Choosing the right Blood Pact for you.

Pasquale

Pasquale

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Joined
Jun 20, 2005
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42
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Hey all,

For you summoners out there, I was wondering how you decide what avatar to use when you Blood Pact.

I know a lot of people go cuckoo for Aerial Armor, but if I'm the only healer, which is usually the case, I don't use it that often. I usually use it at start of party, and when I have rested to full, due to downtime for some reason. Most of the time, it just feels like wasted mp. (A lot of wasted mp)

As for the buffs (Rolling Thunder, Crimson Roar, etc), most of them don't last very long, so I have trouble seeing the usefulness, when I could use the same MP to cause dmg + gravity or slow (Megalith or Tail whip).

I usually hit with whatever seems to be hitting the hardest. It usualy comes down to Double Punch or Megalith Throw, because they are both strong and do not require the Avatar to have TP. If the party is having trouble with the mob, I use Tail Whip for dmg+gravity effect.

Is it better to use short-lived buffs, or to do dmg+effect?
 
Well, I'm not a summoner, but I have partied with SMNs in almost every party I've been in (besides cannons).

Short-lived buffs- I've seen many summoners use Titan's stoneskin on the party rather than Garuda's blink. Fenrir's acc & eva is also a nice add on as well, and same with Fenrir's roar thing that adds to all stats pending on moon phase.

Dmg+effect- I s'pose you would do this when the party is at a lack of a BLM. Summons can make some nice MBs I've heard.
 
Depends on the party make up for me. Ninja parties I try to throw out a Earthen Ward every 2 or 3 BPs, Aerial armour is pretty much worthless these days for me, everyone who needs it usually has /nin and its only use imo is so the mages dont have to recast blink as often. If I'm in a DD role at your lvl rage I usually used Tail Whip or Double Punch as they give the most consistent damage. Later, Shivas Double Slap and Carby's Meteorite took over that role. If you can, when you get the tier 4 nukes, save your BP for MBing the SC, can give good damage. If youre in a healing role, Earthen Ward is the biggie tho, saves a lot of MP.

All the short lenght buffs, Rolling Thunder, Ice Armour, Thunder Armour, Crimson Roar etc arent worth using at all.
 
Yeah, I imagine when I get Earthen Ward at 46 (41 now) I'll be using that a lot. It'll be nice to not have to cure as much.

Galakia said:
If I'm in a DD role at your lvl rage I usually used Tail Whip or Double Punch as they give the most consistent damage. Later, Shivas Double Slap and Carby's Meteorite took over that role.
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Is Shiva's Double Slap good? She has seemed pretty weak so far, so I would guess it would be weaker as well, but its at a higher level so I dont know.
 
Double slap isn't what I expected it to be. It can do good damage, but most of the time it gets resisted :(

I only used her a lot DDing cause if we sc, i mbed with bliz II or IV
 
To back up Galaika some more the reason those short lived buffs are pretty much useless ie frost armor lightning armor rolling thunder because of the modifiers and duration, I think the three i said are based of the players INT.

I've seen some smn at my lv do hastega but its often not needed as well, earthen ward and eclipitic howl are really good until diabolos and still are.

Oh and a side note screw shining ruby but you already knew that ;)

Shiv is fairly relaible for magic dd as in least amount of resists but has bad acc physcially.

Something no one mentioned, Thunderspark is a good dd tool even with links around. The secret to using and avatar aoe is not to dismiss the avatar and let it die from the mobs that get in the way. Since your smn would be in altepa or Cn now, it is very safe free as long as you don't release them.
 
Khidir said:
To back up Galaika some more the reason those short lived buffs are pretty much useless ie frost armor lightning armor rolling thunder because of the modifiers and duration, I think the three i said are based of the players INT.
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Lol, no. NONE of the players personal stats affect an avatar.
 
Moriki said:
Lol, no. NONE of the players personal stats affect an avatar.
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That's what I thought too. I wasn't sure, because it seems kinda stupid not to have any affect on anything, but yeah the stats don't seem to affect anything. (Man that was poorly worded, sorry.) :rolleyes:
 
Use the respective Avatar for the monster it corresponds to.

Like, if you are fighting Crabs and the are weak to Ice and Lightning... you have the choice of:

Shiva and Ramuh

Of those two, the highest physical attack is Ramuh's Thunderspark. You do that and besides pWning that crab, you paralyze him too.

I recommend capping your SMN Magic Skill so your buffs last more too.

