The 6th Ministry's Secret: A Summoner's Guide (v2)

I agree but the point here is that in some circumstances Nirvana isn't the fastest option, yet a lot of blind people are still demanding for it, ignoring the fact that other options not only can be incredibly close to Nirvana, but sometimes actually better!

If you ask me I think it's unfair and if anything Nirvana should be stronger, but that's an argument for a different topic I guess.
(and no, I'm not sour about it, since I don't personally own a Nirvana myself)

It's simply not viable in a large variety of content, which makes the difference between Nirvana and other options quite negligible, alas.

In zerg content where you can store TP and AM3 beforehands (for instance Geas Fete stuff!) Nirvana gains QUITE the edge over the other available options.


And btw I'd like to underline that I've always talked about "options", not just Gridarvor.
I mean, Gridarvor is nice only for physical pacts with TP-transfer across hits BPs.
It's not really that great for physical BPs without that property (granted that such BPs are generally not used), for magical BPs and for Hybrid like Flaming Crush.
A MAB staff (Espiritus? Grioavolr? Keraunos?) is tipically better than Nirvana no matter what (AM3 really doesn't make a difference for those).
For Flaming Crush it's a different story, I think Nirvana is king there, but AM3 doesn't make a huge difference with the way Flaming Crush works, so the other options are probably very close. Some say they can be better, I'm personally skeptic and think Nirvana is still the best for FC under every situation, but to each his own hey.

Now given nowadays' FFXI meta, Volt Strike is probably the most used BP to zerg down content, and with this in mind of course everybody is thinking about Gridarvor, because it's really nice for that BP for the reasons explained above.

A great example of when to use Gridarvor is ambuscade Vol1 VD it's content 139. It is a decent option if that is all you use it for.

Inside of content where you can pre-buff get AM up on a trash mob, or GoB on the mob, Nirvana pulls ahead, and in some cases even when say you *** up your convert, and keep trying to bp with no mp, so you miss out 4 or more bp it can still out parse a gridarvor smn, Thats the difference we are talking.

But is it ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY?: no.
Does it consistently do more damage: yes.

The argument that in some content you do less damage with Nirvana is a moot point. Anyone that has it can build a Gridarvor with ease should they need to. The reverse is not true.

And it is worth noting in content where avatar's pull hate such as Albumen the avatar with the most hate [ the smn thats doing the most damage usually] usually gets nerf'd and or killed, hence why your damage with out Nirvana will get closer, their avatars are CC'd. So they loose time waiting on stun, terror, etc to wear off or they loose time resummoning.

That does not mean Nirvana is bad, since that would happen to what ever avatar pulled hate even one that the smn was using Grid. It just seems easier to catch up in dps when others are getting penalized for taking hate (Odyllic Subterfuge greatly mitigates this) Try doing albumen with say 5 or more Nirvana smn's, perfect cor rolls, Idris geo with bolster and you will see how "close" you actually are.

Edit: typo

And?

I can hit the same number of BP as anyone, so if I am doing more on each, then I am doing more damage. I stated even if the Nirvana smn made a mistake they could still beat the JSE weapon, not that they can just *** every thing up and expect to.

Nirvana does not make your conduit weaker.

As it is with all mythics, the weapon matters just as much as the user, fail to use it correctly and its not much better than other options.

That said the amount of dps you do depends on a ton of things 2 of which are in every smn's control: Gear and proficiency.

Some one could have the best gear'd smn, and if they are not proficient or attentive they can loose dps.

And you could be the most proficient smn, but if your gear is not up to par, you can, and will loose dps.

Party buffs and nerfs of on the mob for the most part, will be out of your control. Also many people I know took longer to master smn, than it took to solo farm a Nirvana (It has become massively easier to obtain since RoV)

this has absolutely nothing to do with why Nirvana is better. no matter how many pacts anyone does or doesn't get off, their damage would still be improved with having nirvana instead of gridarvor.


