Summoner... confusing job.

Shaidalyn

Shaidalyn

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If anyone is free up on time I'd really appreciate any sort of advice on the job..
My main is a 60RdM, and I have Sam to 40 but.. I dunno, I love both jobs for various reasons but I want something just for fun, no HUGE gil sink.. and early on this seems like the job. I love Carby.. adorable ^.^ but I have all the regular Primes minus Levi.. so no Fen or Diabolos either. Right now I am just looking for where to level (at 5 and Cardians are WAY too random.. 1 sec its EP repops as EM..) and link like crazy.. as well as a good sub, how to kill things.. I started /whm but its not helped at all so I went /blm for the MP, Int (I was told this affect BP?) and spells.. I dont melee right now, I just let carby own things.
I make my own Pineapple Juice so I only rest after I BP myself out of mp.
I guess I am just looking for advice in ALL areas.. what to level on/where.. I will not be pting in the Dunes I intend to solo to 20.. it's slow but I've done it 3 times now (Rdm, Sam, War) so I don't mind. I like the relaxation of it.. I just don't know what kinda gear to aim for (aside the obvious of MP+..) but what stats to buff up, what DOES summon skill do? (I've been told lowers interrpt, or that it is for BP/Astral Flow, or that it raises everything such as combat dmg, and all aforementioned, or that it helps only the Spirits...) so if you're free on time, I'll be playing around on Smn for the next 3 hours. Please toss me a tell in game. ^^ Game name is Windaria.
 
raising summoning magic is just like raising elemental magic or a weapon level, it makes your avatars stronger(more attack, more acc, more def). i don't know whether INT MND and CHR help much (have to ask a real summoner on that one, i'm just doing it for a sub) as for leveling spots...i wondered around the wadi letting fenrir chew on rabbits, lizards, and goblins until lvl 10, then i moved over to la theine and let him eat funguar and birds (with a few XP parties mixed in) until 13, now i'm wondering around fighting basically anything that cons EM/DC.
 
How do you afford the perp cost of anything but carby? >< I make Pineapple Juice so he's free but.. anything else gets me down quick. I don't have fenrir /cry level 60 rdm is just too low ; ; but ... carby is okay.. thanks for the thoughts on magic/place to go. ^^
 
Shaidalyn said:
How do you afford the perp cost of anything but carby? >< I make Pineapple Juice so he's free but.. anything else gets me down quick. I don't have fenrir /cry level 60 rdm is just too low ; ; but ... carby is okay.. thanks for the thoughts on magic/place to go. ^^
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Youy dont keep avatars out unless youre doing a bloodpact for the most part, especially at your level and not being a taru.

Later you will get certain Austere set pieces and the elemental staves that will lower your avatar perp costs.
 
Oh I see.. I meant for soloing though, With such gimped weapon skills (basically whm/blm stuff) killing a DC is a fight for my life without Carby doing it.
 
When I unlocked SMN I never intended to go to the dunes either. As for soloing to 20, that's exactly what I did with no form of help.

Grab a dagger, or a staff.
You can make pineapple juice? Good. Bring a stack of ginger cookies too. I done it pre-EXP band so with EXP Band nowadays it should be a lot easier. Don't worry about yourself doing big damage, it's not going to happen and the more you try to do big damage or get more exp per kill, the more likely you are to die when a mistake arises.

Don't fight decent challenge. Not worth it.

Levels 1-9 : Zehrun Mines (bats die so quick)
Levels 10-13: Gustaberg Hills. (South Preferable)
Levels 13-16: Dangruf Wadi / Outside Dangruf Wadi. (slow but worth it. Get rich too. Kill worms for Hermit Rings and everything else like Lizards/Gobs drop Fire Crystals). Mass kill bees and crabs outside dangruf wadi.
Levels 16-20: Ghelsba Outpost (yes it sounds insane, but orcs link by sight, just drag them away a little and you're fine. Watch out for Orcish Neckchoppers. Dark magic hurts a lot (drain)). To get to this "solo" spot, you have to like follow the river to the east side of the map where they would be many Tier II orcs. All of them are easy prey, although it's slightly tougher initially because they are high Easy Prey.

