A Book With Bite (Lv60 SMN)

[Supreveio]

How do you beat it?

The enemy you have to fight keep knocking off half my health with every attack and I can't outheal it. It rarely targets my summons and even when it does, it kills them just as quickly. And my attacks in turn do barely anything to it.

What are you supposed to do? Because this quest seems to be designed to be unwinnable unless you're level 70.

[Zeich]

Hrm... I had no problem doing this when the patch hit, SMN was one of the first jobs I took to 70 with SB, and I did the quests at the levels provided. Now I *did* die once, but that was my own doing more than anything (trying to blitz it with Ifrit rather than slow and steady).


There's a couple of things to ask. First off, what is your ilvl? Your stats make a big difference. I was mostly in a mixture of Dun Scaith/Augmented Shire gear and had my Lux weapon for SMN, so I was somewhere on the upper end of the 260s, if not nudging a bit higher. Once I actually tried to do something besides mindlessly zerg it, it was surprisingly easy. Second, what summon were you using? I used Titan for it, and he lasted almost the entire fight. I think I kept him on Sic rather than micromanaging, so it wasn't like I did anything in particular. We didn't have Sustain back then, so it was only Physick for healing, and I'm pretty sure I didn't use that because of how bad it is (seriously, 662 at level 70... about 2% of my HP...).

Really, there's a few things you could do. The first is check your ilvl and gear in general, again. It may be that your stats are lower than they should be, or perhaps something was broken, etc. Second, use Titan - he's rather durable. He also shouldn't be losing hate if you give him some time to generate it while doing things like DoTs, Shadowflare (that Slow does help quite a bit), and Rouse/Enkindle. Once some solid hate is in place, THEN you can focus on going full burn. Finally, as a third suggestion, bring your chocobo. It'll be an extra source of damage even as a Rank 1 chocobo simply pecking at it, and if it's got a few ranks in Healer it can help you out if things go south.

[NephthysVasudan]

Pretty much what the guy said above me.

Just did this the other day - took a few tries - Titan should be your summoned pet - and be ready to throw some heals in in between fights....the last ifrit has a kick to it to be sure.
At least you can have your choco out.

The irony is - on my 2nd attempt...I died - but my choco killed the bastard lol. Didn't count saddly. hahaha.

[BrettStratton]

This strategy no longer holds. My iLvl is also in the 250's and used my choco, but because Titan is no longer a tank type and been changed to a support type, the demon ignores both and goes straight for me. Even after my choco can finally grab hate, it dies in 2 hits.

The same is true with the other summons, but they do very little damage (even special attacks) and the demon holds no focus on any of them whatsoever. Because Physick heals weakly, it makes trying to endure the attacks while the summons fight useless as well. Titan's Earthen Armor doesn't do much either in terms of defense. It buys maybe a couple more seconds, but the best I can do is knock off about 1/5 of its health.

Has anyone attempted this new change for SMN and succeeded? A change in strategy is clearly needed.

[Elentari]

Yeah, I just did this quest today, and it's definitely annoying now that Titan doesn't hold aggro. I'm lvl 60 and my ilvl is 256 with the Shire weapon and a mix of Shire and SB quest gear.

I did it on my second try, with Titan and my chocobo on healing stance (though she's spec'd for damage). I kited him around that pillar that's right by the summoning site; just ran in circles while my dots ticked and using instant casts, while using Titan's shield ability on CD. Not the most graceful way, but it didn't take too long. When he stops to do that PBAOE cast, you have a few seconds to reapply Miasma or heal a bit.

We definitely start the encounter at a severe disadvantage because we're rooted while it spawns next to us, so I wasn't able to get out of melee range before he put the massive dot on me, but my chocobo kept me alive long enough to get into the kiting groove.

Edited to add the obvious: don't AFK there, like I did, cuz when the next person comes to do this quest, the demon will kill you.

[Bricklin]

Just Did this a gear level 211. I had Titan active as well as my rank 10 dps chocobo. As soon as the demon appears I popped Titan's barrier, tri-disaster than wyrmtrance and kited the demon while spamming ruin 3 (it's pretty much instant in trance). I kept Aetherflow up and used Fester on cooldown. While I was doing this I just ran around in a big circle (the rock protrusion). I HIGHLY RECOMMEND CARRYING ANTIDOTES; you can buy them from most merchants. You can pop an antidote and the DoT the demon applies will be removed. Never stop casting/moving Good luck and have fun!

[odym82]

Due to the changes for pets not holding aggro there’s even an early Arcanist quest (level 15 “over the rails”) that revolves around Topaz Carbuncle holding aggro and tanking. But he no longer tanks or holds aggro. So, as above, i did the kite, hide, and spam routine to win.
Now here I am, a full fledged SMN at level 60 and it sounds like I’ll have to re-live that experience lol

Update
Just completed the quest after having to resort to the above methods (and falling off the cliff like the “stable genius” that i am a couple times). Was tedious and unfun. But more than that, it hardly conveys the “Test of Power” you’re supposed to be having

[Sycor]

This particular quest is definitely glitched since the resent change to the SMN Class. If you have your Choco out, and set to Tank and let it attack first before you do to take the first couple of hits and die while you spam attack it, and you have an Elixir set on your rotation, and you lock-target on the Enemy and run close to the crystal and don't snag on anything while running in circles kiting it, and you only spam it with instant casts, it can be beat. It's the dumbest fight of all fights in FF14 for obvious reasons. I would suggest you set the Mor Dhona Crystal as your home before starting, for it may take you a few tries to finally get it. I also ate food that boost my Vitality specifically. I did have to use at least one Elixir because the game calculates the Enemy to hit you through the crystal wall at random.

Good luck to anyone else who has to endure this trash quest. But SE really should resolve this one. It's absolute garbage.

[Lyudmyla]

Yeah, I had a heck of a time with this quest also. I ended up using my chocobo, set it to attack, and then ring around the crystal, hitting trance and deathflare whenever I used up garuda and titan charges, plus fester.

[KageTokage]

The lead-in quests for the Stormblood job storylines assume that you're wearing gear of the item level attainable via crafted/vendor level 60 gear, so if you're trying to jump into them with HW leveling gear you're going to have a really bad time.

The same also applies to the level 60 SAM/RDM quests.