Demi-Summons
That brings us to the demi-summon phases. WE’ve come a long way from needing Dreadwyrm Aether and needing to optimize wyrmwaves with Addle casts, but there’s still some ways we can make these phases feel big and impactful
Demi-Bahamut / Solar Bahamut
I think Solar Bahamut should be a straight upgrade to Bahamut. The team obviously worked on the models and animations so use them, but I don’t think we should cycle.
  • Turn Death Flare into Akh Afah - This is a classic dragon skill and with the removal of ED and our Carbie during Demi-phases, we need something to do in our burst window. Each astral impulse can give us an Akh Afah stack or just give it a short cd for us to optimize how many we can get under buffs.
  • Akh Morn can stay the same.
  • Make Astral Impulse a 1.5 cast time to keep the caster feel during burst.
  • Give a follow-up button to Solar Bahamut so it feels new and better than just a potency and animation buff to Bahamut phase.

Demi-Phoenix
I really enjoyed the combo aspect of Phoenix when it was first introduced in Shadowbringers and I was sad to see that go in EW. It made phoenix feel different so I suggest we double down on that.
  • Make all of phoenix’s damage come from it’s GCDs and it’s auto-attacks.
  • 3 hit combo of Fountain of Fiare > Brand of Purgatory (maybe the initial potency is buffed by FOF) > Revelation. All instant cast so that phoenix feels distinct from Bahamut.
  • Endkindle Phoenix now is an AOE Rekindle, adjusted for balance.

I hope some of these suggestions spark discussion and interest and maybe inspire some change for the job. I love Summoner and I love FFXIV, I just want to see my favorite job fit well into the future of this game so I can keep playing it for years to come.