I leveled sam/bst, war/bst, drg/bst (don't get me wrong, I love my wyvern but...when /whm wasn't efficient enough), rng/bst, thf/bst. I find that it's all about engaging and performing actions at the correct HP % for your pet and for the target monster. Each job has different pet or monster HP % to engage with. This is my method though, dunno if it'll work for others. Logout method *is the safest though. :/ but you waste 30+ seconds and loose chain.
I usually go like this...
- PUT ON RERAISE FIRST
- charm pet
- sic pet onto monster
- rest if low on hp
- wait until pet is at 40%-85% HP (depends on which job, samurai you can wait until 40%, thief should engage at 85%)
- engage and fight along with pet, ws to finish monster off
- if pet died, you should have tp to rip apart your prey (prey usually die from a WS when they are at 10%--15% health)
- if pet didn't die, sic it onto the next pet you want to charm
- pet will take next pet to about 80-90%, that's fine
- sic your new pet onto monster
- rest hp while pet gets hate
- engage when pet is at 40%-65% life
- rinse and repeat
for samurai, you have demon arrows (or other arrows) availiable, demon arrows cut monster attack by a bit so your pet can survive longer while you rest. as a samurai you can take quite a few hits even if your pet dies (seigan+third eye), so in some situations you may find letting your pet die is more efficient. I usually didn't engage until 40% pet HP for samurai. (meditate helps a lot)
for ranger, you have bolts and arrows, stick an acid bolt and a demon arrow to cut defense and attack, bloody bolts are fine if you have enough gil to spend, but I find resting also works while pet gets hate, engaged at about 50% pet HP (and still got hate), but ranger can't take too many hits because they have paper defense, play it safe and engage at 50%-60% pet HP. I used barrage or a WS to finish off monster.
for warrior, also bolts and arrows, again, same deal with the bloody bolts, resting while pet gets hate works, usually engaged at 60%-70% pet HP
for dragoon, I actually didn't want to do /bst, but /whm was giving me a *very* inefficient time at 72. but, hey...it was fun to try...
for thief, it gave me a very difficult time because I wasn't used to jobs that...poked and did low damage. a lot more downtime and slower exp than heavier dd jobs (at least until you get a good weaponskill). resting and waiting for pet to get hate *does not* work with thief. you will have to engage when pet is at 85%+ HP or the pet will die before you can finish off monster. I find that bloody bolts are more efficient in this case. well, when I got into trouble I hit my flee button and ran my arse to the closest zone, so thief does have its perks. macro flee and use it for emergencies when you mischarm or get links ect; I have not tried thf/bst with a good weaponskill yet (dancing edge) it may work faster with a good weaponskill and higher level gear. (60+)
my next I'll probably try dark knight or paladin. I've actually tried smn/bst once...it was fun, but horribly in-efficient haha. solo-ing is fun.
