Voidwatch SMNs

I've yet to play SMN in Voidwatch so I'm going to ask those who have a few questions. This is assuming you have ~450 skill or can pretend you do~

What wards do you use, and in what order do you use them to keep them up full-time?

Wards I'm definitely going to use:

Earthen Armor
Tidal Roar
Diamond Storm

The other ones I'm considering are:

Inferno Howl
Lunar Cry
Ecliptic Howl
Shining Ruby

I don't know if it's even worth using the Fenrir pacts since their so variable, and Shining Ruby is Defense/MDB, so it's kinda neat? I dunno. Also I'm wondering if SMNs BP: Rage much in Voidwatch, and if it's too hard to keep up that many buffs while raging, or if SMN is stuck on -na duty or the like.

Back up heal, -na's, throw pets at mob if tank eats a death. I dunno.

Smn Blood pact Rages Proc in Voidwatch. Just do the usual Titan and garuda buffs. Sit back and chill/buff until your needed.

Diamond Storm is great on some of the mobs with high evasion, though I've noticed some build up a high resistance after just one or two uses, and some seem to have an immunity altogether.

im no smn, but in super low man situations, 4-6 ppl, we use one or two smns as our main dmg sources. the first three you listed are the ones i see used the most, so im guessing thats good that you plan to use them lol.

and we usually do pldx1 or 2 whm rdm blm smnx1 or two when just trying to get clears for t4's and not really atempting to proc. when we want drops setup changes, that was just an example.

As another possibility, though the AI for them is terrible, spirits are a useful proc possibility too. Wait until you get an element hint and then toss a spirit of that element towards the enemy. Generally your spirit will cast AM or T4, though usually the elemental DoT. Still, it provides something for you to do if your MP is just sitting there anyway, and I've proced a few times using spirits while bored.

In terms of damage, SMN does put out a good amount. I generally use Heavenly Strike or Grand Fall since I'm 5/5 on those, but Predator Claws can usually be pretty effective as well. I'm usually in the second party (we generally go with 8-10 people) so I don't always have many people to buff on the side, but it does help nonetheless at times.

Earthen Armor is the only one I tend to keep up all the time. I'll do the occasional Tidal Roar as well, and either Diamond Storm or Lunar Cry... but I can never see when any of those wear off so I'll only do them a few times per battle. Shining Ruby hadn't occurred to me, not sure if it would be worth using. I've tried Ecliptic Howl/Growl but they didn't really seem to be worth it.

As far as BP Rages, they work great. I use Pred Claws a lot, and sometimes merit BPs as well. For example on Hahava, he changes modes between magical & physical. When he uses Raksha stance I'll use Predator Claws, and when he uses Yaksha stance I'll use Grand Fall. Seems like about 90 seconds between stance changes, similar to Tiamat flying/landing. So you can usually land two BPs per mode, then you'll want to wait for him to change. I didn't have any trouble doing Rages while keeping Wards up.

The only other thing I'll sometimes do if they're having a hard time triggering weakness, is use Ifrit's Favor. With 450+ skill, this gives 24% double attack which will speed up the melees a fair bit. I use that in Abyssea sometimes as well, while waiting for triggers. I hate Favor though, so it's pretty rare for me to do this.

smn skill caps @354 @level 90 how in the world are u hitting 450? i have all the best gear and mine is around 400 explain plz

ok i see i looked it up soulscourge smn bracers which i dont have and merits i see i see

Yeah I hate how you can't see when Tidal Roar/Diamond Storm wear. I put timers in my XMLs for them though. Tidal Roar lasts 5min at ~450 skill (wiki lies) and Diamond Storm is 5:30 as stated, so I have no problems keeping that up. I think I'll probably stay away from using Fenrir, I have no idea how long his debuff lasts either and I spent enough time playing with my other debuffs to see how long they last. @@;

I'm glad to know BPs work nicely :o

I guess I should put favor into my spellcast again to perp in skill. Ick. :(

Thanks so much for the info~ :3

Are you certain about the duration of Tidal Roar? I tested 10 min ago, it lasted 4 min with 450 Smn Skill.
Lunar Cry lasts 3 min (can't be modified by Smn Skill) and overwrite Diamond Storm but Diamond Storm can't overwrite Lunar Cry. (if anyone was interested to know)

Also, don't forget you can find all JA/WS weakness by spamming the Assault command!

Yeah I tested it a bunch of times, it's definitely 5:00 unless I'm going out of my mind. Maybe you got a resist? I didn't know that about Lunar Cry/Diamond Storm, that's crummy. :(

Edit: I should note I have 449 skill, we were joking about 450+ skill being glitched. >___>;

Didn't know about spamming assault, good idea :O

Nah, no glitches past 450. I've got 455, and you can actually even go to at least 460 with Anhur Robe & Kirin/Mythic Pole augmented with +10 skill.

Soulscourge
Vox Grip
Caller's Horn +2
Caller's Pendant
Summoning Earring
Caller's Doublet +2
Summoner's Bracers +1
Evoker's Ring
Fervor Ring
Astute Cape
Summoning Belt
Caller's Spats +2
Marduk's Crackows
8/8 Merits

Total: +101

Also, this:
Forgot to mention this, but great tip. I spam Assault every 10 secs in Voidwatch even if the avatar is already attacking the NM.