The 6th Ministry's Secret: A Summoner's Guide

Ramuh 5/5 since you should be using it for Shock Squall and maybe Geocrush for stun effect.

I'm wondering if you could throw up a refresh/hmp set in the guide, I'm always scrambling for mp in legion (yes I'm probably doing it wrong, still working things out!)

Oh you!



(Bit late I know...)

Well, there's only a small selection of Refresh items and you also need to keep your -Perpetuation capped to make the most of it... Which makes it hard to have a Refresh body equipped. I played around with item sets for a long time using some of the gear Paulu provided and I was unable to find a way of keeping -Perpetuation capped without the use of a body piece.

Meaning, you can disregard that slot for any refresh build. Otherwise, you're looking at something like this:



This is by no means optimal but except for the legs it's very easy to obtain. You can substitute the quested subligar with +1 Refresh for the Nares Trews if they're out of reach. Assuming your staff is specific to your currently summoned avatar (they provide -7 perpetuation) you're looking at:

-14 Perpetuation for a cost of 1.

Refresh:
+2 (Auto Refresh)
+1 (Moonshade Earring)
+1 (Tres/Subligar)
+2 (Caller's Horn +2)

So +6 Auto Refresh, you lose one to the 1 perpetuation cost. This brings your retrospective auto refresh to 5 a second. This, I believe (though I stand to be corrected if any of the new salvage pieces add a stronger refresh or stronger -perpetuation), is the most you can currently get whilst keeping your -perpetuation capped.

No matter how I try I can not find a combination of gear that allows you to swap out the Caller's Doublet +2 and swap in a Refresh body. The above set is by no means optimal, of course. But they are easier to obtain than +1 Salvage items and provide the exact same benefits in terms of -perpetuation and +refresh. If anyone can figure out how to keep -perpetuation @ 14 without the use of a body piece, I would love to know about it. That extra MP a second would be beautiful!

As for HMP set, I will leave this to someone else. I honestly don't have one because I never rest soloing and I don't do legion. Bear in mind the Moonshade Earring won't give you refresh when healing if you're going to add that to your HMP set, though.

With relative Avatar Perpetuation staff of course. Can switch Marduk Jubbah +1 with Manasa Chasuble also. Should be 6 a tick, 7 with Oneiros latent active I believe :)

I didn't know Marduk +1 was 2 MP. That is nice!

Done. Good call on HMP set.

:x in HMP set, I'd include myrddin pearl since Legion is where I need that set the most anyways.

Also, Marduk's jubbah +1 is 1% more Fast Cast than anhur robe (according to BG wiki!)

Ay thoughts on pet mab trial staff vs. soulsurge for merrit bp's?

nice guide.
some things:

-Veneficium ring isn't present in the fastcast set (1% more occ quickens spellcast)

-For tp'ing: Wouldnt arbuda grip/pole grip be worthwhile alternatives since its pretty hard to get gear haste on SMN (for body and feet slots in particular) or the extra % of double attack at low rates on a smn subbing mage is kinda nice?
I personally like rajas+ambuscade ring and a pole grip for 3% more double attack when i'm thwacking things on smn.

Also if you are a smn in voidwatch and want something else to do besides wait for a bloodpact trigger, sub sch and use macc gear+shrewd atmacite then rotate through helixes and steal procs from the blm+sch :3

http://www.ffxiah.com/forum/topic/35098/2-things/

General consensus is Magian MAB, since Blood Boon doesn't increase Caller's activation rate... And I'm still sad about that.

Thank you. You reminded me of something I have been meaning to post for awhile here.


The assault command gives readings. I believe a Summoner's primary job in Voidwatch should be being the weakness calling monkey. You can get notices every ten seconds, faster than any other job, and with zero requirements for repeated use like, say, flourishes or steps.

Realistically we're not going to perform exceptional damage to rival the buffed DDs and focusing on calling out weaknesses allows them to focus on dealing damage. Obviously getting our staggers when we can is a priority as well, but there's nothing to stop us spamming assault every ten seconds and blood pacting.

I cringe when I see a DD using steps or other abilities to try and call weaknesses when there's a Summoner in the alliance stood doing nothing but letting their avatar melee. Every ability the DDs use is delay added to their attacks, to their weapon skill frequency. Nothing major, of course, but if they spam abilities whenever to call weaknesses it will add up over time. Especially when a Summoner can do it so easily and more efficiently with no impact at all on their performance. You still have a good eight seconds to activate a blood pact which will be done before assault is ready again.

Rather than sit back and play a sub par Scholar, we should be assisting the overall alliance with getting the varying staggers, in my opinion. I believe it's worth adding this to the guide so any new Summoners take this to heart and start off as they mean to go on.

Just don't go stealing the SCH's Revitalizer. <_<

I'm always sad when a BLM procs something a sch could :(

Also, I added comments in the VW section about the assault message technique. That did slip my mind. Thanks Aeyela.

PERFECT DEFENSING THE BLACKMAGE PARTY IS IMPORTANT!

Odin all the things for triple digit damage.

~bumpish~ I didn't see this less missed it, add on gear has tons stuff for the "Pet:" section :)

I was reading an interesting thread on BG not too long ago and it was discussed but never confirmed (or tested I can't remember too much atm).

