Some SMN Questions

I'm getting to the point where its time to get SMN AF, but loking at the stats on it and comparing to the Austere set, I'm asking myself is it worth the hassle to even get the AF?

SMN AF:

Austere set:

I mean with AF you get 47 more MP, 5 less summuning skill, Avatar enmity -11, and no Avatar Perpetuation Cost -. While Austere set not only gives "Blood Pact" Ability Delay -6 but also Enmity -3 (For the summoner rather than the avatar).

I'm no SMN pro, not even close. but just looking at the stats it seems to me that the Austere set is better than the AF in every way except for the 47 mp, which i can live w/o.

Now I'm only taking SMN to 66 so i can fight maat on it, but im not gonna do as some ppl and not try to do the job right. But im also not gonna gather semi-useless AF so i can upgrade it in the future, coz thats not gonna happen anyway.

Also, when it comes to macro's.

I'm using all 10 books in my smn macro. first book is for summoning all avatars, and each avatar takes me to a book of their own, where the hell am i gonna keep my healing macro's? Since it seems I'm mostly invited to heal parties when they cant find any whm/rdm/sch. I dont wanna put myself in "cure bot mode", i did that on whm, so even when im main healing i would like to use my avatars every now and then.

Should I just stay in my "WHM macro" and summon BP manually from the menu? Or stay in SMN macro and cure manually from menu?

Any other advice on what to think of when it comes to smn is welcome as well ^^

I would recomend at least getting (and using) the AF legs. They aren't "bad" to use in a pt and are very nice for when you are soloing while looking for a party.

When I levelled SMN I used AF head and legs and Austere everything else. I used the horn because I though it looked cool and had a little more SMN skill then the dumpy looking Austere hat. Legs were good for when I got to use a SMN for some minor damage.

And as far as macros go, I have a similar setup, Page 1: All avatar spells that take me to another page with all their specific macros.

Page 2-10: Resummon the specific avatar and then all the useful BPs across the Ctrl list. On all of the Alts I have all the healing stuff so I have access to major -na spells, Cures, and Regen(s) And at the end I save space for Assault/Retreat/Release

I also keep Cure Macros on the 'main' page 1 as well.

/sigh

I was hoping to get responses like

"AF is useless, dont bother unless you're taking it to 75 and gonna upgrade to AF +1" lol

It would be best to get the AF Legs, as it has good AVY accuracy.

However, the evoker's setup is not good for solo purposes, as it detracts hate away from the AVY to you, and you definitely don't want that. Although I got all AF, Austere would be the best alternative for you to use until you reach YYR and RELIC stage.


Hope this helps! :)

Ok, im gonna listen to you most. Because your answer is the closest to what i wanted to hear lol. And I guess I can go and get the pants. Never gonna get YYR and/or relic though since I'm gonna stop @ 66 :D

Leveling up 54-71 I used Austere hat (-BP) and body (-avatar perp) while I used AF for legs (avy acc+), feet and hands. however if your going to use elemental Siphon i suggest that u macro w/e gives you the highest summoning magic boost. As for the macros themselves just have macros for stuff that you normally use, such as BPs and avatars. No need to have a macro for Claw or Axe kick. In my macros I have 1 for avatars and BPs i actually use and whm spells i normally use. Level smn to 75 it's fun. XD

As for the AF body and horn, they are kinda crap. I got them for the heck of it, but i use the horn for the smn magic boost for elemental siphon. Then again elemental siphon wasn't around when i was leveling smn so i always used the austere hat for the -BP time.

oh, also good to know for when im gonna try to solo.

Is the avatars hp, def, eva and acc based on lv or summoning magic skill?

If nothing else, you should get the horn and legs. Since you have so many macros, you can easily initiate a blood pact with the Austere hat and end with AF horn for added acc. AF legs for physical blood pact, and Austere for magical ^^

Avatar health, def, evasion, accuracy, attack, etc, is all proportionate to the level of the summoner. As previously mentioned, the only good pieces of AF that are good for a Summoner are the legs and feet. Body is generally Austere robe with matching hat or Vermillion Cloak. AF hands are all around awful (yay for using Ramuh on a Thunder Elemental, hoping to get some MP back).

Summoning Magic effects blood pact accuracy (and possibly magic accuracy) only when you're over the summoning magic cap for the level. It also effects the duration of your Ward buffs when you have a considerable amount of skill over the cap for the level.

All Ward buffs last a max of 3 minutes. Assuming is capped or under with no skill over the cap for the level (269 at 75), Ward buffs will either last 30 seconds, 60 seconds, or 90 seconds. Any buff that lasts 90 seconds will get an additional 3 seconds per 1 skill (cap @ 299 skill); any buff that lasts 60 seconds will get an additional 2 seconds per 1 skill (cap @ 329 skill); and any buff that lasts 30 seconds will get an additional 1 second per 1 skill (cap at 419 skill, good luck with that!) Considering you have access to a minimal amount of skill before level 70, it's not worth investing in pieces to boost skill.

There are other options you can level besides Austere and AF as well, and gear choices vary depending on the situation, but if you're mostly leveling solo (bombs in Ifrit's Cauldron, for example), Enmity- will do more for you. Austere hat and hands can be macro'd in for the BP delay-, and you can use Crow head/hands the rest of the time. AF legs, iirc, give 15 accuracy, which is better then any other leg option, and the evasion from the feet shouldn't be overlooked.

tl;dr:
AF legs and feet are good; Austere Robe is good. Don't focus on Summoning Magic Skill until level 70+; instead focus on your own Enmity-.

Thanks for the info.

Got the AF pants this morning, not sure im gonna bother with other pieces.

As for soloing, I remember how annoying bombs were when leveling bst, so i hope it wont come to that. Besides I have full enmity + merits, i can be on the other side of the zone and sneeze and the mob will come running after me -.-

How is SMN doing exp wise in campaign? I remember getting over 2k exp from most battles on DRK around lv 60. Is it worth going as smn or is it a waste of time?

Edit: Also is Pet vs Pet a good way to solo?

I'm tired from work, and I skipped very quickly through the thread, so I may be missing something.

Summoning Magic+ also doubles up as a very good way to cast the avatar. The more Skill you have, the lower chance you have to be interrupted if you get a bit of bad luck.

After you've cast the spell, you can swap into your Perp-, Refresh, whatever gear you like =)

Just figured I'd mention it while I didn't notice it.

(If someone did mention it, sorry! Feel free to ignore this XD)

For campaign battles, don't expect too much. In a good campaign battle as smn i get probably around 1.5-1.8k. But that's only having my avatar out and BPing. If you heal, BP, buff, and beat mobs with your staff you might get a different result. Another alternative is to astral flow burn for EXTREMELY quick leveling, but smn magic skill-wise i don't recommend it. I knew a 75 smn with 80 summon magic skill because of Astral Flow burns and the cap is 269.

I soloed from 58-64 with bombs back when i leveled smn.... good times. As for pet vs pet it depends on what your fighting and if you can manage to get the pet away from its owner. For example I used to kill Mamools pets for cheap exp. 1 predator claws and it was dead, but if the owner saw I was screwed. XD