anyone have ACN/SMN/SCH advice?

[Dosito]

I started out as a gladiator and moved on to pally. Have had no complaints what so ever when it comes to tanking. ive gotten that role so now i want to start up another.

ive decided i wanted to either be a scholar or a summoner.

filling the tank roll has my curiosity of a healer roll, but also the damage over time abilities of the arcanist class in general has me interested in dps as well. that and they use books... friggen awesome.

in any case, im currently getting thm to 26 so i can get swift cast. Can someone explain to me in detail the dps rotation and what aetherflow actually does?

Also some info on pet control would be helpful too.

also - can scholars really use cleric stance??? (wrong thread area i know, but posting limitations you see.)

any help would be grealty appreciated
sorry about the noob questions...
thanks in advance.

[BefitNeptune]

Im a lvl 41 smn and basically you use 3 dots and spam ruin II. Aetherflow is a cool self buff that has a 90 sec cd i believe but the buff stays on you until you use all the charges. As you level the number of charges increase from 1 to 3. The whole thing with aetherflow is that so far ive learned 3 abilities that can only be used if you have it activated. Energy drain is one of those abilities. It drains hp from the mob, restores hp and mp to you. Another one is Fester. This one does massive hp dmg to the mob. The pet control is kind of a pain. You can have it attack when you attack or you can order it to attack. I wasnt enjoying my arcanist until 35ish. Then it got to be a lot of fun. Hope this helps.

[Kyronex]

It's sort of like a pool of energy you draw from. At max level, casting Aetherflow gives you a stack of 3 meaning it'll let you use Aetherflow type skills 3 times before you have to refresh it like Energy Drain, Fester, and Bane. It also replenishes 20% of your MP every time you cast it.

SMN requires INT and SCH requires MND. You need to decide which one you're going for unless you want to spend 10,000 seals to respec. Yes, SCH has access to Cleric Stance, SMN do not.

Typical rotation for my SMN for single target:
Bio II > Miasma > Bio > Fester > Thunder > Ruin/RuinII

When you get Garuda, take advantage of Contagion which increases DOT times (Emerald Carby has the same skill)
Raging Strikes > Bio II > Miasma > Bio > Fester > Thunder > Contagion

When soloing you can set your pet to Sic, in dungeons use Obey so you have control over their abilities.

BTW, ACN are great for FATES like Dark Devices in N. Thanalan. you just sit in one spot spamming the instant cast AOE (Miasma II) to tag the mobs.

[hamsteak]

aetherflow restores mp and allows the use of certain off-gcd abilities

it can be used once every minute and stacks up to 3

the abilities that can be used are: energy drain, fester, sacred soil, and lustrate

yes scholars can use cleric stance, though there's no point outside of soloing really

the pet ai is currently a bit wonky, however using the 'obey' command will let you use all of your pet's skills manually (excluding whispering dawn on Eos)

on summoner i usually do: shadow flare, bio II, miasma, bio, fester, thunder, contagion (garuda egi) and i use ruin until fester comes off cd, and ruin until the DoTs fall off and i have to reapply them
i use rouse on cd

[Ignnis]

Fester is your friend.

But on a serious note, a little on summons.

Ifrit is your basic dps along with gurada, Titan is your tank. Never use Titan in a party because it causes agro issues with tanks so use gurada or ifrit (I personally prefer gurada).

Find a rotation, I use bio 2, miasma, bio, fester, thunder, ruin 2, ruin ruin etc. you can change it but general use both bios and miasma then apply fester then your other debuffs. Use aether flow to regulate mp, don't go spamming fester, bane or energy drain, use them accordingly so your not waiting for years for aetherflow to recharge.

You will find that in a party your next on the list for hate under the tank, so be prepared to run in instances of shitty tanking.

[Trihuuger]

To fully utilize summoner with most tanks (Read: Most tanks are TERRIBLE wastes of human space) you will need archer at 34 or 36 for the threat reduction, can't remember the level right now, but is easy enough for someone that cares to look up. Summoner, maximally played, will have DoT's ticking on multiple mobs 100% of the time. This concept of AoE threat is foreign and downright impossible for 9+/10 duty finder tanks. In this regard, playing a summoner is miserable because you know you can do better, but there are far too many obstacles in your way to achieve this end.

Spreading our DoT's requires mobs within 5m of eachother. Basically stacked. Bosses with adds are particularly aggravating when the tank decides he's too good to try to drag the mobs together and just has them wherever they happen to land.

SCH is a powerful healer, but just like any healer in any other game, you're probably the least "powerful" person in a group as if people stand in stupid you're not going to be able to magically compensate for it pretty much no matter what you do. Coming from playing a tank, I hope you're prepared for the misery that lies ahead as a good tank is able to work wonders and nothing else comes close relatively speaking.

[Terk177]

Actually, my single target rotation for summoner is as follows:

Bio II - Miasma - Bio - Fester - Thunder - Shadow Flare - Ruin/RuinII. Keep Fester on Cooldown, unless you're starved for Mana (or) there are multiple targets close together.

I find weaving Shadow Flare into the rotation is a DPS gain, even on single target seeing as over the course of 30 seconds it (ideally, depending on the GCD) it should have potency of 250. The only time I won't use it on a single target is when/if there is a CC'd mob next to a boss.

[Dosito]

Lol id love to be a scholar

[EtherealEarth]

It seems no one (Summoners) is using Aero here, even if it's an instant cast.

Is it because it deals far too little dot comparing to other skills?

[Masamune1004]

It seems no one (Summoners) is using Aero here, even if it's an instant cast.

Is it because it deals far too little dot comparing to other skills?

Summoners don't have access to Aero, they only have THM and ARC abilities.