A few friends of mine made this thread apparent to me and I had to add in some input of my own.
First off, thanks to Sethala, I'm the SMN in her party that acts as main healer. Always good to hear that I'm doing a fine job... =)
But I am a Summoner and I'm currently level 59 and I have used all the Avatars at my disposal throughout my career. I've experimented with all of my Blood Pacts and found which ones were best for which situations.
Blood Pacts are all useful when used in specific situations. In the jungles around Kazham, I completely advocate using Frost Armor. At a time when Group Blink is fairly useless, this spell does a number of impressive things against Mandies. First, the spell lasts about 90 seconds. A mandy attacks about 2 times every 4 seconds. Now, let's be generous and say that Mandy always hits; doing damage of about 3-5 per strike (average of 4 let's say), that same Mandy can take up to 180 damage over the course of the Blood Pact (I've found the average to be around 120 when you take misses and the next factor into account). And this isn't even the most useful part of the Pact, it also has the chance of paralyzing the mob; this is assuming that you've been leveling your Summoning Skill. That's impressive effectiveness for 1 ability at that level. Frost Armor, use against mobs that attack 2 or more times, weak against Cold, can paralyze.
Rolling Thunder, an enthunder for everyone in the party. Again, use only against mobs weak against lightning. Most parties have 4 melees in them. And those parties that I have been in have at least 2 members that either have NIN subbed, been a MNK, or had Double Attack from being a WAR. Against cralwers in the nest, with an additional 5-8 damage a strike, with so many melees attacking so many times. that damage can add up fast over the course of 1 minute. Yes it may not be as useful when you have a SAM, PLD and a DRK in the group, but THF's with daggers, RNG's with knives, NIN's with katanas and Dual Wield II, MNK's with their fists, all attack with speed and fair amount of precision. When each strike does an extra 5-8 with each blow, the crawler will go down faster allowing greater XP chains. Rolling Thunder, best for melees that attack multiple times in quick succession, use against weak to lightning mobs, also great against mobs with no AoE because you can have the RDM and healer along the sides whacking away as well.
The defensive buffs, you state how Ariel Armor is only about 3 blinks for your tank and that's it. Well, it is, but some of these Blood Pacts, Ariel Armor and later Earthen Ward, are more for the rest of the party. Even the best of tanks lose aggro to a BLM MB every once in a while. You may have a SAM pulling without the benefit of a NIN to Utsesemi with. The DRK may be using Last Resort and Souleater. The RNG may be whipping out his bow once to often. I may have overdone it with the Cure III's to heal up the party from that last Gobbie Bomb. In any case, someone other than the PLD or NIN may get attacked, and they as sure as hell want something to soak up the hits other than their HP.
The same thing goes for Earthen Ward. Gobbie Bombs, Fly Darkbursts, Banishaga III, Dia II, Crab bubble showers, even DRK Souleater, are all absorbed by the Earthen Ward first. The tank may go through it fast, but everyone else has that added cushion of about 200 damage to shield them from whatever AOE gets tossed out by the mob. This is a must when dealing with gobs even at my level of 60. Some may say that a Curaga will do just as much to keep the party out of the red, but Earthen Ward doesn't pull any aggro and is, when you take in the above, a phenomenal preventive measure.
Now, I am main healer and I still manage to get off a Blood Pact off every 54 seconds. The RDM knows they may need to throw a Cure in there when she sees me run up to the party to pop on an Ecliptic Growl, another Earthen Ward, or maybe even a Crimson Howl to make that upcoming SC the strongest it's ever been. It makes the party more effective and helps the battles run smoother and faster.
And this is the defensive side of it. I can skillchain if needed. Fenrir is my best Distortion opener and Shiva is my best Distortion closer. I even have a macro to let the THF and BLM know the time is coming. I know my Skillchain tables so if we need a Fusion or a Fragmentation, I know what I need to do.
The point I'm trying to make is, yes we are great Main Healers, we can do the job extremely well. But if you're a real Summoner and you know the in's and out's of your job, we can do so much more. We add that extra edge, do that last burst of damage, make those Indurations possible, give that bit of protection to help the party survive and get those Chain 5's, 6's, 7's. Heck, I'm hearin' we can get up to the 20's once we hit 70th level.
I love this job. I love this game. And most importantly, I have fun while I play it. Hopefully everyone can do the same.
-Spellbind
PS : Oh, and if you do melee with your Avatars (and yes, I do this often), here are a few pointers.
First off, get yourself the Elemental Staves appropriate for your Avatar and an Austere Robe. This can chop off 3-5 MP off of your perpetuation cost right there. Add in a RDM and refresh and you can have Ifrit out for free.
Wear your Evoker's Spats, this will help your Avatars hit more often, especially that sad, glasses needing bastard Titan. Even so, they'll only do damage that's a little better than the PLD (mine do about 20 a hit, Shiva and Ramuh a bit less, Ifrit ad Fenrir a bit more). But THF's do worse damage until you take their SATA into account and they can only do that once a minute. Blood Pacts work the same way, go figure...
As I've said before, use your Blood Pact's effectively, Skillchain at the start of the battle, toss in something else in the middle, and end with a spell (hopefully to MB). For example, follow the meditatiing SAM's Tachi: Enpi with a Double Slap to distort with. Pop in an axe kick halfway through the battle to do an extra 100 damage, and end with a Blizzard II to use up all of the TP Shiva has gained in the battle. At my level, I do about 225 damage with my Level II spells with 0% TP. If I've been fighting with her for 2 minutes (usually how long a battle is), she can have upwards of 150%-200% TP, this makes for a 300 damage Blizzard II. Magic Burst it and you can do closer to 400 damage. If you have the right equips and know your job well enough, you can get through the whole battle with only spending 300 MP. That's not too bad.
While you may want to melee with Fenrir, note that he doesn't have any Blood Pacts that can Magic Burst other than his 2-Hour. That's alot of TP going to waste. Some argue that his Blood Pacts will allow him to hit more often and be more useful and that is a good point, but it's all personal preference. In the end, it's all about maximum effectiveness of our abilities and, more over, personal preference. The BLM may be able to do more damage, but he's now dead because he pulled aggro. The SAM may be able to SC more often, but he may need someone to Gravitate with right after he meditates.
And this should only be done if you aren't main healer or if you're NIN blink tank is just that damn good. Know your job, keep yourself equipped, do your best. The same can be said for all jobs, really.
Good luck y'all! Have fun out there...
My god this is a long post...