Plain fact, there is no situation in the game where bloodpacting with gridarvor is better than nirvana. On paper gridarvor isn't even 2nd best for physical pacts, it's third, behind was+1.

(roughly)
Was is 7%
Grid is 8%
Was+1 is 9%
Nirvana's 40 bpd is 15%


Also, i'm looking to September's augments to push nirvana further ahead, Give Claustrum something interesting (it got pet acc last boost, suspecting more pet stuff or the option for more), and to make make draumstafir the new magic pact staff.

Odds are good that there will be at least one pet-focused augment path per staff (that SMN can use.) Devs haven't said how many paths there will be per weapon, but they have said there will be multiple paths. Looking forward to master melee path for Claustrum? :D

Nirvana is always better than Gridarvor for volt strike (unless your accuracy is at pitiful levels.. but at that point you are losing either way).

It is not a ton better. I did all of the major SMN burn fights with 6 gridarvors and 3-4 leeches, and with 6 nirvanas I can do them with 4-6 leeches. If you're just trying to win, not carry a bunch of people, the difference is effectively nonexistant. There's a bigger variance between proper conduit technique and improper conduit technique than there is between Nirvana and Gridarvor.

Also, not using AM3 is HELP I AM TRAPPED IN 2006 PLEASE SEND A TIME MACHINE. Gaes Fete doesn't strip it, just ws a raaz or something once all buffs are up prior to popping.

Question about ambu capes. Are ppl using Dye* for acc/macc or atk/maDmg?

Bump. Also if someone would be so kind as to share their current/updated BP ability delay sets, much gracias.

For my physical cape I used dye on Accuracy, then eventually switched over to Attack once my base accuracy got above 1250. For the Magical one, Magic Accuracy all the way.

ItemSet 360178

Post-1200 JPs and with capped/merited skill, this will give you a 20 second recast once your favor has adequately ticked up. This is BIS as far as I know, if you need step-up sets you can use NQ Baayami and reforged relic/empy to cap. FYI, Ability Delay caps at 15, Ability Delay II caps and 15, and the extra from Gifts counts as either/or.

What's the minimum party number needed (AKA SMNs needed) to ACburn the things?
Is 3 good enough? (6 man party - RUN, GEO, COR, SMN, SMN, SMN)

For most things, yes. Most AC burns I've done the COR drops party after rolls to have 4 SMN w/ rolls or a different support or just less HP on the mob, unless the COR needs wins too. Only caveats I can think of would be Schah where you'll probably want 4 SMN to kill before too many adds pop. Albumen you'll want someone to be able to sleep adds and also need some additional firepower to kill before pets wake or tank dies. Almost every Escha NM besides Schah/Albumen should be more than fine with just 3 SMN.

It's actually 21 seconds, not 20. (They're probably looking at Timers to determine recast, it will show as 20 by the time it appears on Timers.)

Anyway, you need 670 skill with the Beckoner's Horn +1 equipped. You can do it without HQ Baayami gear using a Stikini Ring +1. Basically it's the exact set posted above, with NQ Baayami, path B Espiritus, and Vox Grip.

The full HQ Baayami gear, as in the set posted, allows you to hit 21 seconds without swapping in staff/grip which can be nice if you're using Nirvana aftermath, but otherwise is not very important.

670 with nirvana is great and all, but the last time i 'needed' TP i was doing conduit, so 670 was moot.

670 is achievable but you need all slots and either 1 stikini +1 and 1 baayami +1, or two baayami +1s.

I was digging through the forum and couldn't find a current Flaming Crush (Hybrid) BP set. Can anyone post the ideal set minus any Relic +3 pieces (if there are any???) Just finished my Nirvana and wanted to get my Lua's set up. Thanks!

ItemSet 319492

Pergatory's <--edited

Thank you!

Found the pathing under his sets, i forum bad >.<

Has anyone tested Gylphic Doublt +3 yet to see if it's viable for volt strike? I'm just not sure if it's worth the accuracy/BP Damage loss.

This was discussed on page 109, with numbers and such, so hop on to that page for the info your needing.