But what job IS Diabolos?

He should be a BLM like the Celestials were thought to be, with Carby being a WHM and Fenrir being a DRK. I'm interesting if the last two are true though.

Peoples thoughts and possible improvements on this set I came up with?


The idea is a true avatar tanking set, pet: PDT staff and DT/haste selenian cap, has around PDT-77% MDT-10% and pet haste+10%, which could open up a lot of possibilities for soloing, and makes for a good "***hits the fan" set.

Avatar is free either when oneiros is active or pendant is active via weather or /SCH storms, 1mp/tic with both active. I know there's more specific avatar gear that could be put in like the new avatar haste +2% feet but I'm not sure at what point increasing perp cost would be too detrimental for it to be worth using at all.

Ngen Seraweels maybe for regen?

I might consider creating several variants of the set with more avatar gear like ngen and the haste feet over refresh/perp when I'm not concerned about MP loss. If the regen on ngen is noticable with that set I might even consider redoing the AMK head and replace pet haste with regen.

random chime in about merit BPs..

I too favor unlocking all 6 BPs for versatility, bearing in mind that when you do that you can still cap out at least one BP.
I chose Thunderstorm by virtue that most mobs generally don't resist thunder all that much, thunder is favored by BLMs because its higher tier for them, and that its a Light SC element.. so you kinda sync with them.

There's really no diff which one you cap out because they're all the same attack power and its only when an enemy is predisposed to a weakness that the other elements really come in handy. It also gives celestials a reliable nuke/"ranged attack". Useful if you're soloing and need to depend on avatar elemental affinity.

i noticed you didn't mention that perp cost reduction caps at 1mp/tic, which means the last tic must must auto-refresh (or something else if you're <lv25). Overgearing perp is when it's already 1 and you can't go any further.. at which point you'd wanna look for Refresh gear if your focus is on MP perpetuity (which is typically the case in idle situations).

It should also be worth noting that overgearing perp reduction timer can be a good thing if you're also using something like Esper Earring and don't have the privilege of swapping into it only after BP is activated. Relic+2 are probably the best options around for minimizing the number of gear pieces required to cap the timer.

random 2c

Your reasons for having all unlocked and 1 max can be used against having them as well though, if most things don't resist your 1 maxed out BP then why have 5 ***ones when instead you could have a 2nd backup strong one when your main isn't usable?

Edit: Thinking about it I do however acknowledge your point on having a ranged move for soloing, this used to be the bread & butter for a lot of my solos back at 75, but I just personally haven't run into anything lately where i'm locked into using 1 avatar and struggling due to not having a 1/5 weaker ranged BP.

my argument for having 5 ***ones is that they really aren't that shitty, but only relative to a fully merited one.

if you're one of those who also play using avatar du jour for the hell of it or for variety as opposed to pure min/maxing i think you'd be inclined to agree merit bps are a much better choice than tier IV nukes anyway.

I have Thunderstorm and Heavenly Strike 5/5, but honestly I had to check my merits on FFXIAH to figure out I had Heavenly Strike 5/5. All I ever really need is Thunderstorm, even though I find that Chaotic Strike is more useful much of the time now.

I don't know if anyone else has gotten this impression, but I feel that Chaotic Strike's additional effect accuracy is impacted by summoning magic skill and Avatar Magic Accuracy equipment. With uncapped skill, it hardly stunned. With capped skill + gear, it is almost as reliable and long-lasting as Shock Squall.

Great guide. Also, you can add marduk legs+1 to the FC set cause of the set bonus.

Really do love the guide. I will say, I'm surprised you even including a section for melee, but in a good way. Personally, I've fiddled with this as a potential Set for a non-Emp/Relic/whatever owning SMN:

ItemSet 206905

Was actually quite impressed with some of the Nabu gear offering Bonuses to a Melee side... the body and Hands are impressive.

Will say, the body is up for debate... the Acc/atk/haste+4 body you have is pretty d*mn solid, But the STR+10/Dbl+3% on the Nabu body is pretty impressive in itself, and i think it doubles as the best Shattersoul Body as well, with STR+10/INT+10/Dbl+3%.

Also think this is a pretty good idea for a Shattersoul set too:

ItemSet 273149

Not sure if Brutal is > INT+4 Earring on a 100% INT mod WS, But I'm pretty sure Spiral Ring (5STR/5INT) is better than an INT+7 Ring in one slot, especially with SMNs low STR.

Edit: And i dug up some old Screenshots i had found... This was way before i had a decent Shattersoul set, But i mean, all things considered...





Fooling around in Abyssea. (Also same as below, didnt have a proper set yet)


Had fun, Anyway, nuff of my SMN melee stuff, Great thread :D

Hey there SMN community. So the new expansion's out now. Have there been any major changes I should update within the guide, or any changes in general? I don't plan on changing the merits section because in the end it does depend on playstyle and preference. If you do a lot of summon-bp-release then the maxed out group2 is of greater benefit. If you have avatars out with Caller's Pendant between BP then you could probably get away with spreading out a bit. There's not one solid answer. I also heard some mobs will take double damage from their weakness element in Adoulin so this is another factor to consider.

Also, I saw there was a staff that could rival Nirvana in power...