Alternatives from 16-20:
Konschat Highlands: Lizards. Watch out for petrify, but they drop lizard skins. Bees work too, but may be too weak. Gobs work great, but dangerous of linking. I don't touch quadavs. Watch out for undead.
Tahrongi Canyon: Mandies are weak. Go for it! Maybe the local gobs too, but only if easy prey.
Dunes: Lizards, but this is typically level 19-20. Long kills, easy to link, nearby gobs. But I remember lizards being decent challenge, so I personally wouldn't do them.
La Theine: Never tried, but it should work. Stick near the zones to dunes.

Start of fight. Summon carby, and assault. Dia if it's high defence mob (crabs?), then poison nails. Melee if you want, I personally will, you hit rather weak with a dagger anyway, but fast and accurate. The damage chipping counts. You can probably fit in 2 mobs or 3 before needing to rest, depending on how much juice you use. With cookies it's to reduce downtime.

As for gear, whatever you got. Cotton Headband and Light Soleas, also wear battle gloves, give you a chunky +9 Evasion!!! (and +3 Accuracy). Cape -> Cotton Cape. Justice Badge, Friar's Rope at 14. Easter Egg if you got it (Don't throw it!!! I threw mine :mad:). Nation Ring helps. Or a pair of astrals (I didn't have them).

NOTE: Carby will cost more from level 10 I think. Also have 1 spirit at least to summon quickly in times of aggro. If you get aggro and cannot summon carby due to interrupts, summon a spirit, let it attack aggroed mob, then run away.
 
Summoning magic effects what your Elemental Summons will do when they are out. So if you're level 50 and have an Ice Elemental just chilling and have a capped summoning magic, its going to cast Freeze on whatever you start attacking.

So yea, Summoning Magic = What elementals will do for you.
 
Has everyone forgotten an old favorite...

Maze of Shakrami at around 16+ for solo (not sure on spelling). Once you hit one area, plenty of worms with no aggro. Worms are great for any ranged jobs, or jobs that rely on pets(maybe not DRG). Also, from what I've read, Smn magic effects 2 things primarily, interupt rate (which comes up, though very rarely), and Spirit countdown (for them to start casting spells). Though it doesnt really do that much, its not a bad idea to at least occasionally raise your skill.
 
Ewok's right, although it doesn't affect your avatar's casting time, that would be too easy. Stick with summoning Carbuncle, the other avatars are useless pre-20, that's why you're meant to fight them at lv20 and not lv1. INT and MND have no proven affect on a Summoner's abilities, but they will help your subjob depending on whether you go WHM or BLM. CHR is reduced on the Austere JSE, so it's widely assumed to be useless to a Summoner. Bad luck if you sub Bard though.

In the early levels, you should be able to get away with killing two mobs at once, have Carbuncle attack a high EP/low DC, then go find an EP to kill in the mean time. You can only claim one of the monsters at once though, so the names will switch back and forth between yellow and red depending on who hits first. As such, you'll want a quiet levelling spot lest your mobs get stolen.

If you're planning on going solo, some +evasion may not be a bad idea. Once you get into parties, it's +MP, then +MND you should be looking for.

Also, if you haven't done so already, macro this:

/recast "Blood Pact"

Quite possibly one of the most useful macros you'll ever have.
 
I think at about level 5 I started in Ghelsba Outpost. Didn't use BPs for the sake of mp conservation. I'd assault selectively to try to avoid links. And clear them one by one-- as I leveled it became easier. I kept doing DC's and EPs as I leveled a bit higher and collected fire crystals. My highest job at the time was 30ish WHM so it was a decent money maker. May be laughable now, but fire crystals are always in demand so can never go wrong with orcs.