^^
 
earthen ward will be a nin tank's best friend when you get it. it'll buy him a free hit or 2 should he/she miscast utsu. useless on plds cause they lose it in 1 hit. and it saves the other DD's from a bothersome AoE attack or 2, which = less healing you have to do on others. ecliptic howl will make nins and the DD'd love you even more. decent durration acc and eva + buff that stacks with your food, nuff said. also it negates evasion and accuracy down effects from some mobs.

ecliptic growl, all stats booster, is what i use for pld tanks. since evasion isnt their main focus i figure they would appriciate the vit boost it gives as well as other stats. make sure your party bunches up for it though. dont be stingy. :P

:2cents:
 
Some of the summoner blood pacts is what I like to consider "magic tricks". Not terribly useful but.. "Oh that's neat".. Any time I learned a new BP, regardless to how useless it was, I'd always throw it in at least once. The ice spikes, crimson howl, and all that stuff would be nicer if they had a longer duration. Its the duration of them that really kills it-- I will normally always start a BC out with earthen ward + aerial armor. If it is a ninja tank, I often do the blinkga more for the sake of the mages (and myself) the duration of summoner BP lasts longer than had I casted the spell regardless if it costs more MP and for that reason alone I find it useful. In sittuations where the mobs are doing aoe moves that remove blink-- aerial armor is useless though at lower levels it can be some what godly when trying to conserv mp.

Trick to being a good summoner is being able to confom to the sittuational needs and making the best use of your BP timer. Having an idea of what BP you're going to use next before your timer is ready. For some levels, of course, it will mean spamming the same BP over and over again. When you're the only person who can haste, or when doing crawler mobs, hastega is great although I usually prefer that if someone else can haste they do so. i.e. your red mage hasting and you making good use of fenrir's nice buffs.

Look to see what's lacking in your party. Do you need that extra bit of DMG BP to keep the chains going? Would you achieve better results by giving your melee a stat boost so that they can crank out a better skill chain? Do you have a PLD in the party who is becoming an mp sponge? Maybe blinking him is the answer so that he can ward off 3 hits? You're fighting a mnk type mob and the blows are fast but soft? Stoneskin would be a great addition.
 
Thanks for the advice everybody. I've decided to spend this week building my fame so I can go and get Fenrir, which will give me more choices when it comes to Blood Pacts.

On a fame related note:

Does it always take forever? I spent three hours last night building windy fame and i only went from 3 to 5. Ive been doing the beehive chip quest over and over. Was this like a week long process for you guys too? Or am I doing the wrong quests?

Thanks again.
 
Do the selbina quest to build fame in the three nations all at once Go to the guy by the sheep and keep trading stacks of millioncorn, or la theine lettuce(cabbage?) or something else(can't remember)

Much easier and less time consuming.

Also for Norg fame farm yag necklaces you can check your norg fame by going to the tenshodo in low jueno and check the price of rice balls if the price of rice balls is 126gil(correct me if i'm wrong) then you can get levy.

Good luck with norg fame, its a bitch to get up it takes about 220 necklaces to get lv3 norg fame I believe.
 
The third item for the Selbina quest is Boyhada Moss.
 
sandria took the words right out my mouf. lol. umm. i go elemental weakness whenever damage is needed and if buffing while main heal i go fenrir buffs to keep em happy. ill also ask pt what they desire if they are nice to me lol. overall there are so many to choose from ya cant really go wrong. and idk who says otherwise i have seen a big difference in avatar strength as i have been leveling my summoner magic skills. lol here we go.
 
Khidir said:
Do the selbina quest to build fame in the three nations all at once Go to the guy by the sheep and keep trading stacks of millioncorn, or la theine lettuce(cabbage?) or something else(can't remember)

Much easier and less time consuming.

Also for Norg fame farm yag necklaces you can check your norg fame by going to the tenshodo in low jueno and check the price of rice balls if the price of rice balls is 126gil(correct me if i'm wrong) then you can get levy.

Good luck with norg fame, its a bitch to get up it takes about 220 necklaces to get lv3 norg fame I believe.
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Yeah level 3, but dont I need level 7 for prime fight?

Also, Thanks for the selb quest!
 
Pasquale said:
Yeah level 3, but dont I need level 7 for prime fight?

Also, Thanks for the selb quest!
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I wasn't sure if you were talking about solo, i assumed mini since your highest is 54

I'm guessing you would have to farm twice as much? so about 460ish? you could always do the rusty bucket quest in Norg or the damp scroll if killing yags gets boring
 
Khidir said:
I wasn't sure if you were talking about solo, i assumed mini since your highest is 54

I'm guessing you would have to farm twice as much? so about 460ish? you could always do the rusty bucket quest in Norg or the damp scroll if killing yags gets boring
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Ok, do I have do be lvl 60 to fight fenrir? I always thought I did, but then I heard it didnt matter, as long as you had fame. Last night I sent a /tell asking a 75 smn and he said it didnt matter as long as I had level 7 fame.

Sorry if this seems like a stupid question but every time I hear one thing, I hear something else entirely. Thanks.
 
Pasquale said:
Ok, do I have do be lvl 60 to fight fenrir? I always thought I did, but then I heard it didnt matter, as long as you had fame. Last night I sent a /tell asking a 75 smn and he said it didnt matter as long as I had level 7 fame.

Sorry if this seems like a stupid question but every time I hear one thing, I hear something else entirely. Thanks.
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From what I understand, you can get him before you hit 60, it's just not going to be likely that you get invited to the group before you're atleast level 60.
 
dedalius said:
From what I understand, you can get him before you hit 60, it's just not going to be likely that you get invited to the group before you're atleast level 60.
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Right, but if I'm... say... 41, and I pay the group, I could still do it, right?
 
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