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

2 seconds?

i added it all up, it's possible to hit 670 with this gear set
http://www.ffxiah.com/members/item-sets/?id=351294
With NQ Baayami body, hands, legs, feet. (32+28+30+24)

Gives us a running total of 671.
We can avoid getting HQ pieces, but need stikini +1 ring.

edit- corrected totals, bgwiki has hq feet description on nq page, ugh at needing stinky +1.

I got the full set and I'm at 21 seconds recast now.

670 skill + HQ Horn + Gift :
Carbuncle : 29 HP (+1)
Diabolos : 8 MP (+0)
Titan : 107 DEF (+5)
Garuda : 43 EVA (+3)
Shiva : 45 MAB (+3)

No surprise, those are the numbers I expected. I haven't checked Cait Sith and Ramuh's Favors yet but it should be 30 MDB (+2) and 24% (+0) crit hit rate.
Max skill is 709 now and as Frod said it is not possible to reach the last Favor tier without Stikini Ring +1 or 1 HQ piece from the Baayami set.

So you have beckoner's horn +1 on for that or no?

damn lotta gil for 1 sec.... I assume as relic+3 etc come out though it will be more obtainable for your avg smn though.

Yeah, I just got the last Baayami piece I needed to reach 670 skill with Horn.

It looks to me like you need all HQ pieces to hit that tier without losing tp/AM3.

For ease of readability of others. ;p

EDIT: Also, just to reinforce, NQ Baayami hands and feet: BPdelay -13; Espiritus BPdelayII -2s; and Sancus Sachet gives -6s of II, capping delay.
So good for the poorer SMNs out there.
Sancus +1 caps delay without Espiritus... so Nirvana people might be able to lose the Espiritus and Vox depending on how much skill Beckoner's Horn +3 and Glyphic Bracers +3 get.

We can currently precast and favor-idle nirvana with 3 pieces of bayaami HQ. i don't think we can cap favor and avatar perp even with 4 HQ pieces though.

hmmm......

HQ Baayami hands+legs = BPdelay -15s
with +10 skill over the the NQ.
Need 18 skill to be able to free up Espiritus+Vox.
And since each HQ has 5 more skill than the NQ, 4/5 HQ would allow you to drop Espiritus and vox from the delay set.
ItemSet 351300
That gives you 672, which means you can either make more use of Caller's Pendant's regain, or drop to Globidonta/NQ Stikini rings (by using Incantor's Torque).
{EDIT: But yeah. Uncapped perp. At least it's just ~1s.......}

What is that though... like a couple billion gil?
Personally, I can live with being 2s slower while I wait on what the relic and empy +3 sets bring.

vox grip, evan's earring. We can get Perp to neutral thru refresh and perp gear.

SO, sorry for this.

Anyone have any info on the Bare minimum for each tier of NM levels to be viable as a SMn?

T1 content needs This gear :
T2 Needs this gear:
T3:
HELM:


Not lookin for Best in slot, but Bare minimum to both do damage and be able to win with a party of 6 (Tank geo cor healer smn smn) for example.

I have a set made and do 5~15k as is but its far from optimal4

Post your gearsets and we can suggest improvements.

Your output and gear reqs will vary wildly based on your jp and on how well your other party members are geared, not just your own equipment.

T4s/helms are more often than not a gimmick fight, you may not be able to do them with that setup.

So how exactly does Favor work for bonuses and cooldowns? When you change your gear and lower your summoning skills, I know it's supposed to reset your favor down to whatever your new value is... so does that mean your CDs change as well? Do you need to use your BP in favor gear + BP recast to get the maximum effects from the Favor effects or?

I'm not really sure how the penalties for Favor really factor in when you lower your summoning skill. And that does mean you'd have to idle in 670 Summoning skill + Favor gear to maintain the new tier, is that worth all the perp and refresh you lose?

It doesn't retroactively adjust any pacts currently on cooldown. If it breaks a tier on recast, a new pact will have the longer recast.
i haven't tested if precasting in the 670 would trigger the extra second. it's... ehh, way too much effort for literally a second of difference.

Quick question: For magical pacts what is the damage difference between Path D and Path A Apogee slacks? I don't need an exact amount just wondering how much magical damage I will lose by switching my pants.

1 bloodpact damage is worth roughly 2.5 mab

Thank you! That means for Magical stuff Path D is aprox ~6 BP damage less than Path D. Sounds like it is worth it for the strength in physical though.

I need cliff notes and short version of last 87 pages. Just finished my Nirvana and 0 smn magic skill. Halp

Pop Astral Conduit and then feed all of your summons MNK Salt.

Just get yourself some Enticer's for magic BPs. They will beat path D slacks, in most or all cases beat path A slacks, and about half the time they even beat +1 path A slacks.

ItemSet 351512

Current best in slot for pet macc on debuffs?

Adad's amulet, and Enmerkar Earring?

Wouldn't Apogee Mitts +1 (D) still be more M.Acc, even taking into account the set bonus?

No 58 v 53.

HQ Apogee hands have a total of 63 macc, unless BG wiki is incorrect on path D stats.

Woops, total math fail lol. 63 is right.

I've never really been a SMN, I've just kind of played it off and on solo, but I'm starting to take it pretty seriously to try to tackle some content I've previously avoided.

I've got some decent augments on 3/5 Helios gear for physical BP, an augmented Gridarvor, and a Balsam Staff, a perfect Enticer's Pants, but no JP.

What should i prioritize for gear sets in terms of order to tackle them?

Physical BP
ItemSet 351653

relevant helios Augs:
Band: 7 BPD, 30 atk, 8 DA
Jacket: 8 smn skill, 29 atk, 7 DA
Gloves: 17 acc
Spats: 7 BPD, 29 atk, 8 DA
Boots: 24 acc

No augs on Campestres's yet

Magical BP:
ItemSet 351654

Helios is the same as above, so all physical focused

For magic bp, should I try to get Apogee now (I don't have an LS that does Escha) or go for a second set of Helios until I can get Apogee?

Personally, I'd skip your magical set and work on improving your physical. Whether that improvement is mythic, apogee gear, at+3, etc depends on your level of commitment.