Ideally I wanted to solo as far as I could but as I reached level 13 it became more difficult to solo. The mobs were a bit harder and the MP was taxing. Then I did valkrum dunes and was often a better healer than a whm because of having a much larger mp pool to work with. I was not too familiar with non-Sandoria zones at the time, and would've most likely gone to Koroloko<sp? Tunnel had I known better because worms are excellent for carby and any ranged att job and you are very close to the zone in times of need.

You will generally out shine any WHM as healer role in a party until later on and then it becomes a bit more challenging in some party-setups. As far as post-20 your blood pacts used are always sittuational. You will always be a great support class-- because you can adapt to the party needs. Trial and error is the key because it is a very unique job class.
 
That's what I forgot to ask thank all of you very much but.. macros.
/pc doesn't work :p How do I macro for Summoner?
examples
Summon carby
Summon fire spirit
BP Healing Ruby
BP Poison Nails

this would help sooo much when situations go bad.
 
/ma "Carbuncle" <me>
/pet Poison nails" <t>

and so on for other avatars and BPs
 
ahh /pet... and summon shoulda been a duh -.- ty
 
Another neat trick to say BP macros is fully utilizing all of the 6 lines of a macro via....

/pet "Poison Nails" <t>
/pet "Tail Whip" <t>
/pet "Earthen Ward" <me>
/pet "Aerial Armor" <me>
/pet "Fire II" <bt>
/pet etc

The reason you can fit the six on one macro is due to the fact you will only use the BP of the avatar that you have out. You would not want /pet "Tail Whip" <t> on the same macro as say /pet "Water II" <t> because, obviously, it is two of Leviathen's abilities. I found it better to break it down into a macro for Elemental Damange, i.e. Water II(Water IV) at later levels along with the 5 other Elemental Damage BPs. Placing my Enhancing on one, enfeebling on another, and raw damage on another, etc. My macro set is taking a drastic change though, because now I have more avatars and more abilities and thus finding it nessesarry to omit some. Some SMNs do all of their BPs manually, but as you play you will find what works for you.
 
:o Thank you! ^.^ thats neat.. and thank you.. SO MUCH to whom above mentioned summoning a Spirit when aggro'd.. I hit release instead of retreat so carby took off and let 3 yags rush me.. got out fire and let it take the beating got dia'd to 1hp >< was scary but FINALLY! level 10.. time to cap Summoning Magic <.<
 
Sandria said:
Another neat trick to say BP macros is fully utilizing all of the 6 lines of a macro via....

/pet "Poison Nails" <t>
/pet "Tail Whip" <t>
/pet "Earthen Ward" <me>
/pet "Aerial Armor" <me>
/pet "Fire II" <bt>
/pet etc

The reason you can fit the six on one macro is due to the fact you will only use the BP of the avatar that you have out. You would not want /pet "Tail Whip" <t> on the same macro as say /pet "Water II" <t> because, obviously, it is two of Leviathen's abilities. I found it better to break it down into a macro for Elemental Damange, i.e. Water II(Water IV) at later levels along with the 5 other Elemental Damage BPs. Placing my Enhancing on one, enfeebling on another, and raw damage on another, etc. My macro set is taking a drastic change though, because now I have more avatars and more abilities and thus finding it nessesarry to omit some. Some SMNs do all of their BPs manually, but as you play you will find what works for you.
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I use <bt> since I accidently hit a lziard the other day which resaulted in a near wipe.
 
Moriki said:
I use <bt> since I accidently hit a lziard the other day which resaulted in a near wipe.
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I usually like <bt> as well. It's case dependant. With multiple targets engaged it becomes difficult because the bt will shoot off randomly and can sometimes result in.... Mob was too far away.. (or even worse, not too far away, and thus waking a sleeping mob) Also if I have a link I can generally pull hate off myself (or someone else) by simply engaging the avatar on to the linking mob thus making it into a semi-functioning tank.
 
At the very least, you should always have your Assault macro set to <t>, nothing worse than being unable to choose the right target for melee combat.

I recommend you have a read of this, it has some very useful information about the Summoner job in general and tactics you can use.
 
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