Pure-damage wise yes, it should be above AF1+3 body on stuff like Volt Strike or Predator's Claws.
Problem is that it completely lacks Accuracy. The 45 on the body itself and 15 more if for any reason you can make use of the set bonus.

In situations where you feel accuracy won't matter then yes, Glyphic Body +3 is an upgrade. Should be roughly a ~2,6% increase in damage.

Are those numbers based off having the rest of the set and just changing the body? because the more multi hit you get the less efficient more multi hit is.

lets say you have 50% DA and you want to add 5% more DA. You are already going DA 50% of the time and that 5% you're adding will only have a chance to proc on the 50% you're not multi hitting already making that 5% 1/2 as efficient.

also the more DA you have the more BPD will boost your damage also.

So with Nirvana AM (DA40%/TA20%) AF+3 body should out damage Relic+3. It's kind of a balancing act between multi hit and BPD. You can't just put a % increase on each one because the more Multi-hit the more efficient BPD becomes and the more BPD the more efficent DA becomes. It's a balancing act of the 2.

Quick beginning smn question ( i red the guide and the last coupel of pages but couldt not find this info)

First griavolr. what path should I take what for what use ?
i was thinking pet MAB and/or bloodpact dmg.

question2 how do i handle the augmentation.
is it randomly and i can redo them like in skirmers. i just trade the weapons and the stone to randomize that "slot" ?

Q1: As Frod has said earlier in this post somewhere.
To beat a espiritus you need over:
5 bpd and 30 mab
6 bpd and 27.5 mab
7 bpd and 25 mab
8 bpd and 22.5 mab
9 bpd and 20 mab
10 bpd and 17.5 mab

Q2: Trade all your Fern/Taupe/Pellucid stones to Oseem, then you trade him the staff and chose pet aug's and use Fern stones and keep rolling until you find a good augment. BP dmg is rare tho so gl..

Thank you in my 3rd roll i got
dmg +22 (bah)
BPD +9
PET int +13
PET Mag Acc +7
Pet MAB +17

Would the pet int make up for the missing 3 mab to beat espiritus ?

I guess im aksing if this is useable enough to start workng on other parts or should i focus on trading in more stones.

I still need a crapload of gear for smn

It's a bit below average but it's usable. Get other stuff in line, get a Gridarvor from Oboro un port jeuno for physical BP before throwing more Gil at oseem.

I just looked at 109 and I'm not seeing it. Am I blind?

The
The quote about bpd and DA is directly what your interested in, and keep in mind the Effectiveness of bpd scaling down generally means that your going for the jse weapon and the relic +3 body, seeing that those tho pieces will add and additional attack almost every VoltStrike, much like having AM3 on nirvana but you will do less damage since you are sacrificing BPD for DA in two places instead of getting it for free.

So if your using JSE weapon and relic body+3 and Shulmanu Collar you should get a 4th hit every time, or at least most of the time. That extra hit is subject to all the other BPD gear so its usually a net gain, so it is viable for volt strike, as long as ACC is not an issue. It is almost only usefull to Voltstrike and predator claws though.

Any hybrid or magical BP its pretty useless.

Edit: typo

I tried that body a little and was not impressed. I think there are situations where it should be good, but probably not in any high-level content.

I'm thinking stuff like lower-level Escha NMs that are too dangerous to melee for AM3 (like Angrboda), low-difficulty Ambuscade/HTBs, maybe even stuff like Sinister Reign.

Dyna[D] is the one I'm really curious about, our avatars are very attack-starved in there. Could be the crit rate is actually rather beneficial there. I haven't been playing much lately to test that out.

It's from the calculator I made which you can find here: https://pastebin.com/WQ1Gn8Hs

You can plug in your gear, then add 1 BPD or 1 DA to see how it affects your total multiplier. This will give you an idea of the benefit you can gain for each point. And you're correct, those numbers are without AM3. With AM3, the value of DA tends to be about half what it normally is, meaning yes AF+3 body should easily beat Relic+3 in all scenarios when AM3 is up.