is making Titans shield AoE.

[AceofRains]

Would it really though? Right now summoner is a mess. You might have 6 Egi in this build, but you HAVE to rotate them in order to hit your burst window.

Lightflare is just a renaming to what Deathflare already does and binds it to Tri-Disaster, it would be unaspected as well.

[Kolsykol]

My only real issue with Summoner is that Egi Assault 1 and 2 could be the same button.
I am not opposed to having a lot of buttons, but stuff like that just feels like bloat to me.

[Gallus]

My only real issue with Summoner is that Egi Assault 1 and 2 could be the same button.
I am not opposed to having a lot of buttons, but stuff like that just feels like bloat to me.

And energy drain. Energy Drain and Syphon feel like complete useless bloat. I mean we could just get something like the WHM lilies at this point? For every 15 seconds in combat earn a stack of aetherflow.